City Life is Busy (Not in Smallville Anymore)

Chicago looking like Metropolis

I keep getting in situations where I think I am in Metropolis instead of Smallville and any minute now Superman is going to swoop down and save me. I have lost my city mojo. In the past, it always returned as soon as I walked city streets, but now it seems to have abandoned me. Nothing dangerous has actually happened, but it is annoying to watch your train come in and go out while you are trying to figure out what direction to put the card into the gate so you can access the train. Walking back from exploring the other side of the river, I crossed the river and the road went into a long underpass. I knew I should climb the steps there and go to the upper roads, which I knew, but I wanted to see if there was an exit to Randolph from the under road. Not a good decision when you are tired and carrying groceries. It was kind of creepy down there and when I got to under Randolph I could see the road coming out, but walking down led to a long walled road with no pedestrian exit probably until Madison--too far. So I went back under and walked towards the lake. Several people were approaching me and we met at a place that turned out to be a staircase up--which we all took. I was surprised to find myself almost fainting when I reached air and sky--I guess I was more panicked than I realized.

Segway tours are popular here

Next morning I walked through the park and along the lake to the Field Museum. The walk the day before showed me some contrasts between regions of the country. No Keene's on people's feet in Chicago, whereas they are practically the only shoe you see in NM and VT. Besides the pair on my feet, I have only seen one other pair in Chicago--and I think those were imitations. On the other hand, I have never seen a segway anywhere except in Chicago, and now you see groups of them since segway tours are very popular. There are windows of shoes in one of the displays at the Field so I took this picture to show the type of shoes I am seeing on women here--flip flops are in fashion.

Display at Field Museum

I used to like the Field Museum but this might have been my last visit there. Most of the exhibits have been made "playful" and interactive for kids. It feels dumbed down and numbingly simple. I liked the displays chock full of items where you never could see everything at once and you felt you had to return to look again. I liked getting exhausted by so many interesting objects that I couldn't grasp or see anything else. But a sign said that displays like that are no longer acceptable modes of display in museums. It must be another sign of the decline of the American empire. If it doesn't toot or light up when you turn a faucet then it is obsolete. One display of the innards of a giraffe had several children holding their hands over their mouths in disgust. It looked like modern sculpture to me.

Field Museum display of innards of a giraffe

The last really satisfying visit to the Field for me took place during a mini-gathering in Chicago of friends from my graduate class at Cranbrook. It must have been 15 or 16 years ago. Liz Billings was teaching at SAIC and some of us gathered at her apartment for a few days. One day we went to the Field, and went separate ways. in grad school we always had notebooks at hand and really used them. In fact, on a trip to Mexico as a class, we were assigned to fill our notebook with images, rather than take photographs (photographs were acceptable as additions but the sketchbooks were primary). After a couple of hours, when we met in the lobby (there was seating there then and the museum was less busy), and we looked at each others sketchbooks, three of us had drawn the same basket. Considering that there must have been a zillion objects on display and we had all gone off in different directions, this was an amazing coincidence. That basket was hot! (Was that the sign about the future--the three of us, Liz, Marianne and I, all live near each other in Vermont now?)

So I had a mission. Find that basket. I knew approximately where it was, but with so much rearranged I wasn't sure it would still be there. In fact, i was quite doubtful about finding it. I had a clear memory of a shape that was wide at top and tapered at the bottom and of a weave that went from large elements at the bottom to smaller ones at the top, and that it was on the main floor. I started at the North American Indians and proceeded through that whole display and found the basket in the Northwest/Alaskan section. I almost missed it but there was this really big basket behind it. In fact, at first I thought, is that it? It is so large. Then I realized that a sign was placed in front of the prized basket and it was impossible to really see it. For me that was the last straw. The Field is now on my list of places that I will relegate to memory. I took some pictures to show you.

