Change of Season, Change of Place

I'm still in the midst of unpacking from our move back to the woods. Lots of closets and drawers have needed clearing, and lots of walls need paint. Seems that I am going through a transformation as pronounced as the autumn leaves. I will be back to posting more regularly as the weather gets colder and my nesting is complete!

The Girl with the Pearl Earring...

Susan, 1977
photograph by George Simmons

... and the girl I grew up with. I always thought that my sister Susan resembled Vermeer's Girl with the Pearl Earring. What do you think?

Happy weekend, all!

Operation C.U.P.

ceramic cup by Arthur Halvorsen.

My friend and fellow MECA alum, Arthur Halvorsen, is spearheading (or should I say cupheading??) a terrific movement called Operation C.U.P.

He writes:

Operation C.U.P. (Citizens Using Pottery) is all about getting handmade into the hands of people who don't normally buy handmade, to gift it this holiday season to their best friend. It's about educating the public about handmade ceramics. It can't be put into words what it is like to drink from a handmade cup - it is something that has to be experienced!

You can find more info about this terrific project on Arthur's website. Buy a cup! Buy handmade! Support the cause!

A Cup-la other sites where you can find cool cups made by MECA alums:

http://www.kaitlynduggan.com/

http://www.ccceramics.com/

First Frost, Last Swim

A couple of sights you won't see until next summer. This is my last morning glory before the frost hit Saturday night and I took my last swim in the ocean Sunday morning (not here in Maine! I was in RI!).

Bliss...

An 80's Raphael...

Raphael's portrait Bindo Altoviti and two photographs of my cousin, Keith Knost, as a young man. I recently connected with Keith via facebook. He is also an artist, and lives out of state. We've never met, but it seems that we share many interests, besides art. I have never done portraits from photographs before, and have wanted to try. I am intrigued by these photos - Keith looks like he could have stepped out of the High Renaissance in that first picture. I'm always in search of my animus in my art, and to find a male relative with so many things in common is like finding a long lost brother, or happening upon a character from one of my dreams! Keith tells me that he has many more photographs that may interest me, many of which document his performance art, including participating in intertribal dances. He is in the process of getting a scanner, and then he'll send them my way. It may take a little while, but stay tuned!

Home

(the beginnings of a mail art project...)

So happy to be settling back into my home in Woolwich (I will continue to maintain my studio in downtown Portland). I've been busy nesting - cleaning, painting walls, de-cluttering, rearranging - pottering about with gray squirrel energy. Already I feel less scattered and more rooted. Fun as it was to have an apartment in town, I was constantly packing bags and moving between three places. I felt at times like the scarecrow from the Wizard of OZ, slayed open on the ground after being attacked by the flying monkeys...

"Some of me is over here! Some of me is over there! I'm all over the place!"

Right now two places feels like plenty.
Happy Autumnal Equinox, all!

Old Friend

I have spent the last week packing up my apartment in Portland, and cleaning, unpacking and painting walls and woodwork here at my home in Woolwich. Also I don't have my PC here (upon which I have my photoshop and do all my downloading of photos and editing) so I have not been blogging regularly. I'll probably be posting only once or twice a week during this transition period, so bear with me! While unpacking I found this photo of a portrait I did in 2002 (or was it 2001?) of my nephew, George Beauchemin. I have many pieces of work that have never been officially documented, and to happen upon this snapshot is like finding an old friend...