Elizabeth Lee Miller

Elizabeth "Lee" Miller, Lady Penrose: acclaimed war correspondent during WWII, fashion model, surrealistic artist (working with and inspiring Man Ray) surrealistic gourmet chef, post traumatic stress disorder survivor, photographer, muse/artist model and mother.

Cover of the biography Lives of Lee Miller by her son Antony Penrose

Lee Miller in Adolf Hitler's bathtub, Munich, 1945.
David E. Scherman—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Lee Miller (April 23, 1907 – July 21, 1977), was known for her work in front of and behind the camera, as well as many other achievements.

She had a passion and a drive that got her to the front lines of WWII and was the subject in this iconic photo taken by David E. Sherman. 

Below are many links to articles, essays and a very informative video of Lee's son, Antony Penrose, speaking at NSU Art Museum's exhibit of Miller's work.
Vogue photographer Lee Miller sits in the bathtub of Adolf Hitler’s Munich residence — the very day that Hitler and Eva Braun took their lives in Berlin. 

Said The New York Times of this photo, "A picture of the Führer balances on the lip of the tub; a classical statue of a woman sits opposite it on a dressing table; Lee, in the tub, inscrutable as ever, scrubs her shoulder. A woman caught between horror and beauty, between being seen and being the seer." all-that-is-interesting.com

26 Of The 20th Century’s Underrated Iconic Photos
By Erin Kelly on February 23, 2017

click here to read David E Scherman's description of this photo and his wartime experience with Lee Miller on  time.com:
The Woman in Hitler's Bathtub: Lee Miller, Munich, 1945Ben CosgroveNov 06, 2014

If you have a moment, watch this informative, entertaining and comprehensive view of Lee Miller's life narrated by her son, Antony Penrose.

NSU Art Museum : THE INDESTRUCTIBLE LEE MILLER

Published on Oct 13, 2015   The Indestructible Lee MillerWritten and Narrated by Antony Penrose

Lee Miller, Fire Masks, 1941. During the London Blitz,

Don’t Let History Forget This Incredible Female World War II Photographer

ALEX BEGGS, SEPTEMBER 30, 2015
article about Lee Miller on VanityFair.com

Picasso and Miller at the Rue des Grands Augustins in Paris, 1944.

© Lee Miller Archives, England.

one of Picasso's paintings of Miller 

I believe Lee Miller's life exemplifies many of the way that a woman's contribution is not adequately recorded and how women not only need to do the work but also need to demonstrate that she is more than an object or a possession.  Miller was a talented and brilliant photographer and she was fortunate that she was allowed and supported while she photographed WWII in a manner that only she could do.

from NPR:  Much More Than A Muse: Lee Miller And Man Ray Weekend Edition Saturday :

Phillip Prodger, curator of the exhibit: "There's a long history of women not being given their due in the history of 20th century art. ... Lee Miller has often been described as Man Ray's muse. And even though she was a muse, we wanted to make the point that there was something deeper and more important there. They were both powerful artists, and they fed off of each other.

The couple's devastating breakup in 1932 inspired some of their most famous works of art.
But Man Ray and Lee Miller reconciled in 1937 and stayed close for the rest of their lives.
They are pictured together in London in 1975.
Eileen Tweedy/The Roland Penrose Collection

Below are some excerpts from a New York Times article about Miller, and a link to the entire article.  The last excerpt is of woman artist, Martha Rosler, talking about the double work that 'women war photographers' had to deal with, 'two fronts', the war and the men.

This double duty, sadly, is still common today, for women in so many fields, careers and classrooms. Not only do women need to do the work at hand but they also need to protect themselves, guard themselves and fortify themselves against the advances, criticisms and threats from some of their male colleagues.  

‘The Indestructible Lee Miller’ Celebrates a Daring Surrealist and War Photographer
Hilarie M. Sheets      OCT. 27, 2015

A version of this article appears in print on November 1, 2015, on Page F12 of the New York edition with the headline: Subverting ‘Muse’ to Blaze Her Own Path.

In Lee Miller’s uncommon life, there are two celebrated periods. The first began in 1929, when, at 22, she apprenticed with the Surrealist photographer Man Ray and modeled for him in innovative portraits and radical nudes. The second was during World War II, when Miller was one of five accredited female photojournalists accompanying American troops into liberated concentration camps, documenting atrocities.

Vogue hired her in 1940 to report on women involved in the war effort in London, and she became an accredited American war correspondent in 1942 at the suggestion of her friend the Life photographer David E. Scherman.

