A Week At Mineral School

It's my seventh day at Mineral School.

I have two favorite places I visit every day. 

The Bat-house and the cemetery.

You can sort of see a small bat - 

 just coming out from below the gutter

and to the right of the chimney.

Friday I went to Paradise on Mt. Rainier

where the flowers were at peak bloom, at least the avalanche lilies

and Indian paint brush.

Bill came up for a visit and we hiked up Morain Trail to where 

we could see the Nisqually Glacier and the melt that becomes

the mighty Nisqually River.

Yesterday we all went to the lake

for a swim and to say goodbye to our dorm mom, Jess,

and welcome our new dorm mom Putsata.

I have been writing more the last few days

less visual art

though this week I hope to get some work on the press.

Yes, I brought a portable press and it is in the school gym

waiting for me, patiently.

Day 4/Mineral School Residency

Last night was long and late. 

Stories, dreams, and healing shared.

Today was cool and misty.

Sleepy, I was sleepy all day. 

It inspired this collage.

Of course I revisited the bat house,

walking the curve of the lake.

And tonight Jess and I went to the cemetery

where the artist Velma Hale "Artist at Rest"

is regularly gifted heart shaped stones. 

Day 3 at Mineral School!

 Started this morning with a collage in honor of the lunar eclipse. 

My first collage since high school, I think.

 Mineral School has all kinds of sweet things that embrace. 

Definitely a dream come true to be here.

 My studio/room has exploded with stuff everywhere. 

That's what collage does.

 The bat house — population 800.

This place in particular is inspiring me. 

I'll be back tonight, depending on the update of cougar information!

 

Mineral School: Day Two

I'm settling in at Mineral School.

It's a comfortable and welcoming place. 

Cozy despite the ratio of one artist per classroom.

One of my classroom work stations in action.

(I'm reading Flash Count Diary, if you are interested. 

It's exxxcellent.)

 The spaces are full of inspiration and companionship 

if you need a social break.

The food is delicious, 

the light is fantastic.

Dinner in 20 minutes! 

Mineral School

It's my first day at my artist residency. 

I have two weeks at Mineral School.

And it's wonderful to be here.

I have my own room! And it's an old classroom. 

Little coat closets, like I had in the 1st and 2nd grade. 

There's two big chalk boards, and a recliner. 

More comforts than home. 

Are you a daydreamer?

This is the question my new work asks.
It is designed with 6 steel pages mounted to a beautiful piece of wood.
There was welding involved
and spray painting
and lots of trips to the store for more spray paint.
(Only one can per day
because I couldn't think further ahead than that.)

I bought lots of magnetic sheeting

 because how could I know how much I needed? 

I thought I would get photopolymer plates to print my words 

onto the magnetic sheets, 

but again, I could not plan far enough ahead. 

So I set the type by hand 

from my drawer of 24 point Italian Old Style italic. 

The theme is Pacific Northwest nature and daydreaming. 

And a few book making related words. 

Also, for some reason I threw in the word "spoon." 

Now that I am thinking about it, I should add the word chocolate.

My 'dream' came true the first day the book was on the wall, 

even before the show had officially opened. 

(It still hasn't). 

The show is called Open Sesame: 

The Magic of Artist's Books Revealed.

People were making messages, poems, sentences, thoughts. 

They were DAYDREAMING! in front of my book.

Everyone is invited to Daydream. 

#daydreamersjournal

The show opens this Friday, March 8, 2019. 

Bainbridge Island Museum of Art

Inking Up! for Social Justice - Small Things Can Add Up

It's been a long time since I posted. I am always waiting for a better moment, a better photo, a clearer thought. Now so many things I want to share have piled up. 

Here's the latest:

First and foremost, I want to share the latest broadsides for Environmental & Social Justice programs. I cannot sit idly by while hundreds and thousands of people, including children, are imprisoned at our Southern border. I cannot abide the attacks, both verbal and physical, on people coming here to seek a better life. If we can each do something small, it will add up to something big. 

These four broadsides were created in collaboration with Rick Jones (NY state). We worked together on theme and content, and then Rick made these beautiful stencils for a two-color print. I printed them on my Vanderook 4 through a process called pressure printing. 

                                     

We picked the quotes through a back and forth process, and Rick had them translated in Spanish through various friends. We were thrilled to be able to print these design in two languages. The type was handset for the English, and Rick had photopolymer plates made for the Spanish.

One of my favorite things about this work with Rick was his addition of the burlap scrap to add texture and definition to the skirt below. 

It's been a learning and rewarding process to collaborate across space, and with Rick in particular. He has talent and caring and a willingness to let me print by the seat of my pants! 

We are asking for donations, either directly, or through us, to either R.A.I.C.E.S. (Refugee and Immigration Center for Educational and Legal Services), or to the Florence Project (Florence Immigration and Refugee rights project), or the ACLU and in return 

we will send you one of these broadsides - you choose! 

And as a reminder - 

you can donate any amount for a broadside. 

We do not ask the amount - it is totally up to you. 

We pay the shipping from our own pocket, 

it does not come out of the donations.

This collaboration with Rick Jones are my 4th and 5th Inking Up! for Environmental & Social Justice projects. If you'd like to know when the next one happens and what it looks like, follow this blog, or my May Day Press Facebook page. I am trying to do one or two a year. It's been a rewarding experience for me to make work and give 100% to a worthy cause, no strings attached.  

