Saturday!

(Above:  Top section of Large Stained Glass LXXII.  Click on any image in this blog post to enlarge.)

Yesterday was particularly productive.  I finished melting two, new pieces after driving to the Etherredge Center on the University of South Carolina's Aiken campus to collect my solo show.

 
(Above: Large Stained Glass LXXII. Unframed:  57" x 17". Framed: 63" x 23". Inventory # 3649. $1200 plus tax and shipping.)

The new work will go with me to the ACC (American Craft Council) Show in Atlanta.  That's next weekend.  It will be in the Cobb Galleria and I'll be in booth #1408.  Like normal, I'm both excited and nervous.  It is always wonderful to present work to the public, talk about my techniques, and hand out business cards.  It is always scary to know the expenses in dollars-and-cents while looking around the convention center at all the beautiful options people have when considering a purchase.  No matter how good an artist's work is, people don't have to buy it! 

 
(Above:  In Box CCXV.  Unframed: 27" x 15". Framed: 34" x 22". Inventory #3650. $525 plus tax and shipping.)

One way or the other, I'm ready!  I'm looking forward to talking about Austrian architect Friedensreich Hundretwasser who inspired my In Box Series.  I'll tell dozens and dozens of people that these pieces are aerial views to an imaginary Hundretwasser city.  How so?  Well, Hundretwasser believed that if people had to live in "boxes" (and we all sort of do!), they we had not only the right but the responsibility to make that box uniquely their own.  He advocated decorating outside every window ... as far as one's arms could reach ... so that the outside reflected the individuals who lived there.  Thus, all my boxes have very different stitched motifs.  As a painter, Hundretwasser used all the colors all the time ... just like my polyester stretch velvet palette.

(Above:  Large Stained Glass LXXII, detail of the middle section ... meant to resemble a cathedral's rose window.)

Shortly after I started the In Box Series, people began telling me that they looked like stained glass windows.  It occurred to me that I could cut different shapes of polyester stretch velvet ... circles, triangles, diamonds, heart-shapes, fan shapes, and all manners of shapes ... in order to better emulate the look of real stained glass windows. 

(Above:  Large Stained Glass LXXII, detail of lower section.)

The Stained Glass Series uses exactly the same materials and techniques.  The only things that are different is the shapes of the polyester stretch velvet and my inspiration.  My undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University is in Medieval and Renaissance Studies.  Those years studying Gothic and Romanesque arches, cruciform floor plans, domed transepts, flying buttresses, stone lintels, vaulted ceilings, and the various types of columns and capitals truly impact my designs. ... plus the fact that I've been fortunate enough to visit many historic structures all over England and continental Europe.

(Above:  Last Words at USC-Aiken, upper level.)

Travel and history were part of my upbringing.  Perhaps that's why I have such an interest in cemeteries.  Final resting places just ooze with awareness of multiple generations, passing time, and cultural history.  Walking through a church yard is very peaceful, a time for reflection.  I am passionate about the concept of time.  So, I love sharing my grave rubbing art quilts and related art.  Since the beginning of the year, I've been sharing Last Words, my solo show, at the University of South Carolina's Aiken campus.  The last day was Friday.  I drove to Aiken and collected the show early Saturday morning.  Before taking down the work, I snapped a few photos of the two levels in the Etherredge Center.

It was impossible for me to back up far enough to show all the pieces hanging on the upper level ...

... but from that higher elevation, I could get a nice image of my Angels in Mourning Series hanging together on the lower level.