Thursday June by Calandra Cooper

Arts and culture make considerable and necessary contributions to the well-being of communities.

T H U R S D AY J U N E MEET IN PERSON

November 2019

The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before.

Volume 1 Issue 1

“Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience.” Masaru Ibuka Experience while you’re alive and Live until you die. thursdayjune.com

We’re shaped by our individual life experiences.

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Thursday June PO Box 111336, Omaha, NE. 68111 submissions@thursdayjune.com Publisher/Editor: Calandra Cooper

A RETROSPECTIVE ON POINT OF VIEW C.D. COOPER PUBLISHER/EDITOR

Photos by Calandra Cooper, unless otherwise noted.

Women’s Voices at the Council, an acrylic on canvas, is by far, my favorite piece at the “Hearts of Our People” retrospective, an exhibition organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

How to grow a violin Prepare a wooden mould in the shape of a violin box. Place a small gourd inside of the violin box. By the end of the growing season the gourd will have grown, filling the mould. Remove the mould.. ereka! A gourd shaped like a violin.

Part of Joan Hill’s series depicting generational Native women and the power they hold to decide war and peace. Women’s Voices at the Council, is as beautiful as it is powerful and empowering.

Inigo Arts held a series of gourd painting classes. Participants cleaned, prepared and decorated gourds after a luffa sponge making demonstration. “It’s gratifying that so many people are realizing what a thing of natural beauty and a joy forever can be made of a gourd.” -Calandra Cooper, owner, Inigo Arts.

Painted in muted neutral tones, the women, including a young barefoot child of innocence, stand huddled together; clad with solemn, but not unhappy faces, reflecting on the importance of the decision to be made-war or peace. Confident that a right decision and successful outcome are assured, evidenced by turtle shells adoring their necks and legs, the women are stoic and unified; even with the possibility of war luminating red within the whiteness of the peace all around them and the tribe. Historically overlooked, women have long been the creative force behind Native art; even though their later in Washington, D.C. or Tulsa, OK in 2020. cultural contributions are significant. This exhibition, the first of its kind, is devoted exclu- Hill,1930, is of Muskogee Creek and Cherokee. sively to Native women artist from the United States and Canada and includes over 100 pieces consistening of blankets, buffalo skins, beaded works, pottery, jewelry and other items, including a black El Camino. I enjoyed the exhibit in Minneapolis. I hope you’re able to see the showing, currently in Nashville, or

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CARA ROMERO

inigoarts.com/classes Kaa, 2017, a gorgeous photograph by Cara Romero (Chemehuevi) of her model, Kaa, who comes from a notable pottery family in Santa Clara. Ancestral Pueblo clay designs are overlaid on the nude form and shows how the spirit of the clay is passed down thousands of years. Everything is tradition.

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THE HEART OF OUR PEOPLE

Ornamental art owes its origins to our deeply rooted desire to use nature when ‘making’ by hand. This is one of the reasons gourds are such a thing of beauty. A natural plant, as beautiful as it is useful, we craft into something more. Something we’re able to change into something more beautiful and intricate by using our hands. Gourds, close relatives of the cucumber, squash and the pumpkin, also referred to as calabash, were once a commonplace tool in southern farmhouses of North America. It was often a gourd dipper from which you drew your well water to quench your thrist. Or a gourd vessel that carried milk or stored dry goods. No forks? No spoons? Use a gourd. Not limited to kitchen utilitarian items, tinsmiths and shoemakers kept their tools in gourd chests. Field hands carried water in large gourd buckets. Gourds also served practical purposes. Southern farmers erected poles in the center of their chicken yards, equipped with birdhouses made of gourds in which Martins, bitter enemies of hawks, could live in. Martins served as protectors of the poultry because they were protectors of their homes. In Africa, resonant drums are made by hollowing out large dried gourds and stretching prepared kid’s skin across the hollow. An xylophone-type instrument was made by using hollowed out bowledshaped gourds-smallest to the largest; then using padded sticks or the hands to resonate sound. Fascinatingly enough, gourds can be manipulated during their growth cycle and made into other intricate items. With gourds, you’re only limited by your imagination.

