She Bodes No Fools: Gaza

020525 Gaza

Needlepoint canvas of a house and yard with trees and flowers and a geranium in the window that I embroidered with wool; circa 1970s. I like the grid of printed colored squares on the side of the canvas that shows all the color shades used in the design — a map of sorts.

 

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She Bodes No Fools: USAID

020325 USAID

The colorful motifs are taken from a wooden candleholder (that artist’s signature is in bottom left corner), painted in the traditional folk art style (“Petrykivka”; featuring flower patterns and natural elements), that a dear one brought back from Ukraine.

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She Bodes No Fools: Chamonix Cap

012625 Her with Hat 1

I knit a striped “Chamonix Cap” to try and quiet the “orchestra of madness” (to quote a dear one’s recent lament) swirling in my head. The cap is warm and jaunty; it was fun to knit the German short rows that shape the crown. Pattern Design by toqu.tigu for Purl Soho.

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She Bodes No Fools: Inauguration Day 2025

012025 Inauguration

“…We are not going back to the Dark Ages. We are not going to let anybody in this country have that kind of power over any girl or woman. There are great powers, outside the government and in it, trying to legislate the return of darkness. We are not great powers. But we are the light. Nobody can put us out. May all of you shine very bright and steady, today and always.” [What It Was Like by Ursula K. Le Guin] 

[A remix of my January 19, 2021 drawing of “Armored Freedom” from a detail of the 1865 Constantino Brumidi fresco painting on the ceiling of The Capital Rotunda.] 

January 20, 2025 (re-mixing Quarantine Still Life 69)


Deconstructing Bowie ... and the Fabrics in my Flight Suit

Deconstructing bowie flightsuit jerseymurmurs

Selecting fabrics is one of the best parts of sewing your own clothes. For inspiration for my flight suit fabric, I googled David Bowie wearing jumpsuits — and found an array of shapes in bold prints and colors. I used the Blanca Flight Suit pattern by Closet Core Patterns. I went looking for a colorful print with some red in it as his outfits often had a crimson theme, but couldn’t find exactly what I wanted in the right weight. I liked the swirls and graphic quality of this linen fabric (“Midnight Garden” designed by Jilly P for Dashwood Studio — a UK design house!); it reminds me of Bowie’s iconic “Tokyo Pop” Aladdin Sane bodysuit designed by Kansai Yamamoto. The light blue floral London Calling (!) fabric in the back pocket square is also used as a lining for the front pockets and under-collar. A fancy piece of red fabric was perfect for a contrasting front pocket square (mixing patterns makes colors and shapes pop). A sturdy black and white jacquard leftover from another project for the contrasting tie belt. I would have used a brighter thread color for all the top stitching, but my top-stitching skills are not always the best…
 
My Flight Suit is on display at the National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, part of the “Deconstructing Bowie: Freedom in Eccentricity” exhibit and the Fifth Annual Philly Loves Bowie Week, continuing through April 3, 2022. "...David Bowie found personal freedom in his unique forms of cultural expression. Through music, art, and fashion, Bowie disrupted and rebelled against societal expectations and norms, introducing new and more critical ways of thinking about race, sex, and gender. This exhibition celebrates David Bowie’s legacy in the creative freedom he inspired in generations of artists that have followed in his wake, artists who have continued to push boundaries and inspire others to do the same."
 
Deconstructing bowie flightsuit jerseymurmurs 2
 

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Flight Suits are modular tapestries...

Boogie flight suit jerseymurmurs

“Flight suits are modular tapestries, their surfaces are designed to be decorated, but work just as well left blank.“ 

“Throughout the 1960s, 70s, and 80s flight suits were found and worn by speed freaks, by artists, by gender non-conformists, by techno-dreamers, by punks, by travelers, by children who wanted to fly...”  [Quotes are from “Flight Suits Take Off” by Maxwell Neely-Cohen] ️

My modular, tapestry-like Flight Suit is on display at the National Liberty Museum at 321 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia until April 3rd 2022, part of the “Deconstructing Bowie” exhibit that celebrates “the timeless power of music and art to challenge cultural expectations and drive both personal and societal change”.


Boogie Flight Suit in "Deconstructing Bowie" Exhibit

Boogie Flight Suit 1 jerseymurmurs

Thrilled that my “Boogie Flight Suit” is part of the “Deconstructing Bowie: Freedom in Eccentricity” exhibit at Philadelphia’s National Liberty Museum that celebrates David Bowie’s “timeless power to challenge cultural norms and inspire others to share their unique creative voice.” (Vexed that omicron means I can’t see it in person yet.)

David Bowie showed me that you can reinvent yourself. And, in fact, as we age, a key to surviving and thriving is to be able to reinvent ourselves – as many times as necessary. One way that I reinvent is by making my own clothes. There is something so satisfying and liberating about selecting a flat piece of fabric and cutting and sewing it to make it fit the body – it’s part art and part science. And when you’re finished constructing, what you have is something unique and different. A garment that even a year ago you might never have considered wearing. Who wants to play the same role all the time? (Bowie didn’t.)

Consider the Flight Suit (also known as a “boiler-suit”) a garment that Bowie explored. It is gender neutral. It is not a sexualized garment. It is functional and allows freedom of movement. It can be rendered in many different types of fabrics – denim, linen, silk. It is purposeful. It is customizable – a collar can be turned up; sleeves can be long or short; it can be belted or not. It can go punk, funk, or high-fashion. A perfect garment for re-invention.

I used the Blanca Flight Suit sewing pattern by Closet Core Patterns and a linen fabric from Stylemaker Fabrics of “dancing, changing waves” for my let-the-children-Boogie Flight Suit.

