On the Road to New England

Occasionally I leave my studio and go on a trip to show work or to teach.

After a number of emails with the workshop coordinator of Bead Designer International/Bead Society of New England, we were ready with a clear curriculum, manuals to be printed, bead kits to prepare and bags to be packed, supplies to be ordered and shipped to the workshop location and most importantly students signed up. In the meantime I had forgotten about Spring Break, taking time away from work, so of course I scrambled to prepare all the bead and pre-cut thread kits. Then I was off in the plane with 90 pounds of supplies and 8 pounds of personal stuff and a heavy carry-on. 5 boxes had already been shipped from various locations.

The trip to New England went amazingly well. The lecture about my personal journey as an artist went well, I believe. Public speaking used to make me very nervous. But several years ago, I decided that speaking about my work should be easy as no one else knew the subject better than I. Yoga centering and grounding techniques have been a great help as well...

A side trip by train took me to Portland, Maine, just in time for a last Spring snow fall. Downtown was deserted as everyone there was so sick of snow, but I had a great time waking around until my return back to the Boston area.

Back in the Boston area, the BDI coordinator took me on a short visit of Concord, MA. We spent some time walking around the Concord Greens with the Old North Bridge and the Minute Man sculpture memorialized by Emerson's words 'the shot heard around the world'. As a fairly new citizen of this land, I got touched by being there at the very spot were the revolution began more than 200 years ago. As we were ready to leave, after being the only visitors during our visit so far, a Minute Man in full regalia materialized for us (his umbrella gave him away).


We went to warm up at the Concord Library. What a spot, a jewel. It is about 200 years old, a grand place to spent time, and still a public library. If I lived in this area I would hang there... As we walked around: a young kid was sitting in an alcove in the stairs reading Star Wars, what a contrast!

Then out for diner at the old Colonial Inn, and the Minute Man was already sitting at the next table...

In the meantime, I understand better the colors of New England in winter or early spring. The land is buff, the tree truck gray bare of leaves, with a few dark green pine here and there. The sky is either grey or a gorgeous blue when the skies are clear. The shadows are completely different than the shadows in California or Europe... Back in California, the land is quite green right now in early spring, whereas it will be buff in summer when all the grasses dry off, and the shadows have a hint of purple here. The earth is really a beautiful precious jewel.