home again.....

Each year the big show in Sunapee shifts my gears from wearing the hat of maker, marketer, mother and everything else that is called for in this life to that of a 9 day shop keeper. It is kind of fun. At that point all of the work is done and you just have to show up to man your 'shop', visit with people and show and sell your work. I do enjoy that part. I want to extend my thanks for all of the fairgoers' support, my lovely neighbors at the show and to the weather gods that kept us coolish. There was no 90 degree high humidity in sight, plenty of moisture but I thought that that was pretty well planned. Sporadic thunder and rain storms, but brief with the exception of a washout Wednesday . So....home again, putting the League show to bed, looking towards Beadfest in Philadelphia. Can you come?

I will be offering three classes, all on Thursday the 21st of August. These pictures represent the projects we will be working on. After the day of classes I will set up a booth and sell my wares, come on by.

After Beadfest I will come home just in time to get my youngest daughter Lily ready to go off to school and my eldest ready for her first college classes, a sort of peri~empty nest! Time marches on.

Orange is screaming at me...

It is amazing what happens when my head is down...other than a neck ache.

Orange has been screaming at me...in a good way.

Excellent books on tape have been filling my mind with expansive and loving thought. 'Water for Elephants', and 'Eat, Pray, Love' have had me in their grips, what a lovely place to be. Have you read either/both of these? Clearly the key is love.

Samples of the fruit of my labor. Earrings in tandem with the incomparable Meesh.

My nine day yearly pilgrimage to the base of Sunapee Mountain to be a part of the mighty and ancient (75 years old this year) League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair commences a week from today. It is always a challenge and feels daunting preparing for this event. Truth be told, when I am 'in' it and 'going to work everyday' I find it enjoyable. It is just the thought of setting up in a new spot every time and on uneven terrain that fill me with trepidation, once that is all worked out and I am just greeting fairgoers and being the social being that I can often be, it is fun!

Come on up !

July...Flies....

The dressing up of Tacoma is a wonderful thing!

I love that a city has gotten behind one of its treasured jewels and built a museum to celebrate glass. The hotel that we stayed in, The Murano, has taken a glass artist on each floor and purchased a piece, presenting it upon exiting the elevator, and runs photo essays up and down the halls of each artists process. What a cool thing!

The view from our room was exquisite. Mt. Rainier and all of Tacoma in full view. Great to see all of my friends and customers and students....and the farmers market.....nowhere in the world could I find such opulent bouquets and succulent berries!

I often think of the indigenous people that inhabited the pacific northwest and the fact that food and shelter was so bountiful they had time and materials to express themselves artistically. I had wanted to visit the art Museum in Seattle but was foiled due to the 'Monday Museum Rule'. I have been there in the past and was overwhelmed by the scale of the native gallery, full sized totem poles, such cool masks and tools.

The Summer Barrels On....

Happy Birthday to my brother David!!!

The different holidays and days of note mark time, doesn't it move on entirely too quickly?

I am barely keeping up, overlooking important commitments and generally screwing things up........I am in need of a break from my life, don't know when that opportunity will arrive so I guess I'll squeeze in an hour here and an hour there in order to generate what my grandfather used to call ' a fresh eye', sort of like a power nap or a ten minute meditation.

I leave this coming Wednesday for a trip to Puget Sound and the Bead Festival.I will spend my 53rd birthday out there with friends, if you are out in the area come on down to Tacoma to the bead show! I always love the lushness of the pacific northwest.

Home Again....(Only for a minute)

At the end of the day, after another trip to Florida, my conclusion is drawn.......I don't need to go there again. Our aesthetic vision, weather expectation and body type just aren't compatible!

On the other side of my trip.... my students were awesome, thank you gals!!!! The fashion show was exciting, two meals out were good, the Colombian restaurant was to be remembered.

I'm home only long enough to do laundry and head off to Sandwich at noon today to set up the Glass Museum show and demo tomorrow and Wednesday, come on by!

