a little red hen: Transformation

Full Moon tonight...Ron Bloom Tapestry show tomorrow...

Something quite wonderful happens tomorrow. Ron Bloom will have his first show, "Weaving to Tapestry" here in Portland, Oregon, at Terwilliger Plaza where we live.

He began to spin wool on a wheel made of PVC pipe. That was in New York, 2002, after he enjoyed the craft at a weekend at the two-acre Shady Grove Farm in Apex, North Carolina. Judy Tysmans was a patient teacher. My article on his early adventures (including my being butted by a goat--twice--during sheep shearing) appeared in the book, For the Love of Knitting under the title, "The Accidental Spinner, or Husband Discovers Wheel."

Long trips upstate to Countrywool in Hudson, N.Y, provided his first spinning lessons with Claudia Kriniski. When we visited family in Portland, his instructor was Laurie Weinsoft. (Her daughter is now our internist). It was and is a moveable feast.

For a while, Ron focused on spinning for his hats. He purchased a finer, beautifully crafted yew wheel, from Wallace van Eaton at the Eugene, Oregon, Black Sheep Gathering on another visit west. Took it back to NYC. He made, continues to knit his own variations of a button hat. Next, Ron began weaving on a rigid heddle loom; Linda LaBelle was his first and most significant teacher at her studio in Brooklyn, N.Y. Weaver, yarn dyer and writer, Linda now lives in North Carolina, travels the world working with indigenous populations to reclaim their fiber crafts.

Sheila Hicks, the noted fiber artist, catapaulted him further into weaving and tapestry. Hicks' 2006 show, "Weaving as Metaphor," at Bard College moved him deeply. Walking through it many times, he recognized In Hicks' work his direction, experimented with weaving small pieces on 6 x 11" picture frames. Hicks sensibility about her work resonates for Ron: this is tapestry because I call it that.

Tomorrow, eight years later, Ron Bloom continues to explore--colors and a wider palette of yarns, abstract designs, a tenement building, the Brooklyn Bridge, masks. A work in progress.

In awe, I admire his work and believe tonight's full moon is filled with symbolism for my spouse, self-trained, latelife artist.

Posted by a little red hen on September 08, 2014 in Feminism, LIFELONG Learning, New York City, Portland, Oregon, Transformation, Yarn Life, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (4)

July to August...good personally

At the end of July, Bruce and Bob got married. Oh, well, you'll think, another gay wedding. Yes, but they live in our retirement community and that was a first here. A couple for a number of years, Bob and Bruce moved to Portland from Baltimore to be near Bob's daughter and family. Since we'd also lived in "Charm City," we were pleased our marketing people asked us to have dinner with them when they came to look over the place.

Though we'd not known the same people--Bruce (on the right) had been a UCC minister, Bob, an architect--we did known the same scene. They filled us in on the social/political changes since we'd left Baltimore in 1995 to move to New York.

The wedding was held in a local park near the Willamette River. Children from both their former marriages attended, many neighbors, friends from their church. And other marathon runners! Bob and Bruce set a high standard for latelife activity. The temperature was warm and breezy. Bruce made the blueberry-decorated cake, everyone brought food. It was a sweet and moving event. We felt privileged to share their legal ceremony.

A week later it was my 81st birthday. My friend Carolyn who put on my 80th last year (Bob and Bruce are in those photos) surprised me with a cake left serreptiously outside our door. Great synchronicity: August 5 was this year's National Night Out. I'd always wanted to go to one of these; a local neighborhood association was holding a picnic right across Terwilliger Boulevard in the park named for famous Oregon suffragist, Abigail Scott Duniway. How fitting for this old lady feminist.

Carolyn's cake was enjoyed by neighbors I'd never met--especially children and firemen too. My friend Sue won a door prize and I had a chance to show off my vintage cake carrier. Home before dark and cakeless!

Looking for links for this post, I happened upon Cyclotram, fascinating local blog with much on the history of Duniway Park-- once a gulch used as municipal garbage dump. My own history contains the experience of art-making with kitchen composting and the closing of the world's largest garbage dump, Fresh Kills in New York City. You live long enough and the world is one connection after another.

