For The Time Being
Write Now
It is Wednesday. My discipline (discipline is how you tell yourself you love yourself, you can do this by making your bed every morning, flossing your teeth every day before you brush, exercising, eating healthy food, getting enough sleep, reading quality literature or text, that sort of thing) had a pretty major lapse. I must admit that it is hard to write in a whirlwind. The storm has settled, I have tightened up the ship patched some holes and wrapped up some tasks. My brain appears to be back in my head which is kindly guiding my fingers to write, now.
Yesterday was the first real snow of the season for us here in the Hudson Valley and of course it was the same day that a curator who I’ve recently become acquainted with (Emily Leach) had to come pick up 3 crates of artworks for an exhibition called The Garden that opens on Friday. The premise of the exhibition resonated with me when she approached me and told me about it. It is about that third space you can go to, in the dead of winter, a space that isn’t your home or work. It could be a tropical biome at a botanical garden or some such warm floribundus setting, and this is what the exhibition is about, a warm tropical vibe space, but in a gallery. She requested works for the walls that were reliefs with warm toned organic floralesque qualities. It turned out I only had three to offer so I took the opportunity to whip up two new ones to help create more cohesiveness. I really love how they turned out, especially the image of the one below called Edge.
There was no way Emily was going to make it up our long, steep, winding driveway in a cargo van, in such slippery conditions. Last year a delivery truck nearly careened off the cliff trying to come up in similar conditions. We came home from ice skating to find him precariously cantilivered. Fortunately Marshall’s shoot was canceled so he was home to plow and able to help shuttle things down the hill to the library parking lot where we asked Emily to wait for us to rendezvous and offload crates. Major highways were closed. She made it back to New Hampshire one piece so yay! The exhibition opens on Friday at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth, New Hampshire if you happen to be in that area.
Edge, 2025, Ultrasonic and injection welded post-consumer plastic. Photograph by Marshall Coles as usual. Lucky me!
RECOMMENDATION OF THE WEEK
To reduce your plastic (and carbon) footprint:
Furoshiki, Japanese gift wrapping cloths, ideal for the season of giving. You can buy or make them yourself if you have time and feel up for a small crafting task there are dozens of how to videos online. I purchased some while I was in Japan over the summer which I am very excited to use during these holy days, (aren’t they all?) but you can easily make your own or support someone who is making things. Etsy has a lot of lovely options like this one outfitted with eucalyptus leaves and such. They can be endlessly washed, reused and adorned with reusable silk ribbon and a little gift tag. The envelope can be part of the gift - speaks to my heart and hopefully yours.