Star 82 Review 6.2 Is Live!

In this 22nd issue of Star 82 Review, we find protectiveness. Each of the writers and artists fiercely cares about something. Each gently protects it with kindness. Included is work from high school student, Lucy Wallace, published authors, Charles Rafferty and Simon Perchik, embroidery from Lucia Dill and Claudia Moore and more stories, poems, and art from emerging and established writers and artists. This issue is one of my favorites!

6.2 web is here.
6.2 print is here.

You can keep up-do-date with the news from the magazine and read the found poem created from the first two or last two words from each written piece at the Star 82 Review FaceBook page here.

Happy Reading!

Contributors

Joe Albanese

Carol Barrett

Jennifer L. Blanck

Floyd Cheung

Audra Coleman

Cathie Crawford

Lucia Dill

William Doreski

Ricardo José González-Rothi

Jeff Ewing

Roger Gilroy

Ed Gold

Susan Gundlach

Christopher T. Keaveney

Herbert Woodward Martin

Sam McParland

Elaine Mintzer

Claudia Moore

Susan Paprocki

Simon Perchik

Charles Rafferty

Giancarlo Riccobon

Hannah Rousselot

Nathan Rudibaugh

Charlie Scaturro

Daryl Scroggins

Tom Sigafoos

Lucy Wallace

Penelope Weiss

www.star82review.com

Never Mind the New Website & Print

It was time to update. With a little help from my friend, I was able to put together a simple, streamlined website that would be visible on the phone. Same web address: www.neverbook.com but new design. The old one became tangled as I moved back and forth from printing to felting to sewing, from one-of-a-kind work to editioned books and back.

In the new system I have a home page with a brief statement and in addition to a contact page, two main areas: art and writing. And if you like rabbit holes and worm holes and black holes, the old website is still there: the link is at the bottom of the home and contact pages.

It was interesting going through this process, looking through everything and choosing what to include. I could see my interests more clearly, see the throughpoint of my work, the common themes and styles even in the varied materials and processes.

To mark the occasion, or any occasion really, I've letterpress printed a postcard/small linocut print. Now available in a varied set of four with free shipping at nevermindtheart.

Thanks for reading!

When in Drought

Californians, among others, have been struggling with droughts, on and off, for decades. Water conservation was big here in 1976-77, for nearly ten years in the mid-2000s, and it looks like we are back at it again. Showers are short, and we eye the bathtub with longing. Exacerbated by climate change or not, a drought has always felt part of my life. In working with denim, I discovered denim takes quite a bit of water to produce: a pair of jeans takes 3781 liters of water from start to finish. Manufacturers are trying to reduce that amount and turn toward recycling as well.  You can read about it in this article.

When I dove into textile work nearly full-time I was happy to  incorporate the scraps back into whatever I was working on. But as I continued, the scraps started building up. I made little sachets, egg pin-cushions, and in the studio I have little buckets of scraps and a big bag of more. Denim particularly interests me. I like the variations it can have, how it shows wear and the human presence. Already pieced and in progress is a quilt with denim about crows, but I had some denim pieces leftover. I began arranging them on a board, then placed the board on some black cloth, a quilter's "fat quarter."

What was it? I wasn't sure, yet. I liked the materials as they were, particularly after I had stitched them down, but that wasn't enough transformation for me. I didn't want the piece to be just about the materials. In past works I've used denim with water in mind in the two "water and power" quilts: Pipeline and Ripples.  Layered denim looks like waves--the ocean is another love. I already had one scrap of denim that was printed with an open pipe. I thought about water, the lack of water, the drought, and drought-tolerant plants. And I thought about the current political drought and the lack of tolerance. Echinacea (coneflower), one drought-tolerant plant, is seen as a boost to the immune system. I liked the connection and the metaphor it could provide. 

After appliquéing/quilting the denim to a piece of worn linen pants and a black cotton backing, I drew the coneflower centers into faces and stenciled them onto the denim. The letters t-o-l-e-r-a-n-t are also in there, a subtle boost, a reminder. Lastly, I stitched, due to its color, what appears to me as a contradiction: dry rain. It's a small quilt: 17.5"w x 19.5"h.

When in Drought (2018)

It's a challenge to make work that has a message or meaning and that draws the viewer in. Every day holds a search for balance.

More Coptic Journals

For travel, taking a "pocketbook"-sized notebook with me has always been a useful way to go. I've posted two more to nevermindtheart. Just in case you're going somewhere.

These have underpainting on the covers.

I distressed and painted the boards a solid black then overpainted just the fronts and backs, leaving the inner covers the contrasting color.

Metallic gold (red thread) or fuchsia (teal thread).

The paper is Strathmore drawing paper, the thicker version.

They are stamped "2018" on the backs.

You can get one of these two right now at nevermindtheart.

Instructions for making a miniature Coptic journal are here.

For a larger book, add more pairs of holes.

Just don't try to bind the book if you have a cat for a supervisor.