Jennifer Gordon is a mixed media artist whose works evoke a sense of longing in me that speaks so perfectly to my mood this time of year. There is a tangible presence of nostalgia and history to each one of her works.
You may recall that Jennifer is one of this year’s R.I.P. IV Challenge sponsors and she graciously allowed the use of her creations for this year’s banner. As a sponsor of R.I.P. IV, Jennifer has created some hauntingly beautiful new things for her shop and has agreed to do something very special just for you!
More about that to come.
I have asked Jennifer Gordon to participate in a two-part interview, the first focusing on the season of autumn, the second on gothic things and All Hallows Eve. If you are interested in the inspirations behind her work, her process, or learning more about Jennifer Gordon as an artist, please take some time to visit my previous interview with her, located here.
Today we are focusing on autumn. Please come along with me as Jennifer Gordon shares her thoughts.
SSD: Jennifer, share with us, if you will, some of your autumn traditions.
JG: Well by the time September hits and I am more than done with summer, I go into preparation mode for October….start gathering books to read, movies to watch, clothes to wear, costumes to dream about, and for some reason to this day I still get VERY, VERY excited when I see school supplies.
Though I have been out of any kind of school environment for quite a while there is still a part of me that longs for school, so I do find myself buying some new notebooks, pens….I always stop just short of buying a backpack I will never use and a “Trapper Keeper”.
[SSD: Does anyone else fondly remember those “Trapper Keeper” commercials from your childhood?]
JG: It’s this time of year too that I associate with reading not only tons and tons of horror, but also (and this ties back to the school thing), lots of classics, and Shakespeare.
I don’t decorate with fall in mind; I sort of store it all up for Halloween.
SSD: Are there any fall festivals in your area that you attend? If so, what are some of the thoughts/memories that you can share about those?
JG: You know, I know there are fall festivals, but I have never been to any around here. I grew up in New England (NH) and lived there until I was 28, and frankly I was spoiled rotten by autumn in New England, so anything else pales in comparison.
Fall in NH is fair season, so there were many trips made to gorge on fair foods and enjoy the cool night air.
The beginning of fall always started for me with something called River Fest in Manchester, NH. Basically it was just a big gathering with fireworks and money wheels in a large parking lot masquerading as a park by a river, but as a kid and teenager it symbolized three days of freedom and pretending to be a grownup.
[SSD: What is a money wheel?]
[JG: A money wheel is like roulette but instead of numbers on the wheel it is all dollar amounts, mostly $1 but random $5, 10 and 20 are thrown in there too. I believe it was a dollar a turn and you bet on where the wheel would land.
My memories are sort of fuzzy of this, but I remember that was where a lot of the French ladies would hang out all night and gamble, speak in French, and chain smoke. My mom being one of them, I remember being equal parts mortified and excited by the whole thing.]
As I got older fall was associated several times with doing theater productions. My first professional acting role was in Oedipus Rex and that ran in September, so I have very vivid and wonderful memories of working on that play with the other actors in a park across the street from the theater on a fall afternoon and just looking into the sky and it was such a vivid blue contrasting with the fire red and orange leaves. It was so beautiful.
SSD: Describe an ideal autumn day.
JG: The perfect day, temperature in the 60’s, mid 60’s, it would be warm enough that if I was wearing a sweater I would be fine, especially if I was walking. On this day my wonderful husband and I would walk to get pumpkin spice lattes and then walk into town to hit all the used bookstores, get back to our place just as it was starting to get dark and cold, then we would curl up with the dog and watch a movie, or Smallville. We are a very Superman related little family.
SSD: What are some of your favorite books that you have either read, or re-read, during autumn, or have a particularly fall-like association for you?
JG: Fall always makes me think of Anne of Green Gables, which I read for the first time in fall when I was 12, right around the time the miniseries was being shown on PBS. I remember reading like a maniac so I would have the book finished before the mini series started.
