All in a Week’s Work

This business of being an artist involves wearing many different hats. Making art, sure, but also marketing, networking, writing, packaging, shipping, inventory, shopping, research and development. I’ve had one of those weeks where I did a little bit of everything.

Monday was house and laundry and blogging and looking at art books day.

Tuesday included a trip to the Pacific Fabrics to ogle all the beautiful laces in their “Galleria” and pick out a few inexpensive ones for my continuing experiments with using absorbent materials for printing. At the studio I mixed up some print paste so that it would be ready for printing on Wednesday and placed a big order at Dharma Trading Co. There was also a site visit to Carkeek Park where I’m proposing an installation for this year’s installment of art there curated and sponsored by Center on Contemporary Art.

at Pacific Fabrics

Wednesday morning I packaged up and sent off my entry for the Member’s Show at the SDA Convention in San Antonio. Once I got the studio I found a very special gift from my studio-mates, Anna and Paul: antique baby clothes from Paul’s family! They are so beautiful. I asked A & P one more time if they were really okay with the clothes getting dyed as part of art making and they agreed. After all, like the gorgeous doilies I use, at least this gives these special pieces another chance to be alive in the world.

a detail of one of the baby dresses

a monotype

After admiring the baby clothes I did some monoprinting with the absorbent fabrics I bought. I also spent some time looking at art books and sketching ideas for new work.

Thursday I washed out Wednesday’s printing then went to the studio to set up breakdown screens for printing on Friday. Friday is when my intern, Jesse comes, so I have to have work ready to go so that I take the best advantage of the extra help. Luckily, it’s been warm and sunny here so the breakdown screens would dry overnight. I used the baby clothes and the absorbent laces. In the afternoon I met with my friend Jessica. She recently left her job at the gallery and is going to help me with some research–just because she’s so nice and she wants to keep her mind active while she’s home with her baby. I am so lucky! In the evening I worked on my proposal for Carkeek.

setting up breakdown screens

the dress after I took it off the breakdown screen

Friday I jammed on getting the Carkeek proposal together and got it submitted by 10 am! Jesse called in sick, which actually was kind of a relief because it freed up my day. I’m excited to print but it will have to wait until next week. At the studio I peeled all the fabrics off the breakdown screens and then packaged up three pieces that I’m delivering to CQA tomorrow for their group show in Tieton. It was a beautiful day and Anna and I snuck out for lunch in the sun and she showed me their architectural drawings for their new studios.

And then there’s this blog post . . .

So, to summarize . . .

Monday: research

Tuesday: research, inventory, acquisitions, prep work, writing

Wednesday: packaging, shipping, research, acquisitions, research, planning, and some making

Thursday: laundry, prep work, networking, career planning, writing

Friday: writing, packaging, networking

It was a busy week!

screens all ready to print . . . next week

Experimenting with Textures

I’ve been using some textured fabrics and doilies on breakdown screens. It’s an extension of the work I’ve been doing with absorbent materials and what I taught in my class at Pratt a week or so ago. It’s a technique that continues to excite me and I feel like it’s a way into the theme of my next body of work.

Here are some images of the process and resulting fabrics.

Textured fabric is wrinkled up and allowed to dry on a silk screen coated with thickened dye.

The silk screen is ready to print after the fabric is removed.

After printing and washing: fabric printed with the breakdown screen, the textured fabric used to create the patterning, and fabric that was printed directly with the textured fabric.

Closer to Home

Several times while I was in Paris I had conversations with people about my home, Seattle. I was always a little surprised that they were so interested in visiting here. Why on earth would someone from Paris want to visit here?

One day during our trip I wandered into a beautiful little ribbon shop on the Place des Vosges. It was so precious and I was overwhelmed by the selection. I wanted to buy something, but what? Feathers? Sequins? Delicate white lace? My husband was waiting outside so I just took some pictures and let it go.

