freeze
Posted by Amy Bogard on January 22nd, 2012 filed in Uncategorized2 Comments »
‘Today has been canceled. Due to bad weather’
This was the Facebook status of my friend Dave (who is also my trusty flute-maker) and it cracked me up. Indeed, things came to a bit of a halt this weekend with an ice-storm that hit friday evening. We were celebrating the life and spirit of our friend Esme (friday would have been her 16th birthday) and we needed to get home earlier than expected to out run the ice.
We’ve had some damaging ice storms in the past, living as we do in the borderlands of weather. (Not quite north, not quite south) and this one was not a damaging doozy but it was slick and beautiful and it shut down the city for the better part of Saturday. And so we gained the gift of time. Time to make some crafties, time to notice how gorgeous things are when covered in ice. Just time. It’s been nice.
I went out both yesterday and today to gather photos. Yesterday was truly icy and I stayed close to home. Everything was covered in a sheet of glistening ice…
By late Saturday, we were able to escape the boundaries of home and were treated to a show of Jazz music at the Blue Wisp Jazz Club, a Cincinnati legend, where my son and some of his musical cohorts have managed to get the recurring gig of Opening Act (6-8 pm) for Saturday night headliners. These talented kids put on quite a show and I know we’ll be back for more. If you are local to our town, I highly recommend you check out the music at Blue Wisp. And now they are in a new location and have a full service kitchen in the works!!
So the ice continued into this morning. Not so bad, but still somewhat treacherous. Iris and I ventured out into the neighborhood to check out what the ice and fog had to offer. We were treated with magic.
A good time was had by all. Everything was drippy and wet and cold. We stopped for a bit to watch the miracle of water flowing under ice…
When not out gallivanting in the ice and wet and cold, I was indoors, sipping warm water and making a few things. One such project is a set of linen napkins upon which I printed some black bird silhouettes. Using freezer paper as a stencil, and simple acrylic paint for the image, I think they turned out quite nicely…
I hope the chill of winter is offering you some adventure and beauty to behold…..
Back to Center
Posted by Amy Bogard on January 17th, 2012 filed in puppetry, TAOSComment now »
During the past couple of weeks I spent the better part of most days working up the show Hansel and Gretel, as performed by the Frisch Marionettes. We had a hired rehearsal space at a local community center and hammered out the choreographed details of the show to prepare for what was my first public performance. Rehearsals are very much an on sort of thing and while I enjoyed it immensely, I found it utterly exhausting. At one point I admitted that I am not really a performer, per se, and that I find the notion of working for an audience rather daunting. That begs the question, then why take a job where a big part of it is performing??? My answer to that is the puppets. I love bringing life to puppets in the spirit of play. I love having the opportunity to play with these animated sculptures and to give them personality. I enjoy hanging around with good art and talented artists. Performing shall be part of this and that is that. Our first show together went just fine. We had a wildly cabin-fevered crowd of nearly 300 and I survived the first show jitters. I’m sure as each show passes, I’ll get more and more comfortable, and the spirit of play I enjoy so much in puppeting will be more and more present. I love my new job.
Meanwhile, my other jobs continue….
There is a local shop interested in possibly carrying the terrariums I’ve recently put together (I shall let you know as soon as they are available!) and so this morning I took the opportunity to gather some more moss from the back 40 before the temperatures plummet once again. Juicy juicy juicy!!!!
Yesterday was the deadline for registration for the sketch-journal trip to Taos, NM in June and we have a cozy crew of 8 folks signed on to take this amazing journey with me. We shall be spending the Summer Solstice there and so there will be much talk of celebrating the longest, lightest day of the year with art and friendship under the clear blue high mountain desert sky.
All of that said, if you are reading this just now and thinking, ‘DANG IT! I missed the deadline!!!’, or ‘man, I wish I lived in Cincinnati and could go to this class!’, well fear not. First off, you don’t have to live here in Cincinnati to take part in this opportunity. You can meet us there for the Taos part and I can work with you online/ via phone for the lead up classes…. And, I think I could squeeze ya in past the deadline if you email me that you are interested. We have a few slots left…..
Special thanks to some of my past students who went out of their way to pass around this opportunity. Linda posted this on Facebook. She neglected to mention that her professional photographs of our 2011 trip are stunning and can be found HERE. They are beautiful!!
