Fast and Furious.

Street art, NYC, Q . Cassetti, 2012Last Thursday, Rob and Alex roared down to NYC after a ribbon cutting to pick up Kitty and her possessions after being ousted from Alumni House at FIT. She peacefully stayed in the downstairs sewing room,  I joined them Friday evening after riding the lovely Cornell Campus to Campus bus leaving Ithaca at 6 and promptly getting into NYC in less than 4.5 hours. No stops…quick as can be. I sketched out possible tattoos I want to sell ( “Until death do us part”, and Lucky 13) on Etsy. It was fun…and a really nice break for me. Rob, Kitty and Alex waited up for me, and we had a late dinner at the River Cafe, NYC.

Rob and Kitty had the weekend on Governors Island with GlassLab. So, Alex and I had two days to ourselves. So, he and I walked up Bowery to the New Museum to see two very thought provoking shows(Ghost in the Machine  and Pictures from the Moon: Artists Holograms 1969-2008)that we both really enjoyed seeing and seeing together. The Ghost s how spoke more to me with imagery from paintings from the 20s, to interpretations of literature, music and embroidery, to how people interact with technology to interface with nature (stratosphere suits, cars, bikes, airplanes, diving bells, sailboats, submarines, spacesuits, rockets etc). Lots of kooks and kookery….but challenging none the less. Alex looked at things I blew by…and thanks to him, I really saw the show through his eyes and his total appreciation of the sublimely abstract. Sol Lewitt is a favorite of his. Wall graphics, tattoos and renaissance art top my list…but you know that. I like a lot of stuff. The New Museum is an amazing space with a great shop with very edgy things, a good selection of books and just enough to pick through. Then it was off to a this and that lunch at the Fiat Cafe (which Alex proclaimed as “perfect”). We ordered an antipasto, some fresh mozz, and a few bruschetta. Alex was in heaven.

We did a tea tasting at David’s Tea, a canadian chain that approaches tea the way gourmet food is sold with tastings, smelling, and customer education. Alex and I had Note: Babyfood type jars, clear with black screen printingfun chatting with the Tea Barista—enjoying his candor and wit. Smart people work for Davids.We bought some green tea that seemed palatable and not like a concoction of grass clippings. We did a walkthrough at Dean and Deluca with my taking pictures of things to bring home to my local foodies. Cupcakes and cookies are the rage…with less focus on fresh produce and more on meat/cheese/ bread and condiments. The funniest thing we saw was a granola called “Hippie Chow”. What a hoot. Low key packaging that is standing on humor to get the buyer to reach for the first package. Then hopefully, they “get em”.

Lots of clear glass or plastic packaging with single color (black or white) screenprinting on the front. The Yogurt to the right is an example of what we saw a lot of (including an heirloom tomatoe sauce, McClure Pickles etc). Lots of food with minimal/kraft paper packaging. Just to keep it in the front of our local food nation packaging. Nothing feels custom (even though much of it is)—but a clean humility is kind of the aesthetic that is presented by the hopelessly hip. There is a celebration of basics too( flour, salt, sugar)—that seems to be new.

Then, we shopped for shoes and nipped into exclusive mens stores for fun and to see what was cool. We got some Birkenstocks for Alex on sale as his were hand me downs from Rob and the bottoms were peeling off them. And then we got back to the hotel to meet the other two and see a little Olympics with my guy.

Untitled Restaurant at The Whitney with Kusama sculpture above the space, Q. Cassetti, 2012Sunday was Metropass day with mother and son. I showed him the difference in express and local trains. I pointed out the crosstown buses and how it works. We changed lines from the green to the yellow to the red…piecing together a ride to get from one point to another…helping Alex to realize that this is a skill he will have when he visits NYC from Hofstra. It was good to give him that time and point up. I worry about my kids…and Alex is alway reticent to get “out there” and try new things. Hopefully, the subway will not be one of those scary things he will not try.

Sunday was also another Q and Alex museum experience: The Whitney with see the  Yayoi Kusama show. Alex and I waited in line for well over an hour to just get tickets and then scored 2 of the free tickets to see the special installation of Fireflies on the Water. It was interesting as the Kusama show was another styles company sponsored art event (with crossover installations at the Museum and at the Louis Vuitton shop) mirroring the show we saw at the Temporary Contemporary Gallery in LA, the monumental show of the work, product, videos of Takashi Murakami.  Kusama is a product of her time—with self sponsored art events in Washington Square—very much in the Yoko Ono mode…with Murakami not riding on top of this style piece but integrating with it…and embracing it in his art.  but, it was a big show…and fun to see the work with Alexander.

We also saw a bit of the Whitney collection including a wonderful Walton Ford Turkey, and the Alexander Calder circus. Alex was a great companion—and seemed to take a lot in. From the Whitney to Aldo to get a pair of “real shoes”—something that spans birkenstocks and boat shoes…but isnt too dressy. So we got some dark blue “bucks” which he was delighted with. He must have tried on a dozen pairs of shoes to get to this decision…but we made a choice, and he was and still is charmed. Then, more subway time…to get to Peck Slip for the five o’clock looksee of the Olympics and to wait to meet up with Kitty and Alex.

Garmento, Q. Cassetti, 2012We met them at the Stone Street Tavern, a big beergarden in lower Manhatten.  The area the Stone Street Tavern occupies is shared with a half dozen restaurants and spans a small, wide alley that teams with people eating and drinking under huge umbrellas and european picnic tables. It is so curious the way beergardens have popped up all over NYC and Brooklyn—and how finally, New Yorkers are taking advantage of the big sidewalks and the culture around hanging out, out of doors. This is the kinder and gentler New York that we didnt live in…and welcome the change.

