Pending, processing, and at what point procrastination?

pend·ent /ˈpɛn-dənt/ Spelled[pen-duhnt] –adjective Also, pendant. 1.hanging or suspended: a pendent lamp.2.overhanging; jutting; projecting: pendent cliffs.3.undecided; undetermined; pending: a lawsuit that is still pendent.Origin: 1275–1325; < Latin pendent- (stem of pendēns ), present participle of pendēre to hang; replacing Middle English pendaunt  < Anglo-French ( Old French pendant ), present participle of pendre  < Latin pendēre; see pendant—Related forms-pend·ent·ly, adverb,non·pend·ent, adjective; non·pend·ent·ly, adverb,sem·i·pend·ent, adjective;un·pend·ent, adjective—Can be confused: pendant, pendent, pennant, pundit.(dictionary.com)

I have done very little weaving in the last month. It will be a month tomorrow since I last posted to this blog.No guilt about being 2 weeks late. I have been to busy for guilt.  I have done a lot of teaching and thinking. Hopefully, processing the pending.  I was also able to spend some quality time with my  family, which never seems to be long enough or often enough. I was able to a little research take a few pictures. In all a good productive break from weaving. Now I am anxious to begin weaving-something anything.

Spent a lot of time at the Native American Museum at the Smithsonian while in DC. While Troy was off being 15, Spencer#2 (his preference to avoid confusion with Granpa)had a great time looking at mask, discussing how they were used and winter counts. It took him very little time to understand the concept of pictograms and that events were being depicted and stories told. We also enjoyed the parfleches that are one of my favourite things and favourite memories of the past. Spencer#2 seems to have inherited the Todd gene that loves gadgets and how they work.I think his favourite thing was the wall of weapons used against the American Indians to Pacify and destroy native American culture.   It was the diversity of the weapons and the time and evolution of the weapons that he found fascinating-not the killing.  On the way back we danced and played in the heavy warm splashy rain and listened to the Thunder. Warm rain isn’t something we get in Oregon. Then we spent the rest of the day lost as we tried to find the Coast Guard base and Asa and Kathy. The architecture in the old sections is beautiful and we saw a lot of it-planned and unplanned.  We are never going back without a GPS.                                                 Lakota Parfleche

Reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. A still more broad definition includes everything that has existed, exists, or will exist, not just in the mind, or even more broadly also including what is only in the mind. Wikipedia

I am trying to settle back in, which may or not be possible I have roughly 2.5 months before my schedule becomes full of teaching and traveling-again. Well, in the those 2.5 months a fairly busy time with private students, FFP stuff, writing, and a to do list that seems endless. Pretty tame stuff, but not all consuming. The reality is that I want to maximize my weaving time- make every second count.focusDowN, but, I am wasting time and losing weaving time trying to decide what I want to weave, what needs to be woven, researched and   written.

Hindu Calendar

It’s definitely not bracelets. So, the unfinished peacock bracelet design will become a small tapestry. It seems to be another colour study without substance-a time killer another way of procrastinating. (finally, something at least one definitive decision-a beginning.)

Is there Time?One of the things I am trying to process is timing, what are my new deadlines and why do I allow myself to be drawn into constantly exhibiting if my designs are for myself. I think it goes back to graduate school-again-publish or perish philosophy and the need to show at least 4 times a year to be considered a professional and not just an academician or a dilettante. Another issue is metanarrative. I want to tell more stories based on my reality of betweens and outcomes, I need several new pieces to enter in shows. My mind wants to redesign …And He... Is time an issue-suppose I don’t get it done in time? It’s a big piece. 4 times larger than I normally work at 20 epi. I need at least one more smaller piece-under 100 square inches. I have also promised myself an hour a day for redoing missing samples and at least an hour a day working on silver.

I enjoyed teaching at MAFA. The class was fairly large-14- and filled with interesting people.  It was fun seeing Bobbi Irwin again.She was teaching a class on Irridences.  Someday when the stars align or some such thing, I want to learn pictorial twining from her. She wrote a book called "Twined Rag Rugs" that totally fascinated me. I had some interesting times with a very cold room and accidently spending the night in some one else's room.

