A New Horse, A New Art Quilting Workshop

Two weeks ago, Abby and I were surprised to see a horse trailer coming down the driveway. It seems that our neighbor, Contessa, had rescued a horse from a bad fate. She bought the horse at auction and had it delivered to her cow pasture, where it now resides in its own paddock. The horse is part standard-bred, part draft horse and two years old. Abby is helping Contessa care for the horse. I turn the horse out in the morning, and Abby feeds the horse in the afternoon and brings her in at night. Meanwhile, the cows have grown larger and the calves are due very soon.

Abby has been riding Dama, the icelandic pony over in South Melville. Dama is very cute and has a gait called a "tolt." It looks like the horse is scooting along. The tolt is a kind of running walk that icelandic ponies are known for. Abby is used to well-schooled horses that are trained to respond to American signals. She and Bonni, Dama's owner, are still trying to figure out what signals Dama recognizes. It is clear that however she had been trained in Iceland, it was nothing like the way horses are trained here! When Dama finally gets moving, it is a beautiful thing, but until she gets the idea, it is slow going.

I will be teaching an art quilting workshop at the Clyde River Community Center to the local seniors. The workshop will take place over twelve weeks, alternating with a watercolor workshop taught by another artist. I will be teaching surface design (painting on fabric, printing on fabric, photo transfer, etc.) I will also teach design, composition and color theory. People here are very familiar with traditional quilting, and contemporary quilting is a stretch. I think it will be fun for everyone to learn to "paint a picture with fabric." Clyde River is a very small community, but there are at least three working artists here; myself, Julia Purcell the watercolorist, and Paragon Glass Studios. I see a small arts community growing up here!