Thank You is Not Nearly Enough!

Dear Friends & Family,


Albert Einstein once said, "The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving." If this is the case, you are all worth your weight in gold. Dominic and I received piles of boxes from our friends and families. You truly poured out your love onto Haiti. Each week the boxes we gave away were replaced by more, and we have been able to give constantly to those around us since the day of the earthquake. This would of never been possible without all of our friends and families at home who took their time and money and packed up boxes to send to us on a regular basis.

 One of the places we gave items to on a regular basis was the World Reap for Christ Church. One of my co-workers, Jeudy, is a preacher there. He and his wife run the church, a school, a clinic, and a training program. After the earthquake, Jeudy had over 30 people living at his home. His daughter had been critically injured, and his wife had accompanied her to the U.S. for several months during her recovery. His daughter is still in the United States recieving physical therapy, but Jeudy and his family are praying and believing that she will walk again. 


Several weeks ago, Jeudy and his wife Miriam came to our house on a Saturday morning. They asked if they could schedule a weekend to show us what the items we had donated had done for them. We had not idea what sort of celebration that we were agreeing to, just that they wanted us to help them pass out some items to the children. We agreed along with our roommate Brittany who had passed along many items from her friends and family.


The weekend before last, Jeudy met us at our home and we followed him to his home. It is in the process of being repaired from the earthquake, they have filled in many of the holes in his home. 
Jeudy was so thrilled to have us there.

He took us to the back of the house, where many of the supplies we had given had been organized into small bags according to the ages of the children. These were the gifts we were to be giving.

 As always, I am amazed by the resilience of Haitians and the heart they have for their people and their country. I will forever been amazed by Jeudy, who in the midst of the crisis in his own life, showed up at the embassy every day and helped me get water to American citizens when the citizens of his own church had lost everything. His heart is shining with love for people, and an example of how each of us should live.

Jeudy took us to see the clinic where they treat people who are ill and do training courses. Miriam is a nutritionist who trains people from the mountains on nutrition, healthy living, and basic medical training.

We also saw the school which has been seriously damaged. The children have been doing school on the church grounds as the building is too damaged to use. Jeudy's dream is to have a compound where the school, church, and clinic can coexist instead of separate properties.

I cannot tell you how surprised I felt when Dom, Brittany, and I walked through the gate of the church. There were so many children! Truly, I don't think that we had any idea how far the items would go when we gave them to Jeudy. The children were so excited to be there, many of them had traveled since early that morning to get to the church for the event. And then the festivities began! We were welcomed with open arms by Jeudy's church, the children sang, the adults sang, the teenagers danced, they had a full band. It truly was a great celebration.

Towards then end we were asked to speak to the group, and then we helped pass out the gift bags to the children. Those bags had just the basics, flip flops, hats, soap, toothbrushes, and an occasional toy. But they were so excited to get them! A few kids answered some bible trivia correctly and got a big gift!

It was a joyous day my friends! But none of it would of been possible if each of you hadn't packed up boxes and sent them our way. Please share this blog with the friends of friends who helped as well. We got so many boxes from people we didn't know, I would love for them to see that they truly touch lives with the items they sent. Dom and I are so blessed to have all of you looking over our shoulder in our times of need, those boxes were you wrapping your arms around us when we needed to feel your love. Thank you all for that!

The International Art Collection Begins!

In a previous post, I mentioned that Dom and I were thinking over a big art purchase. Today was the day we did the deed! I was so excited that as soon as I got our Georges Desarmes home, I hung it on the wall. This is ironic as our movers are coming on Monday, but I just had to enjoy it for a few days before it gets packed up and sent on its way to Lusaka. This will be my eye candy for the next 48 hours!

We also had a chance to meet the Haitian artist Leroy Exil thanks to our friends Angela and Charles. We purchased two of his smaller pieces. It makes me happy to think that I get to take the vibrant colors of Haiti with me on our next adventure! We also had some handmade frames made which make them extra authentic!

When we visited Leroy, he was in the middle of preparing for the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival where he will be showing his work. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival begins on June 24 on the National Mall also will feature other artists from Haiti. Some of their work will be sold to benefit Haiti's cultural revival. To all our D.C. friends, please participate in this festival, it will be a great way to get amazing art, and support the people of Haiti.

If you want to do some art shopping in Haiti we highly recommend Monnin Gallery. Toni is a fabulous lady who is truly working hard to help Haitian artists. She has set up a foundation as well, so if you are looking for an organization to donate to, I suggest this one! Haitian art is vibrant and beautiful and an amazing part of their culture. Everyone needs a touch of that in their lives.

Croix-des-Bouquets & Our Three Headed Skeleton

Yesterday, Dom and I coordinated a group trip to Croix-des-Bouquets. This is an area north of Port-au-Prince where the Haitian artisan's build their amazing metal artwork and sculpture out of old oil drums. It is a quick drive, and a must see in Port-au-Prince. What I truly enjoyed about this trip is that the artist shops all seemed to have their own little niche. Several of the artists had created their own independent style. You can find something for every style & size, intricate whimsical creatures like mermaids, tree of life, birds, crosses, mermaids, mirrors, voodoo inspired pieces, sculpture, etc.