Two whaling baskets in the Field Museum

Attempt to show you bottom of front basket where weave elements are larger than at top

Sign is impeding view of basket that i searched to find

After several hours in the Field, I decided to find the small Powell's bookstore which is located in Printers Row area--another past memory. The first time I taught at SAIC the apartment Mark and I and Montgomery (our cat) stayed in was near that store. It was incredible and I think I spent my entire salary there. On the way over to Wabash I passed the Magdelena Abakanowicz sculptures in the park, which had not been there on my previous Chicago visits. Walking among them I felt really small, in contrast to the exhibit of soil at the Field where I was suppose to feel like a particle of soil but just felt stupid.

Magdelena Abakanowicz sculptures

Sunday I had an appointment to attend Anne Wilson's bobbin winding session as part of her Local Industry, Chicago to Knoxville project. Several of my SAIC students also attended. I never was very good at making paper bobbins but Anne gave clear directions and we all sat and made them for two hours. I left with new skill and a paper pattern so I can make them in my own studio. You can see Anne below with Tali Weinberg on the left (she is going to start graduate work at NYU this fall and is currently in my SAIC class) and Emily Nachison on the right. Emily is a graduate student at Cranbrook spending the summer in Chicago assisting Anne on this project.

Anne Wilson in center directing bobbin winding, Tali Weinberg on left and Emily Nachison on right

Plastic bins that were empty at the start are filling up with colorful quills of yarn

The rest of the day was really busy. I had lunch with Judith from my class at Wishbone and she pointed out Oprah's building where she does her show. I was a groupie and took a photo (but not posting). Then i met Laura Foster Nicholson who was up from Indiana for the day and spent the night at my apartment. Her daughter is taking summer school at SAIC. We went to a few interesting stores, shopped at Trader Joe's, and then had appetizers at Whole Foods. I do miss both those stores, which were my main grocery stores in Santa Fe, and sitting in Whole Foods eating great bread, drinking wine, and talking to a wonderful friend felt like grace. At the Crate and Barrel outlet near Trader Joe's I was able to buy two sets of dishtowels designed by Laura. I love using items designed by her. Then we met our friend Nick Cave for dinner. Nick and I were in the same class at Cranbrook and it is always a joy to see him and watch the success he has achieved. He is one of the hardest working people I know, always has done two or three things simultaneously and done them all to perfections. He teaches in the Fashion Department at SAIC now and at the same time has a thriving career as an artist. After dinner he gave us each copies of the new book on his work--Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the World. This is one of the great things about getting old and having a history--that one can meet someone early in their career and be sure that they will be successful, and then watch the unfolding, and see it happen in a path expected but even more beautiful and wonderful than anticipated.

Laura Foster Nicholson talking to SAIC class about her work, including her ribbon collection

Monday, Laura came to my class and gave a generous talk to the students about her career, which spans work as an artist, designer, and creative maker. She does it all. I have a small collection of her ribbons and brought some to show, and she brought the rings of samples that had most of the designs. Since students had learned weft brocade, they had some idea of how the ribbon designs are executed in weaving.

After Laura's talk we had a review of the work done the first week in the class. You can see the TC-1 jacquard cloth before it was cut into sections. They wove a bit over 8 yards. Now the sign-up sheet is filling in and lots more will be woven this week and next. It means constant work for Janette Ramirez who has the job of taking care of the technical aspects of the department. She has been so helpful and the weaving studio is in great shape due to her efforts.

First pieces off the TC-1

Janette Ramirez getting ready to retension the TC-1 warp at SAIC

4th Day Equals 4th Week

Jungock Kim, SAIC graduate student, starting 3-block double cloth

In a three-week semester, each day is equivalent to one week, so today, day four is really week four. All the students have woven on the TC-1 and two have done sizeable pieces. Almost all of them have finished dressing their floor looms and have begun to weave. Jungock Kim, a graduate in the SAIC program, has set up an ambitious three-block double cloth. She and I figured out a "scaffold tie-up" so she can access any of the three blocks variations with 12 pedals. She is doing double plain and has 12 shafts on the loom. I have had many Korean students in my teaching career, and it is a pleasure to work with her. I made her laugh saying I knew some Korean--I can say "kimchi" and "bulgulgi" and "pajeon". Korean food is right up there with dim sum on my list of what is missing in Randolph.

