American Tapestry Biennial IX

Today I shipped the above tapestry, "August (or The Dog Days of Summer)" to the ninth American Tapestry Biennial.

About 20 years ago, I had a phone and email discussion with Marti Fleisher, the president of the then floundering American Tapestry Alliance. I was the exhibit chairperson of the first exhibit ATA would be hosting after it's reconstruction. It was an ambitious exhibit; to be shown in five venues across the US. I timidly (or maybe boldly) suggested that we call the exhibit the American Tapestry Biennial I, with the commitment implied that it would be an ongoing exhibit, to happen every two years. Marti said we should 'go for it.' So we did. I am SO proud that this exhibit is now being presented for the ninth time! I am prouder of that, because I wasn't sure a few times that it would continue, than I am of the fact that my work has now been juried into the exhibit for the fourth time. It has taken the concerted and generous efforts of a number of wonderful volunteer artists for it to continue and thrive. If you want to learn a LOT about tapestries, about galleries, about the jurying process, and even about yourself,  contact ATA and volunteer to be a part of one of the exhibits. You will not regret it. I never have.

ATB9 will be shown in two venues.

October 19 – December 16, 2012
The Dairy Barn Arts Center
8000 Dairy Lane
Athens, OH 45701-9393
www.dairybarn.org
Opening reception: Friday, October 19, 2012; 5:00-7:00pm

January 12 – February 23, 2013
Fort Wayne Museum of Art
311 East Main Street
Fort Wayne, IN 46802
(260) 422-6467
http://www.fwmoa.org/
Opening reception: Friday, January 18, 2013

If you are in either of the areas during exhibit time, and you get to attend the exhibit, I would love to see some photos!

There is a beautiful color catalog of the exhibit, and it is available here.

Before the Gold Rush...

I took this photo the last time we were up cutting wood at the lake. Yesterday's local front page headline announced that fall colors are nearing their peak, so I am assuming all these aspen trees have turned to gold by now.

I am frantically weaving the last few inches of the Nativity Tapestries, having already invited the commission church members to a cutting off for next Sunday evening. My house is a disaster, as I have been turning my back on it to weave the past several weeks, and I literally have to climb over things to get into the studio (of course, part of that is because I have to create ever higher barricades to keep Booker out, as he wants to be at my feet under the loom, and it just doesn't accommodate his size, OR his hair, which I try to keep out of the studio.)

My husband wants to go up at the end of this week and see the beautiful Colorado fall colors, and cut more wood. That means that I am shooting for not Sunday evening, but Wednesday, to have the tapestries woven AND the studio and house clean for the cutting off. 

Right now, I am obviously not at the loom. I have been there for the past three hours already this morning, so I'm taking a short lunch break, with Booker happily at my feet in the office. If things work out as planned, I'll share photos of the cutting off with you, as well as photos of the golden Colorado high country autumn later this week.

In the meantime, I hope the beginning of your autumn is truly lovely!

You are invited....

Today I'd rather be....

here.

Or here.

Or any of these places, really.

 

 

... But I'm not. I'm in my studio, weaving like a good little worker bee.  Although I'm not sure bees weave, but you know what I mean.

(Extra points for you if you can guess where some of these places are!)

The last Peace of summer...

Yesterday I noticed that my Peace rose had a bloom. I cut it and put it in an empty Port bottle, which I've saved because my son and his wife brought us the port from Portugal, and we had toasted their then-new PhD status with it.

All day long, as I took breaks from the loom to eat or drink or stretch, the rose called to my camera. First it said, 'look at the beautiful water drops I've collected from the sprinklers!'

Then, after I'd set it in the kitchen window to keep Gus from dumping it for the joy of seeing water spill (one of his favorite past-times), it called, 'look at the light, making me glow!' (The kitchen window was calling, 'look at how badly I need to be washed before winter comes!')

I took a dozen photos of the rose. And maybe I was just making my loom breaks longer, because I deleted most of the photos this morning.

After working several looooooong days this past week, I met my weaving goal for the week. (Yea, me!) I will probably not be sharing photos of the two tapestries now until they are cut off, which I am determined will be at the end of the month. I have 7" left to weave on both tapestries to reach the top, then a hem on each, before I cut off.  All of the faces are woven, now I have a 'mille fleur' area to weave on each.... well, maybe not mille fleurs, but it will feel like it before they are all woven, I am sure.

Maybe it's all those flowers ahead to be woven that drew my attention to the Peace rose. Or maybe it is just that I see it as a last goodbye to the season, and one more plea by the living earth for Peace.

More progress on Nativity tapestries...

I am making progress, though progress slowed by Life, on the Nativity tapestries. There is abit less than 10" left to weave to reach the top. My hope is to have it done by the end of the month, though I am not in a position to commit to that goal right now.

I will keep working until they are eventually done! That is all I can commit to today.....

Memorial....

TS Eliot said that April is the cruelest month. But, much as I love the fall, sometimes it feels like September can be pretty cruel, as well.

The tapestry above is the small tapestry I wove for the 9-11 Memorial Tapestry. There is more about this piece here.

Summer's end....

I know summer is not yet over, but it is waning. I know that to be true, because my creative energies are increasing! Fall is always my most creative time of year. I don't know why, but I do acknowledge that the seasons affect me. Summer makes me cranky and lazy; fall finds me with a frantic need to create new things, overflowing with ideas; winter is my time to be productive. It is my mule-work time. And spring sends me outside, wanting to sketch, travel, and grow with the garden.

We were at the cabin for the first few days of this US holiday weekend. The hummingbirds are not yet gone, even there in the mountains. But they are spending as much time filling up at the feeder as they can, getting ready for the long trip south that will come very soon. This one let me photograph him several times. The second photo, face-on, could be any bird, without the view of his long beak or the brightly colored feathers of his backside. He was almost as curious about me as I was of him. Or maybe he was annoyed that I disrupted his drinking time? 

I love to take photos of the hummers, and have way too many in my photo files. But it is such a challenge to capture such tiny, fast-moving creatures. I just can't resist grabbing the camera with the long lens on when they are around.

Last summer, my husband  found a H.U.G.E. spruce tree, waaaaay up a bumpy road on the other side of the mountain. It had a double trunk, and had fallen right by the road. We cut and brought back to the cabin a truck load last year, but there was a lot of the tree left. So we had to go back for more. It was still there, so this time, we brought back two truck loads. Each of these logs are about my arms length across. They will dry over the winter under a blanket of snow, then he will split them next summer. This winter, we'll be burning what we brought back last summer. Can you look at the photo and almost smell the forest at the top of the mountain?

This little guy is my proof that the summer is ending. Booker watches the chipmunks closely from our cabin window. They are stuffing their little cheeks as fast as they can with the fallen scrub oak acorns, stashing them away for the winter ahead. I hope their industry is an indication that we will have a real winter this year, unlike the poor excuse for winter we had last year!