Not a lick of sleep

 My baby (the child before the book). Dry, but still helpful for people to see.

 Winsome Jobling's watermark devices (her demo was yesterday during mine so I couldn't witness any of it). I had lunch with Melissa and then drove to the Morgan because I wanted to go home. I LOVE this place and decided I'd rather stay and help clean and get ready for the reception rather than go on museum tours.

My favorite people before things got crazy at the Morgan: Julie, Tony, Tom pretending to stab Bruce (you can't see him but he's in the armchair). I really enjoyed the talks this morning. The Iowa grad students did a bang up job and I pulled them aside at the nighttime reception to make Korean/Islamic paper/tools connections/comparisons. I am so impressed with that program!

Kozo garden growing and yellow.

 A new nook behind the garage door; love these!

After attempting (unsuccessfully, mostly b/c I put my head on a cushion that was peed on by a cat) to nap, I enjoyed a lovely dinner cooked again by Mike, and then we all headed to the Morgan to start the gallery hop. I then drove a bunch of people around instead of being tied to the bus schedule. Andrea and Jon are on the left in a gallery converted from a church.

I couldn't resist getting into the random tub on top of the ramp outside of the Morgan. Julie snapped this. It's almost midnight and I still have to prepare a slideshow for my intro for Asao's talk tomorrow morning. I have to get to the hotel at 8am. It takes me about 25-30 minutes to get there, so I have another very early morning slated. But the good news is that I found a model for the runway/fashion show! I didn't want to wear my own dress (it's not really meant to be worn anyhow but don't ask why I entered the show), so Julie helped size up the conference crowd (she's a costume designer so she knows) and recommended an intern I hadn't met. We did a quick fitting tonight and hooray! I'm off the hook; I can just wear my own clothes, drink, and sit down. Of course I'm a performer, but I'm not a model.

We've sold about half of the books that my publisher brought and I've already had people starting to read who are enjoying it. I think about this small group of people in Cleveland with the book in their hands dotting the hotel or thereabouts. In a couple of days, we'll all scatter and it will, too. And I'll have a carload of them myself.

It gets later and later

Notice as this conference goes on that I get home later, get into bed later, take less pictures, and am too tired to insert hyperlinks. But it's still going strong and SO wonderful. My throat is shredded from running three demos back to back, 55-min each. Three hours of repeating the same thing is hard! I felt badly about my assistant Jennifer having to hear it so many times. But the response was great and this is the only picture I took today: the beautiful stand that Mason made for me yesterday in the wood shop in the back of the Morgan so that I could aim the webcam at myself. THE BEST IDEAS always come from Melissa--she suggested this to me after my August workshop. Whohoo! I finally got to meet some more paper world giants, and yet another Obie who has been in the paper world forever, Peter Sowiski. Mike fed me stew and a dumpling for dinner at about 10:45pm after the first big reception was over. Tony fed me lunch b/c I was famished and would otherwise never have survived my demos. I am utterly spoiled by the men of the Morgan and delighted to have such wonderful friends and helpmates.

Now, trying to stop the rambling so I can get a little sleep before another exciting day!

No weight recorded yet, but born

[Asao's Heart Sutra hanging in the basement of Tom's warehouse.] Oh, my. It is too late to say much and I need to be up again in about six hours, so: WOW. I slept in this morning and had delicious dreams, a nice change from my usual nightmares. I ran errands oh so casually and slowly and then went to pick up Asao. He was setting up for his demo that he will do tomorrow afternoon, which made me realize: "Wait, I am doing a demo tomorrow, too! So I should set up now..." So I took him and volunteer Mary to the Morgan so I could run around and work with Mason to set up the projector. Of course, I had forgotten to bring my computer so we won't know exactly how it will all work tomorrow but it will. He is a sweetheart and even worked on constructing a stand for the laptop. Then I took Asao out to a Korean lunch and came back to do last-minute demo prep before I rushed over to the hotel to set up our table for the trade fair.

Luckily, I was there early enough to get my table adjacent to Cathy's, and when she came in with her boxes and boxes of books, she introduced herself and I extended my hand across the table but she raised her arms and said, "I feel like I know you so well and have to give you a hug!" She paid me a high compliment later, saying that I was nearly as anal as her, which made it easy to work together. I ran around trying to find her water and hadn't even seen the book. Apparently, the printers offered for it to be ready a half hour before setup. Problem, since the printer is in Michigan and the conference in Cleveland. She insisted that they be ready earlier, another one of her authors picked them up, and she breezed through light traffic to make it just in time.