I am so excited to have flights booked and dates set for this workshop. It’s incredible and inspiring to me that even in the midst of a struggling economy, people are willing to invest in their own journey toward creativity and the individualization of a magical travel experience. I do not take this lightly and have wonderful exercises planned for our time in Taos….
But for now, Taos seems a million miles away. It is raining buckets (again) in our little river valley and we are due for more cold by the end of the day. The notion of a sunburn feels ludicrous. It’s a good time of year to hunker down with some soup and embroidery and find my center. Wishing the same to you….
Grace Under Pressure…
Richness.
Posted by Amy Bogard on January 2nd, 2012 filed in Inspiration, music, Uncategorized2 Comments »
Aside from my family’s foray south for the 2011 New Year’s eve this time last year, there is somewhat of a tradition round these parts to gather together to play music on the final night of the year and to ring in the New Year with tunes and friendship. And so we did. There was much singing of silly songs.
And the playing of many, many tunes.
There were loads of Norwegian Dragons in attendance. They wowed us with their fierce mystery and artful presence.
A good time was had my all until the wee hours of the musical morning. What a way to spend the first precious hours of 2012.
After some much needed sleep, it was time for yet another gathering. This time with a few fellow artists to celebrate a birthday (or two), to make some art and put together some traditional tamales. New Mexico style. Becky, of St. Theresa’s Textile Trove fame led us in this culinary adventure which is not for the faint of heart. Tamales are an arduous process involving the creation of numerous basic ingredients from scratch. And so we began….
We roasted hot chilies. And steamed them in bags. And washed them and sliced them into strips….
Becky made the sauce. Red magical goodness that must truly be a Gift from the Tamale Gods Themselves.
She then led us in the mashing of the Masa…. I haven’t tasted corn this fresh and delicious since I was a little child in Guatemala. The taste and smell triggered many memories….
We nibbled on Lisa’s fresh guacamole while we labored…
The dogs slinked around the edges of the kitchen just hoping for some of the meat to fall in their direction. I think the presence of at least one dog, maybe two, is crucial to good energy in a kitchen.
(side note: I was the happy recipient of two skeins of Prince fiber, dyed in poke berry. Prince Himself is in the photo above. And below is the yarn. What a gorgeous gift!!!)
And then there is Cas, with his magical one-blue-eye gaze.
But back to tamales….
We donned pretty aprons.
And continued the tedious preparation.
Eventually, it was time to roll…. first the masa.
…next some sauce (will you look at the color of that sauce!!!) and filling which includes meats, roasted veggies and all kinds of cheeses.
We rolled and rolled. And tied and tied. We placed a lucky olive in the middle of each tamale.
Sometimes it got a little messy. But soon we had a batch ready for the long steam in the big steam pot.
And we had some time to make some art…
Here’s Honey’s beautiful drawing:
And Diane‘s lovely constellation painting…
And one from Lisa too.
To be surrounded for a day by artists is food for the soul. But we also need food for the body… here’s a tamale, just opened, perfectly steamed and ready to eat. So eat we did!!
And we celebrated the New Year. And Lisa’s birthday. The cake is from Eclecti Kuchen. As Becky so aptly put it, the cake was the ‘best fu*&1ng cake we ever tasted’. It really was….
Red velvet. Citrus cream frosting. Candied lime and orange. The expletive was well deserved.
And so now we are in 2012, with all the gifts in store. Like a present, waiting to be opened. I am truly fortunate to be a part of such a rich community of artists, musicians, culinary brilliants, friends and family.
Best wishes to you, my online community, as you venture forth into this New year ahead. For me there are more instruments to work on, puppets to enliven, drawings to make, artists to encourage. I am excited share it all here with you. Cheers! And Peace to your 2012.
Happy holiday
Posted by Amy Bogard on December 23rd, 2011 filed in Daily Dog, music, puppetry, Uncategorized, workComment now »
We have seen much rain and fog here lately which makes the swing of the year’s pendulum back toward the longer days and shorter nights a welcome notion. When there is too much darkness, we light candles…..
And curl up for naps in our cozy beds.
And occasionally, the clouds part and remind us of all the beautiful stars in the sky.
It has been a delightfully busy time in recent weeks. I’m continuing to practice the art of bringing marionettes to life in preparation for my first performance in January. The Frisch Marionettes are old-school gorgeousness and when I am around them I feel I am a part of a centuries old puppetry tradition, which, I suppose, I am….
