Thursday, December 27, 2007

in memorium and catching up

Before I go on, I need to say how heartbroken I am about the assasination of the beautiful Benazir Bhutto. Aside from the political reasons - one more voice for democracy silenced by extremists - FOR WHAT???? I feel it on a personal level. If I hunted long and hard, I could probably find my photos of her, taken at Todd Gillman's graduation from the Kennedy School at Harvard. She had attended Radcliffe and was Prime Minister of Pakistan at the time -- probably around 1989. It was a small class, and afterward she mingled with the parents and families of the graduates. I remember chatting with her; she was warm, down-to-earth, and very charming. How impressed I was by her strength, her politics, her leadership, and her naturalness. And how sad and angry I am right now.

I think this is the third time this week I have attempted to post. Each time I've been interrupted by something or someone. Last night, it was a call that my mother was on her way to the hospital with "a touch of pneumonnia." (is that like being a little bit pregnant?) She'll be fine - I was chatting with her for a couple of hours this afternoon and have seen her in much worse shape.

I've been working at home this week. Christmas was ultra-restful. Marty, not feeling up to par, slept the day away. I quilted two pieces and attached the facings, which need to be sewn down by hand. After having read Cathy Kleeman's blog post about how she wonder-unders down her facings, I decided to try it. As I suspected, it was not for me. Without going into details, suffice it to say I am back to sewing them down.

I spent yesterday getting a pile of work ready for an exhibit that opens January 6 from 1-3 pm at the Gaelen Gallery at the JCC in West Orange, NJ. It is called "Ellis Island Memories" and it is a two person exhibit: the other artist is a photographer who has taken many pictures of the old buildings on Ellis Island. My piece, "Journey," incorporates some of my great-grands' documents. Here is Zeida's passportand his green card. It really was green! He was a baker so I come by it naturally.
I don't know where these are now: my mother had them and I borrowed them to scan them into my computer. How was I to know I should not have given them back?
On another subject, I brought home a pile of fabrics from the studio yesterday so I could work at home . Here is part of one I printed with a tape resist.( Remember, you saw it here first.)
In a moment of madness yesterday I grabbed a piece of fabric that had been sitting around and decided to warm up my quilting stitches on it. I must have been in the mood for red and purple.
I don't understand how my flash created a reflection on this matte fabric.

Tomorrow, Josh & Ben will be here for a while; Hilary is going to work for a couple of hours and they, of course, are on vacation. Josh will be 9 in March and Ben was just 7. We will have an art day while the kitchen is still a disaster area. Not sure what will be after it is done. The contractor was here tonight with the electrician so I could ask questions and make some lighting decisions. I suspect the price will escalate a bit after tonight...oh, well. If I sell enough books, maybe I can pay for the undercabinet lights - LOL.

Yawning after this long post, so it is time to go upstairs and get enough sleep to get me through tomorrow's energy requirements. David and Jake (7 and 4) will be here later in the day: all four of them have to collect their Chanukmas presents which are sorely overdue.

As usual, I will try to be better about posting. Now that I have finished my book, you would think I'd have more time. But NO. Whose law is it that you fill all the space with what you have? Nature abhors a vacuum? Whatever.

9 comments:

lizzieb said...

It's nice to be working again, huh? Good luck on the show...I love the photo of your great grandfather. What a wonderful beard!

mzjohansen said...

I too feel her death much more personally than I thought possible - since I have never met her - just admnired her.

Your new pieces are wonderful - energetic and brilliant. I especially LOVE the red one ! Maybe it's a reflection of your anger?

gabrielle said...

I, also, am deeply saddened by the loss of such a brave woman and I fear what is in store for Pakistan.

As to being a child bride,my sons ages are: 39, 32, 30 and 24. The 39 year old will turn 40 in January. I guess I am holding up well for my age...aargh!

Your work never ceases to amaze me. Happy New Year,dear friend.

Diane said...

Pakistan, and the rest of the world will feel the pain of her loss. I just don't get it...

I do like the tape resist piece very much. It has a NY feel to it.

"Journey" is touching, too.

Hope the day with the boys went well. Best to you and Marty.

Gerrie said...

I do agree. The world is missing a beautiful and brave woman.

I can't wait to get back to work in the studio. I am still in the throes of holiday entertaining.

Linda Branch Dunn said...

She seemed so brave and loved. Her loss feels huge.

thank you for the post.

Judy said...

Hey Rayna,
How cool that you at least had the presence of mind to scan in your Zeida's green card and passport. He is definitely an interesting gentleman. I would have loved to have met him...I can hear his laugh, very similar to yours!
I love the piece below it that you did. Really nice!
Have fun with the grands!

xo

Liz Plummer said...

I agree about the terrible events in Pakistan - goodness knows what is going to happen there now...

Thank you for your comment about my Gocco - I just burned my first screen - the mud photo which you edited! And it seems to have come out brilliantly! I will post photos as soon as I manage to get round to screenprinting - when the kids go back to school!

Russ Little said...

Bhutto's death came as such a disappointment, though not entirely a shock, which in itself is terribly disappointing. I had such high hopes for moderate leadership in Pakistan. Now I don't know what to think.

Sorry to hear that your Mom's under the weather, but very glad to hear that you're much improved and back in the swing of things.

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