Suddenly, I turn around and someone had the book in her hand and showed it to me as if I had seen it already. Velma was right that there would be some crying. The tears stayed in my eyes but it was really something. Asao was there to take pictures so we'll see if they came out okay. I have nothing but the image of the first pile of books above. That stack dwindled down in the first half hour of the trade fair and Cathy kept restocking the pile. Her other books were also selling like hotcakes. The baby comparisons are all spot on and she has been the most remarkable midwife.

If that was all, I'd still have a bit of energy. But tonight the conference opened, and I got to see old faces and meet new ones and it has only begun! There is still so much left to prep for both book signings (more blotters) and the demo (cutting down paper), but I'm so pleased with how everything has begun.

More than a charm

"Welcome home," is what a friend said when she saw me at the Morgan today. WOW. They always do incredible hangs of every exhibit, but this one takes the cake. I think there are five shows or something crazy like that there. This is just a piece of the big wall w/different papers.

The Colossal Paper show is all over the Morgan and they are HUGE and BEAUTIFUL.

Watermarks lit by bindery lights! Catherine Nash was teaching her encaustic class in there. She looks so different from what I imagined but SO warm and wonderful and enthusiastic.

This is some of the juried member's show, and it's impressive. I love seeing the field evolve and grow. The energy here is always special, but with this many people, it's insanely infectious.

Tim Moore was teaching a mould-making class. OMG! How is any of his work even humanly possible? His students were so engaged and excited and I was so impressed by how well-prepared he was for something he's never really done before (in terms of packing up lots of tools and equipment and samples, and then setting up shop and teaching all at once). It was the sweetest when, after the two-day workshop was over, one of his students excitedly explained intricate parts of the puzzle to me.

Del Foxton took this shot of me outside beating kozo. I didn't want to disturb the classes inside (India Flint and Helen Hiebert), so Christine helped me carry this station outside. BEAUTIFUL day. She just found out, minutes after we met in person, that she won a 20K artist grant. What a day! I had been so moved because she started to weep when I told her about my book because she was so emotional about waiting for news on her grant and so happy for me. In general, everyone I met today was so excited and proud about my book. Except for me; it's completely surreal. I feel like I didn't even do it or something--that's the weird part of the production process of these things. It's like what a friend said today about a show she made for this summer: "I don't even know the person who made that." I'm sure it will all feel more real tomorrow, when my publisher drives over the new books, but for now, I am so grateful for everyone's support and enthusiasm.

Like many things at the Morgan, I have no idea what this is doing on the ramp outside. But it looks great along the skyline (from a different angle you'd see it but the sun was fierce when I shot). I was so overwhelmed by the familiar and new faces in Asao's class today when I went to visit that I didn't get to take any pictures but they made AMAZING and wondrous work. I was so pleased to see him well rested and in his element. The conference has not even started yet and I feel like I'm at a family reunion of the largest possible kind, but in a good way. No crazy drunk careening relatives. Just lots of love. I kept on turning around and there would be another old friend, past student, colleague, new face connected to lots of back and forth emails, and it went on. I don't know if I've ever had a birthday with THIS many hugs. I feel so incredibly loved in this city on a normal day, but today I was sung to at least three times (and the final one right before midnight by a professional singer), got to blow out candles, take a good long morning alone, rise to love via text, get a kiss (chocolate!) in the kitchen before breakfast, and sooo much outpouring from the rest of the world. Today, loved enough to almost set me airborne.

I am lucky, fortunate. Imperfect, growing. Overwhelmed, grateful. It gets better every year!

Third time's a charm

Last night, I was thinking about how strange this dragon year has been for me. I keep falling, for one. The more pleasant part of it is that I have been able to visit Cleveland THREE times. Today's drive was so much better and manageable than I had feared (and WOW was I up there on the anxiety scale). After all the car rental wrangling, traffic to get out of NY, fueling in NJ (I find full service so strange), and adjusting the steering wheel, I finally calmed down in Pennsylvania. For one, the foliage is on full, splendiferous display. What a show, the entire way! For two, Tina Fey guided me for the bulk of it and Bossypants was brilliant as an audiobook. This was the best way for me to lose my audiobook virginity. When I was not laughing out loud, I was definitely less freaked out about my performance on the road (I still worried about accidents and being pulled over, having experienced both of those things and not ever wanting to repeat them). I especially loved when she talked about driving thru PA on I-80W to OH!!! As I was doing exactly that.

