Gene Shepherd's Internet Rug Camp

Although I got back on Saturday, I’ve taken it rather easy since I haven’t been up to speed for a while.  Still, I’ve worked a little on Monday and Tuesday.  Wednesday, however, found me doing a lot more work.

I started the day working up something I am going to need as a visual for a workshop I will be teaching in July.

While that cooked, I started cleaning and straightening the studio for 3rd Thursday, which is this  Thursday.  As I was under the weather when I left for St. Louis, I left the studio in a mess.  So, there was the detritus of prep work for those classes, plus other stalled projects that I would have gotten done early in the month if I had not been under the weather.

Some of the piles of work just needed to be completed as stowing them away uncompleted just creates more things to trip over.  I.e. A stitch in time saves nine.

So

I sewed a few carpet rags on Tuesday and several more on Wednesday.

Which removed three stacks of torn strips in the studio.

I closed shop for the day with things ready to go on Thursday.

Actually, it will be nice to have people over on Thursday as Marsha’s gardens are looking very nice.

Nice gardens, a clean studio and friends for hooking – it should be a good day.

While I looked around all rooms of the St. Louis Art Museum, I managed to get to the section showing the work of Impressionists early in my wanderings.

It’s not that I don’t like other art – I do.  However, being able to stand in front of good art – particularly good Impressionist paintings – is just a delightful thing to do.  You just see so much more when you can get up close and personal.

And while this is not my all time van Gogh favorite

It’s amazing to see all he went through to create it.  And, as I’ve said many times on these posts, after classic mosaics, it’s the strokes of Van Gogh that remind me so much of the rug hooker’s art form.

Of course, painters can blend and smear their paints much easier than we can our wool strips.

Still, you can learn a lot about the interplay of light and dark when looking at good art.

Not to forget being able to study the dramatic use of color.

Again

You can see so much more when you can get close to the work.

And, it’s always good to encounter some artists who may not be on your short list of favorites.  That is how I’ve been with Picasso.  After coming face to face with his dynamic Guernica mural in Madrid, which left me speechless,  I’ve been much more open to his work and glad to run onto 3 new ones in St. Louis.

I particularly liked this vase of flowers and what ever is being served.

Therefore, these modern pieces made a much bigger impression on me than they would have 10 years ago.

Of course, I still like seeing new to me classical pieces – particularly when it’s of something I’ve seen in person, like these two behemoths in Egypt.   Isn’t this a lovely sunset?

It was a good visit, as well as a reminder that we learn by intimate contact with masters at work.

After viewing the special Matisse Exhibit at the St. Louis Museum pf Art, I took a quick tour through the rest of the regular collection, starting first with the Classical Wing.

Ancient mosaics are, of course, on of the best mediums for rug hookers to study

As mosaic pieces are put in just like rows of hooked wool.  It’s always a learning experience spending some time with any good mosaic as they are classic!

I moved on to some good Greek pottery.  In this case, I paid special attention to the decorative repetitive border desings.

I particularly liked the way the Greek Key border was done in an irregular fashion – 3 keys and then one X design.  That was very clever.

i never get tired of studying the decorative elements on these vases.

Varying shapes, designs and paint values makes for great designs.

I also liked looking at the funerary masks the ancients employed during the Classical period.

Now this is what I call a classy hairdo.

Classical sculpture is also inspiring.

The movement

The timeless realism

A classic look is a classic look.

I was fascinated by this ram’s head

And the elegant look of this bull.

Today’s post will end with this classical wall hanging.  No, it’s not from a king’s robe …

It’s made with metal wrappers from the tops of liquor bottles.

I think it looks more classy when you don’t know what was used to make it.

All my time last week in St.Louis was spent on the Hill.

Nola’s studio complex is located in three houses on two lots on Elisabeth Street, on the Hill.  She is shown here with the Matise Goldfish Bowl she worked on with me last fall in Arkansas.

This class photo was taken in the main house, which she uses for her hooking studio  where  2 classrooms, 1 showroom, a kitchen and bathroom are located.  I taught there for 2 days.  The basement provides an office space for her husband.  The second house has a big dye studio in the basement, while the top floor has 2 rentable bedrooms with bath and a kitchen that several students used.  My third day there was spent doing a dye class in that basement.  Her third house has the main floor configured as a full guest house, where I stayed, plus a basement where I think she sews pattern edges and other things.  All of these house are on Elizabeth Street … on the Hill.

