Noodling through some more of the Library of Congress‘s pictures on Flickr, I found these two which really amuse me. It’s not just the silly hats and the sagging, pre-nylon socks and, shall we say, revealing shorts. Or the precision of the oars lined up in a row. What is it that makes them so delightful?
Click on a picture to see it larger.
I found this via How’s Robb?. It’s worth watching and worth watching as large as possible.
Hefted from Dreamtime Film on Vimeo.
If you visit Flickr you may have seen that the Library of Congress posted some of Lewis Hine’s photographs of child labor. They’re amazing. They were taken between 1908 and 1924 but I feel like I’m right there with him, witnessing.
Rhodes Mfg. Co., Lincolnton, N.C. Spinner. A moments glimpse of the outer world. Said she was 10 years old. Been working over a year. 1908 November.
I thought I knew this photograph from The History of Photography by Beaumont Newhall, one of my college textbooks. But I looked it up and the book photograph is of a different girl, perhaps working at the same mill? There must have been so many mills and factories full of kids.
Little Fannie, 7 years old, 48 inches high, helps sister in Elk Mills. Her sister (in photo) said, “Yes, she he’ps me right smart. Not all day but all she can. Yes, she started with me at six this mornin’.” These two belong to a family of 19 children. 1910 November.
Lunch Time, Economy Glass Works, Morgantown, W. Va. Plenty more like this, inside. 1908 October.
I love the mystery arm on the right and the chalked graffiti heads on the door. I wonder if children worked at the Ellenville Glass Works that used to operate in my village.
Manuel, the young shrimp-picker, five years old, and a mountain of child-labor oyster shells behind him. He worked last year. Understands not a word of English. Dunbar, Lopez, Dukate Company. 1911 February.
I can’t help remembering that my grandmothers were born in 1909 and 1914, respectively. Just a few years after these kids.
Sometimes when I need to look at something different, or to see differently, I click through the inspiration section of Clarina Bezzola’s website. Many of the images are disturbing or creepy, yet I find myself stopped again and again by the marvelous mystery, unlabeled or explained.
Eliza tagged me with a meme that’s been going around. (Or a “me-me” as I think of them.)
What was I doing 10 years ago?
Living in the Midwest. I was working in a gallery. I already had a studio and I think that was the year I participated in the town’s open studio day. Friends helped me hang Christmas lights and baked gorgeous cookies to offer visitors. I hung my first quilt on the studio wall. I was figuring out what I “should” be making.
5 things on my to-do list for today:
Nothing fascinating –
Answer a couple of emails.
Make jewelry.
Pay some attention to this blog.
Make a phone call about buying a car.
Wash them dishes.
Snacks I enjoy:
I’m not crazy about snacks. I like FOOD. And generally not the low fat, virtuous kind, although I do love dark leafy greens. But also ice cream, and cheese, and pieeeeeee.
Due to the strange effects of colonialism, we’re able to get these Scottish caramel wafers in our Caribbean corner store. Bizarre, but appreciated.
Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Freak out.
Places I have lived:
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland. After a year or two we moved to Roubaix in the north of France, then Paris, then on to Geneva in Switzerland where I was for most of my primary schooling. Back to Edinburgh through high school and art college, then across the Atlantic to Ann Arbor in Michigan. And finally to Brooklyn, New York.
In retrospect it seems kind of inevitable that I would end up in North America. My German grandmother came over to Canada in her 20s and stayed. My mother, on the other hand, was raised in Canada but has spent her adult life in Europe. Seems every generation bounces back across the Atlantic.
I am in love with this bed by Shawn Lovell, who just won a 2008 Niche award.
How could you fail to sleep well?
I also covet her gorgeous trellis.
Of course the whole established perennial garden is part of the dream too. Better find me a plot and get digging.
On Sunday I went to the Winter Garden for the opening of the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef. The project marries craft and mathematics, and brings attention to the ocean’s endangered coral reefs.
The pieces are every shape imaginable, and made from everything from wool to trash.
I got to meet Helle, who has flown in from Australia. Her Rubbish Vortex is hanging in the middle of this snapshot…
It’s made entirely from plastic bags of every color, sent to her from all over the world. I find the piece particularly moving; the real trash vortex in the pacific is large enough to be compared to a land mass and makes this planet seem very small and vulnerable.
I get the Quilt of the Month email from the International Quilt Study Center. Some quilts are old, made by unknown stitchers, others are by renown contemporary quilt artists.
This one is from January, and appeals to me since I have houses on the brain.
Reminds me of this mailbox I saw in Sunset Park while apartment hunting.
I think that was right before we saw the place where the sink was in the shower, and there was a hot tub in the closet next to the toilet…
I’ve updated my jewelry web site. Check it out – there are new designs and some additions to the spirals and zig zags.
There’s a wonderful thing happening over at one in ten.
Eireann Lorsung‘s mom has suffered a hemorrhage in her brain, and the crafting community being what it is, there is an auction to raise funds to help out with her medical bills.
You can bid on pieces by Lisa Congdon, Amanda Soule, Stephanie and Mav of 3191 fame, and many more crafty bloggers.
You can bid on my leaf earrings:
Find out more about the participants at the one in ten site, or just browse the list of eBay auctions. You have until Friday to get a head start on your holiday shopping, in the name of a very good cause.