Almost nightly, for about a month starting at the end of June, three juvenile barred owls made their presence known, perched on low branches around our house, making their distinct screeching / whistle-like call to each other and their parents somewhere in the nearby woods. We watched them from the second story windows in the trees, and we stood in awe in the twilight as they bobbed their heads and called out into the darkening night, sometimes just ten or fifteen feet or so from us. Each night we waited for their return, and night after night we marveled at their beauty. Summer visitors to our upstate house got to see them, too! As the weeks progressed we witnessed their first practices of swooping from one branch to another tree a short distance away, and next, hunting practices with more precision, flights to the ground and back up again with greater distances achieved. It was an honor to witness the wild beauty of the land so manifested in the presence of these great winged beings.
It was a summer of great art opportunities for me, that kept me anchored to the studio sewing away, trying to balance time for home and time together, with important deadlines finding me just a little more behind than I’d hoped, while creating work I am super proud of creating. This summer, after several years dreaming of creating affordable, one of a kind art fashion, I launched my first small collection of pieces at the Upstate Art Weekend. At the start of August, after four wonderful months at the Museum of Arts and Design, the 2021 Met Gala garment I designed for Jordan Roth finished its special installation. I got invited back to the Dressed podcast to help them celebrate their 500th episode!
It was summer in which we got back to Provincetown after a year off, and stayed high up on Wellfleet dune bungalow on Lieutenant’s Island, a peninsula not accessible at high tide when the road is under water. One day we traveled to the beach where the seals gather as the sand dunes reappear out from the shore at low tide, and the sleek dark forms of the seals make their way along the shallow waters, gathering in small groups at the early arrival time. Later, there will be the noisy (and smelly) jostling on the reclaimed land, protected by the waters still between us and them, as we watched through the binoculars as their distinct, expressive faces peered at us from the gentle waves. The ocean washed over their sleek bodies as they all started to stage their spots on the emerging sands, and from all directions more seals swam towards the gathering.
It was a summer that brought dramatic changes to the election barreling towards us all. Upstate, the towering sunflowers have not yet bloomed, and last year’s climbing white roses are finally reaching across the porch columns to start the bower we’d envisioned. Tomorrow I start the first school day of my 35th academic year, my 7th since I returned back to Brooklyn as Head of Arts and the campuses of my very first teaching years. I’m evening out my chapters of experience – 17 total at my current school with the earlier ten from the 90’s added, and sandwiching the 18 years at the school in Baltimore. I’ve been a senior admin now for the last 15 years between the two schools. To paraphrase that Alice in Wonderland meme that sometimes resurfaces: “I’ve seen some things.”
On Wednesday, the actual first day of classes, I will install sculpture and 2D work at the VOLTA NYC art fair with The CAMP Gallery! Grateful for the all the opportunities and especially for the delight of this summer of the owls. With care ~ Sylvan
threadsofapatientspider 