Ms. Rosler said she was unaware of those pictures for Vogue in London when she created that series but was influenced by Miller’s earlier Surrealist work as well as by her personal story. “Women war photographers had to fight on two fronts: the bombs, and the men,” she said. 
new york times, oct 27, 2015

Grace O'Malley, Gráinne Mhaol,The Sea Queen of Connacht

Grace O'Malley: Queen of Umaill, chieftain of the O Maille clan, rebel, seafarer, pirate, fearless leader galley captain, trader, diplomat and mother.

Although her life story reads like fiction or folklore, she is a well-known historical figure in 16th-century Irish history, and is sometimes known as "The Sea Queen of Connacht".

She ... became an icon of international feminism, both as an example of a strong and independent woman and as a victim of misogynistic laws. Nevertheless, this subject of verse, music, romantic novels, documentaries and an interpretive centre remains shrouded in mystery. Gráinne Ní Máille’s mythical status is a double-edged sword that, while ensuring that her name survived, has obscured the reality of the woman behind the legend. She was an extraordinary woman who lived, loved, fought and survived during a pivotal period of Irish history that saw the collapse of the Gaelic order and the ruination of Ireland’s ruling élite. http://www.historyireland.com

Born in 1530 in Connacht, Ireland, she was well-educated, learning Latin, and was well regarded by contemporaries as being exceptionally formidable and competent.

According to legend Grannie, as a young girl, wanted to join her father on the sea and travel with him to Spain. Her mother disagreed saying she was a girl and not a sailor. Grainne shaved off her hair to disguise herself as a boy. Her father gave in and so Grainne got on board and became Grainne Mhaol. (the Irish for bald). http://www.mayo-ireland.ie

Her name was rendered in contemporary English documents in various ways, including Gráinne O'Maly, Graney O'Mally, Grainne Ní Maille, Granny ni Maille, Grany O'Mally, Grayn Ny Mayle, Grane ne Male, Grainy O'Maly, and Granee O'Maillie.

Her's is a story so rich with intrigue and excitement that I wish I could recreate it here for you, but alas I don't have the time, so please check out her life story as written on thepirateking.com:
the hair-raising and action packed life of Grace O'Malley,
the Pirate Queen : http://www.thepirateking.com/bios/omalley_grace.htm

Grace O’Malley was born in Ireland in around 1530, as a daughter of the wealthy nobleman and sea trader Owen O'Malley. Upon his death, she inherited his large shipping and trading business. From her earliest days, she rejected the role of the sixteenth century woman, instead embracing the life on the sea with the fleet of O'Malley trading ships. The income from this business, as well as land inherited from her mother, enabled her to become rich and somewhat powerful. http://www.ancient-origins.net


Stephanie J. Block, left, as Grace O'Malley and Linda Balgord as Queen Elizabeth I in "The Pirate Queen."
Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
The meeting of two wildly powerful women: Grace O'Malley and Queen Elizabeth I:
In the later 16th century, English power steadily increased in Ireland and O'Malley's power was steadily encroached upon. Finally, in 1593, when her sons, Tibbot Burke and Murrough O'Flaherty, and her half-brother, Dónal na Píopa, were taken captive by the English governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham, O'Malley sailed to England to petition Elizabeth I for their release. Elizabeth I famously sent O'Malley a list of questions, which she answered and returned to Elizabeth. O'Malley met with Elizabeth at Greenwich Palace, wearing a fine gown, the two of them surrounded by guards and the members of Elizabeth's royal Court. O'Malley refused to bow before Elizabeth because she did not recognise her as the Queen of Ireland. It is also rumoured that O'Malley had a dagger concealed about her person, which guards found upon searching her. Elizabeth's courtiers were said to be very upset and worried, but O'Malley informed the queen that she carried it for her own safety. Elizabeth accepted this and seemed untroubled. Some also reported that O'Malley sneezed and was given a lace-edged handkerchief from a noblewoman. She apparently blew her nose into the handkerchief and then threw the piece of cloth into a nearby fireplace, much to the shock of the court. O'Malley informed Elizabeth and her court that, in Ireland, a used handkerchief was considered dirty and was destroyed. Their discussion was carried out in Latin, as O'Malley spoke no English and Elizabeth spoke no Irish (wikipedia)

During the entire 70 years of her life, Grace O'Malley managed to retain the reputation of fierce leader and smart politician. She successfully protected the independence of her lands during the time when much of Ireland fell under the English rule. She finally died in Rockfleet Castle in 1603, the same year as the Queen of England, Elizabeth I. To this day, Grace O'Malley is used as a personification of Ireland and an inspiration for many modern songs, theater productions, books, and a name for a wide variety of sea vessels and public objects and places.http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/famous-pirates/grace-omalley/


Gráinne Mhaol, pirate queen of Connacht: behind the legend, 

Theresa D. Murray is a history undergraduate at University College Cork.

