It might as well be said that this is my best friend of 11 years. He’s dumped me on the ground from a full gallop more times than I want to count, but also listened to my angst and shared my growing up process in his own horsey way. His “show name” is Maybe So, but he goes by Ben. He’s feisty and stubbon as hell and always wants his way to be right (which is a lot like his owner). He’s a 25 year old Morgan Quarterhorse cross and you get double points if you know what that means. But suffice it to say I love animals and this one will always be in my heart. If you come to Maine with me you can feed him a treat.
Category Archives: Travel
Sunset at the Docks
For Thanksgiving I went home to Maine and while I swore I wouldn’t travel again during the holidays, it always feels good to be there. I am always suprised by the silence of the town where my parents live and Portland is always smaller and colder than I remember. It’s hard to imagine I spent so much of my adolesnce hanging out there and feeling busy (and now I return to take pictures like this one of typically “Maine” things). But I’ve found I have a love for brick, cobblestone, wind in pine trees and the smell of salt water, all things which Maine and my many years there gave me. There’s a set on flickr, if you click on this photo you can get to it.
Talking to teens at Bookworks
One of the higlights of my time at Bookworks, besides seeing the show and a space where awesome people create beautiful things, was getting to talk to a group of teenage girls and their parents about making zines. I find it funny that wherever I go my Museum Educator skills are being put into practice, but I enjoy it. It was wonderful to talk about what it was like to start making a zine when I was the girls age in a rural place not unlike Asheville and where zine making has brought me. Even though I haven’t made a personal zine in three years, I still really connected to zine making and the desire to create and share personal work with the hope of connecting with others and sharing ideas about changing the world (and yes, I really beleive that) . So the idea that I could encourage teenage girls to create a zine (or anything, really) was pretty intensely moving and fun as well. I should mention here that Bookworks offers zine making and other cool classes for teenagers as well as adults. At the closing of the show the teenagers in the zine making class will get to show off the zines they have made in the workshop. This is such a great idea because it adds to the conversation of zine making and combining zines and bookarts. Bring on the next generation of zinesters!
Zines by Sara Jaffe and Poster
Sara Jaffe’s zines, with Amy Greenan’s in the background, plus the beautiful show poster!
Indulgence and riffRAG #1
Another view of some of my more recent zines. For a full view of the show and Bookworks as well as Emily, Sara, Molly and Amy’s zines click on any of the Asheville photos to get to my flickr account where there is a slideshow!
Indulgence in Evolution of Cut and Paste
Emily K. Larned, of Red Charming, organized a small book arts show called “Evolution of Cut and Paste” at the Parsons Gimbell library in 2003 that showcased 4 lady zinesters turned bookartists, Sara Jaffe, Molly Kalkstein, Amy Greenan,herself and me! The second generation of this show just opened at Bookworks in Asheville, NC, brought there by the wonderful Bridget Elmer. Shown here are some of my zines and books that are in the show… I loved looking at the show again, it was just as vibrant and exciting as it was in 2003 and I think really showed how zines are still exciting in a digital age. Looking at Amy, Molly, Emily, Sara’s and my work all together again in a space as exciting and condusive to creativity as Booworks really made me excited to make another issue of my personal zine, Indulgence, which I have been publishing since 1998. If you are in the Asheville area before December 15th, please stop by the show, it’s truly unique and inspiring.
Italy and Blue Ridge Mountains
I love the juxtaposition of this very classical looking sculpture against the Blue Ridge mountains, which are supposedly the oldest mountains in the world. It recalls some of the contradictions of the Biltmore estate… where you are and where it tries to take you.
Smile and say “North Carolina”
It’s quite a mouthful to say in a photograph! This is on the back stairs of the Biltmore estate leading out in to the gardens. It really recalls Vaux Le Vicompte, which I visited in France this summer. In fact, some of the garden design and ideas for the rooms were lifted directly from there. The Biltmore estate transports you to another place entirely, but it’s also a huge momument to capitalism and hierarchy.
Asheville Sidewalk
This past weekend took me to Asheville, North Carolina to visit LK, who used to have my job and B. who also used to live in Brooklyn and is now working at Bookworks, where the book and zine show Evolution of Cut and Paste is having a second go. I loved the trees, mountains and clean air of Asheville, as well as the relaxed pace and good food. It was nice to have a few days after a flurry of work just to walk around, talk with friends and take in a new place. It reminded me of Portland, Maine (the city closest to where I’m from) without the ocean or Portland, Oregon at least in terms of architecture. Click on this photo to get to flickr, where you can see a slideshow of all the lovely leaves, trees, the Biltmore estate and the zine show.
Tintin’s Rocket
The comics museum was less than exciting and W. detected much outdated information and bad translations… but here we are with Tintin’s rocket! I remember everyone in my elementary school classes being crazy for Tintin and I never could quite grasp it, but later in life it seems old fashioned (espeically racial and political stereotypes) but still intriguing in some way. I am interested to check out hte documentary “Tintin et Moi”about the creator, Herge, which recently aired on P.O.V. upon my return to the US.
Killerfemme 