 

 Lately my brain seems to want to do more or add more visual texture to my tapestries. When I say it that way it almost conveys vertical soumack

memories of the 60’s and 70’s where structure was more important than design and everything was big and oversized and definitely structurally 3-d. That’s not what I am looking for. I still want a flat surface-just visually more textural and of course still at 20 epi. This seeking all began when I discovered that I could make what looked like a knitted structure by using tapestry and soumack together-side by side. I have had a fascination with using cavendoli knotting (related to the dreaded word/technique macramé’), twining, woven bonnmostre(extra weft woven through pulled slits), flying shuttle, (actually vertical soumack)and soumack(structural) for what seems like a hundred years.                                                                                             Cavendoli knots

Same Old Same Old-Vertical Soumack Sampler

                                                                Coptic with a bit of V.Soumack

 

A Bit More About Family and Culture

My family has a very different lifestyle then mine. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it is something I would never have dreamed of for myself. And, here I am a tapestry weaver one of the simplest of all looms and one of the most ancient of textile techniques. An early memory from my childhood was of my Grandmother coming to our home and seeing a TV for the first time and thinking it was witchcraft and praying for our souls. Another explaining to Spencer#2 and Troy  what a typewriter was/is or carbon paper and a time without microwave ovens. Another remembering  Vietnamese friends coming to the US and not understanding our heating systems , appliances and stoves. My grandfather before he died-before the internet told me what an amazing life he had led. He had lived From no Electric, no planes, antibiotics and modern medical devices, barely cars into an a time that bore no resemblance to where he had begun. So what will my life span? 

So many computer gadgets that have become a necessary way of life. Appliances that are all digital with way to many functions and choices. Too much texting not enough actual face to face conversation. People sit side by side texting each other. In some ways it makes parenting easier with the constant contact. Shopping and getting meals delivered to the door. Kids and people from all over the world coming together 6-8 at a time to play games and interface over headsets and only seeing. Books and research done on kindle, I-phone apps and droid programs. I want to be obsolete. I don’t mind it in the least. By the time I came home I was/am ready for a less complex life or maybe dropping out to live like my Grandmother and the realization of how obsolete my way of life is becoming and that I don’t really care as long as I have tapestry to weave and metanarratives to tell…

Obsolescence is the state of being which occurs when an object, service or practice is no longer wanted even though it may still be in good working order.

Definitely me.

Does one really need to add more tech to ones live, why, and just because we can should we.

kathe

Episodic adventures into the enigmatic and the ambiguous

Yesterday the 13th- I spent 4 hours trying to figure out how to put up a blind (x4) in my studio with impossible to read diagrams and written notes. Fortunately,  for me John (one of two wonderful husbands only one of which is mine that float through the studio.  Pat’s husband. SO don’t worry I am not really  a bigamist.) helped me out and with only a few problems and  had (X 3)them up in no time. I still have one to go that I’ll need to use a ladder on.

          Demon Blind’s from you know where!

This week was about following directions. Directions for putting up mini blinds, working with Gimp and a few other things.

Last week for me was all about giving directions that were understandable and could be followed by the participants in my ANWG workshops. It’s a good thing Last week was first.

I am not sure which was harder. The giving of directions that were understandable to my students or trying to understand directions from someone or something else. Sometimes both seem like a challenge. I think every so often an experience like the demon blinds from you nowhere with anAse Blake’s Sampler from Color and Tapestry ANWG workshop

enigmatic attitude of “oh, put any one can do it/ fiasco is necessary and is very beneficial. It’s so easy to forget how difficult taking direction can be. If nothing else it’s a good lesson in humiliation.

enigmatic - not clear to the understanding; "I didn't grasp the meaning of that enigmatic comment until much later"; "prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries";difficult to understand; resembling an oracle in obscurity of thought; "the oracular sayings of Victorian poets".   Or,  Directions written by non-resident idiomatic English speaking residents and engineers that reside some place between never never-neverland, Oz and the Red Queen of hearts domain in Through the looking Glass.  that create most of/many of the inexpensive goods we all seem to have a need of and are no longer manufactured in the US. definition by author of blog.Don’t get me wrong I love my new blinds-the directions not so much. It’s just the vagaries of modern life some times drive me a little buggy-maybe more then a little. Origin of ENIGMA 1. Latin aenigma, from Greek ainigmat-, ainigma, fromainissesthai to speak in riddles, from ainos fable 2. First Known Use: 1539 Meaning-. 1.   Pertaining to an enigma. 2. Mysterious.3. Defying description. . Synonyms: closed book, conundrum, mystery, head-scratcher, mystification, puzzle, puzzlement, riddle, secret Ambiguous is another word to describe the situation with a slightly different meaning. "the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible"- A. Einstein

