Vacation

The blog and Studio Sunday are on vacation until October first. If you're in the area, please join me for my Open Studio next Saturday September 16.

Bread and Roses

Poem by James Oppenheim, 1911

As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!
As we go marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women's children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.
As we go marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too.
As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days,
The rising of the women means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses, bread and roses.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; bread and roses, bread and roses.

Sung by Mimi Farina and Joan Baez

Studio Sunday-Words For Our Time Posters

12" x 18" Posters of Words For Our Time will be on view and available for order at my Open Studio on September 16. I put them in inexpensive format frames purchased at JoAnn Fabrics. We're working on a nice wall display of them for the front of the studio.

Studio Sunday-A Couple of Shelves

Article in Take Magazine

Besides the obvious thrill of seeing an article about myself published online, I find I always learn something about myself and my work when I respond to the questions I am asked in an interview whether it be by way of email, phone, or in person. Take Magazine is about New England culture so she asked questions about what living in Massachusetts and New England meant to me.

“I love living in the part of the country where Dickinson, Thoreau, Emerson, and Whittier among many others lived and worked,” Gaylord says. She identifies with these literary greats and “their sense that the glory of nature can be found equally in something as small as a flower and as large as a mountain or as vast as the sea,” all of which are easily found in the varietal landscapes of New England. “I have spent more than half my life in the Merrimack Valley, first in the Lowell area where I began my life in the arts and immersed myself in the writing of Jack Kerouac, and then in Newburyport, where the river meets the sea, for the past 32.”

You can read the article here.

Open Studio 2017

Last year's Open Studio, which celebrated my 65th birthday and looked back at almost 40 years of art, was so special that I didn't think I'd have another one anytime soon. But then, I didn't expect to have a new project that I was so excited about, just as I didn't expect Words For Our Time to ever exist. I would gladly give up that new project for different election results, but am happy that it seems to be offering some comfort and encouragement. I do believe in the power of words. After doing a little math, I realized that I have been making Spirit Books for 25 years so that that is cause for celebration as well.

Here's what will be on display and for sale:

ARTWORK
* Originals from the Words For Our Time series
* Finished Spirit Books and works in progress as I prepare for my solo exhibition at the McCoy Gallery, Merrimack College, North Andover, MA in January 2018

BOOKS AND POSTERS
15 is the magic number!
* Words For Our Time Book: individual copies $15, Gift program: order 10 copies, get one free
* Words For Our Time 12" x 18" Posters to order: $15 each, set of 8, or mix and match 8: $100
* The Spirit Books catalog, Open Studio special price: $15
* Art Lessons Book: Open Studio special price: 2 for $15

If you are in the area and have the time, please come. I'd love to see/meet you. And please pass the word. The more the merrier!

Open Studio Information at susangaylord.com

Naming the Garden Take Two

I started a series of calligraphy and photographs in early spring called Naming the Garden which fizzled in late May. There were several problems. The main one was my choice of paper and ink. I was using torn strips of Lokta paper from Chino Crafts in Nepal which was the same paper I used for the Words For Our Time series and J. Herbin ink. The paper was difficult to tear and the writing took multiple attempts as the pen would often catch on the paper and create little blots of ink. I also found that it was hard to make the time to both write the tag and take the photo.  

I have just returned to the project with some changes. I am using Canson Edition paper which is smoother and sturdier and am cutting rather than tearing. I am using only the brown ink and not alternating with the gray. And I have been making lists and am going to write out all the Latin names I can think of at the same time. Then, when a flower is blooming and the light is right, I can go straight to work with my iphone. Below is a practice shot. 

My mother-in-law's passing has been another inspiration. She is the reason I am into Latin names for plants. She started a landscaping business when she was in her early 60s (that indomitable spirit) and schooled me on the importance of identifying plants by their Latin names so there would be no confusion about the exact plant you were looking for. I look forward to the documenting the rest of this season and returning to the garden in the spring.