The Narrative Within

Music on Paros

Posted on July 7, 2013 by Art for Housewives

from BEBINA BUNNY’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

Parians like music and live music is a norm during the summer. Last night there was a free concert at Parikia’s Manto Mavrogenous Square by Pantelis Thalassinos, a well-known Greek singer who spends much of his time on Paros. Wasn’t it lovely of him to give back to the island he loves so much?

Yiannis Parios is a well-known singer from Paros. A few years ago he gave a concert, too. It wasn’t free but he donated the proceeds towards buying a much needed air ambulance to transport islanders to a hospital in Athens, if necessary.

Generosity is a form of aesthetics.

And every year my friend, Athena Perantinou, organizes the Jazz Academy here on Paros. Soon the port of Parikia will be full of people getting off the boat with musical instruments. It gives a frizz to the air. People who have never met will soon be moved by the same music.

Music helps us connect to others.

Have you seen the video of Helen Keller at Martha Graham’s Dance Studio? Incredible! Despite the fact that she is deaf, Helen can feel the music’s vibrations and moves her hand in tune with its rhythm.

Rhythm is magical enticing the body to move. And movement is medicine.

Music is The Language Of The Universe

Posted in Sound & Music | Tagged Pantelis Thalassinos, Paros Jazz Academy, Yiannis Parios | 2 Comments

Tutorial: how to make curtains from plastic bags

Posted on July 5, 2013 by Art for Housewives

Below is the entrance to our house here on Paros. We’ve given it the name La Sussurrata – in Agatha Christie books, houses always seem to have a name so I decided our house needed a name, too. “Sussurrare” means, in Italian, “whisper” or “murmur” thus La Sussurrata indicates the house that’s murmured about. And it’s murmured about because of how much recycling is a part of the decor. You can see more fotos of La Sussurrata HERE and HERE.

crocheted plastic bag rug made using plarn

The idea of turning plastic bags into “plarn” to use for crochet has been around for sometime now. Most all of the bag is used save for the handles and the bottom seam. But there’s a way to recycle those, as well. This tutorial focuses on using the plastic bag handles to make curtains that are so easy to make that even children can make them!

Seam handles

First of all, you have to cut up your bags as indicated above–the same way you do when making plarn. So after cutting up your bags, it’s best to first make the plarn putting aside the seams and handles.

Plarn balls

Once finished making plarn, take the handles and start tying them together leaving the seams aside for a future project.

Handles tied together

Keep tying the handles together until you get a strand the desired length. Here on Paros, I used these curtains for the doors leading to the balcony and to the terrace as a means of keeping the doors opened but the flies out. So, obviously, my strands are the length of the door way. And the number of strands needed depends upon how “dense” you want your curtain to be.

Plastic tie curtain

Balcony

Terrace

For the balcony, I tied one extreme of the strands to plastic rings (from the openings of water bottles) as well as to milk bottle necks. Then I strung the strands on a piece of plastic rope. For the terrace, I used plarn to crochet a piece of “rope” the length of the doorway then tied the strands onto them.

Doorway curtain

Bathroom window

Plastic packaging

And here on the island, there’s the problem of plastic water bottles and their packaging. This plastic packaging can be cut into strips that are then tied together to make curtains, too.

Make sure that the plastic bags you use for plarn and curtain making are not biodegradable otherwise they will eventually crumble away. Luckily, Italians have become more aware of environmental problems and, since 2011 in Italy, non-biodegradable plastic bags have been outlawed meaning objects made from them could become collector’s items! Plastic bags are not always labelled as to what kind of plastic they’re made from but often you can tell by touching them—the biodegradable have a kind of oily feeling to them.

Coming soon: how to recycled the plastic bag seams.

Posted in Crafts | Tagged How to, La Sussurrata, plarn, plastic bag crochet, plastic bag curtains, Tutorial | 6 Comments

Lemon Verbena Tea

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Art for Housewives

One day I went to visit Eva and Wim. Eva offered me a glass of tea that she poured from a blue water bottle. The tea was light and refreshing, perfect for a hot summer day. So I asked Eva what kind of tea it was. She said “louiza” and that she had gotten the leaves from a neighbor’s bush. “Louiza”( λουίζα) is Greek for “verbena”.

Of course, I had to have a plant for my terrace. Lemon verbena is a perennial shrub so it can last forever. It’s also very laid back and easy to grow.

Aside from the great taste and fragrance, verbena has many health benefits. It is good for digestive problems, relaxes, and soothes the nerves.

Verbena is also used in cooking and is good with fish and poultry. It has a light lemony taste and can be used to flavour oil and vinegar, as well.

Verbena tea can be used to make ice cubes for lemonade. To make the tea, well, I just fake it. Basically, I boil some water and dump in some leaves, let them steep for awhile. However, if you don’t feel like faking it, too, there are a lot of instructions on internet.

My plant produces a lot of leaves so I pick them and let them dry out then put them in a jar. That way, when I go back to Rome, I can take my Tea Made On Paros and enjoy it all year long.

Posted in Plants & Gardening | Tagged lemon verbena plant, Louiza, verbena tea | 2 Comments

Birthday Wishes

Posted on July 3, 2013 by Art for Housewives

Today is my blog’s birthday. Ten years ago, after reading The Scientific Warning of 1992 that starts off with: Human beings and the natural world are on a collision course, I felt the need to help promote that change necessary for the well-being of our home, this planet we call Earth. And thus the birth of ART FOR HOUSEWIVES, a means of letting me being an armchair activist.

