Ambivalence

I am close to finishing Anne Kingston's enlightening and provocative book The Meaning of Wife, and it has definitely woken up my feminist side. It has made me question why I would ever want to enter into an institution fraught with such restrictions and indiscretions placed upon women and also articulated many of the feelings I have about women in contemporary society. How quickly I am swayed... I saw this wedding at Lake Jane today that had me dreaming of my own fairy-tale event. This phenomenon is actually discussed in Kingston's book, many women have ambivalence about marriage but most are excited about the wedding, the ring, the dress... Could I perhaps have love and a big party to celebrate it- without a legal contract and the dreaded title of wife?

YIN yang

This lovely lady is surely in touch with her masculine side, but apparently I'm not. I've just started rereading Gabrielle Roth's Sweat Your Prayers , a book that has been on my book shelf for the last 10 years. This is a book I discovered through my friend Robin during my electronic music stage (aka raves) in my early twenties. It is a frankly sexual book that explores ecstatic dance through archetypes, the first two being feminine and masculine, flowing and staccato respectively. After reading her descriptions of these archetypes and their relationship to masculine and feminine qualities I discovered how strongly feminine I am.

This comes as a bit of a shock; I've always considered my strong independent streak as a sign of masculinity. Friends and lovers have protested by saying I'm very soft and feminine, but I've dismissed them. Roth describes femininity as awareness, inspiration and substance and masculinity as action, discipline and form. I'm sorely lacking in the energy I need to accomplish things in the real world. I have paintings in my head that never take shape. I let a recent love be completely careless with me as I patiently excused his behavior due to his circumstance rather than standing up for what I needed. I'm leaving for Central America on savings that should have gone into my RRSP.

Of the three masculine archetypes Roth describes, 'Father' is most absent within me. I need a Daddy that will march in and tell me to clean my room, forget about any guy who doesn't mean it, finish my 5 year plan and get my ass in the studio and paint. I need a firm hand and some tough love. And by 'Daddy' I'm talking about a part of myself that needs developing, not someone I need to attract. Can I develop this side of me by dancing? It sure is fun so lets see where it goes. Now I just need to put down the book and do the practice...

(Images via the Sartorialist and The Hindu )

penguin invite

Since we seem to be on the topic of weddings today. The perfect invite for bookish types from Greenwich Letterpress .

(via a cup of jo )

Andrea Cochran: Landscapes

One of my favorite Landscape Architects has recently published a book, Andrea Cochran: Landscapes . I first came upon Cochran's work as a student. The powerful simplicity of her work was exactly what I was struggling to achieve in my designs. I contacted Cochran's studio in San Fransisco with hope of an internship, but true to her regional preferences, they hire locally.

While minimalism can often be cold, Cochran's designs are emotional, evoking feelings of peace, strength and grace. Through her innovative use of  materials, regional sensibility, and adept sense of space she creates places that are beautiful, functional and socially and ecologically sustainable. Cochran has mastered the art of '... as simple as it is, but no simpler'. 

Needless to say... I love her work. When I'm feeling disenchanted with my own designs, looking through her projects motivates and inspires. {via Landscape+Urbanism }

BOOK

BOOK is a project between two guys in New York and two guys in Ireland. They sent a sketch book back and forth between each other for almost a year without any other communication, each creating a spread in response to the previous entry. The result is fun and inspiring, check it out here. {via antler magazine}