This Year's Glenwood Ave Arts Fest In Visual Review

Scarlet Mountain

Another fantastic year of...

music,

B1g T1me

B1g T1me

 and more music,

art,

 and artists,

Deals Gone Bad

 and more music,

and dancing,

Deals Gone Bad

and more music,

and hula hooping,

and more art.

Always an enjoyable festival!

The Sound of Crackling Leaves

In honor of the first weekend of autumn, I headed out to one of our wonderful state parks to see what secrets the forest would share. Although I found no hieroglyphics etched in stones, I heard the rustling of leaves, the songs of the birds and the scurrying of small unseen creatures in the brush.

Some of the leaves have already made their final journey; their dried carcasses left upon the footpaths. I love the sound of crunching leaves underfoot even when it interferes with my chance to glimpse the life of those who make the forest their home.

The harvest colors are already beginning to appear: the soft browns, warm yellow-oranges, fiery reds and purples. The greens are still present along with the blue sky which presents the full rainbow of color, a true celebration of life.

As humans we are anything but quiet- we walk noisily, we talk noisily and rarely sit still. Sometimes I like to stop, shed those human qualities (if this is truly possible) and just be- to take in my surroundings, allow them to fill me with their stories. The trees speak of beautiful days basking in the sun and hard weather; birds speak of visitors, both friend and foe; and the little animals and bugs speak of change.

Stopping the rush of everyday life, of forcing things to go the way we believe they should can produce amazing results. It isn't necessary that our focus always remain on the future. Sometimes the now is more important, just to be. So much can be missed when we forget to look and direct our attention to what is in front of us.

And Autumn has Fallen

As I sit writing, I hear the wind, strong and purposeful, bringing cooler weather. A wind such as this shall bring good sleep and good dreams. Dreams of colored leaves and carved gourds. We are at the cusp of autumn! Today is the autumnal equinox and, although the sky I am under is overcast, I hear that this is the brightest harvest moon seen in the last decade. I hope those of you who (saw) can see it are reveling in its glow. The autumnal equinox is the balance between night and day (theoretically speaking).

A day of balance.

Welcome autumn with your fiery glow of leaves and cheeks
One last burst of color before the sleep of winter blankets you 'til spring
The nights linger longer and the days taste of the final harvest
Masks and shadows expand and disappear
Welcome autumn, my favorite time of the year!!

Make sure to dance by the light of the moon tonight!

Once I Dreamt… (Poem)

This photo inspired the following poem:

Once I Dreamt…

Once I dreamt I was the trees
I grew in the mountains and shivered in the breeze
I held steadfast to the ground and the rock
Moss clung to me and blanketed me from the winter’s cold stare
I was wise and gentle, yet strong and solid
In youth I was fictile, often changing direction as the wind
Time wore on and I grew into myself and strengthened my foundation
With the strength I withstood the defects of my youth
Old age brought blight and rot
I was devoured from the within
Unable to shake the emptiness, I died
Once again the ground that I consumed, consumed me
And all was well…

(J. Smith 2010)

Vietnamese Spring Rolls in Translation

While teaching English as a Second language, my friend and student Mai, determined that I learn to make something Vietnamese, suggested I make spring rolls. She guaranteed that they were easy to throw together, especially since I would be making a vegetarian version. As with most "cooking" type things, I did not believe her. I tucked away her suggestion and then last weekend, on a whim, I decided to tackle the spring roll.

Ingredients:

dry Rice wrapper (round)
carrots
cucumber
shitake mushrooms
scallions
bean sprouts
rice noodles (thin)
cilantro
really good soy sauce
sesame seed oil

For Dipping:

Spicy peanut sauce
Really good soy sauce
Plum sauce

First, bring a pot of water to boil for the noodles. Do not add the noodles yet.

While waiting for the water to boil, saute the shitake mushrooms with a little soy sauce and sesame oil put that aside to cool.

Once the water is boiling, turn off the heat and add the noodles. keep stirring the noodles until they are soft- once soft drain the noodles and allow them to cool.

Julienne both the cucumber and the carrots.

Fill a large bowl with lukewarm water to rehydrate the dry rice wrappers. Take your first rice wrapper, while holding it, dip it into the bowl until it is soft, but not disintegrated.

Once the wrapper is moist, lay it down to begin adding the filling. I place them on a cutting board to make it easier to move around.

On one end, place some of the noodles, carrots, cucumber, shitake mushrooms, bean sprouts and cilantro. Pull the end of the wrapper where you placed the filling over the filling completely.

Fold in each side of the wrapper to secure the filing and then roll away from you. The wrapper is sticky and will seal itself. Place on the side. Repeat these steps until you reach the number of rolls needed. You can keep the rolls cool in the refrigerator while finishing up the remaining rolls.

