erika

Meet Your Printmaker :: A show in Washington, DC this July

Back in June of '08 I was featured on the Meet Your Printmaker blog.  They notified me a couple of months ago that they were trying to get a show together for this summer in D.C. - and to send some work if I could.  The show details can be found here for those in the area, also to see the list of other printmaking shops from around the world that will be exhibiting their work. 

Collection Friday's & a trip to D.C.

*** Collection Friday II ***
This small ceramic vessel was made by my sister while she was in High School.  A real master at throwing pots...  I've had it safely tucked inside our cabinet - holding some baby shells that I found at the beach when I was a young girl.  I was born in Ocean City, NJ (for those of you who don't know - I guess that makes me a Jersey girl)  we moved to PA when I was 4.  Every summer since then, my Mom's entire fam. goes to Ocean City - The days started around 10 - when all of us would pack up and head to the beach - some swimming - some hanging around the life guard stand - but mostly, to venture down the coast line - for what seemed like miles - without parents - looking for shells.  These tiny ones would wash up on shore in tiny sacks - almost always emptied out before reaching the beach.  Sometimes you would be lucky enough to find one of the sacks still full - with these baby conch/or welch shells, I'm no expert on the matter.  These are about the size of a piece of rice.

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since our summer officially started last Friday (S.'s last day of school) and P. has been working in Washington D.C. all week, Sophia and I decided to stay at a hotel down there and do some sight seeing.  We also got to eat dinner w/ P. at a wonderful french rest. in DuPont Circle.  I booked a hotel room on Priceline - and ended up staying about 1/2 hour metro ride outside of D.C. in Rockville MD.  We first went to The National Zoo:::

green roof

new elephant habitat still under construction

mist to cool off the visitors

Our second day we went to The National History Museum - no pic's of that - it was a zoo of people and not all that picturesque.  Needless to say, we both were totally overstimulated within 30 mins and treked over to the Freer Gallery - a tiny - really well designed museum - that I've wanted to go to after having watched a documentary on Whistler's Peacock room - which is in the museum.  I prefer taking Sophia to these kinds of places - and to be honest, she enjoyed it much more.

the only non-blurry pic. from the peacock room

Collection Friday's & a big congratulations to my sister, Emma

a new project that I am starting in an effort to catalog my "collections", share a little something of myself with the world, do something new - I've decided that I will post regularly on Friday's part of my treasures stored in the cabinets in my dining room.


a letterpress type drawer measuring 5' long


my china cabinet that sadly holds little to no china at all

To start:: my ever growing collection of wild bird eggs and bird nests - since today when I walked into my front yard I found another one to add to the collection, I found it only appropriate to start there.


This nest has a packed mud ring around the top edge to keep it together and has no plastic.  It is only made of twigs, mud, grass etc...

Sophia just found the smaller nest to the left last weekend.  It is made mostly of plastic filament - some easter basket grass, and a little downy padding made from the balls that sycamore trees drop.

This has got to be one of the smallest eggs ever.  I have a hard time believing it's from a bird, but it is hard - which I think would rule out the possibilities of it coming from a lizard or some reptile. maybe it belongs to a hummingbird. 

This brings me to the admition that I have a scary eye for detail, and that my collections are usually a result of that.  My cabinets are full of bits of nature that I have spotted since I was a little girl.  I've always had a penchant for saving these "treasures" in little bags I would sew, various jars & boxes - to me, it's my way of keeping my memories - the one's that I treasure in a more tactile way.  Over the years, and after becoming a Mom, I seem to do this less and less.  That's why I thought that archiving them, primarily for myself, would be a good idea.  I don't fear loss, but oftentimes find myself thinking about it's presence, and know that these things are only earthly posessions and try to remind myself to not get too attached.  If something were to happen - as it does all over the world, every day - and I needed to leave these things, I find it reassuring that I have a small visual back-up in the form of a picture and a story on the internet. 