Posted by a little red hen on September 04, 2014 in APPLIED Feminism, Baltimore, Everyday Politics, Food, In and Out, Grandmotherhood Now, HOUSING OURSELVES, LIFELONG Learning, New York City, Portland, Oregon, Transformation | Permalink | Comments (3)

CRAFTS for protest: make your own IUD

Golly, if it had not been for that awful Supreme Court decision, would we have gone all creative, women. Little advertising at the front, followed by such helpful DIY instructions.

THANK YOU, HOBBY LOBBY!!

Isn't this a good time to pick up those needles and Knit a Condom Amulet? Choose from seven classic patterns developed by talented knitters.

Posted by a little red hen on July 11, 2014 in APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, LIFELONG Learning, Little Red Hens, Safe Sex, Transformation, Yarn Life, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (0)

When we speak of Mother Earth...

Today I watched this video iand tried to upload it. The only way you can see it is by

clicking on Post.

Please do; it's powerful and beautiful. Takes less than 5 minutes of your time.

[From Frackfree America National Coalition, created by Ranjan Ramanayake.]

Posted by a little red hen on June 04, 2014 in APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, HOUSING OURSELVES, Transformation | Permalink | Comments (2)

What Grandma Can Do for the Future

That was early morning--and grandmas in my circle encourage you to send Enviromental Action your support as they schlep our hundreds of thousands of petitions to President Obama.

[Illustration:Victor Juhasz for Rolling Stone, "Obama's Last Shot")

Because the world (and BIG OIL and climate deniers) would really have to pay serious attention to all of us EVERYDAY PEOPLE who know the clock is ticking, ticking...

Posted by a little red hen on April 25, 2014 in APPLIED Feminism, Everyday Politics, LIFELONG Learning, Transformation | Permalink | Comments (3)

Reverse Graffiti: marriage of art + green cleaner

Just saw this on Facebook but Moose, the artist, of Manchester, England did this clean-up-the-dirty-wall graffiti more than five years ago in San Francisco. Appeals to me more than spray-painting on outdoor walls.

Surprise: Reverse Graffiti was sponsored/funded by green works, a newish product from Clorox. [Note: Large corporation wants to promote a good-earth product, so uses lower case type for name.]

Ingredients seem environmentally-friendly. But it's not available at New Seasons, very p.c. grocery stores where we usually shop. Have to go to Fred Meyers...try it, share with neighbors to see if might be a better household cleaner (for both residents and service staff) and could be suggested for use in our retirement community.

Still ponder repeating my own on outdoor performance, Kneading to Know, from PSU "Street Art" class, 2011.

Posted by a little red hen on April 06, 2014 in BREAD, the life, Everyday Politics, Grandmotherhood Now, Portland, Oregon, Transformation | Permalink | Comments (8)

"Everything" blog post--like the bagel

You do know the everything bagel.** An impure, adulterated production from the perspective of mavens. Similarly, I often depart from the pure model of blogging, best viewed at Time Goes By. She may ramble in titles, but rarely in copy. Often, as in life, I want to tell more.

Today, like my metaphorical Jewish delicacy, I overfill this small space.

What to do when what you'd like/need is not available? "Start one yourself." That was 1970 reponse from a legislative assistant in Shirley Chisholm's office to my query, "When will a chapter of Women's Political Caucus start in Baltimore?" With two equally inexperienced women, I did it.

Almost fifty years later, my daughter has does similar. Not politics--her focus is different, toward providing unmet service needs in her community. With two of her friends, experienced art teachers, Family Clay began last month. Here they are on Facebook.

Clay had been an important medium in our family, especially for Rachel's brother Nick. She was surprised that this art-focused city had only one children's ceeramics program. Why not use space at her business, Full Life, when it's closed. Now there's Saturday clay-making. Granddaughter Zoe in blue.

More clay on Veterans Day when we went to the opening of "Art out of War" at a new ceramic gallery, Eutectic. First learned of the gallery a few months ago from cards they left at Fressen Bakery which is around the corner. Ehren Tool (talks about the motivation for his work in video) is one of the four artists in the show. We met three years ago, watched as he threw his image-laden, signature cups at the Contemporary Craft Museum.

