Stephanie's Studio

I've been waiting for this post for a long time. It shares the growing journey of my urban garden. Hubby and I in Grant Park, early Spring. We've got the idea... This compost has been in development, maturing behind our home, for many, many years. We needed to pick out loads of refuse, stones and so forth before getting started. This is a close-up of the compost, still laden with leaves and twigs before being broken down, as well as rocks, and other things we didn't want to be a part of the planting. Lots of juicy worms were in here, to stay! Late Spring Broom Corn, because you know you always need a nice handmade broom around, as well as other seedlings, waiting to get planted.  Gorgeous David Austin, Olivia Rose. This rose was selected for its name, in relation to my daughter, as much as for its beautiful scent and form. Sumi-e ink on Mulberry Rice Paper Painting by Stephanie Rose Bird c. 2017. Feeling inspired by all the planting!...

Popular culture has a way of finding an image, watering it down to the components it finds useful and then marketing it. It saddens me to see that happen to Kokopelli, one of our ancient American spirits. Perhaps because he is such a mystery, relatively undefined in a sharply delineated way, some have thought they could do with him what they desire. I am quite partial however to this artistic, site specific, earth art depicting Kokopelli, shown above. Here he is honored as the primordial, primal, earthy, evasive though playful spirit that is fitting. I doubt that you are unfamiliar with the image of Kokopelli. You see him on decals, souvenirs, pottery and as jewelry supposedly representing the Southwest. Far beyond being a marketing tool, the spirit or deity, however you chose to think of him, has much more to offer. Clearly he is a trickster. We can't quite make out his original iconography in his earliest renditions which are petroglyphs. Does he carry a bag or sack o...