Quote of the week #33…

“Total absence of humor renders life impossible.”
~ Colette ~

SPOOKY earrings….MUST See! Act quickly…..

So….the show is over….it was fantabulous! (I will tell more about it and post photos in another post)
I am offering up to you on a first come basis the remaining few pairs of “Spooky” earrings which feature polymer clay sculpture by local artist, Dave Bednaz! These are all that is left from his collection at the show and when they’re gone,….they’re gone. (The wire through the sculptures is Sterling Silver and the ear wires are Surgical Steel)
Each pair is unique and sure to keep you grinning! Each pair is now only $15! (There is a flat shipping charge of $5 per order so that these can be sent to you via USPS Priority mail. If you are local to me and would prefer to either pick them up or make other arrangements, please email me!)
To purchase a pair of these, click the “Add to Cart” button below and in the message/note area of the cart, let me know which pair you are purchasing.

To purchase a pair of these, click the “Add to Cart” button below and in the message/note area of the cart, let me know which pair you are purchasing.

“Matsu” The story behind the jewelry…

“Matsu” Sterling Silver, Paua from New Zealand, Black Onyx necklace by Lori Bouchard

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Matsu (Traditional Chinese: 媽祖; Hanyu Pinyin: Māzǔ; Wade-Giles: Ma-tsu; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Má-chó·; literally “Mother-Ancestor”), also spelled Mazu, is the Taoist goddess of the Sea who protects fishermen and sailors, and is revered as the patron saint who protects East Asians who are associated with the ocean.Her mortal name is Lin Moniang (Chinese: 林默娘; Hanyu Pinyin: Lín Mòniáng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Be̍k-niû).She is widely worshipped in the south-eastern coastal areas of China and neighbouring areas, especially Zhejiang, Fujian, Taiwan, Guangdong, and Vietnam, all of which have strong sea-faring traditions, as well as migrant communities elsewhere with sizeable populations from these areas.The personAccording to legend, Lin Moniang was born in 960 (during the early Northern Song Dynasty) as the seventh daughter of Lin Yuan (林愿) on Meizhou Island, Fujian. She did not cry when she was born, and thus her given name means “Silent Girl.”There are many legends about her and the sea.

Although she started swimming relatively late at the age of 15, she soon became an excellent swimmer. She wore red standing on the shore to guide fishing boats home, even in the most dangerous and harsh weather.

According to one legend, Lin Moniang’s father and brothers were fishermen. One day, a terrible typhoon arose while they were out at sea, and the rest of her family feared that those at sea had perished. In the midst of this storm, depending on the version of the legend, she either fell into a trance while praying for the lives of her father and brothers or dreamed of her father and brothers while she was sleeping. In either the trance or the dream, her father and brothers were drowning, and she reached out to them, holding her brothers up with her hands and her father up with her mouth. However, Moniang’s mother now discovered her and tried to wake her, but Moniang was in such a deep trance or dream that it seemed like she was dead. Moniang’s mother, already believing the rest of their family dead, now broke down, crying, believing that Moniang had also just died. Hearing her mother’s cries, in pity, Moniang gave a small cry to let her mother know she was alive, but in opening her mouth, she was forced to drop her father. Consequently, Moniang’s brothers returned alive (sadly without their father) and told the other villagers that a miracle had happened and that they had somehow been held up in the water as a typhoon raged.

There are at least two versions of Lin Moniang’s death. In one version, she died in 987 at the age of 28, when she climbed a mountain alone and flew to heaven and became a goddess. Another version of the legend says that she died at age 16 of exhaustion after swimming far into the ocean trying to find her lost father and that her corpse later washed ashore in Nankan Island of the Matsu Islands.

Lin Moniang (2000), a minor Fujianese TV series, is a dramatization of the life of Matsu as a mortal.

The goddess

After her death, the families of many fishermen and sailors began to pray to her in honor of her acts of courage in trying to save those at sea. Her worship spread quickly. Much of her popularity in comparison to other sea deities resulted from her role as a compassionate motherly protector, in contrast to authoritarian father figures like the Dragon Kings. She is usually depicted wearing a red robe, and sitting on a throne. As often happens to revered folk heroes in Chinese culture, she became an empress figure during the Yuan Dynasty.

Worship

Starting from Fujian, worship of Matsu spread to the neighbouring coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Guangdong, and thence to all coastal areas of mainland China. With migration, it further spread to Taiwan, Vietnam, Ryukyu, Japan, and South East Asia. Today, worship of Matsu is also found in other countries with sizeable populations from these regions. In total, there are around 1,500 Matsu temples in 26 countries of the world.

Matsu (goddess). (2007, September 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:20, September 21, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Matsu_%28goddess%29&oldid=157956898

Upcoming Show Reminder!!!!!!!!

To everyone in the local area (CT/MA)… just a reminder…

You can view/try on/ purchase (of course I will prefer the latter..lol) my work at my upcoming show!

Saturday Sept. 29th
9 am to 3pm
St. Francis of Asssisi Craft Fair
673 Ellington Rd.  (Corner of Ellington Rd (Rte 30) and Pleasant Valley)
South Windsor, CT 06074

Don’t let the idea of a “Church Craft Fair” fool ya!!  This is one spectacular show!  Over 100 artists display and present!