Monday, Kitty, Alex and I shopped for fabrics and trims in the Garment District in the morning. We saw beads and baubles, gold boullion, and embroidery, buttons, and bag trimmings, clasps and zippers, spandex and sparkles, sequins and feathers, mens suiting, and fishnet. We bought yards of spandex printed like a newspaper, a few yards of a lovely printed material with a Mary Blair style border, and a spectacular ombre that is a gradient from mustard to liliac and then back to mustard….with cream as part of the blend. More subway riding…back to the hotel to meet with Rob as we had Hempstead on the schedule to get Alex to his first Hofstra Orientation. And so we did.

We discovered that instead of Hofstra being on the edge of an edgy neighborhood, it turns out that Hofstra is on the edge of a gorgeous perfectly named area, Garden City. We found the Mineola train station and the Hempstead bus station—thanks to Rob knowing that we needed to center Alex in the neighborhood. We found his adorable dorm on campus, and got him registered for the early morning start with new classmates. We discovered a phenomenal restaurant in Garden City, Waterzooi, a belgian restaurant known for mussels, beer and waffles…Boy howdy, we are definintely going back there! It is a soup and shellfish thing…that we all basically took baths in. Alex was on time the next morning—with Hofstra cutting things off at exactly 8:45 a.m. to prevent the helicopter parents from  hanging on. Once again, I am always thrilled and happy with the way Hofstra does business along with the really nice and smart people we always meet.

It was chop chop on Tuesday after the drop off. We got in the minivan to get to the Governors Island Ferry to get over to pick up a half dozen totes filled with GlassLab product, sketches and models.  We got back on the ferry and high tailed it home.

We are home…for now. Alex is on the noon bus to Ithaca from Hempstead…and he figured it out! I have Farmers Market meeting this p.m. and then the home team for dinner….or at least, that is what I hope.

flurries

Farmers’ Market Mercantile on Main Street, Q. Cassetti, 2012Grassroots came and went. It was a few hot days and a few moderate days with nice music, an opportunity to visit with Kitty and Alex and friends, and the chance to see some of the sidebar activities which I now think improves the Grassroots experience (at least for me). I met a lovely person new to the community who knew me from my blog and work (which was a bit undoing as she had the pulse on the here and now of what was going on with my life). We saw all sorts of old Trumansburg friends, and made friends with folks we knew but really had a chance to talk and engage on a different level. The Horseflies were amazing as was Jenny Stearns (with Leah and Amelia being part of the Fire Choir). We loved Mary Lorson’s set in the Cabaret Hall…and the pick up music in the new beer garden (for this year). The Stringbusters arrived on their own and played an unscheduled gig to all of our delight. Plus, it was really nice just hanging out with my boyfriend…and taking it all in. I am so blessed with such a great companion and hubby.

I am immersing myself in folk art. Gotta get going on some images, and need a trigger, a push to get it going. I have been sidetracked by the cameos and plan on getting them to Etsy soon to move it from a crazy obsession to a cash factor. They are beautiful and by combining different charms, they begin to tell little stories that I am enchanted by. Stupid, I know, but none the less charmed.

I am looking at Alexander Girard and books from the Girard collection of the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe and hoping that this will force my hand to move and ideas to flow. We will see. If not, the funny tattoos I am doing for a few bands will have to be the trigger to do more work…even if it is a body of tattoos just to get really good at it. They have been fun as I can use all the cool tools I love in illustrator, and work with making the type really sing. Who knows, I could be on the train…and not realize I have left the station. Plus, there are more 1 hour portraits to do. The newest Lincoln is at the top of the page here>> Next one, Susan B. Anthony.

Another flurry begins tomorrow. Just to confirm, no one ever said this was going to be the most relaxing summer on the books. Matter of fact, it is right up there with the nuttiest.

Alex and Rob leave tomorrow p.m. to pick up Kitty to evacuate (“check out”) of her dorm in Manhattan. The FIT folks were inflexible (but maybe that is okay as Kitty didn’t get clarity on when she needed to be gone. The last thought she had was well into August, so we planned accordingly). Kitty will be sitting in the lobby with her stuff until the boys can come and get her after the ribbon cutting Rob is participating in at the Museum tomorrow a.m.

I will follow end of day on Friday on the sublime and fabulous Cornell bus (Campus to Campus), getting into NYC at 10:30 p.m. We will have the weekend in NYC with Kitty and Rob working on Governors Island with GlassLab. Alex and I are free so we may do a little “be in the city” tutorial with map reading, location identification, and subway/bus riding. I offered up a few options and surprisingly, this was the one that struck Alex as fun…or maybe not fun, but the right thing to do given his new status as Hofstra student. Then Monday, get Alex out to Hempstead to have a 3 day orientation at Hofstra.

We will bring Kitty home—and have Alex take the coach back from Long Island to Ithaca for the first time. He is not liking that idea very much…but hey, we cannot be a prince forever.  Time to grow some wings….who knows, he might like it. There are direct buses from Hempstead to Ithaca…so it cannot be that bad..unlike the chutes and ladders Kitty needs to climb in order to get home to Central NY.

We will all be together again next Thursday/Friday…and maybe we can have a few weeks of being together, enjoying each other’s company, the lake, the cloud bowl, our pets, our ideas and thoughts. This time will be a treasure…bliss. Looking forward to it.

