Haiku on Choice

One piece of paper.
  
Eagle, power, though one wing. 
Flip side, a full hawk.

Gemini

The sun is in the astrological sign of Gemini, the twins.  Ruling planet, Mercury, element, Air.

When I needed to write high school papers I never really quite knew how to go about it.  I had an editor in the house, so it made things convenient if and when I played my cards right.

A technique which I perfected through the years started with me yelling out my bedroom door, “How do you spell ‘such and such’?”  The reply coming from across the house, “Look it up!” would repeat for the first couple of spellings.  As I continued to call out for grammar help, if the pattern held up, I knew eventually she would have to dive into my paper.  She couldn’t contain herself.

She is Gemini.  Her craft, words.  Quickly arranging, expressing, thinking.

Like clockwork when she had had enough calling from room to room, the entire house would shake with her stomping across the kitchen floor toward my room, “Oh Gawd, let me look at that!” ripping the paper out of my hands, she went to town on it.  Either by doing an edit, or sometimes, if I was lucky she would rewrite the entire thing as in the case of Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan.  That report was great….thanks Mom!

Walking the Bull

Today the blue sky jerked me out the door as if it had grabbed a ring in my nose, it pulled me up the hill in a hurry.  
The mustard had grown taller than me, a monarch butterfly led, the lizards scrambled as I crossed their loosely kept thresholds.
Slow
Breath
Realize
The beauty feeding this moment through these eyes into veins of soul. 
Absorbing
Feeling
Flowing
Trickling down these solid legs into the very ground where the mustard is rooted.
Seeded
Deep
Growth
Into flower which meets the sky
Which draws me up the hill

Taurus!

April 19, 8:56 p.m. (Pacific time)  through May 20, 7:59 p.m. the sun will be in the astrological sign of Taurus.  This earth sign is symbolized by the bull and ruled by the planet Venus.

Watch a bull:  Four feet.  Planted.  Firmly.  I see them watching, chewing, slow and methodical.  No rush no worry.

Glass Update

If you are looking for Glass:

Ventura area…….
The Ventura Museum is now carrying glass bead earrings, blown vessels, and solid core sculpture….and these little gifty numbers:

Ojai area….
Karin at Calais & Co has glass bead earrings.

All made with fire, sand……and Teal Rowe’s hands.

In the world?  Contact me for sales teal@tealrowe.com.

The reinforcement of your sales have been supporting the gift of my working in glass for MANY years now.  My appreciation is beyond measure.
Thank you,

Teal

Tale for an Aries

Happy Spring!

This year from March 20 through April 18 the sun is in the astrological sign of Aries. The symbol representing Aries is the ram, its element is fire, its ruling planet is Mars.

My brother and I grew up spending our summers with our parents in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California.  Horse trailer loaded, we headed for the hills.  We’d stop on the way to buy staple foods and simple necessities like mole skin for our soon to be blistered feet, and fishing bait.  At the trail head with packs weighted by the well seasoned camp kitchen, grain, fishing poles, and bedding, off we’d go for weeks at a time into our new uncharted territory of the High Sierra.

John in the lead, leading Rama and Mom back there, leading Spot
A couple of days into the back country my brother would shift into high gear and just take off up the trail.  This was his habit.  His nature of heading out into the wild, alone.  After quite a jaunt, with the horses, the rest of us would show up at the intended destination, there John would be, looking bored, “What took you so long?”, “Slow pokes”, or some other biting remark.
Black Rock Pass 

Up the loose rocks and gravel of Black Rock Pass was one of our most torturous trips.  Tonight after Googling “Black Rock Pass switchbacks” the mention of the “grinding, grueling, endless trudge” brings the demanding trek to mind. Above the timberline, the hot sun reflecting off the rocky trail, I recall squinting up to see the switchbacks zigzagging into oblivion.  The family mood on that pass was heavy. The horses tripped more than occasionally from fatigue.  The blisters on my feet were making it hard to continue to walk.  Things were downright miserable.  I was wondering where my brother was, and my parents must have been a bit concerned too.

Just around one of the hairier twists of the trail I looked up to see John about the size of a pea, sitting on a rock way, way up at the top of Black Rock Pass.  It must have been a few miles up and he was there, alone for hours, waiting to greet us with his nonchalant, elbow on his knee, chin in hand, fingers tapping cheek, “Where have you been?”  I just wanted to kill him.

