vWhile I was clicking away in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, so were many others. Now going through my photos I realize how many of them I couldn't resist taking a shot of while they were in action. The selfie and phone snappers were too numerous to even think about, but there was one group that I did have to immortalize. They were out so early and having such fun so the above photo is the one selfie-taking pic I couldn't resist! Below is a series of some of the other photographers that I caught in action:

Day 26

For the last hike I headed out early to go to Tremont Road and Trail. it was somewhere I had been meaning to go to, and I talked to a hiker on Thursday, who said it was a "must". I packed both a breakfast and a lunch, donned my boots, extended my sticks, and headed out. The road goes from paved, to gravel, then to trail, and is for both humans and horses. The hiking part was about five miles round trip, but it was pretty flat and well groomed. But (as you can see in the slide show) the stops for photo ops was frequent, so while it filled my heart, it was probably not a cardio workout!

The temperature was perfect - cool enough to keep you moving. The moss was phenomenal. The sun was golden. The stream was a series of large cascades. And, the Horsey vapors were wonderful! Enough people around to get and give smiles and greetings, but alone for long stretches, too.

It really was the perfect hike to end the month on. Thank you Smoky Mountains. On the drive back, I stopped long enough for one last sunset and the darkening blue sky. Maybe there was a tear or two. It was a long day, and deserved a longer than usual slideshow... so here it is.

 Day 27

I hit the road early. I am ready to go home. I won't really be leaving the mountains, as the spine of the Blue Ridge goes from the park right up to C'ville, so visiting will be frequent! It is time to apply all the inspiration. The park personnel were happy with what they saw, but it was just the tip of what I hope will be an iceberg. I will be having a show of the park inspired work at the McGuffey Art Center in C'ville in February. Lots of work to do in the meantime! But - did I mention I am getting a studio at the Art Center starting November 1! I am very excited about the thought of spreading out and working hard on these.  I will keep you posted on the progress...

Hope you enjoyed sharing my adventure as much as I did sharing it with you all. Thanks for all the comments both here and on Facebook.

In case you missed my Facebook post last week, it is still very relevant:

I have to say I feel wonderfully out-of-touch with the "real world". For 3 weeks now, I have heard nothing of Trump. I have not seen a minute of TV. In the car I have caught snippets of NPR, but not much. I have connected on-line only periodically, and when I did, I selfishly posted more out than took in! Phone calls have been few and far between. Hours of silence have been frequent.

I have hiked many miles, and listened to some total silence. I have listened to music CDs that have been untouched for years. I have talked to artists about art. I have seen the art of nature in its many forms and moods. I am experiencing a very unique and cherished opportunity. Soon it will be back to reality, but I think my heart will not forget.

I picked a few huge trees that I could hide behind, and slowly worked my way down to the edge of the stream to watch the parade. I did manage to get it together enough to take a few shots, and then went back to watch from the safe viewing area. They are majestic and the Big-Daddy was HUGE.

I watched them for a long time. The Big-Daddy kept all the women and children herded together. And the four or five younger antlered bulls stood on the sidelines. Occasionally one of the young bulls, would start to approach the herd, but Big-Daddy just put his head down and let out a very convincing stay-away sound, and the young one became far less brazen. A couple of the 'boys' did some mock fighting just to test out there moves.

Finally it was time to head back across the Park to home. I had packed enough sandwiches and apples to get me through the day, so I stopped to eat and watch the sunset on the way home. It was another great day, and I think I was fast asleep by 9:00.

Here is the visual diary of my day!

Day 21
It was a beautiful day to do leaf printing outside at Sugarland Visitors center. I had my pile of precut fabric ready to go, so with the help of Brad Free, I got set up outside. We printed at a table and examples of my work were on display behind me. I had so many interested kids that half way through my allotted time, I ran out of fabric. Brad came to the rescue with a ream of copier paper, so we switched to paper for our printing.

It was so fun to see the kids’ eyes when they pulled off the leaf and saw the resulting images. 

 Day 17 and 18
On Wednesday, Jon and I decided to explore an area of the park I had not yet seen; Oconaluftee. It is the spot I will be working on site for most of the day next Tuesday, so I wanted to go and check it out in advance.
It was a lovely drive with short walks to a couple of streams, great vistas and turning trees along the way. It is up and over the mountain, so also a lot of turning roads!

