2010 is off to a great start. MadArt Redux at Foster White opens on February 4th, I’ve got a piece in a group show of Pratt instructors at City Hall in March, a piece in a group show for the Contemporary Quilt Arts Association at the Convention Center that opens in February (I think), and I just got asked to be in a group show in Rio de Janeiro. Not to brag but not bad for January 6th!
Category Archives: Shows
More New Work
These days I’m just sewing every day. It’s dark, it’s cold, and the deadlines are fast approaching. Above you see my palette for drawing with stitch.
Here’s the second of five pieces I’m currently working on. Here it is held together with binder clips (I love binder clips!) so that I can check out the shape before I sew it together. In the detail you can see a dyed silk cocoon in the open space.
And here’s the piece partially assembled. Once finished, it’s off to the photographer!
New Work for Foster White Show
The work for the Foster White show is coming along. Although the show isn’t until February, I need to have all the work finished by the end of December! I’m on track but it has definitely been a push. Good thing I’m motivated by deadlines. I’ve got two pieces finished, and three in progress. My plan is get in the groove and have time to whip three more small free standing pieces done before the end of the year. Here are shots from the first piece in progress.
piece taking shape
detail with stitching
West Seattle Art Walk
I’m participating in the October West Seattle Art Walk. My work will be at The Body Bar at 4156 California Avenue SW. The show is a combination of work from MadArt with some recent work. It’s nice to see some of the panels from MadArt, which played the part of backdrop to the 3-d pieces, get a chance to stand out on their own. I’ve also included three of the Bird panels from Seen/Unseen from last year’s Sound Transit’s Art on Broadway. Those plus a couple other 3-d pieces make the show. It actually all works together well and is a nice compliment to the business where they do massage, acupuncture, facials, and other treatments.
For more information follow this link.
http://westseattleartwalk.blogspot.com/
See you there!
MadArt Artist Statement
In this work the figure is used to explore that which is seen and that which is kept close to the skin. The Waitress, the Mother, the Lover, all of these roles play a part in a woman’s life, fragmentary and coexisting. The intentional siting of this work in Ann Marie Lingerie places the installation in context and displays what is often hidden, the dreams and inner support that are only hinted at on the surface.
My artwork is informed by the exploration of surface design on fabric. I am largely self-taught, experimenting in my studio to find successful methods. The fabric for this installation was created through breakdown printing, a silk-screen process that changes with each print. Patterning, forming, and stitching complete the pieces that form the installation.
MadArt
I was invited to be a part of MadArt, a window art project in Madison Park that opened on September 13th. The project matched artists with local businesses to install art in their windows for three weeks. I asked to be matched with Ann Marie Lingerie, a store that sells high end lingerie, because the body of work I visualized was about the figure, women’s roles, and working with form and transparency.
I was partially inspired for this body of work by obtaining three large-scale, used silk screens from the estate sale of Su Job, a local fiber artist and friend who died of cancer this year. I’d also been wanting to push the limits of how large I could go with my 3-d fiber forms.
I used the technique of break down printing along with my own twist, using freezer paper as a resist for the image area. This technique gave me the soft and abstracted imagery I was looking for. In working with the female form, I used the most convenient model around, myself. I turned photos into silhouettes which I attached temporarily to the silk screens. I wanted to add more texture to the screens and, looking around the studio, was thrilled to find my stash of doilies. Just the thing to add texture and keep the theme of women’s work and roles.
Next hurdle, space to print. I can’t fit an eight foot print space in my studio. So I printed the fabrics outdoors on improvised tables with the help of my studio-mate Pam on a beautiful June day. When we started printing I was surprised to find that, even though I had cleaned the screens of Su’s imagery before starting, her patterns were ghosting through. At first I was upset because I hadn’t planned on that element, but once I relaxed I found that her work added immensely to the texture and density of the designs. I like to think of the fabric as a unintended collaboration with a woman whose work I admired and respected.
Once the fabrics were printed and my installation space was finalized I was able to design the installation and start work on the forms. I designed and worked on the forms using my usual technique (see previous blog post). The challenge was just how big could I go without using additional support. Well, the largest form was my size (approx. 61 inches tall) and was self-supporting. I did end up using some fiberfill stuffing in the bottom of it to help it hold its form.
