Two months sheltered-in-place. It’s spring, everything is in bloom. Everyone needs a haircut.
In early April, the Japanese maple tree played nest to Isabella as she inserted herself into its still bare branches, captured in an image which would become the start of a new collaborative project with my Italian counterpart, Federica Pamio. We fused our images of solitude and isolation during the pandemic to create a body of work titled n’est nest. Read about our project in the Boston Globe by Cate McQuaid!
untitled (n’est nest, test 2), 2020, Lin.Fe
Today I pruned that tree. Yesterday I cut Isabella’s hair. I think about the artist’s toolbox……mine includes my fierce pair of scissors, Allex, stainless steel, made in Japan. I use them for paper, fabric, and that haircut.
On scissors… last year, Natalie interviewed me for one of her Parson’s classes. She wanted to know about my favorite tool as an artist, my scissors. We traced back a connection to my mom, who had worked as a seamstress her entire life. Natalie wove my story into a handmade pair of paper and metal scissors. Meg always reminds me that the most personal is the most creative.
Very pleased with the prune job and Isabella’s haircut - sort of poetic, their relationship to one another. We are celebrating with her homemade bubble tea. The new DIY everything is not so bad…
MY TOOLS
The scissors that have seen me through haircuts, handmade facemask making, paper cutting and so much more.
My garden tool bag, provides me immense joy. It serves as my portable art studio that I use to shape nature, even the scary work of pruning a 35 year old Japanese maple in the middle of Spring (evidently best done earlier, when it’s dormant, like in the photo of Isabella wrapped up inside its EMPTY branches!).