castle island shells
Tomorrow night, June 8th from 6:00 – 8:00 PM, is the opening reception for Peace: Cutting Through Turmoil at the Brickbottom Artist Gallery in Somerville. Good food, good drink and great art with a story to tell. I’m one of seven proud participants, debuting my first installation, Mussel ‘Em. Hope to see you there, and FYI, the show will run through July 1, 2017.
Learn more at https://www.brickbottomartists.com/gallery_future
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, Photography Exhibits | Tagged art, Inspiration, Photography, storytelling | Leave a Comment »
I rose this morning intending to be quite disciplined. A cold rainy Monday. What better time to focus on (overdue) paperwork and organizing electronic files. Manilla file folders were at the ready as were a handful of new memory sticks. I decided to start with sorting images first … and that was my disciplinary downfall but creative uplift.
detail from John La Farge’s New Jerusalem
I chanced upon a recent photo I’d taken of The New Jerusalem, a magnificent stained glass window at Trinity Church in the City of Boston designed by John La Farge. It was a closeup of the jewels that sit atop the layers of painted and stained glass that compose the top panel of the window. All I had to do was figure out which memory stick to place it on. But somehow, perhaps because the jewels’ bright colored sparkling was in such contrast to the gray day around me, I found myself lost in their beauty and began to wonder … what if I …
And then there’s another what if and another what if until you kind of fall into a groove of playing … for hours! … with what’s evolving on the screen. Deconstructing and creating at the same time. Imagining what if this pattern were on paper, on a mug, etc. But mainly in the course of recent events for me, I wonder what if this design, or its next evolution, was applied to silk. Will it work?
I don’t know yet. It’s a work in progress, and I have to admit I’m excited to see what will happen. I’ll be sure to share! 🙂 Okay, back to paperwork …
Posted in Inspiration | Tagged beauty, creative process, creativity, deconstruction, design, fashion, Inspiration, John La Farge, Photography, silk scarves, stained glass windows | Leave a Comment »
Posted in Nature Notes | Tagged beauty, flowers, Inspiration, Photography, purple | 2 Comments »
savory
A chaotic growing season for me, I have to say. Some years I’ve had grand plans for what I intend to grow, where and in what vessel. Sometimes I’ve tried to find an organizing theme, like growing edible flowers … although I was reminded by my taste testers that year just because a flower is edible doesn’t mean it tastes good. One year I found potatoes sprouting in a pantry drawer and that set me off on a journey to grow potatoes indoors using methods my dad taught me for growing potatoes outside. This year gardening has been less an adventure and more like a solace and an anchor. A way to be alone with one’s thoughts, work with one’s hands, and all that good stuff.
orange mint, tarragon, fennel, parsley
I’m not so worried about everything looking pretty. I want functionality … a certain chef has got to have his herbs to cook with, and since I benefit from his experiments, I decided this season to focus on basics like parsley, sage, tarragon, thyme, oregano, marjoram and rosemary. Savory was a new one for me. Delicious. I turned away from the beauty of dill because I always kill it. I did pick up a mint for its hardiness. I keep thinking about lavender.
![DSCN4784[1]](https://wordsandimagesbycynthia.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/dscn47841.jpg?w=500)
The biggest surprise has been the nasturtium. They popped up out of nowhere. I recycle dirt, and after I had planted some tarragon with some old dirt, up comes some nasturtium sprouts! I need to move them to a new spot because the oak tree, now in full foliage, is blocking the light. And in the midst of all this chaotic green, I now have two hot pink geranium as well. That’s what happens when you make a nine-year old put down the iphone, walk with you to the flower market and before you can say, “edibles only,” the flower market owner bends down and says, “Well, hello! What’s your favorite color?” As a non-edible, I’ve tucked the hot pinks away in a little nook where the sun can find them but not a certain chef.
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Kitchen Inspirations, Nature Notes | Tagged herbs, indoor gardening, Inspiration, nature, Photography | Leave a Comment »
I especially like the one that has yet to bloom.
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged beauty, daisies, flowers, Inspiration, nature, Photography, urban landscape | 3 Comments »
in the Southwest Corrider Park in Back Bay
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Getting down on the ground with my camera. 🙂
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the completed trough
Nope, that is not the opening to one of my fairly gentle political posts. Just breathe. Those are the words I repeat to myself the night before I attempt to set up my first installation for the exhibit Peace: Cutting through Turmoil. My contribution to the show I guess I can say is a three dimensional representation of my artistic and emotional experiences after chancing upon 1930’s Federal Writers’ Project slave narratives in the public library, and then later reading more narratives online. It was a short paragraph that set me on this path, a recount of childhood memories of eating from a trough with a mussel shell. Shells pulled from the branches …
What I am creating is ephemeral. Paper, prints, words produced to physically be on display for a little less than a month. A contribution that I think will be part of a powerful whole when viewed in the company of the works by the other participants who have esteemed careers in the arts. I feel a bit like the new kid on the block. A little scary but freeing too.
It will be an assemblage of pieces and parts, words and images, some culled from nature, some acquired collaboratively with the aid of friends. The least ephemeral of the whole is the trough. While he did let me hold a chisel or two, it was Steve who carved the trough for me using a fallen tree, and a pivotal tool, both shared by friends.
Shared by friends. No matter what happens with this project it has been a wonderful collaborative effort. I was even able to involve one of my littlest friends, aged 9 and going on 21, who agreed to hold a mussel shell for me.
Hmmm. What else is there to say? Before this night is done, I have a few more shells to drill holes in and string, and I still need to discuss with Steve how to hang … oops, I can’t tell you what I intend to hang or from what. At least not yet. Meanwhile, I just breathe. 🙂
Peace: Cutting through Turmoil
Brick Bottom Artists Gallery, Somerville, MA
Opening Reception Thursday June 8, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Posted in Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged art, collaboration, exhibits, Inspiration, Photography, slave narratives, slavery, woodworking | Leave a Comment »
fields of gold at the arnold arboretum
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged Arnold Arboretum, beauty, buttercups, flowers, Inspiration, Photography, urban landscape, yellow | 3 Comments »
a quick visit in between gentle rain showers to the arnold arboretum
Posted in Inspiration, Nature Notes | Tagged Arnold Arboretum, beauty, colors, flowers, Inspiration, nature, Photography | 4 Comments »
Words + Images 