Can you guess that my brother has his sun Aries.  He is there first.  He knows how to climb a mountain.  See his blog jrowe2020.wordpress.com  He will butt heads in a big way when things aren’t going his way.  He goes for it without waiting for anyone. His inner machine runs on adrenaline.  And one of my brothers best trait is that if you are in the hospital he will rip the doctors a new one in order to get what he wants done, done….even if he IS in Saudi Arabia and the doctor in California.  AND, if you insert medical genius where Matt Damon speaks math genius, the movie “Good Will Hunting” and Matt Damon’s character sums it up nicely ….and so does this video:

John Rowe retrospective video

And so does THIS story.

Tale for a Pisces

Top of this St. Paddies Day to you!

This year from February 18 through March 19 the sun is in the astrological sign of Pisces.   The symbol representing Pisces is two fish swimming opposite directions, its element is water, its ruling planet is Neptune.

The following story, told to me by an Irish man about how his father used to fish the streams by hand in Ireland, reminds me so much of the many Pisces people in my life.

When fishing for trout by hand, one SLOWLY sneaks up to the water and puts a hand in, inch by inch approaching the fish from below and delicately tickling its underside, the fish becomes mesmerized.  The term for this technique is Guddling (see the link for a detailed story). The fish, merged with the water, does not suspect the human hand.  At the right time, the guddler grabs the gills and catches the fish.

From the nutshell of a story, to a general blanket statement, I notice how my own Pisces friends go with the flow.  The inner and outer is woven together for them through their dream world.  Many are artists, dipping their brushes and ceramic tools as they express that exact dream, whether it be a vision, feeling, or emotion.  They serve as healers and psychics and they don’t even realize it.   They seem easily influenced by those that they mingle with and they are sometimes misled, a bit like the fish in the description above.  I notice the work it takes to keep the focus on themselves rather than feeling a victim and blaming others.

Astrologically speaking, as we look at the “natal chart” of the exact time of birth, we see where the “signs” and “planets” are in the “houses” of the chart.  Through interpretation we can confirm the purpose we are living, and giving.   It can also show us areas in our lives that we may be not be completely aware of, thus leading us to guidance and a fresh vision.

Videos

I can’t seem to upload this first part onto blog, so Part 1 is linked to youtube:
And the rest are accessible here:
Ron & Emily Thiroux Threatt Interview Part 2
Nick Pacillio Video

                                            Ojai Style Bead Making

And for Ventura County Arts Council Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPEk5dizmzI

Wearable Art Article in Ventana Monthly

Ventana Monthly News and Entertainment

sectionheading

In Their Element

5 fashion-fueled artists merge form and function in a variety of mediums
By Nancy D. Lackey Shaffer

Photo by Beth Backer
 
laine Unzicker’s designs beg to be touched. Which is surprising, considering “sensual” is not a word most of us would associate with something as cold and hard as metal. But that’s one of the great beauties of her work: achieving a soft and almost delicate quality from stainless steel and anodized aluminum to make a fabric with wonderful movement and fluency. Exploring the tension between masculine and feminine, hard and soft, heavy and light is what drew Unzicker to chain mail in the first place.
Originally trained as a jewelry designer and sculptor, she first began working with the medium at Illinois State University, where she pursued an MFA. “I started patterning in chain mail—something no one had ever done before,” she recalls. Her designs are comfortable, flattering, and chic. “I need to know how the weight is distributed, how it lays on the body, moves on the body,” she says, explaining that she solders where necessary. Her chain mail shirts, scarves, skirts, and other articles are not exactly weightless, but they are effortless to wear, with an almost comforting quality. “Many people describe it as a hug,” she says. Extremely durable and completely snag-free, they are also unlike anything else on the fashion scene.