There’s nothing like travel to give you new perspective on your life. That ribbon shop in Paris helped me remember Nancy’s Sewing Basket here in Seattle. Nancy’s is a boutique fabric store with the finest fabrics in town. It’s where you go if you’re making your wedding dress, need some fine wool for a suit, a special button, or, yes, some lovely ribbon. My husband and I bought ribbon there almost 20 years ago to tie each of our wedding invitations. It’s that kind of place.

It was time for a visit. While I was there I tracked down some very fine and sharp hand sewing needles and bought some quarter yards of lace to use for breakdown printing screens.

I travel because it opens my mind to new experiences. It also reminds me of what’s special about coming home.

a selection of ribbons at Nancy's

Paris!

What an amazing city! I spent 8 days in Paris with my family over our Spring Break. I took over 800 photos so it’s taking me some time to edit them down. Here are just a few shots of the city, the museums, and the glorious food. Much more to come!

at the Louvre

door detail at the Louvre

in the Islamic Wing at the Louvre

door detail in the Islamic Wing at the Louvre

the back of the door

an installation being prepared at the Louvre--looks like fiber art to me!

at Pere La Chaise Cemetary

Pere La Chaise

detail of the steps at the Eiffel Tower

the Tour d'Eiffel!

the window at Deyrolle, a famous taxidermy shop

a well deserved break after all that walking

inside the D'Orsay Museum

the D'Orsay

Sacre Couer on the top of Montmart

street art

cassis and pistachio marshmallows at Pain du Sucre

a beautiful tart at Pain du Sucre

the Carnavelet Museum

the Carnavelet

booksellers

a ribbon shop on the Place des Vosges

One Small Piece

I’m working on a piece for the SDA Member Show at the San Antonio conference. I put together panels for three pieces and was going to finish all three and then pick the best one. Great idea but, with the cold I’m still recovering from and the fact that I’m leaving for a trip to Paris on Saturday (!!!), I decided one is just fine.

So I sat down at my sewing machine for the first time in over a month yesterday to do the stitching on the piece. Wow, was it a rough reentry! Some combination of the silk crepe fabric and the slippery rayon thread made for very uneven tension. That and the fact that the thread kept breaking made it a very frustrating experience. Once I moved on to the other panel of the piece it was smooth sailing which was reassuring. I haven’t lost my touch, after all.

the offending uneven tension

Working with the rayon threads can be so frustrating. I have some polyester thread made by Mettler which is great stuff but none of my local shops carry it anymore. It’s hard for me to pay the extra money to shop online. JoAnn’s carries all the Sulky rayon threads and I get them at 40% off when they’re on sale. They drive me crazy because they break so much but I love the luster they add.

The piece is just about done. Just the final stitching together and gluing it up to a canvas. I’m trying not to obsess about the uneven tension in my thread. I told my husband about it and he scoffed, “No one’s going to notice but you.” Hah! I’m entering it in a show of surface designers! If anyone’s going to notice, it will be this crowd.

One of these days I really should learn how to fine-tune the tension on my machine. I have a book but I’m such a visual learner that it doesn’t make sense. I really just need someone to show me. Anybody local want to spend 15 minutes showing me? I’ll buy you a cup of coffee!

ready to finish up!

the inside of the piece that won't be seen once it's finished

Negative and Positive

I was supposed to be teaching a workshop this weekend call Positive/Negative: Improvisational Mark Making with Silk Screens this weekend. Unfortunately, I had to cancel because I’ve been blindsided by a particularly nasty cold virus. I’ve never had to do that before and I really struggled with the decision. Boy of boy, was it the right decision. I’ve been miserable and in bed for two days. I’m starting to feel a little better now, thank goodness.

On the positive side, it looks like we’re going to be able to reschedule my workshop at Pratt for April 27-28! Perhaps a few more students will have a chance to sign up.

