BEADING AN HEIRLOOM

Not many people engage in work that is expected to last  one thousand years. My friend Sharon Sargent took up beading about twelve years ago. On this piece she spent two years, (not full-time) making Ruby, a wall hanging. Beads so small I had to get a magnifying glass to see them.

Sharon estimates that she could have done it in a year if she had devoted full-time to the piece. She has two daughters and will begin another similar wall hanging with a green color theme, in 2012.

The beads look huge through the camera lens. But, I could not see the individual beads with my naked eye.  A piece like this, glass beads woven so perfectly the wall hanging moves like a fine silk fabric;  a treat to behold and touch. Native Americans do marvelous bead work but nothing I’ve seen with beads this tiny. An amazing feat. I’ve visited museums all over the U.S and several in France, Spain, Portugal and Germany. The Louvre has at least one tapestry that I can remember, 900 years old,  made from cloth with fine metallic threads enhancing it.  Sharon’s bead work will easily, with care, last for a thousand years, most likely more. I am truly in awe.  Not surprising,  it took every prize in a recent exhibit.

Handwork is something I respect since I’m a quilter and rug maker. I’ve enjoyed the results of my projects, but I do not have the ability to stay with something as difficult as working such tiny beads. Now that I’m an avid RVer, I see Bert and Sharon, old friends, just once a year. Sharon and I were members of a stock club years ago and she was our bookkeeper. She was just as precise with the books as she is with her beading. Reminds me of that old adage, if your are going to do something, do it well. That’s Sharon.

STONEHENGE AT MARYHILL

Who would have thought a Stonehenge was located in Washington? Samuel Hill, the man who promoted and built the wonderful Highway 30, also built this replica of Stonehenge. Remember to keep the Sams straight. Samuel Lancaster was the architect and designer, it was his dream and vision for the many looped highway through the Columbia Gorge. It was his builder, Samuel Hill who performed the task. Hill was a pacifist Quaker; he saw Stonehenge in England where it was thought, at the time, to be a place of pagan ritual and human sacrifice. He remarked,"...the flower of humanity is still being sacrificed on the field of battle." He thereupon chose to build a replica of the "sacrificial altar" as a memorial to the soldiers from Klickitat County, WA. who died in WWI.

 It sits atop a windy hillside two miles from where he built a home, Maryhill, named for his daughter. Placed with beautiful views of the Columbia River, he owned over 5,000 acres for a Quaker agricultural colony he started. He never lived in the house and instead made it into a museum at the prodding of a famous actress/dancer  friend of his, Loie Fuller who is well represented at this fabulous museum. Wikipedia has a load of information about this dynamic man at the following link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Hill
While the museum is slightly remote, it attracts a great following and support.  Permanent collections and temporary exhibits, a yearly high tea with a hat and accessories auction, educational lectures, workshops and exhibits make this a must see for any art lover.  It is undergoing expansion because Maryhill is bursting at the seams.

One room is devoted to the furnishings of the Royal Palace of Romania. Queen Marie was a special friend of his and she helped found the museum and came for the grand opening. A replica of her crown is here, pictures and other grand treasures as well.

So perfect was this bronze sculpture of a young man that Rodin was accused of plastering the body of the live model. He was eventually exonerated.  One Eve sculpture, Rodin complained that he couldn’t get the stomach right, he kept having to change it every time the model posed. It turned out she was pregnant.

There is much here, glass…

ceramics,

a sculpture garden,

a huge collection of Indian artifacts of astounding quality. Beadwork,

exquisite basketry.
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It was so thorough, I believe every western Indian tribe was represented in this huge collection.  But for me, the real stars of Maryhill are those unusual things you see nowhere else.

Theatre La Mode, a collection of miniature French designer mannequins is staged against wire backdrops of famous Paris icons.

This display is from 1946 and the art and craft of building them is no longer done.
T
he faces are made of wax and hair is made from real hair, string and other fibers.
A second collection, chess pieces and boards, was unusual. It’s common to find a chess or game board in a painting or a set belonging to some famous person. Here are multiple sets of unusual variety.
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An unusual contemporary set of pieces unlike anything I’ve ever seen.
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If chess is your game, don’t miss a collection such as this one with over 30 different sets.  I took way too many pictures. I’ll organize them in segments for later blogs.  Maryhill-such a find!

CRAFTSMANSHIP

 Our good fortune to move about the country and graze through places you've never heard of  puts us in direct contact with some amazing craftsmanship. The ceiling decoration above is from Nottoway Plantation.

Exquisite beading turns these squaw belts into museum pieces. Western Heritage Museum, Colorado.

  A stained glass window from Thomas Edison's house.

 I noticed these bathroom sinks in a restaurant in Las Palomas, Mexico.

 A floor tile from a church in St. Martinsville, LA.

 A headstone from the West Point Cemetery, NY.

  A door pull from the Louisiana State Capitol Building.

  Home baked goods on sale from the Independence Hall Quilters Show, Arnold, CA.  A show that is coming up this month the weekend of the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th at Kautz Vineyard.
People do look at you a bit strangely when you take pictures of some obviously common objects like doorknobs and floor tiles. If someone notices I just mumble, "blogger"... and kind of quietly go about my business. The truth is, I don't do it for the blog, I do it because I see beauty in almost every raindrop and I hope that collecting pictures of them, besides giving me pleasure, honors craftsman who make beautiful the everyday object.