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Archive for the ‘Rant’ Category

Send in the Clowns

Thursday, March 23rd, 2017

I have been working on this piece for an exhibit at Trinity with the theme The Circus of Life. I just had to do this piece because I feel as if Washington DC is a circus with a bunch of clowns trying to govern. Here are details:

I printed resistance words for the background.

It is very therapeutic to work on a piece like this. I am so frustrated with all  the bad stuff being done to our country. I worry about how we will ever get back to normal and doing things that are actually good for people and the planet.

I have been having fun teaching my wool felt stitching class on Wednesday nights at Trinity. Here are some photos of the designs they are working on.

I made this rooster to demonstrate adding the decorative embroidery stitches.

So you can see that I have been busy. I am having some trouble getting around because of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. I miss being able to take Scooter for long walks. Today, I went to REI and bought some New Balance walking shoes and orthotics. I am noticing a difference tonight. But, dang, they are kind of ugly shoes and I so want to have warm weather and to be able to wear sandals again. Hope springs eternal.

Drat

Saturday, December 13th, 2008

WordPress is not cooperating tonight. I can’t load photos. This is very unusal. I can’t remember having a problem with WP.

M & M came to help decorate the tree. There was pizza, Uno and lots of fun. You will just have to imagine it!!

We are supposed to get snow tomorrow. It is also going to be in the 20s for most of the week and then warm up to the 30s for the next week. I am not expecting to enjoy myself in the great outdoors. I will just stay hunkered down in the studio. Thar reminds me, I got the wise men done today. It is sort of like dressing paper dolls – fun to go through my fabric and find the right outfits.

Hopefully I will be back with photos tomorrow. I have sent WP an alert.

Feeling Grumpy

Monday, November 17th, 2008

This is my worst allergy time. I think it is from the mold that develops from the combination of falling leaves and falling rain. Today they were scooping them into piles and picking them up in big trucks to haul them out of our neighborhood. I think I should have stayed indoors because I am sure the mold was permeating the air. Anyway, I have a bad sinus headache.

Here is my other headache. I finished the quilting on the hillside houses. I was not thrilled with the color of thread I used for the sky. I wanted to use all heavy weight cotton and none of my shiny synthetics. Well, it looks like I will have to pull it all out anyway. Don’t you love unquilting? Here it is finished (I thought).

Now look at the back. This is a piece of Marimekko fabric I bought at Crate and Barrel:

See all those snarls at the top? Here is a close-up:

I didn’t notice this until I was all done. The problem is that wherever the snarls are, the quilting comes unstitched. I don’t know why this happened just in this section. You can see the line where I cut the back to make the pillow case turn. The sleeve will cover that. So I think I will head out tomorrow to find a better thread since I have to requilt it.

I think I am feeling out of sorts because I have been spending too much time by myself. I always get this way  just before it is time for STASH! I have this self-imposed work schedule to get enough pieces done for my solo show. I have been reading blogs of all my friends who are travelling, going to art gallery receptions, attending quilt shows, taking and teaching workshops, and I am feeling left behind. I know, I know — usually I am having great experiences. Thursday is STASH and Friday is Crit group at my house. That should feed my need for some social time.

I just have to post this link for all my knitting friends. You probably have seen it, but I think it is quite hysterical — knitting graffitti.

Political Rants Return to Crazy for Fiber

Tuesday, September 9th, 2008

Because, I am too upset not to address the larger audience of this blog. All I can say is: Uppity Women, Unite!!

Here are a couple of e-mails that I have received today.

To my dear friends:

This Sarah Palin thing is infuriating. It’s so deep under my skin: I am just about to burst, like my head is going to explode. I am pissed off and need to rant.

Forget that her positions are so asinine (anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-anything reasonable, on and on for every single issue I’ve looked into), even just putting all that aside, she’s just mean.

Yes, I do judge her on the level of her heart and soul.

I judge a person who can lean out the side of an airplane with a rifle and shoot animals in the wilderness. To kill them, for sport. I judge that.

I judge a person who drips with condescension and divisive language directed toward anyone different from herself.

I judge a person who manages her own reproductive and family affairs the way it suits her but then wants public policies that would manage other people’s personal affairs also to suit her.

I judge a person who openly lies on the public stage. She is still lying in her stump speeches– about her support for the “Bridge to Nowhere,” about Obama’s tax policy, and so on.

I judge — yes, I admit it — I judge a person who attended six colleges in five years to get a journalism degree and then wants to be Vice President. Yes, goddammit, I want my leaders to be smart and educated people. We’ve had enough of leadership by a mediocre thinker. I don’t judge anyone for their educational path. I judge Sarah Palin for her educational path AND her belief that it is sufficient for her to be VP. It’s beyond asinine.

And about the Republican Party and McCain:

I judge them for their divisiveness. McCain was surely aware in choosing Palin that he would reignite the culture wars. Once again, Republicans play to people’s worst instincts, their fears, their insecurities. They divide, they split off votes whenever they can.