The site is a historic settlers’ homestead complete with working garden, and piggies. The buildings are fascinating; the ingenuity to construct and survive is reflected in the workmanship and the creativity. There are barns and outbuildings homes and (on the way there) a turbine grist mill that is still working. And I never tire of the split rail zig zag fences so prevalent here.  I am looking forward to going back on next Tuesday for a little “Plein Air” quilting! Checck out these photos of the place, and don't miss the kissing pigs!

Thursday, Day 18, was a “work day” for me! I donned my official volunteer hat and park shirt, and gathered my materials and headed to Cade Cove. We left early in hopes of avoiding the crowds, but I am not sure that is ever possible! The word is out that the best viewing of wildlife (Other than the tourist on the streets of Gatlinburg) is early AM at Cades Cove, so there they were – both the visitors and the wildlife.

Driving in was a slow stroll in your car, with total stoppage when an animal was sighted. Even with all the warnings, people jumped out of their cars and ran to take pics of the mama bear and her cubs. It was a fantastic sight though. The dew was heavy and the fog was light, and the morning light glowed on the fields and through the trees. I am so glad people could enjoy this beauty.

Once we arrived at the visitor center, where another crowd was gathered to watch an elk graze behind the restrooms, I found the park personnel who would help me know the ropes for my gig. They were a welcoming and warm group, and had a sign already for me!  I found a great bench to set up my materials, a fence on which to hang examples of my work, and a lovely view of the water powered grist mill. Like Oconaluftee, Cades Cove is also a setting showing how the early settlers of the area lived and worked. While I worked, Jon tried (very successfully) his hand at photography – both of me doing my thing and of the site.

According to park personnel it was a very busy day, and I had many people who came to chat with me, ask questions about my art and the park’s artist in residency program, and tell me about their art adventures. My favorite quote of the day, “next to the bear I saw this morning, you are my favorite part of the park!”
Click on the below pictures to see them larger.

The weather was perfect, the people all pleasant, and a great experience. The artwork I did was a bit more traditional and unlike my usual, but it was fun, and it did the job of linking art to the park setting and providing interest and information for the crowd. I did a “Plein Air” depiction of the mill using small bits and pieces of fabrics, temporarily held down with glue. Then I took it back to the studio to add the stitching, texture and more details.  Here is the result. Left; before stitching - done on site. Middle; after stitching. Right; finished.

Day 14, continued

After the Conference closed, I couldn't wait to get back to the nature of The Great Smoky Mountain Park. I decide that even though it was tourist-peak Sunday, I would go to one of the most popular places in the park; Clingman's Dome.

I had started the day down at the bottom in the fog, but by the sunset, it was crisp and clear up on top and, as it got cooler, the clouds formed an ocean of waves below us. So here are pictures of the ride up, the top, and the sunset on the way down.

And one panorama for you, too!

Day 12-14

These were the days of the Surface Design Association Conference, "Made/Aware". It was three solid days and evenings of great speakers, fantastic inspiration and really good people. The days were interspersed with workshops - mostly hands-on - and presentations. The presentations ran the gamut from very short talks by artists about their recent activities, to hour+ long presentations and discussion with key note speakers or panels. The subject matter dealt with examples, ideas and supply chains through which we could be more socially conscience while both doing our work and living our lives.

Three speakers of note were, Laura Sansone, Carole Lung, and Roland Ricketts. Laura Sansone is an educator and fiber artist who is working to promote the reuse and repair of clothing through street clothing labs at the farmer's markets in NYC. and linking in fiber artist and suppliers within her local Hudson Valley area. At the farmer's markets she dyes used clothing at the market using dye made from the available produce. She teaches people how to do this as well as how to remake the clothing they though they would have to throw away, or clothing they have purchased second hand.

Rowland Ricketts (pictured above) has spent his entire life studying and making blue. He is an indigo farmer. dyer and artist. He trained for many years in Japan, where his training started with working the fields and the daily stirring of the compost. He is now a world-renown artist who is presently in a show at the Boston Museum of Fine arts.
He was both passionate about what he does with Natural dying, but also realistic in his views about if they could ever replace the now prominent synthetics.

