A three-legged hat and finding your passion

I like making things, among them silly hats...like this 3-legged multi-colored crocheted one. More importantly, however, is the act of being creative. And that can look very different for people.  Recently I started drawing again for the sake of drawing.  Wondering to myself....why haven't I been doing this the past few years? How did I forget the act of drawing...creation in motion? (Give me a minute and I could come up with a list.)  Seems like the topic of following your passion, i.e."bliss" comes up a lot lately. It's been said before, by more articulate speakers, but I'lll say it again....don't forget to be about your own passion. Happy Thanksgiving!

Cappadocia dream hat

Doing my part to "Keep Portland Weird" with some new hat ideas. But, really, I just want to make hats with funny shapes...wearable art.  Inspired by the lunar landscapes of Cappadocia in Turkey, this hat is my first to integrate crochet with sculpture.  I personally like to wear plain olde type hats, but I think someone out there would like some attitude....on their head.

http://www.keepportlandweird.com/

Annie, hats and POCA tech

Amazing sign made by Annie. Thank you!!!

Bigger news at WCA is POCA tech fundraising happening NOW!

POCA tech is a school for community acupuncture...making acupuncture education affordable.

To learn more, visit POCA tech home:

http://www.pocatech.org/

Megan

Pop corn and polka dots. I'm enjoying playing with the pop corn stitch with my hats lately....and it goes exceptionally well with polka dots. This is my friend Megan in Albuquerque. And, no one can spin a good yarn like Megan.

Terry

I am always pleased when a hat fits like it was made for someone. Terry wears it well....just in time for a rainy fall, Portland, afternoon.

Tammy's son Dan

I felt compelled to start making hats again on one of the hottest 95 degree summer days in Portland. Intuition doesn't always seem to follow logic....and by the time cooler fall like days started, I had a small pile of them. It was then that I got my first hat order for the new season.  A gray and black hat for Tammy's son Dan who is moving to Chicago.  There's something special about making a hat for someone in particular. I don't know Dan, but I had a clear sense of how the hat should look as I was making it.  I've already started putting colors together for Tammy's hat and we might see her on another blog post.

Global citizen: scholar, teacher, artist, muscian...

Hat models unite!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FuMdeUpvgM

Makedonsko Devojče (Македонско девојче)

"Beginning banjo player attempts to play a Macedonian folk dance tune."

"Beginning knitter models his first attempt at a hat."

The banjo is tuned to Double C: g-C-G-C-G

The tune is in 7/8 (3+2+2)

It's not just black and white

Breakfast with artist, Gregory Sale, weekend of PSU's Open Engagement Conference this month, talking about his screening of It's not just black and white: a video and mediated performance at the Phoenix Art Museum on June 20 at 7pm. The film documents the creation of an installation of black-and-white striped walls painted last year for Gregory's residency at the ASU Art Museum with the participation of inmates in a Maricopa County Sheriff's Office rehabilitation/reentry program, correction officers, and artist collaborators. Over three months, this installation at the ASU Art Museum served as an instructional platform for public forums, panel discussions, performance and social actions.

Visible Tomorrows
"A pressing need, Today our country is experiencing an extraordinary rate of imprisonment, a "mass incarceration," so high that it affects not only the individual offender, but also society as a whole, whether measured by cost, recidivism the failure of rehabilitation, or the impact on children and families."

"The seeds of this project come from a series of questions: How can a country that prioritizes freedom and democracy be the world leader in incarceration? Could this be the first generation in America to spend more on incarceration than education? Can the aesthetic focus and reflective quality of a museum be activated to build communal support and civic dialogue?"

"The plan and promise of a project, We - artist Gregory Sale and poet TC Tolbert - propose a social and aesthetic project designed to engage at-risk young adults in the Maricopa Country area who are often without familial or communal support or who have experienced foster care, homelessness, juvenile detention, adults jails or prison. They risk being caught up in Arizona's system of criminal punishment. Many have aged out of the foster care and juvenile detention systems. The challenges they face are considerable and often invisible to the pubic at large and muted in public discourse."

"Visible tomorrows, draws on previous artistic projects by Sale and on the ongoing youth and prison programs facilitated by Tolbert. This existing work addresses the issue of incarceration. Working in collaboration with Tumbleweed Center for Youth Development, we will design a series of workshops to open spaces for creating personalized visual and poetic materials that can impact the lives of these young adults. Participants will examine their personal court documents as a means to contemplate new ownership of personal narrative and an opportunity for revision. Centered around collaborative workshops and exhibitions, visible tomorrows aims at allowing young men and women to find ways to go beyond invisibility to self-recognition and the possibilities of imaging a new future."


http://asuartmuseum.wordpress.com/2011/01/31/it%E2%80%99s-not-just-black-and-white-gregory-sale-social-studies-project-6/

Tuckerville

This past weekend I got to spend time with my friend Michael who was visiting Portland, with his partner Gregory, from Phoenix. Not much call for fuzzy hat wearing in Phoenix but quite good for Portland. Michael practices law and teaches yoga.

