trenton avenue arts festival.

we spent today outside at the trenton avenue arts festival in philadelphia, a local street fair that we were encouraged to get ourselves into by some philly friends. it also boasts a kinetic sculpture derby (hence the flying monkeys above). the weather forecast called for clouds and possible showers (a situation that has bitten us before in this city) so we were extra happy to find that the clouds only produced rain for one brief moment and was warmly cloudy the rest of the time. the day was spent chatting with nice people and watching an endless cavalcade of strangeness walk by the tent.

i was too busy to get to walk around much but i did manage to stray from the tent long enough to find a favorite table of the day. i ended up buying a ghost brooch for my growing ghost art collection from artist greta scheing. she and her partner ron also collaborate (i think) on this incredible paper cut-out modular home under the name daymaker. art of place, mathematical figuring and clean design - how could i not fall in love?

of course, hazel got in on the action for all of ten minutes, too.

philadelphia family.

having settled immediately into our adoptive philadelphia family, we woke up (from our five chihuahua bed) and got right to work making art with hazel. hazel has definitely expanded her repertoire of ghost art (a true soft spot of mine) into a whole community of spectres.

she has been selling prints of these at craft fairs alongside her mother's jewelery. i think this stuff is so great that i plan on taking her to my store meeting with art star.

as the day progressed, we hopped a ride to northern liberties to take a poke around with our lovely host family. julie has taken a job programming outdoor vendors for a new piazza there and we wanted to go give it a look. it's always interesting to me when big time property developers decide to invade warehouse area with their slickness. at best, the old charm of these areas still poke through but sometimes the new sheen makes me sad. still, the piazza is lovely and i am looking forward to spending a day there at the philadelphia independent craft market next weekend.

on the way home, hazel stumbled into a whole new level of audience engagement. i know i probably shouldn't encourage this type of stuff in some ways, but i would rather discuss with her the power of using this language and what it means. oh, who am i kidding? it was making me laugh. i am a terrible person.

sorry, world.

pitt stop.*

today we started early with a greasy breakfast near pat and al's. we got the morning bum's rush because pat had some kind of meeting and al had to go review a film.

so we did some wandering, some puttering and visited our favorite catholic supply store, sacred heart of jesus. the reverend and i are by no means denominationally religious, but that does not mean that our interest in the artifacts of faith are purely ironic (our aesthetic whims must dip into ironic territory but i enjoy reverence just as much). we always pick up amazing little handmade icons, medallions and other objects made with care, hope and supplication. and the nuns who run the shop are very nice, too. i found out on this trip that they "live by providence" - a way of life that i feel half-immersed in myself most of the time. we also talked about adventure on the roads of america. apparently these ladies used to travel the countryside breaking down in every state only to "meet the nicest people and see the nicest things" during their car's collapse. kindreds for sure, in spite of other unshared ground.

speaking of the road, it had come time to hit it again. smell ya later, yinzers.

the jumbled city gave way to countryside as we decided to take our time and save our tolls for a while on the lincoln highway. we passed some familiar sights (the nudie bar was about to open but the sky was turning and we felt chicken) and one who's geography i had forgotten. why are our trips through pennsylvania always full of such contradictions?

i had seen that sign for the memorial before but had never followed it. the flight 93 memorial is an interesting example of collectivism in practice. a display of feelings that are personal, political, nationalist, self-indulgent, small, empassioned and/or confusing.

what could the significance of a hair elastic be? or a penny? or an elvis wallet? are these offerings motivated by actual connections with the event or object? or did the donor just feel the need to leave something? was it due to a swell of emotion or perceived social pressure? who knew the dead and who did not? the visual display is striking, important, but it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. maybe that's appropriate.

we moved on, headed for our adoptive family in philadelphia - two pals, three kids (also pals), and five dogs were there to greet us with open arms, warm dinner and plenty of yapping. this was not a confusing experience by any stretch. tomorrow we make things, saturday we sell things and the rest is still falling into place. it's good to be home.

*title pun by aitor.

the south in the north?

i have to admit some general confusions about west virginia. even though the little slice that we drove through today must almost extend northwards to lake erie, the tourist shop flotsam seem to suggest that we are in the south. so do some billboards. and everyone has different accents than ohio cities that are only and hour and a half away. it's perplexing. but then, i was embarassingly old when i figured out that the mason-dixon is right under ohio.

we took advantage of today's brief trip through the south to stop at the cherokee trading post in triadelphia, west virginia. it's a roadside tourist shop akin to stuckey's and the like (minus the ubiquitous alligator heads). i was hoping to score some good post cards (done - see above) and browse some discount cowboy boots and moccasins (also accomplished - too bad that discount cowboy boots and moccasins are still too expensive for me). but i was extra elated to also stumble upon my best craft score of the trip. with all apologies to the indie craft community i know, this blew my mind:

if i were a worse person, i would steal this idea. i desperately want to. or, rather, i desperately wish that this combination of hill billy illustrative style and novelty had occurred to me first. this was never going to happen.

photo by rev. aitor

we arrived in pittsburgh with enough time to do a bit of wandering around on liberty street before meeting up with our friend al at the tail end of her handmade arcade planning meeting. we stumbled upon some classic pittsbugh window displays:

you should visit around easter when the easter bunny, little chicks and the city's strong catholic leanings blend into some very impressive mish mashes of bleeding saints and snuggly fauna.

the signage here is also amazing.

i got really into this barber shop as a whole complicated piece of arrangement of thoughts and colours:

after some food and drink from the church, we got to retire to our luxe digs-for-the-night chez pat and al. aside from other craft undertakings she makes for public consumption, al also quilts out of her impressive vintage fabric collection. i am in awe of her collection. plus, we get to sleep under part of it!

good night, yinz. sweet dreams.