Category Archives: Work in Progress

Many Hands

my hubbie and daughter cutting out beams for the Pavilion

The work for our Burning Man project is proceeding. Sometimes it speeds forward, like at the work party Peter organized where all the wooden pieces for the Pavilion were cut, routed, edged, and sanded all in one day! Other times, it seems to be limping along. I guess it’s like that with any project. All the thought and design is what takes time, and once that’s in place, the showy stuff can happen all at once.

many hands and all that

What is truly gratifying to me about this project is the way that other people are jumping in to help. And, along with their help, they bring their own skills to add to Playastan Crossroads. We now have an electronics guru, Terry, who is going to work with our electrician to add some wonderful effects to our lighting. The books that will be in the center of the installation have moved forward and are very exciting. Each one will be a work of art in itself. Anna McKee, print-maker, painter, and installation artist, will be making a hand-bound and printed Journal in which participants can add their experiences at the Crossroads. Writer and educator, Steven Mentor (aka Rabbit) is writing “A Brief History of Playastan,” which will be a large-scale art book telling the history of Playastan, a place both real and imagined. I came to the realization that I really need help with the sewing and have had four people volunteer to help in the last three days.

This project, which started as my vision, is expanding. It grows deeper with every person who touches it. I think it might be magic!

the Wood Butchers

Now Add Color!

the first banner completed!

Last week, with the help my lovely friend Claire, I focused on the Burning Man project and was able to finalize full-size drawings for 8 patterns, under-dye fabric and wax the designs for 12 banners, and paint two of them. It was really satisfying to be able to finally see what has been in my head for all these months.

This week, although I’ve been aching to continue working on the banners, I’m taking a little sideways detour into the rest of my studio life. I’m going to be selling hand-dyed fabric at Lorraine Torrence’s Quilt Retreat on May 23rd so I thought maybe I should start dyeing the fabric. I dyed 25 yards yesterday, phew! And today is laundry day. Another phew!

I also need to spend some time on paperwork and getting organized. I’ve got work in three group shows and one two-person show this Summer. I’ve been so focused on the Burning Man project that I missed a deadline for paperwork for one show. I’ve barely been tracking this really important stuff. There’s also some calls for entry coming up and then there are those emails that need answering . . .

For now, it’s a beautiful day in Seattle. It’s supposed to get up to 80 today! Lovely. For now, it’s time to put another load in the washer (that 25 yards, remember).

Progress!

Full-size drawings for the 24 x 45″ banners

Here’s a short update on what’s happening on the studio.

Basically, the design process for the banners has taken me much longer than I anticipated but it is finally starting to feel like things are moving along. Luckily, I had planned to have the banners completed done by the end of June so even though I’m 3-4 weeks behind my original schedule, I still have plenty of time.

I have final designs for 32 of the 33 banners and an initial color plalette of dyes. I have full size drawings of 12 of banners and am working on the color stories for all them. My lovely friend, Claire, came up from Santa Cruz to work with me this week and we have really moved the project forward. I received the silk this week and we under dyed fabric for the initial set of 12 banners. We started waxing the lines for those 12 yesterday and will finish that today. I will work on the final dye palette today and we should start dyeing this afternoon! Very exciting!

Pictures and then back to the studio!

more full-size drawings

under-dyeing the silk

studio shot of full-size drawings and some color studies

Claire working on the soy wax resist

detail of waxing one of the designs

Testing 1, 2, 3 . . .

I’m putting together the palette of dyes for the Burning Man banners. I’m planning on under-dyeing the silk a light golden yellow so that my waxed lines will be a color rather than white. It will also help tie all the colors together and add a golden “glow” to the banners.

So I started doing some tests of the under-dye saturation. When you’re going to be dyeing over 50 yards of silk fabric, you really want to get it right the first time. So I tested four pieces of fabric. Then I tested another four pieces of fabric. Then I tested another two pieces of fabric for a total of ten. Now to test the color palette I’ve picked out on each of those ten (what you see above).

My master plan is to steam the dyed banners to get the best color and most permanence. But I’ve begun to wonder if that is necessary. What if I get just fine color without steaming? Well, that would sure save a lot of time. So, I took each of those 10 color tests and did them twice–one to steam and one to just let batch. That would be 20 color tests.

Today I’ll steam one set of each. No matter what, it will be interesting, and some additional information for this dye nerd.

I sure hope at least one of them gives me the info I really need!

Now We’re Getting Somewhere!

full-size drawings

It’s been a good week in the studio. I finally started making full-size drawings for the Burning Man banners. I’ve been doing some color studies, too. I’ve got an initial palette picked and started doing some coloring (yes, coloring!). Today, I’m planning on starting some test dyes.

So yes, it feels like progress!

Coloring!

initial palette

Deep Thoughts

I’ve been deep in the design phase of the Playastan Crossroads banners. I’m anxious to get my hands on materials but I’m still working with pencil and paper. It’s essential get it right now, before I start working with materials at full size. I want to have a balance of designs, both visually but also representing all the countries along the Silk Road. There’s been a lot of drawing, a lot of tracing paper, and a lot of trips across the street to the office supply store to make copies.

By the end of last week I had decided on the final designs for 32 of the 33 banners. What a relief! I’m waiting to design the final, central banner, which will combine design elements from all along the Silk Road, until after I’ve been working with the materials for a while.

the design process

I’ve made the final drawings for all twelve of the smallest banners. I will have those copied onto transparencies and then use my overhead projector to enlarge them to full size. From there, I’ll trace them and convert them into “cartoons” which I can use to apply the wax to the silk.

Tomorrow Arissa, my intern, will be in and we can start on the cartoons. That will definitely feel like an accomplishment! And it gets me that much closer to actually getting my hands on materials.

Last week Peter and I had a terrific “kick off” meeting with the arts administrator crew at Burning Man Headquarters. I feel very supported by the Burning Man Organization, or BORG. I feel such a buzz to being a part of this. Yes, it’s kind of crazy. Yes, it’s kind of different from the rest of my art work (though I’ve been doing Festival work for the last 25 years). Yes, it’s a labor of love that I will probably never be compensated for. But I think it’s also an opportunity that I will feel the echoes of for many years.

I had lunch with my friend, Nina Tichava, on Friday. (She’s a terrific artist and you can check out her work here.) I love talking with Nina because she’s really a feet on the ground, professional artist. She embodies the double life of being an artist and being a small business owner thinking about how to market and present her work so that she can make a living at it. I always come away from our lunches thinking hard.

This time, the questions I came away with were less about business and more about creativity. Why is my festival work so different from my fine art? Can I bring some of the color, some of the pattern, some of the joy and playfulness that is in my festival work into my fine art work? Does the work always have to be so serious to be taken seriously?

I was talking with Marcie McDade, editor of the Surface Design Journal and my good pal, a few months ago about the fact that I have kept these two sides of my art separate from each other, downplaying the festival work because I’ve been afraid it would change people’s perception of me as a fine artist. She encouraged me to “own it”, to embrace that work as part of my whole artistic self. Nina opined that perhaps there is an edginess to my work, an edginess that I feel free to express at Burning Man, that I’m not showing in the work that is destined for the gallery.

These are such good questions, ones that I will meditate on for the next few months as I work on this project. Perhaps I can find that edginess by integrating these two sides to my artist self? It’s certainly worth thinking about.

More final drawings

Research and Development

I’m deep in Research and Development for Playastan Crossroads, my Burning Man project. I’ve been having meetings, looking at imagery, making sketches, working on schedules, and doing a lot of thinking. It’s productive, but not in the way I’m used to. As a maker of objects, it’s disconcerting not have something concrete to look at at the end of the day, especially with such a large project looming ahead.

looking at Silk Road textile imagery

Progress is being made, however. I finalized the banner sizes and I’m very close to final design decisions on the imagery for the banners. Still to come are color tests, designs for the edges, ordering of materials, color mockups, and then the hands-on work will begin. First will come full-size cartoons, then waxing the imagery, and the painting on the dyes. I’m hoping to be sewing the sleeves onto the banners by the end of June.

I’m so excited about this project that I want to work on it full-time. But I still need to finish up some new work for a show in Michigan this Summer. I also need to pay some attention to other upcoming shows and write at least one more proposal before the end of April. Then, there is my garden, which is bursting out with Spring newness. There’s a lot to manage in this business of being an artist.

new work in process

But don’t think I’m complaining. I totally appreciate the fact that I get to spend my days creating and being with my kids (when they can fit me into their busy, teenage lives). I am just anxious to get making, to work with materials and color instead of paper and pencil, computer and keyboard.

We’re Going to Burning Man!

I found out this week that my project for Burning Man, Playastan Crossroads, was greenlighted for funding. I’m so excited!

It’s a big project for me — small to medium size for the event. My team is fabulous. You know it’s going to be good when the first person you ask gives an enthusiastic, “Yes!” The team has already worked so well in putting the proposal together that I have no doubt it will be a fulfilling and successful process. Peter Weston is our lead carpenter/designer, Charlie Caddock is solar engineer, Ed Wachter did our architectural drawings, and I’m lead designer, project manager, and textile artist.

There’s a long road of hard work and many logistics to figure out between today and August 25th but we’ve got many offers of help and the energy is really, really good.

So just what is the Playastan Crossroads?

