Turtle Trax Diary. Page 37
April 10, 2002
Spring!!!! Page Two
by Lucky Magnolia (Susan Shie)
The photo above is a detail of "The Tomato Goddess," a painting on wood, 24" x 24", made by me and now in the collection of Debra Lunn and Michael Mrowka of Lunn Fabrics.
This is page 2. If you like, go back to page 1 now.
Omari turned two on March 7, but we had to wait til the 12th to
celebrate with him and Aimee and all the Shie Night stars, since we had
a camp here over his birthday. He's done this thing of looking at you out
of the corner of his eye, ever since he was born! It's the most charming
thing, and I know Aimee will have her hands full, chasing away all his
little girl admirers, quite soon! And yes, that's another chocolate birthday
cake to bust my diet yet again!!!!! Oh no! Good thing it's Springtime and
Hattie and I are walking more again.
It seems the older I get, the more the cold and ice bother me in the winter. I, who used to walk everywhere year round regardless, am now a squishy wimp in winter! Until we moved out here in 1991, we lived near downtown, and I would do all my errands daily on foot. Then we moved out here into the 'burbs, they took away the city buses a couple of years later, and now I just mostly walk the dog when it's nice enough. Good thing gardening weather is coming up! I bet Omari would LOVE to dig in the garden! Aimee, his mom, is a devoted gardener, but has no place to plant things right now.
Back to Omari, he's in the jibbering big-time stage now, and is learning more and more real words daily! That's so exciting a time, when kids get the gnack of talking! What a guy!
Gretchen just got hired by The Cleveland
Museum of Art, and by early March, we were all involved in the logistics
of her and Mike's move from Cincy, where she'd worked five years at the
Art Museum, to Cleveland. She decided Jimmy and I should come down and
get Isis, their cat, and take her to our place in Wooster during the move.
So the night before the Isis Caper, we spent the night in Cincinnati with our friend Suzanne Fisher and her husband Sergio, and their two cats, Evil Pusskins and Simon. Suzanne was our port in the storm, as Gretchen and Mike's apartment was by then a sea of taped up packing boxes, set for the big move North! Suzanne and I met in 1987, when first she and then I did a six month residency via the Ohio Arts Council at PS #1 in New York City. We've been pals ever since. In this photo Suzanne and I are admiring Evil Pusskins.
Suzanne put us in the computer room
overnight, where Evil Pusskins has her little cat bed. I've known this
cat for 14 years or so, and she still was not pleased to share her bedroom
with us. You can see her Vet doll lying next to her, which she abuses gleefully,
when bored!
E. Pusskins swallowed some thread last year and its top end lodged itself around her tongue. Somehow they ended up having to operate on her and slice her lengthwise to get it all out of her without injuring her vital organs!!!!! And this mean little thing survived! So put your sewing threads up high, behind cupboard doors, folks! Cats just keep on swallowing!!!!!
After Suzanne fed us a lovely dinner
and we all had a good night's sleep, we got to go see her art projects
the next morning, before our rendezvous with Gretchen and her cat. Suzanne
is a mixed media artist, but is really focusing now on mosaic murals installed
in public places. In the Over the Rhine part of town, she's got a temporary
studio, where she and community people are putting together huge murals
which will end up on outside walls in the neighborhood. These small samples
were made to help funders imagine what the final project would look like
in textures.
Next Suzanne drove Jimmy and me over
to Eden Park, to show us her other current public project, a mosaic patio
in progress next to Mirror Lake. In this photo you see just part of the
installation's spiral brick and mosaic work. There are some steps involved,
too, so that the little patio is sort of a nice place to sit and admire
the view. The view that day included Mirror Lake, which we'd driven past
countless times, on our way to see Gretchen at the Cincinnati Art Museum,
but which I'd never walked down to.
So I got to finally put my hand into that beautiful and placid pool that morning, Gretchen's last day of work. And as you gaze up past Mirror Lake, you can see the museum through the trees. So there we were, standing in Gretchen's park, while she was up in the museum, having her going away party in the office! Being good parents, we didn't barge in! We just sent her love up through the trees! We knew we'd be seeing her in a little over an hour! What a day! Look how pretty it was out there! It was March 14.