Published in Early Modern History (1500–1700), Features, Issue 2 (Mar/Apr 2005), Volume 13 http://www.historyireland.com/early-modern-history-1500-1700/grainne-mhaol-pirate-queen-of-connacht-behind-the-legend/

Discover Mayo:
http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/en/about-mayo/history/grace-omalley-the-pirate-queen.html

Grace O'Malley on wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_O%27Malley

Oceandance, With SwordplayBEN BRANTLEYAPRIL 6, 2007

Grace O’Malley, the 16th Century Pirate Queen of Ireland
http://www.ancient-origins.net

Famous Pirate: Grace O'Malley
http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/famous-pirates/grace-omalley/

Rachel Carson

Rachel Louise Carson: ecologist, author, marine biologist, academic, environmental activist, biologist, scientist, journalist

We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost's familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster.
The other fork of the road -- the one less traveled by -- offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.     Rachel Carson

With the current administration waging a all out war of the environment and calling global warming fiction, it was time to feature a woman known for her studies and campaigns for nature and the environment. Below you will find quips from and links to web sites where you can read more throughly about this strong and driven advocate for the environment. VF

Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award,[2] recognition as a gifted writer, and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson

fish pattern by virginia fitzgerald,
"always inspired by the sea. as my senior project
I created a wall mounted,
soft sculpture aquarium."

Her best-known book, Silent Spring, led to a presidential commission that largely endorsed her findings and helped to shape a growing environmental consciousness. http://www.biography.com/people/rachel-carson

Perhaps the finest nature writer of the Twentieth Century, Rachel Carson (1907-1964) is remembered more today as the woman who challenged the notion that humans could obtain mastery over nature by chemicals, bombs and space travel than for her studies of ocean life. Her sensational book Silent Spring (1962) warned of the dangers to all natural systems from the misuse of chemical pesticides such as DDT, and questioned the scope and direction of modern science, initiated the contemporary environmental movement. www.rachelcarson.org

She wrote pamphlets on conservation and natural resources and edited scientific articles, but in her free time turned her government research into lyric prose, first as an article "Undersea" (1937, for the Atlantic Monthly), and then in a book, Under the Sea-Wind (1941). In 1952 she published her prize-winning study of the ocean, The Sea Around Us, which was followed by The Edge of the Sea in 1955. These books constituted a biography of the ocean and made Carson famous as a naturalist and science writer for the public. Carson resigned from government service in 1952 to devote herself to her writing. http://www.rachelcarson.org/Bio.aspx

Rachel Carson on wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson

the Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson

http://www.rachelcarson.org/Default.aspx

Rachel Carson on thoughtco.com

https://www.thoughtco.com/rachel-carson

Biography.com

www.rachelcarson.org/Bio.aspxhttp://www.biography.com/people/rachel-carson-9239741

Jane Jacobs

Jane Jacobs:  American-Canadian journalist, author, editor, and activist best known for her influence on urban studies, champion of the vitality of a city, creator of the concept "Ballad of the Sidewalk", advocate of walking, proponent for equal pay for women,  mother.

“Jacobs was a woman of infinite humility, compassion, warmth and generosity of spirit. She reveled in challenging conversation with thoughtful people, listened carefully to citizen testimony at public hearings, never resisted the opportunity to stand up to power and wished only for people to continue the dialogue she started, not duplicate her words… Jacobs’s thought and writing comprise a resounding symphony of lessons and ideas; they compose a life’s work about economic, social and environmental justice.” 

- The Nation, May 2006

Jane Jacobs at the White Horse Tavern in 1961 (Credit: Cervin Robinson)

Here are some facts, quotes and inspirations of Jane Jacobs, someone I had heard of but now I am enchanted. As an advocate for cities and neighborhoods, she lead the fight to save Greenwich Village and Washington Square Park, and she believed in the importance of getting out and WALKING and learning your surrounding!!! I LOVE this woman. VF

Jane Jacobs (1916-2006) was an urbanist and activist whose writings championed a fresh, community-based approach to city building. She had no formal training as a planner, and yet her 1961 treatise, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, introduced ground-breaking ideas about how cities function, evolve and fail, that now seem like common sense to generations of architects, planners, politicians and activists.

