Arisia and a ribbon for Wudaineon

Jan. 14-17, I participated in Arisia "New England's largest and
most diverse Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention" This year
it moved to the Boston Waterfront Westin from the Cambridge
Hyatt providing more space...but also some rather confused
participants trying to navigate the hotel..and some surprised/
startled sedate hotel staff confronted by costumed attendees.
(Not as high a percentage in costume as at Dragoncon. But
quite a few none the less. Attendance is around 5000.)

You never know what you might come across at these cons.
I was intrigued by this sculpted "Cast Iron Theater" piece by
Hilary S. L. Scott set up between the art show and dealer tables
area. See if you can guess what it is actually made of:



For a glimpse into the world of the imaginative soul (a
former professor of political theory) who created it
and MANY other cool things, check out Hilary's website:
www.eclecticsculpture.com He's located in Somerville MA .
I'm definitely going to try to connect with him!

I set up at the art show as I did last year. When I went to
pack up unsold items on Sunday evening, I was surprised to
discover a big blue ribbon next to Wudaineon the gentle
dragon. It was for "Best 3-D" art piece. Wudaineon
seemed very pleased!

This year, I was a panelist for various panels: "Interstitial
Arts: A Discussion"; "Fostering Creativity"; "3-D Art Basic
Materials and Methods (covering electronic and physical
3-D);"Paths for Professional Artists" and I led a "Working
with clay" Crafts for Adults workshop.

One of the fun aspects of being on panels, is learning about
new materials, ideas etc. Well known illustrators and animators
Brianna and Frank Wu were on the 3-D art panel. It was
fascinating to see the programs and technology they work with.
(Of course it convinced me more than ever that I like to use
physical materials. I couldn't imagine sitting at a computer for
the hours necessary to do computer animation!)Brianna and
Frank are working on a video game for an ipad based on her
artwork.

Jen Hunter was assigned to help out for the clay sculpting
workshop and via emails before the show, convinced me that
folks might want to create something they could keep. That
led me to investigate paperclay. I knew that fantasy artist
Forest Rogers (www.forestrogers.com) sculpts with paperclay.
and wanted to see what it was like to work with. I bought two
varieties from the site: www.paperclay.com I purchased
some of their "creative paperclay" and the slightly harder
"diamond" version. Participants seemed to like the feel
and manageability of the paper clay and the detail it could
handle. It air dries to a hard surface which can be easily
painted. You can add to a piece already dry by putting on
a bit of moisture and adding more paperclay. I still cling to
my preference for natural clay...but always good to learn
about new materials. Might try some out with the after
school kids I work with. Here are two sweet items made
by participants in the workshop:


It's fun to experiment outside your field. The mini boot
(1.5"x 2.5") is by writer Delia Sherman (deliasherman.livejournal.com )
and the head by writer Sarah Smith (Sarahsmith.com )
At Arisia, I picked up Sarah's new book The Other Side of Dark,
a historical mystery involving the old Pinebank mansion in
Jamaica Plain, MA. I had the treat of reading the manuscript
before publication so was especially pleased to see it in its final
book form. I definitely recommend it as an intriguing read!

The Arisia staff ended up providing self-hardening clay as
well so some participants sculpted with that. Bears seemed
a theme for one table. The woman's shirt seems to help
explain their choice!



For those who just wanted to strickly "play" I also
provided some of my low fire white clay...

Glass artist, Josh Simpson was the Artist Guest of Honor
this year at Arisia. I've exhibited at shows with Josh for many
years and know that besides being an amazing artist, he's
a great story teller and photographer so I made sure to
take some friends to his lecture on Saturday night. He talked
about his Infinity project. For 25 years he's been placing
or getting friends and others to hide small glass planets
around the globe hoping to mystify future archeologists!
(Check out his website for a full story of the project:
joshsimpson.com ) He ended his lecture with photos sent
that day by his wife, astronaut Katie Coleman, from the
International Space Station where she is on a long duration
mission. We marveled at how technology keeps families
together even out of our atmosphere...and saw how gummy
bears are eaten in space!

On Sunday the Interstitial Arts Foundation Executive
Board met at our house...more about that in my next post.

Journey on! Wendy

Happy New Year -First Night Parade

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! May 2011 be filled with adventure,
fun, and peaceful quiet moments for reflection...

