Susan Barrett Price's Blog, page 2
February 22, 2016
Dark Night of the Writer’s Soul
Creatives, particularly those who work in their own studios, without contracts, without external deadlines, have our special rituals and incantations to keep the magic bubbling. I keep a notebook that I scribble in on most mornings, to keep the channel between my mind and my hand open. Occasionally, it snares some agony: WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING??? [Continued here>>>]
February 20, 2016
Dollmaking: The Anchorite
I’m moving very slowly on this doll because I keep putting it aside as “ruined.” But I also know that ruining an art project is license to start experimenting and having fun. To hell with perfection. [Continued here>>>]
February 18, 2016
Earth Cloth: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
In my fascination with textile arts, I keep wanting to make “eco-prints,” or rich patterns on cloth using botanical material. Here in the northern hemisphere, it isn’t really the season, so I decided to experiment with the onion skins I’d been saving in the freezer for just such an occasion. [Continued here>>>]
February 15, 2016
Sense of Place: North South East West
So… a cosmogram, a symbolic depiction of the universe. I backed off my Earth, Water, Air, Fire layers to consider North, South, East, and West. Who came up with the idea of the “four corners of the earth” anyway? And why are these “cardinal directions” persistent in just about every culture? I’m trying to see the world through ancient eyes. [continued here>>>]
February 12, 2016
Sense of Place: Earth Water Air Fire
Can’t remember when I first learned of those classical elements Earth, Water, Air, Fire. But I’m pretty sure they were taught as the working of primitive minds minds before the enlightenment of Modern Science. But those early Greeks (and the Babylonians before them) lacked only tools, not intelligence or insight. [Continued here >>>]
February 7, 2016
Sense of Place: Scattered Thoughts
“Sense of place.” I’ve been thinking about this concept. I’ve heard the phrase forever, about writers and about some artists, like Georgia O’Keefe. Well, musicians must have a sense of place too, when we think about genres so closely identified with New Orleans, Chicago, Detroit, etc. Does the clustering of talent creat “a place”? Or do the geography and history of a place conspire to draw creative spirits to itself? [Continued here>>>]
January 31, 2016
Dollmaking: Winter Wilma Comes to Life
If you are ever lonely, make a doll. As long as your mind is open and imagination unfettered, you will have a companion, usually congenial, always opinionated. The “quickening” usually comes when you give your lump of stuffing a face. From then on, you are “co-creating” and the rest of your work will be a conversation.
Anyway, I wanted to kick off 2016 with some dollmaking.
January 30, 2016
What Magic Is January
Did I make any art in January? Although I will have a doll to greet February with (more on that later), January was mostly about opening my “maker lab” on the ground floor of our lodge and testing out new ideas. Can I snow/ice-dye? Can I overdye my failed eco-printed cloth with Procion dyes? Can I set up a natural dye cooker downstairs so I don’t confuse food-making with color-making? Can I set up a morning meditation space in the lab by shoving the couch against the window and propping my feet on the deep sill?… [Continued here>>>]
January 17, 2016
Snow Dyeing: Transformation of the Eco-Duds
Last year I was enchanted by the possibility of creating “eco-prints,” by bundling up flowers and leaves in white cloth and letting them “cold-process” for a month or steaming them on the stove. The results were not pretty, literally. [Continued here>>>]