Your personal trust lawyer
https://www.michaeljtucker.com/index.html

Yoga teacher
http://www.desertsongyoga.com/

Souldancer

Recently, I was talking with my friend Soul about his move from Hawaii...and travel through NYC, Minnnesssssssooota...and beyond. I could see him wearing one of my hats. So, I sent him two. As people might imagine, I'm a fan of wearing many hats.

Soul is looking for help in shelving his book, Pay We What I'm Worth, at public libraries across the country. Here's the link to check it out.

http://paymewhatiamworth.com/library

RED = Vitality

Fields of Gold and POCAfest

The People's Organization of Community Acupuncture (POCA) hosted a gathering of punks from all over the country this past weekend (a shout-out to Victoria, BC!) at the Headlands Institute Conference Center in Sausalito. It was a fabulously fun conference amongst brilliant punks who are ALL committed to setting new tones in our profession. All this with stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.

Pictured, Serena Sundaram, from St. Croix - CommuniChi Central. http://communichicentral.com/ /Headlands Institute http://www.naturebridge.org/conference-facilities-golden-gate

Oregon Montessori Association Outstanding Dedication Award

Mercedes Paine Castle, founder of AllRoads Learning Community, is the recipient of Oregon Montessori Association Outstanding Dedication Award, 2012. Congratulations Mercedes!

http://www.allroads.org/

BITE Portland

http://maryannpuls.com/Site/home.html


I met Mary Ann at her First Friday opening at Bite Studio earlier this year. I felt an immediate connection; We subsequently started about art making and the creative process. I wanted one of her pieces and suggested a print/hat trade. For her hat I learned to crochet the "popcorn" stitch to create a random lumpy pattern. I created her hat with a painterly approach with yarn. Also pictured is Raleigh who likes to wear hats.

"Get some HATtitude"

People feel good when they wear hats....Jennifer came up with the expression HATtitude. I think it might need to be added to Wikipedia.

Rumi on a rainy day

Another rainy day in Portland. Taking a walk this morning I came across (camellia) flowers that fell on the sidewalk. It's just Portland in the spring time. Besides our rainy days, flowers bloom & litter our streets. Suddenly the dreariness of the day was transformed.

RUMI,PAY HOMAGE
If God said,
"Rumi, pay homage to everything
that has helped you enter my arms,"

there would not be one experience of my life,
not one thought, not one feeling,
not any act, I
would not
bow
to.

I think this is also a camellia flower blossom - taken from the Portland Chinese Garden.

Community Acupuncture Cooperative

Working Class Acupuncture founders Lisa Rohleder and Skip Van Meter teach workshops on how to start your own community acupuncture clinic all over the country. People often come to Portland to check out the mother-ship WCA-Cully...WCA-Hillsdale & very soon to open WCA-Lents. Today, Allison Ottley of Qi Works Community Acupuncture visited us. Sharing resources, ideas and systems is a big part of community acupuncture as well helping to create sustainable businesses and jobs for acupuncturists. Allison couldn't leave Portland without a hat, well, actually two hats.

If you are in Salt Lake City:
http://qiworkscommunityacupuncture.com

To learn more about the People's Organization of Community Acupuncture: https://www.pocacoop.com

Terra & Jace

Jace wearing his mom's hat with the unofficial Oregon Duck Colors.

The cat and my hat

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss

Birthday Punk Hat

Today is Rachel's of Working Class Acupuncture - Hillsdale birthday. She's one of our newest punks. Happy Birthday Rachel! Oddly enough it's mine as well. It's a double birthday celebration at WCA today.

Tracy Shaun-"Until We Close Our Eyes"

Tracy Shaun performs his original "Until We Close Our Eyes" at the West Coast Songwriters Competition. 12/08/2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvCadYN4pyE&feature=related

http://tracyshaun.com/

Hat Redux

Cathy and Sara bought hats this past summer. Pictured here, modeling their hats, after breakfast, somewhere in NYC. Thanks for sharing!

Snow Hat

We had snow flurries in Portland & on the coast yesterday. Here is Kamakila keeping warm in Lincoln City with a hat that I made last year for her auntie.

Soul Friends

I had made my friend Teresa a hat with a yarn that reminded me of the colors of lapis. Still dreaming of the Blue Mosque... Fortunately, there was enough left over yarn to make one for myself.

Teresa is a talented artist photographer who is moving to NYC next month. Many blessings to Teresa and Shezad on their upcoming adventure. Visit Teresa's website:

http://www.teresamorani.com/fineart/

Crown for Crown

"This little light of mine/I'm gonna let it shine This little light of mine/I'm gonna let it shine This little light of mine/I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine/Let it shine/Let it shine..." "This Little Light of Mine" is a gospel children's song written by Harry Dixon Loes (1895-1965) in about 1920.

MIR MUSIC... Evolving the Soul Through Sound

Jack, owner of Mir Music, had procured a bell for me. In exchange we decided that I would make him a hat. And so, at a recent pot luck gathering a small posse of us went to the fabric store to pick out yarn for Jack's new hat. I didn't realize until I had finished that the colors were also those of the Oregon Ducks. Jack was pleased...Jack also teaches guitar at his store.

www.mirmusic.com