Free Admission, Free Parking
Lots of fun for the kids too!  Face Painting and Sand Art
Raffles
Bake Sale
Food Concession
And don’t forget to bring a canned goods donation for the S. Windsor Food Bank!

“Hathor” The story behind the jewelry…

“Hathor” Sterling Silver Egyptian Coils, Fused Glass Necklace by Lori Bouchard

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In Egyptian mythology, Hathor (Egyptian for house of Horus) was originally a personification of the Milky Way, which was seen as the milk that flowed from the udders of a heavenly cow. Hathor was an ancient goddess, and was worshipped as a cow-deity from at least 2700 BC,[1] during the second dynasty. Her worship the Egyptians goes back earlier however, possibly, even by the Scorpion King who ruled during the Protodynastic Period before the dynasties began. His name, Serqet, may refer to the goddess Serket.The name Hathor refers to the encirclement by her, in the form of the Milky Way, of the night sky and consequently of the god of the sky, Horus who was said to be her son. Later she was described as the wife of Ra, the creator whose own cosmic birth was formalised in the Ogdoad cosmogeny after his worship arose and displaced that of Horus. At that time images of Ra bear the eye motif.Eventually, Hathor’s identity as a cow, meant that she became identified with another ancient cow-goddess of fertility, Bat. It still remains an unanswered question amongst Egyptologists as to why Bat survived as an independent goddess for so long. Bat was, in some respects, connected to the Ba, an aspect of the soul, and so Hathor gained an association with the afterlife. It was said that, with her motherly character, she greeted the souls of the dead in Duat, and proffered them with refreshments of food and drink. She also was described sometimes as mistress of the acropolis. The assimilation of Bat, who was associated with the sistrum, a musical instrument, brought with it an association with music. In this form, Hathor’s cult became centred in Dendera and was led by priests who also were dancers, singers, and other entertainers.Hathor also became associated with the menat, the turquoise musical necklace often worn by women. A hymn to Hathor says:

Thou art the Mistress of Jubilation, the Queen of the Dance, the Mistress of Music, the Queen of the Harp Playing, the Lady of the Choral Dance, the Queen of Wreath Weaving, the Mistress of Inebriety Without End.

Essentially, Hathor had become a goddess of Joy, and so she was deeply loved by the general population, and truly revered by women, who aspired to embody her multifaceted role as wife, mother, and lover. In this capacity, she gained the titles of Lady of the House of Jubilation, and The One Who Fills the Sanctuary with Joy.

The worship of Hathor was so popular that more festivals were dedicated to her honour than any other Egyptian deity, and more children were named after this goddess than any other. Even Hathor’s priesthood was unusual, in that both men and women became her priests.

Hathor. (2007, September 17). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:52, September 21, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hathor&oldid=158396340

Quote of the week #32…

“Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern.”

~Alfred North Whitehead~

Quote of the week…#31

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. ”

~Theodore Roosevelt~

Believing the impossible. Impossibility is impossible.

I know….how can one believe if it’s impossible?  Artists do it all the time. With Faith.  Desire.  Need.  Creativity.
The character Jean Luc Picard from Star Trek The Next Generation once said, “Things are only impossible until they’re not.”
Very wise.
Consider this: If we are to take the things we label as “impossible” and dismiss them as such, we should likely still be living in caves and grunting like wild young mid-pubescent boys. Proving false the very idea of impossibility is the basis for our modern existence. Not too very long ago we all believed space travel to be realistically impossible, and yet..today…we know more about our galaxy and have sent probes further than we could have even imagined as impossible then.
How does this translate into art? Artists are among those who seem to be missing some genetic information that opens a window for us to the impossible. We are almost unable to comprehend the idea of “impossible”. Because of that….it is ALL possible. If it is ALL possible…we have no limitations and our minds, our ideas, our creative spirit is free to venture as far as it can with no restrictions or impositions of constraint.  We are not compelled to situate our work or our lives into a box of conformity and blind acceptance of the world, but rather live to question it. 

 Art is by definition new and groundbreaking.  (Otherwise it is nothing more than manufacture and industrial).  In order to create new and groundbreaking ideas, we must first believe that the ground can be broken.  We must NOT allow ourselves to be coralled by the “impossible”. 

Maybe sometimes, when we think to be in the midst of a “creative block” we are merely acquiescing to the idea of impossibility.  Maybe, if we are able to allow ourselves to yet again, dismiss that as itself impossible we can open up the floodgates of creativity once again.  Allow ourselves to unblock from the range of possible and move further and deeper.  (Besides, if it is popularly believed to be impossible, you certainly cannot get it “wrong” now can you? So GO FOR IT!)

Even the physical word itself sounds silly and inane. 

Hmmm… Impossibility is impossible.

Quote of the week… #30

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
~Jack London

New Booth Setup Photos!!

Well…the basics are finished! As usual, the process had brought me a flood of new and even better ideas! I found that I had alot more room than I thought I did! I know from past experience that the amount of jewelry in my inventory right now would be cramped and over crowded looking on tables and am delighted to find that I have even more room than I need with my new “system”!

This means that I can now create some posters and banners and that I WILL indeed have room for my customary dozen red roses!

Now all that is left to do is to finish making the proper Name and Price markers for my work and to decide which pieces get their photos done in posters! Decisions, decisions, decisions…..

So without further ado…..

(Click the pics to see the entire shot in full size….wordpress cuts them off)