In a recent feature in Vogue magazine, the artist Marina Abramovic talked about how she finds peace in small, deliberate, repetitive activities. She referred to an exercise that she shared with Lady Gaga as a way of de-stressing and centering--she gave her a huge pile of dry lentils and brown rice and had her separate them out and count each piece. Apparently, this was extremely successful for Gaga and she now practices this ritual regularly. It had me thinking about my own ritualed life that revolves around my ceramic work. Working in clay is very deliberate, and requires patience and attention to small repetitive details--wedging, cutting, etching, sanding, glazing. But it is not boring, far from that..it is very satisfying and takes you from a beginning to an end. Hours and hours can go by in the studio and I am still energized by it. This is a very good thing and something I feel very grateful to have as a part of my life at this time. It is centering to have these kind of active but contained tasks..
And I have been especially busy with this coming back from Los Angeles and the Dwell show and New York and the NYNOW show-which always yield some amazing new shops, people and territories.
As well as re-connecting with existing folks who come to deepen what they already carry of my work.
Really thrilled about some of these new shops where new work has just arrived- here's a sampling of what's there now..
Freehand- a wonderful gallery/shop that features exciting contemporary craft in Los Angeles..
the New York Botanical Garden Shop-and if you have not visited this treasure in the Bronx--it is well worth a visit..
and also in New York City- a lovely shop in Tribeca-- Cristina Dos Santos who ordered a lovely array of finishes and designs..
more to come in the next post: the explosion of the blue and white line in new shops--
so those of you who have wanted to order ready made pieces from the line as seen in House beautiful in September--
stay tuned...store sources coming soon!
I ducked into my local "variety" shop the other day to pick up a few odds and ends- envelopes, string, wooden craft sticks, lined pads, and learned that the shop that has been in my neighborhood since 1965, was going to be closing at the end of the summer. The owner, a very dapper older man, looked wistful and a bit defeated. He had hoped to stay working at his shop until as he put it "he could no longer move around anymore". But the neighborhood is slowly changing. More building, more cafes, a wine bar, more young people..and with that comes raised rents and a cleansing of the old for the new. This neighborhood has always had an old fashioned throwback feel, and it will be a loss when that flavor is rolled over.
But the 5 and 10, that made me sad. It is a crazy kind of a place, disheveled, with dusty plastic dolls sitting next to a box of ball point pens. Faded oaktag paper lying near thimbles, bandanas and other notions. There is something for everyone here though. Stickers and packaged plastic animals for the kids; yarn, cups, laundry lines and wooden clothes pins for the seniors. I love walking in there and trying to find something and then sifting through boxes with typefaces from the 70's holding needle threaders and erasers. There was a 5 and 10 where I grew up that I also loved. It was called Jacobsens and my sister and I would head straight there whenever we had some cash and we would usually buy baby clothes to put on our dolls and embroidered patches that were in a display that rotated. We would scout out the coolest patches- a butterfly, a rainbow peace sign and some thread and needles and rush home and sew them on our jeans and jackets. That store was magical to me. SO much to look at all jumbled up together. I know my fascination with this store influenced my later delight in collecting and putting objects and images next to each other in crazy and unexpected ways. And I know that Joseph Cornell also frequented his local 5 and 10 and his finds fueled his intense creations of mini-worlds in a box.
My studio is like one big dusty 5 and 10-all the crazy things I find and set out near each other creating inspiration for the still lifes that go into a plate design.
joseph cornell piece spotted at LACMA yesterday--
straight out of the 5 and 10..
I will take advantage of the variety store staying open through the summer and will purchase some items and take in the chaos that has its own order and very much its own charm.