Then we went over to Gretchen and Mike's
neighborhood, Clifton on the Gaslight, and had breakfast with Suzanne at
The Proud Rooster. Thanking her for her hospitality, we parted ways and
I had time to do a little photo essay in the neighborhood, to give to G
and M as a gift. I knew they'd be missing their old stomping grounds of
almost eight years, soon! Above is their apartment building they'd lived
in for seven years, The Roanoke, a huge U-shaped structure, with their
apartment on this side, top front corner. So that's their balcony, right
in the middle of the photo, and their windows go mostly back to the left,
to the bay window. Seeing this photo montage actually made from two photos
merged, I realized that this gigantic building looks kinda like a big old
oceanliner. Check out the massive smokestack!
Within one block of their home, they had the library, grocery store, theater, drug store, bank, post office, tons of boutiques, and many restaurants. The drawback was the noise, as two hospitals and a fire station were very close as well. Oh, and having to park about two blocks away each day! Still, it was such a charming neighborhood! But time to go! We made our meeting with Gretchen, who came home over lunch to give Isis the cat to us, and we wished her and Mike well. They were making one trip to Cleveland, along with a moving van, and so had to be extremely well organized for the trip the next day.
And the plans worked fine! Isis was
a darling for us in the car, the movers were superb, Gretchen and Mike
were very ready for them, and all went well. Here is the new apartment
in Lakewood, in the near west side of Cleveland, two blocks from Lake Erie,
the day after the move, when we delivered Isis to her new home. Their new
place is the top floor again, of the building in the middle with the green
tile roof, on the right side, when you're facing the building. What a pretty
sunroom those windows belong to! And you can barely see the tree branches
on the tree lawn, but giant old oaks line the street! It's another very
classy neighborhood, but much more quiet this time. The little business
district is a few blocks' walk away this time.
Look how happy Mike and Gretchen are,
standing in their new doorway! They moved to Cincinnati in 1994, so Gretchen
could go to grad school in Art History at The University of Cincinnati.
After getting her MA, she went to work at The Cincinnati Art Museum in
registration, and worked her way up to Associate Registrar. Mike got his
BA in English at UC and worked for Strength Magazine.
Now Gretchen has begun her new job as Associate Registrar of Loans at The Cleveland Museum of Art, which means she arranges all the logistics of loaning out artworks from the permanent collection. She's a bit like a travel agent for art and the courriers who escort it to other musuems around the world. She did this in Cincinnati, too, but had other responsibilities as well. Cleveland is more active in loaning out work, so she's doing that full time. She really loves this new job.
You can see how relieved Gretchen is
to have the move overwith! And we are all so thrilled that we live only
one and a half hours apart now, instead of four hours! Since I don't drive,
this makes a great big difference. Jimmy likes Cleveland a lot, and we
used to go up there when we were young and first dating! There's a neighborhood
near the art museum that is a lot like Clifton in Cincinnati, that's called
Coventry, where we used to go to hear good music, spy on the leather shop,
and eat! We think we'll join the art museum as members finally, since we
have a great excuse to pop up there now!
I made this painting on wood, "St.
Quilta the Comforter in the Valley of the Goddesses" during the January
camp, but added some diary writing on it in March, that applied to the
move, and gave it to Gretchen and Mike for a housewarming present. It's
16"h x 12 "w, on wood. At the same time I made a painting like
it on fabric. I still want to quilt that, if I can handle sewing through
pretty heavy canvas that's not stretched. On second thought, it looks pretty
good just as a painting, too! :) The two paintings look very different
from each other, with the main variable being their surfaces, one being
on wood and the other on canvas. And this has me planning to offer a class
in which we make a painting on wood or stretched canvas, and then make
a quilt based on the painting. Like in the early 80s project "The
Artist and the Quilt," which paired painters and quilters, only this
time the same artist would do both the painting and the quilt. Wanna have
me come teach this workshop to your group? Just let me know!
