PRECIOUS | Susan Lenz | TEDxColumbiaSC

Thrilled to be part of TEDxColumbiaSC ... and I'm getting a "do over" as I'm presenting this talk at The Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England in August!  Can't wait ... and I'll be adding more images!

Plus ... I'm linking this blog post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber work.

Last work at Wormfarm Institute

(Above:  What's for Dinner? California Drought, 15" x 24", vintage formal dinner napkin rusted with old farm tool gears with self-guided, free motion machine embroidery.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

I saw the What's for Dinner? call-for-entry for a special exhibition for the International Quilt Festival in Houston but never really thought about entering until I realized that there it was a perfect way to wrap up my art residency at Wormfarm Institute.  The main reason Wormfarm attracted me was the single line on their website that said, "Piles of abandoned rusty farm implements and other detritus may be used."  I came to rust vintage garments and household linens ... including several, large (26" square) damask dinner napkins.  The rusty tractor and machine gears were perfect for my needs.  This napkin almost called out to be transformed into the "placemat" that could be entered.  Okay ... I'm familiar with the two high profile jurors, Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison.  They are very, very well known for their bright colors, whimsical art quilts, and superior art quilting abilities.  I'm not silly enough to think my piece stands a chance ... especially since it might look odd on the "table" with the other, accepted pieces ... BUT ... that's no reason not to make what really is a good idea!  So, I did!

 
(Above: What's for Dinner? California Drought, reverse.)

Seriously, I've spent a little over three weeks on a working farm ... planting, cultivating, weeding, and even harvesting.  I've trellised peas, caged tomatoes, lay down irrigation drip tape, spread straw mulch, and driven heavy metal stakes into the ground in order to construct lines onto which more tomato plants might climb.  I've watered, washed, hauled, hoed, and been really, really cold, wet, hot, sweaty, stung be flies and bitten by a tick.  Farming is hard work.  If the weather isn't cooperative, plants fail.  If plants fail ... there is no dinner!  This piece just had to be made.  In the future, I'll blog the jurors' results.  (Fortunately, I already have a piece going to Houston, to Digital Alchemy, curated by Jane Dunnewold. My piece is Guardian Angel.)

(Above:  My pan of approximately 350 pebbles collected from the drive at Wormfarm Institute.)

So ... tomorrow is my last full day at Wormfarm Institute.  I've slowly been wrapping up my experiments and projects.  I put all the pebbles back on the driveway ...

... after I untied the rusty wire wrapped around them in this vintage skirt.  I really loved the way it looked after all the pebbles were removed.  I almost kept it in this condition but rust would continue and I'm not sure about the vinegar and salt solution in which it was soak (and smelled like.)

If I ever want to create an interesting terrain ... well, I know how to do it!  Pebbles and wire!  Moisture and slow cooking in a pot!

I just had to photograph the thick, blackness that the rusty wire also produces.

This rinses away but it sure was attractive beforehand!

The skirt is on the left.  In the center was another pair of bloomers and finally another vintage undergarment ... my last transformed pieces at Wormfarm.

I've folded everything and shipped one box home.  I've also attended the monthly meeting of the Reedsburg Quilt Guild ... which was lots and lots of fun.  I almost forgot that I had yet another garment tucked away in the hoop house!

Yes ... for two weeks I had a vintage garment lying in the muck and algae of the potted plant irrigation system.  It was hidden under this heavy wire stand for plants.

It really looked lovely among the plants ... almost like my favorite Pre-Raphelite painting of poor Ophelia drowning herself for love of Hamlet.  (Millais, 1851-52 ... image from the Tate Gallery in London.)

Any one whose been reading my blog for long know just how much I love this painting and also just how much it has inspired some of my work ... including my lone performance piece! 

So ... still in the irrigation system, I really loved the look of this vintage garment.

Unfortunately, algae isn't a great natural coloring agent.  The plants did manage to eat some holes in the bodice. 

There were some streaks and slight indications that this piece was "drowning" for two weeks.

Plus, I have ideas as to how I might continue to transform the garment into one that better reflects the state between life and death, decomposition, a return to earth.

As much as the one garment didn't work, an installation idea that was nothing more than a "seed" in the back of my mind DID WORK!  I bought the box of c. 1920 white collars at Bill Mishoe's auction less than a week before I left Columbia.  Because they were "wearables", I threw them into the box of vintage garments headed to Wormfarm.  I had no idea what I'd do with them until it occurred to me that I was squarely working in a "blue collar" world!

Once upon a time, "white collar" had only positive references.  One on-line dictionary gives this definition:  adjective, belonging or pertaining to the ranks of office and professional workers whose jobs generally do not involve manual labor or the wearing of a uniform or work clothes and noun, a white collar worker.  This history of this term goes back to the late nineteenth and beginning of the 20th centuries when a white dress shirt was the common dress for male office workers ... as opposed to the blue overalls worn by manual laborers.  Upton Sinclair is often credited with coining the term. 

