San Francisco in March

While it feels eons ago, in March, I landed in San Francisco and remembered how much I love being there and all of the people it holds that are so dear to me. It was unwise to book nonstop work, while staying in an aggressively hilly area that increased my pain significantly but was a great place to be.

I adore Sarah at SFCB and will do any gig that she organizes because she is so supremely competent. I mean, in a way where you truly do not worry and can relax. Nothing sets her off, so any glitches simply become a way to readjust to a new reality. We scheduled two different workshops. This was my paper thread class, which was delightful! What a fantastic group with many varied but intersecting interests and experience. I loved that Jessica brought her spinning wheel, which no student has done since I was in Western Australia in 2017.

On the second day, I couldn't believe that Nancy worked straight through lunch on her wonderful woven piece, using one of Shanna's signature tools!

During the weekdays I had to transition to my teaching at CCA during Hamaguchi Week. What an honor to share time, food, and insights with Dignidade Rebelde and Courtney Sennish! I loved being introduced to this art community and was grateful to Anthea for the invite to create programming around my toolmakers research.

After my evening lecture in the new building next to a garden that grew some of our lunch salad, I was so pleased to work with Julia and her wonderful papermaking class. The class/studio/dept assistants did the hard work of prepping all of the stretcher bars with water seal, and then we made lots of student sugeta sets! Which means that more students get a papermaking tool, and the studio now has more tools to expand into Asian-style papermaking (Meri Brin, the incredible studio manager, made sure to also order lots of dowels and they were all cut in half for future beating).

I was amazed by how much we could do with all hands on deck, from the prep (ordering, sealing, organizing, etc.) to the tool assembly.

And of course I love to see students working together very naturally.

[photo by Brian Delaney] It was very sunny that day and the papermaking shares a studio with screenprinting. It felt so warm then but now that I'm back home I miss the California sun.

[photo by Brian Delaney] I hadn't said we would make paper but this was suddenly prepped, I whipped up PEO in the blender (only because I knew someone else would have to clean it!), and we did some test sheets with abaca that Julia pre-beat for us.

I got a tiny bit of time to look at art and was totally astounded by these clay replicas of Chinese banned books by Xiaoze Xie.

Afterwards, I was able to have a quick studio visit with Servane, which was utterly satisfying. It was like being filled up with so much joy and delight, and it was so gratifying to be in the space of artists who are so deeply dedicated to their work. So much to see, not that I even saw a fraction of it!

Of course everywhere I go I get to see tools, and Servane showed me this tool she got while traveling, a common fiber mixer/disperser that you'd see in Southeast Asia.

I wish I could have stayed longer with Servane and her studio mate Paloma, but Hyeyung came to whisk me away to the East Bay. I finally got to meet her younger daughter and watch her make a GIANT batch of delicious japchae for a gathering that her quartet organized for a mixed group of people, mostly local but not altogether. They wanted to create a space for people to share music, food, and dialogue about how we want to move forward, how we envision resistance, how we can support each other.

Too soon, I was back to work for my second SFCB workshop on bark lace. I loved that a former student is now an employee there, so again, I felt so confident and comfortable leaving Alisa to cook my fiber the day prior. Students rinsed in batches and then were off to play with bark all weekend.

Parvaneh was so quiet but made a bunch of wonderful samples. I was quite impressed by how much bark this class went through. I got to see Lisa after one of the classes and Steph after another. It was so good to catch up with them, not so much as former students, but almost like sisters. We will go on a true blessing of an adventure next year that I am not at liberty to announce yet, but it's tied up with hanji and love and discovery.

The entire impetus for this trip was so that I could meet Insiya, my dedicated web designer, who dealt with me from a distance for over a year (and still deals with my tangles when I run into knots online). We finally were able to spend classroom time together, but more importantly she welcomed me at her beautiful home and into her daily routine for almost two weeks. She was an impeccable host and drove me to Sausalito on a brilliantly perfect day where we could enjoy stunning views that reminded me of Ireland.

I was also happy to reunite with Carl after many years. He took this pic of me with Jami's new book, which I took with me on the rest of my journeys. I flew to my secret vacation and enjoyed it there, and flew back to SFO only to find that I had contracted covid for the first time ever, which meant that I had to leave California early so that I could be sick at home, alone. Thank goodness I was so well fed by all of my amazing and generous hosts on the west coast and beyond, because that was the sickest I've been in all of my adult memory.

Did I participate in medical tourism overseas to get some relief from my excruciating pain? Yes. I had such a clarifying trip and now I am back in the most overwhelming swirl of life. But next month I'll offer a Grief & Joomchi workshop with my dear friend Tam. And have booked a whole slew of other things that I'll share in a bit.