Emily Schiffer's Cheyenne River

I recently attended a lecture with Photographer, Emily Schiffer. Emily has spent the last 5 years living in Dupree, South Dakota developing and teaching a photography program for local children. Upon moving to South Dakota, she notified many friends and colleagues and had people donate photography equipment to launch her ‘My Viewpoint’ program which is held at a local YMCA, which is essentially a small cabin in the middle of a valley region. She received about 70 cameras and a darkroom complete with supplies, chemicals and an enlarger.
Her exhibit, ‘Cheyenne River’, which is currently on exhibit at the Farnsworth Art Museum, depicts the children in the context of their play. Working at the museum, I have loved hearing people’s responses to the exhibit and was inspired by her passion for bringing art and education to underprivileged children. Prior to attending her talk, I knew that I admired her work. However, as I was sitting there, listening to her. I felt a connection with her as she got excited talking about the students and their work and progress. Emily is featured at the museum as part of her prize for winning the Arnold Newman award, which is given out annually by the Arnold and Augusta Newman foundation. Along with the exhibit, she was given $10,000 toward her program. What did she use her winnings for? She took her students on a trip to New York city. There, the students went to various museums, swam in the ocean for the first time, and even had their work exhibited at SEVEN, a Brooklyn gallery.
Listening to Emily, I was reminded of Zana Briski, a photographer who moved to Calcutta and taught children in the slums about photography as a way to document their life. Briski has also shown her students work in various galleries and even opened the door for a few of her students to received scholarships and receive an American college education. If your interested, take a look at ‘Born into Brothals’, her Academy award winning documentary.

Below are pieces from Emily’s presentation. Take a peak and enjoy a glimpse at childhood in rural South Dakota!






My favorite photo was this first photograph shown of a small girl also named Emily. Emily Schiffer recalled the context of the shot as all the children exploring an old barn. She then turned and saw little Emily kind of zoned out. She said to her, “Emily, you look very beautiful right now. May I take your picture?” Little Emily said yes and as the adjustments on the camera were made, a breeze blew by and the shirt fell off the shoulder. Between the lighting, movement with the breeze and surreal look in little Emily’s eyes, this priceless shot was able to be captured.

Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace

Since moving to Maine at the end of May, I have been faced with life questions that I had never encountered before. Some of these questions were anticipated with the natural transition from college life to ‘life after college’. Questions that would fit into this category would include:
1. Is pottery a hobby or career?
2. I also have a passion for urban community development? What does it look like to have such a passion while living in rural Maine?
3. How long do I want to stay in Maine? Who will I meet? What will my life look like here?
4. How do I plug into community?
5. What do I do when most of my free time is alone time?

These are all broad questions. These questions, mostly logical, have to do with my life professionally. Well, what about everything else? My time at Covenant taught me to think holistically. Instead of asking myself WHAT is missing, I want to ask myself WHY I feel like I’m missing something.
Thanks to a recent phone conversation with my sister, Niki, I am realizing that it is vital to view my life holistically and see how the various aspects of my life connect, in order to start answering these questions.
An example of this would be my current financial situation. I am working part time as an apprentice to a potter. Overall, I spend about 20-30 hours a week in the studio, doing anything from cleaning, to working with molds, to throwing pots. I do not get paid for all of these hours. The time that I spend making my own pieces and improving my skill is unpaid work, as it should be. I also work about 30 hours a week at the Farnsworth Art Museum Store. Anticipating my time in Maine, this is exactly what I was hoping for. I wanted to be completely entrenched in pottery, learning the in’s and out’s of the business, while also having the opportunity to improve my skill. I also wanted a small job on the site that would financially supplement my unpaid hours of pottery. Ok. So, I got what I wanted.

What’s my problem? What thoughts have lead to discontentment?

1. I feel discontent because I am struggling financially. I find myself wishing that I could live in a cute little house or apartment and be able to walk to the museum. I find myself wanting a garden and a cute little life. I want to have a small place to live that I can call my own and have people over for a meal. I want to be able to cook food that I like and that is both good for my taste buds and body. I want friends to be able to visit me and stay in my little home and not be a bother to anyone else.