 

Most of my never-used, detachable white collars were labelled with the company name "Arrow".  A quick bit of research lead me to this Wikipedia statement:   Cluett Peabody & Company, Inc. once headquartered in Troy, NY was a longtime manufacturer of shirts, detachable shirt cuffs and collars, and related apparel. It is best known for its Arrow brand collars and shirts and the related Arrow Collar Man advertisements (1905–1931).

For years I've seen these advertisements!  White Collar meant upper class, high society, college educated, and the highest tier in the American work force.  A man wearing these collars was EXACTLY the man every mother hoped for her daughter.   To wear a white collar meant a share of the American Dream!

Now ... I had a box of twenty-two of them!

Yet, my research started out strangely.  Most google searches included another view of white collars, a more contemporary association ... crime!  There's even a USA Network television show by the same name ... and it is about crime too.  We've all heard too much, too often, and too many insulting and illegal actions done by a greedy, well-to-do, cheating class of white collar workers.  Time has changed the association with this term.

I compiled a list and free motion machine stitched on both the inside and outside of the collars.  My phrases include Hedge Fund Manager, Clean Shirt Every Day, Antitrust Violations, Embezzlement, Married a Gold Digger, Yuppie, Elitist, Not Getting My Hands Dirty, Plausible Deniability, Wire and Mail Fraud, Financial Improprieties, Stock Investment Scam, etc.

This morning I suspended them inside the Wormfarm barn.

I'm not sure that this is a finished installation or not but, like my What's for Dinner? California Drought, it seemed like the right thing to do with my materials during these last days in Wisconsin.  I'm particularly fond of the juxtaposition of the "white collars" in a "blue collar" setting.  To me this is a sign of the changing references ... which nowadays include all sorts of other terms because the workforce is very different than it was when the barn was new and is continuing to change.

I had no idea that "pink collar workers" refers to secretarial, clerical workers, and nurses.  Nor had I ever heard that "grey collar workers" are skilled technicians, especially in information technology or any other worker whose job requires both administrative and manual labor.  I didn't know that "gold collar workers" is a way to refer to highly skilled professionals in very high demand ... like engineers, doctors and lawyers or that "red collar workers" refers to the "red ink budget" compensation that many government workers receive.  Who knew?

I'd like to expand this installation ... I think!(?)  I'd need more vintage white collars ... I think!(?) 

In the meantime, it was fun to work once again in the field of installation!  Almost as a "reward", Wormfarm Institute residency manager Betsy Arant made my favorite meal ... PIZZA!  Thank you, Betsy!

I'm linking this post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber artwork!

White Collars at Wormfarm Institute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMsfpav9oyQ

Yesterday I stitched 22 vintage (ca. 1920) white collars with words that reflect the changing references ... from a highly sought after place in working society to courtrooms in which lawyer's defend those who have cheated their shareholders, etc. Today I suspended them inside the 100 year old Wormfarm Institute barn, a decidedly Blue Collar workplace ... just for the unique location and because attitudes and workplaces and the work force is constantly changing!

Georgia O'Keeffe and the Miles to the Moon!

 (Above:  From Wisconsin to Faraway, my altered boots for Judy Hubbard's the upcoming exhibition Envisioning O'Keeffe at Columbia College.  This photo shows the boots placed on the sign that marks the location where the O'Keeffe family home once stood, in which Georgia O'Keeffe was born.  Click on any image in this blog post to enlarge.)
 

On Friday afternoon I took a drive to Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Why? Well, it is Georgia O'Keeffe's birthplace and only about an hours drive from my art residency at Wormfarm Institute. I probably wouldn't have made the trip except for the fact that I just finished a pair of altered footwear for a project that will take place back in Columbia, South Carolina. 

 

(From Wisconsin to Faraway, altered boots made using some of the zigzag cording I made during my art residency at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, MN along with hand stitched words.  The boots are, for now, stuffed with old yarn.)

Artist Judy Hubbard is preparing to create an installation at Columbia College called Envisioning O'Keeffe. It will run from August 14, 2015 to September 30, 2015. I can't remember why bunches of artists are altering shoes and boots for this project.   Why footwear? There was some sort of tale about Georgia O'Keefe's shoes when she taught briefly at Columbia College. I don't remember it.  It doesn't matter though.  I'm happy support another hard working artist who simply wanted me to alter a pair of boots for this project! 

 

 

To start, I went to the Reedsburg Public Library for research. The place had only three children's books on O'Keeffe and four pages (mostly images) in a book called something like “The Fifty Modern Artist's You Should Know.”

 

Yet,  I learned plenty.  In fact, it was in one of the children's books' that the word “Faraway” continued to appear. Later I learned this is how O'Keeffe referred to her beloved Southwestern landscape, the area around her house at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico which she purchased in 1940. In 1943 O'Keeffe pointed out, “Such a beautiful-untouched lonely feeling place – such a fine part of what I call the 'faraway.' It is a place I have painted before but I wanted to do again – and even now I must do again.” Her home is now a museum and from May 11, 2012 through May 5, 2013 it hosted a special exhibition called Georgia O'Keeffe and the Faraway: Nature and Image.

