Deckle Edge Literary Festival 2018

(Above:  Making bookmarks at the Richland County Main Library as part of the Deckle Edge Literary Festival 2018.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Yesterday was an amazing experience!  From 10 - 4, I spent time on the second floor of the Richland County Public Library, just at the top of the central escalator making bookmarks with the public.  The event was part of the Deckle Edge Literary Festival.  I met lots of people and talked about the many panel discussions and other offerings at the one-day festival.  One lady and her young son came from Summerville, just outside Charleston.  The three girls in the photo above came with a high school journalism group in Oxford, Mississippi.  I also met lots of aspiring poets, like the volunteer in the background.  She's a Spring Valley High School student who helped festival goers find their way to various discussions groups, the hospitality room, the theater, and the bathroom.  She made two nice bookmarks too!  I also spent time with a homeless guy I know from Starbucks.  He has a "gold card" like me.  He made a bookmark that spelled out the word "coffee".  Later, one little four-year-old girl refused her mother's help.  She couldn't read or write but carefully selected attractive letters to glue down and then announced exactly what it meant to her.  It was incredible!

 (Above:  Sample book marks.)

The idea for this project was for people to use my letters (clipped from magazines) to spell out a significant word or favorite author or important book title.  No one selected a book or an author.  Everyone gravitated to a word of intention.  I thought that would happen, especially since the sample bookmarks I made came from a video called "10 Emotions You Didn't Know Had Names".  I found this video on Facebook.  It was shared by my friend Ellen Kochansky, director of the Rensing Center ... a place where I will spent five summer weeks creating another, larger project for public engagement.  The funny thing is, almost no one looked at my samples.  People immediately understood that they could write anything they wanted using the thousands of available letters.

 (Above:  Some of the participants and the bookmarks they made.)

For me, it was a unique way to watch people select letters that really did look like the meaning behind their word or phrase. 

Some people automatically used the blank bookmarks vertically.  I've never done that.  The man in the photo above let his wife know what was on his mind.  His bookmark read, "LUNCH"!

 (Above:  Making keys with the public, including poet Jennifer Bartell.)

I kept busy the entire time too although nothing I made will ever be used as a bookmark.  Everything I created will later be turned into a tagged key for my Wall of Keys.  That's how I came up with this idea in the first place.  I've always used "text", a literary form for visual expression.  I've always thought about meaningful words.  During the day, the public influence me in unexpected ways with idea for new words and phrases.  Soon, there will be plenty of newly tagged keys on my wall!


(Above:  Detail of my Wall of Keys.  There are currently over 2000 tagged keys.)

Later in the evening, I went to the champagne reception followed by the keynote address by Terrance Hayes, winner of the 2010 National Book Award who also the current New York Times Magazine's poetry editor and honored as a MacArthur, NEA, and Guggenheim fellowship.  During the evening, Nikky Finney was given Deckle Edge's inaugural "Southern Truth Award".  Nikky Finney has a resume very much like Terrance Hayes ... winning the 2011 National Book for Poetry award, a book I've even read! LOL!  For the most part, the evening was one spent listening to amazing words by very, very accomplished writers.  It was my honor just to be there!

(Above:  Deckle Edge's keynote evening with Deckle Edge's board member Cindi Boiter starting the evening off!)

Six more Great Quotations

 (Above:  Great Quotations XXIV: Gentleman with a quotation from Vin Diesel.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

So far this week, I've been working on my "Great Quotations Series" and preparing for a day at the Richland County's Main Library.  I'll be making bookmarks with the public at an event called Deckle Edge Literary Festival.  The bookmarks will be very similar to the tagged keys I make ... except that there won't be a key, just a long tag with an inspiring word, phrase or favorite book title.  I've got all my clipped letters ready to go.  They are the same sort of letters that I use on the "Great Quotation Series". 

 (Above:  Great Quotations XIX, Bath with quotation by Sylvia Plath.)

In preparation for Saturday's public art project, I even got a new, larger container in which the clipped letters are stored.  It is marketed to hold nuts and bolts.  Several of the trays are more than twice the size of the trays in my older container.  They are perfect for most of the vowels and letters like "N", "R", "S", and "T".  

(Above:  Great Quotations XX: Oedipus' Riddle of the Sphinx.)

All the pieces in the "Great Quotations Series" are made using antique or pre-1945 images and letters clipped mostly from vintage magazines and ephemera on a page from Charles Richardson's English Language Dictionary, 1846.  I have a stack on which I'm currently working ... so there will be more.

(Above:  Great Quotations XXI: Smoke with quotation from Mark Twain.)

It is great fun researching words, looking for the best quotation for each piece.  I don't select or even look for the quotation until the page already has the image and stitching done.  In a sense, it's like a game or a crossword puzzle ... something I must riddle out.

(Above:  Great Quotations XXII: Gown with quotation from Karl Lagerfeld.)