I LOVE Anne of Green Gables. In fact, Anne was very obsessed with the poem The Lady Of Shalott by Tennyson, and I remember running to the bookshelf and pulling a dusty old copy of his complete works off the shelf and looking it up.
[SSD: Oh my Jennifer, I think we were separated at birth!]
JG: That moment started my love of Tennyson as well, and then in turn that lead to a fascination with Pre-Raphaelite art.
SSD: Are there any particular scents that you associate with autumn?
JG: HOT CIDER!!!!! That is the best autumn smell in the world, also I have a soft spot for the late autumn smell of decaying leaves and cool air!
SSD: Are any of your works inspired by the autumn season, by books or films or anything that you consider of the season?
JG: I actually have several pieces based on those themes; the titles are actually lines from The Lady of Shalott as well:
Also, as I said before I think of school and books I read then, and Fitzgerald is and was a favorite as well, that too has been a recurring theme in some of my work.
Also I read the Zelda Fitzgerald biography a few years ago during September and became very fascinated with her as well.
(Zelda’s Letters Home from France)
I have other pieces that were very much inspired by just the whole feeling of autumn.
SSD: Are there any particular beloved films or television shows that you associate with Autumn?
JG: Well, obviously Anne Of Green Gables, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Kicking and Screaming, Twin Peaks….mainly a lot of gothic and horror related films, but I am trying not to get too “Halloween” just yet.
[SSD: Yes, we are saving that for the second interview, coming mid-October]
SSD: For those of us who don’t live in or near Ohio, describe autumn in your area.
JG: I will be honest and say, for the record, that I am not a big fan of autumn in Ohio; then again as I said before living in New Hampshire spoiled me rotten for fall.
Ohio’s autumn goes a little something like this…It’s really hot and in the 80’s until sometime in September or October, then there is a several day time period where it is really really insanely windy and after that it is cold.
There is no gradual darkening of the days and leaves; it’s just summer, then cold. I wish I could romanticize it more and make it seem beautiful, but so far the past 5 autumns have had this cycle.
SSD: Who are some of the musicians that you associate with the autumn season?
JG: This is a hard one, to tell the truth the only music I have a very strong connection with autumn is music I listened to during a particularly gloomy and heartbroken autumn. So I would have to say The Smiths and Matthew Sweet come to mind.
Also from a completely different Autumn experience the soundtrack to The King and I, is also very fall related to me, again from being in a production of it during September one year, I tend to get very “showtuney” during fall as well.
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I hope you all enjoyed Part One of this two-part focus on artist Jennifer Gordon and her thoughts on the season that inspires the R.I.P. Challenge every year. As advertised, the next interview, coming your way on October 13th, will focus on the gothic and on All Hallows Eve.
As part of her involvement in the R.I.P. IV Challenge, Jennifer Gordon is making some very special offers to those of you who are participating.
Jennifer Gordon’s Etsy Shop is located HERE.
Her R.I.P. IV Specials:
Prints are all buy one, get one free!!!
—Do not put free print(s) in shopping cart, just write the titles of the free pieces in the ‘Note to Seller’ section during checkout.15% off everything else in my shop
–Just put the discount code RIP2009 in the ‘Note to Seller’ section during checkout and wait to pay until I send you a revised invoice.Also, EVERY PURCHASE receives this exclusive 5×7 R.I.P. Print:
I asked Jennifer about the inspiration for this print:
“Well the piece of course is very much inspired by my love of reading…but mostly I think so much is said with the color, which to me is a mixture of both contentment, contemplation, and just a touch of longing….sort of a glimpse into my love affair with books, and words and the beautiful escape they can give.”
I have one, ladies and gentlemen, and it is wonderful!
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To whet the appetite, I am giving away a set of these bookplates and one of each of these bookmarks.
I purchased all of these items for myself lately and I can unequivocally state that they are wonderful.
The bookplates are currently part of my autumn decorations on a table in my living room and these bookmarks have been my constant companions during the first month of the R.I.P. IV Challenge.
