meredith cutler :: arts marketing :: artist

Even for one as secular as myself, a week in Umbria can have a strange effect. Maybe it was the bounty of fresh figs, or an excess of fine wine troppo presto nell giorno, but climbing up and down the stone-paved streets of tiny borgos and medieval cities like Assisi left me feeling a bit, well...holy...

I felt the change take effect after a winding climb to the medieval fort overlooking the city of Assisi, which rests in a crook on the side of Mount Subasio. There, at sunset, the local drum corps gathers to practice their drum rolls, which echo off of the stone fortress and out again to wash over the valley below. My ears still pounding as we decended past St. Francis' Cathedral, I met a rather holy blind cat.

There in the cradle of Franciscan teachings, this otherwordly fellow led me to the next entry in my Lost and Found photo documentary series of abandoned toys:

Above: "Brothers and Sisters" Assisi, Umbria

Art has finally slept...I had to slow it down a bit this week, given that my domestic unit has obtained the mysterious, mid-spring flu (plague). After a solid week of summer weather (the devil's trickery), the sky transitioned to cold, miserable rain for two days straight. With it pounding on my skylight, I awoke early yesterday morning with my bones rattling with fever and the evil one climbing out of my stomach. (Sadly, because of "once sick, never again" rules, it will be a cold day in hell before I am able to enjoy my husband's mushroom risotto.)

The truly "sick" thing about a household stricken is the dilemma: who will care for the ill if all are indisposed? Maybe this guy can help, he seems to be parked on the emergency defibrillator...

Above: "Bunny": First Aid Station, East Side/Mt. Hope YMCA, Providence, RI

The sun is shining today, which must be nice for everyone who needs some airing out. For my part, this weekend I have been airing out my studio; digging through 10-gallon plastic bins of vintage stash and assembling all kinds of nifty supply packs for my Etsy vintage & supply outlet, crostini*VS.

Because once I get started on something I tend to explode with motivation, and grow a million extra arms like Avalokitesvara, I also banged out four new collectible, mixed-media collage pieces for Crostini designs and a materials study for a new alternative embroidery series that I've been working on.

Not bad for a Saturday. I hope that this steady flow of focused creative production continues, because April showers bring loads of deadlines for yours truly, and I like to make hay while the sun shines.

Tomorrow: stay tuned for a special Monday morning design pick and an announcement about Crostini at retail! 

It has been a light week for writing, due to the fact that I have had family in town and therefore the rare chance to show people around Providence, which I still feel that I am getting to know myself as a relatively new Boston transplant.

Locals may have seen me dragging my eerily resemblant mother and aunt down Thayer and Benefit streets (note: the latter relative = me in 20 years, the former = me in 30 years), with a very unenthusiastic 11-year old cousin in tow. It isn't family day without a stop at the gift shop, so after a brief stint at the RISD Museum to skim the concise and impressive Styrofoam and Evo/Revo shows, we hit up RISD Works.

I wasn't planning on any purchases, but my intrepid mother scouted out the sole copy of Dirty Wow Wow and other love stories, by Cheryl and Jeffrey Katz. I had to treat myself to this sweet, little hard-cover book, which documents in neutral, portrait-style photography the well-loved, tattered and often humorously repaired softies and blankies of childhood in their "sunset years". With short, fable-like biographical essays accompanying each portrait, I find this collection in pleasing contrast to my "Lost and Found" cell-phone photo documentary series of abandoned softies.

Oh, and the dust-jacket cover art features the retro-pup "Le Mutt" (in this edition knighted "Rover" by his small person).

I was once the proud owner of both a "Le Mutt" and his paramour, "Fi-Fi La Femme" back in the good 'ol early 1980's. I recall that "Le Mutt" had a very weak ear, but that didn't stop me from spinning him by it like a windmill until it came off, catapulting the poor canine into outer space.

The city is a strange and often dangerous place to make a home, especially when pets and children are part of the equation. Still, there are advantages to keeping a domesticated animal in an urban environment...

Above: "Tiger" - Off Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY