Millions of People Happy...

by hook or by crook....

2009-11-08T22:28:00.000-08:00

My mom sent me an email. It said, "new blog, please!"

I have a lot to tell, really. Several posts worth. Tonight: Penland.

I made the most of the "opportunity" my required furlough days provided by running away to North Carolina. I was able to attend the Annual-Benefit-Auction-Crew-Chief-De-Briefing for the first time in the eight years I have volunteered for the Auction. It was a pleasant four hours with some other good leaders I know and love. I'm not sure I ever posted a link to the TONS of photos from this year's auction...

Oh, and Halloween. I made a bluebird costume. Here is some documentation from when it looked like a bluebird exploded in my livingroom:

I don't know where this sequin came from. Sequins were never part of the planning phase.

As one might guess, Halloween at an art/craft school does not disappoint.

Here's the finished bird with coordinating beer:

One evening I drove to Boone and had a lovely home-made dinner with my oldest Penland friend, Jeana Eve Klein. In 2001 we met at the school and have remained in touch through the years, as both of us have moved around the country. We've seen each other for a few short minutes the past few summers at the Benefit Auction. (But Jeana is a contributing artist rather than a lowly scullery maid...)

I spent a lot of time wandering the woods alone and writing long letters to friends. I took so many touristy pictures, I don't know which to share...

Nice, huh?

I went to Asheville with this guy on his day off. We spent hours in book stores and antique stores, and then we nearly made ourselves sick indulging in mussels and beer.

I have been watching the Prisoner obsessively since the day after my birthday. The show was first reccomended to me by my father, and then this past summer my friend Wes really got me interested. Its an amazing show, and I highly recommend it to you people, all over the place.

Wes suggested I hold off watching the final two episodes, "Once Upon a Time" and "Fallout," til my visit. Wes and I, and a group of other friends (who did not know the show) watched them one night at Penland. I'm sorry to be done with the show. I've really enjoyed Patrick McGoohan's face. And yeah, I know AMC has a new version of the show. I love you, Ian McKellen, but I'm sceptical.

Maranda: "o happy day"...

2009-10-25T21:42:00.000-07:00

This will just never ever get old.

Maybe Piles.

2009-10-24T16:07:00.000-07:00

This pile makes me feel glad.

This pile makes me a bit tense.

Countdown.

2009-10-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

In less than a week I'm packing up my boa and running away to North Carolina for an adventure.

And what a lot of things I need to do before I go!

Observe:

2009-10-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

I like the observatory best when I can imagine I'm the only person up there.

This was one of those delightfully cool days we had last week. It has since warmed up again. Damn.

Temporary.

2009-10-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

Anyone remember these?

About two years ago I was making lots of these pieces. I sold them on and off of Etsy. I visualized beautiful roomfuls of them. I liked them then, and you know what? I think I like them again. But for a long time I couldn't stand the sight of 'em.

For the benefit of the newcomers, these are 1"-2" circles of mulberry paper with watercolor, tea, and beeswax, delicately attached to each-other with tiny safety pins. I call them temporary bouquets.

There are a number of reasons why I put aside this body of work. One reason was that I had to explain a few too many times what they were. ("um, art.") Also, I was never happy with the way they looked online. The safety pins would reflect on my scanner and cause strange things to happen. Also they are not totally flat, so the scanner thing just wasn't working out.

The main reason why they were put aside was: I GOT SICK OF THEM. All those damn little circles with their bright colors...particularly in my former apartment, which was stiflingly small. And admittedly I got lazy. I have SO many of these little dots still, (tucked away, out of sight) because back then I wasn't thinking enough about what I was doing; it was just EASY to sit and sew these doo-dads for hours and hours.

Ugh. It makes me ill.

I started making these when I came out in California not sure if I'd be staying a month or a year or forever. I was living with boys, "temporarily" and it was not pretty, so making these colorful arrangements made things better. Everything was temporary and uncertain and awful, so I tried to make it pretty at the very least, without thinking too much.

