Athena Dreams

Squam Art Workshop .:. The Fibre Event

Last September I attended the first Squam Art Workshop in the Holderness area of NH. About 125 people stayed at this amazing camp (Rockywold-Deephaven Camps) from the turn of a couple of centuries ago, by the edge of Squam Lake (think On Golden Pond), and attended all kinds of art-making and writing workshops, dined in the dining hall 3 times a day, sat by warming fireplaces in cabins at night and talked and laughed and made new friends. 

AND all of us were lucky enough to have some time away from our daily lives to create, and not just that, but also to talk about creating, to think about creating, and to share the experience with a group of people who were all doing the same.

In 2009, there will be 2 sessions of the Squam Art Workshops, and the first session, in June, is all about FIBRE. There will be teachers like: 

• Sally Melville
• Annie Modesitt
• Megan Ingman of Lettuce Knit fame  

Also appearing - more knitters, crocheters, felters, fabric printers: 

• Traditional Gansey guru Beth Brown Reinsel   
• Textile designer and printmaker Lizzy House   
• Schaeffer Yarn Design Guru Laura Nelkin 
• Seamstress extraordinaire Catherine Slye  
• Green Crafter (and Cupcake maker!) Betz White 
• Felter  (and designer of AMAzing bags) Lisa Klakulak 
• Handmade with Maya Donenfeld  
• DIY Crafters Derek Fagerstrom and Lauren Smith from the Curiosity Shoppe 
• and The Effervescent Margaret Hubert 

And, just to round things out, there will be painting and mixed media art classes with:

• Marisa Haedike of Creative Thursday
• Lisa Occhipinti
• Tracy Huskamp  
• Alex Shur 

So I post this to get a little more word out there, and also to say if you have been needing and wanting an adventure, a retreat into your craft, your art, and a means to embrace your creativity, this could be your thing.

Truthfully, I cannot say enough good, positive, energised, grateful, happy words about my experience last year. Elizabeth MacCrellish, the hostess extraordinaire of this event, has created an open, creative, magical, vital and supportive environment for wonderful things to happen. 

Visit the Squam Art Workshop site and have a look around... consider a magical adventure in the woods with your knitting needles and a huge group of like-minded souls. 

It could be the best gift you have ever given yourself . . . I know it was the best one I have given to myself, and I'll be doing it again this September . . .

EDITED TO ADD: And there is a Ravelry Group in full swing for this event!

The Year that was 2007

2007 was a year of 2 Firsts for me. Socks (Broadripples) and Crochet (Larger than Life and Babette). I finished my very first pair of socks in January and I completed my very first granny square in June.

2007 was the year of the fingerless mitt, blankets galore and not finishing as much as I put on my plate.

15 pairs of mitts were knit and gifted, and all the mitts (except Fetching) were designs of the lovely Anne Hanson, who I am sure I probably gushed overly much about at some point or another this fall.

Two baby blankets were started, one finished the other frogged due to technical (read: gauge) difficulties.

I learned to crochet and started the Larger than Life Bag AND the ubiquitous Babette, neither of which I finished as of yet, due to holiday knitting interruptus, but they will be back up in the headlines.

There is the Poetry Cardigan, ah yes, the Poetry Cardigan, which I have spent endless hours choosing colours for, and charting colours for, and test swatching for... and have not started the actual cardigan. It's on the list for 2008...

I also spent some time queuing projects in my Ravelery, in hopes of getting a grip on my plans and my over-enthusiasm for new projects and new skills. The queue is rather long. Very long, really. And there are some things that may not happen, but it was most helpful to put that list together, or at least start it, and see how delusional I may truly be.

So, 2008. I know not yet what, if any, firsts there will be, or what challenges I will set for myself, other than finishing more of the things that I have started. I am hoping to start and finish a few sweaters this year, and add to my sock experience, and perhaps learn a new corchet square or two. That's the limit of my ambition as of the second day of the year.

