Weaving and Words

Weavings

Weavings © 2010 Bo Mackison

A popular ritual for welcoming in the New Year- at least in many of the blogging circles that I follow – is to choose a word for the year. This is a word that serves as a focus for the next twelve months, and seems more doable than a slew of New Year’s Resolutions that are forgotten by Leap Day.

Christine Painter in her blog  Abbey of the Arts discusses the choice of a word in depth and asks these two questions.

  • What is your word for the year that contains within it a seed of invitation to cross a new threshold?
  • What word shimmers before you, inviting you to dwell with it until it ripens fully inside of you?

Even though we are a week into 2012, I wanted to post both her questions and my response, first to share, and second, so I have a place where it is safely documented.

Hanging Weavings

Hanging Weavings © 2010 Bo Mackison

My word for 2012 is WEAVING.

When I was choosing a word, I had several ideas. I journaled about the different words, and I found weaving deep with meaning. Since I wrote in concepts and phrases, here’s the journal entry itself instead of trying to sweep that pile of thoughts and words into cohesive paragraphs:

  • Weaving – take the good, the boring, the sad and the happy, the challenges and the gifts — take all and weave them together. And then I end up with a life like an intricate tapestry.
  • Is weaving connected to creativity, to photography? Do I weave a photograph. Like that idea. I take a photo, but the photograph isn’t any photo, it is one where I have added myself to it, I weave myself into all of my photographs, I am a part.
  • Weaving is action. Not sitting while doing nothing. Continued, purposeful action. Sweep the shuttle, pull the beater, tighten the weave, change the treadles, sweep the shuttle, pull the beater, tighten the weave. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. A routine, a rhythm. Living my life with some routine, a rhythm would help pace my days. And calming, the repetition is calming. Add calming activities to my life.
  • But weaving isn’t boring–the pattern is always changing. And life, like weaving, is always changing.
  • Weave fabric. Make something beautiful, functional. And woven fabric is stable, it does not easily get distorted like a knitted or crocheted piece. Make something beautiful and useful from my life. Colorful, artistic, creative. A tapestry?
  • Weaving creates that tapestry. Putting things together, stringing days together, but just one thread at a time, one step at a time. The goal is a finished piece, but mistakes are okay. In all that weaving, but almost impossible to find a misplaced thread. Make a mistake, repair it if you can, make amends if need be, and then keep on going.
  • Weave with ideas. Put ideas together. Weaving is slow. Slow down, give thoughts time enough to turn into workable plans. Might be slow, but you can see the progress if you keep weaving, even doing it slowly.
  • Weaving — a comfort, in the cold or harsh winds, easy to wrap a woven shawl around me for comfort and warmth.
  • Weaving on my path — this kind of journey weaving is never walked on a straight, smooth sidewalk. It requires a weaving in and out, amidst obstacles, with/around people.

WEAVING — a word that will accompany me through this year.
 

Frosty Pastels – Contemplating What Isn’t in What Is

Frosted Pastels

Frosted Pastels © 2011 Bo Mackison

If you really want to see something,
look at something else.
If you want to say what something is,
inspect something that it isn’t.
If you want to see the invisible world
look at the visible one.
If you want to know what East really is,
look North.
If you have a question concerning the sea,
look at the mountains….
– Howard Nemerov, ON METAPHOR

This is a simple photograph, a nature photograph. Pleasing pastel colors, a fringe of frost of the dogwood leaves sparkling in the early morning sunlight. The colors reflect the gradual changes of impending cold – greens fading to pale greens, greens turning into pinks, then reds, deepening further into purples.

This simple photograph tells me of the winter that always comes, of the sun that rises every morning, of the deciduous leaves that follow the cycles of the seasons. That there is beauty in simplicity and change and the infinite passing of time.

If we look, stay aware, accept, reach out, take one step further, give thanks.

If I want to understand the invisible, look at the visible. Study that which is changing in my outside world to aid me in understanding the changes in my internal world.

If I really want to see something, I look at something else. Compare. Contrast. Grasp the subtleties, observe the obvious.