So why are they back, you may be wondering? Well. Time has passed, and I think I like to look at them again. I'd still love to see an installation with 'roomfuls' of them, but I have yet to find rooms that want them.

Also, an Etsy user contacted me and asked about them, which was very nice to hear. The two newest ones hint at the directions these may take if I continue with this work. This first one is not a "bouquet" but an "arrangement." A more logical arrangement:

And this larger arrangement is closer to what I initially wanted these to be...larger, more layered, more complex, more connections:

Dorothy-in-Paris likes them:

Anyway, these are new in my shop. More may follow. We shall see. I'd love to hear what you think.

Hi Mom!

2009-10-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

Hey look, everybody! Its cooled off enough for me to wear a wool hat! And look how long my hair is getting! I haven't had it cut in over a year, and I'm finally past that awkward in-between phase.

Maybe it was just the Sunday Morning Loveliness and the coffee, but this pile of books with Blue Bunny struck me as rather nice looking yesterday...

I've been doing a lot of things, but blogging regularly sure as hell isn't one of them. Yesterday I spent some time catching up on my friend Abbey's blog, Aesthetic Outburst, and as always I learned new things, discovered new artists/designers and felt all around motivated to try harder.

Let's see. So on Saturday I got up awfully early and went out to Northridge to be a presenter for "smART day", a day of workshops and lectures for art educators. I did the fastest mini-bookbinding workshop ever. It was kind of cool. Here's my TA & friend Katrina stabbing some paper.

Sunday I had a good morning of farmers marketing and coffee, and then tended to the ongoing cleaning/organizing/artmaking situation. It goes like this: "I should get to work on making stuff. But boy, this place is already so disorganized...maybe I should clean first." Then I sit on my floor organizing my safety pins by size for an hour....Then I take a nap.

It's something like that. I'm exaggerating a bit, (although there have been naps this weekend, make no mistake.) Anyone else get in these weird productive/unproductive cycles?

I have made progress on a project that isn't so much art-making, but rather documentation/organization. I mean, besides sorting the safety pins.

I'm always drawing. Doodling. On all sorts of bits of paper, envelopes, margins of my calender, post-it notes, and the agendas from faculty meetings. I've been tearing out and saving the good bits for some time.

Because I need more irregular bits of paper in my life, right?

I have started pasting these drawings onto blank 3x5" index cards. Then I put them in this beauty:

My ol' grad school pal Jeremy Entwistle rescued this library card catalog from university surplus, but he could not take it with him when we graduated. I love it. In addition to storing supplies and materials, (like more irregular bits of paper) I hope someday it will be full of little drawings. What I would really love to find (and I have looked) is some discarded library cards to use as a base for drawings/collages. When I was at Murray State University they were using old catalog cards as scratch paper at the library. I wish I'd swiped a few...thousand.

If anyone knows where I could get some catalog cards, please let me know!

King's Gold.

2009-09-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

Most of the things I make tend to be intricate and detailed.

Obsessive.

I am skilled. I am good at lots of things. I'm good with my hands.

On the good days I feel pretty graceful in my movements.

I react and adapt pretty quickly to things.

But I want to make sure that everyone out there knows that this kind of thing happens:

I had been sitting on my studio floor talking to my brother on the phone, and to make the most of my time I had been drawing with this ink..."king's gold" by shaffer, in a glass jar with one of the little built in inkwells. Later in the evening I tripped, (or something) and watched as the jar rolled away across the hardwood floors with a loose lid, leaving little puddles along the way.

I didn't really freak out. I thought, "oh no. I liked that ink!" and "I'm never living in a place with carpets ever again."

Since I really liked the color of the ink, I didn't go straight for the paper towels. Instead, I quickly shuffled through "the archives" and found these old print pieces from grad school. Subtle-on-subtle, these were white silkscreen on mulberry paper, with monotype and some stitching. Parts from some of the ol' super-complicated installations...