Back to Gretchen and Mike's moving-in
time, here are Kristi and Heather, two of Gretchen's bridesmaids. Kristi
is Mike's brother Frank's fiance, and they live two buildings over from
G and M, in a mirror image apartment, and believe it or not, the two couples
had the same situation in Cincinnati, in that big building I just showed
you! Heather is Mike's middle brother Brian's wife, and they live in one
of the western suburbs of Cleveland. Mike's parents live in another little
town southwest of Cleveland, so now everyone is pretty close together!
See why everyone's so very happy?
Remember the father of the groom and
the father of the bride? Here they are, cooking up trouble again, sitting
together in that pretty little sunroom!
And look! The mother of the groom and
the mother of the bride are still very happy together! We all had a good
time that day, while Gretchen and Mike unpacked boxes all around us! Isis
spent that day hiding under the covers in the bedroom, but now she loves
her new home! No sirens blaring all day and night! And she has squirrels
and outside cats to watch! What a life!
Back to my own life, instead of living
through my daughter the whole diary long, here is a detail of the piece
I'd begun in the March Turtle Art Camp, as it is now finished. I can't
show you the whole thing, I guess, because I entered it into a calendar
contest, and they are doing a jury and shouldn't know who made which piece.
I was only going to work on it a little bit, after painting it, but I got
really carried away, since I want so much to get into that calendar! I
love calendars!
If it doesn't get in, I'll still be happy I did it though, because I can enter it in shows! But it did really take up my work schedule, which I'm still trying to untangle! Oh well, something must be blamed for it! Ha! I used a lot of formed glass beads on this piece, after the embroidery and bugle beading were all done. Since I am a narrative artist, the shapes that give me even more story details are much appreciated. Like my patio owls! Our student and friend Paget Rose found the tiny glass owls at Pat Catan's, our Northern Ohio arts and crafts store. (We have that, instead of Michael's.) And I've been back to get more of those owls, too!
After I painted IZE's
wedding shoes for her December 29 wedding, my friend Leslie Gelber,
aka Lala, commissioned me to make her a pair of painted party shoes. She
had found the shoes and sent them from Auburn, where she lives, and I drew
these tiny forms on them. Then I freaked out and kinda left them sit a
bit! I am not good at detail painting, so I stewed, and would paint just
a tad and then put them away.
Finally, after the calendar block was done, I knew my stalling had to end. I wasn't happy with my black lines, and kept going over them, as they would fade into the fabric, a problem that always tweaks me out! I want super rich black lines!!! With layers of paint put on with tiny brushes, I finallly thought of using my paint markers, to draw over the paint, not on the raw fabric, where they would run. I think the paint markers saved me on the details! Just like with my diary furniture, I am able to do much more detail with paint markers than with brushes. I'm just a hog with a little brush. I can't control the line enough to get elegant lines!
So these are called "LaLa's Kitchen
Shoes." and they are painted over a silver satin fabric. On the left
shoe is me, surrounded by a grater, colander, and other kitchen stuff,
and by big red roses and orange colanders and blue fish, which are now
the background on both shoes. On the right shoe is LaLa with more kitchen
goodies. And we each are talking on pink telephones ... to each other,
tho we usually communicate by email!
On the left heel is me in the middle,
with a platter of ... tortillas? ... on my head, and Jimmy looking on.
On the right heel is LaLa, with a big bowl of ... spaghetti ? ... on her
head, and her husband Bob checking her out! By my last painting sessions,
I was really enjoying these shoes again, as I had the first time, when
I just drew the images, before I freaked out on the tiny details to paint!
I think all art projects work out ok, if you just keep after them! And
LaLa, who called me, on my not really pink phone, told me she won't have
any trouble making a wearable art outfit, her special art form, to go with
these shoes. She's thinking up a pair of bell bottoms now, as the start!