In between puppetry practice and building concertinas at my other Best Job Ever at Carroll Concertinas I have managed to put together some drawings for a small commission I was offered. The task was to sketch 3 dogs who are cousins. One of the pups, the older wire haired terrier had recently passed away and so I worked from photos of her, as well as of the new puppy in that household, neither of whom I had the pleasure of meeting. It is a challenge to capture the personality of dogs I have never met but I went with what I could glean from the photos and from my meeting with the scrappy little dog Sandy whom I did have a chance to spend some time with. The results were well received and I think the recipients of these drawings on Christmas morning will be delighted with them.
Although I never met Mulligan, apparently I captured a bit of her spirit in this sketch. I was so happy to do so!
Commissions were not the only thing brewing in the studio however. It is the season of giving and so I have been elf-busy creating some handmade gifts for Christmas as well as some overdue wedding presents. My friend Simone is a wonderful artist and had some amazing ideas for hand made votive candles made of beeswax as well as some tiny terrarium necklaces which are just so fetching that I made one for myself!!
The votives started as water balloons dipped in wax and ended up like this:
They smell amazing and cast a wonderful warm glow.
These tiny terrariums contain moss and a crystal and are sealed with beeswax. I just love them! This is the first time I have built terrariums at this scale, but I have had an interest in larger ones for a long while now. I put together a couple of big ones to present as wedding gifts and am so excited with how they turned out.
While out and about choosing gifts for my loved ones, I came across a strand of labradorite beads which I decided to fashion into a Solticey necklace along with some moonstone beads I had laying around. These baubles look especially fetching against the back drop of pottery by my friend Lisa.
And so the days continue to pass….
We found time to choose a tree…
and to bring it home.
In spite of the busy-ness of the season with semester exams for the kids and school concerts to attend, we have also found time to celebrate this season in my most favorite way, with music. I enjoy attending irish-music sessions whenever I can, but the best ones are often near the holidays when the college kids and young adults are back in town and we can all catch up on long over due tunes together.
I sincerely hope this holiday season is good to you, no matter how you celebrate it. May you be blessed with a chance to rest and reflect, to spend time with loved ones, and to play your own tune…..
Peace.
Chicken Soup
Posted by Amy Bogard on November 29th, 2011 filed in Inspiration, travel, UncategorizedComment now »
Half of my family is down with a rotten head cold that has us all operating a bit behind the power curve. We had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday here with my whole fam damily and then hit the ground running to Chicago for an Irish Dance Competition the next day. It’s a funny thing, this dance phenomenon. It would not, in a million years, even with the Irish music thing we have going here, be what I would have chosen as an activity for my daughter. Her younger years were spent camping (and yes, pooping) in the woods, creek-walking and playing with mud pies. She was the queen of mismatched puddle-boot couture. It was a beautiful thing.
So riddle me this: How did we get from here, (pardon the pixels, it was early in the digidays)
to here:
in full regalia with wig, make-up, sparkly gems and fancy materials. I haven’t a clue.
Rachel, at 6512 and Growing, a blog I read regularly and thoroughly enjoy, writes often about her daughter Rose, and her tendency toward pink tutus and glittery, quintessentially Girly things. She marvels and wonders at this girl child, so different from herself in many ways. And she lets her bloom, in the way a Rose is bound to. I love this. And feel like maybe it’s a small nod from another mama that we have done the right thing in following our daughter into this wild and sparkly world of Irish dance. It was what she wanted to do. So we did it.
The cool thing is, at the end of the day, these dance kids are athletes. They just present their athleticism behind the theatrical veil of costuming. Like most athletes, they are a little smelly, they wear sweat pants most of the time and there is little make up to be found off the dance stage. I used to worry about my little dancer becoming some prissy young thing, bossing us around, wearing too much make up and getting us onto reality TV. But instead, the opposite has happened. My daughter and most of her dance friends seem to have a healthy regard for make up and dressy clothing as Theater. All Show. They understand that all of that is just a costume, and that real life can easily be spent in sweats and a ponytail, especially during exam week. They have gotten to play with all the crazy make up and have seen what it looks like on stage…. and then they wipe it all off and go curl up in a corner of the practice room like a litter of puppies to watch a movie while they await the next round of events. All in all, this pursuit of hers, while I didn’t choose it, has proven to be a healthy thing for her. A mix of art and athleticism that you would have to see to believe. Still, being an indoor thing, with loads of people milling around, it wears this introvert inside out.