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Please Be Social Kaa Folwell “Clay Woman” Tewa mother spirit of clay.

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A THOUSAND DIFFERENT WAYS

-Calandra “Callie” Cooper

Community Art News and suggestions GREATLY WELCOME

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Much of my creative and artistic inclinations stem from experiences growing up in Omaha. I “discovered” art in the 1970s, without even knowing it. It was simply something I did. That ‘thing’, including reading and writing. I was lucky enough to have a family (that included teachers), outstanding public school teachers and community artists and influencers that took me under their wings and indulged me. Summer programming at community centers and museums included paper weaving, painting, wire sculpting, doll making, macrame and more. In school, I could read imagination-opening books, then write my own stories. There was no “Harry Potter,”but there were the “The Chronicles of Narnia”, which I greatly enjoyed due to my 6th-grade teacher at Jackson Elementary, Mr. Rodgers. After recess, usually an exhilarating game of kick soccer, of which I was the class star, Mr. Rodgers read books aloud to the class. Listening to the stories was better than the soccer games we LOVED. In fact, there were times we’d opt-out of recess in favor of listening to Mr. Rodgers read aloud in dramatic fashion. Each character in a unique voice. I’m sure I was in Narnia a couple of times and at sea on the Dawn Treader. Because I was often selected to read to kindergarteners, I tried very hard to mimic Mr. Rodgers techniques. On occassion, in the 5th grade, the class would get punished for something we’d collectively done. The punishment-writing a single sentence over and over. Something like 200 or more times. Of course, this was like a judge handing down a 50-year prison sentence. No chance of parole or pardon. Sentence writing and no recess. I mean come on, cramped fingers and paper fuzzies embedded on the side of your hand from all of the writing was kinda ‘not cool’. Some of us, would cry, literally. Not me, I looked at it as time to perfect my handwriting. Afterall, we were taking penmanship lessons regularly in class. Today, I’m often complimented on my natural handwriting. Thank you, Mrs. Milliner and to the calligraphy and typograhy teachers I subsequently took in junior high, high school and college. The Girls’ Club, another place to indulge, always had something going on, including screen printing and cooking. I also learned how to plan and organize events, including a fashion show. Not exactly, anything to rival anything you might find at a Fashion Week, but hey, collectively, we did it. Once some of the older neighborhood boys learned how to make floating lanterns in school. In turn, they showed the rest of us how to make them using coat hangers, newspapers and matches. Yep, this was before it was obvious kids shouldn’t play with matches. We also made sleds using flattened milk cartons to ride down hills of dry patches of grass, snow and cement. Yep, there were friction burns. Growing pains. We didn’t care. When I got older, my first job was making stilts. When you’re opened up to art, new experiences and to doing you become creative, get addicted and want to pass it on. Before you know it, it’s just part of your life. It’s those “things” you do because it comes naturally and because you enjoy doing them. As editor of the “Thursday June”, I’ll write often about my life experiences, because those experiences shape who I am, demonstrate my passion for creating and explain why I enjoy passing art and creation on to others.

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COLLECTING:

If I think about it, I began collecting sewing patterns after discovering a handful of them in an aunties rusty old sewing box also filled with needles, thread and other knick knacks-not necessarily related to sewing. My grandmother had a sewing tin also. But, the most exciting thing in her box was buttons on cards. Back in the day, going to TG & Y in Louisiana (Or Brandeis in Omaha) was a treat because I got hair ribbons for church and got to enjoy flipping through sewing pattern counter books because of all of the pretty ladies dressed in nice clothing within the pages. Later I’d use the free pattern leaflets to make paper dolls at home.

Woven blanket from the Hearts of Our People: Native Women Artists at Minneapolis Institute of Art Minneapolis, MN. The exhibition was a tribute to all Native women artists, families and nations throughout all time a space. Why do Native women make art? Answer: Legacy, Relationships and Power.