The Hill is the highest spot in greater St. Louis.  It’s located very close to the place where the 1904 (Meet me in St.Louie, Louie ..) World’s Fair was held.  As some of the buildings for that fair where made of stone for permanent use after the fair, the organizers brought in several stone masons from Italy to build them.  Many of those families decided to stay and did so by buying new little houses on the hill in the early years of 1900.  Within no time, other Italian families joined them, creating a little Italy sort of place.  It’s still, very much, an Italian enclave.

Many of merchants run family businesses that go back to the early days of 1900.

While the Missouri Baking Company sells all sorts of backed goods, their specialty is Italian cookies and pastries.  The current owner, shown here, is 3rd generation of this family run business.  I can repeat the same basic story at the restaurants where I ate and the Italian Deli where I shopped.  While the deli sold their own products, they also sold other Hill created meats, sausages and salamis that other family business on the Hill produce.

I loved the spirit on the Hill.

We even found a little free time to go to other newer business – one was a wonderful antique store attached to a magnificent warehouse like eating place featuring wine and Italian appetizers.

It was all in a beautiful renovation that was picture perfect.

My only regret

Was not buying a Matisse print that I found there.  While Nola offered to ship it to me, I won’t have room for the art I already own when we down size to a condo! Maybe I should make it as a  rug?

And, Elizabeth street does not just produce hooking, fiber art, antiques, gelato and other fine Italian food.  Just 5 blocks down Elizabeth from Nola

Is the house where a guy named Lawrence grew up.

However, everyone called him Yogi.

And, directly across the street from him was another house

That also produced a ball player.

His name was

Not too shabby for one street  – and Joe’s brother also ended up being a professional player too.

Along side of the Hill are other attractions which you can see from the highway and streets.

I did not have time to go to the St. Louis Zoo but, did get there on my 8th grade trip to St. Louis and at other times as well.

Marsha and I even spent a day at the Missouri Botanical Gardens while on our Honeymoon, almost 49 years ago this May.

It’s a big site with all sorts of marvelous plantings.

However,

My favorite feature at these Gardens has always been the Climatron, which I first started going to shortly after it opened in 1960.

Again, Nola was a great tour guide for me and some of the other out of town students.

It was pretty much like I remembered it.

Except

Chihuly has been there

Since I was!

I had a great visit on the Hill.

After teaching all day, Nola took me and a couple of students for a quick, refreshing gallery tour through the St. Louis Museum of Art.  We went first to the special exhibition of work by Henri Matisse.  The show focused, primarily, on his fascination with water and they ways it inspired some of his work as well as some of the art made by his friends during this same time frame.  I’ll share a quick tour with hopes that you find it refreshing too.  I love the colors he used, as well as the edited way represented the shapes, landscapes and people he depicted.

Matisse was influenced by tribal art from people he encountered in tropical jungles.

Perhaps, that is why, in later years, he shifted his artistic energy from painting to cutout paper designs.

My students in St. Louis got off to a great start on Wednesday.  I have shots of most of our projects to show what we accomplished:

We’ll hook again on Thursday.

Although I did complain about my 3:45 AM pick up and the 6:20 AM departure to Salt Lake City, plus the 12 mins. I had to catch my second flight, although a Delta agent personally took me on a short cut across the tarmack to get both me and my luggage in the plane in 11.5 mins and on my way to St. Louis, MO.

Waiting for me, in St. Louis was

A cozy teaching spot, several early bird students and

A grilled lamb shank in a port wine reduction

And hand dipped raspberry gelato.

That means I am good to go for the rest of the week.

Monday was a little sad as I was supposed to be in Southern Illinois watching the big Eclipse.  My home town of Albion was in the direct path of places supposed to hit a total eclipse and things just worked out so I could be there.

I actually didn’t even know about the eclipse and only found out about it because a friend had been saying to me for some time he wanted to go with me to my home town as he had heard so many stories about it.  As both of us had business to do in St. Louis sometime this Spring – I was teaching for Nola H and he had employees to supervise in St. Louis and Kansas City –  I suggested that we sync our trips, St. Louis being aligned for a  straight Eastern run across Illinois to Albion, near the Indiana side.  We could fly to St. Louis, rent a car, do the tour of Albion and then head back for our classes.  We arbitrarily picked a date and then I called my motel to book a room for our quick trip over.  As I usually stay in a Super 8  (actually, I think it ought to be renamed just 8 as it isn’t all too super.  When Marsha asked what it was like I said It’s what I think the Amish might have built for a prison. ) Anyway, that’s who I called.  Imagine my surprise when I found out the cost of the double room was going to be $700 per night, with a 3 night minimum.   That was surprising as $700 would usually buy several nights lodging!  Then the lady said:  You know, it’s the Eclipse.  I explained that I did not know and she clued me in.  I quickly tried another town close by (my town has no real motel) and found it only had a 2 night minimum with rooms being $1,000 per night or, 2K.

