One day in savannah ga

Things are falling into place. I wrote an outline, Cayewah wrote a really good letter applying for some funding from the Hodge Foundation of Savannah GA for LOOP IT UP. Peter and Howard have been helping to edit it. All that is left to do now is SOMEHOW get all the essential signatures on it and then send it on in. done done done. This however, is a little trickier than you might think. I am here in Florence Massachusetts. Cayewah is in California. Howard in in Savannah. somehow, between scanners, fax machines and good will, it should all be together in the next few days.

I've been saying for some time now that I will begin the process of writing a philosophy and curriculum for loop it up. lastnight I finally got the idea to do it like an artist book. and then, began writing today:

Loop It Up Savannah. One Day In Savannah GA.
The Savannah Community Materials Collection.
This is my true life’s work.
Molly Green Lieberman, written as tina said, with every fiber of my being

1.
My good friend Kait, an artist, a preschool art teacher, said to me earlier tonight, “I believe that anyone who sees hears feels or knows something and then makes in response to it and then they feel fulfilled and happy, even if it is just for a second, is an artist.”
I have long puzzled over what makes an artist. Or perhaps, more relevantly, what causes someone to believe that they are not an artist?
Most likely, there are many explanations about this, and my purpose is not to analyze or even to discover and address them. However, I can tell you what I have learned from working with the children of Savannah GA. When given the opportunity to become fluent with materials-- to explore, play, look and really see, wonder and eventually make, even the most down- trodden and exhausted child begins to see themselves as an artist.


so thats a start. jenny lewis says: as for those days that act as markers in your life, but inbetween, you can't remember....

and so, pressing on. pressing right on.

This is lovely!

I just got home from work and this wonderful thing was waiting on facebook, from the AMERICAN CRAFT COUNCIL!

*************************************************************************************
Ethics in the Marketplace: Natalie Chanin and the Bureau of Friends
Introduced by Maria Moyer, Bureau Chief
A few Sundays ago at the Chez Panisse Edible Schoolyard kitchen in Berkeley, about twenty of us gathered to learn how to make beautiful things from the Alabama Stitch Book. Natalie Chanin regaled us with tales as we practiced the depression-era sewing techniques used by the artisans who make her exquisite designs for Alabama Chanin. Natalie’s stories were about life—hers and the others before her—and she related these stories to sewing, fabric, thread and physics.

To hear Natalie Chanin weave a tale is like eating a meal. In stark contrast, my trying to tell one of her stories is more like reading a recipe. But, dare to tell it I will. Here goes:

During hot summer evenings in the South, Natalie’s friends and family would gather around the family home to eat, drink, tell stories on the porch and be together. On one of these evenings, Natalie’s grandfather set the children to the task of collecting sticks from around the yard.

After the children had secured their bounty, he asked them to each take and hold a stick—just one—with both hands. Then he asked them to break it. As they easily snapped their twig in two, he said, “That stick is you. You, on your own.” While lightening bugs flashed and the night rolled in, the children listened intently. “Now, take as many sticks as you can hold in your hand, maybe five, and hold them together. And now break those,” Natalie’s grandfather asked of the children. The tensile strength of the individual sticks held together as one made the task impossible. “This,” he said, “is your family.”

This is the sentiment that brings Natalie and me together with others in the Bureau of Friends. Formalized over breakfast and a pinky swear in a Manhattan bistro, The Bureau of Friends is now open for business and ready to help others do the good work. We are stronger together.

The Bureau of Friends Manifesto
As entrepreneurs and artists, taste makers and otherwise creatively engaged people, we stand together as the Bureau of Friends, tightly bound by shared meaning and purpose.

We share the belief that what we all want is shifting. On the trend-spotters front, we’re told (and we know) that mindless consumption is giving way to discretion. Even “luxury” is suffering an identity crisis and searches for substance. Put simply: People want what they buy and how they spend time to be worth it and they’re looking for objects and experiences that ring true.


For the Bureau of Friends, this pursuit isn’t about a trend. This is our life’s work.


We make a living appreciating and seeking beauty. For us, this is the pursuit of a beauty that endures and enriches. The Friends understand this as the very stuff that defines quality. Each of us demonstrates—in our own way, within our separate spheres of influence—what quality is. For us, quality is authenticity. It is a future-forward focus and eco-smart thinking. It’s handcrafted, locally supportive and globally aware. First and foremost, it is beautiful, delicious and relevant.


