New Web Site + Blog

Well, I finally did it. Almost. Odelae has the beginnings of a website here. My goal is to have all the content plugged in by Spring 2012. I've transferred my favorite content from this blog to the new one.

So this is it. May the very first and only Sparrowchaser blog rest easy.

Thanks to all you who have followed and commented. Please stay in touch through my new site!

Love,
erica

Offerings

Offering ~ Clam Shell Book Sculpture

 

An ode to mama ocean.... I've been envisioning these clam shell book sculptures for over a year. I finally coaxed myself into sitching one that I had found on a nearby beach for an art show last fall. I am so happy I did it! The combination of shell and paper is so tactile-- each shell fits in the nook of an adult sized hand and is satisfying to cradle in the palm... the smooth, almost sensual feel of the butter clam shell in contrast to the paper is surprisingly curious. And the shells retain a hint of the faint smell of salt and seaweed.

Oh and in the end (as if I needed a side perk), I inadvertently discovered the way to get myself outside on the coolest of pnw winter days... the sea, she calls me to the hunt... I am acquainting myself with the rhythym of her tides, how to delicately skirt in and out with the waves, all the while, my eyes on the body of the ocean floor, seeking out the native pearled beauty she offers up... and now they've began mingling with my dreams... and I think I even heard her whisper my name once.... so yes, we've bonded, mama ocean and I. I might even convince myself I am her long lost daughter, sigh.

You can find more clam shell books in my Odelae shop.

 ...........
Recently I was asked about my source for the clam shells.....
As with all my books and artistic projects, I take into account the affect my work has on nature and Earth. I have a deep respect for life. This shell (and any other I may work with) is never take alive. I find shells that are cast up on the beach that are often broken halves that I put together. The intent of this book is to inspire others to think of what is offered to them by Earth, nature, animal/plant life, etc.

Home

An ode to home.... this is where I grew up. A little farm in rural South Dakota passed down from my Norwegian great-grandfather. The rainbow arcs over a small lake called Crystal Waters and casts into an abandoned barn where raccoons held congregation. This special land has a piece of my heart forever.

Plenty

 photo by Odelae

An Invocation

you that create the diversity of the forms,
open to my words
you that divide and multiply it,
hear my sounds
I make yield league to you
ancient associates
and fellow wanderers
you that move the heart
in fur and scale
I join with you
you that sing bright and subtle
making shapes that my throat cannot tell
you that harden the horn
and make quick the eye
you that run the fast fox and the zigzag fly
you sizeless makers of the mole and of the whale
aid me and I will aid you
I make a blood pact with you
you that lift the blossom and the green branch
you who make symmetries more true
you who consider the angle of your limbs
who dance in slower time
who watch the patterns
you rough coated who eat water
who stretch deep and high
with your green blood
my red blood let it be mingled
aid me and I will aid you
I call upon you
you who are unconfined
who have no shape
who are not seen
but only in your action
I will call upon you
you who have no depth
but choose direction
who bring what is willed
that you blow love upon the summers of my loved ones
that you blow summers upon those loves of my love
aid me and I will aid you
I make a pact with you
you who are the liquidness of the waters
and the spark of the flame
I call upon you
you who make fertile the soft earth
and guard the growth of the growing things
I make peace with you
you who are the blueness of the blue sky
and the wrath of the storm
I take the cup of deepness with you
earthshakers
and with you the sharp and the hollow hills
I make reverence to you
round wakefulness we
call the earth
I make wide eyes to you
you who are awake
every created thing both solid and sleepy
or airy light
I weave colours round you
you who will come with me
I will consider it beauty
 

- R. Williamsom
Poem via Penabranca

Brandi Strickland

 - shared with permission -

Brandi Strickland is a collage and mixed-media artist based out of Richmond, VA. Visit her shop for a glimpse of more amazingness.

"She creates small-scale works of art using techniques of hand-cut collage, painting, and drawing. Her compositions range from simple and impactful to sweepingly ambitious and hyper-detailed. Even while manipulating found images, she manages to create enveloping, otherworldly landscapes. Although collage often lends itself to a certain cleverness, her pieces remain heartfelt and revelatory.

There is a narrative quality to her work that explores the human condition. She assimilates myth and metaphor with the mundane and everyday to create images which depict incarnation, ascension, love, struggle, disasters, initiations, illuminations, transitions, celebrations, separations, epic journeys, and long-awaited arrivals."

Tea and love

Photographed lovingly by Denise Thomasin

For the love of You, my dear friends.... We landed on a quiet island in the Salish Sea in the golden hours of late afternoon, then nestled into a grove of Madrona and began a forest tea ceremony. I read "Night on the Island" by Pablo Neruda; they enjoyed mochi tea sweets and exchanged their vows, followed by bowls of matcha tea. We bowed to one another in gratitude, then sipped honeywine and shared stories. I love this sea, and those who I share it with. All my thanks.

Unwavering Light

Here is a collection of items inspired by the heat of summer and the adventures underfoot. So many spirited artists and crafters can be found on Etsy... Hooray to all who I've connected with along the way. You've inspired and helped me to evolve my perspective of online communities into one of positivity and light. I thank you.

