Quick link today so I can get going and appease the demanding feathered masses. This is a list of 10 Books Every Creator Needs to Read by Ellie MacBride. I've read some, but certainly not all, and look forward to catching up. A good book about creativity and the process of making art is like food and water for the creative journey. It is easy to get dehydrated and hungry as we plow forth, day after day, in search of our elusive best. Books like these help us see that the journey itself matters, and how moving through it with new insights can bring even greater rewards. Cheers to others sharing their experiences so everyone can grow. Thank you, Patreon, too!
Happy Saturday! I have an extended morning today as my first class can't make it today. It was so nice to go to sleep last night knowing I could let myself wake up naturally...still, the eyes popped open at 6am. Too much sleep isn't good for RA as the pain and stiffness felt in the morning after sleeping for a long time can be tough to work through. Hence the fact that it is now 7:22 and I am still parked in front of the computer with a million things to do, unfed and ticked off birds, and sleeping dogs that are used to the routine. Yesterday my ankles, the most recent sustenance for a focused RA attack, were out of commission and visibly swollen last night and needed some time to themselves. Sigh.
Quick link today so I can get going and appease the demanding feathered masses. This is a list of 10 Books Every Creator Needs to Read by Ellie MacBride. I've read some, but certainly not all, and look forward to catching up. A good book about creativity and the process of making art is like food and water for the creative journey. It is easy to get dehydrated and hungry as we plow forth, day after day, in search of our elusive best. Books like these help us see that the journey itself matters, and how moving through it with new insights can bring even greater rewards. Cheers to others sharing their experiences so everyone can grow. Thank you, Patreon, too!
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Recertification blues. As part of the new teaching licensure and recertification rules (they change all the time!) every teacher needs 15 pdp's in SEI (Sheltered English Instruction) and 15 in Special Education each certificate cycle. Professional Development Points are equivalent to one hour per point, only counting in groups of fifteen or more. So, a full day workshop doesn't count unless you can group it with another to meet the 15. Get it? Oy. To make it more interesting, SEI courses are not available everywhere. The state offered free courses to "Core Subject" academic teachers through this spring with no further plans to offer more. Art is not a "Core Subject." My district offered one class option this spring as well, but I had a scheduling conflict. Again, the course will most likely not be offered again. I looked around last night for possible workshops this summer and only found one in Dartmouth, MA or Northampton, MA. Ummmm....not going to work. There are no online offerings for such training. Not to mention that workshops are now going to cost money to take them. Am grateful that I have only one or two renewals left in my public teaching career! I agree that taking classes can be beneficial (though I have taken and paid for some that have delivered zero growth) -- finding them and being able to take them is tough for me. I wonder what the DOE will think of next... All this makes me want to make a doll. And a quilted thing for the wall. And a collage. And a really intricate pencil drawing. And maybe even a nice Real Quilt. And some beaded jewelry. Maybe some clay work. Definitely some prints. And some dyed fabric. And, and, and... Sigh. The end! Ah, summer is on the horizon. I remind myself of this as I am bombarded with end of the year tasks already -- preparing budgets, MCAS and PARCC testing schedules, preparing professional year end review materials, and looking towards final units of study. Seven weeks. My wonderful student teacher finishes on Friday, which is sad, but I am so happy for her as she is a sweetheart with a load of potential for helping children grow and prosper. I hope I have helped her enough to show her the multifaceted nature of art teaching in a public school system. Hawaii is offering teaching jobs to people. They are desperate. It's a thought. Though the standard of living is really high there, wouldn't it be fun to retire to the tropical clime? And still teach? Hmmmm. Hee hee. How do parrots do on airplanes? Today is a day for putting the shoulder to the wheel and grinding through a huge amount of work at school. Preparing art orders for the upcoming year usually takes a full two weeks. They are needed by Friday, and lists we need to order from came in yesterday. Oyvey! Do you know how many different items art teachers have to order? And find the best price on? A study in minutia. For an art link today, a quick link to a cool site that sells all sorts of vintage cloth figures -- Ruby Lane. Really neat examples! High end cloth doll figures at collectible prices. Cheerful little things! Happy Wednesday! Simple post today as I am running late. Again off the ever-growing site Textileartist.org. As actual snow is expected to hit us today, something colorful is on the menu. Artist Jan Huling is perfect. She uses a massive amount of beads to embellish dimensional forms, using glue instead of thread. My Virgo self could never do this (lol) but I appreciate the design and craftsmanship of her amazing work. Her interview presents a practical working artist without a massive backlog of conceptual "blah blah," which is also refreshing. I wonder how much her sculptures weigh...oi!
