Collecting Part 8

An heirloom is a valued possession passed down through the family through succeeding generations. The collecting of heirlooms could be thought of as an accumulation of memories and associations - the souvenirs of people and places in the past. My next collector lives and works in a rural setting in Colorado. She channels her creative and intellectual energies into refining those memories of her rural family background which she cherishes. Her collecting forms an integral part of a celebration of these memories. Kayann Short's rural finds and photography can be seen in her etsy shop  Stonebridgeworks.

Can you tell me a little about your background? 

I live at Stonebridge Farm on Colorado's Front Range with my partner John Martin. Stonebridge is a 102-year-old organic farm with a CSA in its 22nd season. We grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers for about 250 members. I have a PhD in Literature and have just published a book Bushel's Worth: An Ecobiography a memoir of reunion with my grandmother's farming traditions and a call for local farmland preservation. 

                                                 

What do you collect? 

I collect a variety of things but what they have in common is that they are all vintage. I love older things, especially from the 1930s and 40s, because they remind me of my grandmothers in North Dakota. Both had pretty vases and flowerpots in their farmhouses and both sewed a lot. I talk about some of the things I've inherited from my grandmothers in my book, "A Bushel's Worth", like sewing baskets, buttons, aprons and jewelry. I also write about the things I salvaged from the farmhouses after my grandparents were gone like light fixtures, doors, and even Burma Shave signs! My biggest collection right now is matte white pottery that I layer with bird postcards, real nests that I find around our farm, and bird jewelry. Lately I've been collecting vintage hardcover books about farming, gardening, and nature. I love their covers AND the words inside.

                               



















How did you get started?

I collected Madame Alexander dolls when I was young and sewed clothes for them. When I was in high school, I started going to rummage sales to find vintage jewelry. When I had my own home, I began collecting Fiestaware and McCoy pottery. I have a yellow Fiestaware bowl of my Grandma Smith's. She called it her potato salad bowl. I didn't even realize it was Fiestaware until after I'd started collecting it.



What attracted you to collecting them, in other words, why? 

I collect old things to honor their designs and colors and the crafting behind them. I don't like to buy new things because I think they lack the soul found in older pieces. I like to imagine a vintage bowl or book's former life. I feel like my collections have been handed down to me to care for until I pass them on to someone else. 


What are the best and worst aspects about being a collector? 


The best aspect is the joy I take in using, reading, or wearing my collections. I also take joy in how vintage pieces fit with our old farmhouse. New things just wouldn't feel the same! The worst is my new worry about what might happen to my collections in a disaster. Our region just suffered a terrible flood. Our house only took on water in the basement but many of my friends and neighbors had water and mud running through their homes. In the face of all this loss, I realize that my collections are just objects, but I would be sad if after all the years they've been around, they were destroyed or lost.

What is the holy grail of your collection? That is, what is it you are keen to get your hands on that you don't have? 

I keep looking for old copies of Thoreau's Walden because there's so many different versions and designs of his iconic book. I don't have one particular one in mind and I certainly can't afford a first edition, but it's always fun to look.


                           

Finally, how do you think your collecting has impacted on your life?

Collecting gives me a deeper connection with the past--both my own family's history and cultural history through vintage design. I enjoy shopping at some of the great antique stores in our area like the Front Range Mercantile. I'm a big believer in serendipity so I love the little surprises I find along the way. 

 

Thank you Kayann! Do you collect something? I'd love to hear from you!

Makers Part 11

                                            


"Calligraphy is structured movement, not static form" says Andrew van der Merwe. Calligraphy is an ancient art and one in which the viewer is confronted with both meaning and form on first viewing. A kind of visual poetry that slips back and forth between writing and art. My next maker, Mary who lives in the UK draws on her logical skills to chart the details of the play between these two forms of communicating. The results of her explorations can be found in her etsy shop, Calligraphette, on tumblr and on Facebook

Can you tell me a little about your background? 

I'm from the West Coast of Ireland and true to Irish form I have travelled widely. I've been around the world twice and have lived in New York, Mallorca, Tenerife, Sydney, Jersey (Channel Islands), London, Hitchin, in Hertfordshire, UK and I've very recently moved back to the beautiful Channel Islands again. By profession I am an accountant but I've always done well at art and I taught myself calligraphy. I now run a business using calligraphy to make products.

