Lydia Likes It

Loose Ends

Nothing compares to a handmade gift. I remember every afghan my grandmother crocheted for me, and the sweater my mother made to match my Brownies uniform, and the variegated scarf with a pocket in one end that my husband Ted knit for me. What happens to projects left unfinished when the maker passes away or becomes too disabled to get the project done? Loose Ends, founded by two women who are lifelong knitters, finishes projects loved ones left behind, by matching all kinds of fiber projects with volunteers who will finish them. Here's how it works (from their web site): "When Loose Ends receives a project submission, we look through our database of finishers to find a good match. With an eye toward geography, skill level, and druthers, we will identify a good fit based on the information volunteer finishers submitted in their profiles. The next step is running this by the finishers themselves to find out if they’re feeling it too. Once a finisher says yes to a project, we make the connection by introducing the finisher and project holder in an email. Then… we step away and let the project evolve within this new connection. We are always here to troubleshoot, advise or reassign if needed." There are volunteer finishers all over the US, plus the UK, Canada and Australia. For more about Loose Ends, check out their FAQ page.

Grandmothers united

Here's one of the best ideas I've read about in a long time (in The Boston Globe, my hometown newspaper). In Zimbabwe, Dr. Dixon Chibanda was one of only 15 psychiatrists in the entire country, and the mental health needs of most of the population were going unmet. Dr. Chibanda had a simple idea: to harness the wisdom and listening power of grandmothers, who would be trained to provide supportive counseling and practical assistance to people without access to health care, in the nonclinical setting of park benches. The Friendship Bench program offers an inexpensive and elegant solution to a frontline mental health need -- and, research shows, provides benefits to the grandmothers as well. A couple of cities in the US are trying this. Could we replicate this idea in more communities?

Paper stories

I'm no artist. (Don't make me prove it.) I can't paint or draw, but I do like to create simple collages by cutting and ripping things up, so I'm drawn to the work of collage artists who use the two-dimensional form in a more sophisticated way to show movement and tell stories. Boston's Museum of Fine Arts introduced me to the artist and activist Ekua Holmes. Earlier this year, the museum presented an exhibit of her vibrant mixed-media collages created for six children's books, along with sketches, portraits of her community of Roxbury, and a wonderful video interview that ran on a wall screen mounted above the wooden table where she used to make art in her grandmother's kitchen. (Image from Museum of Fine Arts web site.)

Amy Sherald, portrait artist

The Obamas are coming to town. Not in person: the Obama presidential portraits, on loan from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, will end their national tour in Boston later this year. Amy Sherald’s rendering of former First Lady Michelle Obama in the now-iconic, Gee's Bend-inspired, flowing white dress, is a stunning departure from earlier portraits of first ladies. Ms. Sherald grew up in Georgia, earned a master's degree from Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore and studied with abstract expressionist Grace Hartigan. Though Ms. Sherald specializes in portraits of African-Americans, the portrait of Michelle Obama was her first directed commission. A distinguishing feature of her work is the use of grays, rather than blacks, to create the skin tones of her subjects. The Obama portraits will be on exhibit September 3-October 30, 2022, at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, after which they'll return to their home at the National Portrait Gallery. 

Rainbow monster

On a recent visit to the Fitchburg Art Museum to see an exhibit of 20th Century American roadside photography, I noticed on the wall leading to the elevator an absolutely exuberant display of watercolor/collages -- faces and trees and true abstracts -- made by young children. Rainbow Monster, the creation of kindergarten student Emmanuela F., brought a huge smile to my face. Can you imagine a more cheerful monster?