The Sea of Looms in SAIC Weaving Studio includes a TC-1

Judith Querciagrossa Danaher testing her shaded satin image

Judith Q. Danaher is another student in the class. She is an experienced weaver taking the class to learn more, but not because she is pursing a degree. She is always cheerful and helpful and I am really enjoying her pleasure in learning. If the class continues to be this much fun, I am not going to want to go home in July. We will have our first review on Monday and if the students give me permission, I will post some images of their work here.

My walk home (a nice afternoon after another soaking walk home yesterday and more rain this morning so I took the bus) took me through Millennium Park--past the Crown Fountain and the Bean and then I was drawn to Gehry's Music Pavilion by the sounds of Indian (India) music. Part of the Chicago Free Events is Music Without Borders. There were people picnicking on the grass and more in the seats, and I went and sat down in the Pavilion to listen for awhile. 

Children playing in water at Crown Fountain

View of "Bean"

Frank Gehry's Music Pavllion

View of Indian Musicians from inside Pavilon

View of Building from seat in Pavilon

Dim Sum and Art

Dim Sum at Furama Restaurant

Top on my list of what is missing in Randolph is dim sum. So I was besides myself the other morning meeting two friends, Elyse Koren-Camarra and Lialia Kuchman for dim sum. I know I can go to Boston to get some, and i do have a couple of cookbooks with recipes, but what a pleasure to just hop on public transportation and get to Furama Restaurant and be served from the little carts full of delicious tiny morsels of heaven.

Elyse, Lailai, and me

Both Elyse and Lialia are multi-faceted, energetic, creative women--good role models for the people that come in contact with them. Lialia was in the last class i taught at SAIC and Elyse is in the current one, but both have been artists and scholars and curators for years and Elyse is also a college professor. Who could ask for better students and friends?

After lunch I did visit the Art Institute of Chicago. Walked down the central hallway from the main entrance enjoying the re-established sculptures and art (missed the textiles though) to get to the New Wing. Looking at people and overhearing conversations was as much fun as looking at the art. I was hungry for art since I haven't been in a large museum with a great collection for some time.

Lobby of New Wing of Chicago Art institute

Looking down at lobby of New Wing

The New Wing is housing the contemporary art, which in some cases is ancient to my current students who probably were all born in the 1990s or late 1980s. For me, it was like a reunion with old friends. Sometimes the art was amazingly fresh and exciting, and other times I saw how age has not been kind to it. I took lots of pictures (no flash, of course) and surprised myself with some of the images, but then I was already thinking of the upcoming class and first project of a two-color image--so I snapped images of ceramics, and iron work, and carved stone that I thought might translate into interesting 2-color images as examples. I won't bore you with them here but I do love how city environments spur on my ideas for teaching and making.

Brancusi sculpture

The Brancusi suclptures were old friends but I only liked his bases this time. In fact, I would like Mark to make us a table like the stone one pictured above. I was so surprised to come upon this Vito Acconci work called Estimations where he paced off walks and wrote the number of steps he estimated and then the number of actual steps. It reminded me of my current weavings where I write the ppi and then add addendums with the actual ppi. I don't hear about Acconci very much these days (though i admit I don't read many current journals so maybe he is being written about) but his work was so varied and startling and important and young people should not overlook him. I know Bruce Nauman is seen as relevant (there was a room with his clown videos and judging from the conversations I overheard in it, I was not the only one to still find them disturbing; they are actually called "Clown Torture" and he made them in 1987) but I will have to ask my students if they know Acconci's work and what they think.

