My weekends are sundays and mondays. Which means that as I write this, I'm nearing the end of two very full days off of work. These days were on in my making stuff life. I spent the most part of yesterday getting to the bottom of messes and cleaning our home so I could concentrate today on getting ready for the Second Storie indie fest this weekend here in Rochester. It will be on the proper weekend- Saturday 11.28.09 and Sunday 11.29.09 at the Visual Studies Workshop building on Prince Street.

I should have started earlier to plot and plan my doll display but well...I've been making dolls.

I'll have over 50 dolls to show off, in a brand spanking special display rack I just commisioned from a good friend and expert metalsmith.

Last year it was relaxing and interesting to talk to folks as they wandered by and well, these dolls are conversation starters (or at least they were last year as I talked to a couple of really memorable creative kids and a lovely older woman who has always collected dolls.)

If you're nearby I hope you can stop by. Why? Well, I don't really do this to sell these dolls, I like to put them out so I can see what I made, so I can listen and look at how strangers are compelled or pushed away. To hear other people's stories strung from my silly paper people.

We make things to connect to others. I'm off now, to try to make a special shirt, too, so that I can feel extra comfortable, extra proud should someone stop and talk to me on Saturday or Sunday as I sit among a cluster of creative people and watch as others look and hopefully play.

take care and have a fantastic thanksgiving if I don't get a chance to post before-- which, well, is about how it has been going. Productive in my making but quiet on this blog. All things may change...

best to you,
Rachael

So then above is a page from my current sketchbook with an old photo John and I found when we were last in Ithaca NY. We picked up some imaginary relatives and thought up some stories, I tried to draw this woman, even though it didn't work out so well.

Today I saw that the Archives of American Art recently received a treasure trove of illustrated sketchbook journals from Janice Lowry. These are magic. Pure magic. From her to-do-listing to her uncensored drawings. Janice Lowry's website is still up and full of wonderful art, but sadly, she is no longer living, having passed away in September. Her friends and family have been keeping up her blog as a living testament to her creativity. This article helps put her in context.

I just wish I'd discovered Janice and her art when she was still here, I'd have loved to talk books of drawings, but this definitely keeps me drawing.

Enjoy.
Rachael

I live in a city with many universities and clusters of people who like to listen to lectures. The Caroline Werner Gannett series at RIT is the one I stalk. I try to get to each of the lectures because they are always brimming with ideas. Tomorrow Rebecca Solnit will be at Writers and Books first to read and then at RIT to talk about...well...I'm not really sure. Some mix I bet about her latest book regarding the communities that spring up in disasters, and her activism, and maybe Eadward Muybridge. But I'm reading (loving) Rivers and Shadows now so maybe I'm just hoping she'll talk some about his story yet I think even if she was talking about baked potatoes it would be interesting...

I will bring my sketchbook and hopefully see you there.
Rachael

At 2 today I will give a little talk about the artist Hugh Pearce Botts to anyone who'll listen, anyone who comes to the Memorial Art Gallery for the What's Up talk. I won't start it by saying, hey, what's up? But I will spill the story of the artist and inventor I am still actively researching. I recently wrote a blog entry for the MAG blog about Botts and that's here.

Usually when I talk in semi-formal situations I get nervous and prepare, prepare and then over-prepare. I make outlines and note cards and super-duper powerpoints. Sometimes i talk too fast. I decided to try to slow down. Instead of over writing and planning, I just looked. Thought. Looked again. Make a couple of sketches in my sketchbook and talked through the images to myself and my husband.

If nobody comes I'll still have fun-- but I really hope people come.

And then, I'll get in my car and drive to Batavia. One of my favorite people in the whole world lives in Buffalo, I live in Rochester and Batavia sits in the middle. They have diners there and turf farms. We'll eat in a diner.

So today, then, I'll go from a discussion of the working artist in 1939 to a discussion between two artists who work in 2009. We both juggle our day jobs and our lives but when we meet in diners it's usually rice pudding, idea sharing, and drawing.

Too bad Hugh and Myrtle can't join us.

Tomorrow, I begin to begin to round up the almost 100 paper dolls I'll bring to the Second Storie handcrafted show Thanksgiving weekend and the family I'll make special for Mark's cool show in North Carolina...

All gets done and I just have to remember not to talk too fast...
Rachael

There's a fascinating new and funny pamphlet about the way people interact in the artworld. I like your art.

I betcha global recessions do make people nicer about artwork.
Oh and all the rules fall away.
Maybe, except the rule that says you have to make art better and look at art longer. Those rules stay.