Valley Fiber Life

 

Two or three years ago the talented and lovely Marcia Young started a bit of a blog, Valley Fiber Life, about fiber art and artists in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, and I was lucky enough as a just barely expat of the Valley, to be one of her first interviews. Today Valley Fiber Life has several regular contributors and a broad umbrella for articles about great artists near and far, cool fiber-related videos, fantastic book recommendations, and a whole slew of other resources, including a wonderful free guide for offering critiques by art fabric legend Jane Dunnewold, which started me off on this post.

So the next time you need a hit of fiber fabulousness or a little inspiration to shake of your creative block, drop by Valley Fiber Life.

No animals were harmed and no fiber artists (including me) were paid for the production of this post.

Beautiful, interesting, and unfortunate

I was in DC this weekend and on Sunday went to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum. We came in the back door, so one of the first things I saw was this:

This is part of the hyperbolic reef project. You can see more about it at the Smithsonian's site, including a video of the project's founder giving a presentation for TED.

It's hard to tell since I went in tight with the photos, but this installation rises well over my head.

Absolutely gorgeous. Also visited the Human Reunion exhibit. It was a wonderful exhibit, and despite a few occasions of theory being presented as fact, I learned lots of new things I didn't know before, and got to visit a gallery of reproduction prehistoric art,

This looks like a study to me, with the artist working progressively on form and detail.

I love the abstractness of this one, but I'm going to do what all abstract novices do and say that if I let my brain relax it looks a little like the prehistoric Venus form.

  

Not my favorite, probably simply because the poor kangaroo's been shot in the bum.

The signage said this was swimming elk or deer (don't remember which),  but again, this looks more like a study to me.

And rendered myself as a Neanderthal.

I'm warning you, it's not pretty--although maybe another Neanderthal might thing otherwise.

Oh, and don't mind the glasses.

They did get the grey hairs right, though. :-)

Grandma's Shawl

I'm supposed to be sketching one of the two remaining quilts I have to design for a Quilting Arts magazine article that is due in a week, but procrastination is an important part of my creative process, so I'm feeding my creative side by posting. Really! Just ask my mom!

Anyhow, my Grandma made knitted and crocheted and beaded and plastic canvas stuff for us when we were young. She and Grandpa whipped up wonderful meals of pot roast or turkey and lefse (like potato tortillas) and komla (potato balls) and butterhorn rolls and grape salad. We had homemade buttermilk pancakes or oatmeal for breakfast, and there was always plenty of kringla (soft cookies) and krumkake (crumb bombs) to keep 9 people happy for several days.

Grandma always smells good and her skin is like silk. She has always listened when I shared the little trivial things that were important to me. And I could feel her quiet, low voice and Grandpa's rich, deep one way down in my heart.

Being at their house was like visiting a wonderful other world of special food, music, familiar old toys, tea parties, and all-day playtime, and I always cried when it was time to leave.

Grandpa is gone now, and Grandma, now in her 90s, lives in a retirement home 14 hour away, so it's hard to make sure she knows, every day, how much we love her and how often we think about her. I made her this shawl and some neck warmers--and some krumkake--for Christmas in the hopes that they will speak for us when we can't be there. 'Bout time I made her something comforting and wonderful!