The “Peggy Short/Wabi-Ware” Mask is now on display at Fort Collins Museum of Art Masks Exhibition, April 6 – May 4, 2018.  The museum explains the history of the Masks Exhibit:  “Since 2003, the Fort Collins Museum of Art’s Masks has attracted both professional artists, whose creativity is their economic mainstay, and recreational artists, who respond to their need to express their creativeness in ingenious styles. Over 200 masks are given to artists to embellish for this exhibition. Everyone starts with the same plain ceramic mask form, imagination and creativity are applied and the result is an exciting exhibition and community art project.”  The masks become part of a silent auction to benefit the Museum.

My mask was covered with words from some old, weathered dictionaries; and I placed special words by specific places on the face, e.g., words connected to hearing and audition near the ears; other fun words placed by the nose and eyes, and words about lips and food and sumptuous things by the mouth.  It was great Wabi-Ware creative fun finding words that connect to our lives and imagining a special word collage.  The title of the mask is: Words Matter.  The description follows:

“Words matter – words we say to ourselves, to others, how we explain ourselves.  Words make sense of the world; they describe what we see and cannot quite fathom, like infinity, gravity, grace. There are special words like names, titles, secrets and blessings.  Words are poetry, rumor, headstones and headlines.  They give solace, comfort and hope.  They pierce our hearts and foment harm. Our world is covered with words, words, words. Words matter.

This activity brings together my handmade, custom collage works I do for Wabi-Ware cards and my love of words with editing and writing activities for Takecarebooks.com.  If you are in the Fort Collins area, consider a visit to our local Museum of Art for this exhibition of 200 colorful, creative, fascinating works of art by our local artist community.  Not only do words matter, but art matters, too!

Peggy Short, April 2018

 

We send much gratitude for all of you reading this post, to our friends and Wabi-Ware family.  This is a time of transition for so many of us; so it is heartwarming to step back, pause and spend time with friends celebrating our annual  tradition of giving thanks.  In Colorado, we have already had several snow storms, and Thanksgiving this year will bring record high temperatures that will showcase the harvest in local fields nearby. Here are some of our favorite Wabi-Ware custom, handmade Thanksgiving cards that celebrate the harvest season.

Several of Wabi-Ware’s favored shops for stocking our handmade cards are now closing.  We will miss visiting these shops and catching up with their news.  The positive side is that these store closings are because the owners are choosing new adventures after decades of community service.  We will discuss this more in the next post as well as the completed mask to turn in to Fort Collins Museum of Art.  Here is an update on the progress with the mask plus one of our Wabi-Ware custom, handmade cards for Pachyderm Power! Love in Action for Elephants.

Sending many good wishes for this harvest season, 2017.

Peggy, Wabi-Ware Custom and Handmade Cards

Fort Collins Museum of Art celebrates a Mask Exhibition each year.  I have been selected as a mask artist for next year’s 2018 Masks event.  Artists receive a blank 3-dimensional mask in the autumn and have several months for inspiration to decorate their individual masks.  Inspired by my love for words and books, I have begun decorating this mask with engaging words from a vintage dictionary. It will be exciting to see how the mask evolves the next couple of months!  This past year, I was pleased to volunteer at Wolverine Farm Letterpress and Publick House, working with Jes, their expert in letterpress art and works.  For every item to be printed, you must select and lay out the letters in a certain form for each letterpress.  This time-consuming and deliberate process reminded me of the huge challenges to print newspapers and documents many years ago.  What a contrast to our current form of instant electronic communication!  To honor old forms of arranging letters and words, I intend to adorn the mask form with selected bits from old books.  Stay tuned for updates during the autumn!  Meanwhile, this is the busiest season for Wabi-Ware Custom Cards.  Handmade, one-of-a-kind cards are special ways to send unique messages and love during Thanksgiving and the holiday season.  Already, we are making cards featuring fields and pumpkins, autumn leaves and sunflowers as well as preparing packs of holiday cards for shops and fairs.  The shifting colors of the autumn tree canopies coincide with shortening days, and I find that those shifting colors make their way onto the cards we’re making now.  Autumn is definitely here.

