Rush to the Finish Line

Yes, it's coming on Christmas, this is the time to sell, and if you're lucky, people buy.

I have made more salt and pepper cellars for the Savory Spice Shop and had room to fire one of my new McMansion Bowls, a new endeavor.

I found some ways to make the S&P cellars more easily and better, though they look the same as the previous batch. They were popular and sold out, so now let's see if they'll move. There's only 9 days until Christmas.

The McMansion Bowl needs a more correct name that is not offensive to those who dwell in the housing developments in the former farmlands of New Jersey.

The bowl functions like a specimen tree in a landscape - a focal point in the setting, with uncluttered space around it. It is functional though, and could hold fruit or keys, pinecones, or anything else one might imagine.





Fun to make, I don't claim it is an original idea, but I like the look. It is a wonderful canvas for playing with glaze effects, and I think this combination is a good one. I am excited to make more.

I have sculptures and a drawing at the WOW Pop-UP Gallery which just opened for a one week stint. It's worth a shot to be "seen", even if no one buys. The point is, for many of us, to share the work and move it out so one can make more!

Embroidery is ALIVE in Princeton

Embroidery is an old art, and a traditionally female art. At one time, with other needlework, it was one of the few art forms acceptable for women to practice.

The embellished logo for the Arts Council of Princeton

Last month an exhibit of embroideries was created by the hands of Princeton town folk, some experienced and some beginner crafters. "Interwoven Stories; A Community Stitching Project," was the brainchild of artist in residence, Diana Weymar, and was sponsored by the Arts Council of Princeton.



















Almost all of the embroideries focused on the town and people's memories of Princeton. I have lived here for over 30 years, practically a native compared to most people, who live here for a few years then move on. So the images are familiar to me - even the older memories such as the long defunct establishment - Edith's Lingerie.

There were images of favorite places, much frequented by many of us who live in Princeton, such as the canal tow path, where we go to walk and bike.

And of historical places, like the old Quaker Meeting House, which by the way, is still the meeting house for the local Quakers.

The alcove reading room with a round window in the Princeton University Art Museum is the chosen place to portray by this embroiderer.

There were embroideries about local trees, a favorite subject of mine, too, such as this one about a tree around the corner from me...

... and another in my same neighborhood, from the little one block long Race Street...

... or the original Princeton Oak, the resting place during battle for the fatally wounded General Mercer during the battle of Princeton. In place of the massive oak there now grows its acorn offspring, still with the post fence surrounding the sacred ground.





Trees are apparently strong influences for embroiderers.

Others plied their needles in writing prose which made sense. The project participants had each been given a white rectangle of cloth embroidered to look like a piece of notebook paper.

Many town residents took part in the project, and these were just a few that interested me. 

The last one I share is this one, an exuberant swirl of stitches that depicts the night sky, here in this little dot in the cosmos, Princeton, New Jersey.

Bertoia's Studio and Sound Barn

I found myself passing near Harry Bertoia's studio on a trip with my husband to Pennsylvania and took the opportunity to visit there. I was introduced to his work at the MAD in NYC (see the last post) and was eager to see more.



We met Harry Bertoia's son, Val at the studio housed in an old stone building, a former Ford dealership, on busy route 100 in Bally, Pa. Val is himself a sculptor and his work was everywhere, some a spinoff of his fathers wire sound sculptures and gongs, large metal plates cut in organic shapes and suspended from the ceiling. We tried some, striking the gongs with mallets and strumming the wires of the sculptures to hear their other worldly sounds.















Val was a very authentic guide, telling us of his father and his mother's lives, and seemed to take joy in doing so, and joy also in making the music. In the studio, he demonstrated the effects of a huge hollow gong, having us guess how it made both high and low tones.

the forest on the barn road

After this introduction, we followed Val in our car several miles on back roads into the wooded hills. We were greeted by an attention seeking cat at the barn, a part stone, part timber structure that Val said was 360 years old. 2016 - 360 = 1656? Could that be right?

the area around the barn was scattered
with sculptures and structures and one tabby cat

Inside the barn, the entire main floor was filled with sculptures with microphones hanging from above. It was a sound studio and a gallery in one. There we sat in a row of Harry Bertoia designed chairs (the famous plywood and wire Eames chair were designed by him, Val said) and listened to him perform. We let the sounds wash over us, all the metal gongs and wires vibrating with what Val said was a healing music. It was mesmerizing, and we continued to listen after he sat down and the vibrations slowly quieted and stilled.

Then we played too.

Magical.

Outside again, the cat coming along with us, we walked to the large gong and the stone where Harry and his wife, Brigitte are buried.

























Val gave me a DVD, a CD and a warm hug before we left. This glimpse into his world touched on new ideas, people and activities of which I was unaware. Just one phrase gives a hint of it: "Gong Camp!"

Val is continuing his father's explorations. The Bertoia studio is not only a memorial to an important artist, but an inspiration for work in progress. I felt privileged to be there to experience it.