One evening, before the restaurants opened, we wandered around Marseille in the Le Panier section of the city. The streets were alive with families playing and socializing before heading inside for the evening. This city is gritty and real, but has an appealing esthetic quality. I loved the pastel shades of the houses and window stutters. Every narrow street had a story to tell.
Earlier this summer, I found out that fabric artist Chris Roberts-Antieau opened a pop-up gallery in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Having her work so close presented an opportunity as well as the motivation to make trip. My goal was to get there before they close Oct 13th. So a couple of weeks ago, Rob and I picked an absolutely beautiful day to drive our boat across the sound to Edgartown harbor. We easily found the gallery on a quiet side street, not far from the bustling tourist shops.
I first saw Chris’s work a few years ago at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. I was immediately attracted to her style and design sense, not to mention her use of fabric.
We talked with the lovely woman who’s managing the gallery for the summer, while Chris spends time in her Michigan studio. I can hardly believe how prolific Chris is, keeping the walls here and in New Orleans full of art. We learned that she has the help of assistants, who cut out many of the fabric pieces. Chris picks out the fabric and does the sewing machine finish work, though.
I love her sense of humor and the storytelling quality of her pieces. Her work defies categorization and I can see that she’s benefited from going out on her own and not necessarily trying to fit into the art (or craft) world, quilt world or fiber art world. I also get the idea that she’s focused on creating her own vision and presenting it to the world. Now, that’s inspiring!
We’re back from our trip to Cuba, with a couple thousand photos to comb through. A photographer’s dream, Cuba is a complicated country, full of life and longing. In Havana, I felt that I was walking around in the middle of a post-apocalyptic Fellini film set.
You may wonder how we, as Americans, were allowed to enter Cuba. For the past few years, the embargo has been loosened enough so that educational groups can travel with person-to-person visas. We went with a tour organized by the Marine Biological Laboratory here in Woods Hole. More and more educational institutions are offering tours to Cuba, which I heartily recommend!
This group of photos is a sampling of more to come. I’ll be posting photos in different categories like doors, streets, people, vendors, laundry, balconies, etc.
I took some photos of gates last week, while looking for shots in the fog. These first 2 aren’t so foggy, but they got me looking through my image files for other gates.
This one of a garden gate was taken in France a few years ago.
And this one is the entrance to my friends Kathy and Ray’s house.
Here’s a tranquil spot in New England.
In hilly San Francisco.
I took the next 2 photos in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. These properties looked a bit too perfect for me.
And 2 from historic Rt. 6A on Cape Cod.
We had lunch in a different town every day, but the pub lunch was basically the same– delicious pureed vegetable soup and brown bread! Here are some of the towns we visited in Ireland. I can’t remember all of their names, but they’re located in the central western area. It was so refreshing to travel around without seeing a single strip mall or bill board.
In Ireland, we traveled through the western counties of Galway, Clare, Sligo and Mayo and were never far from rivers, waterfalls or ocean views!
Last Saturday, a friend and I took a boat over to Oak Bluffs. We had tickets to go to The Moth on Martha’s Vineyard, which I describe at the end of this post. Before the evening show, we walked around the Martha’s Vineyard Camp Meeting neighborhood and I took some photos of the perfectly charming little cottages. See a post about last year’s visit here.
The purpose of our visit to Oak Bluffs was to attend an evening of storytelling presented by The Moth radio program. If your local NPR station airs The Moth, you know how inspiring and moving the stories can be. Last summer, Martha’s Vineyard writer, Cynthia Riggs told a most compelling story that has by now been heard all over the world. It is worth hearing her tale, so click the link on her name. She returned this year and gave an update of her adventure to a cheering crowd of 1700. Here’s the inside of the Tabernacle while we were waiting for the storytelling performances to begin. It was quite an evening!
The Fairy Houses of Beebe Woods exhibit continues to draw visitors, rain or shine. One of the structures that has held up well through the thunder storms of the past week is Basia Goszczynska’s extraordinary “Golden Dwelling”. She constructed her cozy house out of saplings, moss and lichen on site, between the roots of a giant beech tree.
Other Fairy House News
(added May 30, 2015)
The Fairy Houses of Highfield Hall outdoor exhibit will be held from June 28th to August 31, 2015 at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA. In addition to curating the exhibit, Salley Mavor has made a fairy family of 5, which is being raffled (3 tickets for $5.00). Tickets may be purchased online or at Highfield Hall, where the fairy family is on display. The raffle drawing will be August 30, 2015. The prize will be sent to the winner anywhere in the world! Good luck!