It was good to get away from the hustle and bustle of the hotel to take in a little bit of Chicago. It seems there is an entrance to the Ministry of Magic there:
And a cool stainless steel sculpture that’s a bit like a super-sized funhouse mirror. It’s Big Art Name is Cloud Gate, but most folks just call it the Bean.
But it was good to get home. To some quiet. To my dogs. To some soup. This push pull between outer and inner selves is a difficult one to navigate. For me at least, too much time around too many people is enough to wear me right down to my soul’s last nerve and then I am good for no one. That said, too many days on my own and I can get a little depressed. A good buffer for this is the online community of fellow bloggers, artisans, writers and thinkers that I keep track of via Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, etc. Over time, I have come to rely on checking in with certain bloggers whose take on life, art and just stuff in general can shake up any stagnancy that might be happening in my own work. I mentioned Rachel above. Although she is years behind me in the mama-trip, she is wise and mellow and funny and I look forward to her posts about their life in the mountains of Colorado. It is fun to follow bloggers near and far. Near is the gratitude practice blog of my friend Julie at the Magic Beans Workshop. And far; I have come to follow a number of artists in a village in England called Devon. I’ve admired the work of Rima Staines for years. I came across her work when I was delving into anything and everything that might be found in the pages of Women Who Run With the Wolves. In art school I had trained as a sculptor and leaned mainly toward abstraction and texture and material to give any sense of narrative in my work. But as I have written recently, narration born of imagery and collective story (the fairy tale) is where my heart is lately and where my online research is taking me. The artists I have been reading about in Devon are all steeped in the work that calls to me. One of my favorites is Terri Windling. She is a writer, a visual artist, a prolific blogger. Many people look to her as a beacon in the nebulous and difficult world of Creative Work. I look forward to her blog posts daily with their links to magical places and people and inspiring things to consider. Some folks even credit her writing as life-saving.
Yesterday, via Twitter, I was made aware that Ms. Windling has been experiencing some recent health and personal difficulties that have placed her in a state of financial challenge. Wasting no time, her community, both locally in Devon, and around the world thru her virtual community, have decided to come to her aid. They have created an auction to benefit her cause which is creating quite a buzz. Contributing artists include Rima Staines and Wendy and Brian Froud, among many many others both well known and still undiscovered. Reading about this auction and Terri’s plight brought me back to the fundraising we did a couple of years ago in honor of our friend Esme. We literally heard from people all around the world. Many we knew, many we did not. But so many contributors were fellow artists.
It used to be, the image of The Artist was one of solo pursuits. And in many ways, it still is a solitary life. But thanks to online communities and the relevance of collaborative work these days, artists can find themselves surrounded by other artists who help to lift them when they stumble, who support them when they are down, who inspire them when they are in need of light. We are each other’s Chicken Soup. If you have a few minutes, check out the plethora of gifts and goodies on the Magick 4 Terri website and consider doing some shopping there for a good cause. By supporting each other in times of need, we enable our own work to continue growing and changing – all above the safety net of community.
Peace.
Bits of things
Posted by Amy Bogard on November 20th, 2011 filed in Daily Dog, Inspiration, puppetry, sketchbook, UncategorizedComment now »
Meet Sandy. Sandy is a sweet terrier mix of a dog whom I’ve come to meet recently so I could put together some drawings for her family. It’s been forever since I have done much dog drawing. I used to draw my old terrier, Caskie, quite a bit. There is something irresistible about a scruffy, scribbly dog. I adore my current caramel colored pups, Iris and River, but I don’t draw them as much as I would someone who is inherently more bed-headed. Already I am a huge fan of Miss Sandy and her squirrel-obsessed intensity, which only a terrier can really pull off with such grace and seriousness of purpose.
Another new character in my life in recent days is this little guy, Gepetto, a Frisch Marionette with whom I’m working to practice many of the basic moves necessary to give a marionette The Illusion of Life. Gepetto is a bit heavier and more difficult to maneuver than little Peter Page was but it’s important for me to work with many different puppets as I’m learning the ropes (so to speak). I am really having a blast getting a hold of this new skill and can’t wait until shows start in January.
I took a day last week to meet for coffee and then bop around the art museum with a friend. It was a gorgeous sunny day perfect for seeing beauty in the smallest things. I was captivated by this gate at the coffee shop we visited.
