Thursday, March 19, 2020

From a Distance...

A lot has happened since I last posted here. The opening for my exhibit at The Zesty Moose here in Grand Junction was very nice, but count on me to have an exhibit while everything is shutting down! At least 2 of the small tapestries did sell during the opening weekend, and what doesn't sell there will be listed on my Etsy site at the end of the month. I'll keep you posted on that.


In the meantime, I finally finished this small 8x10" tapestry, "Neighborhood Watch," for the American Tapestry Alliance small tapestries exhibit, Renditions, to be held (fingers crossed) at Convergence in Tennessee this coming summer. This was a very 'fiddley' bit of weaving, but I have found that, especially in times of stress, the fiddlier the better! This is of our two kittens, Ringo and Poe, keeping watch over our world.


Earlier this week, with our self-quarantine in mind, we made our annual drive to see if we could see some of the Sandhill Cranes that migrate through western Colorado. There is a reservoir about an hour from here where the cranes arrive in groups in the evening, spend the night, then wait for the warm winds the next morning to help lift them up over the Grand Mesa. Four years ago, we saw a huge group of them lift off. The next year, we somehow missed it altogether, siting just a few crane couples in the fields. Last March, we saw a fairly large group (several hundreds) in a field, but it was snowing, so they didn't even try to go anywhere.


Sunday night, we saw a post online that about 2,000 cranes had arrived at the reservoir by sundown. So Monday morning we got up early and grabbed our binoculars and cameras. We saw several groups here and there, but sited the group of 2,000 in the same cornfield they'd been in 4 years before. We settled in at an overlook between the cornfield and the Mesa. At about 11:00, a group of 5 cranes circled over the field, signaling that it was time to go. The cranes all started rising, and in groups of 50-150, they rose up over us, in a raucous chorus; the most amazing sight and sound!



Within about 20 minutes the cornfield was empty, the sky was full of cranes, circling in ever higher loops, catching the winds that would lift them over the Mesa, on to their next stop.  I turned to a couple who were watching from a ways away and said, "I needed that today."  The man just nodded, and his wife said, "Yes." We all had tears in our eyes. What a blessing to see that, no matter how crazy the world seems to get from our perspective, in reality, there is order, there is routine, there are still things to fill us with wonder.





Wednesday, March 4, 2020

I've been as busy as a tapestry weaver putting together an exhibit!


I have a small exhibit through this month (March) at a local wine bar/gallery. The pieces in this exhibit are mostly small, and many have never been seen outside my studio. I loved pulling these little tapestries out of hiding, mounting and framing them, and bringing them into the light of day! They have been clamoring to be seen for such a long while!


In addition to the more than a dozen small tapestries, I have hung a few of the Calendar Tapestries and a couple of large tapestries, just for contrast.


The building this exhibit is in was built as a blacksmith shop in 1905. It is downtown here in Grand Junction, on a street that was once old bars and shoe repair shops, but is now Brew Pubs, this wine bar and gourmet shop, and the local (Colorado Mesa University) Art Gallery, next door.


There will be a First Friday Artist's Reception this coming Friday evening. First Fridays are hosted by all the local galleries, with art lovers going from one to the next. The weather is supposed to be glorious, and the dreaded virus has not yet hit Colorado (all fingers crossed for it to stay away completely!)  So, if you are in the area, come see me... and a bit of my work!


String Theory

  Ok, I don’t know anything about string theory, except maybe what I see on The Big Bang. But there is an excellent fiber exhibit right now ...