A Three Hour Tour
This morning we got an early start on the day in order to catch our ferry, the Queen IV, from our cabin in Copper Harbor, Michigan to the remote island called Isle Royale. It was an easy crossing even though the weather threatened rain. As I mentioned before, Isle Royale is Lake Superior's largest island and a U.S. National Park. It's only accessible via a three hour boat ride or by seaplane. We were all anxious to see the wild northern forests, rocky shorelines, beautiful harbors and coves. Our feet were itching to hike the high ridges, deep valleys, and rocky trails. We had heard tales of the wolves and moose that roam the island, a delicate balance of prey and predator for sure.
Once we arrived, I realized that I have never experienced wilderness quite like this - no roads or cars, the whole island is only traveled by foot or by boat. It's 45 miles long and 9 miles wide, but has around 165 miles of trails - and with only three or four days to see it all, we were aiming to log in 8-12 miles a day from camp to camp.
On our first little day hike, we saw some amazing vistas - breathtaking! I also began my quest to find the perfect agate.
Once we arrived, I realized that I have never experienced wilderness quite like this - no roads or cars, the whole island is only traveled by foot or by boat. It's 45 miles long and 9 miles wide, but has around 165 miles of trails - and with only three or four days to see it all, we were aiming to log in 8-12 miles a day from camp to camp.
On our first little day hike, we saw some amazing vistas - breathtaking! I also began my quest to find the perfect agate.
Fort Wilkins
Thursday, July 23, 2009
1844 frontier Army post complete with period interpreters, Fort
Wilkins is unique campground on the shores of Lake Fanny Hooe. Our
walk through the fort buildings filled with period furnishings and
displays gave us a feel for Army life on the frontier. There were even
some gals making corn husk dolls.
Sanctuary
Pines Nature Sanctuary. It's a 377 acre remnant of old growth maple
and white pines. The trails took us through the monarchs of the
Keweenaw - trees that are 4-5 feet in diameter and 400-600 years old.
A great wilderness experience indeed!
A morning of mining
This morning our first stop was at Adventure Copper Mine in Greenland, MI. One word...awesome!
A community effort
In my rush to get as much accomplished as possible before leaving town on vacation, I enlisted the help of my friend Brooke to assist me in my stitching on "Nasar". I love the conversations two people can have when they're up to thier armpits in embroidery thread. :)
Isle Royale: A Superior Wilderness
Today Justin and I are heading to the northwoods to meet up with his family for our annual Pearson/Stockbridge Family Vacation. This year our adventure takes us to Isle Royale.
Isle Royale’s physical isolation and primitive wilderness challenged human use for centuries; ironically today it has become the Island’s main attraction. Accessible only by boat or seaplane, visitors come to experience this island park through hiking its trails, paddling its inland waterways, exploring its rugged coast, or venturing into the depth of its shipwrecks.
Moving Right Along
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Today my GOOD FRIEND Barb Nicely dropped by to help me do some of the never ending hand embroidery on Nasar. The piece is 8 feet long, so I should be finished oh, say...a few days before my 95th birthday.
Thank you again Barb!!
Thank you again Barb!!
Birthday Boy
My friend Amanda sent these photos of everyone wearing the handpainted, leather dinosaur mask she got for her nephew Isaac. Looks like a great birthday party! There's still one blue/green one available if anyone is interested. The teeth glow in the dark!
In Route
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Destination unknown. I just finished this little collage. I started it by doing two polymer lifts, one of a photocopied journal entry and another of a photograph of some sea gulls I took last summer at the beach. I mounted those to an old map of Afghanistan, then sewed across some of the terrain markings and hand stitched over the form of the bird's bodies. It's about 8" x 8" and titled "In Route".
Banners
Monday, July 6, 2009
I've really been making the most out of this vortex/nest like shape lately. In this piece, I'm creating 11, 9-10 foot banners. In the photo, you can see the sheer fabric that I silkscreened the design on.
Grant Recipients' Works Shown
Friday, July 3, 2009
By Melissa Clement
Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, NC
July 3, 2009
Each year the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County gives Regional Artist Project grants to artists living in 15 counties. Called Art Lives, the show is now on view at the Art Center. It showcases the work of the 11 visual artists who received grants.
Wilmington artist Leslie Pearson, formerly of Fayetteville, was selected for her encaustic (hot wax) paintings. She shows five in the exhibit. One contains prayers she wrote on silk and embedded in the wax. The most exciting piece is a large, nest-like sculpture titled "That Which is Empty, May Be Filled.''
