Summer in Mill Valley

Summer is in full force here in San Francisco which means lots and lots of fog every day. We couldn't take it anymore today so we jumped in the car and headed up north to Mill Valley for some sun. Sure enough, as soon as we crossed the Golden Gate Bridge we spotted blue skies. Mill Valley is a charming little town, nestled among the redwoods and Mount Tamalpais. It's only fifteen minutes from San Francisco but feels a world away and felt twenty degrees warmer too.

We started at Old Mill park where Zoe ran up and down the creek and tried to skip rocks. There was a french family there with a little girl named Zoe and it was funny to watch them cross paths.

We took a break at Noci, a slow food gelato shop which has amazing locally made ingredients. I had a Strauss Dairy sweet cream gelato with ghiradelli chocolate.

Image courtesy of 365 things to do - Marin

Now that Zoe was stuffed and happy we managed a walk through the neighborhood, something we used to do all the time before she was born. I miss those walks as you always seem to discover something new. Today, we found a staircase path we'd never taken before.

It was lined with homes and at least two of them had chicken coops. We spotted this little wanderer on the staircase.

 

And then Zoe found two blue eggs hiding inside a zen water fountain nearby. I suppose someone found them and laid them in the fountain to keep them cool.

A little girl came up the stairs calling "Zoe!". It was her dog. Another Zoe discovered; strange day indeed. We walked further up the hill and discovered another staircase alongside this amazing building.

 

After touring an incredible $2.8 million dollar house for the fun of it (gawd!), we had a great dinner at Tsukiji Sushi situated in an old house off the plaza. I didn't realize the head chef hails from the locally famous Sushi Ran restaurant. It was an awesome meal. Zoe dug into their house-cured Ikura.

Image courtesy of foodnut.com.

On the way back to the car, I missed going into Maison Reve yet again! I have passed this shop many times and have yet to make it when it's open. I'm itching to go back so I can wander those shelves full of linen. Check out their website here.

For more amazing photos of Mill Valley inside the shops, click here.

 

Marimekko

I couldn't resist a post about Marimekko today. I just returned from their new store inside of Crate & Barrel here in San Francisco. Zoe complained about being dragged through the store until we turned the corner and saw this.

Image courtesy of Dwell.

She was speechless by all the colors as was I. She kicked off her shoes and made herself at home on one of the beds so I had a few moments to shop in peace. I eye-shopped today but I would love this teapot. I'm just waiting for my current one to break first.



Rasymatto teapot.

You could always buy Marimekko here in the states but only a few pieces here and there. This year, they've opened up several areas inside of Crate & Barrel stores as well as a concept store in New York. You can find all of their products at the concept store including their clothing.

Aavikko Leggings.

Here's a little video about the company.

It was nice to finally feel the fabrics in my hand and see just how large the patterns really are.

The concept store is currently having a large sale with discounts on all their fabric as well, uh oh! Be sure to check out their website as well. Lots of eye candy there too.

UPDATE! I just learned that Marimekko will be increasing the prices of their fabric in January 2012 due to the rising cost of cotton and the worldwide cotton shortage. Just one example is regular cotton will go from $39.00 per yard to $48.00 per yard. A pretty high increase. Yikes!

Artist : Denim quilts by Julie Floersch

Thanks to Sophie for reminding about the new Denim exhibition at Mr. Kitly in Brunswick, Australia, featuring the work of Renilde de Peuter and several other talented artists. It was here that I discovered Julie Floersch's denim quilts. I had to know more!

Denim Quilt by Julie Floersch

She had been interested in making quilts but thought she would pick it up when she was older but couldn't get the thought out of her head. This was her first quilt she made. That girl can sure make a complicated plan!

first quilt by Julie Floersch

I think I like the back just as much as the front.

Here's an article about her quiltmaking and her tumbler site. She now makes quilt accessories like earings, necklaces and purses under the company name of KWILTI.

Purse by Julie Floersch

I hope we see more of her quilts in the future. She's truly gifted.

Pinterest!

I'm sure many of you by now are on Pinterest. If not, you need to be. It's become such a great way to organize my favorite images on the internet. What I like even more is that it links the image back to the original site to give credit where credit is due (something that's been in the news lately online).

