Summer is in full swing and we invite you to listen to this week’s episode with an open heart. It will be our last episode until September, when we pick back up with a new season after soaking up the best of what Maine has to offer us. This episode is special. We talk with community artist, weaver, and elder Sarah Haskell. She exudes both a peacefulness and an energy of someone who greets each day anew, grounded in curiosity and gratefulness. We recorded this two days before her 76th birthday, a number she proudly shared with us while also exclaiming that she merely stands on a longer ladder than we do. Like Sarah, this conversation weaves and gestures towards many things. She talks openly about her aging body and how it relates to her material of choice: thread; how it frays, responds to time, light, and weather. She also shares candidly how she and her husband of 50 years have both chosen to walk spiritual paths, how being in a long term partnership is a spiritual practice. Her life has taken her many places, and her heart guides her decisions. This conversation is refreshing and holy, just like Sarah. But she’d probably tell us how we are all holy, because after all, Unconditional Love is the baseline for everything. Begin there, and you’re on your way. Episode Transcript Christina: I know that I say this to you all the time, but truly it will never, ever, ever get old that I can hop in the car, drive to the beach, and come home in like 30 minutes. Like, I just went, de-noodled my brain, soaked my body in salt cold water, and floated until I heard nothing but my heartbeat. At a beach that is in like a mile or two from my house. Um, it, it really will never get old. I will never, ever not feel thankful for this. Becky: Welcome Noticing: A Podcast About Nothing And Everything At The Same Time. Summer is in full swing, and Christina and I will be taking a little bit a break as we soak up the best what Maine has to offer us. So we’re leaving you with a very special episode with community artist, weaver, and elder Sarah Haskell. Like Sarah, this conversation weaves and gestures towards many things. She talks openly about her aging body and how it relates to her material of choice, thread. How it frays, responds to time, light, and weather. This conversation is refreshing and holy, just like Sarah. But she’d probably tell us how we’re all holy, Because after all, unconditional love is the baseline for everything. Begin there and you’re on your way. So I hope you enjoy. Christina: So for this week, we have, artist and friend, Sarah Haskell, on the podcast, and, I get to introduce the people that I know, and Becky introduces the people that she knows. And, Sarah is an artist as well. Sarah’s someone that I would describe as the person that makes an entire room feel more peaceful simply by being- Mm-hmm ... in it. That is how I’ve always felt. And I think, honestly, I found... Maybe I found your work online first. Maybe my mother-in-law had actually met you at, um, at a Maine College of Art summer program, and she was like, “There’s this really hip woman that’s, like, kinda closer to my age than your age. Her name is Sarah. She’s really cool. I hope I get to see her more.” And then I, um... Yeah. Then I think... I, I’m sort of... I kinda forget the order of events. Then you were in the same show. You had a show in the front lobby of when I showed what’s actually hanging behind me here, and I saw your work, and I had seen it on Instagram and different things. And then I started reading the meaning behind the work, and I was like, “Wow, we are sort of making art for similar reasons.” And, there’s a unity that I experience in your presence, in your artwork, and in the way that you just exist in the world that I am excited- Mm ... to talk about today. And, um then I took my kids to a community art project that you hosted, and I know that’s important to, to your work and what you offer in the world. And it was just- It was just wonderful. So many different generations and families in the same room, and you were just guiding them with such ease, such playfulness, and such a groundedness about you. Mm. Um, and I loved the experience, and I... Yeah, you’re just somebody who makes everyone feel better- Thank you by being around. That’s how I, that’s how I see you. - And so, yeah, Sarah’s gonna be here with us in conversation today, so that would be the way that I would, that I would introduce you. Thanks for being here. Sarah: Well, thank you, Christina. Mm. What a, what a beautiful introduction. I love the way that you introduce your, I don’t wanna s- your, your guests- Christina: Mm. Sarah: Because it’s from the heart. So thank you. Christina: Mm-hmm. Sarah: Thanks. Christina: Yeah. I try to, I try to appo- approach most things from that place. Sarah: Good. Much, much better than the head. