October, 2017 | Hand

Oregon Willow

October 25, 2017 Marilyn Comments 1 comment

About 25 years ago my older son, Chris, and I took a road trip to Idaho. We went through a corner of Nevada and entered Idaho from the south. It was the kind of trip where you stop when you encounter something interesting such as a red house by the side of the road selling antiques.

We stopped in parks and saw fish in the steams. We ate at local diners that had obviously been there for many years.

We only had four or five days and crossed into Oregon near Oxbow to start toward home. Driving along a meandering stream, I saw bushes growing on the banks and I wondered what they were. After a few miles, it occurred to me they might be willow because willows like a lot of water and this was dry area except for the streams.

Finally, I pulled over to investigate. The branches were thin but strong and flexible. I cut a few and picked up a broken branch near by.

That evening in our motel, I tied together some thick ends to make spokes, then, I wove a loose, open circular basket, inserting the stick as a handle.

The whole story is one of many in my soon to be published memoir, “Looking for Connection.”

Distractions

October 18, 2017 Marilyn Comments 1 comment

Life seems to be extremely distracting lately. Just keeping up with the disasters in the last two months is almost like a part-time job.

There was Irma slamming into the Keys where I’d been just two weeks earlier. Puerto Rico was already in dire straits, but the government didn’t want to pay attention to it. Before the Las Vegas carnage was sorted out, Northern California caught fire. I know a couple who live in Santa Rosa, so I’ve been checking their Face Book page for updates daily. They did not get burned out.

In between the disasters we have protests and scandals to distract us further. In the early 1980’s when I was weaving a lot of tapestries, I thought sports had become a huge distraction in our nation. My husband watched all the sports: baseball, football, basketball, golf, car races, and Olympics. It was impossible to find an evening or weekend where we could consider matters of family importance because something was always on TV that he had to watch.

I made a collage-type drawing of sports, movie, and music with a crowd of people watching with their arms raised. I made a weaving and titled it “Looking for Someone to Worship.” It’s not a pretty weaving—not my best work.

Today I would call it “Distractions” because I still believe that sports and Hollywood get way more attention than they should. Personally, I don’t watch TV. This year it’s been on for

the inauguration and to track the hurricane.

I’m not saying that people should not enjoy a game, movie, or concert if they wish to. But do we spend time reading things that challenge our mind set and our goals?

When will we as a nation spend time, money, and energy on things that enhance our communities, our understanding of how our government should work, or finding solutions, that are without corruption, for real problems that never get addressed?

When will we require better results from our leaders? When will we stop supporting these man made distractions?

My Multi-harness Loom

October 11, 2017 Marilyn Comments 0 Comment

It does not seem to be in my nature to start out small when I have an exciting new interest. When I was learning to weave on a floor loom in 1967, I thought I would only have one loom so I got one that had ten harnesses so I could design complex patterns. At that time the weavers I knew had Macomber looms which were made to order so you could choose the width and the number of harnesses you wanted.

Last week my son added a video on my Face Book page which shows one of these looms and the artist is showing the process of threading the loom and preparing to weave on it. You can view it at https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.erickson.94

I haven’t used my loom in several years, but I still have it and who knows what I might do in the future. I also have a granddaughter who loves crafts and perhaps she will want to learn weaving when she gets past the thrill of being a teen.

I guess having a hard time letting go of things is normal for the stage of life I’m in.

Do you have hang on to things for s

Roots Matter

October 4, 2017 Marilyn Comments 2 comments

When I bought my house in Stockton in 1997, I wanted a big yard with some trees. It had a huge sycamore and two Modesto ash trees, plus a peach and orange. After twenty years here I’ve planted a redwood, Chinese tallow, weeping cedar, and a jacaranda. I planted seven more fruit trees around the edges of the property and have allowed two “volunteers” to take up residence.

Trees in my neighbor’s yards shower me with dates and privet seeds. The birds love the seeds but I spend countless hours digging up sprouted palms and privets before their roots get so deeply established that I’ll never get them out.

The back yard was covered with Bermuda grass and I particularly don’t like it because it sends out streamers in all directions from a hub along the ground under other grasses and wild flowers. When I least expect it my foot will get snagged in one of these tough steamers and trip me.

When I had a riding mower I didn’t think about it, I just cut it every two weeks. After ten years here I decided to plant flowers in the backyard because the yard was boring.

To clear even a small plot maybe three foot by six foot was a huge amount of work because Bermuda roots are very deep, and unless you can get almost all of it out it will be back in a week or so.

In my forth-coming memoir, I write about digging up these roots:

“I spend many daylight hours digging out Bermuda grass roots in February. These roots are old and gnarly, which make them interesting from an artistic point of view. I start putting the best ones aside. I want to make an art piece with them. My idea is that many bad things have roots that go way back in time, and many good things have come from good roots. In this mixed-media work, I add words such as hate, violence, greed, fear, and love, peace, and faith. I title the work “Roots Matter” and it is accepted in the 2012 Lodi Spring Show.”

I used actual roots held on with heavy body gel.

My son’s wife liked the piece. I didn’t have a good place to hang it at my house so on one of my trips to visit them I took it with me.

It was a delight to see it again when I visited this year in June.

Hand – Work

Basketry – Mixed Media – Weaving

Browsed by
Month: October 2017