Summer! What a time of imploding and epic chaos! Mess! Sand! Plans! Reverie! Rinse, repeat!
So, lets ~not~ maybe refer to this, the most recent edition of Treehouse in print, as the “July issue,” so much as “Issue 4,” shall we? Printers on vacation, life generally, impending babies (not mine), illness (not mine), conflict (sort of mine), driving all over the state of Maine over and over again for hours on end (emphatically mine)—it all got in the way. Despite that, my own unbending and stubborn nature dug in, made it happen, here we are.
(Housekeeping for zine subscribers: The next issue will be a double issue—pray for my stapler—in an effort to make it all good with you and also catch up on timing. It’s shaping up to be quite special, too, I have to say.)
This month’s cover is a risograph-printed, monochromatic version of an existing print by artist, designer, curator, educator, and overall stunning human, Jasmine Parsia. Jazz lives and works in Burlington, Vermont, where she teaches printmaking at Iskra Collective, curates shows at Karma Birdhouse, brings her attentive and artful touch to commercial work, and somehow (when? how?) maintains a beautiful and mostly blue fine art practice. I am very happy to have her this month!
Related: Big shout and thank you to Lucky Risograph, who stepped in and helped us make this issue happen at all. BLESS.
I like to call this next one, “When the going gets tough, the tough go to L.L. Bean.” The story I had planned for the next pages fell through, and so I had to come up with something new—a problem that, I have found, can sometimes lead to a profound rush of creativity, which is exactly what it did. I’ve always been fascinated by tied flies; my stepdad used to make them, fish with them. The iridescent thread and fluorescent dyed pelts that get delicately twisted into miniature sculptures, before being gracefully tapped along the water and—we hope!—ruthlessly chomped by a fish. And so, I went over to the fishing department at L.L., gathered my supplies, and created a little photo essay about color, texture and utility, shooting them outdoors, on a mirror, at first light, which I think gives the photos a really dreamy, ethereal, lil’ bit eery quality. Guys: It worked out.
The next story is an exploration of beach forts—another seaside fascination. What is this human instinct to show up at a place, say “a day at the beach” for instance, and create a structure, a dwelling? I met friends and previous Treehouse cover artists Allison Cekala and Louise Sheldon at a beach here in Maine and we spent the day making a little beach house of our own. Figuring out how to make joinery out of the little armpits of driftwood; how and when to use rope; the best way to thatch the roof: bayberry bushes or seaweed?
As always, as ever, the issue closes with a Soft Meme by the gentlest joker in our midst, Ms. Ambrea Kai Miller. ☮︎
Listings
I can feel an entry door deep-dive post coming on, but in the meantime, 1st Dibs has a lot of great door hardware to cruise.
Both The Wing and the Kickstarter offices are for sale, which certainly feels like it means something.
OH, this boat is really a beaut.
I learned to shuck scallops! And some other things happened, too.
Zinzi, what a delight to chat with you irl at high season! thank you for letting me grab my copy of issue 4 while I was there - it was such a sensory feast, and ambrea's meme had me cackling - highly relatable content, lol. hope to connect again in person someday! <3