As you read Jennifer Gordon’s responses to my questions, you no doubt thought of what your own answers to some of these questions might be. Or perhaps her answers inspired some thought in you, or made you want to share something back. All you have to do to qualify is share in the comments section by 11:59 p.m. CST Sunday, October 4th. I will announce the winner in the Short Story Sunday post on Monday, October 5th.
In addition, I am putting together a very special R.I.P. IV PRIZE PACKAGE to be awarded to an individual who purchases something from Jennifer Gordon’s Etsy Shop between now and October 23rd. All you need to do is send an email to poegeek (at) gmail (dot) com and let me know what you purchased and your name will be placed in the random drawing. There is no limit for qualifying and you are qualified even if you have already won something from the R.I.P. IV Challenge this year. More details will be coming out about this later. All I can share now is that this will be a Prize Package worth getting your hands on!
October is finally here! I look forward to reveling in it each and every day, and I look forward to reading your comments below.
Thank you so much, Jennifer, for your thoughts on Autumn. I cannot wait to see what you have to say about Halloween!
Okay, me first!
I couldn’t help but be flooded with thoughts and responses as I read your interview, Jennifer.
I am so thankful to not be in school any longer, but I too get the whole school vibe come fall. I think of the line from You’ve Got Mail, “bouquets of sharpened pencils” and I can just smell the scent of new school supplies. The reminder of ‘Trapper Keeper’s cracked me up.
I am seriously in love with Anne of Green Gables, particularly as portrayed by Megan Follows. I was first introduced to these in college by a girl who ended up being my sister-in-law and those opening lines made me fall hard for her and for Tennyson. I read the books after seeing both films and have read many of them over and over again. Fall and spring make me think of Anne.
I too went and sought out the Tennyson poem right away. My very favorite old book is a lovely but tattered copy of Tennyson’s works that has Lady of Shalott in it, my wife purchased it for me years ago. A few years back I was determined to memorize the whole thing. I actually did get much of it down but then got distracted. Memorizing Lady of Shalott and The Raven are, for some reasons, quirky things that I still really want to do someday.
I too enjoy the scent of hot cider, but have to be in a particular mood to enjoy drinking it…which is odd because I love cider and love apple-flavored things. I think if I could get it so it wasn’t quite so sweet when hot I would enjoy it more.
I can definitely see the pre-Raphaelite influence in your work. That was a great period of art, wasn’t it?!?!
A lot of the music I associate with autumn is very melancholy, which is part of the reason I love it so.
Thanks again for taking part in this. I’m so excited that I will soon get a sneak peek at your Part Two answers!!!
First of all, her work is just beautiful. I am going to check out her Etsy shop.
In response to her interview… it’s funny that she mentioned the Pumpkin Latte thing because living in Calif, there just aren’t REAL seasons here so I always knew it was Fall when Starbucks offered their Pumpkin Latte on the menu. However, now it’s a permanent menu item so what’s a girl to do?
Ti: a friend of mine makes us pumpkin ice cream every year and I am soooo looking forward to that. I wish I liked coffee, as I have no doubt I would enjoy a pumpkin latte.
Wow, these are awesome! I’m not going to enter the giveaway, but I am off to check out her etsy shop. Me need new bookmark 🙂
Fabulous interview and feature 🙂
Bella: Thanks! Be sure to send me an email if you do buy something because you are going to want to be in the drawing for the big package later in the month. 🙂
I would love to enter the giveaway. So many of Jennifer’s answers had me saying me too: I love looking at and buying school supplies. There was something so exciting and hopeful about shopping for school. Pumpkin lattes (need I say more?). Fall in Ohio (where I lived for the first 17 years of my life), so true. Anne of Green Gables: sigh. Twin Peaks: I feel the need for a rewatch while drinking spiced and spike hot cider. That’s something we can get fresh and local here in central PA.
Okay, I will have to check out the etsy shop now.
