This is just a handful of photos that I took during our time in Seattle. If you would like to see the rest of them, check out my Flickr feed.
Time to Go Home
Last night I slept in the mist amongst a graveyard of cedar trees, a mere 100 yards from the ocean. It smelled of burning cedar logs on the campfire and sounded like crashing waves.Earlier in the day, we ate smoked mussels and clam chowder, and then embarked on a hike into a temperate, fern covered forest to find the perfect spot for Phase I of my Decomposition fiber art installations. I can't remember the last time I felt this creatively fulfilled. (Photos to come upon our return home). The previous night: we joined with friends old and new and enjoyed great food and conversation. Even away from home we have found great community and bonded with New friends who also reside in Oklahoma. Earlier that day: wandering around Portland (lost, but we got to see a lot of it that way), visited and purchased from the kingdom of books (Powell's) and hiked at Hoyt Arboretum beneath redwoods, spruces, firs and giant sequoias. Might have snagged some spongy sequoia bark to take home... Along with some street side succulents bits that afternoon... All this since in Portland. Since I last posted we geeked out in the towns where Twin Peaks and Northern Exposure were filmed in WA. Snoqualmie (Twin Peaks) was really developed and had very little of the character left in it (what can you expect after 20 years). Roslyn, however, (Northern Exposure) is still very remote, quaint, quiet and AMAZING. We hung out in town for a bit and then headed out to the river where we pitched our tent 10 feet from the bank, shared a bottle of wine, watched a beaver swimming around and saw the most beautiful night sky. The wedding in Oregon was in and of itself a blast, and it was set in a gorgeous landscape - a meadow atop a mountain with forest all around. I had a blast seeing one of my best friends marry a beautiful, amazing woman and the reception was one of the most fun I've been to, to date. Overall, we love it here. I'm ready to see my critters at home and be in my house, but we have loved every moment of this trip. Enough blabbing now, here are some Instagram photos from the past week. Sorry again for the size and quality, I'll prepare a series of photo posts from the shots I took with my camera after we are home
Decomposition || Colony Trial
These little guys have kept me busy lately, reinforcing the cap shape with wire and wrapping the stems. I'm finding that I wish I had made more of them, but I still think the project outcome will be fun and as expected. If it works out, there is always opportunity to make more of them for a larger scale installation eventually.
This first phase is titled "Colony" and after we return home I plan to get to work on some Ganoderma - a lot more color, a lot more technical and shape dependent. I have some exciting ideas for how to execute that phase though, so I can't wait to get started on it.
In any case, while we were in Arkansas camping last month, I took a few pieces along with us on a hike just to test them out. Here is a sneak peek of a "Colony". After we return from Oregon, I'll post the real deal.
Trees with Heartbeats
As an urban forester and lover of installation art, I would be remiss to not share this installation that coincides with the Olympics in London this year.
Sometimes I think it's difficult for people to really grasp that trees are breathing, functioning beings with intricate processes that somehow come together even though these organisms do not have nervous systems or brains like humans and animals. This is one of the ideas that drew me to study forestry in the first place, because it's so beyond my understanding no matter how long I ponder it. I will never stop being amazed by trees and what they are capable of despite how still and static they appear, and I wish people didn't miss out so often in regards to understanding what our communities gain by having trees growing throughout them.
This installation is an educational and artistic perspective of environmental services of trees that was put in place to raise awareness about these benefits.
From RTTC:
"The ‘Breathing Trees’ display is based in Russell Square – one of they city’s best known public areas – and is intended to change a typical city park into a living, breathing organism using light and sound installations.The artwork is a collaboration between Camden Borough Council and digital art company Creatmosphere. It uses a series of multi-colour LED lights positioned within two of the square’s largest trees to visually transform the canopy into the ‘lungs’ of the city, rising and falling to the sound of breathing and a beating heart.
London’s focus on sustainability ahead of the Olympics Games has been praised by NGOs such as WWF and Bioregional.
And Councillor Phil Jones, Cabinet member for sustainability at Camden said the art would help reinforce their efforts to remind the public of how vital trees are to urban areas.