One more commission this month was for
Jill Jensen of Forest, VA, a Turtle Art Camp student last year. Her piece,
called "St. Quilta's Begging Colander" is 8"h x 6 3/4"w. It really came to life when
I beaded it. I'm always amazed at how that sparkling element makes me like
the surfaces so much more. During the long period of doing all the embroidery/quilting
by hand, it didn't seem like the piece had much spunk, although it was
peaceful. But wow! It started jumpin' when I beaded it! I guess that's
part of why I keep on sewing, instead of only painting! I really love the
punch of multiple textures like these. I especially enjoy Q's little gloved
hands! I finished this piece on Easter morning, and scanned it right away,
making little Easter cards out of it for Jimmy's family, for later that
day! Still, with all that red, it'll make a better Christmas card! I am
happy that Jill likes it a lot. I know I kinda wanted to keep it, so that
tells me it's worthy!
I had entered three pieces into the
art competition "Fine Focus 02," a small format art quilt exhibition
planned to tour for three years, and got one piece, "Bad Spinach"
accepted. Saturday, April 6, the tour had its first venue reception an
hour from our house, at the Mansfield Richland County Public Library, so
Jimmy and I went to it, with our friends Kate and Luis Arango, fellow artists
and fun companions. The show was magnificent, with fifty little quilts,
between 8" and 13" on a side, each sewn onto a uniform sized
stretched canvas. It turns out that many of the quilts are square, but
they can also be rectangles or odd shapes. Here are works by (from left
to right) Michelle Hardy, Michele Merges Martens, and Maxine Farkus.
Only this one little grouping had black
backgrounds, instead of cream. These pieces were by the three curators:
Laura Cater-Woods, Judy Dales, and Kim Ritter, and the advisor to the curators,
who was the only curator of Fine Focus 2000 two years ago, Sandra Sider.As
you can see, all the works were hung at the same height, a very comfortable
level for close snooping, which is what Kate and I did for two hours that
day!
Liz Gilson is one of the people at the
library in charge of the exhibiton in Mansfield. She and I had emailed
a little prior to the reception, and she was very helpful. Behind her you
can see works by Julie Upshaw, Phil Jones, and Jeri Riggs. I was moved
by how much variety was in this show! The styles, themes, and techniques
were very individual, and the quality of the art rivaled Quilt National,
only in a tiny format. Like a huge charm bracelet of art quilts! More on
Liz below, as she just sent me some really interesting information about
herself and her partner in the show's management, Jean Ruark. You'll see
never to assume someone working at a library is necessarily a librarian!
This library behaved much more like
a little museum, doing this show great justice! They flew in curator Laura
Cater-Woods and had her give a half day workshop that morning. And here
she is, all smiles, with her piece. The library did enough homework on
publicity that a local TV station had a guy come and interview her, as
well as video a lot of things going on at the reception. Like hiring the
local musician Gypsy guitarist, who played all afternoon, in a little area
where the library had arranged audience seating and a sound system.
Christine Adams came with her husband,
all the way from Rockville, MD to see the show, and posed here with her
piece "Simple Pleasures." She and I had a good time talking,
and I found out that, besides being a working studio artist, she has initiated
a very good artist residency program in a nursing home, and is planning
to offer her services to help other nursing homes start up such art based
residencies. But first she will earn her MFA from Goddard College in Maine!
What a great ambition, to be willing to do that, so she will be validated
in teaching others how to help elders see themselves as artists, and regain
their self esteem and joy of living! What an amazing woman!
This is Jean Ruark, who was in charge of the exhibition at Mansfield.
And here's what Liz Gilson just emailed me about the two of them. "Jean
is communications coordinator for the Library. She's a graphic designer
who graduated from (and still teaches at) the Columbus College of Art &
Design. She coordinated this show completely, including arranging for the
workshop with Laura. She is in charge of exhibits, publications, advertising,
etc.
I (Liz) am public relations specialist for the Library. I wrote the press releases and coordinated publicity for the show, as I do for all events, exhibits and programs at the Library. My prior experience includes 8 years as assistant director of publications and information at Adrian College (Michigan) and stints as copywriter and broadcast producer for three different advertising agencies. I have a BSBA/marketing from Ohio State in Columbus and a BA in English with a specialization in writing from Adrian College. This is probably much more than you want to know about us. It's interesting, though, that neither of us is a librarian. That may account for the fact that we keep pushing the envelope on the role the Library plays in the community. I find myself thinking of it more as a museum than a library!"