Beth: I have to embarrassingly admit that though I was around during the Twin Peaks phenomenon, I have never seen an episode! Might be time to Netflix it and reconnect with my generation, ha! Sorry that fall in Ohio is not the romantic setting it should be. It sometimes is, sometimes is not in Kansas City. I am hoping for a storybook fall here this year.
Thanks for this wonderful interview and the absolutely gorgeous images. I’m going to go over to Jennifer’s store as soon as I can!
I laughed when I read her idea of a perfect fall day: it is the exact copy of my ideal day, except that I would curl up with a cat rather than a dog…and maybe read some Anne of Green Gables in there somewhere as well 😉
Melanie: Have fun shopping! It is so hard to choose…which is a good thing, I guess! Good perfect fall day. I don’t mind cats, just don’t own one. Curling up with Anne of Green Gables does sound wonderful.
Wow I have to say her work is just awesome! I really enjoyed the interview and look forward to part 2. My perfect fall day would be similar to her except I’d love to add a walk in the park or a small hike to mine.
Zia: I can’t wait for part two either. I love taking walks outside in the fall. During the morning, afternoon, or even after it is dark, it is a wonderful time of year to be outside.
Oh, Carl, you present us with the most lovely artists. I would indeed cherish a set of book plates and bookmarks; they are so nostaligic and ethereal…I really, really like them. Thanks for the interview, and the chance to win.
Bellezza: You are welcome. ‘Ethereal’ is a really fantastic adjective to describe these. Bonus points for you! 🙂
I thought the most interesting question was about fall music. That’s something that I never explicitly thought about changing seasonally but I know that it happens in an organic way. The days grow shorter and the wind picks up and you just want something rich and full to compensate with. For me, it’s probably some moody britpop like Suede or something majestic from Sigur Ros.
I really enjoyed this interview and can’t wait for more from Jennifer later!
Kristen: I agree. For me it certainly isn’t a date on the calendar that begins affecting my musical tastes, it is the change in the quality of light, cloudy days, a certain feeling in the air…I find myself having ‘autumn’ feelings, musically, during odd times of the year simply because it might be really overcast and rainy. When those things happen I find myself craving certain artists and it almost happens unconsciously. Sigur Ros have a real autumn feel to me as well.
Gordon is a talented artist. Please enter me in this giveaway!
I love the mystery of this season. The days grow shorter, and the evenings become eerie; the nights seem infinitely darker– perfect time to curl up with a good book and a mug of steaming cider.
Susan: it is a very mysterious time of year, no doubt about it. I find it very odd how much I come alive as the season changes to fall. Once the weather truly hits those fall temperatures I become a totally different person emotionally. And your ‘perfect time’ sounds absolutely lovely!
Everything is so gorgeous.
I love hot apple cider, but I hadn’t even thought of it this year. So thanks for the reminder. 🙂 I’m imagining the lovely smell right now.
Fall also makes me just want to stay home, curled up in a cozy chair with a book and a cup of hot cocoa.
softdrink: All this talk about hot cider has me craving it something fierce! I am going to have to break out the cider this weekend.
Ooh, I am LOVING those bookplates and bookmarks. I may just have to go purchase some from her etsy shop!
I have to admit that fall is not my favorite season, simply because I really dislike cold weather and fall reminds me that winter is coming. 🙁 But I do enjoy the fall colors, the leaves changing and all of that. And I have to admit that I am a sucker for sweatshirts, and fall is the perfect time to get some good use out of all of mine. 🙂
Thanks for such a fantastic giveaway!
Heather: You won’t be disappointed! I understand. I’m just one of the odd-balls who actually likes the cooling temperatures. I am never so comfortable as I am when I can wear something long-sleeved and comfortable. I like it where it is just cool enough to wear a sweater, maybe have a scarf, but not so cold that I have to wear a parka. Although, come winter, I’ll love that as well.
I have to agree with Heather above that fall reminds me of the cold weather coming. But I enjoy hot apple cider and lighting candles throughout the house during this time of year.