For several years now I've co-facilitated a project with
Hawthorne Youth and Community Center in Roxbury leading
up to participation in Boston's family friendly First Night
Parade. This year as last I collaborated with local artist
Lisa Lee. We work with the after school kids on Wednesdays
all Fall and lead community workshops on Saturdays.
Participation with HYCC on First Night has been a
neighborhood tradition for many years. I really enjoy the
multi-generational aspect of the community involvement.

This year our project theme was "High Flying Flags".
The challenge - what material would be 5 year old to adult
friendly, hold up if rain or snow and offer good canvases for
creative energy. After considering everything from ripstop
nylon to interfacing, we settled on room darkening shade
material - light,easy to cut,no hemming, waterproof, and
impermeable so that designs could be created on both sides
using paint,pen, markers, stitching, lots of glitter and glue.
Here are some of the kids starting their flags:



The idea was to have the flag in some way represent
the individual making it...Some kids opted for nods to
national origins,others names of their school , their
passions or tributes to special people who had died.

Some children went for the simple,

others really delved into the materials...as
this young lady who LOVES layering.

Lisa and I made flags too..She likes asparagus and
motorcycles. Mine, of course, needed a dragon:

The nun from the convent up the street who also works
with the kids, made this beautiful one.

Besides the individual pieces, we always make a large banner
or other art piece for the parading. This year kids and adults
helped create a two sided 4'x9'banner. The First Night parade
is always about LOTS of glitter and sparkle and hot glue!

On New Year's eve afternoon, we set at the Hynes auditorium
and put on finishing details:

And after months of creation - we march!



I forgot to say the kids also decorated plastic capes...
a favorite of the boys:

Fortunately this year the weather was warm. We were 48
strong in the parade!

We're already thinking about First Night 2012..Lights?
Pinwheeels? Proposals are due in April!

But next up for me is participation in the Arisia
art show and panels there : www.arisia.org -
Boston Westin Waterfront Jan. 14-17.

Journey on! Wendy

Holidays - Tradition, story and memory

Holidays are a time of tradition, story and memory.
I love hearing tales of special foods, activities that
families share and how they choose to decorate their home
during holidays. Our family bakes two special breads for
Christmas morn - a brioche usually shaped like a Santa
(photo above)and a Norwegian julekage. Both recipes came
fromSunset magazine in the late 60's...and we've been making
them every since. One tradition associated with the julekage
is to make the dough, divide it in half and bake two loaves.
Then one is given to a friend or relative...so on Christmas
you are sharing the very same bread. One year we tried to
send the bread to my brother in London. Only it took too
long to arrive, so became moldy...now we stick to sharing
with folks nearby.

That same brother in London started us on the tradition
of Christmas crackers....the British poppers with paper
crowns, silly jokes or riddles, and tiny toys. They guarantee
that Christmas night is filled with laughs and giggles...
and recognition that life needs levity as well as seriousness.

We as many families have a Christmas cactus..which if we
are careful blooms in late December. But our Mama
cactus has been passed down through the generations..
My husband's great aunts found a small Christmas cactus
discarded by a flower shop in Roseburg, OR around
1910....They "rescued" it and its been growing and
producing cactus generations every since. The original
"elder" resides in our kitchen with an offspring nearby.



I enjoy Christmas trees, especially for all the memories
stored in the decorations and the stories that are shared
in a family as they are placed on a tree. However,
now that we tend to travel to be with our children, we skip
or only have a small tree. There is one decoration that
continues to get more elaborate in our home - our nativity
scene. I made the original figures when I was about 10.
We always set up a small scene as I was growing up. There is
something about the scene that has always appealed to me -



Then in 1994 we traveled to Ecuador for the wedding of one
of our daughters. We were introduced to the tradition of nativity
scenes in Cuenca, Ecuador. Some which filled whole backyards
including mini volcanoes, living plants ,etc. Each scene was
clearly a labor of love by everyone who set them up. Ever
since then, our scene has expanded in both concept and items.
It covers the top of our piano.





Every piece in the scene is a story shard..connecting to
travels of friends, our children, ourselves. Others were
gifted for special occasions. Some are new, some old. Each
represent connections to people and times shared. The
tiny animal band I made of clay when I was around 11 is there.



The three kings of the original scene long ago disappeared, so
in our present version, these three musicians (gifted to us from
Peruvian friends) are the "kings".


When one of our daughters traveled to Greece, she didn't
find a piece for the scene...so brought back a few rocks (from
Atlantis perhaps?)