ambiguous - having more than one possible meaning; "ambiguous words"; "frustrated by ambiguous instructions, the parents were unable to assemble the toy"

am·big·u·ous/amˈbigyo͞oəs/Adjective

1. (of language) Open to more than one interpretation; having a double meaning. 2. Unclear or inexact because a choice between alternatives has not been made. Latin ambiguus, from ambigere to be undecided, from ambi-+ agere to drive; First Known Use: 1528

So putting aside ambiguous directions and enigmatic results…

 It’s time to admit I have done absolutely no weaving in the last 2-3 weeks other than a few class demos. This week will be little better in weaving any quantity of tapestry as I have a private student for the next 4 days.

Cathie Beckman. Cathie has wove a rather startling  tapestry. The subject matter resonates with me because of family circumstances and it is a deep seated fear that haunts people of colour in the US who have family members of colour. The subject is from something she witnessed in the Cincinnati riots about 10 years ago. It’s so easy for kids to get caught up in events they have no control over.

 I Think teaching in my studio with just one or two people is so productive for both the student and myself. I loved the atmosphere and the learning experience teaching Cathie for 4 days. Hopefully, Cathie did to.

I find it totally satisfying to work with a student who wants to be totally immersed in tapestry for 4 days 8-9-10-11 hours a day. We worked on some of  my favourite thing to teach- Colour blending and colour movement and soumack techniques. While we were working together she wove the cutest partial shoe and sampler. My apologizes Cathie. I took this photo from a weird angle and was so tired I didn’t notice that I was taking it from the side and above and not squared. This sampler is really not misshapen and doesn’t weave in. The chine's and mélanges actually are more distinct in real life It’s the photographer.  Cathie left on Sunday. It was a fun 4 days. Thank God! for Calapoia Brew Pub lunches! I swear I have never tasted their prize winning beer, but who needs beer when they make outstanding soups and bring me my favourite drink of unsweetened ice tea with no ice without asking! We  have eaten lunch there everyday for the last week while Cathie and I were working together.

Other episodes-in the last week or so!I have been heavily involved in all of the verifiable details-organizing, teaching, procuring supplies, working on my studio, attending an opening, teaching at ANWG taking a few pictures of flowers, making new friends,  private teaching, and catching up with new friends, catching up FFP stuff, father’s Day, getting ready to teach at MAFA etc., etc., etc. and et al. The only thing standing in my way of weaving is finishing this blog.

But, the best Adventure of all!

I think yesterday-a day late- was the best Father’s Day I have ever spent with my father in years.  For the last year or so he’s been talking about the trucker special in Rufus, Oregon. It’s roughly half way between College Place, Washington and Portland where my Dad lives-160 miles. Rufus was the meeting place for shifting kids back and forth between parents and Grandparent. The place to rest half way home and have this embarrassingly huge truck driver special-Grilled Steak and whatever else went with it.It was always the Old Highway with the windings curves, before the Dams, before the freeway, before Celilo Falls and the fishing grounds were covered, before the council stones and rapids were covered-100 feet below where the road now runs(I-84) So, I told Dad we were taking him to lunch and took him to Rufus for lunch.

Dad, Me, Mom Pregger’s with Mike, Linda, and Dad’s truck for hauling freight all over the NW, while flying and testing cars.

We took the old road through the Gorge and looked and waterfalls, trail heads that we walked thousands of miles on while growing up and wild flowers. Dad never fell a sleep once on the whole trip. He was riveted to the scenery and remembering. I had salad and “homemade bread”. None of us finished the Trucker special-so we had “doggy bags.” Chene will eat for days and Dad will have steak for several evenings. It was one of those days that will live forever and makes everything all right in the end and leaves one with very special memories.

 

 

 

 

But, finally it is the 22nd of June.

Today I’ll put a new warp on my Mirrix for samples.

Today I’ll wake him up

and paint his eyes

A bag of my samples went missing at ANWG.( Which may be a good thing- I have always wanted to have a note book of samples of different techniques that were all basically the same size instead of being almost 35 years of variable scraps of weaving that always give me the feel of being disorganized as I hunt and peck through them in a class that I am teaching.       