Mix it all together, let it simmer, cool, then enjoy.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is examining the winter in anticipation of her visit to the desert.

4th Annual Alphabet – The Finale

V IS FOR VISION.

Waiting Bike

Bike and Fog © 2011 Bo Mackison

Photographers have vision, even if it’s partly obscured by fog on the lake.

W IS FOR WANDERING.

The Photographer's Shadow

The Photographer’s Shadow © 2011 Bo Mackison

Photographers are prone to wander, near and far, in urban areas and in rural areas.

X IS FOR eXPERIMENT.

On the Road, Sundown

On the Road, Sundown © 2011 Bo Mackison

Photographers are prone to experiments. Maybe it’s an iPhone app through a windshield while riding in a car going 65 mph.

Two Ferns - Pop Art

Two Ferns © 2011 Bo Mackison

Maybe it’s experimenting with different types of paper – metallic, pearl, heavy rag, canvas. And experimenting with digital manipulations for hours and hours and hours.

Y IS FOR YARD SALES.

Yard of Pottery

Yard of Pottery © 2011 Bo Mackison

Photographers take photos of almost anything. Even a pile of colored jugs with interesting shadows can make a great photographic subject.

Z IS FOR ZENITH.

Clouds and Crescent Moon

Clouds and Crescent © 2011 Bo Mackison

And photographers take photographs whenever they can. Every day. Photographers point their cameras and aim for the moon. Or the cotton candy clouds. Or the stars.

And to quote  David Alan Harvey, “A photographer doesn’t shoot what it looks like. A photographer shoots what it feels like.”

The end!

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Today’s post has been brought to you by the letters V, W, X, Y and Z.

And yesterday’s post was brought to you by R, S, T and U.

Thank you for tuning in!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is thankful that there are only 26 letters in the alphabet.

 

 

Bo’s 4th Annual Photographic Alphabet – V

R IS FOR REFLECTING ON RUINS.

Tumacacori - Window with a View

Tumacacori - Window with a View © 2011 Bo Mackison

I am re-posting these reflections I wrote during my last visit to Tumacacori National Historic Park, ruins of a mission once housing Spanish priests and the Tohono O’Odham they converted to Catholicism and taught the ways of ‘modern’ man. I sat in the garden for several hours, reflecting on the stories I had heard from the park rangers, and the voices that I seemed to hear. Here is a slightly revised version.

Cover your ears with your determination, seek the sacred in this scarred space.
Block the sounds of horns honking, ignore the heated words of the couple standing near the mesquite.

Shhh.

Can you hear rustling leaves, whistling wind? See the shimmer of cotttonwoods?

These winds were in this garden. The trees now camouflaging the sparrows’ nests, they were here.
The fountain — pulsing garden heart — it was here with its cleansing waters.
The dust blowing from the Tumacácori Mountain Range – that dust was here.

Those mountains? They stood in silence and watched.
Arched doorways sheltered the walkway, courtyard sheltered a painted statue of the Virgin with her Babe. They watched.

Tumacacori Interior Bricks

Interior © 2011 Bo Mackison

The yucca were here, the tepary beans trailed along the earth.
The nut tree saplings, freshly planted, they swayed in rhythm with the winds. They witnessed.

The che-che-cheee of the sparrows joined the voices raised in song –  of protest and praise, with humiliation and elation, in mourning and in gratitude.

In the Sun

In the Sun © 2011 Bo Mackison

I hear their voices, the choir lifting their voices in song.
Harmonizing
Chanting
The rising alleluias, the longing amens.

Their voices. Do you hear them?
Che-che-cheee-ing alleluias.
Siss-siss-siss, leaves dancing, twirling along the dusty path.

Hearts dancing, hold your gaze on the star hunter, poised, aiming his arrow at the full moon.
Hidden voices in the whistling winds.
Hidden eyes, watching from Tumacácori.

Listen. Watch. Hush.

S IS FOR SEEDS AND THE SEEDED EARTH.

