another day at Lillian Smith Center...

... and this one started with good omens... crows talking in the woods.  Since I began to notice and work with crows over 15 years ago (work with in drawing, writing about, weaving tapestries of...) I've come to think of crows as sort of my guardian spirits.  Crows appear in many legends and mythologies--in both good and bad connotations.... although I think the "bad" is really a misunderstanding!

However, today has been productive and I'm further along in the writing and also a bit into the clasped weft technique that I mentioned I'd be sampling.  No photos of that yet... but if you're curious, check out the Peter Collingwood book, Techniques of Rug Weaving.  It's even online, for those who don't own the book or don't have easy access to it (you'll have to scroll down to the book).  One of the "tricks" about the method that I learned in a workshop from Peter Collingwood's son, Jason, is to try to make the linking of the two wefts in the same shed lie under a warp thread... that will hide the interlock on the face and that linking will show at the back of the piece.

So... today's photos are in pretty much chronological order, from the first I took this morning to the last--at a reception for the artist, Suzanne Stryk, who will be teaching a workshop at ECHO School of the Arts tomorrow (and I'll be taking it!).  The reception was a Globe Gallery in Clayton, Georgia--a wonderful gallery owned by my friend, Peggy McBride--who is also the founder of ECHO School.

Got to start, of course, with the red door!

Where did the post hole diggers go?!

A few small things on the walk this morning caught my eye.  I love this roundish rock set into the larger irregular stone path.  And the oak leaf that had fallen beside it was so beautiful.

More mushrooms were out and about.  The diameter of the top of this one was about 6"...  this is much larger than most of the ones I've seen on the walks.

Fallen nuts began to attract my attention today.  Here's one from the walk at Lillian Smith this morning...

And, here's one from the Globe Gallery at the ramp next to the porch.  

Right beside Globe Gallery is a bank of kudzu and I was able to photograph it without worrying about wandering through the vines and maybe never being found again!

I was able to see some tiny, baby kudzu leaves as they are developing... although, the way kudzu grows these guys will be teen-agers tomorrow, and full grown adults by the next day, most likely!

Another small grouping of three kudzu leaves developing...

This amazing twining around the vine still just stuns me when I see it.

Then... on into the gallery for the reception.  Here is Suzanne Stryk, in the center, between Junco Pollock on the left, Peggy McBride, the gallery owner, on the right.  Junco is an amazing fiber artist.  Her current work is with kudzu... she is processing and weaving with it.  In her hand is a portfolio of recently woven work, in fact.  Junco is a professor of art at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Suzanne Stryk talks to gallery visitors about her work...

Friends/former students of mine came to the reception.  Both live in Rabun County and frequently come to events at the Globe Gallery.  I haven't seen them in several years and was glad to get filled in with what's going on in their lives.  Both were art education majors at North Georgia College & State University; after they graduated several years ago they've gone on to teach art in public schools in north Georgia.  Brenda... on my left (right in the pix) recently retired and is loving her freedom!  Georgann (on my right) is still teaching and is moving between two elementary school, still teaching art.  They were some of the most outstanding students who I taught through the years and I was glad to see them again.

And... Peggy on the left talks to Jan Turner, another of the residents at Lillian Smith Center while I'm here.  Jan is a writer who will soon be moving to the north Georgia area--I'm happy she and Peggy met... Peg has a treasure trove of resource information in her creative brain!