unzickerdesign.com

GLASS

DELORES BARRETT: Midcentury Modernism meets sophisticated style

Much of Dolores Barrett’s jewelry would be perfectly at home in a Shag painting. Her glass creations run the gamut of Atomic Age shapes and share the palette, too: electric blue, sea green, fiery reds, and oranges. This Midcentury Modern sensibility comes naturally to her, because it’s what she grew up with. Mad Men resonates with me,” she says. “I could have been Sally Draper.” Whimsical her designs may be, but their refined elegance is evident at first glance: satiny smooth and vibrant, often studded with Swarovski crystals or precious gemstones, gleaming with an inner fire. Eye-catching is an understatement.
Her medium is fused glass, a distinctly different art form than the more familiar blown glass; it utilizes a kiln rather than a torch. With this technique (and the clever use of molds, epoxy, and a sandblaster) Barrett can achieve three-dimensional orbs with portals that peek inside the piece, revealing contrasting colors and/or textures. “You get drawn in by looking at it,” she says of these “windows” she creates. “It invites intimacy.” Whether it’s a geode-like orb, a shadowbox pendant, or a personal scent bottle, Barrett’s jewelry always bears a closer look. barrettart.net

GLASS

Teal Rowe. Glass garments that go with the flow

Teal Rowe was always drawn to the glitter of glass. “When I was a little girl, I’d see a cracked windshield and think it was like jewels,” she recalls. Her career as a glassblower evolved from painting, charcoal, and jewelry making. But what ultimately captured her imagination was the transformative power fire had over glass, creating a living, moving, viscous entity that maintained a ghost of its former fluidity in static form. 
A lifelong talent for sewing inspired her most ambitious project yet: magnificent glass dresses. Individual glass pieces are crafted separately and then carefully connected and fit to a plaster cast. “It can take a lifetime to make one,” Rowe says, explaining that each piece builds upon the other. It also requires a completely Zen-like mindset: “You can’t do glass and not be in the moment. I can’t think about anything else but what the glass is saying to me.” Preserving the mutable quality of her medium is just as important; she goes to great lengths to maintain a sense of movement. As amazing as these pieces are in photos or on a mannequin, Rowe acknowledges that they really are best seen in person and in motion. “It’s almost like performance art.” 
tealrowe.com

TEXTILES

Patrick Fisher. Comfortable, cool, and edgy apparel that knows no boundaries

Where art meets culture meets fitness meets philosophy is where you’ll find Patrick Fisher. The artist, designer, and personal trainer has a lot of irons in the fire, but they’re all connected in some way. Fisher doesn’t compartmentalize his life. His fitness studio, Gamut, for example, is about more than just working out, incorporating elements of nutrition, meditation, art, and spirituality to help clients find their way to joy and fulfillment as well as good health. His own artistic health benefited from the same approach. “I was training eight to ten hours a day,” he recalls. “Basically killing myself with fitness. But I didn’t eat healthy, I wasn’t meditating, I wasn’t making art.” His canvas acted as a catalyst: he took a step back from his grueling job, started his own business, became a vegan, found balance. 
He started designing to promote Gamut, but his popularity has grown beyond the gym. At Studio Channel Islands Art Center’s November fashion show, Fisher showed his street art- and skateboarding-influenced apparel—and sold out his entire stock that night. His describes his tanks, long-sleeve shirts, and hats as “bridging the gap between fitness, art and, street wear.” Because Fisher’s world is about the links that connect the disparate facets, not the walls that separate them.
gamutlife.com

TEXTILES

Deborah Jarchow. A wearable tapestry of color and texture

It was exciting to learn that working with fiber was one way of being an artist,” says Deborah Jarchow of her lifelong passion for knitting and crochet. But weaving is where she found her true calling. The loom opened up creative doors for her that the knitting needles never could. “I design my own stuff when I weave,” she explains. “And I feel freer to design my own knitted garment when the base is woven.” 
Jarchow is most inspired by the colors and textures (as opposed to the patterns) she can create through weaving. Using 40 or 50 shades in one piece is standard. Unlike paint, where the blending of colors transforms them all into something new, woven threads maintain their chromatic integrity. “The colors sing together,” she says. “They don’t get lost.” She’s also extremely tactile, weaving by hand on large wooden looms and handling her yarn extensively to find out “what it wants to be.” This hands-on approach enables her to bring out the best in her materials: a Jarchow poncho, ruana, scarf, or other creation is full of deep, rich color and unbelievable texture. “Wearable art is such an appropriate expression,” says Deborah Jarchow. “You can wrap yourself in a beautiful piece of art. That is so appealing!”
deborahjarchow.com 
03/03/04
 
lastissue Last Issue's coverThe Fairchild & Ridgway GroupVentura Harbor VillageStephen Schafer Photography

 
© 2012 Southland Publishing, All Rights Reserved.

