Saturday, July 27, 2013

Artist in Residence

Today I am packing my sewing machines, stacks of fabric, my patterns, gobs of wool, and my dyestuffs to go to Searsport Shores Ocean Campground!  I will be the Artist in Residence for the week, a position sponsored by Fiber College.

In choosing what comes with me, I have run across my mending pile.  The men in my life love to work outdoors, cutting trees, building roads, fixing vehicles, whacking weeds, planting gardens.  With this work comes wear and tear on their work pants.



I mend the holes that come from spilled battery acid and pockets caught on branches.








There is one hole that I cannot seem to keep up with however: The stepping-into-the-tractor full crotch blow out.



I am afraid these pants have seen their last mends.  It is time to demote some other less holey blue jeans into work clothing, and these will go to our land fill, where they will decompose into methane gas and power our local university.  Really.


The resident artist's studio at Searsport Shores is a little fantasy come to life:  Astrig and Steve have built a large sunny art room equipped with long counters, tons of floor space, a dye kitchen, sleeping quarters upstairs, and a porch that runs the length of the studio.  Oh, and it's a hop and a skip from the ocean.

My plan is to sew and dye up a storm.  I will be teaching simple hand sewing to the campers in hopes they will feel confident to mend their worn clothing, or so they may go home with a fun and useful item like this:




A toasty potholder, made from old sweaters.  Or mittens, or a hat.  Stay tuned.

And if you would like to have your own artist's retreat, take a look at the brand new artist's cabins they just added: Your fantasy can come true also.

3 comments:

Mary Lou said...

Pooh, you get to stay in that fantastic studio/cabin. Have a great week. I'm looking forward to seeing you in September.

craftivore said...

Toast!! That is hysterical. I also love all the patched holes and blow outs. It's nice that they don't mind that you use colorful prints for the holes.

2ply from Ravelry said...

Wow, those cabins look like my idea of perfect heaven. I love what you hope to teach, too; such a creative and useful skill.

Trying not to be jealous of you all!