Thanks for reading, and for caring. I'll post again, sooner than later.

What the Plants Say

I have been working on this little book Root, Leaf, & Flower for a quite a while. The boco printing was done a year ago, but the letterpress just added. I haven't sewn one together yet, but all the pages are ready now.

I had some different thoughts about it when I first started the boco printing process from the plants. And it took me a while to realize those ideas were a dead end for me.

It started with the idea of a sampler – each plant isolated on its own page. But the result for me is much more than a sampler, it is a song. Each print is unique, the gesture of the plants expressive with hidden images and colors revealed.

I have worked out the stitching on sample papers, but I am not ready to reveal that one yet. And for those of you that have it, this book: Root, Leaf, & Flower will be akin to Plant Dyes from the Kitchen. (below) Plant Dyes from the Kitchen was also published in the fabulous book Thread Loves Paper by Emily Marks.

On My Very Own Silk Road

From my first attempt botanical contact printing on silk.

Not sure how far down the road I'll go with bo-co printing on silk, but I am having fairly good success so far and feeling more encouraged as I go.

Today, rain. But the vat is calling me back.

Mothing Around

So many stacks of blocks to get to! 

Easy Peazy & Hard As Chard

In the studio with Rebeca, having loads of fun while printing for GRuB (Garden Raised Bounty) for their fundraiser. You'll have to be quick to get one of these awesome potholders.

  

Co designing with Rebeca was the most fun I've had collaborating, ever.

 In the studio by myself today, thinking we should have printed "Hard As Chard" instead. Registering dozens of pieces of seam binding is challenging. Phew, finally finished!

It won't say so on this colophon, but this is another Inking Up! for Social & Environmental Justice publications from May Day Press. Had to keep this colophon short as possible to suit our "easy peasy" approach.

Stayed tuned for the finished product. We will be having a sewing bee on Sunday! 

And Comics!

I missed one very important publication this year - and it was for Grab Back Comics. Erma Blood invited me to contribute, and against my better judgement (I don't do comics, after all),  I created a contribution that developed from my embroidered piece for Re-fashioning Identity. Grab Back Comics just came out – and I was mentioned in a very good way, more than once – in the review!

If you want to read the review: it's here: These Comics Grab Back.

Poetry and Prose

I am excited to report that I have had a poem and a piece of short prose published this year. The poem, called Ozette, was published in WA 129, edited by Tod Marshall, our state's poet laureate.

The short prose was published online by 3Elements Literary Review - their Summer issue #15. As much as I love printing, I love writing more!

Stay tuned for news of a new May Day Press publication - out very soon! With cover paper printed from avocado pits!

Abundant Blessings!

May Day Press is celebrating 

25 years of letterpress printing artists' books 

and other misc. this year. 

Big thanks and much gratitude to my sweet friend Pam Elardo 

who has been a blessing in my life in many ways and supporter of 

May Day Press since it was born. It's the love and support of 

friends like Pam that keep me and May Day Press going.

Grab Back Comics – Re-Refashioning Identity

I submitted a piece to Grab Back Comics, a comics anthology on sexual assault, harassment, rape culture, and advocacy by Erma Blood of Seattle, WA. Erma had seen the piece I made for Re-Fashioning Identity and encouraged me to keep working it.

Refashioning Identity was a stitching project guided by 

artist Diana Weymar for the University of Puget Sound, 

Tacoma community. Each contributor was given one 

cotton-lined page upon which to stitch their concept. My 

page was inspired by paper dolls and the messages that 

are projected onto our clothing choices, as well as the 

messages we tell ourselves when we wear them.

My piece for Grab Back Comics is a conflation of thoughts that bombard me each morning while getting dressed: the what to wear vs. should wear, fun vs. fear, and what makes the culture feel safe, even if it makes me feel fake.

Erma will be presenting Grab Back Comics at a Comics & Medicine conference in Seattle mid-June. I'm excited my piece was included!

My week in Los Angeles

Arrived on Monday, April 17th, as a guest in a beautiful Mission style house built in 1926. 

Hand crafted details throughout.

Tuesday, April 18th I taught 5th graders about color, emotion, and the senses 

through rubbings we made using shapes and crayons.

After class I headed to the Craft & Folk Art Museum. 

They are hosting a great book arts show as well as a gallery of Iranian artists. 

Wednesday I spent much of the day at the Getty Museum. 

Loved that concrete poetry exhibit! 

(I only took pictures of flowers.)

And then the Fowler Museum which has an excellent group of shows at the present.

Thursday it was back to school, to make rubbings with crayon and ink

as well as printing from wood and metal type. 

We designed faces and landscapes (for the most part).

Friday I spent at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

This is from Monsoon: Indian paintings of the Rainy Season.

I also saw Diego Rivera and Pablo Picasso, 

The Inner Eye: Vision and transcendence in African Arts

and Abdulnasser Gharem: Pause.

This last was remarkably powerful. 

The evening wrapped up with the Craft in America "Nature" 

episode premier on PBS.

I was on Cloud 10 when I went to bed. 

Saturday was a print action for Earth Day at the 

Craft in America Center.

Here I am with Katherine Ng and Gaye West.

Anyone that wanted could come in and print on two 

presses I drove down to L.A. in my trunk. 

It was a very fun time meeting so many lovely people.

The next morning it was time to head home.