I probably stopped playing with paper dolls around 14, after my sister called me a paper doll “freak”. She was right. So I began collecting patterns and magazines to sketch illustrations and photographs from pattern envelopes and magazine pages instead. Today, I’ve amassed a collection, conservatively, of over four thousand. You might call it hording. I call it a beloved obsession. I would have more had I not discovered they sold like baseball cards on the Internet...for a pretty penny. Sewing patterns deserve a place in American cultural history for a number of reasons.

BEGINNNING TAPESTRY When learning to weaving, making a sampler is priority. Why? By completing a sampler you’ll learn a variety of techniques and get an opportunity to see and feel what different textures look like in tapestry and the effects you can get. Samplers are valuable references for future work and make beautiful wall hangings.

In 1963, American women spent a record $1-billion on fabric, sewing patterns, sewing machines, notions and thread. And even though the sewing industry took a downturn in 1972, according to the New York Times, in 1976 the sewing paper pattern business alone accounted for $200-million in sales of a what was still a $3.5-billion overall industry of which 75% was attributed to fabric sales. Regardless of the numbers, the sewing pat-

VINTAGE SEWING PATTERNS tern manufacturing business was tough for involved retailers. As a printing business, pattern manufacturing involved heavy startup costs that could only be recouped, in part, by the advertising and selling of sewing patterns through access to mass channels of distribution, such as retail fabric stores, fabric departments of department and chain stores and newspaper columns and advertisements of franchised and specialized sewing patterns companies. Patterns were also pushed through magazines such as Vogue and Simplicity Pattern Books. For manufacturers to get off the enormous stocks of paper patterns they printed manufacturers required retailers to signed contracts agreeing to maintain set amounts of pattern inventory. This meant retailers were forced to restock as soon as stock of a size or style sold out. Unsold stock could only be returned for credit four times per year and only if the pattern was on the manufacturer’s discard list.

were not returnable, in addition to stopping buyers from using and then returning the patterns. None the less, the pattern manufacturers and related magazine industries of yesteryear opened doors for women in publishing and fashion. For example, Jane Evans, president of Butterick, known to contract major designers for the pattern line, including designers of Paris haute couture—Chloe and Sonia Rykiel. And American newcomer, Ralph Lauren. Evans believed pattern manufacturers should work in tandem with fabric retailers to bring consumers back into the store in declining markets.

VINTAGE SEWING PATTERN HISTORY In 1965, a Halston hat design became available for the first- time through Vogue patterns. A silk turban, by Halston of Bergdorf Goodman.

In addition, retailers couldn’t reduce their contractual levels, vary the mix of sizes or run a sale to clear out the slower selling styles or discount the manufacturer’s list price.

Issued through Vogue Pattern Book for $1.00, this marked the first-time the Fifth Avenue specialty store permitted its designers to work outside its confines.

All in addition, to paying exhorbent amounts to get in on the pattern selling game in the first. Without sewing patterns to entice buyers it was difficult, if not impossible, for retailers to sell fabric to consumers. And that’s where the real money existed.

RISE & ART

Get in some early morning art, a cup of coffee or tea and a sweet treat at the start your morning! November: Chalk Pastels-Still Life

Retailers were between a rock and a hard spot. This is one of the reasons sewing patterns