Response: This is the first time that I have put those thoughts into words. When reading my above explanation of discontentment, I am slightly disgusted with myself. Yes, it is true- all of the above things are reasonable. They make sense for any employed adult to want those things. It sounds right because of the selfish culture that we live in today. We feel entitled to have things to call our OWN. We feel entitled to have THINGS. Is that what I really want for my life? Do I want to live alone with nothing but all the stuff that I have accumulated? I certainly can’t live that way and be an apprentice to a potter and a museum store employee! Does that mean that I would have to make sacrifices in order to live a comfortable life filled with stuff? What about being alone? I’ve never wanted to live alone. I have strong convictions toward living alone and I believe that we are creatures created for community and that communal living is the essence of that. So why am I being bent toward this ideal that a cute little place to call my own will satisfy? That leads me to my next point:

2. I feel discontent because I long for a sense of home: After my parents moving from Maryland to New Jersey, I made Chattanooga home. I spent my school year months there, and between my Junior and Senior year, I lived there and became involved in a great church community which deepened this desired sense of home. That sense of home was confirmed with close friends, a church that I loved and older people I look up to. Now, I am in Maine and I’m starting over. It takes time and I get restless. I just want to speed up the process and have everything in place.

It’s strange to me that I want a sense of home at this point in my life. I’ve had this just assumed plan that I would spend my few years after college living in various places, being exposed to new things. Why am I having this almost subconscious pull to have a home and a place and a sense of permanence? Is this feeling even directly correlated with my move and new environment or is that just a general human desire. We want to be fulfilled by this world. We want to be grounded and produce something. How humanistic of us. How selfish it is to live to please ourselves and pursue our own ideas of what will satisfy.

The following verses seem to be the only applicable response to my chaotic stream of thoughts.

James 4:13-17
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”- yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

necklace? or....

I am a list maker. I think of things to make, often late at night when I can't sleep, write down my idea, and then- MAYBE... just maybe... a few months later, its done. The real downfall to this unhelpful pattern is that I often do a project in pieces. This necklace for example: I was doing some hemming and decided to go ahead and sew the basic shape of the necklace while all my sewing items were out. I attached the hooks and then left it for about a week. Then, today- I wasn't even feeling creative. I just got this overwhelming urge to get it done. It annoyed me to see a half finished project just sitting there. So, after a long day of work, when I am not only worn out but also that sticky sort of hot, I sit down to do something that should take a bit of planning. I didn't plan. I just plugged in the hot glue gun and went for it. Yes, this is the result of my 'just get it done mentality'.




Do we love it or do we love it? I think I like this hemp wall hanging because the negative shapes are just as prominant as the positive shapes. The eye is not just drawn to the subject as a whole... but to the lines and the relationship between lines. I've been wanting to make a necklace for a while now and thought this might just it. What if I could translate this idea into a necklace?

1. Find neutral fabric. Cut into desired shape. Cut it larger than desired, remembering that it will be sown inside out and then folded back to right side.


2. Here came my first problem. So, the above photo that gave me the idea for the necklace is made out of hemp. The store that I went to was out of hemp and only had jute.
Properties of jute that vary from hemp: lighter color. thicker. Not as tightly woven.
These are all things that need to be taken into account and will affect the process. In my opinion, the lighter color makes it look more homemade. It's thicker so it takes up more room. It is a more losely woven chord so it needs to be fastened more tightly and permanently.

Below, I thought that the jute could be easily sown on. Being lazy, I used the dark thread I had near me. Problem: It shows. A lot.... and it leaves the jute looking loose on the fabric.

Question. Necklace or Bib?

3. The answer to the thread catastrophe? Hot Glue Gun. Use with caution. It is easy to use too much and have the glue ooze from below the hemp. Below is the finished product... Enjoy.


Am I satisfied? I don't think so. Actually... I'm positive. I can know that I am not satisfied when I can look at the origin of my idea and still like it better than my own. I look at the hemp wall hanging above and think- "If I saw this wall hanging right next to the necklace, which one would I want more?" Answer: the wall hanging. True, it doesn't have a function and won't embellish an outfit, but it also doesn't look like a child made it. It also doesn't look like it could be a bib... or at least a very affective one!

Addressing the List.

Ha! I will not be addressing the list. I considered it, started typing and then started to feel like I was writing in a journal. Yeah, not exactly what I was going for. I could use elequent wording to make it sound more exciting than it really is, but hey- lets just save it and call it a day.

On a different note, I bought some supplies for our first venture. Let me show you!