Patchouli scented carnies

Farmers’ Market Mercantile, Q. Cassetti, 2012Bless Nigel. He is the funniest person in fully grasping the whole Tburg/ Grassroots thing—captioning ideas, coining ideas, personifying types of people. He captured one type as a patchouli scented carney…with his making up imaginary conversations, and exchanges. The tattooed and tiedyed are all in force…randomly walking across the streets without looking after having clogged Rabbit Run with tents and campers getting ready of their festival. Grassroots management changed the rules this year with respect to people getting in the gates to set up for reserved camping. It was kooky time today with streams of cars clogging Camp Street, Elm Street, Camp Street, Rabbit Run in festival preparation. Facebook is winking and blinking with local folks upset with this change in the traffic patterns here in the Burg.

Nigel had us all yucking it up as today is day that every Tburger anticipates like Christmas, the opening of GrassRoots Festival of Music and Art. The crew is cranked. Last night was the opener at BarAngus with lovely Amy Glicklich Puryear and her Double E band as well as Bob Champion and the American Hell Drivers. It was an amazing time with great music, really fun and interesting people, delicious food created as a gift for the attendees, and the cool evening air after the hot, humid day.

However, in preparation, Alan Vogel and Rob honchoed the annual “Community Build” for Grassroots which was decided to be our Market Manager/ Customer Service Window at the Trumansburg Farmers Market. A team of less than 2 dozen people, many of them the top of the local field of craftsmen, artisans, artists, managers who have given time and skill to this project which is showcased at Grassroots and then moved to our market for next Wednesday’s market. This 10’x10’ building will house an adult side and a kids’ market/store side along with a ladder to the second story seating space (complete with a fire pole to slide down to the first floor). I will have a bulletin board, a clock and shelves for the manager. We can amend / add things as soon as we settle into the final space (maybe a space for banners on the roof). And those amazing guys slugged it out during the blistering hot weather to build this beautiful add to our market in such an efficient manner. We are so so lucky.

The third space

I style my life around that of Rumplestiltskin. You remember him, dont you? He was the man who squirreled himself away forever, never interacting with society, and finally at some point, joining society after missing decades. Another memorable point of Rumplestilkskin was his amazing beard and appearance. I am somewhat in that mode too (without the beard). However, it is his total cluelessness that I relate to. Having kids, having a job and not much else, put me into this place where I was not hip, not clued in, not on trend, on point or in any way relevant except to the ones I interacted with. Now, with that dynamic changing, I am coming out of my cave and discovering all that went on during my hibernation.

We spent 24 hours at Sagamore with some amazing and engaging people to talk about the value of conversation, what it means, how it can change lives, how it can be the quiet underpinning for personal and public change, engagement. Conversation can make us more human, more humane, and more thoughtful creatures than any media we have. Rob and I knew it was a wonderful thing as we talked and planned, plotted and imagined ideas around conversation and how programming and awareness, quiet teaching and involvement could be so galvanizing and so right for a place like Sagamore which is the soft place that people can go and be fearless.

From this talk, everyone took something different home. For we Trumansburgers, we were so amazed and delighted to see that the concept of the third place (part of my Rumplestiltskin lack of awareness)—was something we had in spades in our little village. If you need a little help with “huh? what is the third place?” this is what Wikipedia says:

“The third place (also known as Third Space) is a term used in the concept of community building to refer to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of home and the workplace. In his influential book The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg (1989, 1991) argues that third places are important for civil society, democracy, civic engagement, and establishing feelings of a sense of place.
Oldenburg calls one’s “first place” the home and those that one lives with. The “second place” is the workplace — where people may actually spend most of their time. Third places, then, are “anchors” of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. All societies already have informal meeting places; what is new in modern times is the intentionality of seeking them out as vital to current societal needs. Oldenburg suggests these hallmarks of a true “third place”: free or inexpensive; food and drink, while not essential, are important; highly accessible: proximate for many (walking distance); involve regulars – those who habitually congregate there; welcoming and comfortable; both new friends and old should be found there.”

It is important that we all have a third space. We have Gimme! and the Farmers’ Market. We have the library and Shur Save. We have had Simply Red and the Pourhouse. The Rongo also used to be a third space, but it has not been cultivated. I guess we Tburgers love our third, fourth and fifth spaces and actually, we go about creating them. One of our favorite spaces is happening this week. Yes, folks, its the national holiday for the Evil City (Ithaca) or even the hamlet of Rongovia! It is GrassRoots week! May the walls of beer be built, the tents set up with tie dyed goodies to buy, and the locals are posting parking signs at the school, on their property. Rob leapt out of bed as if it was Christmas morning to get up to go to the community build—with a bounce in his step and safety glasses on his nose.

The community build for this year will be the market managers booth for the Farmers Market. It is going to be adorable. It is a 10’x10’ footprint that will enclose the eyesore of the market electric box, and will accomodate the manager and one other, with a tall window to sell our shopping bags, our teeshirts, and to do the token sales for EBT. We have had a folding table and wonderful Alan V. suggested that this years build at GrassRoots was to be for the market. Two years ago it was for our wonderful bandstand. So, Here it is, day three (Monday). The structure is solid (Larch, the favorite wood of all Tburgers), and they are beginning to frame it in. I took doughnuts, fresh peaches and beehive pins to them today…and plan in a few minutes to take a bunch of cold and frosties over to make the afternoon a little better. Gotta sign off for now. Beer run!

freefall

Trainyard, NYC, Q. Cassetti 2012They really weren’t kidding when parents say to their kids “This hurts me more than it hurts you”. It’s a mean thing to say because within the context of the kid, its bad enough…but there is truth to being there with your kid when the slapdown happens. I know it’s life and in order to grow and develop we all need setbacks and setdowns, but must we really keep having to hit the wall over and over again not only for ourselves but for our kids. My heart aches for my hopeful son…who wants to pass a test—and needs to buckle down to do it. And unfortunately he needs to focus, be mad and just plain do it. I think a channelled anger might do the trick as he is too trusting to get this one right. When he started to verbally flaggellate himself starting with comparing himself to his friends…and keeping on that channel, I had to seriously tell him to shut up. The only person in this game is him…and no one else. We just need to put our shoulder to it and keep pushing. We need to get right back up on the horse and try again. My heart aches.