'Breathing trees in not just a visual audio spectacle…it will reinforce our message that our natural environment must be protected,' he said.
'Without protecting our wonderful natural resources we will be unable to tackle the many environmental issues in the years to come.' "
In case you're interested in what services trees do provide, check out the National Arbor Day Foundation's information about tree benefits.
Neukom Vivarium
In one week, we will be in Seattle taking in 80 degree temperatures, great seafood and the culture of the northwest. One of the sites I am most looking forward to visiting is the Olympic Sculpture Park, an extension of the Seattle Art Museum. The reason behind this is Neukom Vivarium, an art installation surrounding life cycles and the decomposition process of an old growth log. Here is a brief description of the installation by Mark Dion from the park web site:
"Neukom Vivarium is a hybrid work of sculpture, architecture, environmental education and horticulture that connects art and science. Sited at the corner of Elliott Avenue and Broad Street, it features a sixty-foot-long 'nurse log' in an eighty-foot-long custom-designed greenhouse. Set on a slab under the glass roof of the greenhouse, the log has been removed from the forest ecosystem and now inhabits an art system. Its ongoing decay and renewal represent nature as a complex system of cycles and processes. Visitors observe life forms within the log using magnifying glasses supplied in a cabinet designed by the artist. Illustrations of potential log inhabitants-bacteria, fungi, lichen, plants, and insects-decorate blue and white tiles that function as a field guide, assisting visitors' identification of 'specimens.' Neukom Vivarium is the artist's first permanent public art work in the United States."
Off the Needles || Feel Everything Mantra
Feel Everything. Be present. Be aware. I finished this mantra the other day. Great color work practice. This series is probably some of the most fulfilling knitting I've ever done, and I'm looking forward to charting out some new phrases. Any suggestions?
A Pyramid and a Rock
Yes, you are looking at a knitted sculpture in the shape of a giant rock. The piece is in fact a giant replica of a smaller rock, a fragment of one of the Pyramids at Giza taken by a young boy (the artist) on a trip with his family (he did put it back... eventually). The backstory on this sculpture is pretty interesting, if you have a moment to read about it << here >>.
Andy Holden created this piece, in addition to some other knitted work shown below. Can you imagine how long it took to knit all of that fabric? That's a lot of surface area. I'm definitely going to keep an eye on his web site, in hopes of seeing more knitted medium used in the future.
On My Needles || Another Mantra
I enjoyed creating my first Mantra Scarf so much that I recently decided to chart out some different phrases to knit up as well. The one I'm working on currently is for my best friend Sarah, but I have decided to continue making these and to offer them in my online shop once I have enough inventory to open. The mantra woven into this piece is "Feel Everything", a phrase that has stuck in my head since I started listening to Fiona Apple's new album. I've been using fair isle technique for weaving in the floats, and this is my first attempt at English/Continental style knitting. It's somewhat difficult to get the hang of, but I'm getting used to it (and my fingers are cramping up less). I must say it's odd knitting with two strands of yarn, one in each hand, but I'm glad I've been able to practice a new technique and improve my skills through this process. My hope is to finish this scarf later this week (time permitting - Oregon is coming up fast and I still have over a hundred bits of fungi to assemble for my first Decomposition installation.) In any case, have a look! :)
Off the Needles || Loope
So remember that tunic I finished a few weeks ago? I'm sure you've been on the edge of your seat waiting for me to post some proof, so I'll take an edge off the suspense and indulge you. This is the Loope Tunic, designed by the Berroco Design Team, and published in Berroco #289 Lustra. It's a great pattern book with a couple of others I'd like to try... at some point.
I started this tunic about a year and a half ago, and as it usually goes with large projects, I got through all the knitted sections and then got lazy about seaming so it sat in a tote bag on a shelf for months and months. As a byproduct of my rejuvenation-by-sock, I decided it was time to finish up this wool/tencel fiber beauty.
Initially I fell in love with the color in Loops, and then was drawn to the book and then left the store after impulse buying everything to finish this project. Lustra is a gorgeous yarn that is part animal fiber and part plant fiber. The tunic is slightly itchy, but the sheen is luxurious. Since knitting this pattern, Lustra has become a favorite of mine for knitting loose cowls too.
