Now for Some Thread

All the panels for the Cotyledons are glued up, trimmed out, and ready for the next step. Stitch!

the scrap box is overflowing!

Working with a Heavy Heart

The news is bad. Images from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami are everywhere. I have to look and then look away, like a traffic accident on the side of the road. So much loss, so much tragedy, so much devastation, and so much fear of what is to come.

Things have been difficult here on the home front, too. My twelve-year-old daughter has had a persistent headache now for over two weeks. We’ve been to her family doctor, a neurologist, a chiropractor, she’s taken a boatload of big drugs and still no relief. My husband and I have been playing tag team. He works one day, I work the next. The good news is that the MRI she had on Saturday was normal. Phew. The bad news is that her head still hurts.

So how does one keep making art?

Well, I’m very thankful that I’m at the part of my process that doesn’t require much creative thought. I’m just ironing fabric on to my panels before I stitch them. I don’t think I could be creative right now.

But images and thoughts still bubble up. I was just looking at some of the photos of debris of homes, cars, people’s belongings. There was a mixture of bright colors, plastics I assume, and it looked like an inpenetrable tangle of multi-colored thread, strewn across the landscape. Someday soon I might be able to talk about these disasters using my visual vocabulary.

In the meantime, I keep working. I have a deadline, after all. And my heavy heart keeps time.

Now Add Color

I’m just about finished picking fabrics for the Cotyledons. Progress is being made. I’ve had a sick kid this week. That was not on the schedule. But I’m doing my best to keep working. Yesterday, hubbie worked at home so I could be at the studio. Today I’m working at home.

Above is my studio table in the midst of “auditioning” fabrics. Below are the final fabric choices. Just have a little overdyeing to do to tone down some white backgrounds. The amazing thing, and the only reason I may actually get these pieces done for the show, is that I’ve taken all the fabrics from my stash. And, even more amazing, is how much fabric I still have left!

Tick, tick, tick

Cotyledon bases

I had a good day at the studio. It was Sunday, still is actually, and my family spent the day skiing. This gave me a weekend day to spend at the studio and not feel guilty. I’m working all the time now. The days until my show are dwindling and I’ve still got a lot I want to get finished. Really only 20 or so days until I should have all the art delivered. Okay, I’m going to go breathe into a paper bag now.

Phew. I’m back. Can I really finish eight pieces in 20 days? I guess we’ll find out. I’m making good progress. I’ve got all of the bases for the Cotyledons basted together and initial fabrics selected for half of them. I’m getting both more efficient and more confident and taking less time making decisions.

Then there are these other pesky demands on my time: mailing list, tweaking web site, Powerpoint presentation on Tuesday for Elder Hostel, a proposal to teach for next Spring’s SDA/SAQA conference . . . oh yeah, and my kids and husband. Good thing I love what I do.

initial fabric selections

First Thursday Preview

detail of Blade Three: Cell

Tonight is the first Thursday Art Walk in Pioneer Square downtown Seattle. Foster/White Gallery will be previewing some of my work for next month’s show, Soft Earth. Stop by if you get a chance!

A Snapshot

This is a photo of my box of scraps. I love the texture and the randomness of the way they fall. Perhaps I should put a title on it and put it in the the show.

Packing for Rio

All of this . . .

and this . . .

One thing that’s been taking up a lot of my time, time I really don’t have to spare these days, is packing for my upcoming trip to the 2011 Rio Patchwork Design Show in June.

But this kind of packing does not include a swimsuit. Because I won the Audience Choice Award at last year’s show I will be traveling to Rio to present at this year’s show. And as part of my free trip to South America I became responsible for shipping the art for the CQA portion of the show to New York on the first leg of its journey. That’s sixty-six pieces of art from twenty-two artists. This has involved a lot of emailing, record keeping, and arranging for two enormous crates to be built and packed.

But it’s all done! The crates shipped yesterday leaving me with a lot more physical space in my house and mental space in my head. Bon Voyage!

into crate number one

and crate number two

And now, for my next trick . . .

original Cotyledon designs

I’m in the process of finishing up the last of the Blades. I should be done with the sewing by the end of this week. So now what? The Cotyledons. They’ve been part of the plan for this show from the beginning. And they’re in my Artist Statement for the show so I have to make them.

So I’ve been drawing, thinking, and patterning. I’ve got 8 designs up and running. But can I get eight more pieces done in approximately six weeks? We shall see . . .

drawings of new designs

more drawings

Looking Deeply, Seeing Clearly

I’ve been sewing the last few days. It’s the last step in making my fiber sculptures and it’s a meditative process. It’s actually the fastest and easiest of all the steps in some ways, which amazes the non-sewers. But it’s also one of the places with the least margin for error. There’s not much tolerance for mistakes.

As I sew I’m looking very closely at my pieces and I’m making decisions all the time, some are small–a fraction to the right or left. Some are medium–which color to choose. And some are big–what pattern am I making? Which area of the fabric am I emphasizing? What does this piece need to finish it?

Blade Nine in process

And so I’ve been thinking about how we, as artists, look at our work and how we see it. Sometimes when I’m working closely, like I do when I’m sewing, that focus needs to be laser sharp to not miss a detail. The eye and the hand are joined, the attention cannot falter.

Then there is the time to take a break and step back, to look from farther away, to consider what the hand is doing from a greater distance. See it as part of the whole. Is it right? Now what?

We need to step back further to consider the piece as a whole. We need to look critically and we need to see it holistically. Is it missing something? Does is need more contrast? Is it finished?

And then there is the furthest step back–time. How does this piece fit into a body of work? How does this body of work fit into our career? We need to look into our future and see where we are headed. We need to ask questions of ourselves and seek directions.

The work of the artist is to ask all of those questions and to make all of those decisions. Each decision is a step, looking deeply and seeing clearly, in our artist’s journey.

Blade Nine, finished

Making Progress

fabrics for the Blades ready to be glued up

Along with getting the show together for Phinney I keep moving forward on the Blades series. I am almost to the sewing stage, just a few more check marks to go. The fabrics are all cut and ready to be glued up and trimmed out. Pretty soon I’ll transition from working at the studio to working at home where I do all my sewing. I’m feeling a little less stressed and a little more optimistic about finishing everything I want to get done in time for the April Foster/White show.

just look at all those check marks!