Jute Wall Hanging



Ok, well as cool as this jute wall hanging is, I am actually making something different but 'inspired' by this concept. I will be making a necklace using this same method. However, the store was out of jute so I got a roll of hemp instead. I am already considering that I might run into some difficulties since hemp is a more loosely woven string and it could look sloppy, but I'll do what I can and be sure to inform you when hardships are faced. I will leave the rest to your imagination but will get to making this as soon as possible.

1,200 Miles Later.

First of all, I’d like to apologize for my lack of updates. This blog was designed to be a tool to stir creativity but instead, has begun to resemble much of my relationship with crafting: strong idea and start and no finish. However, I will not let that happen! I will follow through! And in doing so, I’d like to consider the old saying of ‘easy does it’. That’s right! I can just hear an old fisherman say it with a pipe hanging out of his mouth as his subordinates slowly drop the nets over the side of the boat: ‘easy does it, easy does it’. Much like this slightly unhelpful visual, I will attempt to actually stay on track and have a somewhat cohesive blog.

Many things have occurred since the onset of this blog. I have completed a move! This move began in Chattanooga, TN taking various pit stops in Maryland, New Jersey and as you read earlier, Philadelphia. Now the move has been completed and I find myself nestled in a small town on the coast of Maine. After a month of living out of my suitcase and the crates of clothes/shoes/misc. stored in the trunk of my car, I have unpacked and settled into a room that will be home for the next months as I engage in this new community. I left the land of fried okra and entered the land of lobsters and chowders. I have traded in my binders and textbooks for a mound of clay and a potter's wheel and am transitioning from the world of theory to application. Ahh, yes! How I've been waiting for this!

Though this blog is to be a place of ‘creative excursions’ and not another ‘day in the life of…’ blog, I’m realizing that this phase of my life is quite the creative excursion. Though I have not attacked the endless creative ‘to-do’s’, I have transported the list 9 states. That’s got to count for something!

Due to all the transition that the months of May and June have brought me, I’ve decided to post updates about my move and all the joys, discoveries and just plain “hmm’s…” I’ve encountered along the way.

I will address the following in upcoming posts:

1. How to visit your parents and NOT resort to the default maturity level which tends to rest between 11 and 14 years of age

2. What to look for when moving to a new area

3. Mission: Job and Housing… stop. BREATHE.

4. In all things, consider décor

5. Routine! Hello! How I’ve missed you!

Art and Community

My parents recently moved to the outskirts of Philadelphia. With this, came a new city to explore when in town for family visits! Philadelphia's Magic Gardens are more than just a mosaic. It is the vision of Isaiah Zagar who purchased property on South Street and began the 14 year project of transforming a storefront and empty lot space next door to a whimsical playground. As I walked through this maze of color, texture and pattern, the true scale of a project like this was the most breathtaking. In the late 1960's, when Zagar and his wife moved to South Street, it was an area of brokenness and neglect, home to some of America's urban poor stuck in a cycle of poverty that doesn't leave much opportunity for escape. Seeing this, Zagar chose this particular location in order to draw public attention to the neighborhood and draw the community together. When walking through, down and around this fairyland, it is difficult to not feel a personal connection with the work. This garden as well as Zagar's many murals around the city stress the importance of the imagination. His view on art and emphasis on community building were pivital in transforming the community of South Philly.



------- mural reads: "Art is the center of the real world."--------



"Art should not be segregated in museums;
it needs to live free among us." -Isaiah Zagar

a return to the darkroom

It seems that the art of darkroom photography is quickly becoming something of the past. Many photographs that we see in advertisements, in magazines or on gallery walls, are digital alterations of the perceived world. Though technology has dramatically changed the world of Photography and graphic design, I find it refreshing to return to the darkroom. In a photography class I had in college, a local photographer came and spoke in class. He had started off in darkroom photography and later moved to digital. He explained that, although his recent pieces have been more abstract and all done on the computer, he believed that the darkroom allows the artist to manipulate the photo more than a computer program. The more I study photography, the more I see all the options available in the darkroom. In my photo's below, I barely scratched the surface of all the possibilities of the darkroom. I used contrast filters in nearly all the photo's and dodged or burned where needed. In the third photo, instead of dipping the exposed paper in a tray of developer, I wet my fingers and splattered the paper. This brought a bit more to an otherwise drab photo.