Hope all your holidays were wonderful. Hope the resolutions (if you do that) are written! And hope everyone's new year has had a great start to it. Here's to an abundance of fibre fun in 2008!

Pay it Forward .:. Updated

Thanks to all who contacted me about the Pay it Forward phenomenon! I have my (4) giftees now, and so I have 365 days to send them a handmade something in the mail.

For all of you who contacted me privately, feeling concerned about time and holidays and etc, please know that you have 1 whole year to send your Pay it Forward people something that you have made, so it can wait till after all the holiday hoopla.

My peoples are: Anne from How the West Was Spun, Lotta from Knitter Nutter, Jennifer from Words Wits and Wool, and Janine (Guernsey Gal) from Knitting on an Island.

So if you were kinda on the fence, go visit one of them and sign up when they post their own pay it forward announcement.

I want to make sure though that everyone is clear, I am doing 4 Pay it Forwards because of someone else's generosity to me, but the original rules are for 3 Pay it Forwards.

Here are the rules:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Pay It Forward (via Deanna, via Kirsty, via Mrs Eliot and onwards ...

And on that note .:. A Happy Thanksgiving to all. I hope your holidays, in whatever way(s) you celebrate them are beautiful and heart warming and inspirational and thoughtful and thank-ful.

Paying it Forward

Ganesha - Lord of Beginnings and Remover of Obstacles

I first came across the Pay it Forward of art and creative blogs at Deanna's Artist Emerging. I was #4, but she said she was feeling generous and would send me something... I came across it again on Kirsty's blog, and so, I am following the rules (with my own small twist) and Paying it Forward to the first FOUR* commenters on this blog. The rules below say 3, and I dont want to go and change the original theme, but feel I have to up it to 4 because of Deanna's generosity.

I spent WAY too much time being a forensic detective (no blood, just words and links) trying to go back in time to where this started, and after a bit more than an hour, decided perhaps I had better things to do with my overscheduled day. It sure would be great to know where this originated though...

Pay It Forward (via Deanna, via Kirsty, via Mrs Eliot and onwards ...

Here are the rules:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Pretty cool, I agree to make and send something to the first three (*four in my case) people to comment, who then make things for their first three commenters and so on.

There is something SO totally pleasing about artwork and creative projects winging their way around the world for no other reason than, just because.

It's the Little Things that Keep Life Rockin'

Hege, the New-England-Scandinavian Colour Knitter Extraordinaire and Lover of Greyhounds ever so sweetly nominated me for the Rockin' Girl Blogger yesterday. It turned a kind of a crap day into a big smile.

You know, how it's the little things that can turn your whole moment around? Like the guy at the fruit stand winking at you when you know your hair is dirty and you've tried to hide it in a hat and you are wearing the same pair of jeans for the 3rd day in a row cuz there has been no time to do laundry, or apparently, take a long shower, cuz you've let all the little deadlines in your schedule take over your life, and run you ragged. Well, I may have to live with the fact, that that may just be me, but I do hope that you all have a similar story/feeling/moment/situation that is all yours regarding life/schedule/overcommitment/etc.

So, all that's to say, thanks Hege, that little pink button made for a happy day!

I have met some wonderful, talented, kind, generous and really lovely people through this blog, and that is all just a very cool thing, it's a great addition to life. I started writing this particular blog when I started knitting again, and didn't know anyone in my "physical" life who wanted to knit with me, so I met people on line to talk to about fibre. As a result I have started reading many and various blogs, and conversing with many and various peoples out in the world. So, to nominate just 5 Rockin Girls is a hard one...

Anne Podlesak of How the West Was Spun for her wit and her generosity of spirit and knitting/weaving know how, and the photos of her blond Digger and stories of life out on the trail.

Kal Barteski of [i] love lifefor being passionate about her art, and reminding all of us to hold the same passion for our own creative endeavors, and for helping me to remember that painting makes me happy and feel balanced.

Janet at Twisted Knitter for inviting us into her beautiful world of photographs and thoughts and knitting and life. She always inspires me with her words and her take on life.

