urban quilting

SFChinatown (2007) 29.5" x 29.5" Dupioni silk and cotton

I ran across a new-to-me quilter a few days ago - Amy Ahlstrom. I really like the intensity of her colors, the collage-like applique technique, the layered, mash-up effect of billboards and fragments of adverts you see in the most densely populated cities. I've only seen them online, but they look so bold and funky. I suppose they are correctly categorized as "art quilts" - a genre I've never found particularly interesting - I seem to retain a sort of modernist prejudice against quilts that are "representational" - I always wonder why the quilt-maker isn't just making a painting or a photograph instead. I tend to be attracted to quilters who are interested in exploiting what I think of as the inherently 2-dimensional properties of printed and sewn fabric. In a way, Ahlstrom's work does both - since her references are objective but still flat (photos, ads, signs). I look forward to seeing how her work evolves.

http://amyahlstrom.com/

Diana Vreeland is my new grrlfriend

Almost as soon as the movie started, I wasn't sure I'd be able to watch it. That voice. Gah. The affectation. The stream of pronouncements masquerading as conversation. The emphatic EVERYTHING. But then the photos and magazine layouts from her time at Harper's Bazaar began rolling across the screen and I was hooked. And, ultimately, won over. That extravagant absurdity! So delightful.

Look at that crazy horn (tooth?) thing! Fabulous!

lucky

Love this guy. Look at that head gear.

I spent the better part of last Saturday wandering around the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Walking up the massive steps to the entrance, I think (every time) how lucky I am to have access to this amazing place. I love the Met. I love most of the public museums I've been to in the city, particularly some of the smaller ones like the Neue Galerie, but my big love is reserved for the Met. I always overstay, overestimating the amount of walking energy I have until I am completely out, and nowhere near an exit. Still, not the worst problem to have.

Loved this small piece. Such economy of color and type but so much impact.

I liked the pattern and color on this piece, the simple graphic circle for the flower.

Who painted this? I managed not to note.

Look at this! So utterly nutty.

This was in an area of the museum that was entirely new to me. It's easy to miss whole wings it's so damn big.

One of the other very cool things about the Met is their website. I've been looking at a lot of textile design lately, trying to puzzle out the elements of beautiful fabric design. The Met has an online archive available to anyone interested: http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/

A Gustav Klimt fabric swatch from the collection.

peaceable kingdom

Conny saves animals. Cats mostly, but dogs, too. She started out helping the strays she encountered on the island, but became known for her willingness to provide shelter for the hardest cases - the lost causes - and people began bringing them to her. She currently has 5 dogs, 18 indoor cats, 18 outside cats, and a small cat community she looks after that lives in the park across the street from her house. One of the last days we were in Ibiza, I tried to photograph all her animals. I had a thought that I would assemble the pictures into a small blurb book for her. I should have started a little sooner in our visit because I just couldn't get all of them. Several of the ones that live in the backyard cattery tend to be shy, so I know I missed a few there, but I also managed to miss getting decent shots of some of the dogs, for which there is no good excuse. In particular Pixie, the tiny dog with non-working front legs. Conny speculates that it was caused by a car accident most likely, but by the time Pixie arrived at Chez Martin-Harrison, her front legs had healed into unusably bent L-shapes. They consulted a vet who didn't think re-breaking the legs and resetting them would work and so now Pixie wiggles her way across the floor with her back legs, or waits for C, always nearby, to pick her up and carry her. Caring for these animals is a full-time job for C, so many of which have special needs. I really love and admire her for her devotion - I can't wait to return in the spring to spend more time with her and them.

Color

While I was in Paris I got an email through my flickr account from Heather Grant asking if I would be interested in having one of my quilts reproduced in a book she was doing. Answer: wellhellyeah! The quilt she requested was one that I've given a few different names to in the past, but that I personally refer to as That Big Pink Orange One. It references a traditional log cabin pattern, the subject of her book, but that quilt, in particular, has always been more about color for me.

I took these 2 snaps on route to gawk at the taxidermied menagerie at Deyrolle. I love pretty much everything about these clothes, but especially the color combinations. That mix of burgundy-wine and salmon with that brown umber-ish printed scarf - so great. I rarely wear color myself. Like many women (particularly living in NYC), I have a closet of gray, navy, brown, black. My apartment "decor" is equally subdued. It's really only on my quilt wall that colors like chartreuse and magenta exist. Well, there and in the hundreds of photo/magazine references I've collected (hoarded?) over the years.

A link to That Big Pink Orange One.

Good Christ. October Already.

The days have drawn short. I made note of the hour that it was absolutely without question totally fucking dark already! tonight and it was 7:03 p.m. Possibly the surest indication of middle age, I think, is this: a general inability to reconcile the time/season you FEEL it is, with the time/season it ACTUALLY is. Sigh.

That said, the past many months between posts have been both educational and interesting. I am only one week home from a European vacation spent in the company of many lovely individuals. More on that next post.

I'm really, really ready for spring.