Well Used, Well Loved – launches January 6th!

Well Used, Well Loved Journals

The eight custom made journals by Whimsy Scribble arrived today! They are an absolutely perfect match for the hand towels. I am so pleased!All the pieces of the project are now ready to go – but I will wait until the busyness of the holidays has quieted down to launch the project. My launch date is now January 6th. I’ll be doing an email blast as well as posting on -Twitter #wellusedwellloved @sarahdhaskellFaceBook Sarah D. Haskellproject blog at www.wellusedwellloved.blogspot.comI am looking for 8 households to adopt a towel and be willing to participate in journaling for the duration of the project (6-9 months). So if this interest you – stay tuned and be ready to speak up on January 6th!  

Well Used, Well Loved

Eight towels – ready to be well used and loved!

“Well Used, Well Loved”A community art project that explores age and beautyEight hand-woven linen hand towels will go out to eight households (individuals and families).Over the duration of nine months these households will be asked to use these towels as they please and to record periodic reflections and observations in a small journal that will be provided.  Each household will be invited to have a “kitchen table conversation” with me at least once during the time period.At the end of the nine months, I will collect the used towel, exchanging it for a new towel as a thank you for participating in the project.The eight Well Used and Well Loved towels will be the centerpiece for an installation grounded in an exploration of age and beauty.  The journals (and/or text from them) will also be a part of the final installation.Each participating household will be asked to sign a participation agreement:  to agree to use the towel, to communicate during the project’s 9 months, to write in a journal, to return the towel at the end of 9 nine months

• Project blog – http://wellusedwellloved.blogspot.com/

I will be doing an official launch of this project very soon – and an invitation to participate! 

Now: Letters By Hand

Now: Letters by Hand

Now Letters by Hand An illustrated Inner Life26 letters stitched on antique linens over 22 monthsProject initiated in Tamil Nadu, India ~ January 2014.Completed in Rabun Gap, GA, USA ~ November 2015. Watch a video of the installation  

Back at home

Fall leaves on hand-woven linen

I am back from a transformational trip to the hills of northern Georgia. I had the good fortune to be selected as a fellow to The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, GA, where I was an artist in residence for 2 weeks.While I was at Hambidge I was able to complete “Now” Letters by Hand” – a 22 month project using the American Sign Language alphabet as a platform for inner reflection. This project is a 13′ by 3′ installation – so a photo of the whole project is a bit of a challenge. I will be posting a link to a  video link soon.En route to Georgia I stopped at The Bancroft School in Worcester, MA. I spent a day working with the Middle School to complete an installation for the school entry way. Here we all are at the end of a very successful day, sitting underneath the prayer flag installation!

Bancroft School installation

Now back here in Maine, I am diving into new projects as well as connecting with continuing projects. My favorite season is approaching – snow season – when I can settle inside my studio, warm and cozy while the snow piles up outside.Be sure to check out my Face Book art page – Sarah D. Haskell – and give it a thumbs up! Thanks! 

Georgia on my mind

Hambidge Center

I’m off to Georgia! I will be at The Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, GA this month for a 2 week residency. I am SO excited and pleased to have this opportunity!

Installation materials

As I travel south I will stop for a one day workshop at The Bancroft School in Worcester, MA. Working with the Middle School, I will guide the creation of an installation for the school entryway portico. We will use marine buoy flags, ribbons with messages, wire, zip ties and markers to create a colorful and positive way to greet everyone as they enter The Bancroft School campus.Then I will drive south taking 4 days to travel to Northern Georgia. While down there I will be working on the series “Now” Letters By Hand”. This past month I wove ten yards of white linen to mount this alphabet on to. I also plan to hike, draw and just be available for new ideas and fresh insights. This is truly a gift of time and space.I almost to forgot to announce – I have been selected as a finalist for the NH Charitable Foundation’s Artist Advancement Award. Feeling happy and pleased!

eight woven, two to go

ten yards off loom

Putting it out there

My current artist statement:

The rhythm of hand weaving soothes me.

The meditative, rhythmical process of weaving unlocks my dreams, dissolving boundaries and opening my eyes to a wider vision. On a plain weave grid combined with hand stitching and brocade inlayed threads, my work explores the notion that we are simultaneously alone and part of a larger picture. I use hand dyed indigo colored linen warp threads as a foundation that contrasts with brilliantly dyed rayon weft threads. After drawing or writing on Japanese Kozo (mulberry) paper, I hand spin it into thread and then I weave or embroider it into the foundation fabric. While my process is methodical and measured, my message is open-ended with layers of questions and discovery.The imagery of house/home maintains a strong presence in my work, referencing safety, refuge, comfort and a nurturing environment. These pieces include a body shape within the house. Upon closer inspection, the body is actually a negative or empty space, implying our transient status on earth. Through metaphor and imagery, I attempt to comprehend and illustrate impermanence and loss, an inevitable part of our human livesThread by thread, weaving and embroidery move at the pace of my breath: supporting my desire to be more mindful of the present and sustaining my ability to make art that investigates collective longing and universal struggles.

Warm days. portable art

Summer in Maine goes by like the blink of an eye. We wait and wait for it to get warm, to feel the heat of the sun, and perhaps swim in water that is above 65 degrees! And here it is August 13, with a few trees sporting tinges of red just to remind us that fall will be stepping in before too long.