 

Fort Collins Artist Studio Tour and Sale happens April 28 – 30, and Wabi-Ware has joined a consortium of artists for this Spring event.  Wolverine Farm Letterpress and Publick House has offered their space as a studio for a group of artists to participate in the annual art tour.  We have set up our wares upstairs at the Publick House.  On Saturday and Sunday, we will be making things and offering some of our art (cards, jewelry, fabrics and mixed media works) for sale.  Throughout April, you can also see representations of our work at the Lincoln Center Gallery.  If you live nearby, do come by for music and art.  Wolverine Farm Letterpress and Publick House is a great place to hang out and as a meeting place.  Swing by there anytime for coffee, a beer, to do some writing or have classes and meetings.  You can find Wabi-Ware handmade and custom collage and WORD cards as well as natural tags on the Maker’s shelves.  And, for the Artist Studio Tour, we have our Wabi-Ware shelf shrines featuring Earth images, bicycles, Kwan Yin, and nature scenes.

Also featured are our unique milagro cards and milagro display:  Milagros are miracle charms, and they are special talismans to carry or to give to others for special events, healing or for offering thanks.  These milagro cards are a special type of Wabi-Ware Handmade and Custom Cards.  And, as always, you can contact us to request custom cards for your own gifts.  Hope to see you soon!

 

Louisville’s June Art Walk, June 3rd, celebrates Frida Kahlo, 6 – 9 PM at Bella Frida on Main Street.  Peggy Short of Wabi-Ware is one of the featured artists for this dynamic exhibit which will run through June and July.  Check it out at:  http://www.bellafrida.com/june-art-walk-632016/

 

For several years, Wabi-Ware has been making handmade, custom cards in collaboration with Sagrada Sacred Arts. These cards feature Black Madonnas from around the world, and this month Sagrada is showcasing these Wabi-Ware custom cards and handmade books in their store in Oakland, CA. while also hosting events to honor Black History Month.

With increasing requests by customers at Sagrada for accessible images of the Black Madonna, we began, a few years ago, to collaborate on a blessing to accompany various cards and now an altar book/folio with various images of different Black Madonnas.

One of the exciting aspects of being asked to make custom cards is that I get to learn about subjects I know little about. As a researcher and an avid reader for most of my life, I have loved learning about the various Black Madonnas, which are quite common, with a reported 450-500 in Europe. While some of the most familiar images are from shrines and icons in Eastern Europe, many others, I have learned, are also found in northern Africa, southern Europe, as well as North and South America and Cuba. One of the most familiar images of a Black Madonna is the Lady of Czestochowa, revered in Poland and the Ukraine. This image is easily recognized because of the two slash scars on her right cheek, part of special legends of miracles associated with this Black Madonna.

In Colorado, we are very familiar with Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose image appears on flags, car decals, jackets, candles and many other items. This special image represents an indigenous Madonna, now called the Goddess of the Americas; and cards featuring her image are one of the most popular of our “Black Madonna custom cards” in California and in a local shop, Bella Frida, in Louisville, CO.

Even though these Black Madonnas are centuries old, they still have relevance today and two have recently been in international news: Just this month, Pope Francis realized his aspiration to visit the shrine of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe. He also held Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Before coming to Mexico, Pope Francis visited Cuba, where a landmark meeting occurred. There, Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Pope signed a declaration calling for peace; and Pope Francis was given a small replica of another Black Madonna, Our Lady of Kazan, a stunning icon and the subject of political intrigue between the Russian Church and the Vatican two decades ago.

Our Lady of Kazan, also called the protectress of Russia, dates to the 1500’s, and had been stolen from Kazan. Like many Black Madonnas, various stories and legends exist about where images were hidden and stored for safekeeping for centuries. An apparent copy of the Black Madonna of Kazan was given in 1993 to Pope John Paul II, who venerated this image that was installed in his study. A decade later, he arranged for it to be returned to the Russian Orthodox Church, although the Pope was not allowed to deliver it in person. Thus, not until this month has such a meeting between a Russian Church leader and a Pope ever taken place.

After reading stories of miracles and legends associated with various Black Madonnas, I sometimes incorporate meaningful elements in the custom cards. For example, the Black Madonna della Vena (Mother of the Vein) is associated with the miraculous appearance of water.  The “Black Madonna custom card” (below) incorporates that concept.

At Sagrada Sacred Arts and Wabi-Ware Custom Cards, we acknowledge and honor the works of all artists. We have decorated images of various Black Madonnas that appear to be in the public domain. We urge readers to notify us of other exciting, accessible images to showcase varied cultures and traditions.

