Studio Notes - September 2024

It’s always a little difficult to accept the end of summer in Maine…the ease of walking out the door without suiting up for the cold, the abundance of tomatoes still warm from the sun and the light, oh, the light.  But here we are, beginning to change gears.  I have always believed that September is the beginning of a new year, not January.  Everything changes and we must accommodate.  And so we do.

To do
An obvious one here…vote.

To see
A video from PBS featuring Jeremy Frey, a Wabanaki basketmaker from Maine, in conversation with Jeffrey Brown.  Frey has a magnificent show of his work at the Portland Museum of Art now.  He speaks eloquently of his heritage, his role as craftsperson and artist and his connection to the materials he uses.
 

To read
This isn’t exactly to be read since it is an audiobook.  Miracle and Wonder, Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell from Pushkin Industries.  For those of us who grew up with his music, it is a history lesson.  For those of us who are intrigued by the artistic process, it is a master class.  For everyone, it is the pleasure of two people in conversation, with occasional musical interludes

Coming up

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?  If an artist makes an object and no one sees it, is it Art?  Just Between Us, an exhibition of three artists’ work opens September 26 at Cove Street Arts in Portland, Maine.  Thaddeus Holownia, a photographer from New Brunswick, Canada and Tom Hall, a painter and printmaker from Raymond, Maine and I invite viewers to bring their memories, experiences and curiosity to make Art, just between us.

Capstone Exhibition for Maine Crafts Association Mentorship Program participants, October 4 to 29, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Newcastle ME.  Meghan Hall, amazing gardener and seamstress and keeper of chickens and I have been working together for seven months for her development of a system of bags which work together to make life easier and more beautiful, and that are easy on the Earth with gathered and upcycled materials.

The days are shorter, the nights longer, and we are entering a new era in American life, whatever that may mean.  Hold your loved ones tightly and your fears loosely.  Until the next time…

All best,
Lissa