Saturday, September 29, 2012

What's Up?

....Today in Union Square? The Fluff Festival for one with crowds of marshmallow afficianados sampling the delicacy in all its iterations.

STASH is right in the middle of it all garnering much attention, just like I pictured it. 





Thursday, September 27, 2012

Heads Up


Monday was a very busy day... First an interview by Rachel Strutt on Culture Club that was recorded at SCATV with Tori Costa and myself as guests. The theme was fiber arts and community. The edits will be complete later this week - so stay tuned for the video and narrative of the interview to be posted soon.

Next was the install of STASH just outside SCATV in Union Square Plaza. Thanks to the help of Joe and his cherry picker we were able to attach three large bundles very high up in the tree and secure them tightly. Joe works for Flagraphics, a company owned by my neighbor, and Somerville Alderman, Tony Lafluente. A huge thanks for their generosity for this project would not be as successful without their help.


STASH is up, half hidden in the foliage... soon to be exposed even more when the leaves drop. It will be fun to see how people react to it this weekend during the Fluff Festival... I'll be there, so let me know if you're going to be around.

Click here for the video revealing all that is 'stashed' inside these bundles!

This program is supported in part by the Somerville Arts Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Monday, September 24, 2012

STASH Installs Today


If you happen to be in Union Square, Somerville today - keep your eyes open and remember to look up - an installation is happening to a tree in the area outside SCATV. 

Several large bundles will be hidden in the full foliage of September and then exposed in October when the leaves drop. Created from the donated items of people who identify with the compulsive acquisition of “stuff”, they question our need for collecting material things, why it is sometimes kept secret, and what our motivations are. The installation will create an opportunity to look at ourselves through our things, as well as present an unexpected encounter, for anyone walking by to see for themselves. 

You can read more about the project STASH here, here and here

Visit my blog often for updates on this and several other happenings this fall.

This program is supported in part by the Somerville Arts Council, a local agency supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
A big THANKS to Tony LaFuente for his help with the install.
  

Sunday, September 16, 2012

My Dragonfly


On the last full day of my mom's life I was on an interview in a beautiful, spiritual and nurturing place. The day was full of warmth and surprises including the unexpected reunion with two very old friends. While sitting on a bench I was visited by a Red-Veined Darter dragonfly similar to the one pictured above. It landed on my hand and my friend and I immediately felt its presence. It impressed us enough to keep us sitting in silence for more than 5 minutes. Then it flew away.

I was so moved by the experience it compelled me to look into the science of these creatures on my iPhone on the way home. What I found is that they have been around for over 300 million years and are surrounded by folklore and mythology.  Dragonflies are meaningful symbols worldwide in surprisingly similar ways with one overwhelmingly common theme: Change.

In the first year or more of their lives, they live in the water as nymphs.  When they metamorphose into the flying creatures we recognize as dragonflies, they live only a few weeks. "...They're symbolic of a sense of self realization; a symbol of the sense of self that comes with maturity."

To the Native American Lakotas, dragonflies can teach illusion. They tell us that things are not always as they seem, and that life itself is not always what it appears to be. "...They are a reminder that when our deeper thoughts rise to the surface we must pay attention - there are lessons to be learned."

To the Japanese, they are symbols of new joy and light, and speak of how they are the dragons of old in a new expression. "...When dragonfly appears, it is time to trust in the power of light."

"The peacemaker, the symbol of transformation, the being of light who helps us see through our illusions – who also helps us become our illusion and enduring. The dragonfly demonstrates the journey we all must take to become our truest selves."
- Chris Luttichau, Animal Spirit Guides
 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Accretion


IMPRINT is growing daily. New panels capturing the lines and impressions from HIVE in encaustic medium. Growing organically like cells dividing - each playing its role towards the larger whole.


Quantifiable


This show in Michigan was brought to my attention by a friend who is very keen at making connections. The correlation of the mission of QUANTIFIED SELF and that of STASH works on several levels, particularly when they speak of collecting "self-defining artifacts" and how we communicate information about ourselves.  I love how this broadens the meaning and context of STASH. Wish I could make a trip out to Ann Arbor to see it!

Click here and here to see the progress of STASH. Will be coming to a tree in Union Square by mid September.

QUANTIFIED SELF
August 30 - October 7
Opening Reception: Friday, August 31 from 6-9 p.m.
Curated by Colin Raymond and Kyle Kramer

Gallery Project presents Quantified Self; a multimedia exhibit in which over 30 local, regional, and national artists examine how individuals collect and often project information about themselves and others in the digital world.

Artists examine the quantified self from two unique perspectives: one, how information about individuals is collected, stored, processed, and used by these individuals and communicated to others; and two how entities collect information about individuals and groups for commercial and other purposes. Examples are self-projections in cyber space, self-monitoring of health and other behaviors, obsessive collecting of self-defining artifacts, and visualizing personal and group data.

Image by Peter Adamczyk.