So … From Wisconsin to the Faraway is what I'm calling my altered boots.

It seemed fitting that they actually visit the site in Wisconsin since it was so close. A quick google search routed me both to the sign in front of the Sun Prairie City Hall and out into the country where the O'Keeffe home once stood. (Unfortunately, the local historical museum is currently between curators and thus closed.)

 

(Above: My altered boots by the large historical sign outside Sun Prairie's City Hall.)

While in Sun Prairie, I visited a nice yarn shop but also the most beautiful, traditional quilt store into which I've even ventured.  It's JJ Stitches.  No, I didn't buy anything. I rarely purchase new fabric. I asked if I could snap photos because the arrangement of fabulous fabrics with genuine antiques was so attractive. 

 

 (Above:  JJ Stitches, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.)

If you find yourself anywhere near Sun Prairie, this store is definitely worth the visit! Beautiful … and so I'm posting several images as “eye candy” at the bottom of this post.  Scroll down ... because the antique machines are gorgeous!

I love the way the owner has blended antiques with bolts of traditional fabric and suitcases of neatly ribbon-tied "fat quarters".  The walls were all hung with stunning quilts.  Beautiful ...

... creatively shown ...

... with all the exotic notions of foreign travel in centuries past ...

... and perfect use for this extra large ceramic container!

Oh ... the antique sewing machine collection was to die for!  Scroll down for more because I have something else to share from Wormfarm Institute!


 (Above:  Me ... on my way to my favorite outdoor place to hand stitch at Wormfarm Institute!  This and the other photos of me were taken by Austen Weymueller, one of the other resident artists here on the farm.  Thanks, Austen!)

I haven't just been experimenting with natural dyes and rusting vintage fabrics here at Wormfarm Institute.  In addition to the altered boots and the early "In Box" and Lancet Window I made during my first week, I've been working on several other projects ... including a very special one for Susanne Miller Jones' upcoming Fly Me to the Moon project!  This exciting venture will mark the 50th anniversary of man's July 20, 1969 first walk on the moon!  In the fall of 2018 Shiffer Publishing will print a full color book of all the 30" x 18" original works juried for the exhibit.  Until that time (or until Susanne gives the "thumbs up"), the pieces aren't to be blogged or shown on-line. 



(Above:  Me on one of the rusted out car bodies in the cow pasture of Wormfarm Institute ... hand stitching on Tang and the Miles to the Moon, my piece for Fly Me to the Moon.)

In order to make the publication possible and for Susanne to submit exhibition proposals, all the finished images and statements are due to Susanne before October 16th.  With my summer schedule already rather tight and knowing that I'll be at PLAYA art residency for the entire month of October, I knew that I had to get to work right away ...


(Above:  The final page of my tally of the 23,885 hand stitched needed on my piece ... one stitch equals TEN MILES ... in order to achieve the average mileage to the moon!)

... because my submission (my idea too!) was to stitch my way to the moon!  Well ... one stitch per every ten miles.  It's 238,857 miles (average) to the moon!  I brought the background fabric with me.  It was an ordinary black cotton which I discharged with bleach. I tried to create the feeling of circular forms, as if stars.   I then "over-dyed" it with a large container of Tang (but almost all of the orange rinsed away ... still ... it was mightily exposed to plenty of this space era beverage!)  I brought plenty of metallic thread ... for the luminosity of a star lit night.  I brought a notebook to tally my stitches ... one mark for every ten stitches ... thus 2,388 tally strokes.  This is A LOT OF STITCHING in an area that is only 30" x 18 ... 44.2 stitches per square inch.  I enjoyed sitting on top of the rusty car, looking over the landscape, and counting as I stitched.


(Above:  A groundhog who came to visit the other rusted out car body!)

I must have been a curiosity to this groundhog who came by to visit.  I was sort of scared but had my phone's camera handy.  (THANK YOU to Diana Feit for being in the process of emailing me.  I shared this incident "live" with her via my smart phone ... which kept me calm until the groundhog ran away.  I think he was scared of me too!)



I spent hours and hours on the top of that rusted out vehicle ... stitching and stitching.  I might have messed up a few hundred but that's okay!  Why?  Well, 238,857 is the AVERAGE miles to the moon.  When the moon is at its closest point (called its perigee), it is 225,622 miles away.  When the moon is at its most distant point (called apogee), it is 252,088 mile away.  I'm sure I'm actually somewhere within this range! LOL! 


(Above:  Me on the rusted car body overlooking the barn at Wormfarm Institute ... and, yes, Mom ... that's the sweater from Colorado purchased in 1961, eight years before man's moon walk!)

Most importantly, I finished all the hand stitches earlier today.  Now to attach the back facing and bind it and attach a hanging sleeve!  That should be comparatively EASY!  Now ... scroll down for more antique sewing machines at JJ Stitches!