Toss cut scallions over the rolls as garnish.

Use one or all of the dipping sauces and enjoy.

Have you ever notice how much fun rolled foods are to eat?  There are burritos, tamales, egg rolls, spring rolls, etc. Anything that is self contained and easy clean up is alright by me. I also enjoy the versatility of these rolled foods. The fillings can be replaced, things can be added or removed, all giving a nice twist to the traditional.

Thanks Mai!

Music to My Ears

This weekend was the 9th Glenwood Ave. Arts Festival in Chicago. Hands down, this is one of the best neighborhood music festivals around. Rarely if ever do I enjoy the music played at the festivals I attend. I focus on the people watching, which was plentiful at this one too. Although I cannot replicate the music from all the wonderful bands we saw, I can provide a photolog of the musical journey. Regardless of what your musical leanings are, each band was enjoyable and provided a great festival atmosphere to go along with the visual art.

The first band were were able to catch was the Sons of Susan. This is a blues and swing type band.

The next band we found our way to was the Lowdown Brass Band. They bill themselves as Afro-beat, Funk and Crunk. Fun group!

We were entertained by Bible of the Devil. A metal and rock band and definitely lively. They drew quite a crowd. 

Mississippi Gabe Carter was the next act up. This is a blues type band. Really great! 

The Polkaholics were a very lively bunch! They kept the crowd entertained with various songs including Went out for a beer.

Walking on to the next stage, excited to see what was in store, we came upon Ode. A gypsy punk band. This was one of my favorites at the fest.

Finally, our night wrapped up with Tom Holland and the Shuffle Kings. What a finale!

Other than all the wonderful bands scattered throughout this wonderland of sound, there were also the other painters, weavers, knitters, and street artists. This woman was kindly entertaining the puppy with her baton twirls.

The day was long, but so worth it! If you find yourself in Chicago while this festival is going on you should definitely get out to see it for yourselves. Not one to be missed!

Screen printing in review

The screen printing class is a success. I mentioned in a previous post that I was signed up for this class. I really didn't know if I would enjoy it, but I had received a gift certificate and thought it was high time to cash in.

It is a small class consisting of about six students in all. We are learning to transfer images (yes even images taken by us! Yay!) on to fabric. I was so excited to hear that we could use our own images- Isn't that such a great way to share one's own photos in a creative way? My husband kindly help me switch a few of my photos into 100% black/white so that they would work with the photo emulsion process. He always tries to be supportive of my new and crazy endeavors. He actually is the reason I took this particular class at all. Great suggestion!

My photo emulsion screens worked really well and I was on my way to making prints and such. I am like my own walking advertisement. How fun!!! So without further ado, here is on of the creations I made. This is the only one which has made it in front of the camera so far. I will share more as I go.

I really enjoy when something new I try is as fun as this is and the finished product is able to be used! Now, if my fiddle classes were only so productive... but the sure do make me laugh.

Have a nice after the 4th day.

flowery delight

With all the beautiful blooms around, I would like to share with you some of them that I found particularly intriguing... I hope you enjoy them as well.

Finding Treasures

Last week I came across an undeveloped roll of film- this is not necessarily surprising for me. I have a tendency of squirreling away used film rolls around the house. It is not that I want to lose the photos, it just happens that I forget that I put them in a "safe place"... you know how that goes- the
"safe place" a/k/a the place I will most likely forget. Anyway, I took the roll in and, lo and behold, I received back photos from a trip to a Michigan vineyard with good friends and a visit from my sister-in-law.

Finding this roll is like finding a treasure or opening a time capsule. It brought back memories of a very happy summer. A happy time. I enjoy when photographs can give cues to welcome back those happy feelings especially at times when I am feeling a bit blue. It was a nice reminder that happiness, even though it can be fleeting, can be captured and live on. Life can be breathed back into it- fill its sails for one more go 'round. Cheers!

New Camera

I have recently acquired a digital camera. There is a freedom that comes with the instantaneous gratification of the digital image. I wonder how this will affect my shooting and selection of images. Using film, I am quite careful. I want the best shot available. I will spend time positioning myself, whether it be standing on my tippy-toes or laying down on the earth. I want the shot and I will do what is necessary to get it. Now, I find that I am a little more daring. Knowing that I can see what I have done- see that the picture is in focus or not depending on what it is and what my intentions are. I can also use color! This is something I normally deprive myself of because developing color is so caustic. Now, with the digital camera in hand, my world has become much more colorful. Welcome to the special world of intricate colors- it is more like life- very little black and white.