Jean told me that credit for having this fine show at the library goes
to her boss, who understands the value of bringing great art to the community
and budgetting the money for doing it. By the way, this facility also sponsored
Fine Focus 00 two years ago! Only, even though I had a piece in it, I was
too stupid to find a way over there! Duh! Well, I'm so glad I went this
time! I won't see my piece again for three years, while the show tours!
And I'm so glad I can picture in my mind what the show looks like as it
goes around the country! In the picture above, Jeannie is at the artists'
notebook, which I didn't even get to look at, as I was busy looking at
the art. If I go back, I'll read that book of artists' statements!
This piece "Teapot Tantrum"
is my favorite in the show, by Phyllis Nelms of Oklahoma. It's shot at
an angle here, but is really a rectangle. Rotten photo! Phyllis, if you
have a good digital picture of this at 100 dpi, please send it, and I'll
replace this one! the little tea towel is a real one, at the bottom, and
is dimensional. The fire REALLY looks like fire, and the idea is brilliant!
Here is the same piece with its exhibition
companions: works by Susan Ennis, "Searching For Chimera," and
Randy Frost, "Improvisation V."
"Bad Spinach" is my own piece
in the show. It's 12.5"h x 8.5"w. Looking at it compared to the
journal pages project pieces I'm working on right now for Houston, I see
that this one is much more lush than the new things. But it also took forever
to sew up, after painting it, and this year's stuff has to be content with
whatever I get done on it! This story is about feeling lonely when Jimmy
is gone, when he was teaching parttime at a residency that I was teaching
fulltime at, and we would be apart most of the week, with me in a way too
big bed in a beautiful apartment with no Jimmy and no pets. Check out that
huge frying pan ... Joni Mitchell's song about "The bed's too big;
the frying pan's too wiiiiddddddeeeee!" And on top of it all, he gave
me a rotten bag of spinach (not on purpose, tho) and just went home! Oh,
Scarlett, you'll think of something! Tomorrow's another day!
Here are works by Judy Langille ["Small
Purple Grid"] and Cathy Kleeman ["Illusions III"], as well
as Andrea Stern's piece "Wasting Away." Andi is the other Ohio
artist in the show. She couldn't come to the reception, because she was
teaching and vending at Art Fest in Port Townsend, WA that weekend. Her
company is Embellishment Café,
and I get many of my beads from her. You should, too!
OK, what you've all been waiting breathlessly
for! A photo of my wicked-cool outfit that I tossed together for the reception
of Fine Focus 02! Note the snazzy refrigerator as my nifty little prop!
She was spotted wearing a stunning Dad Plaid flannel shirt over a vintage
muu-muu, over another Dad Plaid pair of flannel pajama pants, with little
burgandy wool clogs peeking out...with her own special tie dyed socks!
And a little leaded crystal choker given to her by her Virginia cousin
Candice the day before! Too, too bad I wasn't in the movies, so I could
have worn this to the Oscars, to show them how we strut in Ohio! OK, you
may not be converted to the Tropical Ohio Lounge Look, but you gotta admit,
I was comfortable. And I had pockets!!
So that's it. You still able to see straight, after all that reading? This was my longest diary in a while, sliding way back from my goal of less diary time, more studio time! I hope you liked reading it, or at least looking at all the pictures. Once again, I haven't done anything to so many other pages in this site that need my attention, so the next diary could be a shrinky dinky thing!
I'll put that next diary out by July 15. I've just got a bunch of teaching between now and then, as well as making some art deadlines!!!!! I'll be lecturing at The New England Quilt Museum on April 28, a Sunday afternoon, and you should call them if you want to attend. NEQM: 978-452-4207.
Then we have May and June Turtle Art Camps, and there are openings in the May 1 -7 camp yet, but June is full. Then we teach at Q/SDS in June, two classes. All the rest of the year's art camps have openings yet, so please check the dates and sign up to come!
And as we wearers of muu-muu fashions say "Aloha
... Oy!"
This is page 2. If you like, go back to page 1 now.
Turtle Moon Studios
Susan Shie and James Acord
2612 Armstrong Dr
Wooster, Ohio 44691
330-345-5778
email: turtles@bright.net
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