2012 Art Crit Group Annual FiberArt Exhibit

Right to Left:
Fran MacEachren, MaryLou Pepe, Pat Dolan, TraceyLynne Kennedy, Nancy Silverman, Polly Miller, Tina Aumiller, and Irmgard Lee
All are residents of Centre County, PA

The Exhibit was held on the first weekend of November, as usual, at the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania, Lemont, PA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's Been a Long Time Away...

Greetings, one and all. I apologize for my absence and hope you understand. Some years are abundant with change - life-altering, time-pleating, happy-surprising CHANGE. 2012 has been such a year in my life and in our family. There has been precious little time for art, journaling, or anything else, yet every moment spent has been well-spent.

While art has definitely taken a back seat to more immediate concerns, I have managed to do a few drawings, a few fiber art pieces, and experimented with the new-to-me Adirondack Alcohol Inks. I'll be posting photos when I'm on my big computer (where all my photos are stored). For now, a simple update on our family life may be in order.

Our adult granddaughter has been living with us since we moved to central Pennsylvania 4 and a half years ago. She had been attending Penn State University until financial difficulties and a surprise pregnancy ended her studies. The ultra-sound revealed identical twins in a single placenta, making her pregnancy "high risk." The long and short of the situation is, the twin girls were born 9 weeks early.

Due to all the prayers, kind thoughts, love, and caring of all our friends and family, the babies are now 5 months old, healthy, and absolutely adorable. Our household of 3 is now a family of 5, bustling with activity, infant cooing and laughter, and lots of love. As we find a new "normal" in our lives, we're experiencing daily shifts & changes. Watching these tiny girls develop personalities is a true privilege. At our age, we see life quite differently - perhaps it's a broader perspective, perhaps it's tempered by experience, perhaps it's nostalgia, perhaps it's love. But this 3rd time around parenting is an honor I wouldn't trade for the world. No, we are not the parents of these wonderful children, but we are with them 24/7. We watch their mother mature into a beautiful, loving, mature young mother. We witness her love for her children, and are in awe of life itself.

As the generations continue, we stand in the senior role. We are the elders, the story-tellers, the historians, the ones who remember. Some of our stories may never be heard or even told. Others may be dismissed until a much later date. None of that matters. What matters is the love, the family, the mystery of life. At least, that what it seems to be for me in the here and the now.

The Art of Art

Here's a thought provoking quote that's worthy of sharing:

"The image cannot be dispossessed of a primordial freshness, which idea can never claim. An idea is derivative and tamed. The image is in the natural or wild state, and it has to be discovered there, not put there, obeying its own law and none of yours."
John Crowe Ranson - as quoted in Writing the Natural Way by Gabriele Rico, Ph.D.

Our art does seem to have a mind of its own... If we follow the lead of the image, the piece we are creating will be satisfying in ways that elude us when we are trying to control the image into what we think it "should" be.

The book is about writing, but it can be applied to any art form. I find myself slipping between words, images & emotions as I read a chapter here or there. My mind begins to play with word forms, rearranging them with images overlaid by emotional experiences related to the images, words, ideas. The author provides interesting short essay assignments & encourages one to write as one experiences, remembers, & feels, not solely as one thinks.

Rico differentiates the processes of the two sides of the brain as the Sign Mind and the Design Mind. Others might say the Literal Mind and the Intuitive Mind, or Left Brain/Right Brain. She's an advocate of childlike spontaneity with word/images and its actually been quite fun doing her assignments! They're all short, quick, and spontaneous - she sets a good stage prior to each assignment.

Life is like art, is it not? It has a "life" or direction of it's own. How we appreciate/experience life comes down to our personal responses to the events that occur throughout our lives. We have the unique ability to re-design how we see/interpret life experiences at any time. Isn't that how forgiveness works - it reframes a past event, taking the acidic pain and reformulating it into something life-giving, rather than life-depleting...

Or so it seems to me.

Creative Map Making...

An artist friend, Gloria Hansen, posted a fascinating book review on her blog today. The book title: Personal Geographies: Explorations in Mixed-Media Map Making. The title fascinated me, so I went to her blog to read more. If you like maps & art, and have a creative streak, check this out!

My paternal grandfather worked for the Minnesota State Highway Dept. in the 1950′s when we lived with my grandparents. He posted a huge map of MN on the wall and made up a game of “Can you find it?” that the two of us often played together. Of course, he knew where every one of the 10,000 MN lakes were, and nearly all of the tiny towns that dot the rural landscape. I didn't, but I surely learned about a lot of them while we played that game! He went duck hunting at this lake, fishing at those three, lived in that town for several years, etc... Playing that game with Pop Pop one of my favorite memories of our time together.

Pop also introduced me to photography, bird-watching, gardening, and family history/genealogy – all things that still absorb my interest and time today. Late in life, he learned to oil paint – thus the artistic side came through one last way during his long, creative life. All his descendants share some artistic talent or other.

Here is a piece featuring my grandparents: their wedding photo, my grandmother with their first child, may grandmother's parents' home, an old postcard (Pop was also a mail man for a number of years prior to becoming an accountant). This is one section of a larger piece entitled "Threads of Our Lives."


For me, this book combines my creativity, my memories, my life stories/lessons, my interest in genealogy, and more. I will probably buy a copy – if I don’t win one! And if I don't ever have my own copy, the idea has been planted. How can I not create some maps of my own???

Spring into Early Summer

Harner's Farm Shop on Rt. 26, State College, PA

Happy Easter!

Spring Continues in Central PA

Spring is taking her sweet time arriving this year with cool temperatures and lots of rain. The beauty is everywhere and is lasting much longer than normal since it's progressing so slowly.