While working on the piece, she set up a camera to take still pictures every 30 seconds. At the end of the project she combined the hundreds of images into one time-lapse video in order to document the project. It shows her working at an impossible and humorous speed.
She says she did the project in response to the issue of infertility. While working on the nest for about two months, she posted images of it on her blog and Facebook page, which prompted responses from people who have infertility or empty home issues.
"Some people were simply interested in the aesthetic appeal of the sculpture and liked its shape and texture'' she says. "In the end, all of the responses became part of the piece because I cut them up and embedded them near the surface of the inside. This gives it one more layer of depth.
"Viewers can read the text if they take the time to look closely."
She decided to paint the nest a bronze color using several layers of brown glazes. She added wax to the inside.
"That gives it a sense of vulnerability and heaviness, which alludes to the delicate subject matter," she said.
Pearson works at ACME Art Studios in Wilmington, and is a candidate for a Master's of Fine Art in the textile program at East Carolina University's School of Art and Design.
Other grant winners with their new works on view are Erica Stankwytch Bailey, James Biederman, Geoff Calibrese, Charles Duke, Jeffrey Davies, Lindsay Leach, Logan Mock-Bunting, Merle Prewitt and Mio Reynolds.
Staff writer Melissa Clement can be reached at clementm@fayobserver.com or 486-3528.
Fayetteville Observer, Fayetteville, NC
July 3, 2009
Each year the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County gives Regional Artist Project grants to artists living in 15 counties. Called Art Lives, the show is now on view at the Art Center. It showcases the work of the 11 visual artists who received grants.
Wilmington artist Leslie Pearson, formerly of Fayetteville, was selected for her encaustic (hot wax) paintings. She shows five in the exhibit. One contains prayers she wrote on silk and embedded in the wax. The most exciting piece is a large, nest-like sculpture titled "That Which is Empty, May Be Filled.''
While working on the piece, she set up a camera to take still pictures every 30 seconds. At the end of the project she combined the hundreds of images into one time-lapse video in order to document the project. It shows her working at an impossible and humorous speed.
She says she did the project in response to the issue of infertility. While working on the nest for about two months, she posted images of it on her blog and Facebook page, which prompted responses from people who have infertility or empty home issues.
"Some people were simply interested in the aesthetic appeal of the sculpture and liked its shape and texture'' she says. "In the end, all of the responses became part of the piece because I cut them up and embedded them near the surface of the inside. This gives it one more layer of depth.
"Viewers can read the text if they take the time to look closely."
She decided to paint the nest a bronze color using several layers of brown glazes. She added wax to the inside.
"That gives it a sense of vulnerability and heaviness, which alludes to the delicate subject matter," she said.
Pearson works at ACME Art Studios in Wilmington, and is a candidate for a Master's of Fine Art in the textile program at East Carolina University's School of Art and Design.
Other grant winners with their new works on view are Erica Stankwytch Bailey, James Biederman, Geoff Calibrese, Charles Duke, Jeffrey Davies, Lindsay Leach, Logan Mock-Bunting, Merle Prewitt and Mio Reynolds.
Staff writer Melissa Clement can be reached at clementm@fayobserver.com or 486-3528.
Feminine Perspective 2009 at Black Door Gallery
One of my paintings is in the Feminine Perspective 2009 exhibition opening tonight at the Black Door Gallery in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
If you're in Mo-town, check out the opening reception tonight, Friday, July 3 from 5:00p to 9:00p at Black Door Gallery, Cape Girardeau, MO
Feminine Perspective features 34 nationally recognized women artists. Read more.
Black Door Gallery
124 S. Spanish St., Cape Girardeau, MO, 63701
(573) 225-7734
Ladies Choice
Feminine Perspective show returns to Black Door Gallery
Thursday, July 2, 2009
By Cherish West ~ Southeast Missourian, Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Patrons can glimpse the perspectives of local and national female artists at the Black Door Gallery's annual all-women art show "The Feminine Perspective," which has its opening reception from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday at the gallery on Spanish Street.
"It's about women, just to celebrate what women do," said Beth Thomas, whose husband Craig owns the gallery.
Beth Thomas and at least 30 other female artists will celebrate their artwork at the second annual "Feminine Perspective" exhibit. She said artists are coming from as far away as Kansas and South Carolina to display fiber art, sculptures and realist, abstract, two-dimensional and mixed media pieces.
