Jenny Walty

I spent last week with my brother's family in Oakland and thouroughly enjoyed being a babysitting aunt. My niece and nephew are super adorable and we all still think they could make their college money now as baby models. I also became acutely aware of the challenges facing my sister-in-law, Haige, as the primary caretaker of the babies which includes severe fatigue, frustration, and denial of personal needs. It seems like a lot to give up, but similar demands are made by one's employer... who will not be around in 40 years to take care of you. With babies, you are paid for your services in pure love, wonder, and delight. The balance will accrue over a long term to become the best part of your life So says my dad, who has counted other accomplishments like rebuilding his own airplane, developing a cancer treatment, and inventions resulting in 8 US patents. Coming from a family of engineers, I am more than a little confused when I think of my accomplishments and contributions. Is it hard to do more good than harm in the broad scope of the world? Does art help people? 

I am in bright and sunny California. 

I was sad to come back to Brooklyn after being in the woods for the weekend and a little depressed, but I put up my Bread & Puppet posters, prepared the cucumbers and squash that David picked for us before we left, and I felt a bit better.

I am back in the city for just one day before heading out west to visit my brother and his family, but I put up a bunch of pictures on flickr if you want to see the gorgeous Northeast Kingdom for yourself.

The images I have been posting to illustrate our trip to Vermont were created by Bread & Puppet, a collaborative / community / project / performance / festival / circus / pagaent / commune / sculpture / music / experience founded and led by Peter Schumann. David and Joan used to perform every year in an annual summer Domestic Resurrection Circus and Pagaent, and Brynna Kate often performed with her parents when she was young. One summer she went to work everyday as an apprentice, rotating work in the fields, cooking and cleaning, creating the performances, and making puppets. Peter taught her his recipe for the sculpting clay he used to mold the puppets: fresh clay dug from the ground, straw, and beer!

Bread & Puppet is part of a Cheap Art movement and continues to stage free performances every sunday in the summer. Donations support puppetiers, musicians, and artists from all over the world who come to participate.

Usually the performance takes place in the field, rain or shine, a sort of natural ampetheater with the pine woods playing a character in the background, but this Sunday Bread & Puppet performed in their new building and I have to admit that it was nice to be inside and out of the rain. The Circus of the Correct Moment, as it was announced, was a beautiful chorus of voices speaking their truths with the conviction of living them, it was totally inspiring and urged me to more closely approach my beliefs within my daily choices.

Sunday morning dawned wet and drizzling but we had talked about a drive up to Canada to have lunch at Owl's Bread, a top rated French bistro just over the border in Quebec province. Lunch was amazing with rich flavors and good conversation.

Hurray for unpasturized cheese and French-Canadian cooking!

We were so lucky to spend an active Saturday outdoors with perfect sunny weather before the hurricane pushed the rain up on Sunday. David, Brynna, Emily, and I climbed up to the top of Mt. Hor, a great hike through the maple, birch, ash, and fir woods to see Lake Willoughby from above and a vista for a miles to the east into NH. After the hot climb up and back down in was refreshing to dive into Lake Willoughby's crystal waters and spend the rest of the afternoon with the naked babies on the beach. I would've taken the plunge off of Devil's rock but David didn't want me to get the car all wet.

After another delightful dinner, Brynna, Emily, and I spent the evening out around the firepit warming our toes and watching for shooting stars. The few lacy clouds on the south-western horizon were lit up as the moon sunk and the milky way glittered across the sky. I saw two of the brightest shooting starts I've ever seen, with big bushy tails that left their image on my retina after the "Oooh" had breathed out of my body. I had my eyes glued to the sky waiting for these Perseid meteors, and as it got darker we realized that there were hudreds of faint streakings, tiny pieces of dust from the tail of the Swift-Tuttle Comet.

We craned our necks up at the night sky way past our country bedtimes while Emily retold her favorite myths and Brynna delayed going in until we saw one more...

I spent a lovely long weekend with Lil' B and Miss E.J. at the Tucker's house in Vermont. Joan and David took care of us in every way, feeding us till we almost burst, plying us with drinks, and sharing the bounty of their burgeoning August garden.

They built their house before Brynna Kate was born, a beautifully grown and lived-in house on a hill in Sutton, overlooking their 75 acres of forest with a stream, a sping, the ruins of a maple sugar processing house, an old stone wall sloping down from the road on the south side of the clearing, and several miles of trails that David maintains. The clearing is filled with goldenrod, feathering above thistles, long grasses, and a lonely black-eyed susan. There's an old yellow birch by the wall, marking the property line.

This is the new piece I've been working on for the last week. The materials from the bottom are: empty pen barrels, paint brushes, toy people (given to me by Jeannie), metal frgaments excavated from 252 Grand, mirror fragments, driftwood, and a bike fragment. I'm not sure what it's called yet but it's pretty exciting. 

Here's a loner with Oscar's work in the background. 

I've been working hard to get my studio in order and am finally comfortable with the set-up. You can see 6 pieces here, all hanging close together with some of Brandon's work in the background. 

Does it look like a face? 

Studio shot from yesterday...