A firm believer in the importance of local residents having input on how their neighborhoods develop, Jacobs encouraged people to familiarize themselves with the places where they live, work, and play.

janejacobswalk.org

"As a mother and a writer who criticized experts in the male-dominated field of urban planning, Jacobs endured scorn from established figures. She did not have a college degree or any formal training in urban planning, and was criticized for lacking such credentials."

Experiencing discrimination at Iron Age, she also advocated for equal pay for women and for workers' right to unionize

She was also famous for introducing the concept "Ballet of the Sidewalk" that intricate dance between neighbours and passers-by that make a street enjoyable and friendly.

After Jacobs' death in April 2006, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a Jane Jacobs Day, held on June 28, 2006.[75] The City of Toronto proclaimed her birthday the following year, May 4, 2007, as Jane Jacobs Day.

“No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at … suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You’ve got to get out and walk.” 

— Jane Jacobs, ‘Downtown is for People' (Fotune Classic, 1958)

Jane's Walk is a movement of free, citizen-led walking tours inspired by Jane Jacobs:

a series of free neighborhood walking, biking, and transit tours that help put people in touch with their environment and with the people who live in their community.

Our mission is to help people walk, observe, and connect with their community and environment. Walks inspire people to make a difference because they enable members of a community to discover and respond to the complexities of their city and environment through personal and shared observation.

one of my classic cityscapes, my ode to my love of city living

Link to learn more: 

Jane Jacobs @ Project for public Spaces

janeswalk.org

Jane Jacobs @ wikipedia

'Eyes On The Street' Details Jane Jacobs' Efforts To Put Cities First

MAUREEN CORRIGAN

Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira

Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira: a New Zealand Māori language proponent, storyteller, educator, intellectual, artist, writer, mother, a grass-roots organizer and visionary leader.


Dame Katerina Te Heikoko Mataira, born in Tokomaru Bay in 1932, trained as a teacher and art educator.

She had nine children with her husband, Junior Te Ratu Karepa Mataira. She also leaves behind 50 grandchildren and great grandchildren and one great great grandchild.

Kāterina credits her gift of storytelling to her parents, Raniera and Erana Harrison, who raised a large family in Ruatoria. Māori was their native tongue. ‘My father was a brilliant storyteller,’ Kāterina recalls. ‘Many of his stories were about his own life. They were full of real people and real events. There were scary ones too. He loved to tell ghost stories, then send one of us kids outside to fetch wood for the fire.’

I am featuring Dame Katerina because she basically single handedly saved te reo Maori (an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of New Zealand.) from extinction.

This act of keeping a language is SO important as many of the world's languages are endangered.

in celebration of cursive handwriting,
in honor of Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira

" Half the world's languages will vanish by the end of the century"

And one shutters to think of the ramifications of the loss of a language ... histories would be lost, cultures, nursery rhymes and folklore, just to name a few.  Language is the gateway into so much of life and Dame Kāterina Te Heikōkō Mataira knew that and fought to keep te reo Maori alive!!

Stephen Wainwright, Creative New Zealand Chief Executive, says “Dame Katerina was a leader in the renaissance of te reo Māori, through both her writing and the direction she provided as a founding member of Te Ataarangi. She has had a profound effect on New Zealand society as a writer and an artist and her legacy will live on for generations to come.”  Creative New Zealand

https://youtu.be/9lNjnE_-Log

Here is the US there is another form of communication that is close to extinction, and that is cursive writing.  Teaching cursive is not in many elementary school's curriculums and I personally feel that not teaching cursive is a big mistake.  I believe that learning to write in cursive is beneficial in more ways than just being able to write in a formal manner.  I believe that learning cursive opens different pathways in the brain.   Also cursive is very useful in creating images and design.  So I say lets keep teaching cursive to our children so that they will be able to read original documents from their past, read correspondences between historical figures, do their own research from original sources.

When I think about the loss of some many world languages and the loss of children being able to read and write in cursive, I am eerily reminded of George Orwell's haunting, 1984, and the Party's Newspeak.

Newspeak is the language of Oceania, a fictional totalitarian state ruled by the Party, who created the language to meet the ideological requirements of English Socialism (Ingsoc). In George Orwell's world of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Newspeak is a controlled language, of restricted grammar and limited vocabulary, a linguistic design meant to limit the freedom of thought—personal identity, self-expression, free will—that ideologically threatens the régime of Big Brother and the Party, who thus criminalised such concepts as thoughtcrime, contradictions of Ingsoc orthodoxy."