I've created an art as craft board on Pinterest where I post works by artists I've featured on my blog as well as other articraft artists I've discovered. Here are some of my favorites.

African American Quilt. Strip quilting, flying geese improvisation
Cotton. Red, white, blue, salmon and beige
1st half of the 20th cent, St. Louis MO
80” x 72”

Madder dyed from clarabellacraft.blogspot.com

Dyed tea bag weaving, 2011. Sophie Truong.

Sashiko stitched boro from Sri Threads.

Check out all of my boards here. It will give you a peek into my interior design/architecture addiction as well. Hopefully you can see these if you're not on pinterest yet. If not, pop me an email at kathryn at kathrynclark dot com and I'll send you an invite.



Artist : Robert Irwin

What is Art? This is a question Robert Irwin raises and is one of the few artists to answer it well. It's as simple as how we perceive the world.

I first learned of Irwin twenty odd years ago when I picked up Lawrence Weschler's book about him "Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees." The title caught me at an art museum bookstore. Five minutes into reading it, I was hooked. I had no idea what Irwin's work looked like but I admired this artist instantly. I've read the book over ten times and return to it whenever I have doubts about what I do. And now I've found this great interview with Irwin. It's long but well worth it. Grab yourself a cup of tea or coffee and enjoy!

 

  Robert'>http://vodpod.com/watch/2253816-robert-irwin-primaries-and-secondaries">Robert irwin -- Primaries and Secondaries

You can find a newly released edition of Weschler's book here. See more of Irwin's work here.

A different kind of articraft ... the farms

It's getting to us, this life in the country. If only our responsiblities weren't calling us back to the city, I think we'd be up here a lot more. But we're certainly hooked now. We've decided to call this our second home and started the search for a little slice here.

We're not sure what we'll end up with, our minds are open to the possibilities. We spent the last two days on farms, we even ate dinner outside at my favorite, Soul Food Farm.

For over a year, I've been treking across town once a month to pick up my chicken and eggs from their CSA. It has been oh so worth it. The most beautiful orange yolks. Even Alice Waters buys her eggs from them and encouraged them to start raising meat birds.

Their story sounds enticing, buying the property out of love and just hoping to grow olives or lavender. And look what happened to them.

Yesterday we visited another of my favorite spots, Oak Hill Farm in Glen Ellen to buy vegetables for dinner.

I read this book last year that wet my appetite for more. It did not disappoint. The staff inside the barn even wrapped up a little bouquet for Zoe and said they had to do it, they were so charmed by her swirling and dancing.

To top off a perfect weekend, we biked over to an open house yesterday and fell in love with the garden already set up for growing food.

They even made a canning room they grew so much food in it. On top of that, it had a separate 800 square foot artist's studio adjacent. It wasn't an ideal location though adjacent to a school and a graveyard. I think we'll be patient. This one sure was enticing though. What do you think?

work table : Cleveland Foreclosure Quilt

Today I have some uninterrupted work time while my husband and daughter go for a long bike ride. Cleveland is calling today.

This morning I was finally able to remove most of the pins on the Cleveland Foreclosure quilt. It feels so gratifying to remove quilt pins as tedious as it is.

I have all of the layers quilted together, I just need to quilt the inner lot lines that run through the block.

Then I will start to cut out more of the empty and foreclosed lots like these.

Here's what hopped by me in the vineyard yesterday. This one wasn't more than three feet from us. Jack rabbit, rabbit, hare? Whatever he is, his legs were huge! It was wild to watch them hop under the vines at high speed.

work table : working among the vines ...

How's this for a work table? This has been a perfect little spot for working in the morning through the afternoon.

I should be drinking wine here but I'm not sure how straight my stitches would be after a few glasses. This is the view from my 'desk'.

I've been hard at work doing other things here too, like some good research that I picked up from the Renegade Craft Fair last weekend.

And you can't go to the wine country without working on this:

Tomorrow we'll start working on our biking and wine tasting. We'll see how much sewing I get done the rest of the week.

work table : patchwork crazy

I've been stealing bits of creative time all summer since my daughter isn't in school. I'm spending more time out of my studio in my house noticing all the little improvements I can make. Here are some I finished last week.

