Filed under: Drawing, Fleeting thoughts..., Sewing, textile forms | Tags: art, boston, Bromfield Gallery, Color, drawing, quilt, quilting
Where have I been??? What have I been doing??? Honestly…I have no idea. I was SUPPOSED to post last week, but my beloved child was home with a fever. We were all pretty much sick, and my husband is still on the mend. DRAMA.
You know that it has been cold when 14 degrees Fahrenheit feels not so bad. I’ve been wearing the same, over-sized wool sweater for what is likely a month. I didn’t wear it today, as I had to meet with a museum curator…and I didn’t want to potentially offend her high aesthetic standards with my Sasquatch-like appearance. How cold does it have to get for all standards of appearance to be eliminated in favor of comfort? Clearly, that bar is never very high in my world. I’m always wearing some kind of sad, D.I.Y. project. It’s funny that after YEARS of being an architect, where we are trained (brainwashed?) to avoid color in favor of black, gray and white…my D.I.Y. projects are always crazy colorful. I often think that my aesthetic sensibilities actually haven’t changed since I was seven years old, which is kind of sad…as I dressed kind of weird as a kid. Things haven’t changed, I guess…
I finished up a knitting project recently:
That’s the front…here is the back:
Kind of neat, right? I can’t take credit for the pattern…even though I changed the neckline…the cuffs…the length, etc. This is not the sweater that I’ve been wearing for the past month. The sweater that I’ve had on is more like a wool mu-mu. This week, I realized why I can’t move somewhere warm…I’d have no reason to knit.
I’m totally serious.
You’re likely wondering when I’ll stop yammering about my technicolor craft projects, and move onto something more interesting. Well, your wait is over!
My friend, Helen, has her work up at one of the well-known Boston galleries…
Helen Payne, detail of installation “Here I Sit, Brokenhearted” at Bromfield Gallery, Boston
Here is the description of the installation:
An installation on bathroom tiles where drawings make visceral vignettes, showing moments ranging from giving birth to getting booked. A shape-shifting protagonist emerges from the tiles. She morphs in time and race and limps along at odds with expectations but at one with viscera.
“Here I Sit, Brokenhearted” is about the ill fit of the body and how our most private moments can play out in the public sphere.
Helen beautifully elucidates aspects of humanity (primarily vices and viscera) that are typically hidden. Her work is both sensitive and bold. Helen’s drawing fluency is as compelling as her chosen subjects. Please check out her installation at Bromfield. It will be up for a few months…but don’t procrastinate! Go see it! If you see something that looks kind of like Sasquatch at the gallery, come over and say, “hi.” It’s probably me.
I’ve been sidetracked on a quilt project that I’ve been meaning to do for AGES. Yes, I said “a quilt.” Yes, I know that I’m supposed to be focusing on art, but as I just said…I’ve been getting a bit sidetracked as of late…
Sewing curves is challenging…so I decided to put myself in circle boot-camp by doing this koo koo quilt. So far, it has been super fun…albeit a royal pain in the tush. This is a mini-quilt…so the width is around 32″ or so. Each of those little scallop shapes is probably 4″ wide. In doing this quilt, I learned why people don’t normally use linen-type fabric for quilts (which I did.) The weave of linen is so wide that it’s like trying to sew a piece of friggin’ GAUZE.
Okay, well not quite THAT bad…but almost that bad. I fear that this quilt can never set foot in a washing machine, lest I want the thing to turn into a huge blob of colorful thread. Kind of like this, but made out of thread:
Do you know that’s actually a creature called a “blob fish?” I kid you not.
Sigh. I always have to learn things the hard way. At least I can sew a half-decent circle now, in spite of the fact that I look like Sasquatch.
Speaking of blobs, did you read about that recent study that says that sitting too much will pretty much kill you??? WHA? HOW? WHO? I have pretty much sat through my entire adult life. Besides pulling all nighters at school and at work, where I was SUPPOSED to be sleeping but was just deliriously SITTING instead…all of my favorite hobbies and activities involve SITTING. Can I possibly knit whilst hopping around? Can I somehow read AND do jumping jacks? How about sewing and yoga? Quilting and Tae Bo? No?
Upon hearing the bad news about sitting, I promptly slid down within my enormous wool sweater and pouted like that hideous blob fish.
Boo.
I’m waiting for the study to come out that says sedentary craft activities are actually good for everyone’s health because they keep mommy happy. And we know what a maelstrom of discontent mommy can be when she’s NOT HAPPY…
Be thankful that you don’t live with me.
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slightly wonky 