I mopped up the floor with them. It felt right. And (as I expected) the ink rejected the silkscreen beautifully, so they are on their way to becoming something else.

Sometime.

So yeah. This happens. Hell, its just paper. The floor is fine.

My students would agree that I have clumsy moments. One day I dropped a zinc plate during a demo. I joked, "and then you throw your plate on the floor..." A student asked what that does to the plate. I responded that it reorganizes the molecular structure of the metal in preparation for going in the acid.

Today it has cooled off in California. I have a feeling I'll want to put on a sweater when I leave work this evening.

Now I'm going to go have a frank discussion with the silkscreen exposure unit, and ask it nicely...again....to behave properly with me in front of my students.

Clouds.

2009-09-28T14:50:00.000-07:00

This was the day before my birthday. Taken in Downey, California in my Grandmother's back yard.

Last Sunday, and the Future.

2009-09-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I had a weird, wonderful Sunday last weekend, and I want to tell the world all about it.

It started at 3:00AM. I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. I tried til about 4, and then got up and started my day...

Around dawn I left my home and headed to the Hollywood Farmers Market, on Ivar & Selma Avenues, right between Hollywood and Sunset Boulevards for my non-California friends. That's part of why I like this farmers market I think: its in such a touristy, awful place, but at 7 AM its quiet and lovely, and I can walk-on-the-walk-of-fame with my colorful radishes and appreciate how Los Angeles indeed has its moments....

I also stopped by the new Los Feliz Farmers Market, which happens behind the Dresden. And I had a decadent breakfast at Figaro. It was early enough that the hipsters weren't cluttering up my neighborhood yet, so the place was nice and quiet. I sat outside and enjoyed life, and read, and wrote things down.

The rest of the day was spent drawing and binding books, so that ain't bad either.

So as to 'the future'...well, I was going to write about some of my forthcoming Michelle-things, but I've got a busy day before me, and I better get away from this damn computer....but in brief:

My students are starting the "Cal State Northridge Printmaking Society."

My students are having a show!

I'm teaching another bookbinding workshop at Surface Gallery in Bakersfield in November.

I'm applying to be a vendor at a couple of upcoming handmade sale/marketplace events.

I'm making books. Lots of books.

I'm making a halloween costume this year! That's really all I want to work on this weekend. sigh.

So all these happenings are well-and-good, but what I'm really obsessing about is my adventure to PENLAND (yep, going back for more, folks) in late October/early November. It's just about one month away.

Twenty-nine laps around the sun.

2009-09-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

September 12 was my 29th Birthday. I had a proper birthday party for the first time since I was in elementary school, and my beautiful apartment has now been properly "warmed." What a good day and night.

I made this cake, and didn't feel right about writing "happy birthday" to myself on it.

Today I have been lazy like yesterday was my birthday; I've been staying close to the couch and watching episodes of "the Prisoner" all day.

and I'm hooked.

Pollyanna in Hell.

2009-09-01T20:14:00.000-07:00

By the tone of my last post, you can hardly tell that California is a raging inferno at present.

'Tis the season.

I've only faintly smelled the smoke the past few days, and surprisingly it hasn't bothered my breathing or eyes.

But today there was delicate ash floating in the air, both in Los Feliz and Northridge.

And as horribly destructive as these wildfires are, you must admit that the smoke is spectacular:

In non-destructive-forces-of-nature news, I noticed that I have a pomegranate bush! As if I needed another reason to love my apartment.

I won't be harvesting a crop worthy of the farmer's market this year, but it's still a wonderful surprise. The plant needs some attention...seems to have some suckers, and could stand some pruning when it's done doing its thing.

But I have a fruit tree! Thank God, right?!

"If we could learn to see sideways..."

2009-08-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

The name of this blog is "Millions of People Happy." I'm sure I've written it somewhere, but in case there are any new readers out there, the thought of making "millions of people happy" is what motivates Kermit-the-Frog to leave his swamp and move to Hollywood in the original Muppet Movie. This was on my mind when I came out here two years ago, particularly on the days when I would ask myself "what the **** am I doing here?!"