The museum was as enchanting as usual. Inspiring right down to each brush stroke. Here are a couple of favorites from this visit….
I wonder what (or whom) she is thinking of……
My hub celebrated his birthday yesterday so we spent much of the day taking in a good bit of all that Cincinnati has to offer on a Saturday. A Frisch production of Hansel and Gretel, lunch at a new tomato soup & grilled cheese place downtown called Tom and Chee, a visit to the endless shelves of The Ohio Bookstore (I could spend hours in there browsing all of the old tomes. And, it’s a secret desire of mine to someday have a rolling library ladder in my very own home with which to reach the highest books on the shelf!), an afternoon bourbon toast at the historic and charming Washington Platform restaurant, and some shopping at the even more historic and charming Findlay Market. We topped off the day with a fancy-full dinner at Cincinnati icon, the Precinct Restaurant. It had been 12 years since we last went and the kids had never been, this being one of those Very Special Occasion places. It was a treat for all to sit down to such fabulous food at a slow, fancy dinner pace with lovely lighting and the perfect company of my little family. It was truly a fun and fabulous day.
As we gear up for Thanksgiving around these parts, my daughter and her teammates are working hard putting the finishing touches on their dance choreography routine for the big Oireachtas competition in Chicago next weekend. Today they rehearsed in wigs and dresses to get the feel of performing in full regalia. It was adorable to see them in their mismatched socks and no make-up, but we got to see a hint of what they are made of as the Oireachtas draws nigh. It might look like a bunch of hair and fabric, but under all of it are some amazing athletes. Best of luck to all the McGing Dancers next weekend!!
celebrating with music
Posted by Amy Bogard on October 29th, 2011 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
A young friend of ours is turning 21, the true legal adult age here in the states, and so we gathered to celebrate this momentous birthday (and the Halloween holiday as well!) with an accordion cake, plenty of food and drink, and of course, music.
There was a time, not so very long ago, when I did not play music. Having never been exposed to music classes in the various schools I attended, it just was something I had never gotten into. Then I became the parent of a born musician. And I’m here to tell you, if you are musician inside, in your very heart, by nature, then sitting around tunes long enough at sessions and such, somehow, one catches the bug. Eventually I took some whistle lessons with one of the brilliant young local players, a teen at the time, and that lead to playing the wooden flute. I still marvel when I am at an Irish music session and a set of tunes is being played (at speed!) and I am (just barely) keeping up. I still struggle on the faster reels, but I play anyway. And listen A LOT when I do not know the tune. Eventually, I will learn more. So long as I just keep playing.
There is such humility and beauty in being the beginner. Our society doesn’t seem to want beginners. we expect ourselves to be able to anything at once, the minute we decide to pursue it. To be able to draw well, or play music well, make a marionette move just so, or to do a sport well, or write well. These things do not happen over night. Often, they do not happen at all for fear of being made to look the fool in front of others. This is especially true of adults. I tell my students (and myself) that there is great importance in taking those first few steps as The Beginner. And the steps after that, and after that. To play this music takes hours of listening. Hours of practice. Hours of lessons from the pros, and from each other. And over time, my fellow musicians have become my dearest friends. Our children are growing into adults. And we will continue to play this music together. As long as we are blessed to do so.
We will find the instrument that becomes an extension of our bodies.
We will sing with joy and abandon.
And whenever possible, we will have ourselves some fun in the spirit of the current holiday.
What is the music that makes your heart sing? Find it. Listen to it. And if it stirs your soul, pick up an instrument…. and PLAY.
Bridging
Posted by Amy Bogard on October 28th, 2011 filed in getting started, Inspiration, Mammoth Cave Residency, puppetryComment now »
It is a season of change and of cocooning and hibernation. There are bridges to be crossed daily – moving to new things, bridging old projects to new adventures…
From a well made, protective cocoon, given enough time and love, magic can emerge. Music where there was none before; artful objects that did not exist just months ago. Opportunities appearing from seemingly thin air…..
One evening last week I attended a Halloween-themed chamber orchestra concert at my son’s school, The School for Creative and Performing Arts. These talented kids took a break from their day to day rehearsals for the upcoming major musical Brigadoon and managed to put together an evening of entertainment with everything from Michael Jackson’s Thriller to the Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saens. They decorated the theatre with an assortment of goulish bits, and after a last minute rehearsal…..
