October 21, 2012
After midnight
I have been looking at Facebook and have discovered an
organization called TAFA:
The Textile and Fiber Art List.
What an amazing collection of people and
their art.
Fiber art to be
specific.
Some of it is weaving, some
quilting and all sorts of other
artworks, all employing the use of fiber.
I want to do this. I
want to be this. I am a kid in a candy
shop looking at their art. I have
played around only a little bit with fiber art, but it looks so wonderful.
Some of it reminds me of the things I did with the kids when
they were younger. I used to put a
plastic tablecloth on the kitchen table so messes wouldn’t be a worry. We would paint with watercolors and occasionally
finger paints. I made play dough and
we kneaded the color into it while it was still warm. I brought rolling pins and cookie cutters to the table for making
shapes with the play dough. I even
discovered that a garlic press makes some cool play dough stuff- hair or grass
or whatever you wanted it to be.
I wonder if the kids remember weaving paper together? We could cut colored construction paper into
oddly shaped strips and then wove them together and got interesting, wavy and
wobbly patterns in our weaving. And
ever since I was little I have loved weaving together little heart baskets from
red and green paper for Christmas time.
I am an artist in my own way. By allowing and encouraging my children to explore making their
own art, I was able to be the artist too.
We have always cooked things together.
We made gingerbread houses and boller, that wonderful Norwegian doughy
treat.
I made angel food cake for birthdays, and Nick always made the
frosting. Some years when they were
young we got fancy. One year I made a
cake for Courtney that had a rainbow on it.
We were in Tromso at the time, and all of her little Norwegian friends
wanted the rainbow cake more than the Norwegian cake that was frosted in
whipped cream. That same year, Morgan
wants a cake that looked like a frog.
Somehow he was satisfied with the green cake with a few M&Ms on it.
Some of my fun projects were not such a big hit. For Courtney’s fifth birthday, in Chiang
Mai, Thailand, I made little flowerpots to look like they had dirt and worms
and flowers in them. The pots had ice
cream covered with chocolate powder (the “dirt”) and a few gummy worms on the
surface. To top it off, each pot had a
real flower stuck into the dirt. Well,
the kids just wouldn’t eat the “dirt” treats!
Being a mother really brought out my creative self. I was not always artistic, but I was
creative. We played pin the goggle eyes
on Cookie Monster and the kids were awarded “ribbons” I had made out of a deck
of cards with ribbon stapled to the backs.
The kids never had store bought Halloween costumes. This time of year, right now, for 20 years or so, was
the busiest time of the year for me.
They told me what they wanted to be and I made it. One year Courtney was a #2 pencil, complete
with a pointed hat that was the point with the lead. Morgan was several super heroes of his own creation; he was
“Thunder Bolt” and “Tidal Wave”. Austin
was a headless horseman and also a space alien that turned out to look more
like a baked potato wrapped in aluminum foil.
Darcy was a pumpkin when he was about 14 months old (living in Tromso)
 |
| Chance as a Ninja I think- also for a Comic con |
 |
| Totoro- to be worn at a Comic con |
I stressed and sweated over the costumed every year.
I have saved every one of them.
 |
| Sarah as a lady bug courtesy of Great Aunt Nancy (that's me) |
About 10 years ago, there was a sort of slow down. Kids were off at college or all grown up and
moved out. The ones at home were
getting too older. They did have me make
some comic con costumes though. I
remember feeling so sad not to be making costumes for the kids. Another weaning. I entered new stage in my parenting and the kids grew up and
established themselves as independent adults.
Now, here I am with all of my mothering talents and not
enough little people to share them with.
I watched Sarah from under the age of two and her little sister, Jessica, from 12
weeks old. They kept me going as a
mom-type. Always busy. Also
exhausting. Now that they are both in
school and after care full time, I don’t see them often. Mostly it's just nice to play the retired thing. I still do my lactation
consulting and my La Leche League work.
They keep me going!
I do knit almost constantly when I am sitting still.
When I look at the artists I envy, I have to remind myself
that a lot of children have apprenticed under me as they became grown ups. I am an artist.
I am also a tired mom/ wife/ friend/ sister/ great aunt and
more…
http://www.tafalist.com/