Happily, I have multiple friends who’ve offered  me rooms before so I started calling them.  Unfortunately, all said the same thing:  I would have loved for you guys to come but my house is already booked by relatives who are coming in for the eclipse show.  Truly, Albion was having a show – a 2 day spectacle called Eclipse on the Bricks – an extravaganza event on our cobble stoned courthouse square – with a parade, live entertainment, grilled pork burgers and pork chops, craft stalls and all sorts of other vendors and entertainment.

Finally, I played the Ace up my sleeve and called my Uncle, who has a little camper on the edge of the woods and pasture of my Great Grandpa’s farm.  He said –Well, we’d have to get it open from the winter but that would be OK as long as you don’t mind being out in the country.  FYI: To get to this spot, you go to the end of the edge of country, then go a little further.  However, it beat paying $2,000+ as it was free, leaving us with enough leftover cash for a pork burger and a pork chop!

Things went well … or at least I thought they did until a few days before we were slated to head out – the Thursday after Easter.  Turns out, as you know, I was not feeling all that well during that time frame.  In fact, I was so sick that we had to move our Easter dinner for 18 from my studio to my friends house.  (Having recently purchased our dinning room table, they had the table and the room for the group.)  While that was disappointing, in the lead up to Easter, I got a call from my  brother.  He said, in his strong Southern Illinois accent:  I’m just giving you a heads up about our uncle’s camper.  They’ve been down here all week to get the camper ready.  When they opened it up, they found a mess.  Something got in there over the winter – maybe squirrels – and tore up a lot of stuff.  The blinds are shredded and there is a mess everywhere.  They think it will be all right by the time you get here but the heater doesn’t work either. This was disappointing but I felt we could suffer through it, not only because of the pork chops and the eclipse, but my brother was also planning to do a big frog leg and fish fry for us when there.  That was worth quite a lot of inconvenience.  A day or so later, my uncle called and he sounded much more optimistic.  True, the shades were toast but most everything else should be OK.  In fact, he hoped to get the heater the Thursday morning we were scheduled to fly in.  He thought he could install it before we arrived but if it didn’t work, there was a space heater.

As a person who was feeling lousy sick, I began to be afraid that I might not be up to snuff in 6 days when we were supposed to go.  However, my friend was driving and surely I could make it.  Then, on Easter morning, my friend had a family emergency which not only required us to move Easter Lunch from his house to my daughter Ruth’s condo, it negated his ability to go with me on this road trip on Thursday.  But that was OK – I could keep my flight and rent the car he had saved.

I only considered this about 1.5 days.  There was no way I was up to getting to St’ Louis, renting a car, driving to the eastern IL border, camp in a trailer maybe with or without heat in spite of the Eclipse, frog legs, fish and pork chops, then drive back, drop off the car and teach 3 days for Nola.  I was so sick I didn’t even have my patterns drawn yet for Nola.  So, I bailed.

That brings to Monday night.  Although my brother canceled the frog leg and fish fry, he did go to the eclipse on the bricks – traffic was light enough for him to make the one block walk from his house to the square.  He reported that there was a total eclipse … it was really odd to get dark in the early afternoon like that and the chickens and roosters seemed to be rather confused about what was going on.  Marsha and I used our special glasses in our back yard.  And, while we did not have a total eclipse, the sun did look like a Golden Oreo that someone had taken out a small bite.  Instead of frying fish and frog legs, Marsha suggested we go to Lucille’s and I got friend shrimp grits and collard greens – all very good but not quite the same as being in Albion.

Happily, however, we found out we can reschedule and try it all again in 21 years.

Ready or not, I head to St. Louis Tuesday morning.  The driver is picking me up at 3:45 AM and I am good to go.  Or, as good as I’ve been for some time.

As the few patterns I drew over the weekend are not particularly photogenic in progress or in a stack

I decided, instead, to include a photo of one of Marsha’s pots.  Isn’t this a cheerful pot?  In fact, turns out that they are thematic with today’s Giveaway post, which happens to come from Betty Allen:

Gene – Cheering you on from Oklahoma.  I’m sure you will be better soon.  Lots for you to do.  Betty Allen

By that note I assume she just wants some wool that is cheerful.  I’ll find some and pop it in the mail to her.

To all of you who sent in kind Get Well Wishes – thank you.