Vito Acconci work called Estimations from 1970

Some of the funniest conversations I overheard were in the rooms of work that i find most inspiring. I have always loved minimal work like Robert Ryman's white paintings, but never could give myself permission to be so basic. One group of viewers peeked in and the man said, "this room must be under construction" and he totally would not believe his wife (assumption) when she said she thought "that was the art." Another group stood in front of a wonderful Agnes Martin in total disgust and disbelief that this was hanging in the museum. To me it was a wonder that this work, which is definitely not new, is still eliciting these strong feelings against it. Amazing that people still think minimalist and other contemporary movements are jokes made against them, or insults directed at them. 

Robert Ryman painting

City view from Robert Ryman room in museum

I wasn't the only one taking pictures of the Chicago cityscape from the Robert Ryman room. It was a beautiful day and window views were powerful. Almost unfair to put them there next to the Ryman's--or maybe one could say a perfect juxtaposition.

3 Views of Being Not Truthful Always Works Against Me by Stefan Sagmeister and Ralph Ammer

In the rooms about architecture I enjoyed watching and participating in making Stefan Sagmeister and Ralph Ammer's interactive Not Being Truthful Always Works Against Me move and distort and dissolve and come together again. A spider web of course is going to attract a weaver. Especially one who is remembering in the back of her mind that school was starting the next day. I walked home through the crowds gathering for the last night of the Blues Festival, exhausted, and looked down at the view of The Field Museum, which I will visit this coming weekend. 

School has started, today is day three which is equivalent to the third week, and it feels like three weeks. The students are amazing, every one of them is focused and working hard. Warps have been made and today some of them will be weaving on them, and all of them have woven on the TC-1 already. I was telling the beginners that some day, if they stick with weaving, they will tell their friends or students that their first weaving was on the TC-1--that they simultaneously began at both ends of the continuum that we call weaving.

Gate House into Park looking down towards Field Museum

Chicago

Chicago skyline as I walk to work

I am in Chicago! No problems getting here and my friends Akemi and Jack Cohn picked me up at the airport and took me to my apartment. I have a view of Lake Michigan and a mooring of sailboats. The city ambient light and the excitement of being here kept me up most of the first night.

Walking to work with Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavillion in foreground

I had an appointment at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) yesterday morning for the summer chair, Amy Honchell, to show me the facilities and give me an ID so I can have access to the building. It was raining but I wanted to walk to school to see how long it would take. I just go down Randolph Avenue to Michigan Avenue and then left past Millennium Park to Monroe, where I turn right and find the temporary entrance on Monroe and Wabash. Look at the great views I will see each morning as I go to work.

Bicycles being rented, even in the rain

Even in the rain, people went into the building above to rent bicycles. It is so amazing how clean everything looked and how careful Chicago is to have good signage for visitors and locals. I was completely impressed and happy to be here again. I don't know if I will take advantage of any of the free events going on but there are plenty. I will be teaching 9 to 4:30 every weekday for the next three weeks, so I might just be crawling back to the apartment exhausted. Or I will be so energized by my class that I will wander into Grant's Park for some of the activities.

Some of the free events available in Chicago

View of Gehry's building from Michigan Avenue

Both Frank Gehry's Jay Pritzker Pavillion and Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate are on my walk. The way the Cloud Gate, often referred to as The Bean, blended into the overcast sky was just thrilling. I have seen both these places before but had not been thinking of either, so when I came upon them, in sequence, I felt such a jolt of city joy. As a native New Yorker (born in Manhattan and lived there my most formative years--until I was 4.5--if you follow Freudian theory) I always have a sense of coming home when I am in a big city.

Anish Kapoor's Cloud, often called the Bean

Good signage at Millennium Park

Another wonderful place in Millennium Park is the Crown Fountain created by Jaume Piensa. I am sure I will return and take more pictures for you to see on this blog. I love sitting and watching people in general, and there, on a nice day, with children splashing and videos changing, and the buzz of Michigan Avenue, it is just spectacular.

Glimpse of Crown Fountain at Millennium Park

When I got to Michigan and Monroe, where I had to turn right, I looked over at the new wing of the Art Institute. I am going to go there today, after my morning appointment, which I will tell you about after it happens.

