The Art of Fine Furniture

The Queen of Slipstream by Mark Laub

This beautiful wood piece is created to intrigue the eye and then to explore deeper.  The flower top spins upward to reveal the mosaic inside.

 Flower top spinning

Mosaic inside

Smaller drawers come out the side and off the top.

 
Open the top for more hidden beauty

 Closed top

And looking closer at the bottom, I find another treasure.

                                       
Just a couple more days in Winona, Minnesota at the History Center then the show goes to Rochester, Minnesota.  Hope you take a look. 

Here's the write up from the Winona County Historical Society.  Click the link below to learn more about the artists and the Art of Fine Furniture.  The Art of Fine Furniture is free and open to the public.


"The Art of Fine Furniture 2017,  June 17 - August 17 (extended a week!)  Slaggie Family Lobby, History Center
We are getting excited to bring you the 5th annual Art of Fine Furniture! This popular exhibit is curated with new pieces each year by local studio furniture maker and artist, Jamie Schell. For 2017 we will take a look at inspiration. What inspires artists, craftsmen, buyers, designers, and you...what influences throughout history have impacted inspiration for design?
Save the date for the Opening Reception to be held Saturday, June 17 from 1 - 3 p.m. Many of the artists will be there to visit with and it is a festive time downtown with Steamboat Days in full swing too! More information about the artists, workshops and programs can be found at www.theartoffinefurture.com! Sponsored by Winona National Bank and funded in part by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund of the Minnesota Legacy Fund through SEMAC." 



 

Musing in August

The morning light over the Mississippi river today was so lovely.  The sun was up, a bit hidden behind some clouds and creating this pink light.  The breeze was blowing and the birds seemed to be delighting in the air and light as well.

 Movement is one of the things that feeds my being.  Lately, in my Nia classes, we've been dancing a routine called Deep Dive created by Winalee Zeeb.  It is all about flow and water as life.

Here's part of the path that I walk or I run.  I'm playing with the idea of running.  I remember how much fun it was as a kid.  Now, it is more a half hearted attempt.  I love to take pictures along the way and stop and feel the breeze or look at the water.  Maybe it is really a whole hearted way to walk/run.

I walk off the dike, passed the marina, and then on Hamilton.  It is being upgraded and I've feared for my friend's flowers on the corner of Hamilton and 4th.  She was so brave and talked with the construction people and told them that these flowers were from her mother and her grandmother and give many people great joy.  They agreed to work with her.  She moved some flowers and they moved carefully on her boulevard.

It rained last night and the leaves were filled with water.  When the breeze blew, it sent a little blessing all over me and the land.  I breathe in the day and I'm grateful.




 

Up North

Here are my friends who I've known since the 70's.  Lyn, Inge, Karen, and I are sporting our 'Life is Good' t-shirts.  We're a team of friends.

 The roses smell so sweet.

 Cats and hummingbirds welcome here.

Karen and Oscar, her very relaxed cat.

 Lake Superior in the distance.

 











Gathering with friends and going up North to Lake Superior is a welcome respite. 
Gratitude for friendships long and deep and natural beauty.
 

Highlights from Season 14 Great River Shakespeare Festival

Last Concert on the Green of the Great River Shakespeare Festival with Ilika Ward & the Moonlight Riders.

Grace Marco and Bob Stuber working sound magic for Concerts on the Green.



Two lovely artists, Margaret Kiihne and Julie Johnston, enjoying a few moments at the concert.

 Thirty-two artists showed their work at the River Arts Alliance Member Show.

I feel so honored to be part of this beautiful show.

 Hallowed Ground by Ken McCullough

The stage set of Comedy of Errors.  Watching the people on stage interacting with the actors was another part of the fun!

The Winona community thanks the artists of the Great River Shakespeare Festival after the final performance of a Comedy of Errors. Community coming together in love.

Compassionate Resistance

In the current political climate in the United States of America, I often feel ashamed, angry, frustrated and repulsed.  I joined a group of resisters in my community; I often feel that I am not doing enough.  Exhaustion at the sheer weight of the dilemma makes me want to pull my head in, if I was a turtle.  I am not a turtle; I'm a feeling, breathing, living and loving woman.

Here are some things that I'm doing.  I call my representatives when I can.  I add my name to petitions.  I make art.  I dance.  And I send my positive energy into the world to help set a new course for myself and encourage others.

Compassionate Resistance

July 11, 2017

Photo imagery on cotton, acrylic paint, dyed fabric

Screen printed fist print by Kathy Seifert

16.5" x 21"

"Living is a form of not being sure, not knowing what next or how.  The moment you know how, you begin to die a little.  The artist never entirely knows.   We guess. We may be wrong, but we take leap after leap in the dark."

                                                                    Agnes de Mille

 

City Museum

 

The City Museum is located in St. Louis, Missouri. When you open up City Museum's website the first words that you see are: "Always building..."  It is an old shoe factory that has become a play museum for young and old.  I traveled there for a Nia Moving to Heal conference.  Before the dancing began, I met up with two dear friends to climb and slide and shimmy through many known and unknown areas.  There is a ferris wheel on the roof top that I went on with Nyah, my 11 year old friend, and a 10 floor slide that Nyah and her Mom slid down.  I did not.  I took the stairs down and wondered if I would see them again.  We had cell phones and I knew that we would; however for a short moment, I was a little scared.  And then there we were together and we were near the caves and a white whale.

 Taking a selfie of us two on the ferris wheel: double brave!

Nyah went to Ridgeway Community School and loved art.  Her family moved and we only see one another occasionally when she makes a return visit with her family to Winona.  This time,  I was traveling nearer to her home and we met up for a play day.  What a treat to spend a day of exploration and fun together!  Living Life as Art all the way!