Category Archives: bookmaking

australia!

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this semester i’ll be spending 2 months in australia.  for the most part I’ll be staying in canberra, the capital territory of australia and working in the studio at the australian national university.  while here, i’ll be on my own a lot of the time as this is actually summer in australia and school’s out for a little while longer.

i’m still in school in florida, taking three classes; ceramics seminar, professional practices and an independent study based around the sketchbook.  i’ll be posting my usual travel posts, picture, profiles of local artists, etc, but i’ll also be posting a series from my sketchbook (under the catagory: sketchbook).  daily drawings and responses to the things that i’m reading and seeing.

i collected some paper ephemera from my life in florida, went a little bonkers at cfop collecting pretty paper in the white/translucent/silver vein and made a cover from my favorite skirt that was getting too old to wear anymore.

from here on out i’ll be posting approximately 2 pages a day recording some aspect or another of what i see around me in the land down under.

handmade rules the world

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yesterday i spoke to my sister who spent the day the the bust magazine holiday craftacular.  jealous!  but i got my own taste of handmade movement goodness at the atomic holiday bazaar in sarasota.  i went to do some field research as well as to shop.  there were only two ceramic artists there, one potter with wild colorful glazes and a slip caster with parts of different molds assembled into fanciful creatures.  i saw a few people selling books (with other stationary items) and starting thinking how cool it would be to do a fair like this with m and her books. and i would love to bring my clay stuff next year.

my fan favorite (do i watch too much top chef?) was definitely jewelry maker opulent oddities.  her work was too good to pass up and i chucked my “browse and return” system to drop some cash at her booth.  i even had to run across the street to the atm for more because i needed to walk away with multiple pieces of her work.  i justified my purchases by focusing on the fact that i barely own anything these days.

knife-necklace

necklace with green charms, sphere, fist and pocket knife!

map-measure-necklace

necklace with map measurer pendant. (the other side is a compass so i knew it was meant to be!)

i also had the very pleasant surprise of seeing old friends megan (of flying heart jewelry) and don and family and another very old friend who i have not seen in nearly 15 years.

afterward we all went to liz’s and enjoyed cheesy delights and cocktails.

*sorry about the low quality pictures!  they’re from my cell phone, all i have at the moment.  working on it, hoping santa claus will bring me a camera for christmas…

after the longest week ever.

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seriously, last week was long.  i was bummed out to miss art basel in miami but life on the west coast of florida was busy enough.  at work we were being observed, at the studio we were preparing for the sale and i was preparing my own art work for the sale.  whoo, i was really running on low!

finally yesterday i had a bit of a break.  well, recently a half day is as close to a day off as i get but i’ll take what i can get.  i worked in the morning at creative clay.  we are still book making.  i know we will have to move onto something different but i’ve so enjoyed seeing m improve her skills.

afterwards i went to mazzaro’s italian deli to get something for lunch.  i’ve been hearing about this place since i moved here, but hadn’t yet been.  it was like walking into italy.  i was able to find my favorite cheese from when i was traveling in italy (romano fresca with pepper corns) not to mention arancini (sicilian rice balls) and italian tuna.  these were the things i would buy (with a roll or loaf of bread) and carry around in my bag to eat for lunch in some scenic spot.  you know how it is.  the only thing i didn’t find, but i’ll have to look next time, is white anchovies.  the arancini were very similiar to my family’s except that they had way too much cheese in them!

i relaxed the rest of the day, stepping out for an errand or two, and this morning, finally i was back to 100%.

folk fest and emt practice

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today i went up to folk fest with sarah, marianne, brad and jamie.  it was great to get to share my st. pete with them.  folk fest is put on by creative clay, an art center for folks with developmental disabilities.  i’m working there a very short 4 hours per week.  i am so in love with this center though and as soon as time allows i hope to up my hours with them.  i teach in house once a week and we’ve been making cloth bound books.  everyone has really different abilites and talents so it’s always a challenge to see what we’ll come up with.  i’m excited to get this batch of books into the last pressing and to see the finished product.

after walking through folk fest and getting some lunch at chang mai we walked over to my new place.  this was the first time for me to do the walk.  it was great, but i’ll definitely be biking for the most part.  we actually chilled in my apartment for a few minutes.  i’m excited to move in this week.  it’s small but i think it will do the trick.  the only draw back to my place is that it’s furnished.  one the one hand, it’s very useful to have the microwave, tv, etc be there, because i don’t feel the need to own these types of objects, but having all the furniture is rough.  i really miss MY stuff, since i’ve been without it for the past 3 years, and i’d prefer to furnish my place myself.  but the price is right and i’m hoping my landlady will work with me after i’ve been there awhile.

on the way home we ran into traffic twice.  on the side of i75 we passed a family pulled over.  marianne said “should we see if they need any help?”  a young women seemed to be getting sick.  so we stopped and offered them water but they said they were ok.  we probably scared them more than anything.  especially when, just as we were getting back into the car, jenna suddenly pulled over out of no where.  suddenly this poor family was surrounded on all sides by team sarasota.  we talked for awhile, probably totally freaking this family out, since they got themselved together and into their car, and finally headed home.  haha.  marianne is an emt after all.