Notes from the Commonplace Book: Words

Ode no.2

I don't know about you, but I find that my life feels just a bit flat when I'm not immersed in a book of some sort. Not that I must have my nose in the book at all times, but reading provides a certain texture and elevation to my days and the text, whether fiction or non-fiction, always expands my view of the world in unexpected ways. I am a lover of words....language provides food for my being and makes the work in the studio possible, providing the metaphor and the magic I draw from every day.

I was thrilled to see this book on my most recent trip to the public library in Vermillion. The author is the host of a radio show On Being that we have often listened to over the years. Her interviews with people from all walks of life in locations across the globe are fascinating and enlightening. I've brought out my commonplace book again, which I keep handy while reading, as there are many passages I've chosen to record there. In the chapter entitled Words, this passage struck me:

"I take it as an element of truth that words matter. This is so plain that we can ignore it a thousand times a day. The words we use shape how we understand ourselves, how we interpret the world, how we treat others. From Genesis to the aboriginal songlines of Australia, human beings have forever perceived that naming brings the essence of things into being. The ancient rabbis understood books, texts, the very letters of certain words as living, breathing entities. Words make worlds."

I started this post with an image of one of the recent pieces in a series of embroidered teabags....an homage to words, to the power of language and the magic unleashed in just a few lines of text....or a sentence....or in a word. May your spirits be lifted today by the magic of a simple set of words!

New Series of Found Text Poems

Believe it or not, it's actually much warmer than it's been. Temperatures will be above freezing for a few days and then head back down. This is snow left over from who knows when. So interesting to watch the fluctuations of ice on the river....some days none, but others, like today, the river is much more covered in ice floating down from upstream. It's a beautiful view of the Missouri, but I'm not seeing too much of it as I'm downstairs in the studio.

The 27 8x8" pieces are finished and I've moved on to a different phase....

I wanted to move into a more three-dimensional direction and after fiddling around with tiny fragments, I realized that I wanted to talk about language...and words....and I ended up making these little shrines with found text poems drawn out from book pages. Many more will be coming in this series, as they feel just right to be making. They allow me to play with text, pattern, beeswax, beads and stitching on paper....everything I love! These will also be in my Briar Cliff show and will plan to make a half a dozen more in the next week. It feels like a new direction and I had to share them with you!

Hope your week is going well and life has brought you some welcome gifts.

Cheers!

Papernstitch Studio Tour with MissouriBendStudio!

Good morning everyone!  I was greeted today with the wonderful news that the interview/studio tour of MissouriBendStudio has been posted on the Papernstitch blog.  Hope you  have a chance to take a look!  For the earlier followers of MissouriBendStudio, some of those images may be familiar, but you may also learn a lot in the interview!  It's nice to have such a feature and the exposure to a wider audience!  Papernstitch is a wonderful place to discover artists and artisans and a fine venue for gaining exposure....find out more here.

In the meantime, I've posted a couple more book pages in my shop, but here is the latest!

This one is titled, Page from The Book of Words Blowing in the Breeze.  Sometimes I think about all the words spoken in a day, issued forth into the ether...and while they are most often part of a conversation, what about all those words that don't make it to the intended recipient...or perhaps are rejected, or they fall shy of their mark, or should never have been uttered.  Where do all those words go...aren't they perhaps floating in the breeze, invisible to the naked eye?  Perhaps they are the stuff of puddles in ditches, or the tarnish on metal posts...I don't know, but they have to go somewhere.

Hope you are all thinking creative thoughts and generating memorable moments this fine day!

Until next time...