Many of the images were black-and-white.  I've done quite a bit of the hand coloring.  It's fun too!

(Above:  Great Quotations XXIII: Flirt with a quotation from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.)

Looking for the quotation also makes me want to spend more time just reading good books.  I read Jane Eyre when I was much, much younger ... and likely the idea of "flirting as a woman's trade" went well over my head! LOL!

Gotta Love a Weekend!

 (Above:  Courtship Bench.  Found objects and anonymous photos.  16" x 17" x 8".  I bought the doll bench last Friday night.  I knew it was "Made in China" but I also knew exactly what I was going to use it for!  Click on any image to enlarge.)

My husband Steve and I own our business, Mouse House.  We do limited custom picture framing ... which means that I frame pictures for part of each weekday but that I spend the rest either making art or doing the "paperwork/computer work" necessary to sustain my studio practice.  Weekends are different!  Studio time!  Gotta love a weekend!
 

 (Above:  Courtship Bench, detail.  The vintage pin holder was purchased at least a year ago.  It was on a "table lot", the remains of some anonymous woman's sewing stash.)

Generally I spent every Tuesday and Friday night at my favorite auction house, Bill Mishoe's Estate Services.  I watch the remains of other people's lives sell to flea market and antique dealers, young couples just starting out, and "regulars" like me.  Sometimes I bring home a few items, especially things  that work well with my solo installation Anonymous Ancestors.  I admit it; I don't really need anything else for this exhibition.  I just can't help myself.  Repurposing old frames and photos is giving these neglected items a new lease on life.  Also, I just confirmed a new show!  Making a couple more things for this opportunity seemed the best way to celebrate! 

  (Above:  Courtship Bench, detail.  The black spray-painted artificial flower came from Blues Chapel, one of my first installations.)

Anonymous Ancestors will be on view at the Theatre Art Galleries, 220 East Commerce Avenue in High Point, NC from May 31st until August 3rd.  I'm very much looking forward to transforming the space!

 (Above:  Courtship Bench, reverse.)

Now, I know that this 3D assemblage probably will not go to the show in High Point, but it was inspired by my obsession with anonymous photos.  I also knew that the doll bench was "Made in China" but I successfully bid on it anyway.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  I had the weekend to select and frame two photos, figure out how to get them mounted while tilted, and collage the back. 

 (Above:  Courtship Bench, reverse.)

The antique chromolithograph flowers were once part of The Garden Magazine, dating from the late 19th century.  It might seem a shame to have cut two of these images up, but I've had them for at least two decades and haven't been able to sell either for as little as five-dollars.

 (Above:  Courtship Bench, reverse, detail.)

The heart-shaped pin cushion also came from Bill Mishoe's auction ... more than a year ago.  It seemed to be waiting for this creation.

 (Above:  Lunette XXXI. Unframed: 17" x 23"; Framed: 22" x 28". Inventory # 4241. $495.)

Over the weekend I also constructed, stitched, and melted Lunette XXXI.  It will be going to the ACC (American Craft Council) Atlanta show next month.  I'm in booth 1408 from March 16 - 18.)

 (Above:  Lunette XXXI, detail.)

Before going to Atlanta, I want to make several, small "In Box Series" pieces.  I'll be tackling them during the week and on Sunday.  Why not Saturday?  Well, some weekends aren't spent entirely in my studio.  Next Saturday will find me on the second floor of the Richland County Main Library making bookmarks with the public.  This is part of the Deckle Edge Literary Festival.  It's going to be loads of fun!

 
(Above:  Mended Words XIV: Pandora's Box.  Hand-colored antique engraving, ripped and stitched with collage.  Mounted on 20" x 16" mat board.)

Speaking of "literary arts", I'm continuing my "Mended Words" series.  It's so much fun to look for engraving that might be altered in this fashion. The statement is just a general one but appropriate to the image title.


(Above:  Mended Words XV: Innocence. Hand-colored antique engraving, ripped and stitched with collage.  Mounted on 20" x 16" mat board.)

This piece uses a quotation by Edna St. Vincent Millay.  I have several others in this series to create, plus I've got a stack of "Great Quotations" on antique dictionary pages to make too.

 (Above:  Ancestor Wall, All for One and One for All.)

Finally, this past weekend included making two more pieces for my "Wall of Ancestors" ... which will be part of the upcoming Anonymous Ancestors exhibit.   Can't wait!

(Above:  Ancestor Wall, The Salad Days.)

I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber arts. 

Lunette XXX

(Above:  Lunette XXX. Inventory # 4235.  Framed: 22" x 28". $495. Polyester stretch velvets on recycled black packaging felt with free-motion machine embroidery and melting techniques.  CLick on any image to enlarge.)