I took a lunch break (where it took about 5-7 min for me to figure out how to turn on the headlights) at halfway, and pulled over again two hours later because I felt sleepy. I even saw a couple I had already seen at the last rest stop, doing the same back massage and stretches. Instead of laying down in the front seat like a dentist's chair, I curled up in the back seat for the briefest of naps. Thank goodness I did, because I realized when I got back in front to drive that I had been so sleepy when pulling in that I parked in the spot reserved for state troopers. One more stop after the Ohio border for gas and I was ready to do the last stretch and pull into the driveway with my host mom right behind me. Great timing! We caught up and she fed me banana bread and tea, then got goodies for dinner. We had wine and pre-bday cupcakes, since I probably won't see my hosts the rest of the week with this crazy schedule. I also got to meet Lenny, pictured above (he is about 10 months, Bernese Mt., w/the toy that he decimated tonight). Cowboy, the cat, is also in the house (and why I am well stocked with Claritin and Benadryl). I love my Cleveland home and am excited for a good night's sleep before tomorrow's birthday celebrations.

Kinetic

[George Cutts' Sea Change at Storm King.] Because I feel less prepared than I'd like to be, I'm nervous about this next adventure. Tomorrow, I rent a car and drive west to Cleveland. I'm not great with long drives (given my fear of speeding and frequent rest stops, it will take about nine hours) but am nearly done packing. Plus, I have to remember that I'll be driving towards my book, in the flesh! My host mom already checked in with me and I picked up an extra bottle of wine as a gift for myself, since I'm ad-libbing birthday celebrations this week. Here's hoping for a burst of productivity in the next eight hours!

48 hours

It took a little effort at first, and then none at all, to stay offline and not work from Wed afternoon to Fri afternoon. My sister and I took a trip up to Cold Spring. This is right next to the village hall.

No tree climbing signs were ALL over this fence! We got amazing ice cream; mine was best: s'mores, meaning graham cracker ice cream, plus marshmallows and chocolate chunks.

 ha, ha, ....

 HA!

The next day, after a most delicious breakfast served to us in our room (and of course we had taken advantage of the jacuzzi tub the first night), we visited Storm King. We had wanted to go for over a year, but it always rained. This time, we were treated to beautiful weather. My sister is on Maya Lin's Wavefield.

This one, an untitled piece by Robert Grosvenor, I loved.

 Another view.

 Anish Kapoor (though less exciting because it felt tacked onto the building, not its own thing)! Inside the visitor's center was a beautiful blue glass piece by Roni Horn; exquisite.

 

 We tried to avoid the school group at all costs.

By Grace Knowlton, seen on foot, but snapped while on the tram (quite fun, aside from the noisy lady who kept asking and saying such crazy things). I talked to my sister about the stereotypical male/female art, which is even more pronounced when looking at outdoor sculpture, the materials, how it is sited, why people like to stick huge metal things going straight up into the air, painted bright colors.

This one, by a man (William Lamson), sugar baked into the glass. Plants turn light into sugars, and now light filters through the sugars to get to the plants, and so on. Lovely piece. There was a LOT more, and we only got through some of it--my feet are not so sturdy as I'd like yet. I almost fell over twice yesterday, proving again that Aimee tired = clumsy Aimee. The rest of the trip: shopping, amazing meals, strawberry rhubarb pie, more baths, scenic drives, and being so very grateful to not be staring at a screen.

But now I'm back and eeks! So much to gather together before driving again on Monday to Cleveland. On Sat, Nov 10, I will teach a Boston workshop; please share! On Wed, Nov 14, I will do an Artists Loop event at the Pawtucket Library near Providence, RI, from 6-8pm--artist talk + hanji demo + my books on sale.

With my nails, teeth, a thread

Amidst last-minute extra work for Asao's tour, phone calls, medical bills that insurance rejected, audiobooks retrieved for next week's drive to and from Ohio, leftover carrot cake from seeing Terttu last night (she's the one who did the cover photography for my book), artwork shipped back from a show, a teaching invitation, and figuring out what kind of paper to use in a conference demo, I had to stop for a moment to read something NOT on a computer screen.

Sometimes I think poets are born and named and then HAVE to be poets, because their names are so beautiful. I wanted to share a snippet of a poem by Aracelis Girmay in her latest book, Kingdom Animalia. That cover artwork captivates me completely.

This is a bit of the middle of "Portrait of the Woman as a Skein" with an epigraph by Erin Molitor that reads, I lost my hands—

Sometimes you leave your hair at the bus station
& get on the bus.