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Christina: Yeah. Sarah: Mm. Christina: So, um, as we begin, I wonder if you wanted to... You know, you’ve heard enough of our podcast that you know that we’re not really interested in resumes or anything like that. It’s more just who these people are, having a heartfelt, connected conversation. Um, so I wonder how you would begin to describe your place in the world- Mm ... and what you’re here to do. Sarah: Oh, thank you. I’m still trying to figure that out, honestly. Yeah. I, yeah. My favorite answer to questions these days is, “I don’t know.” And it’s always about exploring. I know that for me, art is integral to every moment of my life, and it’s been that way since, I think the first time when I r- realized that art was a path for me to navigate this often confusing grown-up world was when I was about eight years old. Mm-hmm. And, um, I was lucky enough to have parents that nurtured that and that encouraged that, that didn’t think it was odd or inappropriate. So I was lucky to have that nurtured in me, and I come from a family that has, women artists. So I have actually in my dining room a portrait of my great-grandmother who went to art school, and she was a painter. And so I also think it’s in my DNA to, to... I mean, it’s, it’s in everybody’s DNA to be who they are, but I think my awareness of that has become deeper and deeper as I age and I look back at the family that I come from that has supported who I am still becoming. Christina: Mm-hmm. Sarah: Um, and as an artist, I have chosen a medium to work in that is traditionally women’s work, and, um- for, for decades hasn’t even been recognized as artwork, that, weaving was domestic work. Um, but I’ve always felt that that was my medium. Mm-hmm. And since I was, since I was 19, I first learned to weave. Before I was 19, I was doing all the traditional things that a young art student might do, painting, sculpture, printmaking. In the early ‘70s there was a lot of installation art, except we didn’t call it that. It was happenings, and- Hmm ... just had a different name. Mm-hmm. And then the school that I went to, which was a two-year women’s college, which had a really strong art department, invited this local weaver to come in, and there was something about the, not just the technique, but the materials, that just resonated with me. And I always come back to my body as my teacher. And when something resonates in my body, whether it’s a color or a shape or a pattern or whatever, it’s like, it’s like almost like my body is, a, a bell, and when it resonates, that’s the signal to me that this is the right path or this is, this is where you need to go. So weaving really resonated with me, and I’ve continued to, to be on that path. I’ve dabbled in other things, But for me, it’s the, it’s the voice that I need to use to, to continue to dive into my own story. And I think part of that is because of the materials, they are, um, subject to all of the same things that our bodies are subject to. Becky: Hmm. Sarah: Moisture, uh, light, abrasion, all of those things tend to react with the materials just as our bodies do. Abrasion, sunlight, moisture. Um, and for me, that resonates with one of the core principles that I think is central to life, is impermanence and change. Not necessarily impermanence. I like to look at it more as metamorphosis- Hmm that, um, just things are always changing. And I’ll g- I’ll maybe get back to that, but I wanna stay with the, the why I’m doing what I do. Um, and the other part, as you honored, was the community work. And weaving is... When you, if you were to ask me my definition of what weaving is, it’s taking separate elements and putting them together in a structure. Hmm. So some kind of pattern. And I honestly believe that that’s what we are as human beings. We are individuals that come together in different patterns, whether it’s the pattern of the family or the pattern of school or whatever structure that is. So my community work is to kind of celebrate that and- I’ve taught for decades, and brought people together. I see my work in communities as a way to raise self-esteem, but also to, to help people find ways to talk to each other. That’s all it is, just a way to talk to each other on the platform of art. And you saw that in the workshop where you came with your kids, and people were sitting there talking. And- Mm-hmm ... they could have been doing anything, playing with clay or, you know, your material. Um, but one of the things about fabric is that it’s familiar. We, we have- we wear fabric. We’re- it’s so familiar that it’s not intimidating. Mm. So for a lot of people that say, “I can’t do art,” or whatever, but if you give them a couple of pieces of fabric, they may have a memory that comes out about that, or they may just start fiddling with it. Um, it’s, it’s less intimidating than if you put them with a pencil and paper and ask them to draw something. So I find that it is a way for people