I’m glad the workshop will still happen. I’m excited to share the new techniques and ideas I’ve been developing over the last year. I’ll be teaching ways of making related imagery with “positive” and “negative” prints. I did all my prep before the cold kicked my ass so now I’m ready to go.

Which is good because I’m heading off to Paris (!!!) with my family this next weekend.

Back to the Studio

Tomorrow is the last day of my show, Madrone, at Foster/White Gallery. It’s been well-received, I’ve gotten some very nice comments, and sold a few pieces. Very satisfactory overall.

But then here comes the inevitable question, “Now what?”

Luckily, I’ve got enough things to keep me busy until the next body of work develops. I’ve got some calls to enter, a grant to write, and a few shows coming up to track.

I’m going to attend the SDA Convention in San Antonio, Texas and there is a member’s show for that. The call is for 12 x 12 inch pieces. I already have a bunch of those but they are mounted on panels and the call specifies that all the pieces be mounted on canvas. So I need to make a new piece, after all.

I have all the patterns for my 12 x 12 pieces and I have a lot of nice fabric that didn’t get used in the last series. So, easy peasy, right? Well, actually, I found it’s much harder to start making one piece than a series of pieces. How to narrow it down? How to choose just one set of fabrics from all my beautiful stash. I found myself over-analyzing, poring over the fabrics, looking at them this way and that, taking photos and comparing. Just driving myself crazy with all the options, wanting the piece to be not just good, but really good.

Then I thought, why not just make more and then pick which one I like best? And after spending hours trying to make decisions about one piece, I had fabrics and patterns picked out for two more in about 40 minutes.

Who knew it would be easier to make three pieces than one! Plus, if I run short on time, I don’t even have to finish all of them.

The Big Island of Hawaii

I just got back from a dance and yoga retreat on the Big Island of Hawaii. I didn’t take many pictures because we were in class for about 4 and half hours a day!

sunrise

Here a few though, always focusing in on patterns and textures. Enjoy.

jackfruit

lava patterns

Ironwood tree

ironwood needles making pattern on lava rock

at MacKenzie Beach Park

Profile in the Daily Art Muse!

While I was in Hawaii I was profiled on the Daily Art Muse blog. It’s a terrific blog written by Susan Lomuto and showcases contemporary fine craft. I’ve discovered many, many wonderful artists through her blog and am honored to be among them. Plus I had a huge spike in visits to my website!

Thanks Susan!

Madrone

It was a terrific opening! Lots of good friends and even a couple of sales. Below is the artist’s statement for the show.

Madrone

Along Puget Sound’s shores Madrone trees cling to rocky cliffs. The trees’ rough bark splits and peels away to reveal layers of brilliant orange contrasting with smooth green inner bark. Textile-like shreds surround the bases of these evergreen trees, with their muscular trunks and curving limbs. Shaped by wind and weather, the trees provide food and habitat for wildlife and their broad root systems stabilize the rocky soil, preventing erosion.

But Madrones are sensitive to environmental stresses. Many are dying in the San Juan Islands from diseases that may be linked to climate change. Deer, whose population is unchecked by natural predators, keep new trees from establishing. The groves are interdependent in ways not completely understood by horticulturalists and, when one tree is removed, the others will slowly fail and die. These trees do not thrive in cultivated landscapes, but only in nature, protected from encroaching development.

This new series of artwork is inspired by the beauty of the Madrones and also by their fragility. Fabric, which is fundamental to my work, provides a metaphor for the trees. The bark of the Madrone peels away from the tree, littering the ground with papery sheets like the scrolls of a vanquished civilization. Fabric is strong, its threads interwoven to create the cloth that swaddles us from birth to death, much like the roots of the Madrones bind the rocky soil together. And yet, cut just one thread and a weak point is created in the whole cloth.

Standing amongst the Madrones on land sacred to the Lummi tribe, I feel the trees’ ancient presence. They are lonely sentinels, emblematic of our region and the struggle for permanence in a changing world.