For me,our scene represents family and the hope and joy
which should be celebrated at the birth of each and every child
in the world. Some infants will grow to be extraordinary
individuals whose stories will impact the world in major ways
But every child has the potential of offering his or her unique
gifts and our job is to nurture possibility.

May this season however you celebrate it, be filled
with warmth, family, friends, tradition and lots of story sharing!!

Peace, Wendy

American Craft NYC show Nov. 19-21

It's a busy holiday time of year for all of us..but I wanted
keep my promise of talking about the new NYC show
I participated in Nov. 19-21: www.americancraftshownyc.com
The image above is my booth.. Snarval and Wudaineon
welcomed customers into my space. My set up was simpler
than usual in part because the show provided black pipe
and drape for us. This meant I could use less of my set up
materials. I kept the focus on my figures for this show. I
plan on using a variation of this booth for ACC Baltimore in Feb.

For a new show, I thought it went well. There was
a wonderful eclectic mix of fine art and craft with an equal
spread of very established artists and emerging artists.
Live musicians set up in various areas to perform, large
paintings were painted on the spot, ceramic demonstrations
pulled in customers, and there even were live professional
models in an area dedicated to figure drawings complete
with chairs and pads of paper. (The figure drawing was
the favorite part of the show for my niece's 8 year old
daughter!). All in all the show had a rather funky, fun
New York City edge to it which I rather liked.

I have less images to share than usual since I forgot my
camera, but was able to borrow one to take a photo
of my booth...and that of Valerie Bunnell, a good
friend and awesome figurative artist: www.valeriebunnell.com





I met Joanna Gabler who exhibited her photography
at the show: www.naturetransfigured.com Joanna
writes: "Art is and always will be a sacred gate
between the invisible and the visible". I was
especially drawn to her "gateways and passages" series
dedicated to a friend who died recently. Check out
that section of her website...the second image is the
one that invited me in!

Since I was staying down in New York to celebrate
Thanksgiving I had a few days to wander. When down
in Chelsea I happened upon the Rubin Museum of Art
on 17th street between 6th and 7th Ave: www.rmanyc.org
The museum is dedicated to the art of the Himalayas
and surrounding regions and is a breath of calm in
a bustling city. I spent the afternoon there
looking at its various exhibit..check out the website..
and watching a group of school children sketching
objects in a Tibetan altar and talking about why they
selected a specific object.

Then went over to the Lyons Wier gallery to see
the exhibit by Jan Huling: www.janhuling.com
who describes herself as a children's book author
and beadist!...Yes, beads, beads, beads..with humor!

I also spent some time at the Museum of Natural
History and its exhibit exploring the similarities and
differences between the brains of humans and other
animals and went to my favorite area of the museum
which has masks from the Pacific Northwest. The
creativity and humor of the art enthralls me.

Returned home bustled for a local holiday show,
finished up some orders (including a new journal cover...
with a phoenix!...stay tuned..may be a new series!),
worked with after school children and community
on a First Night Project (images on a future blog post)
and finally am doing some holiday baking.....

I hope your holiday preparations are filled with
lots of sweet scents and fun!

Journey on! Wendy

Creating Sacred Spaces - Medicine Wheel Productions

I'm just back from the American Craft Show NYC and
will share sights and impressions...but first want to
lift up Michael Dowling's Medicine Wheel installation
for World AIDS Day, December 1. Michael is an
artist of vision who believes in cooperative work
and community involvement. Medicine Wheel Productions
website gives a glimpse of his extraordinary vision and
work: mwponline.org

For the past 19 years Michael along with many volunteers
has turned the Boston Center for the Arts' circular brick
building into a sacred space for a 24 hour vigil of memory,
sharing, and offerings of music, dance, and poetry.
The installations rotate focus on the four elements, earth,
air, fire and water. This year was fire. The image above
shows what greeted you as you walked up the stairs into
the cyclorama this year: self-portraits (of Michael's students)
carved into plywood, red ribbons, and shrines.

Each year the main element are the 36 pedestals with
shrines arranged in a large circle. Visitors are encouraged
to add photos or mementos to the shrines which are put
into the pedestals at the end of the vigil. The pedestals
contain 19 years of such memories and thoughts.

This year removable gray walls assembled inside the brick
walls were covered with black 1" mesh. Buckets of red ribbons
were set around as well as piles of red ribbon arranged
in the center of the space for people to cut into lengths.
Designs were started on the walls...but were added to
over the 24 hour period...red AIDS ribbons shimmering
in the light holding the circular space.