Burning Man
This year was my third trip to Burning Man, the alternative arts festival in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada. One of the precepts of the event is that there are “no spectators” and I’ve wanted to bring some of my work to share. It is a challenging environment for fiber art, very dusty and windy. My previous attempts to bring my work there have been foiled by the strong winds.
This year my idea was to bring something interactive that could come out when the weather was relatively calm. Thus the creation of the looong piece of fabric. What I found was that there was no “relative calm” to be found on the playa. We took the fabric out twice, each time in the morning before the winds really picked up. And, although we had a good time playing with it on the playa, I still don’t feel that I’ve found the perfect way to bring my art to the playa. Maybe next year!
Earth and Sky–Artist’s Statement
Earth Form Five, detail
My work is informed by my exploration of surface design on fabric. I begin with white or black natural fiber cloth which I then dye, discharge, print, paint, and resist. I find these processes endlessly rewarding and I enjoy the challenge of finding the correct solution for each piece. Patterning, forming, and finally stitching bring each work to completion.
This body of work is inspired by the landscape that surrounds us and the touch of human hands upon it. These influences, nature and civilization, and the passage of time overlap and intertwine in the pieces represented here. The titles, numbered instead of named in most cases, allow the viewer to make his or her own association of the work to the natural world.
The Earth Forms are a direct response to my experience of nature. The cracked strata of sedimentary rock in a cliff face, the whorl in a piece of driftwood, the line of color in a beach pebble, the force of a mushroom as it bursts from the forest floor: all these details come into sharp focus in the light of our gray winter days. Each form is a document of the passage of time.
- Artifact Six
The Artifacts interpret these natural forms and textures through the lens of culture. Shield, basket, urn, or offering, each one is marked by an ancient civilization, an imagined series of Rosetta Stones discovered by an archaeologist’s assistant.
Breakup is a response to the quickly disappearing polar ice fields. The heavy hand of global warming is our civilization’s signature on the land in the coming age.
The Seen/Unseen panels were displayed in Fall 2008 as part of a larger installation for Sound Transit’s Start on Broadway. They panels represent civilization degraded over time, architectural details abstracted and crumbling. Crows fly past, one of few representatives of wildlife in our urban lives. These images which are symbolic of transformation are so pervasive that they are seen, yet unseen.
Breakup
Hanging the Phinney Show
Hanging the Phinney Show was an interesting experience. After putting so much work and time into each piece it was now time to turn it over to someone else’s vision. I felt lucky to be at the hanging, many artists don’t get to participate in how their work is hung.
The Gallery coordinator, Jeanne Dodds, was lovely to work with, very open and communicative. Ann Maki, the other fiber artist in the show, and I had met in September to decide on the theme for the show. The three of us met at the Gallery in December to discuss the division of the space between the two artists and any special needs we would have for hanging our work.
When the date came to install the work I was surprised to find out that there was a volunteer photographer, Elisa Sherman, there to document the installation for the Phinney blog. She took some really great photos (seen here) and I got to feel like a rock star!
I had planned from the beginning to be there for the installation because we were hanging the big panels from Seen/Unseen. Jeanne hung some wires ahead of time and it was easy to suspend the pieces from them, but you never know if some problem will come up when installing big pieces. There were four great volunteers from the Phinney Center also there to help and the whole thing went very smoothly. It was a great experience. Thanks to the Phinney Neighborhood Center for being a place for art.
Deciding where to hang each piece.
A volunteer pressess the panels before hanging.
Jeanne Dodds and I consult on hanging Breakup.
Adjusting the lighting.
Adjusting the lighting.
Workshop: Textiles – The Printed Surface
Pratt Fine Arts Center
Friday-Sunday, 10am-6pm, 5/1 – 5/3/2009
course fee: $260
Using fabric as a canvas and thickened dye as a medium, you will make marks with tools from stamps to silkscreens. You will explore the unique qualities of the silkscreen, its abilities to reproduce multiple images without using photo emulsion processes. You will create textured and layered art cloth which can be used in collage, print, art-to-wear, and quilting.
For more information about registration go to pratt.org or call (206) 328-1260