When my grandfather passed away a few years back, I inherited his ties that he used to wear when he and my grandma went square dancing. They've been sitting in my closet since then, waiting for the perfect new purpose. For the neck ribbon of the tunic I saw the perfect opportunity to use one and threaded it through to secure the neckline. I love how it turned out!
If only the weather were conducive to wearing sweaters at this point in the year. In case you can't tell, I'm seriously burning up during this photo shoot. It. is. way. too. hot. in Oklahoma. Soon enough.....
Texture || City Stripes
While in Kansas City we checked out the Performing Arts Center and some of the art around the Grand Ballroom. I couldn't help but be impressed by the combination of textures between these beautifully designed buildings along with the artwork on display around them. The sculptures below were done by Jun Kaneko, an artist out of Nebraska that J is a fan of. From the City of Kansas City's press release about the project:
"The courtyard's surface is designed to represent flowing water, referencing the building's aquatic motif. To achieve this, the artist produced a design that incorporates tinted concrete to create a banded pattern that is mirrored in the head-shaped sculptures."
It was interesting to look across the courtyard and see the same banding pattern in the architecture of the performing arts center across the way. It doesn't tie into this textures post, but I wish I had gotten some photos of the landscaping surrounding the PAC. In addition to trees and prairie grasses on one side, the parking garage was also designed with a green roof.
Kansas City
We visited Kansas City this weekend for a friend's wedding, and I have to say the city is way more interesting (and beautiful) than I had anticipated. I've only been there once before, which was for a soccer tournament when I was 11. I can't remember much, and I think the tournament was in Overland Park so I doubt we actually even went into the downtown area. We had a great time exploring - the architecture is beautiful, the culture is unique and I've never felt safer walking around any City's downtown at night as I did there. We're already looking forward to our next visit, and can hopefully spend a little more time exploring.
The last two photos are of some items I purchased from Hammerpress, an amazing letterpress and design studio. I fell in love with the shop upon walking in, and basically squealed with glee when I found Woodcut out on display. If you remember this post about Bryan Nash Gill's prints using tree cross sections, you understand my excitement. Now I have my own copy of the book (happy early birthday to me!). I can't wait to go through all of it!
Hannah Haworth
This whale initially caught my eye, but then I saw this beautiful installation and wanted to share it. (If I didn't think my cat would destroy it, I would love to have something like this in my house). These are the work of Hannah Haworth, a Scottish born artist who now resides in New York. She has some nice photography on her blog as well.
Woolly Sagas
Is it a flash flood? A babbling brook? An erupting volcano? A lushly green island? An iceberg? Oh, nope... it's just wool dyed and manipulated into tiny landscapes and then photographed by Eszter Burghardt. Amazing. via WATG
On My Needles || July 2012
I tend to keep a number of projects going all at once, so rather than highlighting a single work in progress, here are some updates on the items I've got going. Not included are the mushroom caps I've been working on for my Wood Decay Fungi project, which I'm now leaning toward titling "Decomposition". With that project I'm finally past the knitting stage and am working on getting the caps assembled and ready for installation. Hopefully you'll see something on this by summer's end. Foundations
As I've mentioned before, this is an original pattern that I am designing as a gift for a friend. The finished garment is a baby blanket, although it could probably be knit up in a super bulky gauge in cotton and would make a really cool rug. I'm not going to say too much about it until it's finished and in its home, but as I'm a tree hugger, think about the title and that together and let your imagination run wild! The yarn I'm using for this project is Knit Picks Swish DK in Bark.
Aran Braided Sock
I've been working on this for a few weeks now, since I finished my first pair of socks. It's going somewhat slowly since I just pick it up here and there (mostly during my lunch break at work), but I love how the color striping lays out on the diagonal. You've got the braid texture from the cabling and also the spiral of hues running down the length of the sock; it's gorgeous! Can't wait to finish these up and start wearing them. The yarn is Staccato Sock by Shibui, which is a super wash merino blend with silk and nylon. The color is #161.