At the moment I divide my time between doing intensive accountancy work (I work in turn-around which means that our team will go into a struggling business, assess it for it's strengths and weaknesses, develop a turn-around action plan and then implement this on behalf of banks, shareholders or creditors), and my true love, my fledging calligraphy business. The accountancy work I do on a project basis pays the bills, which is great as my calligraphy business is in the early start-up stage.

What do you make?

I've taken on an ambitious task of trying to build a sustainable art business, which I hope to be able to run full-time in the not too distant future.
I have spent a lot of time on R & D, and have divided my business into:-
Prints - book-marks, cards, wall-hangings
Fashion - jewellery and accessories
Home-wares - Coming in 2014 (cushions, mirror lightboxes)
Bespoke - calligraphy for weddings, events, personalised art-work

What attracted you to this particular medium? How did you get started?

As part of my art exam in school, I choose calligraphy as my craft (in Ireland the art exam is broken into 4 categories, still life, craft, life drawing and imaginative composition). I bought a pen set and an instruction booklet and began to doodle. I loved it - I wasn't very good, but I loved it. I started to buy books on advanced calligraphy went to visit museums to view the Celtic manuscripts to see what was possible.

                                                 

How long have you been making?

I've been doing calligraphy since I was in school and over the years I have done lots of wedding invitations and works of art for my family and friends who requested them. When I left school, I got into university for both accountancy and art. I choose to do accountancy at that time and parked my art, knowing that I would eventually come back to it. I decided to open as a calligraphy business in 2011 because more and more people started to ask me to put my art and craft items up for sale.

How does your practice fit in with your everyday life? Do you have your own studio space and when do you work and where?
  

            

           

I think that I have, or at least am working towards, a healthy life balance. I use my skills as an accountant to earn money but I only work on a project basis which means that I can spend my downtime working on my calligraphy business - fulfilling orders, creating pieces and researching new ideas. I have created a studio space in the guest bedroom. I’m lucky as I can take my business anywhere, but at minimum I need loads of light, a good internet connection and my art materials to hand.
                                          

What are the best and worst aspects about working with this medium? 

I've started my business with paper products, (book-marks, cards and wall-hangings) and accept commissions for bespoke work. The great thing about using paper and card as a start point is that I can keep costs low which means that I can do lots of experiments with the design layouts. I mainly use felt-tipped calligraphy pens when I'm working with paper as I find these much easier to work with - they are not as messy as dipping inks, which dye my fingers.

Who or what inspires you?

My main inspiration comes from my customers, and the research I do into the stories behind the images. I try via my work to bring out as much of the story character as I can. One of the most moving stories was a lady who bought my card from one of the shops I sell into - it was a little quote that read: 

'Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain'. 

This lady had just recovered from chemo and she bought more of this design to give to her fellow patients in the treatment centre to give them a boost. I love that my art was used in this way.

Do you get creative blocks? If so, how do you deal with it?

I don't get creative blocks as such, but I am very easily distracted, When this happens I take a break and then get back to things afterwards. I live by lists and I try and give myself targets each day, so today for example, (even though it is the most amazing day ever and there is a parade passing my house), I need to work on my Christmas designs. I'm now living by the beach so it doesn't take me very long to get back on track. If I want to stay living by the beach then I need to make my business a success!

 What other mediums would you love to explore? 

I'm very excited about developing my home-ware ranges, as I’ll be dealing with fabric, screen printing, plastic, mirror and hopefully ceramics. I’ll start with cushions and mirror light-boxes - all featuring calligraphy. I want to create bright unique products that have a really good quality finish. I hope that lots of my products will become treasured possessions in many homes around the world.www.calligraphette.com
 
                                             

What do you hope to do next with your practice?

I want to continue to build my brand. As my aim is to build an art business that will sustain me as I grow a family. I also want to create a children's book out of my calligraphy animals and I would like to incorporate my existing designs onto my home-ware range as this develops. …. and I hope to launch my website in the next few days (www.calligraphette.com), so lots to keep me busy! Live well, love passionately and always, always make time in your life for beautiful writing xxx

Thank you Mary! Are you an artist or an avid collector? I would love to hear from you!