Monday, August 25, 2014

Textile work -- Sitting in my Special Grove of Trees

August 23 & 24 were the days I chose to mount a pop-up show in the grove of trees across the park from where I live.
Everyone is madly fitting in the last pleasures of summer now, while the fabulous weather lasts.

George was my faithful park/gallery assistant & food-&-coffee porter. The show now goes up & comes down in less than half an hour. The systems are being refined each time. This time I learned how to tie a tighter half hitch for the clothes lines. So there is less slack. Slack isn't bad, as the poles take up any extra.

This is the long shot.... a bit like laundry... a few people said...

I grouped the quilts by color or by feel.


I really enjoyed what I saw as stained glass effects.
So here are some of my favorite shots of the work on show,

TWO YEARS' WORK (out of 52 years of sewing).
(I am restraining myself from annotating the photos to talk about each piece. I decided the blog entry would be insufferably long. There are so many stories!)

And some of the favorite fronts, backs, & effects....
(but first where I sat in the shade with my busy-work-sewing-project....)
One of the things I love about showing in this setting is the fact that viewers can see fronts & backs. I call that way of hanging 'verse & reverse'.


Other groupings....






And I sat here.












        

I can see now, after the fact, that I slighted some of my quilts. I feel I should apologize to them!!

One of the lovely things about sitting in this grove is that it is peaceful. There are people going by walking dogs, or off on a cycling outing, or taking gear down to a boat, or sunbathers lying around.
And then someone will discover the space by accident really. Some are completely delighted & some keep on walking. 
(When I first discovered this difference I was a bit shocked. I brake for fabric.)
I delight in the pleasure someone has unexpectedly. It's giving & receiving in some kind of pure form.

That's it for now.



Sunday, August 3, 2014

Getting to the Train at Penn Station

You would have thought that an hour for a cab ride down Manhattan's west side from 101st Street to Penn Station (34th Street) would have been enough for comfortable-train-catching.

It was Wednesday, July 2 & George & I were headed for Springfield Mass where we would rent a car. The talk of Arthur-the-first-big-hurricane was in the air.

There were obstacles: construction, volume delays, ambulances & the usual summer-in-the-city business. I had to quell my growing twitchiness about maybe not getting there on time. So I took out my camera to document the scene. I was glad I did. 

It's in moments like that I think I understand why Bartok wrote such difficult music.

Fourth of July flags? No, a huge vessel, The Intrepid was open to the public. 
Wasn't that Baby Bush's 'mission accomplished' stage set?   I think so.


                               Those are jet pods. It's an aircraft carrier.

                        
Already I am into the visual jumble of our travel route.  Travel & travail are related words, I recently learned.  I get it.

This must be the Chinese Embassy in New York. It was south of the Intrepid, & overlooking the Hudson, for sure.

Then we went through a construction patch. We were running parallel to the West Side Highway.


I love all the cranes, grids, superstructures, & diagonals.
We get off the highway & suddenly we are in 'neighborhoods'. I am very grateful for our driver's knowledge of the city. Aside from knowing which streets run which ways, he knows where the current obstructing construction closures are & how to avoid them.



                                                                    Visual chaos!

It's slow going though. I don't check my watch because there is nothing I can do about it.
 It's a selfie!  Can you see me in the back seat, my hands on my camera?

 I look up & recognize the Highline, the elevated-train-line-park I've visited several times.

My imagination took off wondering what the line-up was for.

                                        trafficTRAFFICtrafficTRAFFICtraffic

The jumble of images reflects my inner turmoil. The driver thinks we'll make it. I trust his judgement, though it's hard.

In the end, once we can actually see Penn Station, we say our farewells to him, take our bags, & roll off to the station. We are, in fact there in plenty of time.... & the next leg of the travel begins...
New railroad ties are being installed. Infrastructure maintenance.



See that Arthur-grey sky? As soon as we were in our car in Springfield, Mass. the heavens opened. The 4th of July events in Vermont got rained out.  Fine with me, I needed down time in the country.
                                                    That's it for now.