No Harm Done

The roofing fire at the studio had no impact at all on my precious work space.
 It made me think about the potential harm that could have happened to all the studios in our building.

Today I dug out projects in an effort to avoid working on my income tax filing.  Tomorrow will bring even more work as a result.

And Celine and Scott came and picked me up, brought me to their live-work studio overlooking the Harbour and out to Stanley Park. We watched ships sail by, trains shunt and float planes land. There were lovely birds at eye level showing off flight patterns. Then talked about human migration, mitochondrial DNA,
current cancer cure hoaxes and trips to Florence and Venice. Celine fed us beautiful goat cheese with nuts, fennel encrusted salmon and a curried lentil cabbage stew and a lavender bergamot tea. And lots of wine.

Perfect day after a week struggling with the injections for the breast cancer. The next few weeks should be good because I am  feelng pretty well again and seriously buzzing wth inspiration.

Smoke

Woke up to ...
Just a little note to inform you that the roofers accidentally started a
fire on the side wall of the studio. Please come and check your studio contents
and understand the building is being aired to eliminate the strong smoke smell.
'
'
'
My studio just happens to be loaded with sprinklers and huge air vents.
Right over my vintage collection of art books, ancient patterns, 60 years of craft and
design magazines, my sketch books, delicate electronics and visual references.
..
..
..
 I swallow and just sit there.  It is two days since chemo. I will deal with it tomorrow.
Or the next day or the day after that.

Dirty Darning

I wanna play with your bobbin, lick your scarlet thread, oil your shaft and vibrate this floor like never before.

Turns out there was a problem in clothing manufacture at the turn of the century. Young woman were treadling like mad and having to deal with the resulting orgasms according to Havelock Ellis in the 1920's. It became a safety hazard.

Time for me to start sewing. Pedal to the metal!!!

And time to call Naughty Peter for some serious research.  

It's Here!

Midnight fireworks on New Year's Eve. Outside my door in Wells.
Mark is lighting the fireworks which his hotel gave as a gift to the town.
It s very nice to have an explosives expert in your circle and watch him create beauty.

It is 2013 and I am still here!

So much happened last year. Tim returned home from his sojourn in Fort Nelson. I really didn't think he would come back but he did and thrived!  My step grand daughter was born. I got my diagnosis for terminal breast cancer. Got to meet two of my heroes, Michael Moore and Peter von Tiesenhausen and  had conversations with both of them. I taught at Island Mountain Arts, opened smalltalk Gallery and moved into the little mountain paradise that is Wells, B.C. Canada. Learned more about retail. Watched my kids deal with love, pain with the realities of this new world. Had dear ones die, grieve, be born, get sick, get married, start careers and complete educations. Watched terrible wars, rebellions, tried to Occupy and got invited to Spain, Costa Rica, Italy, London and Manchester. Felt jealous for the first time in years. Jealous of time, beauty, energy, health and possibility. Interacted with loving and deeply caring medical professionals. Was given a magical healing circle to help through this journey. Made so many new friends and deepened old friendships. Was just feet from a mother bear with triplets!

So 2013!!! You have a lot to live up to!

It started with a bang at the Wells's New Year's Ball. These people clean up just beautifully and can really shake a hoofy. Fireworks, abundance, flirtations, sweet kisses and hugs, and a loving and thoughtful community. 

So this year my New Year's Resolution is to keep living. To understand the true joy that this life is and take nothing for granted. To breathe in and breathe out. And learn to understand I am just one little being in an amazing and complex world made up of so many different threads and patterns.

And to keep on Stitchin'!!!!

Joyeux Noel et Bonne Annee 2013

That time of year again! I feel so lucky to have enjoyed the company of many of my family and friends.

I am slapping pie dough around and making tortierre for this evening. Other little treats that please us are also being baked and stewed. My energy is holding strong and I am looking forward to spending time with my sons, friends and other family.

Leave for snowy and beautiful Wells tomorrow. Will celebrate a nineteen thirty's New Year at the Well's Community Hall for the big Dance and party, rest for a day or two and then drive back home through the gorgeous and snowy Cariboo.

Will open up the studio for a day or two's work, mostly drawing and planning for the next projects, both personal and collaborative, if all goes well. And I trust it will.

So Bonne Annee once again! Happy New Year. 2013.  Peace and love!

Alone

Rust and texture samples with wasp hive  Patricia Chauncey  photo Christine Hatfull

Dreamed last night of Afghanistan. Cliffs and rocky landforms were defined by a soft, snow covering.
Under the snow were bubbled and dimpled bio-luminescent creatures. Soft and amorphous but oozing  slowly through the land. I needed to get to a community celebration but was not sure how to pass through the vulnerable environment.

I knew that no one I knew or cared for was anywhere near.

When I walked the ground cleared as I stepped. It didn't matter how thick the creatures and snow were. I looked behind me and the snow and creatures again engulfed where I had just been. The question was am I  passing through or am I being consumed. 

The further I walked the more it became clear that I was alone and there really wasn't anywhere to go.
I looked down and saw a single glowing creature left behind by the rest. I reached to touch it . The warmth of my hand caused it to divide.

Collaboration

Sample for Proliferation Project. My work and experimentation.

Proliferation Project  photo research with Tim Hurley and I     photo Tim Hurley

Rust Gardens   Tim Hurley and I   photo Patricia Chauncey

A collaborative solar oven made in Wells for natural dye projects.  photo Tim Hurley

A film collaboration with Krisztina Egyed and Ivan Hughes    photo Jim Heagan

I am lucky to have had the opportunity to be involved in a few collaborations with other artists through time. The successful ones happened because both people involved were committed to a time frame, had a similar vision, had a place to accomplish work and understood what it is required to go from fantasy to actualization. The unsuccessful ones were an exercise in power struggle, defensive behaviour, a difference in skill and access to resources. The disastrous ones were defined by lack of commitment, passive aggressive avoidance and an outright theft of ideas.

 I've thought about it a lot over the last few days while trying to decide to end all efforts regarding a project that I was initially excited about. Collaboration is not like an ordinary work experience. It is of self for the people involved. It requires commitment, lots of communication and down and dirty effort. Real work that is personal, vulnerable and sometimes completely exhausting. Shared. Doesn't matter if it is only created for the participants or shared in a public way.

Double Vision-Morphos Inquiry Invitation

 

Photo Scott Pownall 

 

 I loved doing the "Morphos Inquiry" show with Hilary Young, producing a work called "Stones" with Charles Wilson and the "Homeless Show" with a number of DTES artists and activists a number of years ago. I am asked to collaborate with very exciting artists. Some of them are international and high level and some have work or ideas that are so exciting I am kept up at night percolating my own. I think carefully about doing it. I want it to add to my creative repertoire and experience. To share all of what making my art means to me and to learn from another artist. It is huge gift of myself. More now than ever. My time to do all this now is so very constrained and limited. Sharing it is more important than ever.