Great Expectations

I have had some pretty intense expectations for myself this month: I was going to blog every day, use travel as a theme, finish the work for two shows, hang two shows, apply to Portland Open Studios, teach Artmaking as Playful Prayer, work on a bunch of things for my marketing group, start on revising my book, and on and on . . .

Well, let's just say that I haven't exactly met my own expectations. I've managed to miss blogging on 8 of the 16 days this month so far (on the upside, I did blog 8 of the 16 days, and managed to tie most of them to travel - easy, since just about everything connects to travel!). I completely screwed up the deadline for Open Studios (what? they need me to mail the checks? I thought I could fill out the whole thing on-line at the last minute!). I got the shadowbox done for Mad/50, but had yet to finish four pieces by the time I had to go hang the show at CubeSpace. Yesterday afternoon. Oh, and one piece broke on the way over. Uh-huh. So, spent the day finishing up a few pieces. And getting a few pieces ready to finish tomorrow.

I've been letting myself down. I still haven't moved my database and my newsletters into Constant Contact. I haven't updated my website in a few weeks. I have a to-do list as long as my arm. But damn, even though I didn't finish everything, I had a great time in the studio last week! And the Mad/50 install went really well . . . I really like the way it looks in the space, even though I really wasn't sure about it at first . . .


There won't be an official "opening party," but I encourage you to take a walk in SE Portland and visit - maybe drop by MUSE at 4224 SE Hawthorne for some art supplies, then jog up a few blocks to Madison and 50th to see the shadowbox installation.


But oh boy, expectations are dangerous. I almost didn't enjoy myself in the studio because I was so busy beating myself up for what I wasn't getting done. I forgot for a moment to listen to what I was working on and what I really wanted . . . This happens, too, when I start a piece sometimes . . . I have too many expectations for what the piece is supposed to look like ("Oh, it'll be brilliant!" or "It must work in this particular space" or "Oh this piece is going to be about blah") and I forget to pay attention to what the piece is telling me.

It's sort of like being on vacation and getting so caught up in the fact that the shower runs on salt water, and that the airline lost your luggage, and that breakfast only includes toast and forgetting to look out the window and see the ocean. Glowing.

Maybe I'll just let go of the expectations. For a little while.

Travel Work: In Process

I take a lot of photos when I travel - some good, some not so good. From August of 2001 to March of 2002, I spent time traveling in Southeast Asia - Cambodia, Bali, Thailand, Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia. I have a lot of photos of that time, and I've been wanting to do something with them. A few months ago, I took an image transfer on fabric class, and I've been playing with the different techniques using some of those photos.

This past week has been a studio-intensive week, and I've been trying to get a few of the SE Asia "Baggage" pieces (as I think of them) in a state where I could display them. This piece includes some of my photos and collected emphemera from Nepal along with some of my hand-printed fabric. It still needs to be quilted and have a hanging sleeve, so there's no way it's going to be ready to hang this weekend:



But this piece, which features photos I took while visiting Angkor Wat in Cambodia, just needs a little bit more detail work, some stitching, and then to be stretched on canvas stretchers, as I'm not going to quilt it. This one I'm hoping to have ready.

Ok, back to the studio!

Traveling in Cycles: Feeling Spring!

The Mayans recognized that we experience time moving not only in a cycle, but also in a line. Now, we tend to travel in a line and forget the cycles. I don't know about you, but I've had reminders all week of that cycle of death, renewal, and growth that is the seasons . . . Spring may not officially start until next week, but I'm seeing signs of it right now in my own back yard: the tree (cherry? plum?) is budding . . .

And blooming.

The squirrels are looking fat and sassy . . .

And focused. Very focused.

And Collage on Alberta, the art store in my proverbial back yard, just got in a groovy shipment of embossed paper birds and butterflies perfect for springtime assemblage . . .

And in the midst of this cycle unfolding, I'm hurtling towards a linear time deadline.

I'm hanging two shows this weekend - the shadowbox at Mad/50 and a collection of recent work (including encaustic, fiber, and assemblage) at CubeSpace. There's a lot to get ready for - and even though the evidence of spring has made it a lot easier to get up in the morning, I'm still feeling a bit overwhelmed. I have a stack of ideas for the blog, things I want to share with you, and nifty travel stories. And we'll get there. Right now, though, I've had to prioritize: my mind is moving in dizzy circles - putting final coats of medium on this piece, gluing this bit on there, prepping that piece for hanging, stitching another bit down while the glue dries over there . . . and trying very hard not to get too distracted by shiny things like squirrels and flowers and cool new collage ephemera.

Frankly, I'm feeling a bit squirrel-like myself.

In a good, focussed kind of way.

But Before International Women's Day . . .

There was the Craft 06 Release party! I was only able to drop by for few moments, but I still got to see Sister Diane, gape at Susan "West Coast Crafty" live and in person (too shy to say hello) and meet Moxie - the lady behind the oh-so-friendly cover creatures on this issue #06 of Craft: (photo by the lovely Leethal)


But even cooler than the cuddly Moxie monsters are the marvelously mischievous felted bunnies available on her etsy shop. She will make them into rings or pins for you . . .
I am going over right now to order mine . . .

Portland International Women's Day

The Portland International Women's Day on Sunday was wonderful . . . I set up my little table and tempted folks with jewelry and crafty doodads and information about classes; chatted with some lovely ladies from Siren Nation, who are planning another big festival here in Portland celebrating women in the local arts scene; drooled over earrings made from recycled skateboards from MapleXO; and bought Persepolis from representatives of my local independent women's bookstore, In Other Words. It was also a great excuse to wear some of my jewelry from K Robbins, which I traded for years ago at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival . . . this was during my other life as Banshee Designs. I haven't made the clothing she traded for in years (and it has likely long since disintegrated), but she still offers these designs through her website!


But the best thing of all? I had a prime seat to see the performers! The Urban Berbers tribal belly dance troupe was there from Gypsy Caravan (I almost want to take classes just so I'll have an excuse to wear the outfits . . .) and it was such a highlight to see women of different sizes, shapes, and ages all so eloquently shake their groove things!

We also heard from teen girl band Blubird, performers The Alphabetix, poet S. Renee Mitchell, and finally, singer Liv Warfield. The crowd had thinned to almost nothing by the time she went on, but this soulful singer and her band still gave us a high-powered performance, and I promptly went home and bought her song "Sophisticated Sista" from iTunes. I'm planning to add it into the music mix I'm building for Tuesday night's Playful Prayer class.