The bookplates and bookmarks are simply fabulous.
Thank you for yet another amazing giveaway!
Amy: There is something so magical about candelight. And although I certainly think it is every bit as beautiful in spring and summer, there is just something special about candlelight in the autumn and winter months.
What a fun interview to read on this first day of October! For me it is definitely the school supplies and the apple cider – and also raking leaves! Big piles to jump into and rake back up all over again. The shuffly sound of walking through them and kicking them up into the air. 🙂
Darla: I don’t mind the first leave raking of the year, but we have some trees with Enormous leaves and any time after that first time is not so fun!
Oh, how I love these pieces of art!! Jennifer is so so very talented.
I adore most everything about Autumn, but here are a few things that come to mind: hot apple cider, cinnamon apple candles, Casper the Friendly Ghost, “You’ve Got Mail”, books- precious books, heating pads, and lots of cozy blankets.
Thanks, as always, Carl, for hosting such a WONDERFUL giveaway!!
Jessica: mmmm…cinnamon apple candles! It is funny that you mention “You’ve Got Mail” because I consider it a Christmas movie to some degree, and yet it covers at least three seasons, AND I had such a craving for the movie that I watched it while babysitting my niece last weekend.
Absolutely gorgeous stuff, please count me in Carl. And I’ll check Jennifer’s shop when I get back from hols (last day at work today, yippee!!)
Bride: You all enjoy your wonderful vacation!
“O, what ails thee knight at arms/Alone and palely loitering?”
I love that poem-and I love this interview. Funny how this should appear as we are about to drive into color (we hope) to visit our College Student for the weekend. Maybe there will be cider!! These bookmarks and bookplates are right up CS’s alley: absolutely in the Pre-Raphaelite spirit. Please enter me in the giveaway. And thank you–you just inspired a last-minute post! (no, not the Tennyson). Will definitely have to check out the rest of Jennifer’s work…next week.
Clear, crisp apply weather to you, and a good weekend!
ds: I hope you both really enjoy your weekend. I wish you perfect autumn weather, gorgeous autumn color, and lots of fresh cider.
Oh, great. Right line, wrong poem. Wrong poet. *several head smacks; look of shame* I do love “The Lady of Shallott” but gave you Keats’s “La Belle Dame sans Merci” instead. So sorry.Its late; I’m tired. I am apparently too old to be blogging after midnight. Bother and blast!
ds: That is so funny, because I was thinking as I read it that it didn’t sound like Lady of Shalott. Pretty good considering its been forever since I’ve read it.
I am in love with Jennifer’s look since the moment you introduced her to me. These photographs from the 20s-30s are so breathtakingly beautiful that they certainly stop my heart on their own, but augmented with Jennifer’s vision they are apparitions waiting to spring forward.
Autumn comes to me with sleep, dust and dried branches as symbols. I always associate those with autumn as well as the Gothic melancholy that lingers like lavender perfume.
Harry: I couldn’t have said it better myself. Well done! I love me some gothic melancholy! Speaking of sleep, when the weather turns cooler, despite my enjoyment of it, I find it so much harder to crawl out of those warm covers…which is exactly what happened this morning.
I hadn’t come across Jennifer Gordon’s work until the RIP IV Challenge, so thank you, they are so beautiful. I love the mesh of gothic and fin-de-siecle.
Anne of Green Gables is also one of my favourite books and films (I thought Megan Followes was perfect) and I always think about the red and orange autumn leaves of Prince Edward Island.
I’ve never had hot apple cider (only mulled wine at Christmas – is it similar?), so I’m going to check out some recipes now. It’s nice to be reminded how exciting autumn can be, especially when living in a big city like London.
Sakura: I’m glad the challenge made you aware of her work, it is lovely. Megan was perfect, wasn’t she? I couldn’t help but have the most immense crush on her. Red hair, loved reading, active imagination…she’s perfect! I’ve never had mulled wine, that I can recall, so I don’t know. I would like to try it some time, perhaps this Christmas. I’d love to experience autumn in other places, New England and London both included.