Casco Bay, Maine – Island Beauty

Witness- our 30′ Nonsuch sloop

I try to spend as much time outside and in/on the water in the summer. We have a 30′ sailboat – which is cozy and perfect for two – but she cannot accommodate a loom!

Portable art rules my summer days!

Since I have an inner urgent need to create constantly – I have found ways to adapt to our summer lifestyle and home. I knit, draw, paint, stitch – any creative effort that is small and portable.I have completed my embroidery series “Now: Letters by Hand”. Poignantly I used my beloved Faye as my model for letter Z – the last letter of my alphabet. And in mid-July, we had to say a very sad good bye to her. The text here says “A kiss before you go.” I miss my studio assistant.

Now: Letters by Hand – Z

Mandala means circle

Mandala means circle

Mandala means circle in Sanskrit. A Mandala design always has a center – a core, just like us. A Mandala is always a symmetrical design that radiates out from this center or core….just like our personality radiates out from us. And the weaving on a Mandala is a spiral – one that keeps growing from this central core. And just like that spiral of weft that grows from the original start – the Mandala Community Weaving has continued to grow and grow.The Mandala Community Weaving is a project that I designed about 20 years ago – and it has grown and grown and grown…just like the spiral weaving. This spring the project has experienced two milestones.

Rock Creek Forest Mandala

First – with the help of parents,staff and students at Rock Creek Forest Elementary School (Chevy Chase MD) we created the largest Mandala yet – over 650 clothes pin people. It is so full of people – the weaving is a small inner circle. There is such power in this image – the strength of numbers, of community, of wholeness and diversity. Thanks RCF for making this Mandala with me!!The second milestone – the Mandala Community Weaving has gone abroad! With the help of Kathy Kaknes, a volunteer who traveled to Haiti this month, the project was presented to the Be Like Brit Orphanage in Grand Goave, Haiti. With over 60 children living, growing and learning in this community, along side many dedicated adults ~ their Mandala has a very special glow to it.

Haiti – Mandala Community Weaving

Making clothespin people helps us feel better.

The completed Mandala

Weaving with friends

Art makes us smile!

Be Like Brit Mission statement.

Haiti colors!

Mandalas in Maryland

El Salvador pride

Community hands

Placing out the people

I am recently back from a week long residency in Chevy Chase MD at Rock Creek Forest Elementary. With a student body of nearly 600 plus staff and teachers, we created a large all school Mandala Community Weaving that will be stunning when fully assembled. The parent volunteers and organizers were amazing – and even with the large workshop sessions we cruised through the week with ease. At the end of the week, I left the final gluing assembly of the Mandala in the capable hands of the two parent organizers – thanks Tricia and Erica! I can’t wait to see it all together!!  

Pride and progress

Bridgeport Neighborhoods

detail – Bridgeport neighborhoods

Hands at work

Bridgeport shoreline

This week I was artist in residence with the two 5th grades at Classical Studies Magnet School in Bridgeport, CT. We completed two tapestries that illustrate two of the wonderful features of this small CT city – the shore line and the many diverse neighborhoods. I loved working with these energetic and happy students! They have much to be proud of in their work and their community.In my portable studio work I have completed two more embroideries from “Now: Letters by Hand” Letter V and W. I’m closing in on the end of this series!!

Letter V

Letter W

Warmer days, bluer skies

Snow piled up above the windows!

In my last post, I spoke of the blizzard…and in case you haven’t heard, we just exited the snowiest February on record here in York. For about three weeks the snow just piling up and piling up. We’ve had the roof shoveled and the drive way piles are over ten feet tall now! Today is bright ans sunny, so there is the sweet sound of melting, gutters running with water and even a few birds singing a happy tune.  All of this snow time gave me the opportunity to be grounded in the studio – no complaints from this happy weaver! I am one of the few people who loves winter weather – I love to x-ski and I love how snow storms create a giant pause in my busy life.I have added a new piece to the gallery from my “Unhinged” series – check it out!

Woven Mandala

The winter residency at Lewiston Middle School is completed. I am quite pleased with the drawn and woven mandalas that these students created in the after school program.

Personal drawn mandala

My own work is progressing – a new piece in the “Unhinged” series almost ready to be off loom for the embroidery. And speaking of embroidery, I have completed Letter U in my project “Now: Letters by Hand”.I will be traveling for 3 weeks leaving March 12…heading to a warm island in the Caribbean, Bequia. I’ll have email – so feel free to keep in touch – I love hearing from you!

Letter U – “Letters by Hand”

Rhythm and blues, new work in progress.

Fresh start

Studio post blizzard

We survived the “epic” blizzard of January 2015 – 24″of snow. Not all that bad – there have been worse storms – and the power never even blinked! The best thing about this storm was that I was hunkered down in the stdio – with heat and power – and I was able to get four new blog posts on my Macomber Looms and Me blog. These new posts include many photos of installing new parts to old looms as well as a few maintenance tricks. Check them out!So now that these posts are off my “to-do” list I can concentrate on weaving! I have completed the third in my series “Unhinged” and I’m off the photographers tomorrow to get it shot. Here’s a preview – but the professional will do a much better job!

Inlay at work.

Unhinged #2 – detail

This month I am artist in residence at a Middle School in Lewiston ME. I’m working in an after-school program through LA ARTS. Working in collaboration with the math teacher, we are doing drawn and then woven Mandalas.

Drawing Mandalas