True to form Dom and I bought a pile of gifts for the friends/family we are going to see this summer. Dom also picked out a piece from his favorite artisan, who creates a mix of original sculpture, masks, functional items, and truly has developed his own signature style. I enjoy the fact that his art does have some darker elements, as some of the metal art feels a little "cleaned up" for the consumers. Or as our friend Susan said, "People want to buy butterflies and rainbows, not the more eerie pieces." Dom has a special love for the skeleton pieces of this artist. So he was happy to have his own three headed skeleton playing the bongo drum hanging on the wall by the end of the day. I like that my husband is becoming a bit of an art bad ass. He has grabbed Haitian art by the horns, and has a better memory for artists names and facts than I do. This piece is eclectic & humorous and that is definitely a part of my Haiti experience that I want to remember for a long time to come.

Crystal's Crafty Creations: The Shirt Dress/Tunic

My mid-year resolution was to try and do more creative things just for me. Sometimes I feel like when your business is a creative one, you can loose the enthusiasm when it comes to being creative. So I decided to put down the camera and sit down at the sewing machine. I should admit that I have not used my sewing machine since undergrad. So it's been about five years.

Lucky for me there are a ton of online tutorials, and mom was just a phone call away when sewing tension issues arrived!

I found the idea at this blog, but deviated from the original idea multiple times. I'm not good at following directions, besides this was a creative exercise!

Here's how it went!

I hijacked one (ok maybe three) shirts from Dom's donation pile.

Out came the scissors, first button the shirt, cut off shirt cuffs, sleeves, a straight line from under arm to underarm, remove the pocket, and cut the button lapel from the top of the shirt. 

Sew up the sleeve opening, put the sleeves together and sew the straight edge together. Make sure the former sleeve opening is on the outside of the garment.

Same thing for the other side of the sleeves, i prefered for the top to come up to a point so I didn't cut the sleeves off in a straight line, this is one of the deviations from the original idea.

 Here is the back of the dress, it has a vest feel to it that I really love!

 

One of my challenges was I didn't have any elastic so once again this called for some change!

So my solution was to pin/sew some faux pleats into the skirt. This allowed me to avoid downsizing the bottom of the original shirt.

Finally it's starting to come together, the skirt was the toughest part for sure!

I really loved the way the bottom of the skirt turned out! Still not straight enough for the perfectionist in me though.

The devil is in the details! And I love details! I also added halter strap to the top of the tunic.

Here's the final product!

Side view

Front View!

Back view! Please ignore the purple bra straps!

It was definitely fun! But I didn't get it right until the 3rd try. Too bad, it's time for me to pack up the sewing machine for it's big trip to Lusaka, Zambia. What fun, to do something really creative for a few days!

5.31.2010 It's Raining Art & Cows

Do you ever have one of those days that seems off before it ever begins? Dom and I definitely did last Saturday. We had planned a day of browsing through the Haitian art galleries. And I will admit I was very excited about it! This is something I have been waiting to do for months, bidding my time. Reading up on Haitian Art history. Day dreaming about the amazing Haitian pieces adorning my walls.

We got in the car, and headed of to Pettionville. We should of known from the beginning that something was just not right about the day when we pulled into traffic behind a taptap (which normally is public transit in Haiti) and this one had a cow in it. The poor cow looked pretty tortured, and all I can say is that I was glad that I was not in charge of clean up. Cow plus Tap Tap= Messy!

We hit gallery after gallery. Reflections, Nader, Marissa, Monin was sadly closed. I was like a kind in a candy store! I had some serious art lust after my visit. Dom and I fell in love with a George Desarmes that we saw at Nader. We have a date to meet with another Haitian artist tomorow (blog to follow I'm sure), so unless something major happens I expect the Desarmes to find a new home with us. It is definitely the largest purchase we have ever made in terms of art and I have butterflies.

Here's a similar piece to the one we were considering and a few more just for fun:

I love the stylistic quality of his work and all of the colors. Also I love the framing techniques he uses with the natural elements like the trees. Beautiful! I love it all over again just talking about it!

Tiga: I had never heard of Tiga prior to this trip but I love, love, love his art! It is very Picasso with a modern twist. I really enjoy the use of color.

Philipe Dodard was my favorite! His work is significantly about our price range but he uses virbrant colors and textures. You never get tired of looking at his work, there are so many different elements that can draw you in.

 Haitian art has a facinating range and I truly do wonder if we will ever again live in a country with such fascinating art culture.

Anyhow, our art trip was fab! Too bad it poured the whole time we were in the second gallery, and traffic on the way home was a beast! I took the opportunity to make some artsy shots through the glass which you can see at my photo blog if your interested. Sadly this is what it looked like. It took us two hours to get home.