and yet another post from Hambidge...only a very few more to go here...

I'm here at Rock House, the house with the dining room at Hambidge Center. This is where we have internet access, either at a shared computer or wireless for laptops. I've been posting my entries for the past few days from here in the daytime. However, tonight, it's 8:45 or so and it's after dinner. All other residents have gone back to their studios for the evening; we've cleared the table from the yet-one-more wonderful meal prepared by the chef, dishes are in the dishwasher, and I'm back online for a few minutes to post a few photos of the last two days' work. After spending the past week + with larger and more spontaneous drawings based on the wonderful world all around me here, I've begun to draw from observation of smaller details. These are of nuts and leaves of selected trees on the property.

I ran out of drawing paper, but someone had left a pad of small black sheets suitable for drawing media in the studio. I've taken it on, drawn or painted white areas of the sheets into which I'm drawing. Also, last night, one of the other resident artists offered me some gesso--which I took a bit of to paint onto a few more of the black sheets. Those were dried today; I sandpapered them smooth and began drawing on them this afternoon.

I still haven't really woven very much but I feel that the time spent in this exploration of site and season may prove to be productive for future tapestry weaving. It surely is productive for my spirit, I can say!

Hambidge... five more days to go!

Here are my options for art making--so far, I've been using the paper not the yarn. Looms still wait with blank warps, though! And I'm running out of paper. Maybe I'll be weaving for the next five days!

Slide show of my first week at Hambidge Center

Here's some of the work done during the first week at this incredible place in the north Georgia mountains. The fall colors are astounding. I've spent the last five days intensely involved in looking, looking, looking all around me. The first couple of days drawings were straight from observation. After spending a good bit of time on one of the trails, the works have begun to change. They're becoming more symbolic of the experiences and the sights. I am not sure where these will lead but am willing to follow.




Part of my work here is to sort through old letters and scrapbooks, saved from my four years in undergraduate school--1965-1969. I've gone through things daily for shorter or longer times. I'd thought the memory travels might lead me somewhere visually but not so, thus far. I'm trying very hard not to push the process but to allow it to guide me in these days here.

I got away from home in such a rush that I left a number of my art supplies in my studio. Got here with only a couple of boxes of used oil pastels, some pastel pencils, my prismacolor pencils, and the small watercolor set I use in the woods. No big brushes, no acrylic paint, no paper! Since I was in Asheville on Saturday I went to an art supply store there, got a pad of bristol vellum and of newsprint. Trips into Dillard to the hardware store and the local cheapie store (Fred's) yielded some "decorator accent acrylics", foam brushes, cheap bristle brushes, metallic markers, and some tracing paper. Challenging but fun to see what these limited supplies allow me to do. So far, the only limits seem to be my imagination!

The loom sits warped ready for something to happen on it. Next week? Today? Not at all while here? I'll see what happens when it happens. I've been reading Trust the Process, by Shaun McNiff and have gotten permission from what I'm reading to work as I am. Of all the inspirational books about creativity that I've seen through the years this is one of the most helpful for me. Glad I brought it with me.

Back at Hambidge for a couple of weeks

I have another two weeks of residency at Hambidge Center. I'm in a different studio this time than I was in a few weeks back. The one I have now is spacious, with lots of windows from which I can see the beautifully colorful world of the fall woods all around. There's one large wall on which drawing paper can be pinned and I'm putting up drawings I've been doing at the end of the each day. I'm working in oil pastels, mostly. I have 18x 24" bristol vellum to draw on and have worked from observation of these wonderful woods in large, loose renderings of color and shape. I'll post some photos in a day or so, maybe, of what I'm doing.

I also have my Archie black pipe loom set up again, reconfigured as a narrower width. I warped it yesterday with a wool warp and have gotten the header woven this morning. So far I don't have a clue about what I'll be weaving... but I'm hopeful that the surroundings will create the spark I need to start.

I got to the Blue Ridge Handweaving Show on Saturday, heard Bethanne Knudson's (the juror) talk, and saw the weavings. This show is always such an inspiration to visit! This may be the last time it's held at this location, Asheville School, but the Western NC weavers guild is committed to continuing it, I'm told. An open exhibit, juried after works are hung, is a very democratic way to approach a collection of works. I feel that there are many weavings included that might not have been submitted if there were the constraints associated with many juried exhibit entries--pulling together slides and digital images may be daunting to some who feel they can enter this show, since no images are necessary with the entry form. With the two categories of entries, amateur and professional, anyone who weaves for love or living are encouraged to enter, and this year there are over one hundred weavings in the exhibit. There's both a list of the award winners and a show catalog at the BRHW link.

So, here's a shot of two of mine hanging in the Blue Ridge Handweaving Show... both of which won awards! The ATA Award for Tapestry was given for "to the essence of every nature...." and a second place in category of decorative, non-functional was presented for my most recently completed tapestry, the one of fiddleheads that I named "Spring Profusion". Kathe Todd-Hooker received the Best in Show with a wonderfully complex tapestry--and Barbara Burns also won a first place award for her tapestry--so tapestry works were quite well represented among the awards given. There were also many other beautiful tapestries in the exhibit and I enjoyed seeing them all.