geraldine newfry

unity chapel and walking iron b&b

one of the best parts of visiting taliesin was going to the unity chapel grave yard.  all of frank lloyd wright's relatives are buried there.  his grave site was really beautiful.

the entrance to unity chapel.  unfortunately the chapel was closed, but the grave yard was open.

frank lloyd wright's grave.  interestingly, his body is no longer here.  when his third wife died, he was exhumed, cremated, and their ashes were mixed and scattered over taliesin west.

i think this says, "love of an idea is love of god."  i should have brought my journal with me to write that down, since it's so hard to see.  you can also see the wrought iron name on the grave itself.  i really like that vertical rock too.

this was our room at the walking iron b&b.  babo, an ugly doll, travels with me everywhere.  i thought it was nice that when they made the bed, they put him in a place of honor.

these were outside the inn.  you know i wanted to take them home!

in the garden at the b&b.

i took my smoky treats on the porch.  i thought it was nice that they had an ashtray.  must be former smokers.

there are a ton more pictures of our trip on flickr.

taliesin day trip

my husband and i took a trip this weekend for our 15th anniversary.  we went to mazomanie, wi to stay at the walking iron b&b.  there we had the best massages ever!  we also went to a wonderful dinner at "the bank," which was in, as you might expect, an old bank.  the food was fantastic.  and in this little town of spring green, it was impressive to have such a good meal with excellent service.

we took a day trip to taliesin, also in spring green.  it was the home and studio of frank lloyd wright.  we were only allowed to take photos outside, but here are a few.

i loved this statue at the back pool.  there were statues everywhere actually.  inside there was a gorgeous near life sized buddha sitting on a lotus flower.  covet!  the statue pictured is life sized too.

the back of the house, where we first viewed it.

 

the gardens in the back.  beyond that is the student living quarters for the school of architecture.

 

the front, over the stables.

 

stairs leading to the entrance way.

 

this was added near the stables at one point.  i think it's my favorite photograph from the day

 

i like this one too.  it was also near the stables.

 

john and i were particulary happy about the shade garden because we're planting one ourselves.

 

around to the back again.  this pool area is actually a trough for the horses.

if you're interested, there's lots more photos on flickr.

i've come to realize that i just can't get anything done in the evening.  sometime in the late afternoon i have an anxiety attack, nearly every day.  after that i'm done.  done.  exhausted.  i kept thinking i would blog after dinner this week, and i was just not able to.  just another aspect of bipolar disorder.  now, unfortunately, i feel like i have to rush to get things done before the anxiety hits.  which probably just makes me more anxious.  it's a mess.

so today....blogged in the morning.  even before reading email or facebook!

artfest

so i went to this artfest thingie near seattle. francine, john and i arrived on tuesday night.  our friends kathy and bird picked us up and we dropped john off in seattle to visit his brother.  we went back to our hotel and drank mad housewife wine, which was quite good.  i didn't sleep well.

the next day we went to the good will and kinokuniya.  we didn't have time to shop at uwajimaya itself,  so that was disappointing.  we ate at aloha plates and headed up to fort worden in pt. townsend for artfest.  it was really overwhelming when we got there.  so many people!  we rushed from one thing to another and i tried to get postcards from all the teachers.  i wanted to talk to some of them, but i just said, "i'll find you later."  linda and opie said they tivo'd me  :)  linda said, "my how you've blossomed."  which was sweet.  i found my friend tara and she gave me wonderful bag heads!!  my scanner isn't working, so here is a picture from my camera.  (some of these pictures are hosted on flickr and you may not see the whole thing unless you click on them)

and here is the image from her blog

i saw my friends' work on the 8 x 8 gallery wall. here is work by amber gibbs

and work by tara finlay

some great butterfly pieces from kim carney

and more work from randi f-w, jenna colby, and others:

back at the ranch we drank more wine and ate dinner.  i stayed in NCO housing with francine, kathy and bird.  and i didn't sleep well.

we rushed around the next morning getting coffee and supplies for kathy.  i was late for class.  i wasn't even supposed to be in the class!   francine gave me her encaustic spot.  i'm glad she did because i really enjoyed it.  patricia seggebruch was a very good teacher.  these are samples from patricia's class.