First View for me of New Wing of Art Institute of Chicago

I was told that the city of Chicago has decided to spruce up the area on Wabash known as Jewler's Row, where the normal entrance to SAIC is located. So there is this temporary entrance on Monroe. Again, the rain, the buildings (Chicago has the best), the tourist trolly, the bus, the speeding cars, the lights, the construction--I was just breathing in "city" and loving it.

Temporary Entrance to SAIC

Amy gave me a thorough comprehensive tour of the facilities and I am feeling confident that this is going to be a terrific class. After lunch I took a long way back to my apartment, trying to see if I could cross the river closer to my apartment, only to find myself having to back track and the rain getting harder. I was thoroughly soaked by the time I got back to the apartment. After a rest I had to go out to meet Akemi at Lillstreet Art Center where she was teaching a class. She is an expert on rice paste resist, but also on most aspects of surface design and this class was on nuno felting. The students had great results and all were pleased. She took me home for dinner and later she and Jack drove me home again. She is off to Japan so I won't get to see her again until the end of my stay.

Akemi teaching at Lillstreet Art Center

Birthday Cake

It's always a good morning when I return to bed with my cup of coffee and read. It's a sign of relaxation and leisure. This morning I noticed that the leaves on the trees almost obliterate the neighboring houses and I am left with a view of the hill behind town that reminds me of the view from the bedroom of our former home in New Mexico. I always felt that hill was a protection, and watching the morning sun hit it and turn it golden was always a thrill. Selling that place, with a house that we built ourselves with great effort and hope, was emotionally difficult, and I think I managed it by denying my attachment. So it seems that as I settle joyfully into Vermont, I can relax my internal walls, and allow memories of New Mexico to return. I remember when I studied psychology in the '60's how taken I was by the theory of cognitive dissonance. Upon making a decision, one is at first overcome by the sense that you made the wrong choice, and then that quickly is replaced by a firmer conviction that you indeed made the right choice. So now I feel safe enough to allow good memories of New Mexico to return without it threatening our decision to move to Vermont.

I wanted to post pictures of my weft-backed double weave for days, but I didn't want my friend Sara Tucker to see, because I wove her a birthday cake. Yesterday, after the opening of Into the Woods, we had a joint gemini party. You can see her and her sister Martha holding the weaving below, as well as strawberry shortcake. 

Sara Tucker (r) and her sister Martha holding Sara's birthday cake weaving

I actually gave Sara the weaving earlier in the day, and she put it on the back of a chair as a display for everyone to see at the party. It amazed me how it fit perfectly, and suddenly I really could conceive of a furniture collaboration with Mark--something he has been interested in for a long time. I don't know how long it will take for that to take shape, but probably now that I can visualize it, it has a chance to happen.

Sara's Birthday Cake weaving on display for party

I also wove a birthday cake for my Aunt Bess' party, which will take place August 30th. She is going to be 100! I don't think Bess is reading this blog, so she probably won't see the weaving until her party, but if she is, then she can look forward to seeing it in person. I am posting both the front and back of her weaving, so you can see how different they are. I wove both birthday cakes face down, so I saw the colorful floats develop, not the sharp definition of the front. Both these weavings made me very happy. Pleased by the complicated structure that made the imagery possible, pleased by the thought that I was giving them to specific people who make my life better, and pleased by the silliness of them, which seemed perfect as a birthday present. At the party, my other friends lined up to tell me when their birthdays are coming, so they too can get these cakes. 

Front of Aunt Bess' Birthday Cake weaving

Back of Aunt Bess' Birthday Cake weaving

And besides having a pot luck with good friends and the most delicious food, much of which came from recipes in Deborah Madison's book, I received a wonderful old collapsible wooden ruler from the Sacca/Billings and an intriguing collage from Laurie Sverdlove, who co-curated Into the Woods with Dian Parker. They are pictured with Tom Batey (who did the card) below. I took this picture before the opening, which is good, because the gallery was packed for the next few hours and all my pictures just show backs of people. The show was appreciated by all and the hard work these three people did was justly praised.   