I love the fact that I’m not the only adult who wants to run out and buy school supplies she’ll never use when fall begins – fall meaning the start of school is so ingrained that I wonder if it will ever go away.
I too always think of Anne of Green Gables when fall arrives – again, I think it’s the school connection – Anne so loved school!
The scents of autumn are my favorite – pumpkin and apples and cinnamon. They’re so welcoming.
Jennifer’s work is so beautiful, and really captures so many emotions.
Jenn: I agree. Regardless of temps I cannot help but feel, on some level, that summer officially ends the day kids go back to school. One of the many things I love about the Anne of Green Gables story is her unending optimism and willingness to see the best in people and situations. It is something I definitely try to emulate, though I am not always a success at doing so.
wow, those bookplates are breathtaking! please enter me too. and i am going to check out her shop too.
i really enjoyed this interview and look forward to the second part, which happens to take place on my sister’s birthday. [a very neat date in my opinion. :)] i never thought about fall music, but i just heard black #1 on the radio the other day, and that was another sign of autumn to me. that song never gets airplay outside of october. my favorite fall days are the ones that are sunny with a crispness in the air that lets you the heat of the summer is waning. in texas you really have to look for the changing of the leaves, but it happens, albeit very gradually. now i am in az and i will have to take a drive to other parts of the state to get my leaf fix.
Jehara: It is a neat date. Happy early birthday to your sister!!! I’ll have to admit that I don’t know what ‘black #1’ is, but I’ll be looking it up now on youtube. Not that I have anything against the southern states (and I love me some Dallas Cowboy football!), but I was so glad when we moved north from Oklahoma because I hated the autumn and winter in OK. Way too short and not nearly as enjoyable, for me, as it is up here.
What a wonderful, wonderful interview! Ms. Gordon sounds positively delightful and down-to-earth! I know this shouldn’t surprise me, but I truly have this tendency to put people with such tremendous talent up on these “unreachable” pedestals.
BTW, I knew what a money wheel was…they always had them in the “gambling” tent at the fire department bazaar when I was a kid. (Of course, I wasn’t really supposed to go in that tent.)
Debi: We’ve had several very pleasurable email conversations and she is very down to earth. She’s one of us, no doubt about it. And she is indeed tremendously talented. As for the ‘money wheel’, I was just glad to learn something new! 😉
Carl, you enabler you! I resisted buying last time you posted a link, but this time I around I was powerless. Powerless I say 😉
I’ve bought a couple of prints, they look great and I’ve been trying to get some art for my bathroom. (yes I know that’s a bit weird, but what can I say, I is weird. I just gotta find something that’ll protect them from the steam)
Fence: Resistance is..well, you know. 😉 Its not weird at all. I have cool Brian Despain steampunk robot prints hanging in my bathroom!
I am completely in awe of this art. I love old letters – one of my blogs even has an old letter for a background – so this is right up my alley. I don’t have a lot of luck with these contests, but I’d like to try.
Amanda: Did you check out my longer interview with her where she talks about where her old letters come from? And hey, you have the same luck everyone else does. I just use the random number generator online or do the old name in a hat trick.
Great interview! First of all, Jennifer made me really want to get my house in order! It’s in need of a cleaning overhaul and I’m not much for spring cleaning so it looks like fall cleaning is on the agenda! I don’t know why I associated this inspiration with what Jennifer said, but it is what it is…LOL!
I’m excited about fall every year because the hot weather ends, my birthday is in October, I LOVE Halloween, AND I also start making plans for the Christmas season (I start decorating in early to mid November).
I noticed some things in common with Jennifer too, such as the love of The Lady of Shalott and Pre-Raphaelite art. Also, I love the music of Matthew Sweet.
May I say that Jennifer’s art is so hauntingly beautiful. I will definitely be buying something, but I hope I win as I love bookplates and bookmarks!
