Category Archives: art
Travel and Make Art!
My close and insanely talented friend Natasha has two aws fiber arts classes she’s teaching in Europe this summer. Join us, won’t you? What could possibly be more fun?
Greece in July: http://artsandculturaltravel.com/portfolio/stitched-art-natalya-aikens-july-2-9-2017/
Switzerland in August: http://texartacademy.com/seminar-natalya-aikens-2017-e/
Be there. Aloha.
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And Let’s Not Forget the Amateur Craftspersons
…whose work brings untold joy to All, including this piece lovingly crafted by an amateur New Hampshire Flügenkrafter in good standing.
What, pray tell, is flügen? Go here.
Learn it. Love it. Live it.
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God Love the Gentle Craftspersons
Crafting deep into the night, with needle nose and epoxy and colored threads…all so we can give someone a nice gift. I sleep easy at night picturing them at work, like the Brownies that he
lped the cobbler.
Cut Out Copy I happened upon at a festival. Along with magical collage art, she makes wicked cool jewelry like rings from antique typewriter keys. Dear to a writer’s heart! Also, pendants in bottle caps: sooper aws. Barbee’s got a great vibe and that’s where I want my $ going; it’s flügen.
Then you’ve got April’s Maple. April, in the Northeast Kingdom, is also the bomb. The Maple bomb. Look at these little crunchins 
you can put on your cereal or whatever. I spoon them directly into my mouth. Wash ’em down with maple cotton candy.
The 3 Sisters made my favorite necklace of all time forever. 
They don’t make these any more (Cut Out Copy makes similar) but they do retro license plate and hotel key art.
The last but not least, a beloved friend, stitches a portrait of your home out of materials you supply. Brilliant!
Keep awn craftin’, crafters. As the drummer mouths during the 60s flashback in This Is Spinal Tap, “We. Love. You.”
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The Stone Man Cometh
…and goeth…and leaveth behind a thing of beauty.
Greg Bahr — native Vermonter, neighbor, artistic madman behind Bahr’s Stoneworks — has a far-out genius for putting rocks together. Here’s a recent wall of his in downtown Bethel, incorporating old bottles and bones he found on-site. “Are the bones human?” everyone asks. “I’m not sure,” says Greg.
[Ed. note: Who knows, maybe a barfight behind the Pink Pony one night in the 70s…yes, I’m dating myself…no one remembers the Pony.]
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Have You Read a Ford Lately?
Behold the craftsmanship that went, letter by letter, into the spreading of this important message. Truer words were never, um, self-adhesived onto a bumper.
While each Ford has its own mystique, it’s not every Ford that serves as a reminder to dig out your cheery Floyd and Death Rattle CDs for family gatherings during this, the season of thanks. Oh and by the way, Peace to you, fellow motorists!
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Mad Genius Makes Cool Portrait of Your Home
“Santa Lucia” in California
© 2012 Natalya Aikens
My SIL, a fiber artist, makes knockout “portraits” of people’s homes using objects they send her…fabric, photos, house plans, a map. What people supply her with to represent their homes is remarkable and touching (mittens, fur, twigs, sheet music); seeing what Natalya selects to incorporate ~ and how ~ is fascinating. The whole thing makes me like people.
You can watch three unfold below:
http://www.artbynatalya.com/natalyaaikenscom.html
I also love her blog. Unlike mine, none too chatty.
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If This Doesn’t Blow Your Mind Wide Open ~
~ whether you like photography, metaphysics, New York City in the snow, non-combative spoken-word poetry, young people with insane talent, or Ted Talks ~ if this piece by Sarah Kay doesn’t blow your mind wide open, you are already dead.
And I say that with utmost respect, from the sticks, well on my own way to Kepler 22-b.
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Holiday Pageantry on 5th Ave.
We love the operatic pageantry of the windows on NYC’s Fifth Avenue at holiday time. It’s over the top in a visually exquisite way. Like the Euronutters out there browsing with you, who are over the top in a sartorially remarkable way. Quite the show all around.
This year’s winner: the “The BG Follies” windows, based on the fantasy shows of the art deco period, at Berdorf Goodman.
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Artists See Things
Late Foliage
…differently. My drawing teacher said she digs this stage of foliage, when the trees have lost much of their leaves so you see plenty of branches mixed in with the brilliant leaves remaining. To me it has only ever meant that the leaf peepers are gone and we can go out to breakfast again. Praise the artists!
