Wherever We Go, There We Are

Summer's hot, sunny days are done and fall is especially brilliant as a result. Gone, too, are summer vacations and weekend getaways. Did you take some time away from home? Who were you when you went?

As fiber enthusiasts and artists, we travel with a particular frame of interest and experience. It's who we are. On some level everything we see or pack into our journey is processed through that screen of fiber and texture.  Are those memories and colors subtle or loud in our consciousness? The simple idea that we are what we pay attention to can lead to personal and artistic alchemy. Why not embrace influence and see where it takes us?

I spent a weekend in New York City this summer. Looking back on the trip and seeing how it came together as a fiber journey helped me appreciate and enjoy it beyond my return to MKE.

My short list for the trip: 

• See my son and his gal Esme 
• Walk the High Line
• Catch the Cindy Sherman exhibit at MOMA
• Eat dim sum at Nom Wah Tea Parlor
• Visit Habu Fibers' studio and showroom

The High Line is an urban park above street level in Manhattan

It's built on an old railway line

For those cold NYC nights

In Chinatown Since 1920

Entrance to Cindy Sherman's Show at MOMA

Along the way I found and delighted in yarn-bombed statues, appreciated how fibers and colors in Cindy Sherman's photos are as much a part of the characters and caricatures she embodies as she is, and felt a strange mix of serenity and mind-blowing excitement from the beauty and creative potential of the fibers at Habu's studio showroom.

Habu Fibers Showroom

Though I didn't I know it at first, my trip was a fiber journey.

SDA Wisconsin member, maker, teacher and writer Donna Kallner has created a very intentional creativity quest to Ireland this April 19-30, 2013. If you book by Nov. 5, you can save $300! Follow this link: Local Colour trip to find out more.