And let's just say that, lately there are way too many current events and political actions that remind me of this book, so I say that we must protect and teach all ways of communicating with each other so that we are not suddenly dependent on interpreters....

Maria Sibylla Merian

Maria Sibylla Merian: Artist, Naturalist, scientific illustrator,  botanical artist, entomologist, social 

activist, traveler, mother.

(this post has fallen victim of my desire to share all the wonders of this amazing woman.  I love her work, her chutzpah, her interests and her paintings.  Her work has also influenced many areas of my work, see below)

She is also an example of an strong independent woman as she traveled alone with her daughter Dorothea in pursuit of her work. In 1699, Merian received a grant from the city of Amsterdam allowing Merian to travel to the Dutch colony of Surinam, South America.  This was, as Merian stated, " a long dreamed of journey to Suriname."(Foreword from Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium (Metamorphosis of the Insects of Surinam)

During the two years that she was there, she traveled around the colony studying and sketching the local flora and fauna, and she drew from direct observation of the insects which was not a common practice of the time, this allowed her to document much more than had been shown before.  Also since her sole reason for her trip was scientific study her trip may have been one of the first travelers to "plan a journey rooted solely in science."(Reidell, Heidi (April 2008). "A Study of Metamorphosis". Americas. 60 (2): 28–35. Retrieved 10 August 2015. )

  Because of her careful observations and documentation of the metamorphosis of the butterfly, she is considered by David Attenborough^[4] to be among the most significant contributors to the field of entomology. She was a leading entomologist of her time and she discovered many new facts about insect life through her studies.^[5]

It was also during her trip to Suriname that she spoke up for the mistreatment of the natives and the slaves by the Dutch.

The pursuit of her work in Suriname was an unusual endeavour, especially for a woman. In general, only men received royal or government funding to travel in the colonies to find new species of plants and animals, make collections and to work there, or to settle. Scientific expeditions at this period of time were not common, and Merian's unofficial, self-funded expedition raised many eyebrows. She succeeded, however, in discovering a whole range of previously unknown animals and plants in the interior of Surinam. Merian spent time studying and classifying her findings and described them in great detail. She not only described the insects she found, but also noted their habitat, habits and uses to indigenous people.[7] Her classification of butterflies and moths is still relevant today.

 here is some of the ways her work has influenced me ... BUGS!!!

'metamorphosis ...'
a collaborative project/dress
with the student body that would be presented at the Dana Hall Fashion Show

click here is read more about this project

bugs I commissioned for a toy company a long time ago
they were put on 'pogs'

'lilith in blue ...' with accompanying paintings

detail of my installation 'this comes from within ...'

click here to read more about this amazing installation from 2009, medicine wheel, boston

Nancy Swan Drew

Nancy Swan Drew: prolific artist, syndicated cartoonist, surface designer, clothes designer/creator, cancer survivor, author, radio host, humanitarian, wife, mother of three, grandmother

Nancy Swan Drew (left) in front of her contributions to a fundraiser 

I was fortunate enough to learn about Nancy Swan Drew at an early age and introduced to her wildly inspiring world.

Nancy Swan Drew was the first living woman artist I learned about when I was growing up.  My mother knew of Drew's work and brought some of Drew's inspirational, fun, colorful images into our home.

Drew's work introduced me to the concept that art could be bright and whimsical and demonstrated using text in paintings.  But it was her example of the idea of art is life and life is art that affected me the most.  I love reading descriptions about her home and family life.  Nancy Swan Drew created, painted and embellished her everyday world as this description depicts:

"The door is not the only part of the house to show Drew`s creative touch. Walls, wallpaper, window frames, sofas, chairs, tables, lampshades, even the vacuum cleaner have not escaped Drew`s artistic imprint.Elongated, cartoonlike figures float on the handrail along the stairway. A sofa, resplendent with splattered paint upholstery, crouches in the living room. Life-size cutouts lurk in the corners. Bumper stickers from the Grand Hotel and other such places paper a bathroom.The result is an interior that looks as if it has been assaulted by a manic 5-year old. It is high-voltage pattern-on-pattern, completely at odds with the ``Leave It to Beaver`` exterior of this houseperched in bucolic splendor on a hill outside Niles, Mich., 90 miles from Chicago."

The Mystery Of Nancy Drew, Every Surface A Canvas-and What A Canvas-for An Enterprising, Unfettered Artist  October 20, 1991 By Sharon Stangenes.

