Weddings and Jewelry

This past weekend, I attended my cousin's wedding in Massachusetts (so confusing, because she lives in Augusta, GA, most of our family lives in Rhode Island, and the wedding was in Massachusetts not too far from Gillette Stadium, unfortunately for the car I was in). It was a beautiful event! She was a beautiful, happy bride, and everyone feels lucky to be adding to their respective families. This is such a great thing, because I've been to weddings where this hasn't been the case. Her now-husband was holding back tears while reciting his vows. I'm choked up right now as I think about it. It was a beautiful day, and we had a lot of fun! Including my 82-year-old grandfather who danced the fast songs with my youngest cousin and some of her friends. According to my aunt, he said, "All these girls were asking me to dance! I don't know why!"



For this occasion, I decided to make some jewelry, particularly for my mother since her birthday was last week. Included here are some pics of the necklace and earrings set that I hoped that my mother would wear to the wedding. She did. I'm pretty proud of this set. To me, it looked as good as much of the jewelry I saw others wearing. I think it was the most elegant-looking set that I've made thus far. And, she loved it! The set looked beautiful on her, with her dress.

I will be honest here. When I made this set, I didn't have a plan in mind. Often, when I'm making jewelry, I use the jewelry board so that I can get an idea of what the piece looks like before I make it. Since I made this one in a place away from home, I didn't have all the equipment I usually have, so I built the piece as I went along, judging that the center was right... about... HERE. Then, I reversed what I'd done on the other side to create a balanced piece.

I've been reading a book about facilitating adventure-based counseling for a class I'm taking next week. In it, there was a reference to those group members who tend to be quiet most of the time but who may offer insight when it comes to visualizing an end result. I think that's what I experienced in this project (and for the necklace-and-earrings set I made for myself for the wedding). I was able to see in my mind a rough picture of what the final product would be like. Likewise, I was able to determine the center of the piece without measuring. I can work similarly with my knitting. For instance, I make changes with patterns in advance of a project with an idea of what the end-product will be like with the changes. So, sometimes, I ad lib for a project as I go along, and at other times, I make changes to a pattern before I start. More often than not, I like the final product.

There were certain decisions I made with my mother's necklace that I made for reasons of space (and the idea that there were some parts of the necklace that wouldn't be noticed, because they'd be on the back of her neck). While I was at the wedding, I saw a lot of interesting jewelry, and my eyes were open to seeing the different beads and stones and styles that people were wearing. I found while looking that people were wearing pieces that mixed beads that I had sort of apologetically mixed for my mother's piece without any apology but with purpose. It led me to want to try to recreate some of these other pieces with intention.

I like how things work out that way sometimes. Something that I was embarrassed about doing (and not because it "looked" bad on the necklace) was the same something that was intentionally done for other pieces. I do want to see how I could play around with the same theme and make my own pieces in a likeness to the ones I saw!

Thanks for reading.
Tracey

Afghans-- A Knitting Project 2008

For 2008, I decided in January that I would make as many afghans as I could to give away as presents. When one considers working full time and going to school full time and whatever other experiences life has to offer, this can be a pretty daunting task! In fact, I've finished only one afghan so far-- in three months! Now, I'm in the middle of two others. And, by "in the middle" I mean I'm almost finished one and little more than 1/4 of the way through the second.



I'd like to talk a little about the first one, and I'll talk about the others as I finish them. Before this, I've only knitted one adult afghan (I've knitted multiple baby afghans, because they can be finished in about an afternoon sometimes.) This one afghan was one I made as a Christmas present for my ex's mother. I remember it to be beautiful when I finished, and I remember how much she loved it. The pattern is completed in the round, so I start off with 8 stitches in the center of the piece and ended with nearly 1000 stitches on the exterior edge! Very cool design, as the afghan itself appears to be square, but it's rounded, too. I love it. And, it's mine. The rest I do for this year will be for presents for others.

The interesting part of knitting (and any craft I do) is what happens emotionally for me, especially when I'm making something for someone else, because I usually have the reason for the knitting in mind throughout the entire project. During this project, I thought that I would think about the last time I used this pattern (I don't tend to do the same project more than once--usually--unless it's something I really like and really want to do again). In some ways, I expected this experience to one of emotional growth, as I was in a difficult situation during the first knitting of this pattern. In some ways, I think I was looking for catharsis in this pattern. Remember, it took me three months to complete this project, doing a little on it almost every day. It occurred to me that I don't remember anything about knitting the first one. This is a relatively large project, and I don't remember any of it from the first time. This time around, there are certain images that will remind me of the knitting of the afghan; when I look at or sit under this warm blanket, I will reflect back on where I was, what the cats were doing, etc., while I was working on it. But, I have no such memories of the first time I worked this project. In some ways, I'm glad that I did this one a second time simply so I could have the memories that I seem to be missing from the first time. I have a pic of the first afghan, included here, as proof that there was a first iteration of this project, but even in looking at a photo of it, I can remember THAT I did it, but I don't remember the actual doing. Maybe there's some catharsis in that.

Just a note that the cats playing by the afghan in this last pic are mine. Cosette is the tabby mix who is on the ladder--she's more than two years older now, so quite a bit bigger! Novalis is the Persian/Siamese mix at the foot of the ladder.

The two projects that I'm working on currently are for two upcoming events. One of my friends is turning 40 this year, and I'm making her an afghan in blue and brown blocks to help her celebrate the event. The other one is an afghan for my cousin who is getting married this weekend. The plan is for it to match with her new condo. I'm not sure if I've accomplished that goal, but we'll see when it's in her home! I'll give updates when I've finished those. I'm intending to make another for a friend's June birthday when another friend is turning 50. I'm not yet sure which new pattern I'm going to try, but I've got lots of interesting ones to choose from. There are a couple of patterns I'm interested in trying out, but one is going to be for an aunt of mine, and another may be for my mother. We'll see. My friend has given me specific colors to use, so I'm looking for a pattern that will work with the color scheme she's chosen. If anyone has any suggestions for cool knitting patterns for afghans, I welcome the input. Also, if anyone is interested in patterns for afghans I make during this year, I'm happy to share!