I think most people who know me would attest to the fact that I am a positive person. I can be very sarcastic, but I am by nature pretty cheerful, or glad, or "happy" (to use a more meaningless word.) I was reading some of my older posts the other day, and it occurred to me that on this oh-so public blog thing, I present to you strangers an often dopey-sounding super-positive look at things.

So I've been thinking about how its probably only my really close friends that know how I've been in a bad mood for the past couple of years...(and lets just skip the "moode" puns) Things have been on the upswing since I had my wisdom teeth out in January. And folks, I must say: these days, I am sincerely happy.

I'm a frantically glad optimistic mess!

Okay, on to some news:

On Saturday I was a vendor at the LA Printer's Fair. It was a long hot-as-the-blazes-of-hell day in Carson, at the International Printing Museum. In spite of the heat, it was a FANTASTIC day. This place is amazing, it was a very well-attended event, and I came home with a nice pile of money to roll around on.

Look, I took pictures!

You go to a "printers fair" and may count on good signage.

I'm selling books now. I make books, and I sell them.

But, really.

So much type and so many type cases for sale...

There's no part of me that wants to own a press right now, and if I did it wouldn't be a letterpress. But OH it was fun to look around!

mmm.....this place is amazing. Sure, the heat may have had a little to do with it, but I spent most of my time walking around smiling like an idiot.

Come on.

It was damn hot. See?

This little lady is going to have some of my paper sculptures hanging over her bed. She's excited...just sleepy from the heat.

Anyway...what a good day. I'm teaching now, and that's keeping me on my toes...but I am going to look for more events like this to do in the coming months. If anyone has any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

Thanks for reading.

Better than Fine.

2009-08-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

Every post needs a picture.....

Today is my two-year Californiversary. I am proud of myself for being capable of maneuvering around this metropolis, and I can drive in traffic without freaking out.

I can do all kinds of things without freaking out, folks.

I also know the bits and pieces of Los Angeles (and California) that I love, and am continuing to make discoveries.

I love my apartment, and am looking forward to "settling in" in the coming months. Its good to be home. I am pleased to report that my plants miraculously survived their recent neglect.

Everyone wins!

Today has been good: It was surprisingly cool and grey for August, and I even saw a few (a very few) raindrops. I walked to the grocery store, and the post office, and the bank. Then I drove out to CSUN to turn in some paperwork and get my parking tag, and other start-of-the-semester business. Now I need to get to work on the actual planning for my classes.....

Say, I reopened my Etsy store, although I have yet to post any new work. Soon, dear friends, soon.

And now I shall see about a cup of tea.

Going Places.

2009-08-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

Climb Mount Fuji,
O Snail
But slowly, slowly.

-Issa

Post-Penland Blues, and Other Mysteries.

2009-08-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

Here is Michelle C. Moode last week: tired and heart-broken, and unfortunately in Georgia.

Okay.

I am finally on my way home, and ready to conclude what has been an exhausting, wonderful summer. I start teaching again very soon, and I need to put aside my summer wonderment for a while.

Just to get you caught up: this summer I went from LA to Nashville to Murray, KY back to LA via Texas, (that was the “get-everything-I-own-in-one-state” phase.)

Then I was in LA for a while...then to Visalia and Bakersfield, CA.

Then to Seattle, with an unexpected detour to Las Vegas (THAT was an unfortunate day of air travel.)

Then to Asheville on a red-eye, via Atlanta, and then up a mountain to Penland for a very long three weeks.

After that the plan had been to be in Atlanta, Georgia to make books and have a show. That didn’t work out due to unfortunate miscommunications, so lets leave the topic like Maranda and I left Georgia: itchy, and in a hurry.

I spent a few days making books and laughing uncontrollably in Murray, Kentucky. I did not expect to be back so soon, but it all worked out for the best I s’pose.