In the past 100 years, the world population has quadrupled. This means more people and fewer natural resources to go around. Recycling is an obvious means of protecting our resources and became the focus of my blog.

So why the name ART FOR HOUSEWIVES? As for the “Housewives,” most of us know recycling begins at home—making meals from leftovers, dressing our kids in hand-me downs, mending and making-do are just a few examples of how, traditionally, housewives always have been recyclers.

As for the “Art”, well first of all, I’m an artist and art is a part of my daily life—what else could I write about? And secondly, as I wrote many years ago in my book, ARTE PER MASSAIE (“ART FOR HOUSEWIVES” in Italian), “Aesthetics begin at home. That is, the formation of taste comes from the home. From homemakers. From our mothers. The way they feed us, the way they dress us, the way they decorate our homes. The way they care for us. Housewives are the first trendsetters we know. Because our childhood follows us throughout our lifetime, like Proust’s madeleines”.

ART FOR HOUSEWIVES’ look a few years ago

The initial years of my blog were dedicated to tracking down examples of beautiful and functional recycling in order to inspire others to do the same. Few examples, at the time, were available and they were mainly from cooperatives hoping to “empower” women living in poverty. For example: co-ops teaching women in India to make purses from plastic bags, in Brazil to make purses from soda can tabs, in Africa to make necklacesfrom paper. These women, who recycled because they had no other alternatives and not because it was trendy, were my primary inspirations.

Today there are an abundance of on-line shops selling recycled objects thus there is no longer any need for me to promote something that is more than adequately being promoted.

But the revolution goes on!

In the past several years, there is an economic crisis being felt all over the world. Poverty is at an all time record causing extreme desperation for many. In Greece, the suicide rate is up 40%. In Italy, frustration is making men wacko and, every three days, a woman is murdered by an ex. Furthermore, in the United States, once considered Dreamland of The World, one in four children lives in poverty. SpOOKy! There is something tragically wrong with the way we’ve been living. Civilization is no longer civil. That’s why this blog will have a new focus: how to create a change in lifestyle.

From Cardboard Retablos

The lifestyle that I have in mind is one that focuses on Daily Aesthetics as opposed to material objects. A lifestyle that sees elegance in simplicity. A lifestyle that takes time out for appreciation looking at the glass as being half full as opposed to half empty. A lifestyle that believes in the value of reciprocity and mutual respect. A lifestyle that recognizes the fact that we are all related.

Now I’m not an expert on anything other than myself. This means I have alot of learning to do to create the change I’m looking for. But while On The Road searching, via this blog, I’d like to share with you some of my efforts towards this change.

Many thanks for reading ART FOR HOUSEWIVES!

Posted in Ecofeminism | Tagged Art for Housewives 10th birthday, ARTE PER MASSAIE, Cynthia Korzekwa, Daily Aesthetics, lifestyle change, recycling, Scientific Warning | 16 Comments

Beet Red… eating and dyeing.

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Art for Housewives

It’s interesting to note the difference between the produce in Italy (where I live most of the time) and that of Paros. For example, there’s alot of fennel blub and rocket in Italy that here is difficult to find– not that I’m looking for it as I prefer to eat only what’s local. Whereas in Greece, there’s a use of okra and beets not common in Italy.

Beets are so beautiful to look at. I would love to put them in a painting—there’s something really sensual about the red veins in the green leaves. So, attracted to their aesthetics, I bought some today just to lay them on the kitchen counter to stare at for awhile. But, because they are perishable, at a certain point I decided to stop looking and to start cooking.

“Pantzaria Salata” (παντζάρι σαλάτα) is a salad made with cold beets. It is basically boiled beets seasoned with garlic, vinegar, olive oil and salt but it is this simplicity that makes pantzaria salata amazingly flavourful.

There is another variation where the beetroot is cooked then mashed in with yogurt and walnuts. Not being Greek and not knowing how to follow recipes, I just dump the above ingredients into the blender along with garlic and olive oil to make a kind of dip.

As for the beet greens, I generally cook them apart—just sauté them in olive oil along with garlic and peperoncino. Sometimes I even add pistachios since they are a good source of protein and so easy to find here.

Above, my lunch: beet greens, stuffed zucchini and apricots. The zucchini, covered with a lemon sauce that had just a hint of tartness perfect for the groundmeat, was made by my neighbor, Angeliki, who periodically brings me the most incredible food. She is a wonderful cook, her moussaka and millefoglie are unsurpassable! (Did you notice how big that zucchini is?)

The beets’ cooking water had turned red and, not wanting to waste it, I decided to tinge an old blouse. So I stuff the blouse into the pot and left it there while I went to the beach.

Apparently, you can even use beet juice to dye your hair. Beets along with red onions, red cabbage and pomegranates are great natural dyes for fabrics if you like pink and red. There are many ways to dye clothes using natural methods.

A couple of years ago while I was in London for the Design Festival and hitting the bookshops, I came across a book by India Flint (Eco Colour: Botanical Dyes for Beautiful Textiles). Having linked to her blog in the past, I took a look at it and of course had to buy it. She does something magical with plants, water and cloth that for some reason reminds me of kamasutra…the blending of separate entities to create a single experience.

India Flint: cloth and color