Wool Equal Bronze/ Time Does Not Equal Money

The past few month, during which I have been admittedly blog-negligent, I have actually been quite busy! It was just the kind of busy that takes a few months to get results... y'know... applications kind of busy. Show submission, summer scholarships... I feel like all I did in February was apply for shit. (After which was followed by a period of unprecedented productivity.) But it's all starting to pay off! I'll be posting exciting news as it is confirmed.

First! I've been offered a Teaching Assistantship at Haystack School of Craft in Deer Isle, Maine! If you haven't heard of Haystack, it is a fairly prestigious program for students of all ages. Last summer I didn't even get in, so I'm pretty stoked about this year.

("Studios remain open 24 hours a day, seven days a week while workshops are in session." Basically, all I want in life.)

The class I'm going to TA is called Knitting: Wool Equals Bronze/ Time Does Not Equal Money, with artist Janet Morton:

"This workshop will explore hand knitting as a valid and vital sculptural/installation medium and as an alternate means of measuring time. Through a series of slide talks, discussions, and exercises, participants will be encouraged to playfully and critically examine their relationships to the natural world, everyday objects, and equations that link time to “value”. Experimentation with materials, scale, technique, and ideas will be encouraged. Participants will develop personal projects, and will be invited to work collectively on an onsite project."

O. M. G. !!!!!!

Sorry for my temporary lapse into 14-year-old-ism but, c'mon! Could this class possibly sound like something I'd be MORE into?!? The TA application asked for a MFA level education in the subject you were hoping to work with and since there really are no MFA degrees in knitting I managed to convince the scolarship committee that my two-straight years of doing basically nothing BUT knitting (and watching copius amounts of tv-on-dvd) was just as good as a degree. It's SOO vidicating: I'd been spending quite a bit of time lately bemoaning my "waste" of knitting time spent over the last few years... mainly because I wasn't making Art (capital letter.) Now I feel like it was worth it... and here's my chance to transition all of my new knitting skills back into a conceptual avenue. YES!

I refrained from looking up Janet Morton's work until I got into the program (mostly in an attempt to not get my hopes up, I think.) It's AMAZING. Here are some of my favorites:

Sweaterbike, 1994. hand knit bicycle covering
When you're cold... put a sweater on your bike? Now I really want to make one for my bike... but I'd have to make it removable for easy laundering.. this city is so dirty...

Canadian Monument #, 1994. hand screened red flannel, dinner plates. 20 x 12 ft.
Lucy Larcom reincarnated! Maybe a lumber-jack love interest? Anyway, totally awesome.

Newsflash Blanket, 1995. hand knit blanket. 23 x 9 ft.


Newsflash; Madame Defarge Eat your Heart Out, detail. 1995. stacks of the three Toronto daily newspapers, 12 framed images of knitter, 1000-plus balls of wool, a false floor, chair, vinyl text, and a television playing.
I think the title for this is HILARIOUS because my mother mentions this Dickens character in response to all of my text-based fibers work. Seriously, she's mentioned it at least 3 times. Here, at least some of the irony is the fact that knitting anything that complicated can HARDLY be called a "flash." To me, it also references traditional women's work and the overwhelming contemporary news consumption.

Capitol, 2004. hand knit model of the Capitol Building. 30 x 20 in.
Swoooooon. This way beats the knit turtles.


Felled, 1997. 300 leaves sewn from used work socks form poetry translation.

Felled, detail. 1997.
"I interpret this making of beautiful delicate items, from work-worn, day-to-day socks as a mark of respect for the labour they participated in." (From the Lovely Textiles blog, linked to below.) I also wonder if the title isn't a reference to the sacrifices one makes for "work;" injuries and sheer time spent toiling.

Changing Channels, 2000. 36 gutted televison sets, plants.

What a fantastic container garden! There are a number of my favorite artists who blend fiber art with gardening. I know that Ghada Amer has spoken briefly about the connection between gardening, domesticity and women's work, but I feel like there might be something more there. It's a topic I might explore more in the near future.

And those were just the highlights! For a much better interpretation/discussion of Janet Morton's work, check out this blog I found while google-ing "Janet Morton". Also check out the rest of Janet's online portfolio. Amazing!

I can't wait to have the opportunity to work with such an amazing artist and to experience the creative atmosphere I've heard such wonderful things about at Haystack. The end of August it gonna rule!