"Some of them have a message, others are basically formalism and what the artist would traditionally do," she said. "This is a good way to bring different generations of women together and show their work."
Four generations of women from Thomas' family exhibited last year -- herself, her aunt, her daughter and granddaughter. This year Thomas' granddaughter Mira Themm, will be her only other family member in the show, but family themes still pop up.
(Photo)
Sculpture by Debbi Bollinger
(Four Elements)
[Click to enlarge]
Elementary school teacher Sharon Williams made an intergenerational connection with her acrylic painting "Mother and Child."
"I teach art at Alma Schrader, and I actually got a lot of my influence from some of the second grade students' artwork," Williams said. "One of my students did a 'Pigcasso,' and I elaborated on that."
She said she found a Chinese proverb, "One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade," and incorporated it into her piece.
"My inspiration was children's artwork, Picasso and motifs," Williams said. "I really haven't done a lot of artwork until the last couple of years. I've been teaching 38 years, and I've always focused on what the children are doing."
Thomas said the idea for the show spurred from encouraging friends such as Williams to produce more work.
"A lot of my friends weren't producing because they put family first or jobs first," she said. "So this a way to encourage them to do their work."
Williams took that advice. She said the exhibit gives her a chance to display her artistic and feminine perspective.
"I feel like it's wonderful because you typically hear more about men artists, and it's just a refreshing change to have all women artists and our point of view," Williams said. "A woman's point of view of a woman and child, or man and child, might be different than a man's point of view."
Thursday, July 2, 2009
By Cherish West ~ Southeast Missourian, Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Patrons can glimpse the perspectives of local and national female artists at the Black Door Gallery's annual all-women art show "The Feminine Perspective," which has its opening reception from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday at the gallery on Spanish Street.
"It's about women, just to celebrate what women do," said Beth Thomas, whose husband Craig owns the gallery.
Beth Thomas and at least 30 other female artists will celebrate their artwork at the second annual "Feminine Perspective" exhibit. She said artists are coming from as far away as Kansas and South Carolina to display fiber art, sculptures and realist, abstract, two-dimensional and mixed media pieces.
"Some of them have a message, others are basically formalism and what the artist would traditionally do," she said. "This is a good way to bring different generations of women together and show their work."
Four generations of women from Thomas' family exhibited last year -- herself, her aunt, her daughter and granddaughter. This year Thomas' granddaughter Mira Themm, will be her only other family member in the show, but family themes still pop up.
(Photo)
Sculpture by Debbi Bollinger
(Four Elements)
[Click to enlarge]
Elementary school teacher Sharon Williams made an intergenerational connection with her acrylic painting "Mother and Child."
"I teach art at Alma Schrader, and I actually got a lot of my influence from some of the second grade students' artwork," Williams said. "One of my students did a 'Pigcasso,' and I elaborated on that."
She said she found a Chinese proverb, "One generation plants the trees; another gets the shade," and incorporated it into her piece.
"My inspiration was children's artwork, Picasso and motifs," Williams said. "I really haven't done a lot of artwork until the last couple of years. I've been teaching 38 years, and I've always focused on what the children are doing."
Thomas said the idea for the show spurred from encouraging friends such as Williams to produce more work.
"A lot of my friends weren't producing because they put family first or jobs first," she said. "So this a way to encourage them to do their work."
Williams took that advice. She said the exhibit gives her a chance to display her artistic and feminine perspective.
"I feel like it's wonderful because you typically hear more about men artists, and it's just a refreshing change to have all women artists and our point of view," Williams said. "A woman's point of view of a woman and child, or man and child, might be different than a man's point of view."
New Leather Journal
Thursday, July 2, 2009
I have been one busy woman today! I feel very accomplished (which is rare considering the kind of to-do lists I make for myself). Anyway, I got up early, cleaned my whole house from top to bottom, went to Lowe's, Costco for groceries, lugged my sewing machine to Coastal Sewing to get an attachment part. Posted my antique sewing machine on Craigslist, took my dogs for a walk, did some screenprinting for another project I'm working on, and even finished this hand-stitched leather journal cover. I made it with found objects and I love it!
Lastly, I stirred the cauldron of fabric I'm rusting outside. This is coming along nicely.
Lastly, I stirred the cauldron of fabric I'm rusting outside. This is coming along nicely.
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