Sometimes you leave your hair at the bus station
& get on the bus & as your face falls asleep against the window
you realize it is all your body now, everything between you
& the pieces you lost once, the towers & crows,
the city (you) gleaming
in long, glorious hyphen
beneath stars.

Sometimes you are a broken barn.
Sometimes you are the street & trees.
Sometimes a spool of purple string.

You are a colander, sometimes
losing things.

Sometimes what keeps you alive is a mystery.

No longer standing

I visited Asao's workshop yesterday. Lots of activity in a little space! Robbin (hair in bun) and her wonderful assistant Lee (green shirt) were both there to help, which was great. I'm such a worrywart about these kinds of events going perfectly, so it's reassuring to know he is in the exceptionally capable hands of those two, plus Yukari (red apron). I got to hang out with Robbin's beautiful daughter Maya for a while, so I got to see new shoes and dresses and her drawings and then we almost broke a Polaroid camera while trying to shove film into it. She's 13 now and I've known her since she was 8 or so; amazing to see children grow and she is especially smart and energetic, so it's always fun to see her. Plus she gives the BEST hugs.

I somehow pulled myself away from the festivities (Asao was preparing a kami nabe party: cooking food in handmade paper over charcoal) because I had to run over to another part of Brooklyn to Caron's big book launch party! Her book is called Stuck with the Blooz, so the whole theme was blue. Her sister baked this amazing blue layer cake, and there was SO. MUCH. FOOD. Plus Blooz booze, party favors, speeches, gifts (since the day prior was Caron's birthday), family, her editor, live music, and...the books her publisher brought along sold out in a heartbeat!

She did a fun reading and I got to catch up with Daniel, who is happy and looks fabulous as always. I haven't seen him since he and Caron and I all met at Saltonstall two years ago.

I had hoped to stay longer to chill with Caron, but the party went long and I was incredibly exhausted and underdressed because the weather shifted so drastically from hot to cold. Thus, I made one of my famously poor decisions: run from the party to the subway station (one long block) to minimize time outside and warm up. I didn't calculate for how weak my muscles were from standing and walking for 8-10 hours every day this week, so my legs gave way and I went flying. Luckily, I am now skilled at falling down, so I came away with one skinned knee and a funky hip in the morning, nothing outrageous.

The funny thing was that Caron had sparkly bandages as party favors (they are referenced in her book); came in handy and a good way to cap the week. Asao flies to Syracuse tomorrow morning, so my NYC duties have concluded. I will resume the job when I get to Cleveland in a couple of weeks, but until then, it's back to work on my career + a short vacation upstate with my sister. Badly needed (though I suspect I will be working during vacay...but only writing, longhand, I promise)!

What a Friday

1st stop: Robbin's studio. Asao and I both got mosquito bites. Lots of figuring out the setup for class, and for festivities. Plus catching up. I never get to see enough of her!

2nd stop (after a long walk): Carriage House. To pick up supplies and catch up with Shannon, who was sporting new battle wounds from derby last night. [Above: "silk paper"]

3rd stop: connected to Carriage House is the International Paper Museum. This is some pineapple paper toilet paper by Asao. Sunny day, so the light was beautiful.

4th stop: Lunch at the Met with Yukari. Then, a wonderful tour of the conservation dept of the Watson Library (mind you: conservation for the books of the library, not for artwork). She said they like the hanji very much that Mr. Shin makes and that one of the uses of the heavier hanji is to make labels that are printed on an Epson and pasted onto books, magazines, etc.

They worked hard to design every last bit of the place, which was newly renovated, and this is their gorgeous drying rack (latticework on all sides for air circulation even when the cabinet door is closed, and many many racks like this. Plus this part is on top of slate, though the rest of the floor is cork. Their mats are SO cushy and luxurious.

These chairs are so genius and I want one so badly. Your legs go on either side of the cross, arms hang over both sides, torso supported as you lean forward and do the hard work. BRILLIANT.

They like the hanji! Regular and multi (or no) grain. I was so thankful to also get to spend time with Mindy Dubansky, who loves gardening, fresh air, and books. She is working on a book now that sounds like it will be a beauty, and knows my publisher. We got to look at lots of her handmade paper stashes. It was like dumping out a plastic pumpkin at the end of a Halloween night.

5th stop: CBA, to get Asao ready for his talk. 6th stop: the food court in Koreatown, for what he called an appetizer (sushi--he had wanted this for a while). 7th stop: back to CBA to give the talk. I got to meet Linda and April, catch up with Barbara (funny enough, when Asao and I took the bus downtown from the Met, we saw Barbara at a stop about to get onto our bus but then she stayed off to wait for a less crowded one. We waved as we passed and she saw us), and drink a tiny bit of wine.