….it was show time. Let’s just say, that to begin the festivities, the orchestra teacher/conductor, (an unapologetic creative himself) emerged from a coffin, in full Dracula regalia, as the orchestra pit was brought to stage level, and the music began. It was BRILLIANT!! I am reminded on a daily basis how fortunate we are to have this amazing school in our city. It is the first of its kind in the US; a K-12 arts enrichment facility, where the study of the arts is taken as seriously as other academic pursuits. (often times more so!!)
Meanwhile, after months of occasional stitching, and travels down dark avenues of the Unknown, my final quilt project for presentation to Mammoth Cave National Park (affectionately named the MCQuilt) was finally finished and readied for delivery to the fine folks down there.
VOILA!! The Brea(d)th of History
I am still not entirely sure of what to put in a written statement to support this work now that it has become part of the Mammoth Cave Collection of Interesting Things. I believe that sometimes works of art come from a gut place, far from the realm of descriptive words, and they need a little time among We Who Use the Spoken Word. It may be awhile before this quilt is itself wrapped in a blanket of words, but for now I will feed you some tidbits….
While working, I was thinking a lot about the tie between natural and cultural history that is such a part of Mammoth Cave. Unlike some other parks in our National Park system, MACA is distinctly and directly tied to the people who explored, sought shelter in, and sometimes even died in the cave. It is rich with history, known to go back as far as 4000 years ago. Perhaps even beyond. The shadows and whispers of those who came before are around every bend in the cave. This cave, much like others, breathes with the breath of the earth, air moving with the changing temperatures and moods of the earth and atmosphere itself. It can at once shelter artifacts which are preserved indefinitely due to cave conditions, while simultaneously act as Living Cave – creating new and ever changing crystal formations and new, undiscovered caverns. It is a place deep in mystery, and steeped in legend.
Upon completion, late one evening, I held up this quilt to have an upright, good look at it, and discovered that it glows when lit a bit from behind. A small and delightful surprise.
We must always seek the light in the darkest places…..
And so, it was time for an autumn road trip…..
My friend Julie from the Jakk’s Magic Beans Workshop took some time out of her busy schedule to join me for the 4 hour trek down into the hills of Kentucky and a lantern lit cave tour underground. It was, the proverbial 3-hour tour…..
With the help of our guides Rangers Bobby and Linda, we discovered historic graffiti, and listened to the cave speak to us as we quietly walked it’s stony paths.
It has been a year since my month long residency down in the park and it was so wonderful to go back and catch up with friends I now hold dear. This new layer of community is perhaps the greatest gift from my time there. Everyone oohed and ahhed at the quilt work. I felt so honored to present it to them.
All of this ceremonial completion deserved a bit of celebration, which occurred this week with some of my now friends from last year’s Taos trip.
In the past few posts, I have written about my desire to get deeper into image making – drawing and painting. I want to steep myself in an inner narrative that I have never truly explored beyond it’s crusty surface (with it’s gorgeous, touchable textures – where so much of my Big Work has resided). Like many artists I know, I keep by my bedside a worn copy of Women Who Run With the Wolves. It’s the ultimate book of fairy tales. In this modern world of ours, we don’t often think of the old stories beyond a Disney version of the average princess-in-distress story or some such. But if you dig just below the surface to the root of those tales, they have much to tell us and Dr. Estes does just that in her fascinating book. The world of children’s stories, myth, puppetry are where we human beings hide Important Truths which may be too big for knowing just now. Thankfully, these stories and others, are told on a routine basis, sometimes in bits and pieces, by artists, performers, musicians. A few of my recent favorites are Rima Staines, whose blog The Hermitage is simply a feast for the senses and an escape into a timeless world of mystery; and Carolyn Ryder Cooley – I am in love with her drawings and installations! Two other painters with whose work I became acquainted with via the miracle of Twitter are Kathleen Lolley and Lindsey Carr. I love the colors they use, evoking a time out of place, just through the fog, to an Other. I look forward to exploring more of the work of these artists and more, as I dig into my own work more deeply at the same time.
A funny thing happens when you cast a wide wish-net into the Universe. Ask for fairy tales, old fashioned narrative, and artists who are masters at the interpretation of these tales, any you may just get exactly what you ask for…..
