Ice 1, 2006. Taken in the parking lot behind the old IGA where the Subway and the credit union are now.

First frost. Fall 2007.

Collecting stuff

My windowsill. Rusty items in jar. 2007

Paste Paper!

My altered book came to an abrupt halt when it started screaming out for paste paper. And I was out. Last weekend I didn't cook nothing for nobody. I got Zoe around where she had to go, but after that, the paste paper was calling and I shut the outside world out and surrendered to the lure of the paste and paint.

Zoe and I came up with 86 sheets that we kept for our stash.


Here's the recipe for the paste I used. It was smooth, but wasn't as pliable after drying as I would have liked.
Mix 2 cups cake flour with 2 cups water in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat (stir fast and don't stop!) just until it thickens. Stir into 10 cups of boiling water (stir fast and don't stop). When that thickens a bit, take off heat add 1 teaspoon glycerin and a 1/2 teaspoon of Dawn dish soap and let sit over night in the refrigerator. It will keep 2-3 days. If lumpy strain before using. Put some paste in a cup, add some color to your liking. I used 60lb. white laserprinting paper purchased at Staples for these papers. Paint the colored paste onto the paper. make designs in the paint by dragging combs, brushes, your fingers, lids etc., through the paint. Let dry flat, after dry, if it curls, you can iron the paper to flatten it out.



The paste papers can be used for anything! Endpapers in books, collage, greeting cards. My daughter Zoe is 10 and this is a project that she enjoyed - we spent hours making papers - every surface in the kitchen was covered with paint and drying papers! Including the floor, trash bags worked great for laying the papers on.

A note: except for the "feathery" piece, all the other samples here were made with the same "Fluff" lid cut into a funky shape. And, Garth had found a whole tub of fingerpaint and washable paint at the recycling center's "good pile". The tube acrylics made the most vivid colors, but the "kids" paints made lovely pastel - and there was plenty of it. Having plenty is a real treat for art-addicts.

History displaced

Or how we ended up in the graveyard this morning by Jeanne Adams

My sister Jenna is reading a book, fiction based on fact, about a fishing village off the coast of Maine. As she was relating the story I recognized the tale. That's how we ended up at the Webber Cemetery, in New Gloucester, Maine during a snowstorm this morning.

Headstones tell a tale of endings. One at a time, people die. Excepting tragic accidents, we die one at a time.




Nine small white headstones stand in a row shrouded with a dusting of snow under gray sky. On each only a name and date of death. On each, that date is Nov. 1912. One stone lists five children, another three. One stone is for a couple. All in all, 17 people share a death date, all in a row.

They are tucked away, at the edge of a wood, behind a bigger cemetery.

But this isn't a secret borne in New Gloucester, it's a secret borne by New Gloucester.

The graves mark the final resting place of people who were forcibly removed from their homes and committed to the Pownal School for the Feeble Minded.

In 1912, Maine's Gov. Plaisted ordered the removal of the inhabitants of Malaga Island, a mixed race community just off the coast of Phippsberg, mid-coast Maine.

Malaga was a poor fishing community, and both blacks and whites were settled there. Interracial marriage was common on the island. In 1900 there were 42 individuals on the island. The towns of Phippsburg and Harpswell refused to claim the island, neither wanting to accept responsibility for the welfare of the islanders. It was a "no-mans land" and Malaga became a ward of the state. Maine was 99% white and newspaper accounts of the day sensationalized the race issue, blaming dark skin for all sorts of ills, including idleness, poverty and immorality. A combination of events, including the rise of tourism and competition for the local fishing grounds caused the state to step in with a solution to the Malaga "problem".

The people were forcibly removed, their shanty homes destroyed. Some residents floated their shanties up and down the New Meadows River, but no community would have them.

Even the island cemetary was desecrated - all remains were placed in 5 zinc-lined coffins and buried in the New Gloucester cemetary.

In spite of grandiose plans, the island never sported a fancy hotel and in fact, has remained uninhabited to this day.

This information is all available on the web, what I need to find out now, is WHY and HOW did the 17 people from Malaga Island die so soon after arriving at Pineland? I haven't been able to find out.

The book Jenna was reading is for the progam where she mentors a younger girl. It is called "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" by Gary D. Schmidt. It's fiction based on real events. He says that Lizzie Bright Griffin lived only 10 days after arriving at the Pownal School for the Feebleminded.


In recent years, Malaga has trickled into the media from time to time and more information pops up on the internet. The School for the Feebleminded is now a pristine and beautiful business campus with beautiful views, a YMCA, a school and arts center.

Photos by Jeanne Adams. In the top photo, are stones for residents of Pineland. The Malaga stones are centered in the first row at the top of the photo. Midddle photo: one of the stones dated Nov. 12. Here is the plaque at the cemetery;

Where Are You?

help- i can't find my friend...

i've been gone all week - you'd

think she'd at least call -

instead all i get for a response is

in the comments section of this blog

we created for the studio -gallery.

so, here i am! jeanne, i'm home!

oh - the photo is a journal i burned

one november night, with jeanne's

assistance. ever have one of those

pieces of recorded history

you just need gone?

all that remains are these

beautiful photographs

jeanne took while i

stirred the pot.

Voyages

The engagement calender purchased at half price at Borders is titled 'Voyages...' and me - I love a journey. Whatever, wherever, whenever. I find the title of my engagement calender a strange inspiration and quickly go online to check the national weather forecasts. We're in an ice storm that is scheduled to end soon, Colorado's a definite no, New York City is so last night... hmmm. Think I'll head South and take it from there.