The Accidental Catharine St Container Farm

So, I have kind of a lot to do at the moment what with moving and getting ready for camp and... pie... and... more moving...  Anyway.  Can you say STRESSS?!?!  'Cause I can.  One thing that is keeping my chi a little better balanced is my garden!  Remember those seeds that sprouted a couple of months ago?  Well:

An accidental container farm! 

Almost all of my seeds sprouted a bajillion years ago and I'm so sorry for not posting pictures sooner!  We've even had to weed out many many seedlings in order to make room for the really strong ones.  In the above photos you can see carrots, squash, tomatoes, musk mellon, 3 types of basil, some mint, and some unidentified flowers that haven't bloomed yet.  I love going out and visiting the garden as often as I can... which isn't very often.  (So thank goodness for Jimmy who is amazing enough to make sure the plants get watered every day!)

Free compost!

A couple of mornings ago Jimmy and I finally got around to doing what we've been talking about for months:  we took advantage of having my parents car and drove out to the Fairmount Park Recycling Center (at the ass-crack of dawn) and got ourselves a bucket of free compost each.  The compost gets mixed with commercial soil and then the plants will have all the food the need to grow big and strong and healthy.

Squash Blossoms!

The Lazarus Lemon Balm!  

This whole plant grew in the course of 4 weeks.  No joke.

Lando Calrissian guards the onions.  Stay back, onion theves!

i AM the magic geranium, and so can you!

I attended my first urban gardening class a few weeks ago fully expecting to find a back room with an empty bath tub, some salvaged soil and a bunch of West Philly crust punks hoping to grow their own tomatoes.  (Damn the man, save the tomatoes.)  But instead, I was ushered to the 5th floor of the Philadelphia Horticultural Center into a classroom full of free pizza, coffee, handouts, and one of the most interesting and diverse groups of people.  There were middle-age individuals hoping to become better aquainted with their community, community organizers hoping to improve their game, a whole group from a local elementary school, and we were all there for the same purpose: to fulfill our individual goals through gardening!  (Nary a crust punk among 'em.. well, one actually.  But we ended up knowing her through a roommate anyway.)

It turns out that the Garden Tenders class/project has been running since the 60's.  It's specifically designed to aid with the creation and continuing support of urban community gardens.  The entire first class was devoted to the process of legally obtaining abandoned lots (instead of just squatting on them and eventually being kicked off, or worse, arrested!)  Since then we have discussed the designing of gardens, soil content, local urban resources, and a plethora of community organizing techniques.  (The class teaches by example.  The pizza, present at every class, is the embodiment of their "if you feed them, they will come" tactic.  They also suggest that you always leave someone with an object, seeds, etc., so I've left each class with something awesome!  First an Garden Herbs coloring book and second, an

 illustrated guide to herbs, fruit, and vegetables!  See images below and above respectively.)

I've never done any real urban gardening.  I had that one, measly tomato plant when I lived on Calvert st...  and I had a basil plant.  Both perished come summer when it was simply toooo hot to go out on the roof and water them twice a day!  It was so hot in the apartment, let alone out on that black roof!  But I have so much more space here:  two rooftops, and the back yard area, and I would really like to get some stuff growing.  (Remember when I said that I would just be a student until capitalism fell?  My plan was to just keep racking up debt while I studied fibers, politics, history and agriculture so that I could be really useful after the revolution.  This class is perfect, 'cause I'm not even paying money for it!)

The one problem I have with the class is that it is specifically designed to assist with semi-permanent community gardens.  The legal process for procuring land is at least a 2-3 year process.  I haven't stayed in the same apartment for longer than a year since I moved out of my parents house.  I've been trying to glean what advice I can for more temporary gardening tactics and I'm trying to design my own learning around a much more nomadic lifestyle.  During the last class I asked about Container Gardening.  Here are a couple of the tactics and projects that were suggested to me:

Using a children's wading pool!

I've already found an entire website to the hows and whys of this idea.  (www.arts4all.com/elca/page2.html )  It seems to be pretty light-weight, cheap, and easy to transport.  My instructor mentioned that she had heard about a UN sponsored project that would teach urban refugees how to do this so that they could easily grow their own food while they were on the move.  Although I couldn't find that specific project easily (still looking), I did come across the Rooftop Garden Project website.  (rooftopgardens.ca/en )  The Rooftop Garden Project in an international organization that fosters gardening techniques all over the world!

This garden is in Dakar, Senegal.  Do you think I could make those hanging planters out of fabric??  'Cause I'm totally into trying!

I don't know where this ingenious garden is, but it is really cool!

So, yeah.  I'm really stoked.  Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks I can collect some containers, start some seeds and get gardening!  And, of course, I'll keep you updated!