Anyone could add their designs to the walls.


Over the 24 hours artists, musicians, and performers
share their work, food is served, and quiet conversation
and meditation takes place. I've attended the vigil every
year I've been in town since it began, have helped when I
could. Last year, I spent the entire 24 hours there. This
year I was there only a few connecting as always with a
small group of friends who celebrate another year of survival
of the daughter of a friend born HIV positive 21 years ago
and remembering my brother and so many other friends who
did not survive.

Michael works with many youth and in particular with
a group of young men in recovery. This year they created
these full clear body sculptures. They performed
with them early in the day - something I wish I had seen.
The sculptures are made of clear tape.. body part, by
body part and then taped together with some red ribbons
inserted inside. Simple materials, amazing result!





In our busy world it is often difficult to find venues
to share, stop and just breathe. Thanks to Medicine Wheel
Productions, I find a moment every Dec. 1.

Next week - New York show and New York moments.

Journey on! Wendy

Dragons and eyes for New York City

Finally as promised..some images of what I've been working
on....with a little "before" and after. First the new dragon
named Wudaineon by our 9 year old granddaughter who was
just here for a visit. The head as it began - wood and
eye attached via apoxy sculpt:


And the finished head - spokes are wet-formed
goat rawhide:


hind quarters...and end of tail...have to come to
New York to see it as a whole!


Actually I hope to so some serious photography in NYC
..and have a complete image for you on my return..or at
a minimum one of my booth there! Wudaineon is between
4 and 5 feet long.

I'll also have new figures at the show. I've continued
to play with the concept of eyes...and how we "see".
Here are two in beginning stages...


At the last show, a young fan asked if I ever thought
about having the figures stand on their heads. Hmmm
interesting. Thought I'd play with that idea.
Here is the finished head stander.


It's named,"TaDaa". As a friend pointed out to us
this weekend, sometimes if you stand up, stretch
your hands in the air and say "Ta-Da!" the world
seems a happier place!

This new figures "sees" with her/his hands,
feet, chest, and back of the head! Look closely.


Please anyone in the New York City area...come
on over to the American Craft Show NYC at the
Javits Center this Friday-Sunday. Full info at:
www.americancraftshownyc.com I'll be in booth
# 132. Would love to see you!!

With Thanksgiving approaching...I send my
thanks to all of you for joining me on this
internet journey .

Journey on! Wendy

Hot Flash! book by Pamela Hastings

I promised images of new work in my last blog - and I
will post some soon, but last week my copy of this
new book by my friend, Pamela Hastings www.pamelahastings.com
arrived in the mail. She sent it to me as a thank you
for my contribution to it.



Pamela and I met in the 70's when we were both doing
the craft circuit. I stayed, but she moved on to doing
a vast array of activities including doll making workshops
on and off line, getting trained as an occupational
therapist and more. We reconnected at a doll show
a number of years ago and she told me about this
project and asked if I would contribute to it. She was
reaching out to women artists and writers she knew to
reflect on the concept of "Hot Flash!" and to reflect on being
a women in this age we live in. Some of us responded to
her questionnaire, others contributed poems, thoughts,
insights, stories, images of artwork and ourselves and
even a few recipes! In all, over 60 women ranging in age
from 20's to 80's are represented.

The result is a fantastic compendium of stories and images
and insights into extraordinary individuals. Pamela
explains the organization of the book in this way:
"I have collected and arranged these contributions in a
non-linear way, like stories told around a late-night bottle
of wine by long-term and new friends. Long ago I noticed men
meeting each other share accomplishments, women share
stories. Welcome to your large messy collection of new friends. "

Pamela goes on to say, " I hope this book will start and continue
each of you in your collecting, listening to stories, making ART
out of your experiences. Couldn't all the Energy of Hot Flashing,
of experiences exploding, be harnessed to save the planet..or
at least our Selves! "

It's taken eight years to complete and worth every
hair tearing moment along the way. I certainly plan to get
to know some of these new "friends".

To get a glimpse of some of the stories, check out
Pamela's blog:
http://pamelasjournal.blogspot.com/2010/09/hot-flash.html

This book would be a great holiday gift for any
dear friend or yourself!! It can be purchased through
Pamela's website.

Now back to stitching a new dragon...

Journey on...Wendy