Rijsttafel

Grandad, Grandma, Mom in the Eel River

My grandmother was born on Java, Indonesia.  Our family’s (my mom’s side of the family) celebratory meal was the Rijsttafel, the Dutch word for rice table, which consists of a table full of side dishes to go with rice.  When others were carving turkeys and hams, we were scooping small spoonfuls of delicately assorted concoctions out of hand made ceramic bowls onto rice and eating with folded banana leaves.  

From the vegetables grown in the garden to whatever food was drying on metal sheets on the roof, the small tract house and garden on Maple St in Ventura was the production site, and my grandparents the workers.  Preparation began days in advance, the roles well rehearsed in a usual high-pressure atmosphere.  Grandad in charge of the dirty work, the draining and shredding the coconuts, while Grandma energetically chopped, mixed, and cooked in the kitchen. 
My favorite of the Rijsttafel is Serundeng Kacang garnish.  This dish was so well loved at our last gathering that my mom ended up making multiple batches, one after the other as the bowl ran out.  This can be made in a double recipe & stored in a jar.  Also useful with Indian curry dishes
Serundeng Kacang
3 cloves of garlic sliced
2 tbls sliced onion
2 tbls sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp tamarind dissolved in 2 tsps of water
2 cups fresh grated coconut
2 tbls peanut oil, corn oil or safflower oil
1 cup roasted peanuts broken in quarters or crushed in blender
1.In a mortar or blender crush the garlic, sugar, salt, and tamarind into paste.  Mix with the grated coconut.
2.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan and toast the coconut mixture over low heat, stirring often.  When light brown add the peanuts and toast more for 5 minutes.
Makes 2 & half cup.  (This can also be toasted in the oven instead of fried)
Alternate recipe for Serundeng:
This recipe can be used with roasted soy beans instead of peanuts
2 cups fresh grated coconut or sweet & bought grated coconut
1 tbls. Coriander
¼ tsp. ground cumin
1 clove garlic crushed
2 tsp sugar (if using sweetened prepared coconut then reduce sugar)
2 tsp salt
2 tsps tamarind dissolved in1 tbls water (lemon juice can be substituted for tamarind and water)
1 salam leaf or grated lemon rind
½ cup dried roasted soy beans or sunflower seeds or peanuts
1 Mix together all the ingredients except the beans or seeds  put on a lined cookie tray.
2.  Bake in 250degree oven for 30 minutes.  Stir frequently until light brown.  Add the soya beans or seeds.  Turn off heat & continue to dry in oven for 30 minutes.
The garden at the Maple Street house was an exotic utopia of seeds, root starts, and cuttings brought home from my grandparents’ years of world travels.  Many conversations admiring the garden ended up revealing the story of a treasured something that grandma had nurtured for the duration of a trip and smuggled through customs to get it into the fertile soil at home.  Once established, she would pass the plant or seed on, along with its story of origin.  I can’t imagine how many passion fruits have flourished from cuttings because passersby couldn’t help expressing awe at the vine-covered fence bursting with purple flowers.  They ended up going home from my Grands’ with an earful of foreign adventure and their own something, waiting to be planted.
Grandma’s Punch served at Rijsttafel
½ gallon black tea brewed strong and chilled
½ gallon pineapple juice
½ gallon orange juice
gingerale or soda water added for fizz
fresh passion fruit
Mix liquids together and make sure each glass gets at least a scoop of a ½ passion fruit…. will sink to the bottom for a crunchy, tasty crescendo.
My granddad, as I said before, did the dirty work.  I think he would have preferred to read the newspaper, but he ended up happily weeding the garden.  Often times there would be a squabble because he uprooted what to him was an unfamiliar, but which happened to be one of grandma’s newest babies.  And often times the weeds were what she was nurturing in order to get an abundance to make a meal.  I have had quite a few “Borage Partys” based on grandma’s recipe.
Large, fresh Borage leaves
A batter of flour, egg, water, favorite spices to taste.
Dip leaves in batter and fry.
In my minds eye I see my granddad on his knees, face hidden from view by his wide brimmed hat, keeping balance with his thumb and knuckle on one hand and combing the dirt with the other.  To his side, my grandma with her cracked bare heels sunk into the ground, limberly bending at the waist to pick up a fallen avocado.
Grandad