Found Art...

....at the bottom of a bowl of vanilla yogurt.

where might you find art today?

namaste,
Zann

Thrifting Treasures

I'm just not accomplishing much with my own work these days, hence a dearth of posts about my art. I'm busy -- trying to wind up my mother's estate, finish her book of poems and get it printed, and dealing with the 11 boxes of family papers (photographs, correspondence, old documents) that the June flood did not take.

And then there's the work I'm doing at the Maple Center in memory of Patrick, primarily co-chairing a second workshop on Creating a Path Through Loss / The Arts as Healing Tools. I will also be co-leading the creative writing session of that day-long event. In June, I was asked to serve on the Board of the Maple Center and I accepted that challenge as well....busy busy!

Meanwhile, before the Maple Center fundraiser held last Saturday night, I popped into Nancy's Downtown Mall and spent a whole $5.50 on all the following items:

this heavily embroidered parrot -- well, I'm not sure what use it might have other than as a hanging. It has a couple of small holes in the fabric, but I never mind small signs of age and wear in the textiles I collect--


and a packet of four old button cards that cost $1.25,
(I especially like these sort of spiral-y ones:)

and this little guy rowing on one corner of a child-sized hankie -- sort of an appliqued amigurumi figure:
and of course, I managed to come home with a book.

This is an old reader in a D.C. Heath series of Walt Disney Story Books...the only date on it is a 1939 copyright, but I'm not so sure this book is that old, maybe late 40s or early 50s??? In any case it is fantastically clean, inside and out, not a single creased page and the only marking is a previous owner name on one of the front endpapers.

The waterspot-type of damage to the front cover is the sole flaw....



Fun stuff and it was a relaxing sort of shopping trip, very pocket-book friendly!!

Namaste,
Zann

Books! Library Sale Treasures

Today was the monthly Friends of the Library sale and it was an interesting experience for me. Even though I'm gearing up to begin bookselling again , something I haven't had much motivation for since Patrick's death, I went to the sale only as Zann the Booklover.

Evidence of that is that I only spent $23 and brought home just one box of books:
In that box are back issues of Interweave Knits and Magic Crochet, a couple of 40s crochet booklets, two fat anthology volumes for children of poetry, essays, songs and stories (1907), a couple of contemporary mysteries, including a 2-in-1 Maisie Dobbs which I've been wanting to read since a friend's recommendation. There is an assortment of New Age self-improvement/spirituality books, a poetry-writing and appreciation manual, and a book on Life and Death, compiled from great philosophers. Many, many goodies for me!

But here are the books that I consider the Best of the Box. There are four.
The first is this rather worn ex-library in a non-descript binding:
which turned out to be the 1913 Second Edition of a classic of needlework which was reprinted by Dover in 1970 and Batsford in 1990.
It is, as they say, profusely illustrated in both black and white (this is a sampler by Charlotte Bronte, ones by her sisters appear as well)
and in lovely color.

The text is very detailed with useful information on technique, sampler verses and interesting trivia (the sisters Bronte were 13, 11 and 10 when they did their wordy embroideries.) There are also observations, some quaint, on the social history of such work.

Finally, here is just the sort of little thing I love about the acquisition of old books - the discovery of an errata slip that surely was tipped-in (pasted) at one point, but is now just laid-in and has managed to survive in its proper place for almost 100 years.

Treasure No. 2 - Mermaids' Tales by Ruth Ainsworth, a nice little fairy/folk tale collection with a dust jacket that alone was worth the .80 paid. Illustrated throughout with black and white line drawings. This copy is the 1980 British First Edition.





Treasure No. 3 - an anthology of illustrations from children's books of two centuries.




And, I've saved my favorite of the day for last.
A copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with illustrations by Tove Jansson.
I only knew Jannson's work as the author/illustrator of the Moomintroll books.
I've never run across this book before and it just delights me.
I shall let a selection of the quirky illustrations speak for themselves:














Well, I have to comment on this next one!
This is my favorite illustration of all. I've never seen a more interesting, and rather hilarious, depiction of the Mad Hatter, March Hare and Dormouse. The Mad Hatter looks quite like my first husband, who was an artist and more Beat than hippie when we met in the 60s.
And the Hare...hmmm....
I just found a great site which compiles illustrations from Jansson's other non-Moomintroll work. Just click here.

Namaste,
Zann

Felt 'n' Beads Necklace