The Farmers Market was blissful last night. We had a bunch of new vendors—and it was happily full. People were shopping, eating, hanging out. It was so nice to see the buzz that was there—and though I go to the market to “represent”, it was a pleasure to see our farmers, caterers, and artisans all selling well (some selling out) on a hot summer evening. It didnt hurt that we had the Zydeco Trail Riders who picked up the feeling—-and encouraged people to stay for just the music and the Cayuga Creamery fresh iced cream. I stayed late to see what my friend Stefan was up to, catch up on local doings and news and keep an eye on the wind down. From what we could see, last night was the best night second to our first opener. The parking was full…and people stayed. It will be curious to hear what happens on Saturday. We will be coming back from Sagamore for Alex’s performance of Oklahoma…which really will be the kick off to the summer for us.

There is hope for more events at the Market. Next year, I would love to see both a Wednesday and Saturday market along with bi-weekly or weekly Flea Markets. Someone mentioned a beer festival! That would be fun too (I wonder if this would be a problem)—-and promote the Finger Lakes Beer Trail!

Cameo Bracelets, Q. Cassetti, 2012 (available for sale)…

I am cranking up my Accucut Craft—and am die cutting a bunch of boxes for my cameo bracelets that I am making. Its pretty great…and they look pretty polished to my delight. Next step, sell them. The inset pictures are some of the pieces I have going….Some prettier things, some scarier  things, some terrifying things. All to grace a person!  We are putting the pins and necklaces on cards, and then I will be ready to show those too.

Mermaids, squid, octopus, Abraham Lincoln and bumblebees. The miasma of being lost and floating.

Whirlie Bird

First Round/GlassLab/ Soft Serve cones., Q Cassetti, Eric Meek, GlassLab team, 2012I am in a whirl of work, thinking about cameos, soaps, molding, resin casting, and the things one can do with jump rings. I am thinking of squid, octopus, and of all things, Baba Yaga. Its the mixmaster of no focus. And I am the mix mistress of no focus. I am waiting—impatiently, to see what is going to snap me out of the funk. So, I am learning a lot about molds, epoxy resins, my new accucut craft machine, and soap molding. Kookie. Who knows—resin squid? squid soap? A witch who rides an octopus? I am a bit confounded. Soft Serve Squid?

Speaking of Soft Serve. The picture to the left is of the samples we generated last week with GlassLab at Governors Island. I think the direction is good, but we will need to work on the proportions of the cone and the taper of the top (with the curl) of the ice cream. Part of the research that keeps me spinning but not engaging, was research on fake food…to see how soft serve is rendered. Here are a few good ones:
• Just Dezine 
• Fake Food made in Japan (the best) 

Plus, there is a very cool nugget I discovered which was Kappabashi Market on Kappabashi Street which is recognized as THE place for plastic food models. I searched Flickr just to get an eyeful and I am ready to put the plastic down and buy a ticket to get myself to that amazing place. I was secretly hoping that I could surface a wonderful online resource that brings this terrific Japanese display art to us in the US. I made a few hits, but not my dream opportunity. I checked AliExpress and DHGate as well (Chinese vendors) being disappointed that there was no real resource for this sort of thing. Curious? Right? There are complex soap molds on ebay that rock the house. Yes, I am fried…and am itching to hit on something to illustrate. 

Rob has been on the road since Saturday and will be home tomorrow.  He has been really hitting it between the hot weekend on Governors Island to meetings in Manhattan. Alex is needing to be shuttled down and back to the State Theatre for Oklahoma and Tech Week as they are going live this Friday/Saturday/Sunday. We have been having really nice chats during our commute—about the music of Rogers and Hammerstein, the meaning of the show, the time of the show, lighting, and how musical theatre speaks to my boy particularly the music. He is quite interesting…and if I live in his zone, it is fascinating to hear what he had to say, how he interprets his world, and where he gets excited.

Alec and Alex’s graduation party was on a very hot and humid evening. I had injured my knee (PCL) and the doctor said no to my being on my feet cooking  hamburgers for 50. So, we had pizza delivered.  I made a two complete 4 gallon batches of lemonade, and we went through 10 bags (!) of ice! At least everyone was hydrated in this blistering heat. Our guests were entertained with lawn games, walking around the back forty in little groups. They played “Kan Jam” and Kubb. Ben M. brought his DJ set up and played a great mix of very listenable music. Alex was a gentleman and such a help to me, a prince indeed.

Needing to prep. Friday is opening night for Alex. The tickets are ordered. However, Rob and I have been invited to participate in brainstorming an idea at Sagamore. So we are doing an up and back to the Adirondacks Friday/Saturday so as to be able to see 2 out of the 3 performances of Mr. Alexander in Oklahoma. Need to charge  up the phone and get going….maybe even get some laundry in.