Con’t on page 3 vintage sewing patterns

WEAVING A NAVAJO BLANKET Showing

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In elementary school, I remember learning about native Americans and pioneers living on the Nebraska plains. Once a group of native Americans visited my classroom at Jackson Elementary. The visit was part of an expansion on learning. Prior to the visit our regular art teacher, over a series of weeks, taught us how to make miniature sod houses (from mud, clay and grass), pioneer log cabins (from small branches and twigs we notched together) and buffalo skin rugs (from brown paper grocer bags shaped and rubbed together to mimic skin; complete with burned edges). Our guests discussed their culture, history and helped us paint designs on our buffalo skin rugs. As a finale, we received homemade fry bread, a dance performance and they showed us beautiful handmade blankets. I never forgot the experience. Last year, when I first acquired a number of different types of looms, I began delving deeper into OLD books related to the art of weaving. Searching for something forgotten and, of course, something no one else was either aware of or doing at the present. I’m learning there are more than a few ways to weave, quite a number of different types of looms, including peg looms, and that artists develop their own style over time. Weaving opens up a plethora of opportunities to be unique. Written in 1974 by Gladys Amanda Reichard, “Weaving a Navajo Blanket,” recants the author’s first-hand experiences of learning to weave at the hands of women of the Red Point family, fondly referred to by the author as her grandmothers and sisters. The Navajo word for “teach” is to “show”. Reichard wrote: “At first I had to learn a dozen things at once, for tapestry weaving is a matter of coordination. My instructors laughed at my awkwardness, sympathized with my injuries, corrected my mistakes and criticized my results”.

Beginners welcome! Drawing and sketching isn’t about copying others or making exact copies. It’s about doing you! Relax. Do you. Work up your own rendition. That’s the only way creativity can exist.

According to the author, Navajo women are proud when their daughters start to weave (usually young) and encourage them by giving them good yarn and by “showing” them how to go about the task of weaving. Ususally the children make their own looms instead of working on those of their mothers. In the spirit of showing, sharing and passing down information, I’m sharing a Navajo weaving pattern taken from the book. Try it on your own. The pattern and instructions below “show” you how to go about your task. The pattern is titled, “It is woven”. Directions: Using two colors and with the warp strung in usual fashion for weft weave. Using one color weave under and over in one direction with the first color. This constitutes a 1/2 pass. Come back in the other direction using the second color in an over under weaving pattern. This constitutes a full pass. Continue in this manner until the weaving is complete (to your liking). The result is a simple plaid formed by alternating between the two colors.

“To draw-you must close your eyes and sing.” Self-taught artist, Pablo Picasso

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CHRISTIAN DIOR

Toiles: Careful works of art in progress The Dior Retrospective, “Dior: From Paris to the World,” in Denver, Colardo at the Denver Art Museum, last December, was awesome. A visual treat. Most came to see the beautiful dresses made by Christian Dior. They were there, for all to see, hundreds of pieces: dresses, gowns, illustrations, letters jewelry. But, I came to see the workboards of haute couture, the toiles. Also known as, muslins. Even though none of the toiles on display were made by Christian himself, I wasn’t disappointed because there were plenty on display by John Galliano. During my vintage dressmaking workshops at Inigo, I speak extensively about toiles, how they’re used, their purpose and their importance to hand sewing and couture. We also workup garments in muslin; not in final fashion fabric. The toiles on display in Denver during the retrospective were pampered versions; most likely not the first muslins of the workups, but still beautiful actual examples of the artist’s visions on what was coming later during the making of the garment in its final fashion fabric, a haute couture masterpiece.

Galliano muslins with pins, markings and thread-tracing at the Dior: From Paris to the World” exhibition at the Denver Art Museum in December 2018.

Beautiful workmanship by Cheri Vossberg during a gourd paining workshop. Lovin’ the color combination! FRESH EGGS

Hidden Roots

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WHO GIVES A SCRAP, a creative reuse store, Fort Collins, Colorado Talk about creative niche, this little store was a treasure to find during a thrifting excursion in Fort Collins. Even though we “ran” across the stuffed store, they’re apparently a welcomed big deal in the area. The store pretty much has one main purpose: zero-waste; diverting as much as possible from landfills.

NOVEMBER 2019

For a commission covering overhead, local artist are encouraged to bring in their art for in-store display. Classes and workshops are also hosted in the store-classes generally center around large donations of items received or seasonal projects.

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Etiquette Matters!

