Boston studio news 2010 June
| In June, 2010 I continued to work in Boston, including work in preparation
for a new exhibition that will open in the Boston area in January of 2011. I also was fortunate to be able to visit the Wachusetts Meadows farm in Princeton, a small town in central Massachusetts. This is a nature sanctuary owned by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. The sanctuary has a working farm which includes sheep that are used as a natural control of the meadows. The sheep are sheared of their wool in the Spring, and I had the opportunity to acquire the raw wool from several of the sheep.I worked hard for a few weeks to clean the wool, and then some hand carding in preparation for spinning. After the wool is cleaned and dry, I keep it in large baskets that are separate for each sheep. I was lucky that I could obtain several colors of wool, including light gray, dark gray, dark brown and brown/black, as each sheep naturally produces a different color of wool. I am pleased that I can use these natural colors without the need for dyeing the wool. |
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| I am very happy to have the support of Joe Choiniere, the farm manager,
and his assistant, Cindy Dunn, who is responsible for the daily care of
the sheep, and an expert on the different kinds of sheep and the differences
in the wool that they produce. I appreciate the assistance and advice from
Joe and Cindy, and thank them for their expert help.The farm was a working
farm for many years, perhaps for nearly a century, before it was acquired
by the Audubon Society. They continue to use traditional farming methods,
including in the care of the sheep with Cindy's expert guidance. I am especially
pleased that I was able to obtain this high quality wool that has been
raised in this way, and feel that it fits well with my other art work that
uses antique fabrics that are also more than a century old. I am attaching several pictures from the farm, including the sheep and the barn where they are kept when they are not in the fields, my picture with Joe and Cindy, and my first day of spinning some the wool that I gathered at the farm. |
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Please return to my website to see future updates with more studio news.
I will be returning to my Shari studio on Hokkaido island in Japan in early
July. |
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