 

Wabi-Ware Custom Solstice Cards

Equators in my writing . . .

Today I was having tea with a friend who recited a poem she’d learned years ago. A line stayed with me: “I want equators in my writing”.

I am wrapping up the Wabi-Ware Winter Solstice and holiday custom cards and have been musing about how, with Earth’s tilt and revolution around our Sun, the day’s light is always in shift.

A few weeks ago a friend in Sydney wrote to say the jacaranda trees were in bloom. Australia is facing the Summer Solstice, while here in Fort Collins, Colorado we just received a thick blanket of snow with more on the way tomorrow. Because of Earth’s tilt, the Southern Hemisphere is now closer to our Sun and receiving more light for their long summer days. In contrast, we in the Northern Hemisphere are getting colder and darker until the longest night (or shortest day) at the Winter Solstice Dec. 21-22.

In September, at the Autumn equinox here (and Spring equinox in Sydney), the Sun crosses that imaginary belt around the middle of Earth – the equator. At that time, the days and nights are almost equal; but, as autumn progresses, the days here get shorter and shorter. I see it in the increasing shadows of trees on the snow, the cats seek the western ledges for the brief afternoon warmth of Sun, and the night arrives too soon.

Winter Solstice is a special time – it is a season of reflection, what we, ironically, call the season of light, although it is our darkest time. Making Wabi-Ware custom greeting cards to evoke some of the qualities of Winter Solstice, I reflect on Earth’s suspension in the vast Cosmos, Earth’s yearly revolution around our Sun, and the stillness of the season of dark. I make cards with candles representing the menorah lights of Hanukkah. And I include glitter and bright colors for trees and bright stars and candles for Christmas cards. The Wabi-Ware handmade solstice cards have swirls to represent the solar system with little icons of Earth riding along. Or I use gold and black paper and glitter as symbols of light and dark.

A dear friend who is a community health nurse in Canada was just posted for a month above the Arctic Circle to a place called Old Crow. There, she says, they have a sliver of light to remind them of daytime before the darkness folds in again. Her husband said the big advantage of being there now is they are very close to the North Pole! While it is mostly 24 hours of darkness in Old Crow during the winter, Gail said they have magnificent shows of Northern lights – the Aurora borealis in the North (and there is Aurora australis in the South).


Now that the Winter Solstice has nearly arrived, and the Wabi-Ware custom greeting cards are either all in the stores or in the mail, I am musing about making cards that reflect (in many ways) the shimmering essence of the Northern Lights. So, to Gail and Ed and Santa way above the Arctic Circle, and to all our friends near and far, north and south – All Good Things as we move through space around our bright Sun and begin yet another year. We’ll just keep moving: The days will gradually grow longer as our Sun seems to shift from south to north, dancing, once again, across the equator.

https://wabiware.com/2015/12/1386/

The landscape here in northern Colorado has shifted dramatically. The past few days have been snowy, crisply cold and mostly overcast, so we quickly moved from a season of harvest and raking leaves to bringing in wood and shoveling walkways. Preparing handmade cards for stores or custom cards for individuals has made me aware of how the colors of the seasons shift and how colors figure into cards to celebrate different holidays.

Today, when it stopped snowing, I went for a walk along the Poudre River in LaPorte, Colorado. I am preparing handmade cards to celebrate winter; and for local shops, next week we will take out the Thanksgiving and autumn greeting cards and replace them with Christmas, Hanukkah, solstice and winter themes.

I realized, out walking, that all those vivid oranges and browns we associate with autumn and harvest were gone. The snow was covering everything on the ground except for taller grasses poking through. Fence posts all had separate piles of snow on them, and the trees have all now lost their leaves. We had a mild autumn, and these last few days help us realize that December is only a few days away.

The sky toward the western foothills was so gray I couldn’t see where the sky and the land met. The most color was a bright blue just overhead, but that was being shut out by a gradual graying that was reflected in the water. I was surprised by the variety of grays, how the ice along the edges of the river went from a snowy white to a gradual frozen gray and then a darker, blackish-blue moving water. I actually scanned the fields looking for remnants of those autumn colors, so frequent on Thanksgiving cards; but everything seemed a striking and interesting variation on darks, whites and grays. Even the rusted bridge over the river seemed to have lost its redness and was just dark, absorbent. The brightest thing I saw on the drive to the main road was a vivid orange-yellow fire hydrant; and it had a large cone of snow on top, like a white gnome hat.