Arizona - Leaf Shadows on Seed Pod

Leaf Shadows on Seed Pod © 2011 Bo Mackison

I love seeds, seed pods, seed heads, dried seeds.

I began taking macro-photographs of the many autumn seeds in a nearby prairie in early October, 2007, and really took my first prolonged look at a few of the millions of seeds covering the earth. At the time I thought of how the earth was a “seeded earth”.

Wabi Sabi Prairie

Wabi Sabi Prairie © 2011 Bo Mackison

“Simplicity is the core of wabi-sabi. Nothingness is the ultimate. But before and after nothingness, simplicity is not so simple.” Leonard Koren

Seeds and seed heads are two of my favorites to photograph. Seed heads are an example of the concept of wabi-sabi which focuses on the essence pared down, but not stripped of its poetry and emotional warmth. remains intact.

Wabi-sabi compels one to look at something, and then look again and again.

Milkweed Pod

Milkweed Pod © 2011 Bo Mackison

In autumn I always include a photo session with a milkweed pod in my “to shoot” list. Milkweed seeds are closely associated with my business name, Seeded Earth Studio.

When I choose the name for my first blog, a writing and photo sanctuary where I planned to feature a daily photograph of nature, the name “Seeded Earth Photography” came to mind.

When I began my business at the end of 2009, it was natural to name my fledgling company Seeded Earth Studio.

T IS FOR TANGLED.

Tangled

Tangled © 2011 Bo Mackison

There are days when this photograph accurately describes how I feel. All tangled in a pile of to-do lists and responsibilities and demands and deadlines. When that happens, I make an effort to get out of the studio, if only for an hour, and take photos. Occasionally, I look for photographs that symbolize how I feel.

This was definitely taken on an “all tangled up in details” day.

U IS FOR URBAN ART.

Bours House

Red Fence © 2011 Bo Mackison

This may not be what many people think of when asked what urban art is, but I love to look for the artistic designs that I see when I am exploring and photographing the architectural works of Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries. I love this red wrought iron fence, love its simplicity, love how it is combined with the plantings to make an artistic statement.

Side Entrance Detail on Bogk House, Frank Lloyd Wright architect

Geometric Trim on Door © 2011 Bo Mackison

It isn’t hard to find artistic touches on these Prairie Style homes. Windows are art glass. Planters, moldings, lighting, even the concrete edges of the eaves decorated with layered geometrics, are examples of urban art. I think it is one of the reasons I get so much pleasure from photographing architecture. It is the almost unseen details that I love to capture.

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Today’s post has been brought to you by the letters R, S, T and U.

Tomorrow’s post will be brought to you by V, W, X, Y and Z.

And yesterday’s post was brought to you by N, O, P and Q.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. The alphabet series will end with tomorrow’s post.

 

 

4th Annual Photographic Alphabet – IV

And now for a brief (non-commercial) message:

 Sending you wishes for a Happy New Year’s Day
and a perfectly matched 2012, filled with good health, inner joy and true contentment.

 Now we return to Bo’s photographic alphabet:

N IS FOR NATURE.

Poppy Composition

Poppy Composition © 2011 Bo Mackison

My year-end alphabet would not be complete if I did not include a few of the photographs which have become my photo identity and art festival favorites. I’ve worked a set of eight poppy photographs that I took in the garden of a Frank Lloyd Wright house in many ways.

In White

Composition In White © 2011 Bo Mackison

And I’ve learned much about the possibilities of Lightroom and Nik Software, programs I once thought I could never learn how to use. These new avenues of exploration brought my botanical photographs into places I only thought existed in my mind, in my vision.

"Sunset" Coneflowers

“Sunset” Coneflowers © 2011 Bo Mackison

So many wonders, so many possibilities!

O IS FOR ORDINARY OPPORTUNITIES AND OUT-OF-ORDINARY ONES.

Round Barn - Fromme-Birney Barn

Fromme-Birney Barn © 2011 Bo Mackison

On our drive from Tucson to Wisconsin this spring, we left the Interstate and took State Highway 54 through Kansas. It is hard to see much of anything while zooming along the interstates at 75 mph, squeezed between double semi trailers, and when I did see something of interest, it was never safe to pull on the side of the road or stop. But once we were on a two lane highway, I felt like we were traveling and seeing.

