Day to day journal of installation, embroidery, and fiber arts created by Susan Lenz
Yesterday was so much fun sharing my method of making ornaments. I provided all the material and supplies: yarn, embroidery floss, ribbon, buttons, beads, and ... of course ... wooden thread spools. Almost everything available came from second hand stores, auctions, thrift shops, and as donations to my stash. This mini-workshop is really about giving second life to what had been cast off by someone else.
It's hard to believe that I started this one-month art residency last week. Time is just flying by! I'm here in Hamilton, Montana at Explore the Arts, a super cool art center on Main Street. This opportunity came about through a selection process by Open Air Montana, a non-profit partnering with all sorts of other groups to bring writers, poets, visual artists, and even researchers to Montana.
Barbara Liss owns the building and runs the non-profit from her studio inside. Her medium is concrete sculpting.
I was given this area for my temporary studio space. It's right off a larger gallery area. I've got 24/7 access, good lighting, and a strong Internet connection! I've met plenty of new people and even attended the local Writer's Circle meeting and a weekly "Open Studio" session that invites anyone to bring their own projects for conversation and time to work while talking to others.
For months Steve and I were looking forward to the drive to Hamilton, Montana for my one-month art residency through Open Air MT at Explore the Arts in Hamilton. The trip would take us to several unique places, and it would be the first time either of us stepped foot in South Dakota. God Himself seemed to smile on the trip as the weather was picture perfect for the entire week! Our first sightseeing stop was the Minuteman Missile National Park. It was an eye-opening experience. I don't remember much about the early days of the Cold War but Steve remembers the Cuban Missile crisis. He once fell asleep under his desk during a emergency preparedness exercise. I do remember standing on a platform in Berlin, looking over the wall into the eastern side of the city. Emotionally, I couldn't help but to cry for joy when that wall came down. At the Minuteman Missile National Park, a piece of that wall is on display with a sign encouraging visitors to touch it. I touched it, holding back more tears.
The exit for the Missileman Missile National Park is the same one used for the eastern entrance into Badlands National Park. From flat prairie lands, the landscape changes dramatically. There are all sorts of rather short hiking trails into the vast wilderness. We did several: Doors, Windows, Fossil Exhibit, Cliff Shelf, and Notch.
We had an absolutely marvelous time on this floating ladder along the Notch Trail. During the day, we saw a lone buffalo, a couple mountain goats, and lots and lots of cute prairie dogs.
The next day we went to Custer State Park. Luckily, we weren't a day earlier. Sure, lots of people wanted to be there for the annual Buffalo round-up. In fact, more than 24,000 visitors were expected. It would have been a sight to behold, seeing cowboys and cowgirls herding approximately 1,300 buffaloes into corrals for vaccinations, branding, health checks, and to be sorted into groups to be released back into the park are readied for the upcoming auction. We, however, didn't want to fight the traffic! We did see plenty of buffalo but we also saw a big horned sheep, wild goats, and these free-roaming burros. Although signs cautioned against feeding the animals, it was obvious that these burros were used to being fed!
These wild goats weren't the least bit interested in the cars. It was fun waiting for the herd to munch their way across the road! Steve and I drove all the scenic loops, marveling at nature and enjoying the great weather.
There are several very narrow and short tunnels cut through the mountains. Most could only handle one vehicle at a time. In our cargo van, we just fit through them but one was particularly tight. To amuse people waiting for their turn, this Star Wars stormtrooper was on site for selfies and and photos. As it was Saturday, many were wearing their college football team t-shirts. We weren't but we saw many Ohio Staters. There were plenty of shouts: O-H followed by I-O!
Our next stop was Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. This amazing formation is truly sacred and absolutely magnificent. We took a well maintained, paved 1.3 mile loop around the tower. Plenty of others were out walking too, but everyone was captivated by the nearly one dozen climbers who were scaling the cliffs in three different locations.
A couple weeks ago, I titled a blog post "First Trip for the Month". I never wrote one for the second trip despite how very successful it was! Steve and I went to Ohio! We went for three important reasons! First, we delivered artwork to Chaos Contemporary, a downtown gallery in Columbus that now represents me! Yet, before going there, we dropped off the giant crate containing The Gown's Story at the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) shipping center outside Dayton. Believe it or not, it was less expensive to drive it there than to ship via FedEx freight. (The Gown's Story is part of SAQA's AI:Artistic Interpretations global exhibition ). Finally ... our third reason to travel to Ohio was the opportunity to visit with our friends who took us to the Columbus zoo for the Lantern Festival. It was AMAZING to see so many LED interior lit, fabric-covered animal and plant sculptures scattered throughout several sections of this giant zoo. We arrived just before the 7:30 PM opening and had to leave three hours later when it closed. We also rode the restored carousel and touched manta rays. What a blast!
Now ... back to the SAQA shipping center! William Reker runs a tight ship (pun intended). He showed us all the space, time, and financial saving features used to ship out the organization's artwork. We even got to watch a small machine that instantly created bubble wrap from a specialized, layered film.
We admired the rolling containers that have been used for overseas opportunities.
For smaller art quilts, these flat files are used.
For larger art quilts, this unit can store them rolled around acid-free material or hung from a suspended system or grid.