Speaking of birds, Mr. White was peacefully digesting and giving himself a bath after another outright murder of a big blue jay. All the other jays are divebombing him and screaming. Quite a scene, and Percival B. White couldn’t care. Just another day for a serial murderer.

True Love 4 Ever

Whoa. What a wild ride.

Alex and I got into NYC with no events except the obvious, being greeted by high humidity, high heat...master blaster summertime. We were dropped off at the Cornell Club, and went west looking for a cab, which wasn't a problem. We got to our hotel, which had fixed the systematic air conditioning failure that Rob was treated to. We put our things down with hope to get a snack and take walk. I was stunned by the heat, so we had our snack and went to J. Crew to get shorts for Alex (he is delighted with them, telling me that they are "cute"(his words). We met up with the jolly Kitty Robbie team--and had dinner with them and the hot glass team (a treat).

The next day was a full Governors Island Day. Kitty was on an early ferry to get to the site to pack the work from the day before, set up chairs, and take lunch orders. It is amazing to watch our girl engage--and to see how those experiences with the planning and designing for Hampshire's theatre productions yield a planning, thoughtful, proactive worker that I did not have any idea existed inside our dear girl. However, we ferried over around an hour later and stayed the entire afternoon. We walked down the new New York Boulevard--along the East River--another inspired park (very reminiscent of the amazing High Line park) to the Ferries--after buying a bag of italian goodies from JoeMozz (joemozz.com) which caused Alex to think that maybe, just maybe being in the NYC area might be an amazing place to go to college. We saw helicopter, many types of watercraft and ferries, along with little plantings, nice chairs and chaise for people to stretch out in the breezy riverside park--to take in the sunshine and have a free day in nature. This is not the NYC we lived in. Kinder and gentler. Much more inviting as a place to live. It makes me proud that friends of ours were part of changing this paradigm.

The Ferries are clean, well organized and run, and a friendly/fun introduction to a blistering day. It is a breezy, free way to see a bit of NY harbor, recalibrate from urban to rural as getting to Governors Island is a distant park--with the NY skyline as a backdrop to the grass and nature the island promises. It was good to be in the shade, watching the hot glass presentations with designers Eric Ku, and brother/designers Chris and Dominick Leong. For me, it was the right thing to do---to see how others responded to the same input I had, to watch the crowd, to see how the GlassLab team worked and worked with the designer. So when it came to being my turn, I was ready to see if we could make a soft serve ice cream cone. First one was close....second one was fabulous! It was so much fun--with the cone being made as a hollow form, and then a conical form stuck inside to support the hot glass swirl--which went on just as I had hoped, like a coil pot. The crowd was with me as the thing we were working on was something tangible, something fun, something that caused the families of kids to come to the stage and watch closely. I was enjoying it so much, I asked Steve if I could have a headset and he and I had a little repartee--the Louis Prima and Keeley Smith of GlassLab. The call and response approach to talking about the glass was really fun, and got some energy going for the crowd and the glass team.

I loved working with GlassLab. Why? It is a rare thing to be able to work in a making environment where an idea can be spun into a reality by a team of thinking, problem-solving glass designers--who not only can figure out the idea could be made into reality--but then actually doing it--working as one--thinking doing acting. This team thinks, acts and does at 100% alertness--always thinking, pushing, reconsidering during this graceful process of interweaving skill, talent, and smarts trading off as often as the reheat door is opened. GlassLab personifies the power of collaboration.

Prototyping in this efficient way with more brains on the idea is singular--so getting from testing an idea to actually finalizing and finishing is fast with a finished piece worthy of talking about in an hour and a half. The team made 3 complete cones and a single cake cone in less than an hour and a half. I am blown out of my chair and cannot wait until I get another shot with this remarkable group of glass professionals--to see what we can do, what we can learn, what we can feel. It is a powerful thing that this Museum of Glass has--How to keep it going...and have more of us collaborate with with team--is key to seeing the world change it's view of glass, glassmaking and the amazing teams. I am a believer and disciple now. True Love 4ever.

what a treat

Alex and I are sitting happily all plugged in, and rolling on the magnificent Cornell Campus to Campus bus. He is busy with music and creating playlists on YouTube, and I am saying hi to you. Rob and Kitty on on hot Governor's Island staying in a hotel were the air conditioning is broken throughout the entire building. It promises to be a scorcher,, so having a cool, quiet time on the bus will be welcome. We have comfy seats, a place to plug in, tray tables, foot rests, coffee, soda and fruit. Plus, we have a very cheery, nice driver who seems to have a little comedy act to make it even more friendly and neighborly. I think we will be planning to do this again real soon. It is so so much more nice than the public bus.

I went crazy with herbs and scents at Sweetland CSA yesterday bringing home some lettuce, a big chinese cabbage and then big bags of cilantro, basil and mint. I am chopping the cilantro and basil (separately) with a touch of olive oil and freezing for the time when we need to whomp up salsa or pesto. Alex is still working off the pesto I made a few weeks ago. So the leaves were flying last night in preparation. I need to get this stuff out of the way as I have party prepping on the list for next Friday--that cannot deter me. So much so, I am going to do the CSA cha cha on Tuesday next week to leave Friday open for just that.

I was busy looking at lubok work and think I might give it another spin to get my head moving again. Still in creative free fall.

July starts tomorrow. Its going to be a nutty month with GrassRoots, with our participation in a pilot program at Sagamore, the GlassLab event tomorrow,Hofstra's orientation, Oklahoma prodction and more. This is all outside of a busy 9-5 experience. I will just need to hang on and try to keep moving in a positive direction.
Please try to stay cool. We will be.