8th stop, long overdue: bed!

One foot in front of the other

For Asao's first full day in NYC, we started at Dieu Donne so that he could see the new space and say hi to Paul (they met many years ago). Amy gave him and two of her grad school buddies a tour while I caught up with Lisa. Then we went to Koreatown to look for dried omija (failed) and other ingredients for his kami nabe party (success). We still had some time before Barbara arrived, so we hit the 99-cent store. After noodles in soup (one seafood, one chicken) for lunch, we walked over to Kremer Pigments and Asao showed me one pigment from the inside of a specific shell that cost something like $125 for a pinch in the hand. Somehow, we made it to CBA so he could see the space where he will give an artist talk tomorrow at 6:30pm, and got to see the new show plus meet Kumi! That was an unexpected treat; I've admired her from afar for many years. By this point, we were about to collapse so we limped over to the closest cafe to rest with tea before I headed to my temporary digs and they went off for more adventures (to find paper and more pigments).

I have been scribbling notes for one big app due soon while on the subway, but am too exhausted when I get to my sister's to do any real work. Paper Connection did a blog post about joomchi that included me and a plug for my book; sweet! CEGments, a review of the Canadian Embroidery Guild, also had a joomchi article that included me this fall. Tomorrow will be EVEN more full, if that can be imagined. Two mills (+ papermaking supply shop), two boroughs, one museum library, one museum, setup for an artist talk, and the talk! I am praying my legs and feet hold out, and that Asao gets some sleep tonight (unlike last!).

The reveal

It's obvious which frame has non-glare glazing. What I love about these cardboard corners (besides the fun of punching them out of the die cuts like paper dolls and assembling them) is how they are designed to snap right into the corners of the moulding. Snap, snap, snap, snap, secure! I got a lot of, "Can you figure this out? Girls can't do ___. Wow, you catch on fast!"

Now I know how to make shadow boxes. And how to build up all of those walls (we used the same color mat throughout but it can easily be one color for the back mat, one color for the inner walls). It was so strange to use wood glue after being so wedded to PVA. I found it hilarious that my teacher assumed I didn't know what a bone folder was (they call it a bone burnisher) and that I'd need to order one if I wanted to get serious about framing.

I finally know how to hinge properly! No more dowels in sleeves (though this bears the remnants of both). My teacher didn't believe me when I questioned using Japanese paper for the hinges, because I feared that the paste would not adhere to the water resistant persimmon dye coating. I had to do it so he could see it really didn't work before we went to linen tapes.

But the excitement for today: Asao arrived! Because he did all the messy stuff (border control, customs, etc.) during his layover in Detroit, it was a quick trip from the gate at LaGuardia to me at baggage claim. And he traveled incredibly light. We took a cab to his new digs at Béatrice's studio and he took pictures of everything (including a very frizzy me; WOW, humidity--which he laughed off, considering he has lived in the Philippines for over 20 years). After calling Yukari about our early arrival, we walked around the area, got him acquainted with the subway, peeked into Central Park (he was shocked that no one ate from the big gingko trees and hoped to glean some for his kami nabe party this weekend--cooking in handmade paper!), and stopped for groceries. After dropping luggage in the studio, we walked to get some dinner, where he valiantly stayed awake, though he was visibly drooping. He has been traveling for several days because of how long it takes to get from where he lives to Baguio, then to Manila, then to Nagoya, then to Detroit, then to LaGuardia, then to a lovely studio full of papercuts and good cheer! Tomorrow, more adventures begin.

To join in the fun, come to Asao's talk on Friday, or sign up for his class this weekend!

Framing mysteries revealed

[It's too dark to shoot the real thing, so I am delaying the reveal until the sun rises again tomorrow.] Caron's new picture book has landed! How lovely is that? Meanwhile, I have been up to my eyeballs and then some, taking an intense two-day framing class in Long Island. Frank runs a frame shop and framing school where I got to fill in part of my art education. Filling in the gaps is my M.O., and WOW did I get what I paid for. I came home with a print and a 3D hanji piece, framed beautifully, and enough information to fill my brain several times over. Already after a day, I felt I was seeing the world so differently. Again, all of my book and paper training came in handy when he covered various issues of adhesives and hinges and cutting and measuring and burnishing and conservation-quality work.

Back to transcribing ten pages of notes. Tomorrow, Asao arrives in NYC!