twenty five years

rooftops

about a month ago I had the privilege of moving into a home full of wonderful people.  I do not think I have ever experienced such fullness.  I feel full of joy and unexpected laughter.  I feel full of spontaneity. I feel full of the kindness and compassion showed to me by loved ones.  I am experiencing fullness in conversation. and I am full from this wholesome meal shared with some friends on the rooftop.

crochet rugs

Mega Doily by Ladies & Gentlemen

a part of me would love to have one of these rugs in my home; such clean details

wooden textiles

Miss Maple, pendant lamp, 85 x 85 x 35 cm
material: wooden textile, steel

 A few days ago, a friend of mine introduced me to Elisa Strozyk, an innovative textile artist from Berlin that seeks to convey a new tactile experience through the constructed exploration of "Wooden Textiles."  She is creative. and She is inspiring. 

"Wooden Textiles" is a material that is half wood-half textile, between hard and soft, challenging what can be expected from a material or category. It looks and smells familiar but feels strange, as it is able to move and form in unexpected ways. The processes to transform wood into a flexible wooden surface is its deconstruction into pieces, which are then attached to a textile base. Depending on the geometry and size of the tiles each design shows a different behavior regarding flexibility and mobility. There are various possible applications, for example as floorings, curtains, drapes, plaids, upholstery or parts of furniture. - Elisa Strozyk

all photographs from www.elisastrozyk.de

apple cinnamon oatmeal muffins

oh sweet summer

echoes and traces

Heirloom, Clare Twomey, cast porcelain objects

these details are inspiring

all photos from www.claretwomey.com

fear

*this summer I have the privilege of taking an internship course, at OCAD University, that enables me to experience a taste of jewellery design and metalsmithing in a field placement study.  This course has been a wonderful experience but has also raised many challenging questions...what do I really want to do with my life? Where do I see myself in five years? Why do I spend so many hours in the studio?

Over the past few years, these questions have caused me so much anxiety and anguish…I’ve actually come close to transferring programs several times throughout my time here at OCAD University – because there is something so frightening about pursuing a career that does not necessarily have a stable and concrete direction.  But as much as my fear sometimes gets in the way of pursuing my passions for jewellery design and metalsmithing, it has also been this exact freedom of being able to choose the direction of my career that has stopped me from dropping all my courses and transferring schools.  I know that I love what I do and that the satisfaction of being able to design and create objects is what brings me joy and contentment.   I do not have the desire or pursuit to become a famous or well renowned jewellery designer (perhaps this will happen, but I would never want it to be my primary goal).  

My entire life, I’ve always been surrounded by lots of people – from being raised in a large family with three biological sisters and countless foster care siblings, spending my summers as a camp counsellor and most recently spending the past three summers working alongside children and adults with both physical and intellectual disabilities – these experiences have heightened my desire to be an advocate of the potential in every human being.  In many of these relationships, I had the privilege of catching just a small glimpse of the vulnerability that many of these children carry with them… a vulnerability that so often restrains them from chasing after their own passions and desires.  

I find it can be overwhelming to try and understand how we might even begin to empower these children and young adults, but it ultimately comes down to how we choose to live out our lives.  Statistics can dehumanize injustice, but they do not eliminate the problem.  Our habits comprise our character and these habits have the capacity to consume us.  While these issues may be large and my own individual ability to fight injustice might be small, I will not let my inability to do EVERYTHING make me do NOTHING instead of SOMETHING. -Michelle Brock, Hope For The Sold.