We visited the High Line while we were in the city, twice! It is an amazing reuse of space and a generally beloved spot by the citizens of NYC. The park was originally a raised railway line that carried things into the city; the train's final cargo was frozen turkeys in 1980. The patches of grasses and wild natives (mountain mint: second picture) are my favorite sections. The park continues to expand (final picture); seeing the space grow during the next few years will be interesting.

This past week I traveled to New York City with my beau, Mark, to learn more about papermaking and urban green spaces. Success! We visited Dieu Donné, a paper studio where artists create work using handmade paper and are enabled by an outstanding crew of papermakers. I didn't take any pictures at Dieu Donné, sadly. But I did learn some great new pulp pigmenting and drying techniques from the lovely Amy Jacobs, DD's studio manager. After visiting DD we popped over to Brooklyn to see Carriage House Paper's studio and museum. The pictures above are of the museum: paper aardvark/elephant balloon, Korean floor paper, vegetable paper. Shannon showed us around the studio a bit and gave me some excellent advice on sculptural papermaking. Now I'm itching to get some flax pulp and start working in studio!

Books! This week I'm taking a class as an Undergraduate RBS-UVA Fellow in the Rare Book School that is located at the University of Virginia. I'm taking "Printed Books since 1800: Description and Analysis" with Tom Congalton and Katherine Reagan. Tom is an antiquarian bookseller and Katherine is a curator and assistant director at Cornell University's Rare Books and Manuscripts Division. I've been learning all about rare books. My independent research focuses on these two rare 1867 and 1878 books: Gardening for Profit and The Farmers' and Mechanics' Manual, respectively. The details of the tool and horse wood engravings are from Manual; how stinkin' amazing. Check out the muddy water stain on Gardening; some of the leaves are dog-eared, too. Well loved.

beast no.1

spring 2010

9 in x 12 in

My first etching ever!