In other news ::  my sister Emma just graduated from middle school.  She is now a 9th grader.  She's a beautiful, kind and gentle soul - with a kick ass sense of humor.  Schwinky!  We love you and are so proud of you!

Emma & my Dad

distracted

House Industries :: Type Designers etc...

Whilst clicking around on the internets I found a type foundry I had never heard of!  What's that, you say?  never heard of House Industries?  That's right, like many a foray into this thing called "Graphic Design" that I never went to school for, I have stumbled into the world of things like "type foundries" and the like.  To some of you, those words mean nothing, to me - they are always treasure troves of excellent graphic inspiration run by witty, thoughtful, super talented people that make pretty kick ass work.  On this particular discovery they also have a storefront where they sell some goods - made by them or inspired by designs from the past.  Here's a smattering of my faves

the Benny Casa doll and his process

The Rosy & Posy casa dolls   !!!!


The Alexander Girard Memory Game   !!!!

loving this pretty picture :  the colors and feeling of it via creatures of comfort
Rowena Sartin

Tumble & Fall :: A new zine by Gracia Haby

all images : Gracia Haby - High up in the Trees

Gracia Haby is by far one of my favorite contemporary artists.  I myself have a long standing relationship with collage - and once stumbled upon her work - have been following ever since.  I think it's been about three years now.  This most recent zine she made is so unbelievable - I just went and bought two.  Thank you Gracia for being so endlessly inspiring!  Get your Tumble and Fall here

Something new & Happy Mother's Day

Top photo is of my lovely niece Abigail - just now starting her six month.  The family came for a lovely visit - we had a great time - Hi guys!  Second is my evergrowing child - Sophia - she's only five but she looks so darn big to me!  Wha' Happened? 
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The something new around here is my awesome new camera :: a Nikon D60 w/ the standard 18-55 lens.  Since it's been raining here so much - and grey - I haven't been too into taking photos.  plus the learning curve of picking up something new can kind of be daunting.  Last night, while Pavel was out back working on restoring a frame, I decided to take the camera out and see what would happen.  I prefer using cameras in their manual setting and so far - I'm really happy with this camera.  I could see myself picking up a 35mm lense, but this is good for now.  It was my Mother's Day and Birthday present from Pavel - it's the big 30 for me this September.  Did someone say party? 

The middle two shots are of our backyard.  When my sister Kira was here, she mentioned the wheat growing - I had to correct her and tell her that it was grass that needs a serious cutting...wheat :)  Those are both night shots having propped the camera on a stable surface w/ a long shutter release.  And the bottom two are of my lovely shaved head man - a first for him.  He's in his studio doing some restoration of gilt frames - Pavel's first profession that he has been doing since he was 15. 

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A big Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there.  I hope it's a sunny - relaxing day!

Pineider :: Italian Stationery & Leather goods

I've been doing a lot of research  lately - a lot of that is focused on European companies that have been in business for 100's of years.  These are the true bastions of commerce in my opinion.  I'm fascinated by them.  I mentioned this company Pineider a little while back.  It's been open since 1774 - a pioneer in bringing moveable type to Italy.  "Francesco Pineider was the first man in Italy to introduce printed letters drawn from the Anglo-Saxon and Germanic tradition, and his avant-garde equipment made it possible to produce perfect, spotless lithographic and copper-plate prints"  Everything hand engraved -  the photos above are the engraving blocks and tools - the fourth photo showing how they make the watermark that gets impressed on the sheets of paper.  This is truly all such an artform - You can visit today located in the Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy.  Everything they sell is handmade in Italy by some of the finest craftspeople in the world.  Love it.

All this rain...

Is making everything grey.  I just bought a new camera, and haven't gotten a proper opportunity to use it yet as there is hardly any natural light.  boo hoo, right? 

Here are a couple of neutral things that caught my eye today.  The top two are old litho stones from Germany.  The bottom two are old hand painted backdrops for photo's.  All from Installations a store in Houston,TX - via Housemartin