Take a look at Basia’s website and be wowed by her work in stop-motion animation.
Here’s a shot of the mossy living space far inside. One person commented that Basia’s house looked to be most comfortable and inviting.
Inspired by the wooden cut-out wings we saw at the Florence Griswold Museum last fall, Highfield’s Annie Dean painted some for our exhibit. I was hoping to find some children to pose in front, but they were all roaming the property, looking for fairy houses.
Sheila Payne was the first person I thought of when making a list of artists for the exhibit, way back in the winter. She has been making little abodes around her own house for decades and puts on the best fairy tea parties. When asked what she would make for this show, she replied, “Oh, just a standard fairy house.” I have known Sheila for 50 years and there is nothing standard about her!
Sheila Payne’s “Pipsissewa Place”.
And another remarkable miniature world made by Wendy Bagley. “Woodland House of Wonder” stretches along a stone wall on the edge of the path into Beebe Woods.
Here’s a photo from the opening reception on June 23rd. From left to right, my husband Rob Goldsborough (who look many of the photos), Wendy and Sheila. They’re wearing bead necklaces with leaf name tags that I made for the artists. The houses will be on display until July 21st at Highfield Hall and Gardens in Falmouth, MA. You can print out your own map from this PDF file. More pictures to come!
We had the most glorious day for the opening of The Fairy Houses of Beebe Woods exhibit at Highfield on Sunday. All 23 habitats were installed and ready for the hundreds of visitors who showed up for the event. This past week, one of the artists, Jenny Junker brought her children along while she constructed “Chippikomuk” at her site (below). Her daughter Ursula made her own “Pine Cone Cottage” (above).
Other Fairy House News
(added May 30, 2015)
The Fairy Houses of Highfield Hall outdoor exhibit will be held from June 28th to August 31, 2015 at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA. In addition to curating the exhibit, Salley Mavor has made a fairy family of 5, which is being raffled (3 tickets for $5.00). Tickets may be purchased online or at Highfield Hall, where the fairy family is on display. The raffle drawing will be August 30, 2015. The prize will be sent to the winner anywhere in the world! Good luck!
To help celebrate, I had Jo Ann from Cape Cod Henna decorate my hand. The design has gotten darker since the weekend and people think it’s a real tattoo, which makes me feel quite daring! It’s supposed to last for a few weeks, so I’m going to have fun with it. I also wore a brocade vest I made a few years ago. 
People really enjoyed following the fairy house tour map which brought them to parts of the property that they may not have seen before. I made a colored pencil drawing of Highfield with the house locations. A graphic designer added my curator’s note, the list of fairy house names and their makers to the finished printed map, which is available in the building. The houses are situated in a wide scope, throughout the gardens and walkways of the property. The exhibit will be open until July 21, 2013, M – F 10am – 4pm, Sat. and Sun. 10am – 2pm. 
“Hidden House”, made by artist Julie Child invites close inspection. 
Barbara Whitehead and Bruce Safley constructed “Texas Redbud Cottage” this past winter in Texas. They brought it with them on their yearly drive north to their summer place in Woods Hole. It looks so good standing high above the boxwood hedge in the sunken garden. 
Pippa Ryan brought her delightful creation outside during the opening. “Pippa’s House” was her high school senior project last year. Her house and another one are protected from the weather inside the building. 
Glen Carliss’s remarkable house, “Stonehedge” is being called a lighthouse by children who see it. Word about the exhibit is spreading fast and I can imagine many cell phone photos are being shared far and wide. For those who live too far away to visit, I will post more pictures of the other houses soon. 
I’m finally caught up with unfinished tasks and e-mails, so I went through last week’s pictures from our trip to California. I see this grouping as iconic images which represent the look and spirit of California. We came across this hillside full of California poppies while driving along the central coast. Rob took a picture of me taking the closeup photo. We’re calling it “Salley’s World” in reference to a certain famous 20th century American painting. 
This couple’s color sense was irresistible.
The children playing, the beach umbrella and the VW van pictures were all taken at Hearst Beach.
This tile roof is inside the courtyard of the San Luis Obispo Mission.
And Tuesday is farmer’s market day in Paso Robles.
SALLEY MAVOR 