Early start to the day. Up at 3:30! Am dreading the afternoon energy drop, but despite trying to go back to sleep, I was awake during the wee hours. I think I tried to turn over in my sleep and a stiff back and legs didn't agree with the maneuver, so I woke up with ouchies. Guaranteed to be a long day with grumpy kids today, and my student teacher texted that she will be out with a cold today. Poor kiddo. I will try to get to school a bit early to catch up and get ready for the day. Seven weeks until vacation! Before going to sleep I perused Pinterest and Ebay with little luck looking for dolls like the ones I found yesterday. I did see some that were like the little legless one, and that it is most likely a "stump doll" from the civil war era. I would bet the others are from the same time period as there is little or no machine sewing on them, and only one has some synthetic materials on them -- some rick rack that might have been added later? Beautiful little things. I need to take time and make a Pinterest page for my figures soon as the collection has now grown to include so many neat little things. Must share! Maybe someone can teach me something about what these little gems are. Between the slides and the dolls, I am thinking of an idea for a fabric doll with a light up cavity in its heart area that illuminates a slide image. Not quite like the ET figure here, but the image isn't far off. Instead of plain glowing shape, there would be art! Talk about bringing art history to life!! The outer figure could relate to the art inside it. Or, maybe the slide could be changed, giving the doll a new vibe and meaning with each selection? Could come with a set of slides that relate to the doll's theme? This could be funnnnnnnnn....A pocket on the front where a slide could be inserted and the plastic icky part hidden...maybe I can gut a flameless candle for the light source and switch, and go from there...oooohhh likey likey. The could have arms that connect to each other in a chain fashion so you could string them together like string lights. Might have to try this. And the embellishments would glitter in the lights. Must at least draw this one out. Oh, the things we can make in this world. I need three lifetimes as I still need to bag leaves after school should I be awake and should I feel good enough to get it done. Tomorrow is curbside yard waste collection day, and for the first time ever, I have a ton to put out. It feels so good to be able to do this kind of thing myself after so long of being out of commission. So grateful for the sunshine and spring. Cheers. This has been such a great week. Started with a nice sunny day, and has ended with one that is just as beautiful. Today Tim and I went up to Rowley to the Todd Farm flea market. More stuff there than can be seen in one day. I like it because while it has a great amount of recognized antiques, there are gems to be found, as well. Last summer we found a brass parrot sculpture there. I love the fun and nostalgia of looking at other people's "good junk." Sometimes just the right junk for just the right price becomes my special junk! The universe must have been listening to my thoughts this week. I spent a good deal of time on Pinterest looking at the art dolls of Cecile Perra the other day, loving the irregular shapes and asymmetry of her highly tactile figures. Really fun, mysterious, and even a little creepy. Today I came across three different tables with little cloth figures waiting for me. Antique handmade dolls, that I love. Two were most either Persian or Indian, one was a Turkish Ottoman (with a silk hat, no less!) and then a poor little one without hair and missing half a leg under her skirt. As the lady that had her said, as she charged me $2 for the little wounded lady, "She can hop." Prices were more than fair and I loved the spirits of these little figures. The one with a torn leg actually is cool because I can see what she was stuffed with -- tightly packed threads and strings. Most of this group was hand sewn, and the ones in the middle are especially beautiful. I think they are a couple. Heading back to the car, we passed a man packing up his lot who had a good looking hand roller mower. At first he said $35, then when I didn't have that much he lowered the cost to the cash on hand Tim and I did have...$29. I've been looking on Craigs' list for a couple weeks, thinking this is the best way to go for me and my small lawn this summer with no one to mow it. The cheapest one I saw was about $50. So, technically, the dolls were free! Don't you love female rationalization? Works for me!