How’s that for turning lemons into lemon aide.  Perhaps I won’t have to take Pat Poggi’s advice and stuff them in my bra where they can do some good. )Pat Jehan Rohani are two people from the early years of the Tapestry list that I really miss. Unfortunately this is the

Pat Poggi’s cats

only picture I have of Pat's work. I would love to have a picture of her piece with the women in the bathtub with her toe in the faucet. I laughed for hours the first time I saw it. Pat's been dead for over 10 years. Jehan I spent hours writing back and forth to. He had away of putting being a between into perspective and the balancing act or razors edge that we all walk.Past history-good memories.

And begin work on two new cartoons. A small 5 x 7 inch and reworking “And He…”Will be the biggest small format(medium format by size)/ small scale piece piece I have ever done. My intent is to have it done in time to enter into the ATA exhibit with the deadline the end of October.

I have a little over 2 weeks  until I leave for teaching at MAFA.  I am really excited to see how much I can accomplish in the next two weeks.

I am extremely happy with the exhibit in Corvallis. The show was hung and curated by Pat Spark and the Corvallis Hand weavers Guild. Two other persons - John Stahl and Angie Purvianse also helped hang the exhibit. They did an incredible job!!!!! I was really happy to to see the small gallery hung with work by Edith Miller and Evelyn Ball. They founded the guild just about the time I was born. They have been my mentors and friends for close to 30 years. There part of the exhibit includes clothing and aprons that they wove from the 50’s forward.  These 6 phots were taken by John Stahl. Thanks, again John!

Dee Ford Potter and students(right 

My wall(left)

Lynn Hart & Lois Hartwig          

                                               Peter Rocci and Shelley Quiner  several of Shelley S. students

      

 

 

 

 

Shelley Socolofsky                                              Rosalie Nielsen and Students

 

Danger soap box!One of the things I was especially happy to see was that they didn’t stack my work. Because it is small curators and hangers of shows will often put one of my piece above another. I don’t mind it if other persons work is stacked above or below my work, but I really dislike my pieces stacked one on top of another. I don’t think they read  well or the same. They are meant to stand alone and invariably I am left with the feeling that the curator had an aha movement about saving space rather then how the pieces read. I am beginning to wonder if I should specify in the hanging directions that the pieces are not meant to be stacked on top of each other. Why shouldn’t small work in the case of multiple accepted pieces be allowed the same space and the same consideration that a large piece receives.  Actually what I would like to see the space applied fairly and if pieces need to be stacked by the same doer that they stack the big pieces to one on top of another.

I think I have written enough assuage the guilt for being 2 weeks late with this blog. Never Again. I hate breaking promises to myself.

Cheers for now!

kathe

Continuum Oblivion

I should just blow up the TV, cut the power cord, turn it into a planter, cat box or some such thing or find away to do away with my willing suspension of disbelief.
(Thank you-again- Mrs. Winter for another quirk in my personality that you helped me develop in Academy.)
(The etymology of the word Television is derived from mixed Latin and Greek origin, meaning "far sight": Greek tele (τῆλε), far, and Latin visio, sight (from video, vis- to see, or to view in the first person. Irony in itself.)
 Ironically, it’s quite evident that the gargoyle guardian of the temple(TV’s reposing place and home of the societal adjustment bureau of the indefensible and the bearer of all knowledge no matter how warped) is failing to protect me from random  full bore idiocy. And, yes I really do have a guardian gargoyle on top of my TV. Those words-Continuum Oblivion- have become like a koan-or an unimaginable mantra- without answer-- repeating over and over in my mind. Creating so many ideas and worthless thoughts without end. Yes, I realize I am only getting my just desserts according to the endless lectures I/we endured while at PUA and WWC.
Continuum Oblivion

Oblivion-“The act or an instance of forgetting; total forgetfulness: sought the great oblivion of sleep”.(real-loosely borrowed from Webster on line.)

Continuum-“ A continuous extent, succession, or whole, no part of which can be distinguished from neighboring parts except by arbitrary division.”(perhaps real, but liberated-absconded with from Wikipedia)

a supposed captured wormhole housed  in an android or Daleks for use as power.-My interpretation of something in  a Doctor Who episode I watched in a moment of traumatic/dramatic overwhelming period of  boredom and or ennui that became a cycling event  that will not let go of my of brain anytime soon.