Perhaps by weeks end I will be able to settle down long enough to recall some highlights of these past few weeks!

'Mustard Seaweed' & 'Pods in Blossom'

How about this for newfangled crochet abilities? Karen Flowers just becomes more and more able to create ANYTHING with beads and thread.

This is the second and third in a new series of our work together. I am highly excited for what is to come. The crochet hook is just an extension of her fingers, an unprecedented talent for the technical execution of an idea.

I'm off to Tampa! Here's to hoping all is well in your world, I'll return the 29th of June.

At Long Last...

I hit the ground running upon returning home from Bead and Button and haven't looked up since! My time in Milwaukee was great, classes good, show good, friends and students good. All in all a very positive experience with the exception that I was having difficulty sleeping which is the quickest route to nuts that I know. The first couple of nights home I had the same trouble, seems to be fixed now...

I have been busy with the project shown here. These hanging pieces will go to Kobe, Japan to be included in an exhibit at the Glass Museum there, I'm also involved in preparation for a seven woman exhibition at The Sandwich Glass Museum entitled "Possibilities", I said this before but want to remind you out there that I will be demonstrating in Sandwich on July 1&2 and I would love to see you!

I have been having a lot of fun in the studio and feel like I have gotten plenty accomplished, always more to do. I am in preparation for Convergence in Tampa next week.

Lily, our youngest, will have a birthday later this week and has invited 10 girls for an overnight, eeeek. Glad that they have the upper part of the studio building to enjoy themselves in.

Pods For A Cause....

This pod is finally ready to receive its finding! It will end up at the Breast Cancer Auction at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee next week. It is a collaborative effort between Michele Goldstein, Stephanie Sersich, and myself. Come on by and bid on something!

Progress is being made towards that trip and the following ones, Convergence, in Tampa late June, and The Puget Sound Bead Festival mid July in Tacoma, WA. it's all action packed!

I will also be participating in a 3 month long, 7 woman show at The Sandwich Glass Museum. I will be there the first two days of the shows opening demoing at the torch, July 1&2. If you are Cape Cod bound come on by!

An Oasis in the Woods....

Just home after a most action packed trip to central Pennsylvania. 'Had a wonderful time with family and friends and an unexpected journey to a state of the art 'Art Wonderland'.

The C. Barton McCann School of Art is a new school situated in the beautiful rolling hills region of central Pennsylvania. Designed and executed as an oasis where the art student and art teacher can come together and blend and meld with nature, architecture and other artists in an idyllic setting. My family and I were treated to an exceptional day tour of the facility as my sister Ellie, the one who is retiring from one career, is going to be spending lots of time here at this new school!

The Big Pig Gig......

The Big Pig Gig is sadly over for another year. This is the annual fund raiser for The Farm School. This is the local organization/group/family of friends that cultivate awareness, crops and a new way of looking at our lives and priorities. It is where my daughters have spent their middle school educations, fulfilling their parents desire to expose them to 'the things that matter',like cultivating food, living simply, making a small group of friends forcing communication due to the intimate size of the student body. The Big Pig Gig is always a great time. Two of our friends made some stone sculptures of garlic, peapods, mushrooms, etc. They were exquisite. The same friends that made the vegetables auctioned off their talents to erect an outside stone 'pizza oven', this captured the fancy of a few vigorous bidders.

Mavis Staples was the entertainment, this after a fine meal put on by Chef Peter at Henrietta's Table at The Charles Hotel in Boston.

Since, I have been moving from one preparatory activity to the next. I head to Pennsylvania this coming Wednesday to celebrate my oldest sisters' upcoming retirement. She went right to college after high school which put her in the classroom and teaching art at 21 years old. She has been doing that since, now 37(?) years later she can stop doing that....can't wait to see what she does next!

Then the following week I head to Milwaukee where the annual Bead and Button Show resides. I'll be teaching 3 classes, I'll post pictures of the projects just in case you are in the area!