We know a growing number of people feel this, and we have something to say to them: We are the Bureau of Friends and we’ve joined together to support each other not only in doing the good work, but in spreading the word about it.


The Bureau of Friends is open for business as the go-to-depot for tasty and nutritious content. We’re not only a speakers’ bureau, we create experiences that connect message to specific audience and inspiration and insight to desired action.

AFT COUNCIL!

Quish goes the fish

Jill's fish died last night. His name was Comedian. He was a good pet.

front


back

****here is how to live without moping

Just got cued into the beautiful photography of Alicia Bock. My friend Emma found her on etsy. All the work is beautiful, but these few seemed worthy of a quilt!






I've been making a quilt for every week that I am here. This too is a good recipe for a mope-free existance!

freezing cold breeze blowing in my window, rain rain & more rain... good sleeping weather. (even if it does mean that I have to quilt my buns off to keep up momentum during the day!)

surprise!

*** Not really sure how I came across this, but apparently there is a bakery/ children's charity in Illinois called MOLLY'S CUPCAKES. How fitting, right mom?

feeling thankful for :

- a sunny day today

- the friendly people at the Vet... even though we spent $150, it was a nice experience

- little drop in visits from Elena, Cheyanne + Rita

- Mary Calucci offering to help Cayewah and I with the Loop It Up grant proposal

- Cayewah taking my scribbling and ideas and writing a beautiful concise something or another (she always does this! I have a pile of them in my bottom desk drawer)

- A lovely burrito night with Kait

- Pamy Wiley giving me a sturdy leg to stand on when ever I lose both of my own

- my sister is coming home this weekend

- My mom and dad

- another shot,again and again every blinking blooming day

this really broke my heart a little bit

just had a good long talk with Pamy. learned many things including one sad thing which is that some guys broke into the Y last week and when they couldn't find any money, they just trashed the place. I have never been sure if I believe in god or not, but anytime that I do it is because of my friends at the Y and how truly good they are and how much they work on doing the right thing.

I think that the next work will be about devotion. There is true love and devotion in a lot of places that we don't always realize. I hope that we can teach eachother and ourselves to have better eyes so that we may one day see it.

do yourself a favor and listen to "The Way I am" by ingrid michaelson. it's a sweet sweet song and it will make you fall in love all over again.

two things

1. do all that you can, as well as you can for as long as you can, in the place that you are.

2. an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

july, JULY, JU-LIE-I-I-I

Well, we've been up here for almost two weeks now!
I've been nanny-ing for some very sweet girls, Talia and Charlotte. They are seven and four and perfect. Right now we're making a quilt out of some of those STUNNING imitation Chinese silks that they sell at Joann's... you know the ones!

I've also been working a lot on my beautiful new sewing machine, which was a gift from Pamy Wiley. Every time I sew on it, my heart hums a little. And that is a good kind of heart humming. Making lots of quilts and experimenting with the million stitches that are on the machine... what a treat! up there is a little tiny thingy-ding that I made yesterday for our friend Elisabeth, her birthday is soon.

*** We're planning a winter trunkshow! stay tuned about that one. hand made for lovely you + your lovely home.

We have applied for a big grant for LOOP IT UP! I'm waiting to hear news about that. If we do get the grant, I might get to do this -- teach + coordinate the program/materials center for my JOB! which would be SPECTACULAR! fingers crossed for that one. Next week (Vacations OVER!!!) I'm going to start writing a little curriculum, mission statement/philosophy ... good stuff that will make Loop It Up more accessible and easier to pass along to other people in other parts of the community.

Very happy to be here, with my family and good friends. very excited to get back to SAV. not much is better than having good work to do, many things to make, a fabulous apartment with LYNZ + JILLY + BUB + THE WILEYS and the sun shining almost every single day when we wake up.


Ingrid Michaelson says, "I'll sew on patches to everything you tear. Cause I, love, you more that I could ever promise..."

***off we go!

bub and i set out for the north tomorrow!

We've had a very busy and very love filled week.

the nields sang, "I've got everything I need to make that long journey home..."
so here we go!