Peak Leaves

We have passed peak leaves here in Vermont, though everywhere you look it is still pretty. I have been reading books on peak oil over the last few months, and it is much more fun to think and talk about peak leaves. About peak oil, I just want to hide my head in a pile of leaves and ignore it, but that would not be fair to the future generations (being optimistic here and assuming generations). I have no answers to the dilemma of what to do, but am sure that living in a town where I don't have to use my car every day is on the right track. If nothing else, walking my dog and taking pictures, and thinking about my weaving, about what I want to weave, brings me back from despair. In this moment ("be here now") everything is perfect. The daily changes of the red leaf pathway, turning dusty brown but still lots of color, brings my attention to the moment.

In preparation for one of the lectures I hope to do at Colloquy, I prepared this image of slices from this morning. If I weave it I will call it Leaf Walk. Just now, I worked through all the steps of going from image to weaving. Below the initial collage you see the same image reduced to 10 colors--which is what I will need to do if I am weaving a weft-backed cloth with four wefts (wefts 1-4 alone, 1&2, 1&3, 1&4, 2&3, 2&4, 3&4 add up to 10 color possibilities). I will do a live demo of my process for Colloquy, but wanted to run through it first so I don't forget steps. I don't know how many of the attendees own The Woven Pixel, but the process is well-documented there.

Potential weaving design

Yesterday Mark and I had studio visits by Anni MacKay, owner of BigTown Gallery in Rochester, VT. She is going to put my work into her Holiday Show that runs November 25-January 31. I am thrilled!! I think she has the best gallery in Vermont. Rochester is a small town--it is where I went to pick berries for my jam this summer--and it surprised us to discover her wonderful gallery when we were exploring the area in summer of 2007. We always stop and see the exhibits, and always are impressed with the quality of work she shows. It will be an honor to have my work shown there. She is also interested in figuring out something with Mark for a future show. Mark says I am his biggest fan--but that is just because I get to see all his work. If more people saw it, I know he would have a big following. After Anni's visit, I felt more hopeful about Mark and I as artists and our future in Vermont. I was wondering if I had already passed peak art--but now I can say, not yet.

Mark Goodwin in his studio with Anni MacKay of BigTown Gallery

Works on Paper by Mark Goodwin

Works on Paper by Mark Goodwin