Magic maker.

Light warriorette of the Golden Age.  

~photo montage by Odelae, All rights reserved

Woven One

Inspired by spider, this hand-sized journal is woven together and serves as a beautiful reminder that we all (human, plants, minerals, creepers, crawlers, 4-leggeds, feather-ones...) are related. Together, we live and love, and weave in and out of each others worlds in many ways during our time on Earth.

The original journal was handstitched for my dear friend, Piper... you can also purchase your very own from Odelae.

Measuring 3.5 x 4 x 1.75", this journal may easily accompany you on your journeys

Wadi Rum

Wadi Rum Resort is a concept created by Oppenheim Architecture + Design for an 80,000-square-foot restort in Wadi Rum, Jordan. Wadi Rum is a desert where there are rock formations and ancient rock paintings and carvings. With this resort, Oppenheim suggests a harmonious unity between nature and man, working with the native materials and formations to guide their design. It is further elaborated upon by the architects:

Here, where desert sand meets desert stone, we see a singular opportunity to devise a new contract between man and nature. Reinterpreting the way we have dealt with the earth, our proposal establishes a new benchmark for design, quality and sustainability in the natural environment. To live in harmony with the natural world, we must learn how to re-engage the land. Earnest and timeless, the architecture is simultaneously powerful, yet comfortable; primitive, yet innovative; casual, yet elegant; raw, yet refined. The built form merges silently with its wondrous setting, exploiting and enhancing the natural beauty of the site to establish luxury lodge accommodations – that are uniquely beautiful and luxurious. The resulting experience is sensual and sensitive, intentionally reduced to what is essential, establishing an ancient connection with the universe through simple, elemental forms, sincere materiality/detailing, and the use of bountiful natural resources both physical and ethereal. Nature accelerated, enhanced and embraced; nature nurtured.
The architecture we will humbly create within the realm of the Wadi is intended to miraculously and meticulously add another sound in a perfect symphony, another ingredient in a perfect dish. The conceptual point of departure has its roots in the tectonic and geological histories of the region. Through an engagement of the existing natural faults and fissures, the architecture is inserted in the landscape with nominal impact and primal elegance-synchronizing with the topography. Symbiotically and sensitively attuned to the rhythms of the area – a responsible stewardship of the environment. The boundaries between man-made and nature, interior and exterior are deliberately blurred establishing maximum effect with minimum affect. The lodges are nestled across the landscape — enhancing rather than distorting an awareness of the context. An enlightened new approach to living with the land and not simply upon it; learning anew how to see, hear, touch, taste, and smell. Beauty, power and humility is achieved through a profound understanding of flow, light and orientation with the topography-fermenting a relationship with the surrounding desert. Simplicity and functionality are inherent to the entire design– so that nothing distracts the eye. The lodges and villas in their various incarnations; rock lodge, spa lodge, tent lodge and reserve villa are all designed as spatial responses towards establishing a connection, not dislocation with the awe-inspiring planet we inhabit. Their architectonic form responds directly to the rich regional cues: an evolutionary process that has established, over millennia, a clear and appropriate type that is in resonance with nature.

So beautifully designed and conceived, I have no doubt it would be an awe-inspiring resort to experience. But would it be all that it really promises? 'Sustainable', 'establishing an ancient connection with the universe', and 'inserted in the landscape with nominal impact'... This is my wonder as I imagine the reality of transportation to the site, the cutting and drilling of rock, the displacement of other life forms, the altering of a sacred site, etc... all of this and more to sell an "authentic" experience of nature to those who can afford it. Or is this a design solution where the crossroads of nature & human technology soundly meet?

Embracing the Waste

 

 

   PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT © Tod Seelie

- shared with permission -

I'm newly inspired by the creative use of salvaged material in the art installation Distance Don't Matter. New York based Swoon and collaborators Ben Wolf, Greg Henderson, Conrad Carlson, Monica Canilao and Ryan Doyle constructed the installation of found materials, wheatpasted prints, paintings and more. The installation was featured in the SPACE Gallery from mid November - December '09. The raw materials were recycled from dumpsters, waste piles and thrift stores then transformed into a 3-dimensional world that allowed the audience a direct experience of the brilliant color, texture, symbolism, intricate pattern work, and themed imagery. Swoon's work involves the transformation of abandoned buildings, rundown warehouses, and broken walls into new and urban landscapes - a beautiful way to revitalize and ignite life in otherwise broken spaces.

Itsy Bitsy Love

HEART of Gold

Ship of LOVE

Wild LOVE

A Gift of LOVE

HEART Strings

 .

 Here's the series of handstitched journals I've posted in my shop Odelae Studio... all portraying vintage imagery with hearts of metallic gold. I found these images from a rough and tumble set of vintage encyclopedias, black and white with beautiful antique print quality, then added the hearts and stitching. The fun part is that these journals are itsy bitsy-- wonderful to clutch in your hand or to slip into a front shirt pocket in that cozy warm nook above your heart...