The Summer Workshop Series, or, Summer Camp for Adults

After keeping this blog for the past two years, I still have not arrived at the meaning of The Weird. (Which is fine with me; The Weird is naturally inscrutable to some extent.) But even worse, I have not yet even attempted to parse the meaning of making which is The Weird's sister concept here.

The Oxford English Dictionary tells me that "to make" is a transitive verb with Germanic roots:

The word is associated with creation and the outcome of creative labor, especially labor done with the hands. Other definitions include artistic representation and composition, raising a crop to maturity, and mating.

In order to think about making, I have organized a series of workshops that explore a variety of creative endeavors and handmade crafts. I began by teaching a workshop on container gardening in which we got our hands deep into the dirt of making as a life-creating, life-sustaining activity. Like summer camp for adults, these workshops are fun social events, and force us out of our daily habits. I have loved being in the presence of open minds as a group of participants stumble their way through a new skill. Having to adopt the beginner's mind has been humbling for me, but also thrilling as I have been able to observe and participate in the making process. And like Ringo Starr, I get by with a little help from my friends who have taught workshops on bookbinding, home brewing, and crochet:

Journals made in Ashley Maher's coptic stitch bookbinding workshop

Ben Trumbo adds malt extract to the home brew; Dennis Hoppe pours the wort into 

a glass carboy for fermentation; labels for the Make It Weird workshop beer designed by Ben.

Happy people, about to learn how to crochet at Cate Williamson's workshop.

Bookbinding and crochet required particularly intense levels of concentration, while container gardening and home brewing were more lighthearted, conversational affairs. (The crochet workshop has made a crochet addict of me, but more on that in a future post.) If you would like to explore making during the summer that remains, please join us for workshops on poker, beading, and electronic music. Sorry, workshops are not currently open to the public, but if you are a friend of mine (or a friend of a friend), check out the remaining workshops here.

Dress Your House, Or, What's in a T-Shirt?

So enough theory, what about praxis?

I had this old Flaming Lips concert t-shirt lurking in one of my drawers for a few years.  Due to the passage of time and the end of the "baby doll" t-shirt trend, it wasn't getting any wear.  But I love the graphic punch and bizarre story it tells; I could never part with it.  Since it had ceased to function as a garment for humans, I thought that it might make a suitable garment for a boring old blue pillow that used to hang out in my living room.  And back in January it became one of my first weird projects of the year.

T-shirt front and back:

After cutting away excess fabric from the t-shirt (which wasn't much, it's a tiny garment), I pinned it right-sides together, and stitched along three of the outer edges, leaving a gap at the bottom.

Then I turned my new pillow cover right-side out, stuffed in the old pillow, and sewed up the bottom by hand.  Voilà...

This makes me so happy. :)

And it earned the Wayne Coyne seal of approval via twitter.