Making handmade greeting cards has sharpened my vision. I pay closer attention, now, to how leaves on trees vary in color, how gray isn’t just gray but so many different variations seen in the sky, in clouds, in washed out fields and with snow-laden trees in the distance. I see why winter cards are often blue and white, and I used those colors in many of the Wabi-Ware custom Hanukkah cards I made this year. Hanukkah is early this year, so those handmade cards already went out in the mail to customers who ordered custom greetings for their family.

In contrast, the Christmas cards headed for stores next week include reds and greens – on evergreen trees or bits of holly. Winter solstice cards will portray the stark contrast between light and dark. Winter doesn’t officially start until the winter solstice on Dec. 21-22, but with the past few days of snow and cold, it feels like the season shifted today.

Last week end Wild Birds Unlimited (www.wbu.com)in Fort Collins hosted the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program for an event, Owl Be Home for Christmas. To participate and to support this endeavor, we created Wabi-Ware custom greeting cards featuring eagles, owls and other raptors. We collaborated with Wild Birds Unlimited to offer a discount on the cards to support the raptor program. Coincidentally we have been seeing a shift in the raptors in our neighborhood: The past couple of weeks ago, I frequently heard owls hooting just at sunset. And now, more eagles are coming in to the lakes, often following the flocks of geese that stay on the water at night and then forage in the nearby corn fields during the day. Where we are located in north Fort Collins, Colorado, large flocks of geese overstay during the winter. In the daytime, large flocks fly overhead as they go back and forth between the lakes and shorn fields. Bald eagles follow some of these flocks, looking for injured geese on the ice. Further, some peregrine falcons still perch near the lakes that are mostly free from ice because of the mild days we’ve had.
Too late for the program last week end, I have just received some special international postage stamps with images that feature raptors, mostly eagles and owls. So, a future project will be to create some special Wabi-Ware custom greeting cards using these stamps in collages. For now, I will post some of the images of the current custom greeting cards on this website – under CARDS – Bird and Nest designs.
I have lately heard from some folks that they haven’t been able to easily see the Wabi-Ware custom greeting cards from their smart phones. So, we have just made some changes to the Wabi-Ware website so that the greeting cards show up sooner, particularly on the smaller screens on mobile devices. We’ve changed the WARES tab to CARDS so that one can get to the greeting cards more quickly – and find them more easily. We are always open to feedback about finding Wabi-Ware custom greeting cards from any platform. I appreciate suggestions for sharing information about our cards as well as ideas for new cards you would like to see.
For now, the handmade raptor cards are still available at Wild Birds Unlimited, and we are making more Wabi-Ware custom greeting cards to coincide with the season, e.g., owls in winter forests and snowy owls in winter landscapes. Right after Thanksgiving, these new handmade cards will be at the Wild Birds Unlimited shop along with other Wabi-Ware custom greeting cards to feature wild birds at feeders, critters like foxes and squirrels and glitter elk as well as cards featuring hedgehogs – a favorite this year. Wild Birds Unlimited has a rack of Wabi-Ware Custom Greeting Cards that also includes some of the new line of WORD cards. While most of our handmade cards feature different layers and embellishments, the WORD cards contain just one word and then an image or symbol to represent the word. We sometimes make a play on words and have had fun with folks offering silly suggestions for WORD cards they would like to see – and send. We are just now creating some new Wabi-Ware custom greeting WORD cards for the holidays with seasonal words like Joy, Believe, Peace, Reflect, Light – and more. Again, please contact us with your ideas if you have designs or subjects for cards you would like to see as well as any new outlets for folks who want to locate and share Wabi-Ware custom greeting cards.

We’ve been immersed in making seasonal cards for Halloween, Day of the Dead, Thanksgiving and getting out items for holiday cards. It’s fun being with browns and oranges and rust colors of autumn, leaving behind the summery pastels and garden colors. The Farmer’s Markets have been such an inspiration for what is seasonal and so colorful at this time of year. We’ve posted some of the new Day of the Dead and autumn cards in our galleries – feel free to browse, send us ideas/feedback – and orders if you like.