Right to Left: Laurie Sverdlove, Dian Parker, and Tom Batey, standing at side of Laurie's painting just before opening of Into the Woods 

So what was I reading this morning? Flatbreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid. I haven't cooked from it yet, but I will. They are travellers and cooks and I relate to their writing. I go through phases where I stop reading and stop cooking, and life is a little duller for the lack of these activities. Getting ready for the opening and party got me in the kitchen, and eating Holly's foccacia with Liz's green cheese spread and Mark's lentil soup made me want to find more delicious recipes. Tonight I am going to try Alford and Duguid's Pizza with Rosemary and Garlic, and add the rest of the onion filling from Madison's book that didn't go into the empanadas. Ahh, good living! And just look at the poppies in our garden. 

June Beginnings

New toys--a mangle and a braid twister

It has been raining here and I keep reminding myself that in New Mexico we would have welcomed days of steady rain, but still I miss the sun. Mark and I drove to New Hampshire at the end of the week in the pouring rain to pick up an old mangle. This and the braid twister came to me via Edith House. She read that I wanted the braid twister on my blog and ordered one for me (maybe I should have a running wish list on the side bar). I was thrilled--especially since I had ordered one on ebay myself--my first and last attempt to use that site--and what I got was the head from a machine. Completely useless without the handle. I did check back and saw the ad definitely had the complete twister--and I could have lodged a complaint and sent it back. But that didn't make sense since the postage to/from the seller was more than the tool itself. Anyway, when Edith gave me this twister I felt like my story had a surprise happy ending. She keeps the list of looms and other tools for sale for the Vermont Weavers Guild and knew about this mangle for sale, so she put me in touch with the seller. I have been using tencel in my recent work almost exclusively, and seeing how Edith and Trudy Otis finished their tencel scarfs with the mangle enticed me to buy this.

Double Weave Comparison - front

Double Weave Comparison - back

I also finished the warp on my TC-1 and was able to cut off the cloth yesterday. I had forgotten I had woven a comparison weaving in double cloth--but there it was at the beginning of the roll. Because I designed the structures for light lifts, the back of the cloth is almost all warp-faced. Quite a contrast to the front. I wanted the back of my last weavings to show weft floats, so I created weft-backed double weave structures. Even saying that makes my head spin. The day I was making those structures I definitely thought I was having a complete mental melt-down. After awhile, it seemed like all structures were the same--and I still feel that sometimes when I look at my wall of studies--they all are about warp or weft floats--the differences are so minute. I wonder if I am being side-tracked by this level of detail. But then I think "weft-backed double cloth" and something comes alive in me. You can see a detail below of the back of one of the pieces I wove. On the front it has areas of warp-faced white and warp-faced black, and then areas of single wefts working with either the white or the black warps (though I don't think the warps are showing much since the weft floats are doing a good job of hiding them). On one of the weavings I did put an area of the back on the front. I will post images as soon as I finish them. I wove them face-down so the lifts would be lighter than if woven face-up. It is always a thrill to take something off the loom that you are hoping is weaving correctly but you can't see (well, I could have used a mirror) and find out it worked.

back of "weft-backed double weave"

I did weave a small sample of the weft-backed double weave that I can run through the mangle and see what happens. That will have to wait until I get back from Chicago in July. Meanwhile, here is the invitation to the exhibit, Into the Woods, curated by Dian Parker and Laurie Sverdlove, which opens at The Chandler Gallery in Randolph on June 6. The two of them have done so much work investigating artists in Vermont whose work would fit with the theme, compiling what will be an exciting show, and organizing everything to high standards. It is very generous of them to do this. Of course I am thrilled that both Mark and I will have work in the exhibit. The opening is from 4-6 p.m. That's my birthday--I think I will just pretend everyone is there to celebrate with me--celebrate the fact that I am alive and well and can think of things like "weft-backed double weave" which really is something to celebrate.