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Farnsworth Travel Blog

Photos and travel diaries by Era & Donald Farnsworth

Dear friends and family,

Thanks for the all the supportive messages and greetings. They're great to get when you're on the road.

Ready for our cooking class. Noorul is the travel agent/owner of Grand Trip Planner, and Faheen, his wife, is the cooking teacher. Faheen had a background in science, but cooking was her passion. Noorul is a former IT guy who quit his job to start a travel service. When Faheen either quit her job or couldn’t find a job she liked, I wasn’t quite sure, Noorul started a web site for her so she could try her hand at her true interest and passion, cooking, and it’s been blockbusters ever since. Also she is very happy she can take care of her small son at home. I heard this and quite a bit more from Faheen whose English is really quite good.


Faheen explaining some of the many spices used in Indian cooking.



Faheen's small kitchen

Really, you have to admire these two young people who quit their secure careers and started their own businesses. Faheen is so enthused about all her successes: she has given cooking classes out of her small apartment to international chefs, is going to be featured in a regular radio program, wants to take baking classes in Italy and France. Recently her visa was turned down, and she lost money on her tickets and reservations. The family is Muslim, and Italy is nervous about granting visas. 


Frying onions in mustard oil on the left, paratha cooking on the right. Making the parathas (and hearing Faheen's story) was probably my favorite part.


Our vegetarian meal: an absolutely delicious cauliflower and potato dish, parathas, roti, daal, rice pulao, chai. We found out we had been making our chai in exactly 100% wrong order. The table is set for 3, not 4. We could not convince Faheen to eat with us. Her husband Noorul came and ate with us, but she would not. It seemed so strange in an otherwise so confident and forward-thinking young woman. It's all a real education for us. This family is Muslim, although they did not stop to pray when the call to prayer was sung; our driver is Hindu, who today was telling us about the untouchable caste as we had asked him; the guides have been Hindu, and an antique dealer we met yesterday was Jain, the most pacifist religion of all, literally wouldn't hurt a fly religion.

Noorul, Faheen's husband, seems a decent, hard-working guy. His little travel agency put together a great trip for us at the last moment. I was about to cancel the trip as I was too busy to plan anything or make any arrangements.

Staggered home, very jet-lagged, and awoke the next morning ready for sightseeing.


Young street performers, dancing literally in the street, the crazy, wild, free-for-all streets of Delhi.

It never hurts to ask for more, I guess.


The truly spectacular Qutab Minar, the tallest all-stone tower in the world, at least according to our guide. This is a survivor from an earlier civilization in Delhi.


Qutub Minar with airplane


It struck me as so otherworldly; as in civilizations from another planet, sci-fi, Middle Earth.

The flutes of the columns are rounded and angled alternately. It's obviously been restored; I think that actually adds to the strange aura. It does not look at all contemporary. The calligraphy is Muslim-Mughal and some of the motifs are Hindu and Buddhist.

Don is very pleased with his new camera RX1RII (Sony); captures great detail. This is the actual detail found in the photograph above.


Green parrots perched on the ruins at Qutab Minar.


You'll be seeing a lot more pictures of us together (maybe not an improvement) as we often have a guide and a driver in tow. We could truthfully do without the guides so far, although they've been nice fellows. The driver is essential, unless you are really good at bargaining for taxis and driving through a true expression of chaos theory where the butterfly is thrown into the storm and somehow survives unscathed. Don't even think about driving yourself in India. 

Our guide tells us, with just a hint of rancour, that the columns were confiscated from older Hindu temples and used by the first Muslim emperor of Delhi, Qutab-ud-din Aibak, in 1200.


These ladies from Assam (NE India, famous for tea) wanted to have their picture taken with me, so Don took one also. 

Crowding around to look at the above picture.

This iron column is over 1400 years old. It dates from the 400's. Mysteriously, it has almost no rust over its long life. Scientists are not sure why.

Humayan's Tomb, built in this Mughal emperor's honor through a consolidated effort of a couple or few of his widows.


I love these structured gardens, parterre, Indian style or Mughal style. I also love totally unstructured gardens.




Our guide, Khashi, took this photo. He's really pretty good.


Humayan's marble sarcophagus


The beautiful carved stone screening in the windows, from the inside.

And from the outside.


Down twisting streets to Agrasen ki Baoli, a stepwell or baoli, designed to collect water in days past. Fascinating to think this could fill with water; the people would go down the over 100 steps to the water level. It seems like it must have been a mammoth project, but these stepwells are scattered throughout India.

Fine moustache specimen

Our new friend, Meeta Sandeep, a designer and owner of People Tree which makes hand-blocked fabrics, using traditional techniques and natural dyes. We met her through Sarah Khan. Just finished a fabulous meal at Gulati's. Unfortunately, none of the pictures of the food turned out, which won't disappoint some of you.

Love from India,

Era and Don





Dear friends and family,

Please forgive me if you don't get a reply from me. Now in India and the internet is very spotty so far. Not everything gets through.



Quick stop in NY. We packed in many meetings in a couple days. Lucky us, we got to stay at Chuck’s NY apartment. (Chuck had already given me permission previously to take pictures of his place).



Visit and drinks with Ann Hatch & Paul Discoe’s beyond gorgeous Japanese temple-looking apartment, which they call the dojo. Paul built this inside a building across from Cooper Union.  L to R, Paul Discoe, Don, Ann Hatch and Henry Drewell. Not shown is the lovely Sarah.