Novelty

I am going to need to pack sunscreen and sunglasses for the romp to Governor’s Island this weekend. Did you see my blurb on the GlassLab site? Legit, as Alex would say….>> I spent a bit of time last night as I was beginning to get a fever and didnt want to move too much—scanning the web to see what was beautiful (orange and white swirl, red and white swirl, a dirty olive green and a dirty purple swirl, and the best of all, a grey soft serve (Black Sesame from Japan).  Japanese soft serve flavors are of course, japanese…and very different from our chocolate or vanilla or swirl offering. There is a great Flickr image of a display of flavors, and another with toppings and sprinkles (!); one with ruffly tops on the cones  (all in plastic just like the magnificent plastic sushi) from Black Sesame, Sweet Almond, Wasabi, Green Tea, Molasses with Soybean, Cherry Blossom, Melon, grape, cantaloupe, lemon. I discovered that the Dairy Queen cone (see to the left) is a blop/blop with the perfect pigtail at the top versus the extruded shape that is laid on the cone (like a coil built pot) that is the icon we think of when we think of soft serve. And instead of a pigtail that curls back onto the top puff, it is a gentle curve that does not touch the body of the cone. Are you fascinated yet?

Can you resist the graphics below?

I must admit, I cannot. This spurs me on to keep shopping for the perfect ice cream truck to run in the Trumansburg area. Maybe Wasabi soft serve or ginger (with Melissa Madden’s ginger)? This ice cream truck thing has me possessed for many years…searching on ebay for the perfect italian ice cream truck—with a funny awning and terrible music (Pop Goes the Weasel first verse, no chorus) and sublime treats.

Turns out, the cone concept can go somewhere…with color, with glass treatment, etc…and the funniest thing is that the map of Governors Island is yes, an ice cream cone (hard/scooped in a pointy waffle cone). Rob is encouraging me to do a governors island cone, but  I will see if the energy is there.I  should probably do a little thinking before getting on the island to see if it could be amusing or even workable.

I am creatively trying to bump myself off center to get the juices flowing. So, I am working on black paper with the touted Uniball Signo pen—four stars from JetPen).The Signo is a very flowy, opaque white gel pen that loves the black paper…and working in reverse has been fun. I am waiting for it to engage. More paper needs to be burned before I call it a flop. As always, I am impatient for the work to start emerging. It will. I just need a little faith, a lot of paper, and time.

Alex and I are on the Cornell “Campus to Campus” bus tomorrow to get to NYC. No stops—and wifi (!) So, I figured this would be a good first step getting the boy to NYC (and his mother) for the fun on Sunday. Back on Monday via car with Rob. Then there is the community dish to pass on Tuesday, the 4th on Wednesday, Thursday off and Friday—graduation party for Alex and Alex (60 guests). I am exhausted thinking of all of this. So much to buy…so little time.

Wow.

Alex Cassetti, June 21, 2012, Graduate, Charles O. Dickerson HS, Q. Cassetti, 2012Simply madness. I have been at it so much that I havent had a chance to say hello. I am so sorry for being such a deliquent, but these things happen as I am sure you know. Running and running. Work and filling in the gaps with driving, going to the grocery store, and trying to keep up with all the extras that are out there.

There have been family health issues (large scale under our roof) and of course layered on it was a visit from Kitty, and a graduation for our boy, Alex. Graduation was great. Alex was so happy, just plain bursting with it—and the relief and joy in the recieving of his diploma was palpable. It is a real smile you see in this perfect picture of a graduate. He was delighted to have accomplished this, delighted to be with his friends and family, and delighted to move on. So, the moving on has started and we have pencilled in his Orientation, his  tests and prework, his doctor’s paperwork, moving the transcripts etc. We are moving the show from Trumansburg to Hempstead, LI.

The tenor guitar is ordered and should be here by the end of the week. He is tickled pink with the idea that I got him the guitar versus the watch he kept telling us he needed to recieve (somehow that is all wrapped up in his “old fashioned boy” thing he has in this mind). The “old fashioned boy” was a thing he did as a kid, where he would wear antique newspaper boy hats, type on a manual typewriter, carry a pad around his neck to keep notes on, and want to wear vests and ties. He has this idea that being  the “old fashioned boy” (his term) was somehow befitting breeding and intelligence. Same thing with the watch. He told us that if we gave him a watch for graduation, he could wear it when he got married and then he could say that he got it from his parents at his HS.graduation. I say phooey on that stuff. Get a tenor guitar, learn to play it and tune it a zillion ways and be happy. Then you can play your guitar at your wedding and say “This is what I got for my HS graduation, and look at what I can do!” . And my old fashioned boy grins, smiles and prods me for when it will deliver. I expect a song!

Kitty and Kira, June 21, 2012, Q. Cassetti.Kitty was talking a mile a minute about everything that she has processed for the past three weeks. Lets put it this way, FIT has been amazing money well spent. She is revelling in sewing, and puzzled and inspired by the draping course she is taking. She gets it…and is pushing herself to try new things, go beyond what is being assigned in class. She is delighted by slopes, grades of muslin, all the measurements and dimensions one needs to add or subtract, the import of a puffed sleeve….and so on. She is puzzled by “real girls”, what they do for fun, the need to curl their hair, zebra patterns and high heel decorations, hot pink and nail decals. She is puzzled by the club scene, by the inability for people to see the world as she does—and the pronounced focus she has on gender identities and roles that Hampshire so happily celebrates. It is a bit unnerving for her, but as part of a balanced education, she is getting a whole lot of something from the polar extreme of the Pioneer Valley.

