January 30
"Moving Time"
I've started packing in preparation to leave Penland in a few weeks.
It has gotten me doing a lot of thinking and reminiscing about my last two years
which I won't bore you with here.
What I will say is...
HOLY CRAP
I've been able to do some amazing trades,
and over the next few days I'll show you a few of my favorites.
First things first, this morning I was drinking coffee from my Maria Dondero cup- a sweet pea potter living in Athens, Georgia who worked with us in the garden for her session at Penland...
I traded an orange felt book for this little lovely.
Here is her website
I especially like this yellow flower mug, and this blue berry mug
I also can't get enough of my 2009 Penland Auction Mug made by everyone's favorite
Clay studio coordinator, Core Student Alumni, donut lover, all around hilarious and lovely lady.
January 29
"New Journals"
Hello friends. I have lots of new blank books available via my etsy store.
A few coptic styles, a few wood covers, and a few leather bound.
Spread the word...
January 28
"Upping the Stakes"
From this month's Orion Magazine (My amazing brother got me a subscription for the holidays) THIS ARTICLE put me in good mood and got me scheming. I love the writing of Derrick Jensen because he's a straight shooter, articulate, sharp as a tack.
"A lot of the indigenous people with whom I’ve worked have said to me that the first and most important thing any of us needs to do is decolonize our hearts and minds. Decolonization is the process of breaking your identity with and loyalty to this culture—industrial capitalism specifically, and more broadly civilization—and remembering your identification with and loyalty to the real physical world, including the land where you live. It means re-examining premises and stories this culture handed down to you. It means seeing the harm this culture does to other cultures, and to the planet. It means recognizing that we are living on stolen land. It means recognizing that the luxuries of this way of life do not come free, but rather are paid for by other humans, by nonhumans, by the whole world. It means recognizing that we do not live in a functioning democracy, but rather in a corporate plutocracy, a government by, for, and of corporations. Decolonization means recognizing that neither technological progress nor increased GNP is good for the planet. It means recognizing that this culture is not good for the planet. Decolonization means internalizing the implications of the fact that this culture is killing the planet. It means determining that we will stop this culture from doing that. It means determining that we will not fail."
Oh just read the whole thing...
The January/February interview/article with kevin kelly of wired magazine is also uber interesting and had me thinking about things I would never have considered otherwise.
Oh, Orion Magazine, I do love you.
January 25
"New Paintings"
Some only okay photographs of my new paintings in the "Other Possibilities" show at St. Andrew's Sewanee.
From the series "Daily Paintings" (above)
From the Series Steady as She Goes (above)
From the Series Tellers of Tall Tales (above)
January 22
"A Few Pics From the Road"
Sewanee, Tennessee
January 17
"On the Road"
I'll be traveling to Sewanee Tennessee tomorrow with
Margaret
and
Mark
to teach a few book and zine workshops at St. Andrews School.
The Shoestring Artist's Collective also has a show in the gallery
at St. Andrews School and the official opening is Thursday, if you happen to live in the Chattanooga area...
January 15
"The Content of Our Character"
Happy Birthday to Martin Luther King Jr.
Born this day in 1929
"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered." MLK
I listened to the speech King gave on April 4 1967 at The New York City Riverside Church for the first time today. The speech addresses the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War and while it is a call to the government it is also a call to the people to raise their voices in protest. I am amazed by what a great man MLK was. I am amazed how little we learn from our own history as a country. I am sure we still have a long way to go.
"A time comes when silence is betrayal." That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.
The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on." MLK
You can view King's speech in its entirety here.
January 12
"Go Away Winter"
Don't get me wrong... there have been some amazingly beautiful winter weather moments
here in the past several weeks but all of the cold weather has me wishing I was unemployed
in the summers instead of the winters...
My friend Ele has a sweet little blog entitled.... go away winter.
I like looking at her weekly sketches. She'll be joining the new crew of Core Fellows at Penland
where she too will have many a busy summer days of workin' and makin' and many a short winter days off.
A few warm images.
/
I'm in the process of making a little book of these images and more....
January 7
"Grow, Make, Build"
In the fall I printed a series of three postcards for The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina. Each postcard is a reductive linoleum print with handset type. All printed on a Vandercook Letterpress on recycled paper.
"The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina promotes and expands regional philanthropy and develops local funds that address changing needs and opportunities in the 18 counties of Western North Carolina"
Building Community
Making an Impact
Growing Together
Backsides
January 6
"Prints and Donuts"
That's right... someone has finally combined two of my greatest passions...
Prints & Donuts
but seriously...
There are two great shows opening at the Hillyer Art Space January 8th in Washington D.C.
JustSeeds: Paper Politics for a New Decade
and Adjunct/Disjunct: a show of work by some amazing artists who are also adjunct
teachers in universities around the D.C. area.
Deeper Than Mechanics Dare
Bec Young
If you are in the D.C. area you should go to this event because they are serving donuts...
I also have a new print in the show.
January 4
"Shoestring!"
Announcing
The Shoestring Artist's Collective
in the gallery of St. Anderew's School in Sewanee Tennessee
I have a set of letterpress prints on handmade and rusted paper in the show
along with some paintings and books.
Lovely Mark and Margaret installed the show over the weekend and if officially opened today in the SAS Gallery.
Mark has posted some pictures on Shoestring Blog. and we will be updating that site with more photos of the exhibit and workshop that happens in correspondence in late January.
To read more about the show's participants, details, and workshop click HERE.
January 2
"Resolutions"
"That is my only virtue as I see it,
Ability to wait and hold my own
And keep my own resolves once they are made
In spite of what the smarter people say.
I can't be smart the way that they are smart.
I've known that since I was an ugly child.
It teaches you- to be an ugly child.
It teaches you- to lose a thing you love.
It sticks your roots down into Sangamon ground
And makes you grow when you don't want to grow
And makes you tough enough to wait life out,
Wait like the fields, under the rain and snow."
-Stephen Vincent Benet