Where am I now? Hell, I don’t know. Oh wait...I’m at my parents in Nacogdoches, Texas again. God, I am so ready to be at home. I hope I remember the way.

“Penland penland penland penland penland.” I could go on and on. I must get it out of my system.

Young’s Mountain Music, down the hill from the school. A few students played there one night, and it seemed about half of Penland was in attendance for the show.

This is Freya, whom I met in 2003 at Penland. I did not expect to see her again. She was my favorite friend to share secrets with in the past month, (besides Maranda; there was an almost seamless transition) and I miss her so much already.

This is Loring. Loring and I were studio mates in lower metals, and he taught me a game he called "I hit you with a brass rod." He also played "Its a hard knock life" (yep, from "ANNIE") in the dishwashing room one day. What few people know is that he also played it three times in the studio before that. I miss this guy a lot. Boy, did we laugh. I remember lying on my back in yoga, quietly laughing to myself at something he had said earlier that day, and also because I could hear him quietly snoring near me...

Part of my work/study job was to wipe up dear little crumbs like these in the Dining Hall, the Pines. I love them, and this picture.

So, my class was two and a half weeks long, and after that was Penland's Annual Benefit Auction. This was my EIGHTH (!?) year managing the Pines for this crazy-exhausting weekend. My crew, "Team Awesome," washed all this rental stuff...that's 400+ dinner plates, desert plates, water, wine, and highball glasses, silverware...and we washed it all twice. We also washed everything that the kitchen was getting dirty for the volunteer meals, and the caterer's serving pieces (out of the goodness of our hearts.) Of course, (as always!) I had good help...

My ol' travel pal Maranda (from Murray State) arrived just in time to help me out in a million ways...like helping 'clean' this bowl of chocolate.

My "god-parents," Megan and Jack. I think this was their third auction working on my team.

And the rest of "Team Awesome '09."

This is my good friend Kate Boyd, who actually organizes the Benefit Auction. I'm just "the help."

Lastly, here is my dear friend Wes Stitt, with his "Lady," the Pines Dining Hall. He manages the Pines, except for the few days when it gets all messed up by the Auction. (although all would be left in chaos without me around.) Of all the friends I've made in the past month, I spent the most time with Wes, and he is a kindred spirit.

I will continue posting pictures on my flickr site...but I am at my limit for this month I believe.

In another post, I shall share the Ballad of Maranda and Michelle, and what adventures we found after Penland.

Lastly, here's an early-auction-morning, before they turned the mountains on:

Touch.

2009-08-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

It could be worse.

2009-08-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

Oh, I could tell lots of stories.

But all I'll say at the moment is THANK YOU to my very dear friend Maranda Allbritten, who has been running with me these last few days.

Running on fields of green grass.
Running around a dishwashing room.
Running toward Atlanta singing "Country Roads" and "Hey Jude"
Running toward truffles, coffee and ice cream.
Running into a Motel 6 in Nowhere, Georgia where we put on dresses, drank red wine, and made the best of a bad situation....

Thanks, Maranda. I'd be freaking out even more without you driving me around. Let's go to Kentucky.

More to tell soon.

Favorites.

2009-07-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

This is my all-time favorite fancy North Carolina moth.

This moth fell in love with my circle template, because they have a lot in common.

Teeny-tiny.

Teeny-teeny-tiny.

My friend Loring and I like to play a game called "I hit you with a brass rod." Here are our feet during a demo.

Fabulous downtown Spruce Pine, where I had some amazing non-Penland-dining-hall pizza.

unexpected penland things.

2009-07-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

oh, hello.

The above quote is something I've heard my Dad say, and I was delighted to meet it again on the chalkboard in the dining hall.

Last night was a themed party. I spent the better part of yesterday making these snappy poinsettia brooches for the "office-christmas-party." Silly-good fun.

Yesterday after dinner I went "off the mountain" with my friend Wes for milkshakes and (rather unexpectedly) classic cars. It was a welcome change of scenery.