I believe my exposure to Nancy Swan Drew influenced me greatly.  Drew did EVERYTHING - greeting cards, painted found objects and furniture, embellished clothing.  I was enchanted by her loose, folk art like style.



Drew is still producing as you can see by her Facebook page, click here to visit her FB page :)
Below are some descriptions from different articles giving these a glimpse into the wonderful and whimsical world of Nancy Swan Drew.  Click on the quote to go to the full article.

When it comes to her artwork Drew considers her style expressionistic. She works with oils, ink, pastels, collages, and more. She describes her work as thought observations. She attributes her love of art to her grandmother.“I fell in love with the creative process when I was very young. My grandmother was a kindergarten teacher and she had a room full of art supplies that I had free range to. That is one of my favorite memories. 

Nancy Swan Drew: The case of the inspiring artist Aug 5, 2004 CINDY SHAFER

interior shot of inspire me, a boutique that feature Nancy Drew

Here is a description of Nancy Swan Drew's customized clothing: 

Each of her customized pieces features one of these ``socially significant`` statements. However, the graphic is probably the last thing you will notice when you encounter a Drew blazer or vest.

That`s because these loud, colorful reworked Salvation Army specials are covered with tons of other stuff, too: bows and ribbons and swatches of material and baby toys and cheap jewelry and rubber frogs and bicycle reflectors and pink foam hair rollers. Their pockets are filled with more stuff: a row of ceramic nuns, a handful of bow ties, a set of big plastic lips. And then there`s the attached pockets on the front of the jacket, made of netting, which are filled with even more stuff: candy and gum and toy whistles and tops and-well, you get the idea. Clothes Can Speak Louder Than WordsAugust 24, 1988|, Marla Donato.

Claire Wellesley-Smith

Claire Wellesley-Smith: fiber and textile artist, slow movement enthusiast, teacher, author.

photo from claire wellesley-smith's blog

Today's feature is Claire Wellesley-Smith, a contemporary textile artist, living and working in  England.  I discovered Wellesley-Smith because I am reading her book,
Slow Stitch: 

Mindful and Contemplative Textile Art, 

photo from claire wellesley-smith's blog

a beautiful and inspiring book about slowing down and quality over quantity.  A concept I know I desire in our current, high-octane, 24/7, fast paced, always-connected life.  The idea of slowing down, turning off the electronics and tuning into the materials, the process and our surroundings seems like nirvana to me.  And in fact, this may be why I have returned to my embroidery practice, as a response to the current state of our country and the world.  I am aware of how my different 'work' cycles, either photography, sculpture, drawing, etc... and for the past few months I have been finding myself, nesting in the corner of my couch, with needle and embroidery floss and any scrap of fabric, paper, ribbon, 'life' that I can find and slowly sewing them together.  I call this body of work, 'meditations ...' 

So with my rekindled love of the stitch, I gravitated to Wellesley-Smith's book and then to her web site, blog and instagram account, all of which I have posted link to below.

fitzgerald, 'meditation #9 ...' (2017)

Besides her beautiful stitching, Wellesley-Smith talks about connecting textiles more to the earth and she discusses how she dyes her own textiles from plants that she grows in her studio garden.  (see video below).  She also features many other textile artists' work.  The book is a treasure to slowly cherish, I only wish I either had more hands so I could read and sew ... or more hours in the day!! But no matter I plan to savor this book and I recommend that you do too.

my contribution I made this January for a call for art by
GatherHere in Cambridge, MA

The Slow Stitching Movement is an illuminating revolution within the stitching and fiber art industry, launched by international quilting personality Mark Lipinski. Modeled after the international Slow Food movement, The Slow Stitching Movement is open to all fiber and needle artists and will prepare you for a higher form of creativity and important work in the needle and fiber arts, be it quilting, knitting, crochet, tatting, embroidery, rug hooking, weaving, needlepoint, cross stitch, etc.

Following the tenets of The Slow Stitching Movement you will:
Approach your creative art-making in a totally different way.
Recharge your passion for the needle fiber arts .
Engage the connection between your body, your quilts, and your legacy. .
Expand your creativity, self-esteem and even your spiritual journey.
Tap your right brain, to train and develop your imagination.
Find the creative genius in you.
Implement your creative thought in today’s too-fast world.
Heal your life, emotions and boost your physical health.
Create groups and habits to support your creative vision.