Corey Amaro of Tongue in Cheek for her stories of living in France with her family, her stories about life, her unique take on this life, and her clear-eyed honesty and vivid wit.

Yikes, only one more....

Nina Bagley of Ornamental artist, writer, traveller, story teller, and all around gorgeous creative woman.

There are SO many more, but I will leave it at the 5. Please visit them, and I hope you enjoy them all as much as I do, cuz they all Rock!

Hege wanted to be Joan Jett, and, well the Rockin' Girl I always wanted to be, is Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Message of Love .:. black eyeliner .:. Middle of the Road .:. cool girl playing guitar and fronting a band .:. My City Was Gone .:. that voice .:. Stop Your Sobbing. I remember singing at the top of my lungs in my very first car, a very old re-built VW beetle, driving to art school, in the still innocent 80s....

Craft as a Metaphor for Memory, for Community, for Life

I saw the most amazing series of shows on our local PBS station the other night, 3 hours of Craft:
It is called Craft in America: A Journey to the Artists, Origins and Techniques of American craft.

Craft people and artists talk about their work, what it means to them, their thoughts on why they do what they do, and how it fulfills them as human beings and as artists, or craft people.

There are a variety of disciplines: fiber, clay, metal, wood and glass, and some of the artists that were most intriguing to me were the last ones I would have expected: a Blacksmith, talking about the centuries old trade. He made the Rio Grande Gates at the Albuquerque Museum of Art out of metal salvaged from a clean up of the River by the local community.

Mary Jackson, a 5th generation basket maker from South Carolina, her story had a depth, and her words about her craft were full and lovely and just as graceful as her baskets:

And the ones that I immediately was drawn to: Jan Yager, a jewlery designer, and this incredible tiara:

Randall Darwell who dyes and weaves all the fabrics for the clothing he designs and makes.

A story about the Penland School in North Carolina

More jewelery:

(All photos from the PBS website)

The series is broken into 3 parts, with the final one being community. The communities of artists and craftspeople that form around an area of interest, a discipline that a group of people love working, a school, a support community, a beautiful, beautiful work of craft. As of today, I am Still ready to pack up my life and move to Penland, NC, and live and work wth all those amazing craftspeople.

The Craft in America series got me to thinking about all the things that I make and do with my hands. The knitting that was passed to me by my grandmother, the weaving that I went on to learn because of the love that I have for the fibre, the jewelery design that I started as a way to work with colour in a different way than I did with fibre, and the jump into art school to learn more technique and more ways to work whatever craft was of interest to me at the various stages in my life.

There was Much discussion in Art School about the difference and the sameness between Craft and Art. Where did they meet? When was something one and not the other? Could Craft ever be fully accepted by Art? and vice versa?

Craft, whatever we mean when we say that word, was born out of some necessity: my family is cold, I need to make sweaters and quilts; my family needs to eat, I need to make a pot to cook with, and dishes to eat the food on; my family needs to sit when they eat, I need to make chairs and a table, and so on and so on.

The part that I find so magical and wonderful is the part where every crafter/artist has decided to make something beautiful and art-ful and engaging when making something of necessity. A plate becomes something more than a utilitarian eating vessel, a sweater something more than to keep a body warm. Craft engenders art in that way.

Whatever the medium, whatever our craft, the work we do is our connection to ourselves, to our humanity, to each other, and to the world.

And so in that spirit, I wanted to notice a few people doing their own wonderful and beautiful things in the world with their craft:

Laura at Sugar Bunny Blvd working her craft to help the people of Greensburg, NC.

Kal Barteski at Love Life, encouraging us all to pick up some pencils, or oil pastels and get over ourselves and draw and paint!

Nina Bagley at Ornamental for putting out the call for craft and art supplies for a summer program at a treatment center for abused and underprivileged girls.

And so I leave you with: How does the practice of Your craft make you feel more content, more connected and more yourself?