I have to go. I have some driving to do to get Alex and Elly to a graduation party. Then its Farmers Market (#3) and we have people to see, photos to take, Kimchi and mustard to buy. Then, hopefully, it will be a glorious time in the later evening lakeside with the fat bumblebees, magenta sweetpeas, and a blazing sunset. Tomorrow, my friends.

Frosty, Swirly

Ice Cream Sign at Trimmer’s Ice Cream Stand, Trumansburg, NY, Q. Cassetti 2012Blistering hot here for another day. Our little Farmers’ Market was a bit wilted and hot…but we still had a nice crowd drinking a lot of lemonade, buying radishes, brooms and all sorts of other things.  Alan, Rob and I had a good meeting about the Market Manager building that is being designed to possibly be the “Community Build” project during the GrassRoots Festival of Music and Art in July. The plan is to have a space for our manager to be available along with providing a space for kids to have a space to sell fruit etc. during our market. It will have a bulletin board, a clock, a slide (!) a place for a Gott water cooler with a cone dispenser.  There is storage and a way for us to hide the park’s electric box…making the current installation go away (a little eyesore). The aesthetic is vertical siding/ metal roof very much in the vernacular farm structures being built today…so it feels “of the farm” which suits the market very well. The foot print is small (10’x 10’ or so…How fun is that?

I have the fan pointed at the top of my head and I am feeling a bit better today than yesterday with the heat and still hot air. Shady Grove is laying as quietly as possible under the window…just trying to keep her furry black self cool. Alex and friends are swimming in ponds and then hiding in our backroom huddling around with video games, and eating large quantities of food (read cold pizza).

Hot Glass Soft Serve:

I am thinking of soft serve. Twisty lovely cones that I plan to make with my friends on the GlassLab stage. Soft Serve and cupcakes in glass…all one color, and some decorated. Roses and sprinkles, diptop and wrappers. I took a ton of sign pictures (a real favorite of mine). Don’t you love the one on the right? I love how unfriendly and severe, almost engraved—this confection appears. Its all about linework with a bit of color poked behind it. This is pretty evocative of Circus Posters, right? The sheer simplicity of this illustration prods me to work on this idea that runs in parallel with the amazing big blue gummybear, and the cobalt dunny from the Kid Robot team. July 1st is the day I get to try this out on Governors Island. It should be fun.

Hurray for the Fathers!

Thank goodness for Fathers. If Rob hadn’t been a father, I might not have been a mother…and we grew each other up into the respective parent we have become. This parent thing is a feat for every individual that chooses to engage in the process—and to have my co-parent be such a loving, kind person that it is fun to be a team with is a blessing indeed. His patience, understanding and love has helped temper my rage, stupidity, and harshness with our two offspring that they haven’t been too damaged my my “hate” and hostility. They mainly laugh at me these days thanks to his direction and sweetness. He is our oak tree. He is the scent of damask roses on a wet morning. He is my ray of sunlight every morning…and my children share in my feelings.

Thank you, Robbie for being all of our father. The journey has be all the more wonderful with you in it…helping to guide, direct, listen and hear to prompt action and understanding.

Man, its been busy here. Done with big projects. Done with little projects. Kitty’s passport came. Alex is in the lineup to graduate. There are some tough family related things due this week…so Rob has changed his calendar to reflect all of that. We have been lakeside for the past two nights and I proclaimed to Rob that I was moving here immediately. Let the Summer Begin! Bossy me.

The picture to the left is of Gold Dust Lounge, an amazing surfer noir band that Rob discovered in Miami at Art Basel. Gold Dust Lounge makes this music that essentiallybecomes a sound bubble (no kidding) that embraces and sweeps the audience away with them. I love being in that sound bubble, riding the sonic waves, thrilling toGold Dust Lounge with Rob, Alex and Elly at the Corning Museum of Glass, May 2012the surf, the twang and the racing road these guys take. Rob was so taken with them that they were invited to play the May 2300˚ event. Turns out, they loved coming here, the experience, the people, the spur to their creativity. We know, whats not to love…but they get it, and us. Plus, they are so great and cool, we may see them again soon. However, if you want to see them, they are the regular Friday music offering at the Miami Standard Hotel (confirming coolness all over the place). Guess who else is a big big new fan? You guessed it, Boy Wonder is too. Check out that look on his face! This is just the beginning.

Kitty is plugging into the fashion fun in NYC.  She is working away, and in her spare time, she is taking in a little culture (the new Prada/Schiaperelli show at the Met).She saw someone from the TV show ” Say Yes to the Dress” and introduced herself. She was waiting in line to see “Project Runway” filming in NYC and saw Michael Kors on line. Kitty went to shake his hand…but he was seconds from going on, but Kors did something even better, he told K. that she looked “fabulous”! She was working her 40s hairstyle (a crazy underpinning of her bangs to make this long loopy fringe on her face). She easily pulls it off (as with her pearls, white blouse, and longer black skirt she recently wore to class…and I am sure she looked fabulous (and she knows it). Her weekend job starts soon, so she needs to grab as much as she can (though Fridays are free of school).

I am working on Abe Lincoln illustrations (1 hr for the last two—and will continue on these quickies). I may do one of Abe’s dear friend, Joshua Fry Speed…just to make a couple shot…Ezra Cornell will be on my list too. Have to believe Cornell just might be interested? I am also rethinking the work I will be doing with GlassLab.

