Finale

Recovering a lost password through google is HARD work!  I've given up many times over the past couple years. Tonight however, I accomplished the task within the hour parameter I had allotted for it. Finally, damn it!

On to the news I have wanted to share for quite some time...
All 3100 of the ...and still counting blocks have been completed and they have found a permanent home! In August of 2013 I donated the project to the Stearns History Museum, the only museum in Minnesota affiliated with the Smithsonian!

I can't begin to relay the gratitude I have for everyone who helped to make this crazy idea a reality, and how relieved I am that it has found a home.  It was at turns a labor of love and of torture.  So much thankfulness for those who gave there lives that I might be free to live and work in my calm, beautiful community. So much sadness as I would often recognize just how much horror and grief the blocks represented as they sat in my living room.  So much guilt for times when they weren't on exhibit, yet installing them meant experiencing another wave of intense sadness.  They were never installed without sharing tears with a gold star family or two. Just seeing people experience the project, and their recognition that each and every knot represents a person was overwhelming for all.  Even now, when I speak to guilds about another exhibit, there is Always someone who remembers ...and still counting, and makes me speak about it again.

I have been writing about this from my experience, but this project was not about me.  This is about remembering and honoring those who perished in the Iraq war.  Everyone.  To not have represented the Iraqi citizens would have seemed criminal.

I started when mr. Cheney was predicting this would be a 100 year war.  I couldn't allow that there would be nothing to remind us of the great losses that were occurring. As Americans it is easy enough to walk through our daily lives insulated and ignorant of the struggles of others. Our neighbors at home or abroad.

The war is supposedly over, though the region is unstable. I hope a 2.0 version of this will never be needed.    
The safety pins that made it such a flexible piece for installing in a wide variety of venues are not archival, so they are being removed, and the panels are being stitched together by hand. There are wonderful volunteers from the St Cloud Heritage Quilters helping with this large task. They work on it at the museum the last Friday of every month if you want to stop in and help!

Again, a huge Thank You to everyone who supported this project!

Peace/Piece,

Caron

Veterans Day 2011

It is once again time take a moment of reflection and thanks for those whose job it is to defend our freedoms.

I will be hanging a portion of the project at City Hall in St Cloud for the month of November, and Veterans Day. You won't eve have to stop in to see it, as it will be visible through the windows in the front entrance.

make art not war

Thanks to Mimi and her vigilant forwarding of interesting emails, I learned of a group that is posting art online about the war . I contacted http://www.10yearsandcounting.org/, and the And Still Counting .... project has been added to the group! Go check it out! There are many creative people remembering.


Working on some details to display the project regionally over the anniversary of 9/11. I'll keep you posted.

Let me know of other possible venue sites, big or small

Piece,
Caron

Memorial Day 2011

Gearing up for the first display of the entire 3100 blocks! They will hang Friday, May 27 through Monday May 30 at the Waite Park branch of the Great River Regional Library system. The address is 253 5th Ave N Waite Park MN 56387. I'll try to get the entire thing in one picture!

Almost....

We are nearly there! I had set a goal to complete 3100 blocks-the number of American military deaths at the onset of this undertaking. I need about 100 more blocks to finish my tour of duty.

If you're cleaning the house and decorating for the holidays and come across a stash of blocks - finished or not, send them in!! My focus for 2011 will be finding venues, and maybe someone to sponsor the exhibit permanently. Any ideas on those fronts are welcome.

Thank you to everyone who has helped with the construction and installation of the project as it has grown these past few years. This project has totally overwhelmed me at times, and I couldn't have slogged through without your help and encouragement.

Thanks,

Piece,

Caron Lage

Send blocks to me here:

118 20th Ave N

St Cloud MN 56303

Catching Up

I have been gone for a while.

There's a sequence to this displaying of the project.

Work maniacally to get everything ready to go ahead of time, so hanging 2,500+ pieces "seems" relatively easy.

Hang out at the event - meet really great people, have meaningful conversations about big topics, learn new skills - the Fiber Arts Festival was awesome! A huge THANKS to everyone I met and talked to there, and who helped make a few more blocks to add to the memorial.

Recover. The theme of this project is one of profound loss and sadness. I'm always amazed at how depleted I feel after hanging the project, and then again after visiting with people. It's always a really good thing to hear peoples stories and reactions, but, sometimes it's a while before I bounce back.

Thanks to Debi form the Nordic Needle for including ASC in the most recent newsletter. A whole new group of blocks will be arriving from their subscribers -Thanks!! That jolt of enthusiasm was just what I needed.

*****

I have spent some time this summer preparing for a couple of art shows - not ASC , but my "other" art. If you're going to be in Central Minnesota this fall, look for me and my work at

Lost Lake Design , Sept 11 &12, and I will part of a group show at the Whitby Gallery at The College of St Benedict. Opening reception will be on Sept 12 @ 2:00pm, and the show runs through Oct 24th. I will also have a few pieces at the Indian Summer Quilt Show and Conference in Fargo Sept 24, 25, 26th. Whew!

**Oh Hey - If anyone got any photos of the project at Bonanzaville, will you share them? My camera was a no go that weekend. Thanks!

****One more thing.....

There are still many more blocks to be completed. I never thought this when I started - it seemed as thought this war would go in perpetuity, but there may actually be an "end " in sight.

I had stated that the 3,100 of the original goal was completed - that would be my "tour of duty" in an ongoing situation. But, with enough help from y'all, if indeed we get a final number , maybe I'll finish what I started. I would NEED HELP!!

Heading West

Taking down 500+ blocks from the Paramount tomorrow, and then getting my ducks in rows to take the project to the Fiber Arts Festival in West Fargo ND this weekend. I have to borrow my brother's truck, as there is far too much to fit in my car!

I will hang as much as is completed (hoping to garner enough help to complete a few more while I'm there!) and, there might be a little EARLY morning television coverage. Come visit if you're near North Dakota!