Well-perhaps now that’s over and stated and
only a hum/drone in the background of  my  logical(gr) order of sense,  I can  get down to something important like what I have been doing with my weaving and other things. But, Never as much as I’d like…
BUT,
I did finish Chene’s portrait. I started one of the two of the bracelets. I am about a third done on the feather bracelet and the other is at least on the loom with the cartoon.  I stand a good chance of at least finishing…reality check-probably not, because of too many interferences in the next week. On the other hand I am still here. The world hasn’t ended. I wasn’t caught up in the rapture yesterday…who knows what could happen...in the next week before the ANWG  conference!?!
I really miss my friend Marge. She’s been dead for 10 months.  Pat brought over to the studio a Muri Dai that has a couple of feet of kumihimo that Marge braided. Every time I walk by the table in the downstairs studio I think about her.  Her biting sense of humour, her compassion and so many other things that she shared with me- her ability to accept the way things are and just deal with it. She was always so inquisitive about trying things. I really miss her. I know how fortunate I was to know her and realize that she was more then ready for her next step.
Which in
                           away leads
                                           to these
                                                   thoughts-
Rosalie Nielsen was here delivering work for a show that is going up in Corvallis. It’s a show with an interesting premise-
“The professional artists involved in this exhibit have their roots in the weaving world. They have been known as both artists and teachers for many years -- disproving the old adage that Those who can-do, while those who can’t- teach. These artists definitely can,do and Teach.  In fact, in Oregon, there is a tradition of this type of co-existence.  Many of our fine-crafts artists do this.
The Corvallis Hand weavers and Spinning Guild, who acted as curators for this show, wanted to show how this tradition is continuing by asking four well-known artist-weavers to exhibit their work and for them to choose the work of some of their students to exhibit as well.”
The “students”(?) that are showing in my section are all professionals who have or probably will  be part of the next generation of tapestry teachers and are already influencing other weavers- Lynn Hart, Lois Hartwig, Shelley Quiner and Peter Rocci.
26 years ago Rosalie taught a kumihimo class for the Corvallis Hand Weavers guild. There were about 20 of us in the class. 3/4’s of the class has now died of old age. The one thing that hasn’t died from the class is knowledge and influence that has been passed on from that class. It’s legacy, so to say...  Pat and I both have taught hundreds of people how to do the simple 8 stand braid that we learned in that class. I have written at least two articles in various journals on 8 strand braids. Pat teaches it to 4-H students and others. I  used to teach it  in an art camp to several hundred children at a time as they floated through the various stations in the camp.  So Many years ago!
SHIFT-Change of mood- please!!
I have been trying to take pictures of my not so abundant peonies this year. The one by the studio door that usually produces dozens of blossoms only has one blooming and two buds. The foliage is rich , abundant and extremely dynamic and luscious blue greens looking more so then most years. The deep pink peony by the door is a deep deep red. The kind of of red that is almost impossible to weave..
I enjoy taking pictures, but the enjoyment is focused on the acquiring images to use in my tapestries and when I teach.


     Last week Spencer,  Chene and I went to Sisters, OR to look at things, take photos and just in general relax. I have been going their for mini vacations and thought breaks since I was in High school.
There are several book stores that spencer and I like to browse through. Picked up a couple of great books. Looked in horror at a Peter Collingswood book that was priced as a rare book for over 100 dollars.  (Note- if you are looking for one download it for free at Google free books or the Gutenberg project.)
I found an incredible book- Tribal rugs by Jim Opie. The pictures are great, but I cannot figure out why if they are willing to discuss every detail in these books, but not how the technique is done. I was once told that discussing and analyzing the techniques removes the work from the art world into the craft world and looses it’s  intrinsic value dollar wise, culturally and intellectual interest.  

Yesterday, we saw Pirates of the Caribbean-Stranger Tides an okay fun movie, but with an incredible Hans Zimmer music score. I spent most of my time listening to the movie instead of seeing the movie.
Did  recognize a famous Hawaiian waterfall that I took pictures of when when we visited Asa and Kathy. So not all of the movies was shot in the Caribbean.
Need to end now and begin the work week. The list of to do is enlist, but most of it ends on Sunday.
BUT, It’s all pretty much fun!
Cheers and All,
kathe