Its incredible that I will be here another two whole weeks. Time is funny.

better better better better....

2009-07-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

For well you know that its a fool who plays it cool
By making his world a little colder.

This is where I am.

2009-07-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

and these are my feet, and this was taken with my new digital camera.

all is well on the mountain; we're just getting started, although I've been here since Friday morning. The journey here from LA was sort of hellish, but on my connection from Atlanta to Asheville, I heard a familiar voice say, "Michelle?" from across the aisle. My very dear ol' friend Freya, whom I know from 2003, had been on a similarly hellish red-eye from San Francisco. Both of us barely conscious, and a happy and unexpected reunion of two west coast girls en route to Penland.

You see? Old friends do sometimes find each other again unexpectedly. And all is well, all over the place.

Michelle's Seattle Picture Show.

2009-07-15T19:59:00.000-07:00

In Seattle I decided that I prefer the term "picture show" to "slide talk," or "artist lecture."

"Slide talk" doesn't work because I wasn't showing slides, and a "talk" sounds so confrontational....like I'm giving people "a good talking-to"...

...and "artist lecture" suggests, (in my mind) a stuffy three-part research-y song-and-dance about some white-haired gentleman who made paintings in France long before I was born.

So I started referring to my presentation at the Kirkland Art Center as a "picture show." My inarticulate rambling was held together by about 150 pictures, and I'm guessing less than half of them were images of my work. We traveled through time and space. I talked about Muppets, pepper-grinders, Googie architecture, wisdom teeth, the Winchester Mystery House, my grandmother's kitchen floor, typewriters, spinning yarn, star trek, gardening in outer space, um...bookbinding......it was fun. I think they liked it. I was proud of myself.

Here are some pictures from Seattle:

This is Myra Kaha, the Educational Director at the Kirkland Art Center. We were in line for some sorely needed coffee. I know Myra from our grad school days in West Virginia. She made things out of clay, and was one of my favorite people to complain to.

We went up in the space needle. Myra was afraid, which amused me.

Here is evidence of how amazingly organized I was for the two-day book workshop I taught at the Kirkland Art Center. It went well, although I overestimated how much we could do in the time we had.

Myra and I went to an opening at Pottery Northwest, and I made a new friend, Tammie Rubin. Tammie is in the green shirt, her art is dangling overhead, and Myra is in the brown shirt with her back to us.

Here are my feet at rest, in the very comfortable garden spot at Pottery Northwest.

It stayed light really late.

Here's one of my favorite moments of the trip: after the workshop ended, but before my picture show. I am enjoying a PBR and teriyaki beef, and moving images around on my computer.

That night when I was finally done with everything, Myra and I went out to her very best friend's house, and we had a pleasant evening in a real Seattle backyard. Its strange how many connections I share with my new friend, Kristin Swenson-Lintault. Besides knowing Myra, she has also been participating in Art House projects, AND weirdest of all, she went to Murray State back in the day.

The art world is NOT so big.

So Seattle was great fun.

...and I'm on the run again. Getting ready to head to Penland, and then Atlanta. I have closed my etsy shop for now, but I will be back in business in September.

hello.

2009-07-13T23:53:00.000-07:00

I'm home from Seattle, and it was an exhausting trip. My workshop and "picture show" (artist lecture) went well, and I had a good time with my pal Myra Kaha. I met good people and a weird cat.

And Seattle is very cool.

Hold tight for a full report. I'm already packing for PENLAND, which is next on my crazy summer tour. But I am changing gears now from workshop-teaching to workshop-taking. yay!

Trying to decide which typewriter is escorting me back east. I'm thinking my pretty lil' baby hermes...

Pictures from the Surface Workshop

2009-07-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

Some pictures from my bookbinding adventures in Bakersfield:

Intense counting.

Intense overalls.

Intense drilling.

Happy ones.

The good ladies of Surface Gallery, whom I am very glad to know. Oh yeah, they took these photos.

Off to Seattle in the morning!