Who Gives a Scrap accepts donations of fabric, used We charged into the store, now re-energized at the books, craft wood, sewing patters, art supplies, gift possibilities of what we’d find inside. There was plen- wrap, buttons, party and office supplies and a variety ty. Used and lightly-used art supplies, art books, paints of other items. and more.

don’t be the “one in the woodpile” Stay home instead

Con’t vintage sewing patterns Before celebrities were icons and cultural phenoms, Vogue magazine filled its pages with designer sewng patterns, fabric and textile ads and features to encourage sewing and the purchase of fabric and notions. Sales for the magazine increased. Fashion illustration has hot. In 1971, Nancy White, long-time editor of Harper’s Bazaar, introduced patterns and home sewing as regular subjects in the August issue alongside financial advice for women, with such titles as, “Are you in Your Husband’s Will?” Simplicity president, Mary Joan Glynn once said, “The necessity to sew doesn’t make people sew. It’s the interest, the creativity, the excitement. The interest in quality. It’s far more important than necessity”. Sew purely for the art of the craft. It was still a man’s world though, in 1975, Mrs. Glynn was retired from her position at Simplicity 6 months into the by James J. Shapiro, chairman and co-founder of Simplicity. By accounts, Shapiro didn’t want to let go of the reins. Subsequently Shapiro installed Harold Cooper, as president and operating head. To be fair, Sharipo hired Glynn after ousting his brother from Simplicity. Of the entire ordeal, Shapiro said, “I retired my brother; I retired Mrs. Glynn and I’ll retiree Mr. Cooper, if he doesn’t cut the mustard.”

INQUIRING MINDS: What’s going on in your world? 1) What event/class (or gallery show, museum exhibit, etc.,) in the next few months are you looking forward to, and why? 2) What are you reading? 3) What interesting exhibit, gallery opening or class you’ve seen recently? 4) What are you reseaching at the moment? Send your responses to:

“Learm to make dye, watercolors and inks from Mother Natures natural substances”-

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CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE

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THE ART OF THE INDIGO VAT: NAVAJO INDIANS

In some cultures, urine was readily used when preparing indigo for dyeing. The Navajo, used urine collected from small children which they kept in pots to ferment. Indigo, insoluble in water, must go through a process in order to make the dye soluble in water. This is done, in They believed if urine from a non-virgin would streak part, by reducing the indigo through a fermentation pro- the wool and the color wouldn’t properly fast. cess.

Up and coming Mariah @babiebrownie

The result of the reduction is called “indigo white”, a substance soluble in water.

Real Simple Magazine: Mushrooms not only taste delicious they’re a nutritional powerhouse. While most people consume mushrooms in grilled, sautéed, or roasted form, a growing number of brands have come out with mushroom-based coffee, hot chocolate, and even matcha, as well as mushroom powder blends that you can mix into smoothies and juices!

Creativity takes courage.” -Henri Matisse

T H U R S D AY J U N E November 2019

Volume 1 Issue 1

“Creativity comes from looking for the unexpected and stepping outside your own experience.” Masaru Ibuka Experience while you’re alive and Live until you die. thursdayjune.com

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quite a labor of love. Wood came from Ethiopia, goatskin was tanned, beads made from ostrich eggs, brass wire found to decorate the doll’s arm. The child’s father carved the doll and the child’s mother dressed the doll which was meant to look like the little girl as a young unmarried woman.

WHAT I’M WORKING ON: PILLOW DOLLS Imagination and art are qualities evidenced in play. The way a person plays reveals a lot about culture. Toys are tools of play and the doll reigns,queen. In the Northern district area of Kenya, the dolls of the Turkana people given to little girls, were

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Thursday June PO Box 111336, Omaha, NE. 68111 submissions@thursdayjune.com Publisher/Editor: Calandra Cooper

“It’s a community resource — that’s how people find out about what’s going on around town MAKERS WANTED! Are you a maker. Or do you know someone who is? The Thursday June is looking for makers to profile in upcoming issues. Everything from broomsticks to basket weavers, furniture to fiber artist.

General Inquiries: ccooper@thursdayjune.com

For more information contact: Calandra ccooper@thursday june.com