If you’ve hit a creative wall, if you have more yarn, fabric, floss, threads, and notions than you do inspiration, if all of your projects are beginning to look alike, or if you’ve been creating in the needle arts for years and have nothing especially wonderful to show for it . . . The Slow Stitching Movement is for you.  

THE SLOW STITCHING MOVEMENT  © 2013

Claire Wellesley-Smith's links:

website: www.clairewellesleysmith.co.uk

instgram: https://www.instagram.com/cwellesleysmith/

pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/cwellesleysmith/

blog: http://www.clairewellesleysmith.co.uk/blog/

If the above video doesn't work, click herehttps://vimeo.com/123040597

Willa Beatrice Brown

• Willa Brown
• Copyright/Owner: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library
• Source: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library

Willa Beatrice Brown: Pilot, Lobbyist, Activist, Teacher

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration

Following in the footsteps of Besse Coleman, Willa Beatrice Brown was the first African American woman to earn both a pilot’s license and a commercial license. Brown made significant contributions to both politics and the field of aviation during her lifetime. Brown was also the first African American woman to be commissioned as a lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol and her 
efforts were responsible for Congress’ forming the renowned Tuskegee Airmen squadron, leading to the integration of the U.S. military service in 1948. Cornelius Coffey, Brown's first flight instructor and then husband, would become one of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Brown was born on January 22, 1906 in Glasgow, KY.  Her career began in 1926 as a “commerce” teacher at the Roosevelt High School, Gary, Indiana, but she moved to Chicago to to work as a social worker.  She felt like she had more to offer so she decided to learn to fly, studying with Coffey, a certified flight instructor and expert aviation mechanic at one of Chicago's racially segregated airports. 

In 1935 she earned her Master Mechanic Certificate and began giving flight and ground school instruction at the field. One day in 1936, wearing her striking white jodhpurs, jacket and boots, she walked into the Chicago Defender newspaper office and made a professional pitch for publicity for an African-American air show to be held at Harlem Field. The advertising resulted in an attendance of between 200 and 300 people and showcased a number of talented black pilots in the Chicago area. Enoch Waters, the editor of the paper, covered the event himself and went up with Brown in a Piper Cub.

She continually lobbied the government for integration of black pilots into the segregated Army Air Corps and the federal Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP). When Congress finally voted to allow separate-but-equal participation of blacks in civilian flight training programs, the Coffey School of Aeronautics was chosen for participation in the CPTP.

In 2010, Brown was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by the Indiana State University Alumni Association.

Women in Aviation and Space History, National Air and Space Museum

Licia Ronzulli

This composite picture shows the mother-daughter duo at Parliament sessions
from September 22, 2010 to November 19, 2013

Licia Ronzulli: politician, health manager, mother, nurse.

Licia Ronzulli was Member of the European Parliament for northwest of Italy, representing the The People of Freedom party and New Forza Italia party 2009-2014. She won a seat in the 2009 European Parliament election.  Licia worked as a nurse in Milan and Bangladesh before become a hospital director and then turning to politics.

Licia Ronzulli as an Italian MEP is known for bringing her daughter, Vittoria, to the Parliament's  sessions.  Every day is Bring Your Child To Work Day at the European Parliament and so that is Licia Ronzulli has done.   The pictures of Licia and her daughter together in Parliament not only make me smile, but reenforces the power of parenting by example and how empowering that act was/is for her daughter Vittoria. 
She first brought her daughter to a plenary session when she was 44 days old as a symbolic gesture to support more rights for women in reconciling work and family life.

News coverage of Ronzulli's story has generated a lot of discussion on family leave policies, especially around the fact that only four countries in the world have no national law requiring paid maternity leave: Liberia, Papua New Guinea, Swaziland, and the United States.

To learn more about the lack of paid family leave in the U.S. and a group working to give all Americans access to paid family leave, check out MomsRising.org at http://bit.ly/mOQbVO

"When she first wore her six-week-old baby in a sling in the European parliament, photographs of mother and child caused a stir. As Ms Ronzulli observed at the time: "We've been doing a lot of work in the European parliament and there was no interest [from] the press. Then I come with my baby and everybody wants to interview me.” The MEP claimed at the time that it was not a political stunt. But she did call for a discussion of the lives of working mothers shortly afterwards."The Italian MEP who's a poster girl for working mothers everywhereThe Telegraph,  Sally Peck 20 Nov 2013

However, even though Ronzulli's decision to bring her daughter to work with her has lead to a greater discussion of maternity leave and women's and mother's rights in the work place, these topics are still  debated subjects and are still under attack, as you can read in this article on Huffington Post (01/22/2016) by Montserrat Domínguez :

This Spanish Politician Took Her Baby To Parliament. She’s Not The Only One.Carolina Bescansa is the latest in a series of lawmakers around the world who have brought — and at times breastfed — their babies in congress. 