In my last post I hinted that I had a potential work opportunity brewing that would provide me with another tangential avenue upon which to broaden my artistic horizons. Let me introduce you to Kevin Frisch, of Frisch Marionettes:
The word on the street was that Kevin, whom I’ve known as a friend and fellow member of our local puppetry guild, was looking to hire a new puppeteer to help him work his larger shows. I ignored this at first until my old boss at the Red Cross encouraged me to toss my hat into the ring for consideration. I visited Kevin and his current fellow puppeteer Tiffany (slated to go back to grad school this winter, hence the search) at their presentation of Hansel and Gretel. I spent some time with Kevin and a few of his marionettes to see if I had even an ounce of natural marionette manipulating ability. And after a week or so, was offered the opportunity to begin rehearsing for performances in January 2012.
In this interview, Kevin explains why sometimes, artists and musicians make good puppeteers…
And so Peter Page and I will be spending many, many hours together this fall. Learning to walk and stand without slouching, to run and walk with a distinct bounce in one’s step, and to focus, really focus on exactly what you are supposed to be paying attention to. (a wee bug on the ground perhaps). Surely these are good lessons to work on with or without the help of an adorable puppet page.
It is indeed wonderful to be crossing this bridge into an altogether new adventure, to have put to completion a year’s worth of thinking and stitching, and to begin nurturing the parts of my creative self that have been sorely neglected. As things settle in to this season of hibernation and cocooning, I’ll work at my puppetry skills, and the creation of parts and cases for the beautiful concertinas I have the pleasure to listen to and handle on an almost daily basis. (one day I shall learn a tune or two on the concertina, I believe.) I’ll enjoy curling up for some doodling and sketching (new art academy sketch-journal class starts next Thursday, there’s still time to sign up!!). I’ll continue to practice my flute playing and teaching at the Riley School of Irish Music. And hopefully get my paints out to blend the sorts of colors that now occupy my sleep.
Peace.
Wane
Posted by Amy Bogard on October 18th, 2011 filed in UncategorizedComment now »
(above, collage from my dear friend Tina)
I’ve been outside a lot lately. Eyeing the moon in it’s waxing, fullness, waning….. I adore its comforting light – by the fire and by the dawn.
In our somewhat untended yard space (as we are, for the time, gardening and harvesting other important things in our lives) bits of bright summer color still peek through the golden blanket of leaves that covers everything in sight.
In between stitches on the nearly complete MCQuilt (to be delivered next week – pics to come soon!!) I venture out to stretch my legs with the dogs, whose cousins are visiting for the week (double the furry fun!) So much the color of the leaf blanket:
Ian would very much like to join in this outdoor fun, but alas, coyotes are in the neighborhood of late and sadly, they are partial to delicious morsels such as him.
Murphy feels he is very much in charge, though everyone else knows that Iris is. And in the end, even she is under my employ.
Lots of time spent on the couch with beads and thread…. and a purring helper.
Studio work is not the only thing in my cauldron of work related stew…. There is an information meeting coming up on November 9th (6:30 pm!!) at the Art Academy of Cincinnati for anyone who is interested in the opportunity to travel to Taos next summer for the 2nd annual sketch-journaling workshop I’m teaching there. Email me for more information as needed!
There is also a new, very new, potential arty-opp in the planning stages. I am excited to share it with you here potentially next week…. but must let it steep a few days longer. For now, it is back to the quilting. I will be ready to give this project it’s final push toward its birth into the real world. Although not tremendously large as for as works go, it’s been sort of hanging over my head for a good year now and I’m ready to move on. To nurture some new stories and techniques. To revisit some old ones too…
As always, I’ll keep you posted here.
Art Date
Posted by Amy Bogard on October 14th, 2011 filed in Uncategorized2 Comments »
I didn’t plan a blog post for my outing today, so I have only a few photos to share. But share I will! I spent a bit of the afternoon today at the Cincinnati Art Museum, a place with which I am, sadly, not familiar enough. Perhaps I’ve shared a chronic and increasing fascination with painting, and I think that is what drew me to the museum today. I wanted to study Real Paintings. Up close and personal. I wanted to look for brush strokes and curious color choices and to think on how they made those paintings, so long ago. And so I did. Here’s what I found…..
There was simply too much to take in. I can’t pick a favorite, though I do find the sheep herding painting by one Anton Mauve, to be especially fetching. The paintings I found myself most drawn to were those with a quality of light in them. So many of them just glow in a way that seems otherworldly.
Although I had my sketchbook with me, I pretty much walked around with my mouth half open just looking, taking it all in. Next time I go, I might draw this guy’s hand…. because it’s beautiful.