 

the other students made fantastic work.  here is some by bj arnold.

i had a lot of fun playing with the wax, but i wouldn't say i made anything good. i don't usually make nice things in workshops. i just try to explore the medium or technique. these images are small because they were a little fuzzy. the first two were created on clayboard

the second two were created on wood from my house.

i have lots of old wood at home, so i can definitely see doing more of this!  i just need a vent fan in the basement.

after class, there seemed to be a bunch more rushing, and we decided not to go to the journalling thing because we were too tired.  i didn't sleep well.

i spent the next couple of days with keith lobue in "icons and shrines".

i always learn a lot from him.  i almost said "eureka" at one point, but i refrained. the other students made great work in there.  it was a two day class, and at the beginning of the second day we laid out our projects for everyone else to see.  it was amazing what was being accomplished!  there are more pictures on my flickr account (click the picture to get there), but i don't have the names of any of the artists with the pictures, unfortunately.

i was soaking it all in, but not really able to work. i was too distracted. i ran around and talked to people and visited nina. but i enjoyed it. i made a shrine to pop. i don't think i'll finish it. in the end i actually *glued* the pieces together to keep them intact for travel. it's ironic, because keith is all about making mechanical attachments.  he even referred to himself as "keith noglue" at one point.  so it's sort of a sketch for a future project. it's too hard to work on right now. 

i was glad i got to see nina briefly, but with all the rushing around and the distractions, we didn't have a proper visit.  :(  i wish we had had time for a cup of tea together.  i kept going into her class, certainly annoying her students, and waiting for a wee bit of time to chat.  but i tried not to interrupt her too much.

friday night was vendor night.  bird shared his table with me.  it was so very crazy.  i wasn't sure i was even being nice to people because things were happening so fast.  fortunately i was very busy and there was little time to buy stuff.  i drank a lot of wine.  kathy took home some of my bookmarks.  she seemed to like the idea of wearing them as earrings.  it's hard to see.  you'll have to trust me.

as the night came to an end, i traded with  jenna,

kathy,

and jen osborn.

.

jen and  i have known each other online for years, but this was the first chance we've had to meet.  i just searched all over her site to find a link to the piece i chose to trade, but wasn't successful.  i did, instead, find this with the label "gerri": 

i'm not sure why she thinks i'm sour!!  but i'll forgive her.  :)   she was sharing a space with celine, with whom i would have traded as well, but she was all packed up. maybe that is presumptuous.  i don't know if celine would have wanted to trade with me!

i bought one piece of art only, from stephanie lee called Deep Roots.  It's the first image on her paintings page.

we met up amy and julia  at vendor night.  they are mean girls.  just look:

amy showed us her wonderful circle paintings.  this one, almost inconceivable,  is my favorite.

saturday i was really exhausted and flitted in and out of class.  it was hard to concentrate, what with all that not sleeping.  francine, kathy and bird went to town; but i passed on starbucks and laid down to meditate.  it's hard to say just what happened next, but i ended up getting really sick.  i slept about 2 hours that night as we packed.  the next day we went to shipwreck beads and then to meet up again with john.  by the time we got to seattle i was awfully sick and we had to go to the hospital.  they gave me drugs and kept me overnight.  fortunately they let me fly home on monday as planned. francine took good care of me while i was sick.  i'm pretty sure i don't have that double chin in real life.  just imagine me thinner and you'll be about right.

i haven't gone back to work yet.  at first i was mostly napping.  my sleep is still messed up.  the trip was really hard on me, but i did have very good classes and got to talk to at least some people.  i'm not sure seattle is a healthy place for me.  when i went there in 1993, i also got really sick.  i remember reading the bell jar and feeling awful.

just yesterday i finally started writing in my journal again and painted some bookboard.  so things are looking up!  here are some boards that i gessoed.  they are drying on my lovely concrete floor.

my current workspace.  i was working in my artfest journal

important work accessories:

now that i've spent several hours putting this whole post together, i think it's time i went back to work!!!