Ispirato

Many of my blog readers will know that I run Australia’s greatest papercraft expo, Melbourne Paperific in October every year. For 2008 I decided to add a March Paperific to the calendar. It seemed like a good idea when I announced the dates five months ago, but with a shorter lead-up time to plan this big event, it was really quite nerve-racking. It had more than its fair-share of organizational hiccups and there were days when I just wanted to turn back the clock and say, “FORGET THE MARCH EXPO! I CHANGED MY MIND!”

Well, thank goodness I didn’t do that.

We have had a FANTASTIC expo at the Caulfield Racecourse with lots of happy customers and exhibitors. Very, very happy.
I also have the BEST front entrance staff, enabling me to break away and spend quality time catching up with people at the show, and even taking in a little papercraft shopping myself.

There is a buzz of excitement at a craft show that you just don’t find when you are in a craft shop. I think gathering so many creative people in one place just automatically raises the spiritual vibration. And people are more likely to engage in conversation with strangers at craft shows than in a normal shop. Did I mention the retail therapy? There’s unbeatable retail therapy, too.

We need to support our local craft shops all year ’round. And even the little shops have to admit that craft shows like Paperific are actually good booster injections for the whole craft industry.
Back in October I wrote this blog post about our one (and only) Paperific at the Pavilion in Docklands which had a lot of ‘venue issues’. It was better attended and cost less to put on, so was more financially rewarding for me. But the venue issues caused a bit of angst, especially for older customers who didn’t like to be crowded.

No grumbles this weekend, though. Bigger, brighter aisles have meant people cope better on the crowded stands. Good soul stuff happening. Very, very happy at the expo.

Benedictine monk Bede, writing in the  8^th century, suggests the name “Easter” was adopted for the Christian holiday as it had been the name applied the spring equinox, which in turn had been named for the Saxon goddess Eostre.

Other authors, including Barbara G. Walker in “The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets” suggest the name Eostre is a variation of goddess names from other parts of the world, including the goddess Astarte – one near and dear to my heart as the patron deity of “Astarte’s Mega-Zine” which I publish at Go-Make-Art.com. Walker surmises that Eostre – Astarte and the other variant Hathor, from Egypt, had connections with both the moon-hare and the egg, associated with fertility. If you have undertaken any study of ancient goddess cults you will know that there are many stories associated with the resurrecting man, birth and rebirth, the seasonal cycles and so on.

As an aside, my own name, “Stacey” is derived from the ancient Greek word for resurrection, so it stands to reason I would have more than a passing interest in the topic! Though not Greek myself, I actually married one and acquired the name “Apeitos” which translates as “stubborn”. A stubborn resurrection. I’m not sure what that means, but that’s me.

But getting back on topic, I find the study of ancient goddess religions and their parallels to modern religious beliefs quite fascinating. It is important to keep in mind that many of these connections are based on speculation, since little written material exists from the actual time these ancient religions were practiced. For example, it is so easy to say that the original Easter Bunny was the moon-hare companion of Eostre, when in fact this is all just supposition.

However, as an artist, the ancient myths are great fodder for visual imagery, rich with symbolism. I find that very appealing. Images of a goddess, the moon,  a hare, golden eggs start to dance in my head.

It is also fun to think about and interpret symbols, in the same way that one feels rewarded for solving a riddle or a puzzle.

Finally, myths and symbols help me to reflect on my own life; my place in the world. There are layers of meaning in myths and symbols and religious practices. Some relate to the movements of the planets, the cycles of nature, even quantum physics … and other layers pertain to psychology and spirituality.  When I recognize a connection between these layers I get one of those electric “Aha!” moments that can’t always be expressed in words. It just feels satisfying. It is a sort of comprehension that occurs at soul level, and goes beyond intellectual understanding.

I belong to the Victorian Feltmakers, Inc (in fact I recently became their president, so please bow and scrape, thank you) and member Eva McDonald brought in a HUGE box of black mugs at the end of last year hoping we could use them. Their one drawback - a business advertising slogan printed on them.

 Eva suggested we could hide the printing behind hand-felted mug-warmer bands. The bands serve a dual purpose. Brilliant!

Here is one I made using welt feltmaking techniques and embellished with a little machine embroidery. It has a velcro closure stitched on, but I think I’d use a button next time.

 This, and three other bands I made last weekend, will be displayed at our April meeting as samples for a Feltmakers Challenge. It is a dual purpose challenge. First, we want to inspire members to make felt. Second, we want to clear out those hundred mugs taking up space in the Vic Feltmakers storage cupboard!

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I am offering a quick class at Melbourne Paperific next month in a particularly clever book-making technique. So of course, I needed a couple of finished samples to show students. I decided to make a book featuring vintage photos of showgirls and postcard ladies in scandalous poses and tie in clever quotes by women.

As I layered and glued, I pondered: what is it about these saucy women that is so appealing to me? On the one hand, I am attracted to the fact that they are naughty and rebellious; acting out against the stuffy, status quo. On the other hand, I am amused that what was perceived as naughty and rebellious in the early 1900’s (like being photographed in your underwear) would raise hardly any eyebrows in the early 2000’s. It’s a paradox.

Let’s strip a few layers off this collage and look at a more basic layer of truth: I am attracted to these vintage pictures of saucy ladies because I want to be one of them. Yup, I want to be a gypsy; a free-spirited, smiling, sexy siren. I want to be a naughty girl … but (here’s the thing:)I want to be naughty by yesterday’s standard and not today’s standard. I want to be a vintage tart, not a modern-day porn queen.

I want to be ahead of my time. I want to be daring, and unconcerned about what the stuffed-shirts think.
And I want the wit of Mae West.