Wednesday, February 18, 2009

And I ponder what should the New York Post suffer for its gross and cruel offense? (plus I'm still on the journey)

This morning I had a very distinct consuming Black moment...even more discriptive, Black American moment because my reaction (REACTion) was weighted by the peculiar history of the past and the not-so-past that is rooted and steeped in the formation of this country and its rise as a world power and the injustice of it all.  Check out the cartoon in the New York Post today and tailor your response (or not) to your own leanings as I most certainly will.  Beyond this I will not elaborate further as I will again hyperventilate.  For awhile now I've considered creating a cultural blog as an outlet for my essays on a wide range of topics but keep deciding no, since my RL is filled with a multitude of love and personal and intimate connections that I bounce with daily and as often as I need to.  There are joys and pains associated with living consciously and as encompassing as possible in the way I've chosen as an African American Woman...I'm sharing this much as a way to recognize that which is deep and the backdrop to everything I do today while also updating this journey I'm on as an art quilter which is the purpose for Seamless Skin (of which I could re-examine what I now intend by "seamless", but I will spare you and myself at the moment).


Monday I took myself on an artist date and went second hand browsing.  One place is kinda upscale antique mall...4 floors and is located in the building where I had my first job at 14 in a summer youth program.  I worked the same place for 2 summers as a typist and all around office grunt which included running a mimeograph machine which I thought was cool at the time.  I purchased this embroidered round, very sheer, placemat that feels like papyrus of all things.  It was a handmade thing that cost me a buck so I was thrilled.  I want to tranfer an image onto it but for now its pinned up high on the design wall.  I also went to another 2nd hand furniture dive that has great stuff but isn't located in a high rent district and found lots of old creative looking stuff but I only came out of there with a red linen table cloth.  I have this idea percolating around roughness representing hard times...for now it seems connected to the quilts on prayers.


Yesterday morning I reconnected with a dear friend over breakfast at Toast.  Hi Cari!  Its been close to three years since we've spoken, maybe longer, but it energized my spirit and after we parted I made an impromptu stop at Actor's Theatre to see Upfromsumdirt's piece in the exhibit in the lobby.  As prolific as he is I was underwhelmed with the piece he submitted.  He cultivates an "outsider" as in outsider art philosophy toward creating his digital images that he describes as Mythmatics(c) so he isn't all that open to input but if he ever wanted to know what I thought, Hi Ron, I"ve only viewed his strongest work at his solo shows and online and not in his group shows.


Now to my own artistic issues------I completed the quilting on the current quilt and its stretched out on the design wall drying for blocking...BUT! this DSCN3937puckering grates my last nerve and the solution I thought so brilliant a few weeks ago (embellishing with stones) just seemed a notch above stupid yesterday.  So my new BRILLIANT idea is to go whole cloth with 2 sections (the ones without any puckering) and create 2 smaller quilts.  The red section and the yellow one will be a go!  Peter didn't think the green section was as dynamic as the other two...he thought the green needed to be more intense to hang with the vibrancy of the green and yellow and the green is a shaded green and doesn't have as much going on in it as the other 2 panels.  Parts of the green section will be salvaged into postcards like I did with these from another quilt.


I also made my first fiber ATC's. 


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One is destined to Emmy in the Netherlands.  If you'd like to trade with me, buzz me an email.


I have postcards like the ATCs for sale, 3 of which are listed on my new Etsy set-up.  Check here  or click on the page at the top of this blog.



8 comments:

  1. Wow is that cartoon ever wrong on so many levels, plus it is just a lame joke anyways. sigh. Some people just will not get it ever will they?! I don't know why that would even get printed, says a lot about the editor of that newspaper. I'm glad you're keeping the whole shebang on one blog. Real life informs our real art, as it should...Very cool atc's too.

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  2. I recently discovered your blog and would love to swap an ATC with you. They look very good for a first set!
    The news about the cartoon hadn't filtered down to me here in Oz yet. Sigh... I hope that newspaper loses a lot of readers...
    Best wishes, Linda Robertus, a Dutchie in Brisbane, Australia

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  3. even IF the cartoonist isn't a bigot and simply didn't think the connotations through, it's an editor's job to be aware of cultural landmines like that. *I* am, and I don't even live there! Defending the idiocy of printing something so inflammatory is just stupid. It's not as if it's funny anyway.

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  4. over here, I've been off track all day because of that cartoon and what it evoked in me. It will take a while to truly calm down. Love the organic scope of the ATC's, though.

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  5. I feel out of the loop because I am on vacation. buy I just saw that cartoon on another political blog and could not believe my eyes. As Julie said, it is wrong on so many levels. I am, however, happy to hear about your ramblings and creative energy.

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  6. I totally agree this cartoons blows. Who on earth would print this thinking it was hilarious? or even remotely funny? I had a moment like this a few days ago when I saw a very poorly put together "documentary" portraying Children in Appalachia.(toothless, ignorant, uneducated, incestuous, hillbilly etc. ) I was so angry but then I realized people who still believe things like this always will. Channel it into something good, strong and meaningful!

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  7. No wonder you are hyperventilating! What a revolting and moronic thing to print! There is no excuse,even for the NY Post which is not a classy newspaper in the first place. So glad there was an outcry - but the damage is done.

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  8. I was stunned, angry and disappointed when I saw it. It is a step backward to see that is something so tasteless was allowed to go to print.
    Keep your creativity going, its beautiful.
    Your friend Junott

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