On this pallet, the annual charity fund-raiser, 12" x 12" art quilts were stored ... but many have already been sold, including the one I donated. Unbelievably, it sold on "Diamond Day", the first day of the event when any one piece can be purchased for $1000. I'm totally over the moon that someone decided to assist SAQA by providing a permanent home for my miniature Found Object Mandala.
Nearby were the boxes in which the auction quilts will be shipped. Everything was ready for the bidding and the shipping! Everything about this shipping center made me proud to be part of SAQA.
So ... now I'm sort of caught up with my blogging (though somewhere I have photos from the zoo!) Today and tomorrow are busy ones! These days are earmarked for my "hunter-gatherer" and "load the van" tasks. Before dawn on Wednesday, Steve and I head to Montana where I'll be an artist-in-residence at Explore the Arts in Hamilton, MT. This trip is the third one this month! For me, retirement means many things ... among them TRAVEL! Next post, the adventure begins!
It seems like just days ago when I finished a Found Object Mandala featuring a ring of wooden mules! Oh, wait a minute! It was just days ago! (Click HERE to see the post!) Soon after finishing it, the artwork was shared on social media. It caught the attention of a nice woman in Texas. After only a few email messages and a PayPal invoice, the piece was boxed and shipped! I was amazed but also very, very happy! Not only did this mandala find a permanent home but that home was in Texas, a place where I fell in love with the big, brown eyes of the burros at Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
Yet, I was also a little concerned. Why? Well on the day when I shared the work on social media, my mail brought a nice envelope from the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville. I'm always excited when this happens because I know there's a check inside for sold artwork. Immediately, I wrote to my contact person and asked if the gallery wanted more work. I added a sentence ... one in which I mentioned having a mandala with wooden mules. The gallery sold a large mandala featuring these carved pack animals. I figured they'd want this new one too. They answered ... right after the nice lady in Texas requested it.
What to do? Well ... stitch another one (and quickly)! This, however, will be the last mandala to feature these cute wooden mules. When I bought the large box at auction, it looked like an endless supply but it wasn't. There aren't enough left for a similar design ... just five or six of the light colored ones. Now ... the two mandalas do have the same basic design but the quilt is totally different. I couldn't duplicate myself if tried! Everyone of these mandalas is a one-of-a-kind artwork. I do hope that this one finds a nice home too. It goes to Asheville in the morning!
The story began years ago ... as in 2011 when I first designed this unique art quilt using lots of small US flags retrieved from cemetery dumpsters and a discarded casket flag. My household machine was not adequate to stitch the large, heavy piece. It was shoved into a box and forgotten until 2022. By this point, I owned a Babylock Tiara which handled the free-motion stitching perfect. The finished work was blogged HERE. Earlier this year, the work was accepted into Spaces Between, a juried exhibit at Florida CraftArt in conjunction with Surface Design Association. I was happily shocked that it won first place. (I blogged a photo of me with juror Akiko Kotani HERE.) As it turned out, sharing this good news on social media brought the artwork to the attention of Garvin Design Group's interior designer. The firm was (and is still) working on a big project to turn a former fire station into a boutique hotel in Columbia, SC. An email discussion ensued and brought about a contract to transform Cemetery Flags into a unique, horizontal piece that will hang behind the reception desk. The discussion included brainstorming about fire hoses wrapped around the artwork. I learned lots and lots about fire hoses! For the past month or so, Steve and I have been working on this project.
I learned about double jacketed fire hoses and the fact that the two ordered are not what fire stations actually use! The ones used are much larger, heavier, and not really visually appropriate for this art project!)
In order to transform this art quilt, I wrote up a detailed work order ... starting with me hand-stitching the work to a giant piece of awning canvas using a super strong thread ... doubled. Please note, ten inches of canvas extended over the top edge. This canvas was folded over a piece of 1" x 6" lumber and screwed into place!
Screw eyes were sunk into the top of the lumber so that the entire piece could be suspended from the loft in my sanctuary/studio. Not every artist lives in a former church but I do! It made the physical needs for this project rather straight-forward!
Steve and I could easily work from both the front and the back of the suspended artwork.
We measured and worked hard to get the art quilt level with the floor!
Then, we wrapped the two fire hoses around the art quilt. At this point, we sent photos of the piece to the interior designer. Why? Well, I wanted feedback! I thought that showing the company name, Firehosedirect.com would make it more obvious as to what these things were. Another great discussion took place. As a result. Antique-looking brass nozzles were ordered for the two ends and instead of showing the company name, I stenciled "Ladder 13" onto the other side of the white hose.
Then, Steve and I screwed the fire hoses to the wooden slat ... generally using large washers to flatten them.
The flattening was necessary! We couldn't have the fire hoses "stick out"! Why? Well, between them we attached pieces of a 1" x 4". These pieces of wood became where we finally attached a metal hanging cleat.
The metal hanging cleat will work with one attached to the wall behind the reception desk. Right now, the piece is still suspended from the sanctuary loft. It had to be finished before we head to my one-month art residency in Hamilton, Montana! Why? Well, the piece will be delivered as soon as we return. With any luck, I'll have photos of it hanging in the hotel by mid-November. (By the way, Steve isn't staying in Montana. He's driving me there, flying back to South Carolina, and then returning to drive me home. The van, however, stays in Montana. Steve will have his new electric bicycle for transportation while I'm gone! Delivering the artwork does require the van, not a bike! LOL!)
