Explorations :: January 2020 :: ICA Boston

March 29 2020,

Still catching up on old stuff that I found.

I had the privilege to go to Yayoi Kusams at the ICA (Institute Contemporary Art) twice! The first time was in July with Laura. The second field trip, our neighbors, two doors down had two extra tickets to see the Yayoi Kusama exhibition, thinking that hubby and I would go. I told them I had already gone, but if they couldn't find someone to go, I would be more than happy to go again.

So I did. I didn't take hubby, because he had no interest, and I took my friend, Karen, who loves art.

Just in case you want to make a Yayoi Kusams tentacles, instructions are available on the ICA website.

There was also an exhibition called "When Home Won't Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary". It was very touching.

Below is a "house". Unfortunately, I can't find information on this on the ICA site, or information on the artist. You can actually walk through this building and the different rooms.

This exhibition below was facinating. It is by an artist name Yinka Shonibare, please make sure you visit his website, his work is absolutely stunning. I love African fabrics.

If you want to learn more about "The American Library" there is a whole website dedicated to it.

I apologize for the blurry text below. This is an interesting mirror by Adrian Piper.

Yes that's me. :)

Quilt & Bitch

'Nuf Said :: I have been...

March 26 2020,

Dear Friends,

This is a scary time for all of us. I'm just going to lay it out there. I have had numerous anxiety attacks. From shortage of food, chaos, to the end of the world. What keeps on replaying in my mind is the television series called "Falling Skies" with Noah Wyle. I am starting to have dreams and nightmares of chaos.

I am thankful for hubby always being there. I'm able to talk to him where he would calm me down from my vivid imagination.

What I'm most scared about is the chaos that I replay, where there is no law and order. People starting to break into people's houses. I am not scared of death or dying, but I am scared of the journey.

I have been quilting. I have a wedding quilt that needs to be done by June that is a king size. My goal this week is to finish the top, which will be approximately 110 x 98. Then it will take me a month to quilt it.

I have been listening to audiobooks from our library digital collection.I am so thankful with for technology. Our library also has a subscription to CreativeBug.com. I can continue learning new art technique. Check out what your library's digital collection is, and get familiar with it. My library still has librarian that you can email. So you can reach them by email and they may be able to help you navigate the world of digital / electronic collection.

I have been getting in touch with friends. Some friends, I check-in once a week, and that's all we need. Some friends I check in once a day, some friends, I check in multiple times a day. Even if there is nothing to talk about, when there is silence, it it still ok. You know when you need to check on a friend who may need you more than once a week. I am grateful to be able to have hubby. Some of my friends don't, and they are alone. So this is the time to reach out to them. Sometimes you need them, sometimes they need you.

I have been working. Since hubby and I are in tech, we are relatively busy. We are able to help people who need technical help remotely. This has kept us relatively busy as people migrate to the cloud or setting up webcam etc.

I have been crying. This goes back to the anxiety. I just let the tears come. I have tried meditation, but it is too hard for me. My quilting and sewing is my form of meditation.

Now is the time to find friends that you can trust and reach out to them. You will be able to gauge how much they need you and how much you need them. If they are starting to become a burden, don't be afraid to tell them. If they are your friends, they won't take it personally.

I have been shopping. I have been taking stock (at reasonable amounts) of what we need. There are only two of us. We have been running the dishwasher twice a week, instead of the normal once a week. I started to panic about running out of dish washing tabs. So when I went out yesterday, I bought dish washing tabs, floor cleaners, bathroom cleaners, and toilet bowl cleaners. After I bought them, I felt much better and it calmed me down. I am planning my meals more carefully so that one of us only has to go once a week to purchase food and any other necessity. So I make sure I have enough things to make that we can eat for a week. We have frozen food and meats, but we are trying not to touch that unless we need to. Hubby has been dipping into the Trader Joe's Mac' n Cheese, so I replenish it when we go out.

I have been taking every day one day at a time. I have been fluid. I am usually very stringent and need to stick to a plan. At this time, one has to try to be fluid. Things are changing by the hour. The day the library was closing, I was lucky to have gotten a call from the librarian saying that I have books that I need to pick up. He told me ahead of the crowd that all the town library were closing. I was then able to pick up my book and get more books for hubby. That day I came home with 7 books for hubby. The next week, the library announced that they were doing curb side pick up. I ordered 5 more books (the limit) for curb side pickup. I am thankful to be able to not procrastinate and have books for hubby. This will last him a while. He reads every night before bedtime. I choose the books, and he reads it. Then he gives me four ratings. 1. More 2. Yes 3. Ok 4. No. I have a spreadsheet that I maintain that lists the books with his ratings. In 2012 I wrote a blog post about My Love Affair With Books, if you are interested.

I have been breathing. Breathing is good. Taking deep breaths. One foot in front of the other.

I have been on social media-ing. I distract myself by reading the post on groups that I have joined and folks I follow. I have been looking at Instagram to get inspiration. Oh, I am on Instagram under the handle @quiltandbitch.

I have been playing Farmville. I secretly play Farmville. I have a group of online friends whom are on it. They are from all over the country and all over the world. One woman actually works at the Atlanta CDC. When I have a huge panic attack, I'm Facebook Messenger her and she will give me the scientific answer in laymen term. Farmville takes my mind away.

I am thankful that I have all these venues I can go "visit" during the day.

What my friends are doing. After touching base with my friends, they have been cleaning, organizing, cooking, quilting, and mainly going through their UFO's (unfinished objects) and getting things done.

I hope you all are well, healthy and sane. Please use good judgment when going out.

Quilt & Bitch

Open Studio... From Last Year

March 22 2020,

I''m still catching up on things that I should have blogged about last year, but never did. Here's another one.

Last October, my town had an open studio which I participated in. I was the only quilter in town that was exhibiting, so we got a good amount of traffic. My dear friend Laura opened her house and allowed me to display my quilts for open studio.

Laura does mix media art. The two pieces below on the right of the quilt is hers. The artwork is made out of vintage book covers.

Below are table mats and trivets that I made specifically for the open studios, I still have them.

This was a big hit. These are quilts that I mounted on 12 x 12 canvases. I took a workshop and came out with painted canvases. I assembled it with solid Kona fabrics and quilted it.

These two quilts were not documented. These two are called Jazz Lingo and something else. Fortunately, it got sold, unfortunately, my brain is not working and can't seem to remember the name of the quilt. These two were mounted on 12 x 12 canvas.

Quilt & Bitch

Explorations :: Summer 2019 at the MFA

March 19 2020,

I was looking through my pictures at found that I had not posted two of my trips to the MFA.
This was in the summer of 2019. I hope that this will give some inspiration to make art.

Stephen Rolfe Powell, amazing glass work, see his other glassworks on his website

See more works by Olga De Amaral on her website.

I was surprise that I came across this Yayoi Kusama painting. I am a big fan.

This big mural by Jackson Pollock and Katharina Grosse was big. I wish I had space that big to make art!

Quilt & Bitch