Bean Doll

At the farmer's market this morning:

a present from Bonnie for Finn.

La Femme fiere d'elle même, 1946

She has a beauiful, fluffy dress

and she has high, high heels.  If

you have high heels, people will

love you.  If you want people to

love you, you have to love your-

self first.  That's what it means.

                             -Louise Bourgeois

On the Way to Michigan Booty

On the way to Michigan, we stayed with Ronna at Bruce Lake, in Indiana.  We picked up crab apples, rode the paddle boat, chased feral kittens, walked between corn fields.  Ronna gave me this vintage rake handle when we were leaving - I love it!  I think I will paint it with a white enamel and use it for wall hooks in the studio.  Back soon with the after shot.  Here's the before:

Michigan Booty

What is this?  The woman at the roadside market in South Haven, Michigan said it is an "Indian roller" - and this begs the question, what is an Indian roller?  Any ideas?  It probably has a textile application.  Speaking of textile tools, I also picked up a batik printing block.  Every summer, I bring one home:

Mom patrol

(Good morning! It's 3:22am. Han is making his nighttime rounds, nudging open our bedroom doors and standing stoically next to our beds for a couple of pats. Earlier, Finn was talking in his sleep.  Neil has a cold, so he is asleep in Finn's short bed, Spidey pillowcases and all. A mother bears witness, worries, loves.)

It is time to start preparing for the fall semester.  A beautiful tower of new books sits on one of my studio tables: Modernism, Art Since 1945, The Tradition of the New, Art and Objecthood, Expressionism, a new Dada anthology, Lucio Fontana, a collection of essays on sustainable design.  I want to teach 3D this year as survival arts: knitting, architecture, fire. 

On the Way to Michigan

Finn, Han, Daddy and me. 

Cha-ching

 

Taffeta Balloons and Quick Booklets

Apparently an old trick - apropos in this post-atomic age.
If you still have your prom dress
(and if you went to the prom between 1981 and 1994, there's taffeta somewhere on that sucker)
you can make balloons!

. . . . .

Today, I folded up some printer paper with my bone knife,
punched some holes in the "spine" with the tine of a fork,
and sewed through the holes with vintage rag yarn.

A quick little booklet for quick little drawings.

 

Sweet Home Spun

Sweet Home Spun