The meeting of the two genius couples (Ann Hatch and Paul Discoe meet Sarah Khan and Henry Drewell).



Don photographing Lyle Ashton Harris in front of Lyle's collage which may turn into a tapestry.



Then on the plane for the long trek: NY to London (never left Heathrow), then London to Delhi. Jet-Lagged, but happy. It all went very smoothly, except for clearing Security at Heathrow. Flying on Xmas and they were in high alert because of some threat. My bag, among many bags, was pulled off for closer inspection. Took a half hour; fortunately, we had enough time. It turns out you can’t place your iPad in your bag in England. US allows it.


Then landing in Delhi at 1:00 in the morning, long wait to get our e-tourist visas stamped, and then find our driver who had been patiently waiting for us, for hours.

Thick, acrid smog outside, which made the airport's interior a little hazy. That combined with our jet lag contributed to the dream sequence. (Don: we wandered out the main door to find Raj, our driver, not finding him we turned back to re-enter the airport but the armed guards would not let us in - I tried reasoning with one and found myself inadvertently looking down the barrel of his assault rifle. He wasn't intentionally pointing it at me.)

We’re in a different world now.

Checked into our hotel at around 2:30 am, December 26, or very late Xmas night. Nap. And then off to our cooking class.


They weren't quite ready for us at the cooking class, so we walked around the neighborhood. Women wear their gorgeous saris out to shop, walk the dusty streets, help with construction work, clean hotel rooms. They look absolutely gorgeous.


 Street scenes


The chrysanthemum garlands are everywhere.


Aloo tiki vendor, it smelled and looked delicious.



And it was; Era with Raj, our driver.


Love from Era and Don in India



Dear friends and family,
We had a fabulous time at the opening for the Inside Magnolia Editions - Innovation and Collaboration exhibition at the Art Museum of Sonoma County in Santa Rosa, California. So many of our artist and other friends showed up, current staff and staff from decades past. The exhibition is still up, running through February 6, 2016.



 Artists in the exhibition and Magnolia Editions staff, past and present
(Kneeling) David Best, Guy Diehl, (Standing front) Diane Evans (Museum Director), Bob Nugent, Deborah Oropallo, Mildred Howard, Hung Liu, Era Hamaji Farnsworth, Inez Storer, Randy Rosenberg (Curator), Mary Hull Webster, William Wiley, Robert Hudson; (Back and Middle Rows, L to R) Brian Caraway, Mel Ramos, Rick Dula, Rupert Garcia, Andy Diaz-Hope, Guillermo Galindo, Laurel Roth Hope, Donald Farnsworth, Tallulah Terryll, Andrew Romanoff, Richard Wagener, Nicholas Price, Maya Bush, Heather Peters - - 
photo credit: Marisha Farnsworth

 Sande Schlumberger (Art Museum of Sonoma County board member), Roxane Schlumberger-Hume (former Magnolia Editions staff), Nicholas Price (Magnolia Editions Master Printer), Alyssa Erickson, Tallulah Terryll (Magnolia Editions Master Printer), David McKay in front of Don and Era Farnsworth’s Shadow (Cinderella). Photo: Don Farnsworth





Four Art Guys: Don Farnsworth, Bob Nugent, Rupert Garcia and Jeff Kelley
Photo credit: Hung Liu


Temra Costa, baby Quin and Marisha Farnsworth


Artists Hung Liu and Mel Ramos with Diane Evans (Museum Director) 
in front of Deborah Oropallo's The Lion Tamer


Alice Au-Yeung Caraway, Brian Caraway (artist and former staff of many years) and Owen in front of Reclining Youth by Leon Golub



Ben Blackwell with Phil on Awagami handmade Bizan paper by Chuck Close

Craig Nagasawa, John Moore and Era Farnsworth
photo credit: Mavis Jukes

Sabrina Schlumberger, sister of Roxane, daughter of Sande, and cousin of Lea Seydoux, actress and the new Bond girl (Spectre) with whom she shares a strong family resemblance when in her more serious moments. Lea's character hardly cracked a smile in Spectre.


Etosha Terryll with sister and Magnolia Editions’ Master Printer, Tallulah Terryll in front of Aziz + Cucher’s Some People.



Felix Fein in front of Andy Diaz-Hope and Laurel Roth-Hope's 
Allegory of the Monoceros

Photos not credited most likely taken by Donald Farnsworth

There are some cool little stop-action videos at the Magnolia blog site: http://blog.magnoliaeditions.com, done by our very talented intern, Ezequiel Narcisi

We have just started a trip to India, so will try to write and post from there.

Love from Era and Don

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About the Authors

Donald and Era Farnsworth
Donald and Era Farnsworth are collaborators in art and life. Married over 30 years, they co-direct Magnolia Editions and The Magnolia Tapestry Project, based in Oakland, California. Both artists are products of the SF Bay Area. Shortly after receiving his M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley in 1977, Donald Farnsworth met Era Hamaji. They married and immediately set out for Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where Donald designed and helped build a handmade paper mill while Era worked with artisans, teaching and developing new craft products lines. In 1980 the Farnsworths returned to California and were founders of the art projects studio Magnolia Editions, known for its innovative techniques and innumerable collaborative projects with artists.
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