Boogie Flight Suit NLM jerseymurmurs

The Boogie Flight Suit -- behind and to the right of this crazy cool keyboard -- and lots of other interesting David Bowie-influenced artwork is on view in the "Deconstructing Bowie" exhibit at the National Liberty Museum at 321 Chestnut St. in Philadelphia from January 7, 2022 until April 3, 2022.


Folk Art Frankie Dolls

Frankie Doll 1 jerseymurmurs

For many years my mother made what she called “soft sculpture” dolls. The bodies were cut from muslin using a pattern she had purchased over 40 years ago (“Gingersnap Friends” by DreamSpinners; see the last photo, below). She embroidered the faces, added yarn hair and other details, and sewed clothes for them — often using recycled fabrics. She made these unique and personal dolls for family and friends (mine, made when I moved into an apartment with no roommates, is shown below; she dubbed the winking doll “NTR” — the No Trouble Roommate). Recently my brother asked her to make dolls for his granddaughters, but because of her illness it was too much for her. I took it over and — due to time constraints — attempted to simplify their construction. I figured if I used colorful, printed fabric then the dolls were already “dressed”, saving me some work. Once I found the vibrant colors and patterns of Bright Eyes fabric by @annamariahorner I decided they didn’t need hair or faces either. And they really came alive when I added embroidery details to their knees, elbows, and heads.
 
My mother was delighted with the colorful dolls and she helped me stuff them (when we were finished, she said “I mean how can a kid look at that and not smile?”). I told her that hers were “Fine Art” and mine were “Folk Art”! Her mother fondly called her “Frankie” so we christened our soft sculptures “Frankie Dolls”.

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Quarantine Still Life 79

Photo Mar 29  10 37 14 PM

Drawing has been my superpower this past year; creating a visual diary of an ... unusual ... year while warding off fear and tension and anxiety. The healing power of art.

This sketch takes me right back to a cold Sunday evening last December, gathered outdoors in a pandemic "living room". Basking in the glow of a propane heater and a Philadelphia Eagles football game and once again hearing the familiar voices and laughter, the delightful familial boisterousness. Sitting in that enveloping darkness with my glass of wine, crying tears of sorrow and joy...


Quarantine Still Life 78

Photo Apr 04  11 43 41 AM

A second quarantined Easter. No shared family brunch or dinner. No readings and cake and brandy together. Instead a quiet, contemplative day to feel the sunshine and listen to the birds sing and watch the wind rustle the prayer flags.

After the pandemic, in addition to returning to a world of shared celebrations, we are also "returning to a world of hatred, cruelty, division and a thirst for power that was never quarantined. ... As we leave the tombs of quarantine, a return to normal would be a disaster unless we recognize that we are going back to a world desperately in need of healing. ... The work that Jesus left his followers to do includes showing compassion and forgiveness and contending for a just society. It involves the ever-present offer for all to begin again." [Esau McCaully writing in the NYTimes]


Quarantine Still Life 77

Photo Mar 27  10 50 13 PM

Rice Pudding. I never used to like it, but now I can't stop eating it, especially when made with a fresh brown egg from E's chickens. My dad declared it the best he'd had since he was a kid. Meanwhile, spring has sprung seemingly overnight and this little one sits and draws and visits bookstores and sings of the "diamond in the sky" and that little one plays the harmonica and names his relatives and rides on the back of a bicycle and the kiddlywink twins rattle tambourines and roll themselves around, already speaking their own secret language. And E's chickens continue to squawk and strut and lay their eggs and life starts over again...

Photo Mar 27  11 33 23 PM


Quarantine Still Life 76

Photo Mar 25  5 00 48 PM

I pluck a book off the shelf and find this quote that seems to describe my quarantine sill life drawings: "Art is a way of preserving experiences, of which they are many transient and beautiful examples, and that we need help containing." [from the book "Art as Therapy"] 

A week with two horrific mass shootings leaves me feeling as wilted as the tulips. And elected officials who want to preserve and enhance gun rights but seek to remove and restrict voting rights? In what democracy does that make sense? 

I saw this on Twitter: Musicians in recording sessions say, "A microphone is the opposite of a gun; you point it at the thing you want to live forever."


Quarantine Still Life 75

Photo Mar 14  12 04 59 AM

This is a happy and relaxed moment I want to freeze for my mother and father: her posing for his photo in front of the “Maja” sculpture on a bright, wintry Sunday afternoon in 1973 on the East Terrace of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, overlooking the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. “Maja” is by the German Bauhaus artist #GerhardMarcks and was first exhibited in Philadelphia in 1949. I recognized her in a recent newspaper story and was reminded of this long-ago visit. The statue was removed from the terrace in the 1990s and recently restored to the new “Maja Park” at 22nd Street. Until a year ago when her illness and Covid hit, my 94 year old mother was still regularly going to the Art museum with her dear friends. 


Quarantine Still Life 74

Photo Mar 07  12 13 24 AM

In the “before-times” I made chili for family get-togethers, not only doubling the recipe, but often adding in extra cans of beans and diced tomatoes and making rice, stretching it to feed a crowd. With no occasions to make my chili during the “quarantine-times”, I had a craving for it. My go-to recipe from @wednesdaychef uses beer (and coffee and chocolate!). I made a not-doubled pot using a bottle of @yardsbrew Philadelphia Pale Ale and we enjoyed it so much I made it again the following week with an Irish Golden Ale by @sullivansbrewco_ that simmered for hours on a cold and rainy Sunday afternoon. I pickled thinly sliced onions and cabbage in the juice from a jar of @woswit bread-&-butter pickles and dropped them in the center of my bowl of chili — the perfect accompaniment.