Hello everyone, this is Carolyn and this is my first post here, and tho I have not been as active as I have meant to be in the collective, given that my new novel's coming out in a few days, I have been talking to Timmie about collaborating -- which I'm very excited about! I haven't collaborated with a visual artist before -- and today am mailing off my two books to her and working on some story ideas that she can play around with. Right now I'm writing about a girl with a compass for a heart. Here is a little snippet.

Once, in the center of a wild, tangled forest, the kind full of creatures with glittering eyes, there lived a girl with a compass for a heart.

She did not know how she had gotten there. Or where she had been before.

She lived in the trunk of a tree, and ate acorns and berries and grass, and braided flower stems into ropes.

She ran through the leaves that littered the ground, and her heart went in circles, from north to south to east to west, and then back again.

I hope to make the March meeting but may be bogged down with bookly matters. But April and May and June I will be staying up at the Grail with Massie and Marcie and I can't wait to sit around a table with these brilliant ladies again, hearing all their plots and schemes and up-to-no-goods.

Love
Carolyn

February Meeting

Our post Valentine's Day February 15th meeting went smashingly despite the general late winter fatigue experienced by all. Marcie, Massie, Merissa, Meghan, Heather, & Corey were physically present. Present in mind were Timi & Katrina. Timi & Carolyn are working together to make a sculpture that involves mary jane's & words.

Marcie is working on making sails for tall ships & a night sky out of blue jeans.(Pictured below: Marcie surveys her kingdom) Meghan is thinking about a navigational maze of sorts made with red string. Massie is building a big ol' gyroscope,


Merissa is doing a self portrait with resin & silk & a compass. (Pictured left: The sisters Sincavage contemplate the mysteries of the universe & Merissa's chunk of resin) One of the exciting things that came up in the meeting is the possible inclusion of lots of girl bands playing music for the collective's first show JUNE 27TH!!!!! I think the name of the organization that puts together the music is New York Go Girls. Meg...is that right? I'm emailing Trish today.  And ladies, please don't forget your TO GO cups for our next meeting!

(Pictured Right: Striking a pose)
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(Pictured below: The One Stone Collective Calls it a Day)

Art Supplies?

I have been collecting lots of lovely things with which to construct my gyroscope...

raw twine, rusty garden shears (tips only, please), old c-clamps, a variety of door related hardware, strips of metal, a wooden knob of some sort, something that seems like a skewer with a wooden disc on the end (this is my favorite find), a glop of rusted out iron, jute, some railroad ties, and a nickel holdy thing.

Info from the Atmosphere

     I'm sharing this lovely information emailed to me from a person who shall remain nameless (Ian Faloona) in response to viewing our blog:

    "So I got to thinking about the compass and its use here on Earth and realized that the reason it is useful here (the magnetic dipole of this planet) is thought to be a result of the Earth's internal dynamo - charges swirling inside the mantle and hot fluid core of the interior. And the great thing about the Earth's magnetic dipole is that it mysteriously flips polarity every several hundred thousand years, with no set schedule and no firmly identified cause."

....AND HE'S A SCIENTIST

Sails and Finding Your Way

I love doing research.  Massie says I am an historian trapped in the body of an artist and she's probably right.  When we came up with compass as our first idea I was excited by all the research I was going to get to do.  It's hard not to think of Girl Scouting trips and trying to figure out how the compass even worked let alone trying to get anywhere with it.  Or the summer I spent trying to memorize constellations.  I began with the mechanical manifestations of time and distance we are used to and here my research lead me to the amazing Corpus Clock.  When I was in London I went to Greenwich and saw the chronometers invented by Harrison which enabled sailors to more accurately measure longitude(a handy thing when out on the open sea.)  When you look at them you realize how we now take time for granted.

    The idea of sailing reminded me of the use of the compass as one of my favorite motifs in quilt-making.  I wondered at early navigation and how for so long humans used stars as a guide when so few of us can even really see them nowadays. 

    So where does all that leave me?  Collecting old tablecloths, linens and old jeans, and still more research on how transform them into tall ship sails, a cloth compass and a night sky.   

denver blog

Awww...you guys look so cute in your fuzzy hats & scarves. Thanks for lookin interested at my work! Here is some "evidence" of my compass sculpture: little black shoes I bought at payless. I know it is irresponsible of me to buy new shoes but I couldn't stomach the thought of working with shoes that some little kid had sweated in and maybe even peed on. Also I have some really great endpapers from old Nancy Drew books to use. So things are beginning to happen.

January Meeting

Pictures from the January meeting. In the first picture are Merissa Seminara, Marcie Farwell, and Massie Jones. We're checking out Timothea Biermann's painting images.

In picture #2 are (from left to right) Meghan Sheldon, Merissa Seminara, Marcie Farwell, Massie Jones, and Jeanine Cummins. We are very hard at work.

Well, Hello everyone!  

This is my first posting and I just wanted to let everyone know what I have been up to.  I really love the first theme with which we are working.  I presently am in need of  direction in my life and an abundance of it. When we were given this theme/word I was immediately excited, but not sure why and that quickly became evident as my life started to unravel around me.  Deep down I knew it would happen sometime but now seems to be that time.  I am truly honored to be working along side so many beautiful and amazing talents while making my way in the right direction.

This compass for me is going to be a self portrait.  Something I use to do frequently when I was in touch with myself.  This is the opportunity to get back to who I am and find the ways I want to go.  I work in fiber as my main media (and photography as my secondary).  For me, this means painting, dyeing and surface design on silk.  

This project will be a painting created by first photographing myself.  Then transferring the image onto a dyed piece of silk via photocopy transfer.  From there, I will do what ever surface work I deem needed.  The left eye will be void and I will be creating a broken compass from metal to take its place.  Once all of this is complete, the piece will be encased in clear resin.  At least, I think so.

Right now, I am doing some tests with the silk in resin and just painting in general.  So, I will keep everyone posted on what happens and where my compass takes me next.

-Merissa