One of the experienced journalists still writing for the Oregonian, David Stabler wrote a thoughtful article for last Sunday's paper. "A heap of bowls rises from the floor...some bowls have broken edges..." he begins describing the mass of stacked bowls in Thomas Orr's work. The group of four vets from three American wars did the work in the show while in a retreat set up to bring them together. Stabler drew reflections from each on the ways the experience of war has influenced their work--from brutal imagery to bars with gold glaze.

A page away was Steve Duin's review of a new book by Joe Sacco, The Great War. Though he incorrectly labels it a "graphic novel," Duin does get the intent,

"a seamless graphic journey from dawn to dusk, from frenetic staging area to lonely hellhole, from the giddy edge of euphoria to the palid edge of despair."

Oregonian photographer Randy L. Rassmussen props it up to reveal its similarity to a children's foldout book, described by the publisher, "a 24-foot black-and-white drawing printed on heavyweight accordian-fold paper." Sacco, who lives in Portland, has imagined the look of July 1, 1916, the first day of WWI, "war to end all wars."

I have nothing new to share about endless war in my time. My children and their children have lived their entire lives with a background of men's armed conflict over questionable goals. On the way out of the Eutectic Gallery opening, stopped in the shop, admired a sweet cup by Chris Baskin (beautiful website), a fan of Happy Cup Coffee being served that night.

Enjoy your bagel, think about ongoing support to your own community's version of the Returning Veterans Project. Best we can do until women have the bigger voice in politics.

**photo: Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels

Posted by a little red hen on November 16, 2013 in AMERICAN VIOLENCE, APPLIED Feminism, Baltimore, BREAD, the life, Elderblogging, Everyday Politics, Feminism, Food, In and Out, Grandmotherhood Now, Portland, Oregon, Transformation | Permalink | Comments (3)

Mushroom Grotto, Homage to Fungi and Ecovative

Many months ago, in June, I put together this homage to the mushroom. Its wall are made from Ecovative heralded here (earlier post) as a newly-invented substitute for styrofoam. This view is from above.

Ever since I began making objects, people ask me the same question. How long did it take? Whether it was a ceremonial neckpiece or worm composting, I was always at a loss to measure my--or the worms' creative timeline. With the Mushroom Grotto, I answer: a two-day workshop plus a few hours at home.

Shelly Caldwell, Portland Assemblage Artist, was an indefatigble instructor for "Making a Shell Grotto" at Collage, on Alberta Street. She was fine with Ecovative**for the walls rather than styrofoam, patient with my quandries about paints and other new materials--two sizes glue guns a challenge.

The beginning of my grotto, homage to mushroom transformation and possibilities yet unexplored. Size: 13.5 x 10 x 8 inches.

Once finished off with three mushroom prints, where to put it? Near one of Nick Bloom's ceramic clocks. A certain sychronicity in funkiness.

**Last month Ecovative named winner of Buckminster Fuller Institute challenge for bold, innovative socially-responsible design.

Posted by a little red hen on November 11, 2013 in Feminism, LIFELONG Learning, Portland, Oregon, Transformation, Yarn Life, Fiber Art | Permalink | Comments (4)

Witch walks into elevator...

On my way to early morning appointment for physical therapy. Doors open, she appears...

Unexpected sighting in my dignified retirement community. "Could I take another photo?"

Halloween party so early? Sauvie Island, she replied with a laugh and a smile. It was the last day of the island's annual haunted corn maize a Portland native explained.

When I returned in the afternoon, another witch in the lobby!

The night before Jeanette Charbon of Eldercare Consultants spoke about "Aging Gracefully." She encouraged a bit more attention to what we eat (7 to 9 servings of fruit/vegetables would be ideal) and the way to relax via mindfulness. Most striking though was the window she opened onto the power of laughter. She herself had a great, infectious laugh. Brought out our own lightness.

Delightful to have less propriety: old people having a good time on Halloween.