I am participating in the GlassLab installation on Governors Island with the Corning Museum of Glass in association with the Graphic Design show the Cooper Hewitt is showing this summer. I was and still am working on a Russian  Nesting Doll, a Burka Nesting Doll idea but as it was so surface focused, Rob suggested (and I agree) that I reconsider things that might be showier on the stage. So, I am working on 1) a loving cup inspired by valentines (hearts, birds etc); 2) A cloche for a cakestand that is a cake; 3) (my current favorite) a huge soft serve ice cream cone inspired by the illustrations all around here and last but not least; 4) cupcake (a really fun cupcake, not the lump that happened at Steuben-)-but crisp and fun and swirly.

People in the tintype

Lincoln study, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5Yesterday was a gorgeous day. Ditto for today. The Farmers’ Market was fabulous with all sorts of great things to buy—with Meg having black cherry tomatoe plants, and all sorts of elegant currant plants from Daring Drake. We had a massage therapist…and two more people wanted to throw in with us to our delight. Food/catering was selling out to my happiness…and hope that we can continue to drive folks to the market to gather, eat and spend their money of produce, wine, cider, plants and goodies. This is our second shot and I feel real energy around what is happening, the help of the board, and the direction we can point this. I got some great shots and will share with you. I love it when people just “give” you the picture…and I was given quite a few last night. We need more…and we will get them. By the end of the season, we will have imagery to really sell the market!

The big RFP is done. Will deliver tomorrow.  Little projects are moving. The images for the StoneCat have been framed (thanks to Nigel). My cabochons are en route. The market is beginning to stand up on its little shaky legs…and we are going week to week to see what and how it evolves. I am getting things fixed, delivered, and ordered. And! My dies came from Accucut…so it means my diecutter should be here soon! Hello! How exciting is that?

Did you ever notice how big Abe Lincoln’s ears are? HUGE. I saw a life mask , and life casting of his hands at the Fenimore in Cooperstown and was dumbstruck at how odd and overlarge they were…but the facial casting did not get to the ears. Now with this study kicking off a series, I am stunned by his ears…and his amazing assymetrical face. Chasing down info on Lincoln has thrown me back on the amazing photography of Matthew Brady. Brady portrays these civil war era people as the living, breathing people that they were…not shining them up, but just as is…and somehow he captures the individuals essence through a sensitive vision. There is so much humanity peeking out of those sepia images that if you were to just change the fashion, they might be the person on the street passing you by on the way to Starbucks.

I also unwittingly surfaced a whole lot of stuff about the hypothesis that Lincoln might have been gay. It started with my poking around Wikipedia…and then it went on. This is all supported, academic studies…and so it changes the discussion around him. Our first gay president? Interesting. This was not the sort of stuff we addressed way back at Ellis School on Presidents Day. Whole new world.

Rob is home from his travels. It is wonderful to have with us. He is reconsidering his travel for this week. We would love to have him around a bit more!

Onward to the day.

Momento

Work in Progress, Lincoln, Q. Cassetti, 2012, Adobe Illustrator CS5It went from blistering hot to sweater weather in two days. We have a farmers’ market this afternoon—and hopefully the weather will hold and the rain will happen afterwards. It was a great sleep night with blankets, snoring stinky dogs, and a lovely breeze to whisk us away to the dark, dreamless place that seemed so close.

Mei Mei was playing with a young rabbit this morning. I chased her away to give the bunny a chance. Three times chasing away, and the bunny lost. Mr. White was watching the antics with Mei Mei, growling in his throat and running from door to doo.  We launched him…and he grabbed Mei Mei’s prize and made quick work of transforming toy into breakfast. He kept wanting to eviserate this  critter in the center of the back porch—which I prevented by chasing him and his prize with a shovel, threatening to take this snack away for Tucker, the Hawk. Mr. White got the message and all was right with the morning.

I posted a slide show to the Tburg site to put some new images up of the market and begin to get some sort of buzz going about the music, the beautiful things to buy and eat, and the general nice community thing that seems to be going on. More pictures today. I think I should post some portraits of people who work at the market and some more of the shoppers. Toivo, our resident TexMex Finnish group is playing so Rich Koski and his photogenic accordion may make the photo album for this week( I can hope).

Speaking of the Farmers’ Market, I need to remind myself to take a picture of the new fence by Alan Vogel and John Ullberg. When we (Alan, John and I ) were at the potluck, we noticed the attraction of going to the top of the embankment for all the littles in the area. Alan and John volunteered to do a fence, a quick fence to take the burden off the parents a bit. Our plan is to have whirligigs on the top of it to make the market seem more active and interesting…and they (John and Alan) just built the fence over the weekend, lickety split. Now Alan wants us to pencil in time for people to make the whirly gigs in his shop. How lucky are we to have such amazing civic people.

Rob has been away and will be back for a day or so before he heads out to Toledo for the Glass Arts Society (GAS) conference. Alex’s last day was yesterday. Today there is golf and being outdoors. We will see if there is play practice and his plans for the week. He could be going to Hofstra as early as next week for his orientation, but we will need to see if he is accepted for that date.

Did I mention that Kitty has a blog? Take a look. Her brain is working…

Girl in the Newspaper Dress>>

I am back on doing some portraits of famous people this summer. I am thinking of Presidents and political people…but that is subject to change. There are so many original photos of Lincoln, I am going to do a few of him as a warm up. Its fun to work fast and see what happens. This is a work in progress. The image is just the first blush. I need to do this. Chop building.