Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Maridadi Studio/Gallery

I now have a "Room of My Own" for beading and for writing.  Well, actually, a few rooms.  
The space above our double garage has transformed from an apartment into my 

Maridadi Studio




Welcome
 
 I have had such fun setting it up -- my beads and tools are now all consolidated in one place,
 my writing desk has a view over the garden and I've had the best time artistically  
displaying my jewelry and the other unique decorative items I am selling





I have wonderful African baskets for sale


My beading (and display) table

  

I can climb the stairs to my studio, close the door on the rest of the world 
and feel immersed in the energy of my special creative space.  
And, just as wonderful, I can leave to re-enter the world and simply 
close the door behind me -- close it on a chaos of beads or papers.  
No longer is our dining room table a place of clutter, unfinished projects and guilt.

I have my music up in my studio and a box of Rooibos tea and an electric kettle.  
I am keeping regular studio hours, and my stock of necklaces is soaring.  
This is when I wish I had a marketing department!  

Some of my latest creations.  Come visit!

Amber, bone, recycled glass from Ghana (ex beer bottles)

Fabulous hand-cut Jade from Afghanistan

Stunning collection of East African "Amber"



So elegant with ornate aged silvery beads and jasper

Recycled glass from Ghana and Autumn light

Bold & contemporary with the surprise of Tibetan Turquoise

Funky Mixed Metals

Chunky New and Old with a feel of Water

Vintage pearls and ornate metal

Beads so Earthy and Old

Beads so Old and Earthy

Pearl Tide -- polished and rough

In the Pink



Carved brown Jade.   Ethiopian Coptic Cross

Come and Browse

Monday, September 23, 2013

Chicago Reflections - Reflecting on Chicago



When I was seventeen I boarded an airplane for the first time, and left South Africa to spend a year as an American Field Scholar in Chicago.   It was 1968 -- an extremely eventful time in U.S. history.

A couple of weeks ago Graham and I flew to Chicago for a long weekend.  A great deal has changed.

We were blessed with perfect weather and walked for miles, enjoying the buzz and vibrancy of the city, awed by the architecture, impressed by the intersection of city and water, the beauty of public spaces, the wonderful urban landscaping.

As I reflect on our weekend and review my photos, I realize how central the theme of Reflection is --  both the physical reflections in sculpture and buildings and water, as well as the more internal reflections about the passage of time and the way that revisiting a place from one's past stirs up memories and emotion.



The most amazing reflections are, of course, in Anish Kapoor's Cloud Gate sculpture
 -- affectionately nick-named The Bean.



  That funfair fascination of viewing an altered world, 
an altered self -- captured and reflected.


Yup, it's just the two of us -- reflected in polished stainless steel!

 

 
Reflections floating as though in a ball of liquid mercury



                                            Our reflections magnified,  reduced, distorted, replicated.



Endlessly engaging.




    Chicago seems to be a city that charts its history through architecture
 varied, bold, magnificent, innovative buildings
that reflect changing times and often each other.

Reflections  of buildings in other buildings.



 I marvel at the soaring Trump Tower, and remember how, 45 years ago, I photographed 
the Chicago Sun-Times building that used to occupy that location.



 Alexander Calder's flamboyant Flamingo

  Dizzy Heights

 

Reflections in water --- Lake Michigan, Chicago River, Millennium Park








Some enjoyments never change. 




Reflections of bygone splendor  



                                                        Tiffany ceiling in Marshall Fields (now Macy's)


     Tiffany Dome in the old Library (now Cultural Center)



Our main reason to travel to Chicago was to see the Impressionism, Fashion, and Modernity  exhibition at the Chicago Art Institute. (no photographs allowed). This fascinating exhibition encouraged us to examine how the Impressionists used contemporary fashion to reflect the latest trends of the time and spirit of the age. 

(Our daughter-in-law, Justine De Young, was involved with the exhibition and wrote two essays for the catalogue.)




Buckingham fountain


The play of light and water  -- shining forth like memory refreshed




Monday, September 9, 2013

Coming Right at Wrightsville


Perhaps it is a far horizon -- big skies, wide open spaces  -- that I crave.



 



When I studied Feng Shui I learned that a distant view facilitates long term planning, creative thought.  My teacher claimed the large offices and grand window views of CEOs were way more valuable  than prestige alone.  She contended that sitting at a desk in front of a wall was fine for the manipulation of numbers (for instance) but that the block of a wall in front of you stifled imaginative, creative thought.   She gave an example of school children who were content to do math homework at their desks, but often headed, instinctively, to the dining room table or somewhere with a more expansive outlook when they needed to write an essay.

I know from my own experience that I think far more imaginatively and boldly when 
I am in wide open places with a far horizon. 

From Durham, with its trees and lack of mountains, the beach is a quick fix for me. 
 Three nights at the northern end of Wrightsville beach was a tonic beyond basic R&R.  

The expansiveness of sky and sand and sea
Invites the mind and soul to stretch in mimicry.   
 (Bridget)


 


Surrendering to the pull of a high tide current

Honoring our connection with the moon 


 



Relishing space and the freedom of movement


Monday, June 3, 2013

Tilt your Head Back


When you realize how perfect everything is you will
 tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.  
~Buddha

I have just returned from several weeks in Cape Town. 
And I did .... Tilt my Head Back .... often. 





The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.  
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
 


 
When you reduce life to black and white, you never see rainbows. 
 ~Rachel Houston



 
There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds. 
G.K. Chesterton


from my patio  ... sunrise
 and ... sunset

moonrise

When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon,
 my soul expands in worship of the Creator.  
~Mahatma Gandhi