Beyond the Workshops and lectures, was an impressive show of fiber work in the hallway galleries of Arrowmont. Below is a slide show of some of my favorites from the show. I was impressive in both the craft and the content. Many of the pieces reiterated the social conscience theme of the conference. I have tried to include not only some of my favorites, but artwork that shows the diverse use of fiberous materials. From Susan Cavanough's Sheets, shirts, drapes and other textiles in her work "Ori-Kume", to the cyanotype imape on the strings of a mop in Howard Ptaszek's "Self Portrait". The effect of the fishing line and maps used in Mary Babcock's piece was outstanding. While Joyce Leatherwood and Molly Koehn used more traditional materials, their work was non-traditional in its subject and presentation.

Below are a few more pics of the park for you to enjoy... take a walk with me!

Day 10

It was the final class day and our class merged with another for an hour so both classes could hear about Catharine Ellis's innovative shibori weaving. Shibori is usually done by taking a length of fabric and sewing small tucks and folds into it before dyeing to get very intricate designs. Catharine is a weaver, and so she has developed a way to weave 'pulling threads' into her woven fabrics, so that by pulling them the shibori designs are created without the need for the hand sewing step.

Catharine also collaborates with a small mill to have her patterns produced into blanks for dyers to purchase and dye in their own color ways. The pulling threads are woven into the patterns by the mill.

The instructor for the second class is Yoshiko Wada. She is an amazing fount of information - and as her website says:
"Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada is an artist, author, exhibition curator, textile researcher, and film producer and has long been an exponent of traditional and sustainable practices in fashion and textile production."

My friend Lotta Helleberg was in Yoshiko's class and the intricate work they did was incredible.

Tomorrow starts the Surface Design Conference, so more excitement to come... but one special excitement for today: a trio of bears! Outside of my studio, a mother bear and her two cubs were exploring the hillside. Evidently they are "regulars" to the area, and just mosey along at their own pace.

Day 6

More rain today and I needed a studio break, so I decided to head to one of the outlying areas of the park (Greenbriar), and check it out. I figure, when it is wet, go to the wet parts! It was a great decision, enough people to not feel totally out of touch, but far from the madding crowds. I drove to the end of the road, and planned on hiking a bit into the area, but after seeing the signage about bears, decided that might not be a good idea on my own. In bear country it is imperative that you are with someone you can outrun! So I just drove abut 5 MPH and got out a lot!

Sat and watched some kayakers for a while... again, when it is raining, get wet I guess! I had gotten there early, and it was just misting at that time, and it was raining harder and I was getting hungry, so headed fr the exit. I met the ranger who was putting out "Road Closed" signs and turning away more kayakers. I guess the forecast wasn't looking good, so they decided to shut down for the rest of the day. Glad I got in and out when I did.

On the way back into town I stopped at the grocery store (yes "the" not "an") to return my Red Box movie and  ran into the Park volunteer coordinator, who was returning hers also... small town when you can run into the one person you know!

Here are the pics I took today... hope you enjoy them.

Day 4 and 5
The rain continues to pour, so no silly hiking distractions to take me away from the studio! Started the day with that angst that is brought on by the [always happens] "this is crap" phase that every piece must go through just before you turn the bend! Compound this with the rain, missing home a smidgen and my initial adrenaline having been used up, and it took a while to find the groove. But thanks to cranking up some Bette Midler, Willie Nelson and Edvard Grieg, soon I was on a roll.

I got stitching well under way on the Green Lichen one I started the other day, and got two others laid out and auditioning for whether they will get a part or not. I noticed a lot of well soaked small branches outside my studio door, so inspired by the basket makers I saw the other day, I did a little weaving with them and some paper yarns. I think this will now be joined by some photos and lots of stitching!

I also pounded some leaves to see about using those images. Didn't get them quite right, but all that pounding certainly was a mood enhanced!!

Here are some of the works in progress... I will keep you posted on their progress!

Day3
Today I got to move into a studio on the Arrowmont Campus. What a joy and privilege. Arrowmont School for Arts and Crafts was founded originally as a general school, and later, morphed into what it is today.

It hold advanced level workshops for all types of craft: wood turning, textiles, ceramics, etc. You feel the energy just walking the grounds. There are several Artist-in Residences here - all staying for about eleven months, then there is the rotating calendar of classes that draw artists and instructors from around the world. Last month was the first month they provided a studio for the GSMNP arts, so my timing was pretty perfect!

I got the place all settled yesterday, and a piece cut and ready to sew. Today the gods have provided a day of heavy rain, so I will not even be tempted to go sight seeing instead of working, so enough said... I am off to work while you take a look here at the grounds.