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Saturday, July 5, 2014

quickie in NYC

Last week events in my life collided in a big way. My mother was taken to the hospital a few days before I was to go to New York, to see Kate McKinnon speak. Those of you who have followed my blog know that Kate McKinnon is my guiding muse, the style of beadwork she and her team of dedicated bead weavers have pioneered the style of weaving i aspire too. I had really wanted to go to New York to hear her speak and to meet her, and I got the chance to do just that when the New York Beading Society sponsored a talk by her at The Fashion Institute of Technology.
I arrived late for the talk, New York always overwhelms me. But I was in time to hear her inspiring words as she described how the new designs were discovered and found, in nature as perfect triangles, in our hands as we find the new shapes and colors, in our minds as we push forward into new territory. A new frontier in beads, who could have foreseen it. Most encouraging to me was hearing that even she makes mistakes. Many mistakes.
Last, as a treat, we got to have our pictures taken with Kyle?. I got up and grabbed the boldest piece I could find, a full neck wrap in black and white with memory wire and had a picture taken. I talked a bit with Kate, who graciously remembered me and gave me a copy of her book, to give away when I got my brand new copies that I had already bought.
Back home, my tiny mother deteriorated in Mt Auburn Hospital. Brought there for a fall, when I finally got her released she was in diapers and bedridden. Her deterioration has been so fast we are all in shock. No one else will change her diapers but me. Only  feed her. There is a family meeting scheduled for Sunday. What can we do. She is so helpless

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Kate McKinnon is a favorite artist of mine, too. I have also been following along as her books come out. Wish I could have made the NYC talk, you are fortunate to have been able to do so.