field notes

🏳️‍🌈 Ruth Ellis (1899 - 2000) was the daughter of former slaves. She came out as a lesbian when she was 16-years-old to the complete acceptance of her family. In 1937, Ruth and her longtime partner moved to Detroit from their hometown of Springfield, Illinois for the promise of higher wages. There, she became the first woman in Michigan to run her own printing business. She printed fliers, posters, and stationary in the front room of her home, which also quickly became a hotspot for Black LGBTQ social life. Before long, Ruth was helping those who came around in any way she could, including by paying for college tuitions. After the Stonewall uprising, 70-year-old Ruth began giving speeches in support of gay and lesbian rights all across the country. She remained an activist for the rest of her long life and even spent her 100th birthday leading the San Francisco Dyke March. At the time of her death at 101, she was recognized as the oldest out lesbian in the US. She is the subject of the documentary "Living With Pride: Ruth C. Ellis @ 100" and is the namesake of the Ruth Ellis Center, a shelter for homeless and at-risk LGBTQ youth in Detroit.

Celebrate Ruth Ellis.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Ellis_(activist)

I made this print for trans day of visibility but completely forgot to post on here as well! literally everything in the news lately related to trans rights has been heartbreaking so I wanted to make something centered around joy

The dark paintings of 1969 are collected here: 1  2 3

I do counted cross stitch, so I think that this building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is amazing.  The creator’s name is Raquel Rodrigo, an artist, and designer from Valencia, Spain.

It looks like graffiti from a distance, but close up, you can see that it’s actually a cross-stitch pattern affixed to this Philadelphia Naval Yard property building.

Take a look at the detail here. It must’ve taken such a long time to achieve this stunning final effect. She covered it with wire mesh like a giant cross stitch canvas.

What a brilliant idea. 

According to the artist, she wanted to bring feminine art that has dressed homes around the world to the street. However, her idea was to use a cross-stitch pattern to do so instead of graffiti.

She now travels around the world, beautifying buildings and making various street art.

She prepares her detailed designs in advance. Then she unrolls them at the chosen location. Her desire is to bring a dash of color and creativity to the surrounding area. I wonder how long it holds up in the weather. I can’t even see where they attached the mesh. So pretty.

When I was a kid, I always kept the windows open when it rained. I saw no reason to close them even though my mom kept asking me to. She never gave a reason, so I never listened. She'd say it let the rain in and I'd think "no shit" and continue to keep them open. Eventually, she explained that it could cause mold. That made sense to me, so I started closing the windows. Simple as that.

When we first got cats, they kept jumping onto the counters. Once again, I saw no issue with this. My mom kept chasing them down and I couldn't figure out why. She'd get annoyed whenever I let them stay up there. Once she told me that it was unsanitary, I thought that made sense so I stopped letting them stay on the counter.

To an outsider (and probably to my mom at the time) it may have seemed like I didn't understand the instructions or was being intentionally difficult. But I can't just follow an order without a reason. I must decide for myself if the order makes sense before I follow it, and I need the logic behind it to do that.

Reflection II  -   Andrew Beck, 2021.

New Zealander , b. 1987-