Mantra Scarf
I've decided to expand on Mantra and develop charts for some new phrases and make an entire series. Since I've been a little inspired by Fiona Apple's new album as of late, the phrase "Feel Everything" really stood out to me and I decided to use it as the next phrase. I'm working on my continental style knitting so I can more efficiently weave in the floats. If I can get it down pretty well then I think I will enjoy making a lot of these. My yarn of choice for Mantra is Berroco's Ultra Alpaca. The main color (background) shade is called "Moonshadow" in this current scarf, which I love. It's not too far along yet, but here's what I've got so far.
Off the Needles || Urbanite Garland
Fairly often, I will look through my stash baskets and fawn over the gorgeous single skeins I bought just for the satisfaction of having yarn so beautiful, or perhaps for another project that lost steam long ago and never regained its momentum. I have a few skeins of Berroco Seduce for reasons closely related to the latter - I need to revise a pattern but can't manage to sit down and just do it, so there they lie. The other day my eyes set on one skein of Seduce in particular that was a rich, copper color (one of my favorite colors) and I suddenly had a brilliant idea on how to use it. I sat down, started knitting and jotting down pattern notes and behold-- a few days later I have this headband that I am absolutely in love with.
It reminds me of a number of things: the "Roaring Twenties" flapper hair pieces, a bohemian clover garland, an 80's sweat band (let's forget about that one), and the ever modern hipster headband that rivals the fedora in every way. So, hence comes the name, "Urbanite Garland", a combination of those things... a little bit boho and a little bit glam. a little bit hip and a little bit... functional? (damn those 80's)
I'm planning to get the pattern typed up to share here and on Ravelry (for free!), but in the meantime here are some photos of the finished product. I knitted some small twists into the main fabric, which only show up when you look very closely because of how ornate the yarn is. I like how subtle they are though. The thin strip on the back of the head is also cabled into a series of twists. This might be a great pattern for a stylish work out headband too if you knit it up in some organic cotton.. I intend to experiment a little bit with a few different yarns, so I'll post about how it goes!
Natural Curiosity
Through the Light || Oak-Hickory Forest
This is the last set of images from our visit to the Ozark National Forest early this month. One other visual aesthetic that always makes my heart go pitter-patter is the effect of natural light (or artificial, in some cases) on a scene. I know I'm not alone on this - it's a common theme across the board in photography, which I am no expert in. This "Through the Light" feature, much like "Hues" and "Texture" is merely my own perspective on themes that stand out to and inspire me on a regular basis. I think the last one is my favorite.
What inspires you?
Hazy, Smoky, Foggy
I like the way these images by Carson Davis Brown make me feel. No words, just "ahhhhhhhhh". (via The Fox is Black)
Hues || Oak-Hickory Forest
In the quiet moments of life there is much to observe, and those moments happen to be the ones that recharge me every day of my life. Through the Texture, Hues and Light features, my intent is to draw attention to details normally unnoticed which I find inspirational at the time of capture. The array of textures in hardwood forests is unending, but colors are a different beat. While the overall hue of the setting is a veil of green and brown, the detail and slight differences of hues are easy to pick out when looked at closely.
I always find myself in awe of these details (whether texture or hue OR both together). Here are some of the hues I picked up on while we were visiting the Ozarks recently.
Off the Needles || Baudelaire Sock
This week, I finally finished the Baudelaire socks that I began over two years ago. Checking this project off the list has inspired me to finish seaming a Berrocco top that I've had going for quite a while now, so you may see an update on that pretty soon as well. I'm still not really sure what kept me unmotivated for so long in finishing these up, because the pattern really isn't that hard and is actually pretty simple to memorize once you get your row counters organized. I seem to remember messing up the heel initially, and after I rip out rows and rows and then fix them I tend to be annoyed with a project and drop it for a while. That must be what happened. In any case, they are done now and are super comfortable (and gratifying) to wear - I will probably wind more yarn today to start a new sock pattern this week!
When I first started the Baudelaire pattern I vowed to knit a pair of socks per month that year, which obviously didn't happen. Maybe I'll add that to my 29 things before I turn 30 list that I will construct this August. It will give me an excuse to order some Malabrigo sock yarn!
Have a look... (along with a few garden photos for good measure)