Thanks SSD for another great contest 🙂
Michelle: Hey, any inspiration to clean house is a good inspiration, right? Happy October Birthday!!! You’re not alone in your Christmas decorating. Mid November is about the time I love to start decorating as well. The season passes way too quickly and I like to have as much time with my Christmas decorations as I can. If you buy something, make sure to send an email to me.
I’ve just bought a few things from Jennifer’s etsy store even though I am not entirely sure where they are going to live when they arrive – but I knew that I had to buy at least a couple of pictures as they are so gorgeous! My thanks to you for this interview/profile that tempted me so sorely.
Peta: I’m going to pick some up as well, I can certainly understand why you were tempted! I too don’t k know where I’m going to put them, but that hasn’t stopped me!
Fantastic interview as always! Clicking over to the Etsy shop…I love the look of those bookmarks.
Nymeth: They are some of the best bookmarks I’ve seen in a long time. And are perfect for reading gothic books with!
Fantastic interview and such beautiful, beautiful work. It is positively haunting and mysterious – and perfect for this season. I’m looking forward to part two!
Heather: Me too…I can’t wait until she sends me her answers!
Absolutely gorgeous images. Truly beautiful. I just bought four of them for heavens sake! On a totally separate note – I adore school supplies too. I’m ridiculous when it comes to binders, file folders,post-its, markers, construction paper, neat pens, and the such not. I’m like an office/school supply junkie for some unknown reason.
Trisha: I think once a school supply fan, always a school supply fan. I still get really excited if I come across a good gel pen at work!
These prints are so beautiful – I will definitely be stopping by the Etsy shop later on this month, and I’d love to be entered for the giveaway! I think this sort of art, that mixes images and handwriting/words, is just lovely.
Jenny: Great! I’ll enter you in this drawing, and please let me know if you do end up buying something from her etsy site so that I can enter you in the bigger drawing as well.
Very striking….haunted and yet beautiful. I would love to be entered and am going to check out her shop as well. Thanks for the introduction and possible win! Happy Reading!
Those arts look so pretty. I think I may buy the bookmarks collection. I’ll email you when I do.
I lived the first 18 years of my life in tropical country so I never really think about autumn like you do. But I remember when I lived in Canada for a year that autumn was such an interesting season, with the falling leaves and Halloween (we don’t celebrate Halloween in Australia). I’m glad that you open my eyes to a whole new world. I would never see autumn the same way ever again.
Wonderful interview and what truly gorgeous and inspiring work Jennifer creates. I think the bookmarks would make great gifts and I have a friend who has a special birthday next month so am going to head over and take a look at the collection. I have seen the interlude piece before, I’m sure, as tiles and remember loving them at the time.
I’m really looking forward to part II of the interview.
Another great interview!
I wish we had some autumnish festivals here. When I was younger, my parents and I used to go to a small-town Corn and Apple harvest festival every September, but it’s been years since I went. I remember it being a ton of fun, though; there were all sorts of activities on the streets, including an excellent craft and thrift sale in the main town square. One year I almost brought home a free puppy, but my parents refused to let me accept him.
Now, back to Jennifer’s shop. I’ve spotted one thing I’m definitely going to get, but I think I may splurge and get a couple of others as well. 🙂
Oh, Carl ~ there is just so much here. Jennifer Gordon’s art is exquisite, ethereal and earthy all at once. The combination is to me the essence of autumn, and your interview of her now is perfect.
Although Lee Ann Womack is hardly “high culture”, her wonderful video, “I Hope You Dance”, never fails to touch me, communicating the pathos and the promise of the season. If you don’t know it, you might enjoy it. I think of it as autumn on a human scale 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTQfERb9HVk
It was a pleasure to read Jennifer Gordon’s interview. I remember those Trapper Keeper’s too. 🙂
Also, I love her Art and the descriptions of each piece and how her inspiration is so connected to what she reads and feels with color. Truly inspirational!