Of course it takes a little deadline like family coming to stay to get one in gear to actually finish all those projects around the house. I swapped out my oh so dull beige carpet tiles with these funky ones I had been using in my office. Zoe LOVES playing hopscotch down the hall now.

I have loved Henry Road fabrics for quite awhile and found a great use for their little remnant bags you can order online. I ordered one pack for each of my four Heywood Wakefield chairs that were also covered in oh so dull beige. You really get your money's worth with these packs. I have SO much fabric left over.

And now that summer is here, it means VACATION! We're off to Sonoma for two weeks and this is my pile of sewing I plan to take with me for my remote studio. I just have to remember to bring the thread!

Artist : Cy Twombly 1928 - 2011

 “It’s more like I’m having an experience than making a picture.”

Cy Twombly

We lost one of our greatest painters this week. He certainly lived a long life and was incredibly productive throughout.

Hero and Leander (to Christopher Marlowe), Rome 1985, 202 x 254, Cy Twombly.

My first experience of seeing one of his paintings in person was when I wandered into a room full of his chalkboard paintings at the Hirshorn in Washington DC twenty-four years ago. It looked something like this ...

from menil.org

After being blown away by those I followed his paintings for years, always instantly recognizable, always beautiful in their urgent, intense way. Look what he does to some paper and scotch tape. Stunning.

Untitled, 1974. Wax paper, pencil, scotch tape, collage 75 x 106cm. Cy Twombly.

And guess what? He attended Black Mountain College too. What is it about that school?! Today I spent some time delving into his sculptures. I had seen very few of these and had no idea he had created so many.

Untitled, New York 1953. wood, wire, twine, nails, housepaint and wax on cloth, 15 9 7/8" x 4" Collection of Robert Rauschenberg.

His gesture translates effortlessly between materials. His fingerprints show through it all.

Orpheus (Du Unendliche Spur) 1979. Wood, nails, paint, graphite. 266 x 244 x 22.2 cm. Collection of the artist by Cy Twombly.

Read his obituary in the New York Times. And visit his website here.

Artist : Anni Albers

I decided this week to create a separate featured articraft artist page on this blog with links to the artists' sites. As I was compiling the list, I realized I had left out one of the biggest influences in my own work, master weaver Anni Albers.

Anni Albers with a student, Black Mountain College, ca. 1937
Photo Josef Breitenbach, Black Mountain College
©2003 The Josef Breitenbach Trust, New York

Anni Albers revolutionized the concept of textiles as art to be hung on the wall. And her eye, it was simply incredible. Her designs seem so simple on the surface, yet your eyes are drawn in and suddenly realize the amazing complexity of construction. So well thought out, so studied. This was her first piece when she found her voice in the weaving workshop at the Bauhaus.

Anni Albers, Wallhanging, 1924
Cotton and Silk. JAAF: 1994.12.1
168.275 x 100.33 cm (66.25 x 39.5 inches)
©2007 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

She would soon marry Josef Albers and begin a lifelong artistic relationship that propelled their work further ahead than either could have ever dreamed.

Anni Albers, Wall Hanging, 1925
Wool and silk.
235.9 x 96.04 cm (92.875 x 37.812 inches)
Die Neue Sammlung Staatliches Museum für angewandte Kunst, Munich
©2008 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

When the Bauhaus was closed in 1933, they moved to the United States to teach at the newly formed Black Mountain College in North Carolina. Both Josef and Anni inspired some of the greatest artists here in the US because of this move. I have often found that the contemporary artists I most admire today were taught by the Alberses or were taught by their students. They clearly made a huge impact in the art world here. The next book I read will likely be about Black Mountain College.

Anni Albers, With Verticals, 1946
Pictoral Weaving. JAAF: 2004.12.1
155 x 118 cm (61 x 46.5 inches)
©2007 The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

In 1970, Anni Albers transitioned from weaving to printmaking. When you look at some of the work she produced, it seems like an effortless transition that probably freed her to experiment with new ideas. I love this piece. It's even for sale ... I so wish I could afford it.

Anni Albers, Orange Meander, 1970. Image 16 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches
Reference: Danilowitz 21 ("The Prints of Anni Albers")

To learn more about Anni Albers and her work, visit the Josef & Anni Albers Foundation. To see more of her prints, check out her book The prints of Anni Albers here.