I love to shoot architectural subjects, so when we noticed a sign for “Historical Barn – 3 Miles”, we turned off the highway and headed into the countryside. Soon this amazing structure came into view.

Round Barn - Second Floor and Ceiling

Round Barn Ceiling © 2011 Bo Mackison

What a wonderful place to explore, and we had it all to ourselves. The Fromme-Birney barn was planned in 1912 by Henry W. Fromme. He hired William “Pat” Campbell to build a round barn to house his 28 draft horses and a special stall for the Percheron stallion that he imported from France.

Shortly after completion, the tractor replaced the horse and the barn became obsolete and eventually fell into disrepair. It was restored in the 1980s and then listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A good reminder to keep taking advantage of those experiences which sound quite ordinary. Never know what you’ll find a few miles off the hurried road.

P IS FOR PINNACLES.

Three Rocks

Three Rocks © 2011 Bo Mackison

Sometimes life takes me to the top of the highest pinnacle. The view is mighty fine, but I discover that climbing up was doable because I could only see where I was going, I did not look back to see the treacherous open space behind me. I concentrated on moving, not on falling.

But once I’ve taken in the view, I realize I must get off the top of this mountain.

But how?

The answer is in this quotation I copied into my quote book a few years ago:

Come to the edge,
He said.
They said:
We are afraid.
Come to the edge,
He said.
They came.
He pushed them,
And they flew.
~ Guillaume Apollinaire

Q IS FOR QUAIL CONDO.

Quail Condo

Quail Condo © 2011 Bo Mackison

Joseph Wood Krutch, who wrote the book The Desert Year in 1985, discovered the Sonoran Desert and its evocative beauty quite late in life. I discovered the book last February and couldn’t stop reading it. I copied several quotations into my journal that seemed to resonate deep within my soul.

“More rarely…one experiences something more like love at first sight. The desire to stay, to enter in, is not a whim or a notion but a passion.”

“Verweile doch, du bist so schön.” translated from German to “Linger yet, you are so beautiful.”

If I do not somehow possess this, if I never learn what it was that was being offered, I shall feel all my life that I have missed something intended for me. If I do not, for a time at least, live here I shall not have lived as fully as I had the capacity to live.” ~ Joseph Wood Krutch

Last March, on the very day that Sherpa and I were to return to the Midwest from the Tucson area, we saw an “open house” on a realtor’s sign. It was near the condo I had rented for two months, in an area I had fallen in love with. Impulsively we went in to see what we might see. That condo was too large and too costly, but the realtor offered to show us some smaller condos in the area.

Sherpa and I explored one of those condos with growing enthusiasm and with a great deal of growing doubt. How could we be serious about purchasing a place when we were getting in a car and driving 2,000 miles to our home in a few hours? After a few amazing, coincidental happenings, the pieces of the ‘property purchase puzzle’ fell neatly into place. We made an offer through the realtor, also a neighbor, and drove away.

Yes, we did buy the place. We agreed to the contract while we were driving in northeastern New Mexico, and finalized the deal by email and fax when we reached Wisconsin.

I’ll be flying to Arizona in a couple of weeks and I am thoroughly thrilled. Like the owners of state-sized ranches and fifty room mansions, Sherpa and I christened the tiny condo with its own name — Quail Condo! (Because when we were there in November, there were many Gambel’s quails strutting through the back arroyo every morning.)

As Krutch wrote, “…not a whim or a notion, but a passion.” Now I can take photos of the deserts and the surrounding area for an extended time and do art festivals in the winter and spring. So excited! A dream realized.

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Today’s post has been brought to you by the letters N, O, P and Q.

Tomorrow’s post will be brought to you by R, S, T and U.

And yesterday’s post was brought to you by K, L and M.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Posts brought to you by the letters of the alphabet through January 3rd — what would we do without alphabet letters!