The idea is in response to this year’s theme of Caravansary. I immediately thought of the remarkable textiles of the Silk Road. It’s also a way to bring what I do, work in soft materials, to the harsh environment of the playa. Below is the text from the Burning Man art grant application for a full explanation.

I hope you can join us this year on the Black Rock Desert to watch the wind play upon the rippling silks, rest a while in the shade, add your story to the lore of the Crossroads, and see this vision become a reality.

Playastan Crossroads Statement:

Viewed across the playa, an oasis of color and pattern emerges from the dust. It is a place to take respite among large-scale moving silk banners, each hand-painted with traditional textiles designs from along the Silk Road. This is the Playastan Crossroads, where the traditions of the past meet the visions of the future. Powered by the wind and the sun, it is a resting point, a crossroads where travelers can share their stories and experience a moment out of time.

Physical Description:

Five interconnected elements come together to create the Playastan Crossroads: a forest of painted silk banners, an elegant central wooden structure with seating, journals in which guests can add their thoughts and stories, an ambient soundscape powered by the wind, and a decorative lighting design to entertain nighttime visitors and provide safety.

Built on an octagon aligned with the cardinal directions, concentric circles of large-scale silk banners will be planted in the playa surface creating four “silk roads” that lead to a central wooden structure. The thirty-three banners, each one unique, will be hand-painted, using a modified batik process, with traditional textile designs of the peoples who lived along the Silk Road. Four sets of eight banners will range in size from 2-10 feet tall by 4 feet wide and be hung on bamboo poles 12-18 feet in height. In shades of violet, deep red, and golden yellow, the banners will gradate in both size and color from the outer ring to the center of the wooden structure, where a golden banner will rise 21 feet above the Playa surface.

The open octagonal wooden structure is 17 feet in diameter and 13-foot-6-inches tall and, in its skeletal form, references the tents of the desert nomads. The curving shapes of the structure are inspired by Islamic arches. The wooden ribs of the structure are made from two layers of nine-ply Baltic plywood joined with a series of cedar blocks to create girders with enhanced strength. These girders will be sealed with a clear finish to show the beauty of the material. Panels of richly patterned upholstery fabric will provide shade without masking the graceful arches of the structure. Eight interlocking wooden benches will provide seating around around a central octagonal table.

The central table will be inscribed with the cardinal directions to orient travelers. On this table, visitors will find Journals and pens (all tethered to prevent MOOP). These Journals will be hand-crafted books with with weathered pages, snippets of stories, and drawings. Here the citizens of Black Rock City are invited to add their stories to the growing lore of the Playastan Crossroads. On the highest central pole of the structure, a wind spinner provides additional motion and the music of chimes to supplement the soundscape created by surrounding wind chimes.

At night, an EL wire sculpture will glow in the center cupola of the structure. EL wire will also emphasize the graceful curves of the structure, providing an ambient glow through the night. Solar panels wired to deep cell batteries will provide lighting for safety and to add nighttime interest.

I Need a Spreadsheet!

Amidst, detail

It’s been a great week.

My piece, In the Beginning, was one of 54 pieces selected for the Miniartextil Gea 2014 show in Como, Italy. It was selected from over 350 entries from all over the world. I think the show is going to travel to other European cities. It’s a little hard to track all the details because all the info I’ve gotten is translated from Italian.

I was also invited to participate in a show at the Alden B. Dow Museum at the Midland Center for the Arts in Midland, Michigan. The show is called Forming: The Synergy Between Basketry and Sculpture. I was originally invited last October and they asked me to send them some shipping costs. Then, I didn’t hear anything more and forgot all about it.

Now, I’m scrambling a bit to find work for it. I have work slated for the Summer for the NWDC 60th Anniversary exhibition at the Whatcom County Museum and also am doing a two person show with Larry Calkins at the Aljoya Thornton Place. Right now I’ve got 5 pieces out to be considered for a sculpture show in Bellevue. I’ll hear back from them by mid-April and, even if I get in, they won’t take all five so some of those will be available.

It’s kind of an embarrassment of riches.

Thus, the need for a spread sheet. I’m not quite sure what is where and what’s available for which show. I need to pull everything out of my basement and studio storage, do an inventory, and take photos of everything, and put together a comprehensive list. I’ve been putting this off for years. I am ridiculously organized when it comes to producing work but terrible when it comes to paperwork.

And I obviously need to make some new work!

Scarves

It’s always difficult to pour leftover dye down the drain. Even though fabric is a lot more expensive and the dye is really only a few cents an ounce, it always feels like a wasted opportunity. So I’ve decided that, since it looks like I’m going to have a continuing vending relationship with Lorraine Torrence, I’ll dye a few shibori scarves whenever I have leftovers. Here’s a shot of what I made this week. I think they’re lovely.