It was so nice to just get out and walk around in the sunshine. When we came back Tim insisted on chopping back an overgrown bush using a hacksaw, knowing it would take me hours to do the same thing with my lopers. That is kindness. (Thank you!) Spring is here, the sun is out, I'm getting dirty outside every day, and life is good. My back is good. My legs and feet suck, but one can't have everything!! Cheers! Poor Prince. Honestly his music and image never grabbed me, but I respect the fact that he was a good songwriter and performer. Ironically he was anti-drug and took care of himself physically, which makes the suggestion that pain med overdoes as a cause of death even more sad. He had numerous pain issues in his hips and legs, and whether his use of percocet became recreational or he just developed tolerance and took more than he was supposed to, it doesn't matter. Another creative spark extinguished through physical pain. If he was taking enough to require hospitalization earlier in the week, my guess is that it wasn't being used for pain management. Sad case. What a year for musical losses! Maybe that just means I am getting older and all my role models and icons are becoming more vulnerable to the cost of age. One day we are here, one day we are not. Why aren't we all living daily with that understanding? Our lives get so complicated with so many things -- work, family, friendships, finances, interests, entertainments, world and local news, pets, even weather. So many things that need thinking about every day mask the fact that we are all just here for a ride, and despite our best efforts at trying to control it, eventually we will just fall off. And disappear into the ether. We aren't allowed to know when, which makes it essential that we don't take days for granted. Live, love, be. Repeat. Philosophy class over! For art today, I was floored by the GORGEOUS fabric books by Jane McKeating that Judy Hartman posted on Facebook yesterday. Fresh, well crafted, and so drawing based. This led me to an all out search of her artwork and I found it really interesting. She integrates technology with her textiles by making large and small scale prints of drawings and then embellishing them with stich. Her machine stitching is drawing. I think when I do the EGUK certificate I want to do the machine stitching module first. I love how McKeating integrates the organic with the regularity of the stitched line. Beautiful work and very inspiring! On my creative plate are many things -- a large pot that is being embroidered in preparation for beading, a moth that is waiting for quilting, and about a million other things involving printing on fabric, some using text and images found in historic publications. The ideas never end, and can be daunting in favor of the things that make up life. If only I didn't need sleep...sigh. Onward! Cheers. Up with the geese this morning, and grateful Busy day ahead. At least a couple of honkers flew overhead at 5 a.m. shouting their loudest. Felt like they were right outside my window as my windows were open. Man, they can be loud. Between the foxes, bunnies, ducks, and geese, I love living here and experiencing the seasons with all these neat critter-interactions. As if I didn't have enough of this in my house! Last day of vacation...sigh. It has truly been a good one where I feel like I made a dent in my house. Still so much to do, but at least I've started.
In thinking of what to do with the "Wellesly Hoard," I came across this link. Nope, not these beauties, at least not yet. Artist Nick Gentry assembles quilt-like structures from outdated technology such as slides and floppy disks (remember those?) and then paints on the surface. Neat imagery and cool grounds. Hmmmm....must remember this for the upcoming collage on canvas class. Some much art, so little time! Onward. Cheers. Artists, by nature, often harbor an obsessive component that makes them good at what they choose to do. The ability to "go deep" with a media or process, is often a key component in the making of innovative artwork. This isn't much different than a stellar scientist, or language superstar. What is different with artists is that the obsessions can be, well, downright odd. Eric Maisel (fabulous leader in the Creative Coaching industry) has written about this. The stereotypical artist is typecast as a bit eccentric. Why do I write this? Well, I just literally hauled home at least 25,000 glass art slides and their steel cabinets from a recycle center. Most likely more. Go ahead and ask -- WHY? As I sit stiffly this morning, reflecting on the overwhelming weight of these things and the strain it put on my bod just to get the seventeen steel units to the curb, where they sat out overnight, I both scratch my head in curiosity, but feel giddy like a five year old in a candy shop. Glittering, lovely glass images that can be projected in full beauty on a bare wall. The way we learned for so many generations. Maybe in a generation or two they might have value, but then again, maybe they won't. This is the art slide collection of the Art Department of Wellesly College (I wrote about it over the weekend.) The recycle center where these ended up said there were a lot more, but have been taken. I can only imagine the size and depth of their collection, if I "rescued" only a portion. Some slides are in approximate order, others are all mixed up. I