New Site!

I feel like, after months of thinking about looking for a new place, I up and moved all my stuff in the middle of the night.  Expect this is just on the internet.  I moved my website,  and blog to one place, with lots more housekeeping to come.  That said, come visit me at the new place.  The boxes aren't yet unpacked and we will have to eat pizza on the floor, but I think it's gonna be real nice.

come on over.  www.gutwrenchpress.com/news

packing up and moving!

More From Penland

from the knoll, evening time

 It is nearly midnight, with rumors that it night possibly rain a little tonight and the people in the park outisde my window are listening to 70's soul. Luckily, I had a late cup of tea to help combat the list of things I'd like to do tonight.  I forgot the list but now I can't sleep.  I found these photos on my phone last week, more images of my time at Penland.  It is difficult to express what a special place it is,   how beautiful the landscape is and how amazing it is to have so much time to focus on work.  As my time there seems farther and farther away, I keep in mind the things I learned.  From these photos, it seems that I like to collect things.  Though A. (who has moved with me 4 times at least) could've told you that.

chicken bone, moth wing, mica

collection in progress

more collections and the work i went home with

late at night, hard at work, my desk in the paper studio

I Know What I Did This Summer

the paper studio at night

I was gone for a bit this summer, adventuring and I've been wanting to tell you about it.  But I didn't know where to start. Have you had this experience, where you are somewhere else for a time and everything seems so different that new universes seem possible? Then you return to what you are used to, where you are comfortable and you don't want to lose the magic. I feel like the more I talk about it, the farther away it becomes.  Like I am belittling the experience.  Well, I have these photos for you--maybe they can explain.

in progress works drying in the dry room

I drove to North Carolina.  I went to Penland School of Craft for two and a half weeks.  I learned about sculpting paper.  I made things that looked like other things I've made, and then I made more. At the end, they were similar but different. I would like to make more before I tell you about them.  But here are some pictures to start. 

felts drying at night

wet paper being assembled around an armature, which is fancy talk for a balloon filled with sand

dry, with the balloons removed

experimental "sheets" of paper drying tacked to a wall

found objects encased in handmade paper

handmade paper , found objects, lit from below

Nine Years Later

from 2012

Every summer, around the end of July, I feel like I loose control of my emotions for a while. I am inconsolably sad, I cry inexplicably.  Something feels off. Last year I talked to my friend Bear about this and Bear reminded me that next time, I should remember to take extra care of myself.  It is my birthday time, which I get outwardly excited about while being inwardly anxious (thinking about life choices and all).  Then, a few weeks later is the anniversary of one of the most disruptive events in my life.  Tomorrow is the ninth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and it is still the storm I am referring to when I say "the hurricane".  I lost friends in a few ways because of it, and I also experienced some of the greatest love and strength and resourcefulness I have known, in the years following.  This year I was ready.  But then, I was in North Carolina, making paper and swimming in a river. The sadness didn't come the way it has.  Other friends have told me about nine year cycles, about recovering from PTSD, about healing.  Maybe this is the year I can see some of this with clarity.  But not from the internet.  So tomorrow, I am taking the day off.  Since losing my job, I have had more time for book binding and preparing for the SF Zine Fest  (Saturday! Sunday! in San Francisco)
and more time for listening to the news, and searching for a new job but also a lot of time on the internet procrastinating. I'm going outside to take advantage of the temeprate and dry California (drought) summer.  Take care y'a'll.  And I'll see you soon. 

Doing the Important Work

looking away from the kitchen

My friends own land in North Carolina near the Tennessee border.  It is a wonderland of gardens and herbs and wildlife and smart people. They study herbal medicine and are working to build a place with herbal gardens, a library, an apothecary and ways to share their information with others.  All of these beautiful things are happening there but when I visit, I seem to mostly nap.  Which is also important work.  But photographs of napping are not very interesting.  

the ceiling of Janet's kitchen.  posters she made and 2 prints by Lauren Scanlon

I loved sitting under this skylight

View from the napping place

gooodnight!

 Janet and Dave are Medicine County Herbs. 
They are knowledgeable, experienced and solid folks.  In my brief visit we talked a lot about the state of things in New Orleans, where we all met, but also about anxiety and allergies.  Their website has many more photos taken on sunny days.  Though I'd be a fool to complain about having such a great place to visit on rainy days too.

While I Was Away

Middle Tennessee

I'm back in Oakland after five weeks of visiting friends, family, papermaking and skygazing.  Also in the the whirlwind, I turned 37, lost my job and someone used my social security number to watch a lot of satallitie tv. It's been an exciting summer. I have so much to tell you about but I am still unpacking, sorting, napping, baking cookies.  But here are some celestial highlights of the past few weeks.

later from the same lawn chair

the light of god on the atlantic ocean

hazy Tennessee evening

Middle Tennesse.  I sat in a chair, watched the sky and drank wine.  Happy summer.

Come On In! (We're still unpacking)

Doorways! and textured glass windows.

Welcome!  We moved boxes and boxes of belongings four weeks ago into this Victorian in Oakland with so many windows and doors.  We unpacked enough to make dinner, sit with friends on the couch and send emails.  I still can't find the camera, actually.  But I wanted to invite you in, and show you around. Of course, A is about to leave on tour and I am heading to North Carolina to make paper so the housewarming will be postponed until August or September. Unless the house-sitters get ambitious without us.

repurposed hall light

let me cook you dinner on this old and lovely stove! the middle section is a griddle. yes, I have made french toast on it already.

some of the plants that survived

chandelier!

this is where the new (to-be-aquired) shelf will go.  this is most of my studio tools and supplies.

 

Studio of the Dramatic Lighting (disorganized)