golding

autumn is late and the golding of trees seems pale and unhappy.

virginia creeper and a few red maples have flamed up,

but it's a weird late fall

mirroring the weirdness in this country.
hard frost forecast for tonight.

so i continue making art

in my corner of the adirondack foothills

an act of hope.

these goofy buckets? 

prizes from horse shows in the 90's

 my students continue to amaze me.

the papermaking, and this week volvelles

and this one who took barry's peace piece

and wears it with deep pride.

Quin explained how he and another student enlarged the holes

just enough to lace through a thick leather cord.

another student, eli, 

is making custom moulds after lee mcdonald.

~~~

on the kitchen counter of alchemical delights

turmeric ink, and black eyed susan leaf dye

and in the shadows an ancient one

judy serebrin's polar bear

guards the table that's not just for meals

and lovely ink from tim mclaughlin and shanna's rocks

a wee stack of indigo flax papers 

a skein of petal-dyed yarn.

to the right of these objects is a west window

that looks out on my back yard that decreases in size

 as the woods reaches in around the perimeter

 young deer learn that this place is a safe one

and they get used to me speaking
a little bit. 

i have always loved the ancient south american textiles

perhaps they mirror a politic as vicious as ours is now.

where our deepest language reveals our acceptance of 

injustice and misogyny.

when i look at these pieces

i don't try to understand much about their place in space and time, 

that's the work of the good scholars, not me,

i look at the color, the design, the weave/craft of the making

imagining what the whole cloth might have been like and how precious it must have been,

the many hours in the making,

their power and art.

these thoughts sustain me.

when i can turn my mind from the worldly worries.

~~~

and,

from the very great hedi kyle to all of us who fold paper into books and things:
it's out!

elissa showcased projects from this book and i have been a little envious of her.
also, i admire her like heck as she's blogged about the book 
while caring for her wee daughter.

i had a weekend workshop with the amazing hedi at syracuse university 
several years ago. 

she was a clear and kind teacher, 
generous with her huge understanding of the book arts.

if you're not familiar with hedi,

know that she is one of the greats 

who has taken the arts of the book to new places with her curiosity and work.

i had taken a stack of my papers for the weekend,

and hedi honored me by buying a bunch. 
~~~
modern weavers making a scaffolded warp...
keeps me thinking.

listening and students

i am listening today.

i will only say ugh. 

~~~

so i'll talk about my papermaking class.

eli likes to make things, 

he's taken to making tools like a duck to water!

 the big folder he fashioned from cow bones he sourced nearby.

he softened the edges and formed this tool. 

it's not exactly right for folding, so he made another tool, the small one above. 

between these two he can do a lot of book work.

and then he made four picks and one had a fault which he took advantage of.

he can tell you which one is best for his mandolin.

 so the Maiwa cloths, which sat patiently waiting for me to wash them out.

 there was very little dye loos and no color change that i saw.

ironing them was sweet.

 and another on my students, Roman, is a fiber worker.

he sourced nettles, t

hese arne't stinging nettles but a local unrelated nettle, 

but still a nettle (i am NOT a botanist)

 the first batch he brought was one thin strand, 

this is a bit more and such a glorious green

 he retted them i think he said not quite long enough, but was happy. 

i could barely keep my hands off eli's picks and roman's nettles, 

if they only knew how proud i am of their accomplishments!

these students are two of the handful from the Sustainability Program at SLU.

they live at a farm about 5 miles from campus and practice sustainability

as a house, a way of living for an entire school year.

Racheal is doing a second year I believe,

and my class is part of their program this fall.

they're highly motivated. 

these guys questioned me about the over-use of water for papermaking 

and the disposal of waste... 

they are thinking and doing young people. 

oh, and eli--he's onto making moulds now! 

i can't wait to see what he designs!