spent a few hours last night looking through them...and...learning. That is the best part. This collection is like one big art book! With 25,000 pages, and even more stories to tell. It is the reverse of the Internet -- instead of finding whatever *might* be available online, often in sound-bite depth and complete with copyright exclusions, art experts teaching college level courses assembled these collections. Every slide is carefully labelled, and many bear the source of the image or slide. It is amazing what I've seen so far. This IS history. And it is beautiful treasure. When I got to the recycle center for the second carload of cabinets, I was told there were lots of extra slides from the collection in shoeboxes. Someone was looking at them and discussing how they were going to hot glue them together and make a dress. I shuddered. Into the cart went the seventeen shoe boxes. I had to become a member of the recycle center, which I did not expect to have to do, but overall I think it is worth it in the long run. A good link today from the Creativity Post on what it takes to be creative -- how it is more than just endurance. Or practice. How it is messy. How it involves following the uncertain road and combining previously unassociated paths. The post articulates the difference for me between art forms that require replication and art forms that require invention. Very relevant -- who knows what one of these images can spark for me artistically? I remember a long time ago I spent what was a fortune for me on an art book, and how I came home and showed it to my mother and told her how bad I felt because it was so expensive. She told me that I should never feel that way -- that you can't put a price on learning, and if a book is important to that learning, it is never a waste. I still remember that conversation clearly and treasure it. Once something is learned, it can't be taken away. Who knows how these images can be shared and teach people, now that they have been salvaged from a junk heap? So, this crazy, heavy lot of slides (about the same price as that book from 25 years ago) will teach me things I otherwise never would have known. I will consider it a Mother's Day gift from my pets. Justification is everything. Hapi greeted me this morning with the sweetest, softest chirp of a song bird he must have heard outside. As I scratched his head, he repeated it several times and I thought I had a sparrow in the room. Then he yelled "OKAY! ALRIGHT! TOAST!" and I knew I had to move along. Sigh. I think caring for this brood is worth a little educational treat, even if it weighs more than my car. They are tough customers. Cheers! Little dip in the flow yesterday. Instead of giving in to pain and fatigue that had accelerated by noon to bad levels, I pretended I was at work and organized art supplies in my front room. It was colder out than I expected, and the mental busywork let me finish listening to a really good thriller book by Mo Hayder - The Devil of Nanking. How she thinks of this gory stuff is beyond me. Then I had no choice but to nap for a bit to let the legs and arms calm down, and let the brain fog ease up a bit. Had gone to my doctor's appointment in the morning to find that the hole in my back is, as I thought, still quite large and icky. The doctor put a postage stamp sized piece of filmy substance in there to dissolve to get cells motivated to grow. I hope they listen. This is an adventure. RA aside, a busy day ahead. Even though pain woke me up at 3am and wouldn't let go until about 5. My neighbors photographed a pair of beautiful red foxes in their yard around supper time and I heard them calling to each other around 4am. A plaintive, sad kind of wail. I google'd fox cries to verify that indeed it was them, to find that the specific cry I heard is called a "Vixen's Cry." It used to be thought that only females made it to attract mates, but since it's been learned that both genders use the cry to find each other. Once I read that I thought it was more cute than scary. I could imagine them tromping around the swamp under a full moon saying "Where are you, darling?" They are robust and healthy foxes, and since they eat vermin, they are more than welcome here! Coffeeee! I am dropping off old towels for the Northeast Animal Shelter this morning, and then will visit my special place to see what slides and cabinets are there, and if it is worth snagging the collection. Then off for the four month follow up appointment with Dr. Whitmore this afternoon. At least it is a gorgeous day, my car's top will be down. Tonight I am taking one of my weekend students to the MFA in Boston, which will be a blast. Her reactions to things always surprise me and make me laugh. I plan to be really hurting by then, so if I am not, it will be a bonus. Onward!! Quick non-narcissistic image of a fox quilt, pulled from Pinterest -- artist Kelly Davis, maybe? Hard to tell. Cheers. |
AuthorAmy Ropple is an artist and art educator who believes engaging in visual art can make life happier and more meaningful. This blog is a daily journal of creative habits and interests, as well as reflections on living with chronic autoimmune disease. Archives
January 2017
CategoriesDisclaimer: Yes, there may be parrots on this site. I live with five of them and they tend to work their way into everything I do!
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