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Marimekko "Unikko" yardage


Marimekko "Sademetsa" yardage.

Today we converted the life drawing room into our photo "studio". After clearing out drawing chairs, tables, easels and chairs (so many chairs) I set up to shoot textiles. I was not prepared for 2 things; 1 actually having to clean the drawing room (don't they have some work study for me to abuse, use?) and 2 shooting large pieces of fabric without a large source of light. It took 2 softboxes, 2 lights strategically bouncing off the ceiling, 2 sheets of foamcore, a text to Maja and a frantic call to West Photo on how to change a modeling light for the Speedatron 202vf (I inherited these lights from the previous dude and have no clue about them. Note: push down and turn past the notch. Thanks guys!).

Out of the 20 or so we shot today these Marimekko pieces were my favorite.

Preservation

After spending almost a decade of making objects and people look better than they do in real life, it's hard to switch gears. Working at the Goldstein I sometimes have to be reminded of what I (we) do there. I am documenting and preserving objects. I try to recall my experiences at the M.I.A and how I love to look at the worn spots of certain object and think about how they got there or the person that used to own it. From those experiences I know that the tears, nicks and wear of the objects I photograph are important but in my mind I keep saying "I could make you so beautiful." It's hard to resist the urge to clone a little here and there but I do. I swear I do!

It's in the Fiber

Believe it or not these are photos of students taking an exam. The objective was to identify how the fabrics were woven (identifying the weave). It looks a little silly but I'm sure it is probably really important to know these things if one were to be a designer.

The Goldstein research lab (above) is a hands-on resource for students at the U of M at the College of Design. I think it's great that these students have this resource and are able to take an exam that is so physical and tactile and way more informative that seeing these weaves in a book. The only thing is we need more giant magnifying glasses.

The Passage

Here is part 2 of the 2010 family vacation posts. The first half of our trip we stayed with Moose and Addie. The second half we were lucky enough to stay with Lark. Lark’s place is a combination of the Secret Garden and Wonderland. I keep waiting for Martha Stewart Living to do a photo shoot here.

Lark’s house has a long history. It was a duplex when she originally purchased it in the late 70’s but before that it was a farm house complete with a pig barn in the yard. The pig barn is now Lark’s pottery studio. Over the past few years she has worked diligently to convert her duplex back to a single family dwelling. Being the conscientious consumer that she is, Lark searched reuse centers, Craigslist and various other outlets to find salvaged materials for this major remodeling project. The result is gorgeous. It was a true labor of love. The living room flooring is a combination of the original wood and new floorboards that were hand painted by Lark to match the grain and patina of the old ones. The construction guys laughed at her proposal to hand paint them. They ate their words later. It is flawless. I dare you to find where the old ends and the new begins. That’s probably a good way to describe her house and style in general. Vintage is the new “new” and in Lark’s house it’s hard to tell what is genuinely vintage and what’s a new vintage-style furnishing.

Anyway, Lark treated me like a princess during my stay and I loved every day of it.

Gunning Court

I am consciously making an effort to post more, mainly for ego reasons. It makes me sad to look through my posts and see the big gaps in time. There are a few things that I have intended to post but have not gotten around to doing so. One of them being our 2010 family vacation back home to Rhode Island and Massachusetts. On that short trip I shot 1500 images and other than a light edit I have not touched the files. So a blog post is a good motivator to start processing them.

While in Rhode Island we stayed with Moose and Addie for the first half of our visit. They live in a cute 2-story house on a dead end road. There are huge beach roses in the front yard and the always beautiful blue hydrangeas in the backyard. Although both yards are really small there are little nuggets of beauty tucked in. Now we move into the inside. Moose and Addie share their home with Harriet and Karl. Harriet has a gorgeous under bite and loves to greet you at the door. Karl is always dressed to impress in his furry tuxedo but prefers not to be seen.

To the point. I love to look at stuff. Old stuff, other people’s stuff, tag sales, yard sales, estate sales, Savers, the Salvation Army, etc. Your stuff tells your story. I am intrigued by what items people choose to have in their homes. These things give your house it’s character and charm. On our trip to Rhode Island I took note of the things in the houses we visited and stayed at.
Here are a few pics from the lovely little cottage on Gunning Court.

What are the things you choose to keep, display or save?

The Hardisty Art Center

I bet you didn't know I have an art gallery in my house. Here it is. It's kind of unconventional with one green wall and one off-white wall and none of the hanging materials are archival. Our gallery specializes in displaying collage artists (pronounced coe-lodge). Our current artist-in-residence is Ms. Patience Hardisty. An emerging artist that has been working in the mediums of collage and mixed media since the beginning of November of 2011. I am excited to see her art transform as she matures as an artist.

Age 2 is the best and I have been trying to take advantage of all the new big leaps in motor skills and language development. For Halloween we made leaves and pumpkin faces out of construction paper. Patience didn't quite get it but she colored the leaves and loved using the glue stick. For Thanksgiving we made hand turkeys and for a few days afterward she kept asking us to trace her hand. Now for Christmas we have made a red and green paper chain. Patience applied glue and I assembled. Later we will make evergreen trees and stars to complete our holiday look.

Room with a View

My kitchen window is a constantly evolving snapshot of the changing seasons. Here it is in fall mode. The vines are turning brown and woody. The fruit is still there but dry, shriveling and falling off. When winter finally arrives the remaining fruit will be gone, eaten by the birds as the last memories of summer. In the spring this scene will turn to green spirals reaching in and around the small squares of the mesh screen with small reddish green buds on the newly vibrant vines. In the summer an explosion of leaves cover the window acting as a natural curtain blocking out the view of the neighbor's house.

There is not much I like about this small crumbling house we rent but this window is one of it's saving graces.