Gearshift

I slogged through the first half of the text-based projects, but words were not only not flowing, I struggled mightily to maintain even a trickle.  Yesterday, I gave up, put the writing on a back burner and began the first part of the second batch of house projects: building a closet in a small, oddly-shaped nook that we carved out around the chimney when we did all the building upstairs. It will house things we need to keep on hand that are currently taking up space inconveniently in numerous locations; I’m calling it a linen closet.  The first task was to sand down the joint compound, something I dislike doing immensely, particularly when the sanding screen is attached to a cumbersome shop vac to minimize dust, and I need to become a contortionist to reach the corners.  After a comical, dust-mask-wearing, sweaty day, that bit is done (and it feels good). For the next few days I’ll try writing in between applying coats of paint, and hope that satisfying physical work will somehow release the word-flow.

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Quite Quiet

…and quite content with that, though not at all about the sad state of the outside world, particularly in light of the recent shootings. Children. Teachers. There are no words, or rather, there are far too many words, and never enough actual dialogue, never enough change.

On the personal front, I’m now deeply into re-thinking Just About Everything; beginning to formulate a new paradigm. The world may not change, but we can, individually. Hence: some silence. Which may continue for awhile.

In the realm of trivial blogthings: I decided to clean, dry and weigh the kozo. Scraping has been accomplished in little spare-time bits; one more session (today or tomorrow) will finish it.  Cleaning is tedious, but is teaching me things about growing and harvesting the next batch. During our yard sale, I sold most of the extra paper-slitting knives I kept for years for my classes, but saved two of these shoe knives. One of them is now a dedicated scraper; it works great for quickly lopping off the nodes left by tiny branches and for leaving most of the green bark. If I were going for the traditional clean white inner bark, I would need something slightly sharper.

There’s still a wee bit of lingering end-of-year paperwork, though most is now done and out. After last week’s series of sunny, relatively mild days, my gardens and outdoor work spaces are more cleaned-up and ready for winter than they’ve ever been …but I also wonder: will there be a winter this year? (No, not because of the Mayan calendar, but climate change).

Judging from the parent Morgan kozo, I expected the bark to stay green when dried and some of it has; the rest has dried to an almost-black, and then there are some pieces with tonal variation between the two. Interesting.

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Necessities

Ahhh. The anticipated quiet February is here, and Chicago has been weirdly warm and snow-free (knock on wood). I’ve been busily at work on a postponed-by-surgery project with that project’s fun and lovely partner, somewhat frustrated by budget limitations but still quite excited about how wonderfully things are shaping up within the necessary parameters. I also have my at-home duties doubled for the next few weeks, being the sole fortunate person who is able to do anything physical (shopping, cleaning, cooking, driving, laundry, etc.) during the healing period, which has made me appreciate exactly how much considerable weight we each pull here (not to mention being doubly grateful for the lack of snow and the need to shovel it). They’re all time-consuming, dull but necessary tasks. It is also definitely necessary to begin to address my broken, in-limbo web site this month, but first there is a much greater need, my personal cure for damn near everything: the studio.

So: As of this morning it’s completely unpacked, all vestiges of past projects are cleaned away, the beater is freshly greased and the work surfaces are totally cleared and ready to go. Hemp, flax and kozo are soaking for cooking in lovely 40 degree weather outdoors tomorrow, and I say: hello, February; hello, hello at last, time for new projects and experiments. Few things are more necessary to me. Ahhh.

(I heart my studio when it’s clean; even better when it looks like it will in 3 days).

Like Aimee, whom I’m quite delighted to be showing with, I forgot to post that this exhibition opened yesterday in Texas (though it has been listed over there in the blahg sidebar). I too hope everyone had a grand time last night!

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Keep Calm and Carrion

January 2012 is indeed proving to be ‘interesting’ with rather huge unexpected, un-ignorable events dropping in our already busy laps at this house this week, affecting us next week and a bit beyond.  The hardest part was admitting that I simply had to drop one postponed project and continue to postpone another, but the people involved seemed to take it well; at least easier than I did.  I’m trying to see it as an opportunity to practice acceptance of my limitations. It’s almost working. Almost.

Reports from Iowa about the response to the show are wonderful, which helps.  I return to the school (and hilarious taxidermy-infused hotel) early Thursday for an intense residency after a highly charged, insanely busy early week.

I admit I’m harboring hopes for a quiet February, with time to rebuild my broken web site and to finally address other behind-the-scenes tasks.  You know: winter.

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I am not in Iowa

Statistically speaking, you probably aren’t in Iowa, either, but I am supposed to be, installing this show.  Half the artwork is there; the lovely gallery director and I loaded her car in the dark at 6 this morning, so she could race against the season’s first winter travel warnings (she made it safely).  I couldn’t leave at that time with my half, because I needed to ship out the work for this show first.  (We’d planned to leave at 10, before we knew about the predicted weather). By then, snow had arrived in Chicago, coming down increasingly thicker and faster as I loaded up my half of the Iowa show, and the weather report said Do Not Go There in bold red type with exclamation points.

