yes

secret language

(image sources here)

still life with crystals and christmas

our handmade world

"We didn’t have a storyboard. We just took for granted that each of us would do our part. When Robert asked me to come over to shoot the film on Bond Street, he said he had a surprise for me. I laid a cloth on the floor, placing the fragile white dress Robert had given me, my white ballet shoes, Indian ankle bells, silk ribbons, and the family Bible, and tied it all in a bundle. I felt ready for our task and walked to his loft.

I was elated to see what Robert had prepared for me. It was like coming home to Brooklyn when he would transform a room into a living installation. He had created a mythic environment, draping the walls with white netting with nothing before it but a statue of Mephistopheles.

I set my bundle down and Robert suggested that we take MDA. I was not really sure what MDA was but wholly trusted Robert so I agreed. As we entered the film, I wasn’t really conscious of whether it had an effect or not. I was too focused on my role in the project. I put on the white dress and the ankle bells, leaving the bundle open on the floor. These things were on my mind: the Revelations, Communication. Angels. William Blake. Lucifer. Birth. As I talked, Lisa rolled film and Robert took stills. He wordlessly guided me. I was an oar in the water and his the steady hand.

At one point, I decided to pull down the netting, in effect destroying what he created. I reached up and gripped the edge of the net and froze, physically paralyzed, unable to move, unable to speak. Robert rushed toward me and put his hand on my wrist, holding it there until he felt me relax. He knew me so well that without saying a word he communicated that everything was all right.

The moment passed. I wrapped the net around me, and looked at him, and he shot that moment in motion. I took off the fragile dress and the bells from my ankles. I put on my dungarees, field marshal boots, my old black sweatshirt–my work clothes–and gathered everything else in the cloth, and threw the bundle over my shoulder.

In the narration of the film, I had explored ideas that Robert and I often discussed. The artist seeks contact with his intuitive sense of the gods, but in order to create his work, he cannot stay in this seductive and incorporeal realm. He must return to the material world in order to do his work. It’s the artist’s responsibility to balance mystical communication and the labor of creation.

I left Mephistopheles, the angels, and the remnants of our handmade world, saying, “I choose Earth.”

- from "just kids" by patti smith

diamond patterns

(image sources here)

still life with fabric scraps and citrus

i'm always making things...

new rug sculpture

(in progress)

rainy day random

(image sources here)

clay lace

tabletop objects

pillows

rug

jen pack

the top two pieces by jen pack are in the show "recrafting history" at taylor de cordoba.

they are made from tiny scraps of chiffon, stitched together and stretched on a wood frame. i love the basket-like shapes- the pieces wouldn't be as interesting as rectangles.

baskets as textile art

from the book "baskets as textile art" by ed rossbach.

taking photos of pages in the library seems to be a good alternative to lugging home a heavy book and then scanning... though now i can't remember why the last image was included in the book.

robert gober sinks

one year!

i just realized that october 12th was the one year anniversary of this blog! i never would have predicted that it would last this long.... i love having a meeting place for the art, images, ideas, and random findings that inform my creative life.

here is some work by the artists i talked about in my first post; mark manders (top two) and robert gober (bottom two).