Montserrat Domínguez HuffPost Spain

Today is International Women's Day

so today I am going to highlight just a few of my personal favorite international bad-ass women, (there are so so so many!!!),  with quick bio.s thanks to Wikipedia, along with a way that you can get involved with the #BeBoldForChange campaign (see bottom of post)

And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.

Anais Nin

Anaïs Nin

Anaïs Nin (Spanish: [anaˈis ˈnin]; born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell; February 21, 1903 – January 14, 1977) was an essayist and memoirist born to Cuban parents in France, where she was also raised. She spent some time in Spain and Cuba, but lived most of her life in the United States, where she became an established author. She wrote journals (which span more than 60 years, beginning when she was 11 years old and ending shortly before her death), novels, critical studies, essays, short stories, and erotica. A great deal of her work, including Delta of Venus and Little Birds, was published posthumously.

Annette Messager

Annette Messager (born 30 November 1943 in Berck, France) is a French visual artist. In 2005 she won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Biennale for her artwork at the French Pavilion. In 2016, she won the prestigious Praemium Imperiale International Arts Award.[1] She currently lives and works in Malakoff, France.[2]

Simone de Beauvoir sitting with Jean-Paul Sartre

Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir  9 January 1908 – 14 April 1986) was a French writer, intellectual, existentialist philosopher, political activist, feminist and social theorist. Though she did not consider herself a philosopher, she had a significant influence on both feminist existentialism and feminist theory.[3]

Marie Skłodowska Curie

Marie Skłodowska Curie 7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934), born Maria Salomea Skłodowska was a Polish and naturalized-French physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and only woman to win twice, the only person to win a Nobel Prize in two different sciences, and was part of the Curie family legacy of five Nobel Prizes. She was also the first woman to become a professor at the University of Paris, and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in the Panthéon in Paris. and mother to Irène Joliot-Curie, herself, an award winning scientist.

Curie mother and daughter duo.

Irène Joliot-Curie (French) 12 September 1897 – 17 March 1956) was a French scientist, the daughter of Marie Curieand Pierre Curie and the wife of Frédéric Joliot-Curie. Jointly with her husband, Joliot-Curie was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935 for their discovery of artificial radioactivity. This made the Curies the family with the most Nobel laureates to date.[1] Both children of the Joliot-Curies, Hélène and Pierre, are also esteemed scientists.[2]

https://www.malala.org

Malala Yousafzai (S.St) (Malālah Yūsafzay: Urdu: ملالہ یوسفزئی‎; Pashto: ملاله یوسفزۍ‎ 

; born 12 July 1997)is a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. She is known mainly for human rights advocacy for education and for women in her native Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, northwest Pakistan, where the local Taliban had at times banned girls from attending school. Malala's advocacy has since grown into an international movement.

On the afternoon of 9 October 2012, Yousafzai was injured after a Taliban gunman attempted to assassinate her. Yousafzai remained unconscious, in critical condition at the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. The assassination attempt sparked a national and international outpouring of support for Malala. Deutsche Welle wrote in January 2013 that Malala may have become "the most famous teenager in the world."  Weeks after her assassination attempt, a group of fifty leading Muslim clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her. 

virginiafitzgerald 'lovely frida ...' (2017)

Frida Kahlo de Rivera,  July 6, 1907 – July 13, 1954), born Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón, was a Mexican painter known for her self-portraits.[2]

Kahlo's life began and ended in Mexico City, in her home, which is known as "La Casa Azul," the Blue House. Her work has been celebrated internationally as emblematic of Mexican national and indigenous traditions, and by feminists for its uncompromising depiction of the female experience and form.

& to finish off this post (that could truly go on forever) I want to share this inspiring and enlightening book that I picked up today!!!  Rad Women Worldwide, by Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl, authors of Rad American Women A-Z.  I could not stop reading this book once I purchased it.  I, in fact, shared some of the amazing stories with my parents and Harriet over the dinner!! A superb way to end International Women Day.

International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

here is an article highlighting 17 bad-ass women!!
#InternationalWomensDay: 17 Women Who Changed the Game
Happy International Women’s Day! We round-up some of the exceptional women who serve as true inspirations in the fields of Public Service, Arts and Culture, Sciences, and Advocacy – all of whom ask us to #BeBoldforChange