Ah well; it gave me time to chill (no pun intended) a wee bit after an intense week, and hopefully I’ll write this, get almost an entire eight hour’s sleep, and then the roads will be clear.  If not, then it’ll be Monday and Tuesday, the show will open a day late, and I’ll do a massive rescheduling of next week. That’ll be nothing new, as that’s already happened all this entire strange but productive week.  I’m trying to be zen-like about it all.  Sleep will help.  (Goodnight).

Shrouded, bubble-wrapped stuffed, six-foot book.  All the work I’m hauling had to come out of its crates today, in order to fit into one carload.

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It’s Now

It’s the Solstice, tonight or tomorrow morning, according to different sources.  So here’s my annual link to the Maeshowe web cam; it’s streaming live this year from 14:00 to 16:00 GMT, which translates to 8am – 10am Central US time.  The sun is setting at about 3:15pm in the Orkneys, and tomorrow is supposed to be partly cloudy there, but the webcam is on till the end of January / early February, and you can view animations from previous years at the site. Hurrah for the return of the light!

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Ten More Days

I’ve been quite busy, but with things not interesting enough or too as-yet unformed to blog about (composing reference letters, researching several things, writing, preliminary curating with a dear friend, doing some work on the house and tons of somewhat surprising thinking and cautious planning, to name a few).

I am so much more aware of the approach of the solstice (and so, the holidays) this year; much earlier than ever before.  I think it’s because I’m working at home, where the waning of the light, the onset of each day’s earlier and earlier darkness, is so much more noticeable. I got our wee lights installed earlier than ever and they bring a snug comfort (and make me want to cook, too).

Yesterday I went to Ragdale’s warm lovely annual holiday party, arriving a bit early so I could enjoy a wee visit to the prairie before the light went.  It was wonderful to see Ragdale House looking like this, much like a friend recovering well from surgery, and also to see all the new copper trim lit up by the early sunset:

I had so much fun, and so many consecutive conversations that unfortunately I missed each and every tour of the interior!  But a friend and many-time resident of the house who did step inside said, with a huge grin: “It looks like…like…Ragdale House!” I also ran into a few folks who knew Barbara Metz, and we traded stories and toasted her. Of course, I had my annual tarot reading, which hinted that there is good reason to anticipate the sun’s return. I took the long, non-freeway route home, just to enjoy all the holiday lights along the way.

(For those still searching for ‘Melissa Jay Craig Classes 2012’, thank you again: here are .pdf links to two ‘summer sneak previews’:  Arrowmont (June 10 -16) and Women’s Studio Workshop (July 9 -13) !)

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Pleasantly Adrift (with postscript)

Happy Imbolc, Chinese New Year and Snowpocalypse, Day Two.  Chicago was/ is supposedly the epicenter of the massive storm; this morning’s Trib sums up the impact on Chicago.  Personally, I rather love storms (and being snowed in) and this one was (and is still) quite spectacular.  Our power was out from 6 last night to 6:30 this morning, though, and that meant no heat, but we could light the stove. I bundled up, drank lots of hot ginger tea, and read by flashlight till midnight, stopping periodically to watch it all through the windows, particularly during the surreal thunder and lightning. Our 24-hour blizzard warning lifts in about 3 hours.  I’ll probably just have to venture out, alone because dog Lupe who normally loves snow refuses to leave the back porch. The drifts are well over her head. If you’re where it’s heading next, stay warm and enjoy.

In another world, I truly appreciated this thoughtful analysis of (S)Edition that appeared online a few days ago. I’m quite pleased that someone finally ‘got’ the darkness in the piece, though the writer in this case seems to have focused on those aspects. Most often, it’s the other way around; folks respond to (S)Edition’s playfulness and humor and shy away from its disturbing aspects. Still, it was my intention to open up a complex, wide-ranging resonance using a deceptively simple image, and it’s most gratifying to have someone thoroughly engage with it.  Thanks, Ms. Alissa: though it might have been scarier, I wish you could have seen all 99.

While I was writing this, the snow stopped and our street was actually plowed – that’s record time!  Below is a giant SUV abandoned in the middle of the street, shot just over an hour ago.  Several neighbors came out to push it to the curb for the plow. Fun! Though digging out, I predict, will not be.

PS: Five hours later.  Paul’s snowblower laid down and died almost immediately. Ditto for a second one.  Seven neighbors from four households (including me) with one functional snowblower between us banded together and shoveled out all our houses and cars and did the same for a few of our elderly neighbors as well.  The piles of snow are taller than me.

Two freed Subarus…

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Happy Holly Daze

Time (aided by rather childish Frustration with The Foot) got away from me these past several days, though I am now totally technologically upgraded (at least for the next few months) and the lights are up in the windows and house, cheering us till early February.  I’ll get back to the blahg-ing soon. For now, I wish you the warmest and most heartening holiday season, whatever and however you celebrate.

 

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