I judge them for their racism. What was it, five black delegates at the RNC? And can you imagine if Obama’s daughters were a bit older and one of them were pregnant? The Republican spin on an unmarried pregnant BLACK teenager certainly would not be about family privacy and the beauty of “choice.”

I judge them for their sexism. The choice of Palin was the most blatant tokenism imaginable. I judge them for thinking women who supported Clinton will support Palin just because, as someone said to me the other day, “any old vagina will do.” They truly deeply honestly believe that women are stupid, and yes, I judge them for that.

I judge them for the way Palin can spew pugnacious, condescending and fact-free attacks on Obama but if he retaliates then he’s sexist. I judge them on the level of hearts and souls for that.

I judge them for their elitism. Yes, elitism. There’s a new elite: the “normal person.” That person has to be wholly uninterested in public affairs, undereducated, deeply religious (but only in the right religion) and part of a nuclear family unit. If you are not part of this elite, then you clearly hate everyone.

I judge them for engineering a political climate where it’s impossible to make any of these points publicly.

Please feel free to forward anywhere. I am damn furious.

That was a well written rant. I couldn’t have said it better. I am suffering from the virus that Mia brought to us this week-end, so my brainis like mush. Here is the second.

Friends, compatriots, fellow-lamenters,

We are writing to you because of the fury and dread we have felt since the announcement of Sarah Palin as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican Party. We believe that this terrible decision has surpassed mere partisanship, and that it is a dangerous farce-on the part of a pandering and rudderless Presidential candidate-that has a real possibility of becoming fact.

Perhaps like us, as American women, you share the fear of what Ms. Palin and her professed beliefs and proven record could lead to for ourselves and for our present or future daughters. To date, she is against sex education, birth control, the pro-choice platform, environmental protection, alternative energy development, freedom of speech (as mayor she attempted to ban books and fired the librarian who refused), gun control, the separation of church and state, and polar bears. To say nothing of her complete lack of experience.

We want to clarify that we are not against Sarah Palin as a woman, a mother, or, for that matter, a parent of a pregnant teenager, but solely as a rash, incompetent, and all together devastating choice for Vice President. Ms. Palin’s political views are in every way a slap in the face to the accomplishments that our mothers and grandmothers and great-grandmothers so fiercely fought for, and that we’ve so demonstrably benefited from.

First and foremost, Ms. Palin does not represent us. She does not demonstrate or uphold our interests as American women. It is presumed that the inclusion of a woman on the Republican ticket could win over women voters. We want to disagree, publicly.

Therefore, we invite you to reply here with a short, succinct message about why you, as a woman living in this country, do not support this candidate as second-in-command for our nation.

Please include your name (last initial is fine), age, and place of residence.

We will post your responses on a blog called “Women Against Sarah Palin,” which we intend to publicize as widely as possible. Please send us your reply at your earliest convenience-the greater the volume of responses we receive, the stronger our message will be.

Thank you for your time and action.

VIVA!

Sincerely,

Quinn Latimer and Lyra Kilston
New York , NY
womensaynopalin@gmail.com

**PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY! If you send this to 20 women in the next hour, you could be blessed with a country that takes your concerns seriously. Stranger things have happened.

I hope you will e-mail your response to this. Here is a link to their blog Women Against Sarah Palin. I noticed that blogger has flagged their blog: “This blog is currently under review due to possible Blogger Terms of Service violations.” You can still open it – no problem. Hmm! has McCain gotten to Google, too?

Tasteful Art

Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

At my last critique group get-together, I brought this piece. It is constructed from some fabrics printed in a Rayna Gilman class, using found objects. They are combined with a batik fabric and some red silk. It is hand quilted with perle cotton. I named it Black and White and Red All Over. I know, how obvious and trite. It is not that large, about 10 inches by 12 inches. If you click on it, you can see a larger view.

Two members of the group said it was too tasteful and too predictable. The third said, what do you mean by that? Suitable for a hotel room? Then she said, but if you want to sell it, shouldn’t it be tasteful? As the person having my work critiqued, I am not allowed to say anything until they are finished. I think the consensus was that was what they meant. I admit to being taken aback by this and have been mulling it over for almost a week.

What does it mean when art is tasteful, too tasteful or not tasteful? Or what is the description we are striving for—edgy, interesting, cutting edge? But, can’t work be those things and still be tasteful?

Webster gives the following definition of tasteful:

having, exhibiting, or conforming to good taste

The definition of tasteless (I guess that is the opposite of tasteful) is:

a: having no taste : insipid b: arousing no interest : dull 2: not having or exhibiting good taste

I am sure that the critiquers did not think that art should fit the above definition for tasteless, but they obviously felt that there was something inherently wrong with art being tasteful or as they said – too tasteful. So, what should it be? What would make this piece less tasteful and is that what I really want to go for?

Help me! Please let me know what you think about this description. How would you interpret a critique of your work as too tasteful?

(Note: To clarify, this was not the extent of my crit — many design principles were discussed. Repetition, balance, etc. A look at the meaning (I had none) ensued. The predictable, too tasteful comments came up at the end of a pretty good crit.)