Thanks for reading.

:)
Tracey

On Art (and Poetry): Women & the Voice of Innocence

On Saturday, March 1, I took advantage of the current show at the High. I was very pleased with my experience.

I'm not going to pretend that I know a lot of the history of the Stieglitz Circle, because although I've visited O'Keeffe's art when I was in New Mexico several years back, I did not become too versed in her background, except that I remembered her saying in a video at the museum, "I don't know why people say there are all these sexual references in my art. I didn't put it there." One of my favorite paintings of hers is one of the desert paintings with a view of the moon through a cow bone. Initially, I thought, "Wow! How symbolic to be looking up at the moon through the eye socket of this dead animal!" Then, I read the title--something about a pelvis! Definitely nothing sexual about a view of the moon through a pelvis! That doesn't even get to the sensuality and sexuality that's present in her paintings of flowers.

One of the things I read in the show at the High is that Stieglitz saw women as "pure, innocent, and childlike," and he chose to promote the women he did for these supposed qualities in their work. I was particularly taken by the photographs of Anne Brigman, where nude women posed in ways that imitated nature. For me, these "natural" poses were far more sensual than they were "pure" or "innocent" or "childlike." I guess I'd have to admit that I'm insulted by Stieglitz's demeaning notions about women and wanting to showcase their work under such an umbrella. I'm trying to keep my feminist sensibilities aside, but I'm having a difficult time with it, especially since these women seemed to help him perpetuate these ideas, and enjoyed the roles of innocence that he cast them in. Taking the time period into consideration, I shouldn't be as jolted by this expression of feminine artistry.

Then again, artist Ana Mendieta (albeit a contemporary artist), whose work was a part of the TRANSactions show of Latin American work on the same floor of the museum used the female figure--her own--in the sand on the beach, then took successive pictures of the water dissolving the imprint of her body in the sand. Her work was described as combining "body art, performance art,...multiculturalism, and feminism" among some other important aspects. The work is sensual and powerful, just as the other work is, but not hidden under a cloak of woman as the voice of innocence and purity. Dare I say that her work is political? How could it not be? It seems to me that Anne Brigman's photography could be perceived as political if not for the tags by her work that fill viewers in on what was happening. I think that I would have been happier to enjoy the art without the commentary that accompanied it.

Looking at my own poetry, I'd be hard pressed to find innocence in there. Comments have been made about the childlike qualities of specific poems, but even in my poems where there are childlike qualities (which I feel I can't ignore due to my own imagination, and my history of working with children, and my own love of sounds and playing with them), innocence and purity, in terms that I'm assuming belong to Stieglitz based on the work that I saw at the High, cannot be seen. As a woman, and as an artist, I know that women have a lot to say, and we have more to say than that which is portrayed in the figure of woman in her "ultimate" role of mother. We have more to share than silly, childlike notions as seems to be Stieglitz's idea of what women have to present to the world.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Last weekend, ha-ha-ha! I became a certified laughter yoga leader, ha-ha-ha! What a fantastic weekend I had, ha-ha-ha! If you are not familier with laughter yoga, I strongly recommend you trying out a class, ha-ha-ha! Many classes are free, or require a nominal fee in order to help pay rental of the space. I'm hoping to be able to offer have a club set up soon, ha-ha-ha! There's a link to a laughter yoga web site from this page.

In addition to being just plain good fun, laughter is great for your health, ha-ha-ha! The club that I've been attending has been such a welcome experience for me. I can remember leaving one session and going to dinner with a good friend of mine. All through the evening, I stopped conversation, smiled, and said, "I feel so good right now! My body feels great!" Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! The next day was the trip to New Orleans that I've mentioned before. I broke into fits of laughter during the entire drive to New Orleans! Ha-ha-ha! Now, I have the gift of laughter every day, even by myself! Ha-ha-ha! Such a simple gift....

When I am able to offer this simple gift to others, I will post on here when I'm doing so. I have tentative plans to have a laughter yoga club when I am up in Rhode Island/Connecticut for Christmas. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading.

Tracey

crying my soul away like not my mother

I have a new book! I have a new book! (insert melody here)

I'm excited to have created a new little book for the poem "crying alone like not my mother." This publication differs from "we all have our slashes" (see earlier posts) in that it contains some images within the book. If you are interested in a copy of either of these books, please let me know, and I'd be happy to send you one!





stained by rips & tears
it was something about dollars
“we are they, & we don’t have any
leave a message”
the bottle stops on the least likely choice
but there’s pressure to go ahead & do it
i just wish i’d known then....

forgetting is easy when you have amnesia
not so much when the clock keeps ticking
& every five minutes the reminder goes off
after the phone call that woke you up
put that after the cart & see where you end up
in the *blink* of an eye
not on stages making faces to crowds who don’t know your name
i follow only what i can track

the mask is worn till there’s no more face to hide
& then there’s no more fatigue
there are queues in there somewhere
only they’re hidden under piles of “g”
but he went away on an early monday morning
creeping through piles of shit
in search of the long lost pony’s tail
only to find it on the end of the pig
i lost my train of thought

cousins are living in kitchens under the light of the stove clock
& mother saves all three umbilical cords
we don’t know what to make of that
& we haven’t tried to get upset
because we don’t know what she’d do if she knew we know
don’t save bruces when the tape has worn out
another nine-twenty-five in the whole
i’m not one to confuse my father with my mother



Thanks for reading!

Tracey