Now that all my work has returned from my solo show at Waterworks Visual Art Center in Salisbury, North Carolina, I have been able to figure out just what I want to make before next month's ACC (American Craft Council) show in Atlanta.  This is the first of two Lunettes I plan to create.  I love making these pieces.

 (Above:  Lunette XXX, detail.)

I will also be making some more In Box Series pieces too.  So, stay tuned!

(Above:  The Key to Fortune.  Framed: 7" x 6 1/4". $40.)

Of course, I can't help myself when it comes to keys.  Here's another one!

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

Another busy week!

Above:  New work made while conducting my two-day HOT workshop.  From left to right: In Box Relic CC, a special gift to a new friend; In Box Relic XCIX ($60); Relic CCII ($100); and In Box Relic CCI ($60).

When I'm conducting a workshop, I think it is important that I present myself as a "working artist" who produces ART.  All my demonstrations really do get finished, framed, priced and hopefully sold.  I encourage participants to "make art" by example, not by "workshop samples" but through a series I call "relics".  Each finished piece is like an artifact from the time I spent sharing what I know and what I do.

This past week found me in St. Augustine, Florida.  It was wonderful!  I'm really too busy to snap pictures during most of the workshop but I try to have a "show-and-tell" during the last hour.  That's when I take a few pictures of all the wonderful pieces created during the two days.

 

While in Florida, I made new friends, including Cindi (who hosted me in her lovely home and planted this pretty flower) and Laura (who made all the arrangements, dinner reservations, and handled all the money!)  I can't thank you two enough!



Unfortunately, I forgot the name of the very, very generous lady who donated this amazing stash of yarn to my recycling efforts.  Not only will this bonanza be turned into fiber vessels, but some of it is perfect for wrapping more wooden thread spools!  THANK YOU!

I truly enjoy teaching HOT: Heat Activated Techniques for Contemporary Embroidery and will be conducting it as a two-day and a five-day experience at QSDS this summer in Columbus, Ohio.  (For the Quilt and Surface Design Symposium website, CLICK HERE.  I'm teaching from May 28th through June 3rd.)  I'm also thrilled to be on Mary McBride's faculty for Focus on Fibers, a retreat at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna, Florida!  If enrollment is sufficient, I'll be headed back to Florida to teach Second Life on April 7th and 8th!  (CLICK HERE for more information.)

Teaching workshops is important to me.  I always learn something too, generally about myself and my own artwork.  I learn where I'm at creatively.  I find balance in my every day life.  I also have time (especially when driving!) to consider directions for the future.  So ... thank you to everyone who has signed up and taken one of my workshops! It really means a lot!

(Above:  Nike's Advice VI.  45" x 60". Acrylic paint on unprimed canvas with free-motion machine embroidery and hand-stitched binding.)

Before leaving for Florida, I finished all the machine stitching on Nike's Advice VI.  I took the piece with me and managed more than half the blanket-stitched binding during an evening with Cindi.  Once home, it got done and I decided to photograph it on the driveway.

(Above:  Photographing Nike's Advice VI.)

The daylight was perfect, a bright but overcast day without any shadows.  Steve helped erect all three ladders and the wooden ramp we use to put our moped into the cargo van.  The tripod and camera were firmly put into a stable place.  I'm pleased with the resulting photos ....

... especially the detail shots! (I am linking this blog post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber arts.)

A Busy Week!

 (Above:  A Baby Goat is Called a Kid, The Wall of Ancestors.)

I've been on the go ever since returning from two workshops in Alabama taught during the week in which my solo show, Anonymous Ancestors, closed at the Eastern Shore Art Center in Fairhope. It was a wonderful time even though I had to pack up the their installation.  I don't need more pieces for it but I can't help myself.  I keep making more.  After all, how can I resist adding the phrase "A Baby Goat is Called a Kid" to a picture like this!

 (Above:  Donation of old photos from Stephen Savage, board member at the Eastern Shore Art Center.)

The photo came from an amazing gift.  Stephen Savage is a professional photographer in the Mobile and Fairhope area of Alabama.  We gave me a big box full of old photos.  Some were unknown family members.  Others ... well ... simply anonymous and totally ripe for collaged phrases like ...

 (Above:  What Happens on the Buckskin Stays on the Buckskin, Wall of Ancestors.)

... this!  There are quite a few more than will soon be transformed for the installation.

 (Above:  No One Could Look Me in the Eyes and Not Tell the Truth. Wall of Ancestors.)

I got this old, anonymous image and frame from Bill Mishoe's auction.  It is BIG, measuring 31" x 27".  I particularly like big pieces for this installation.  They are generally the center or focal point for a vignette of pictures on a wall.

 (Above:  Relic XCVI.  Matted to 11 1/4" x 10".)

Of course I did some stitching during the week, finishing up Relic XCVI.  Each "relic" started as a demonstration piece in a workshop.

 (Images from the Allatoona Quilt Guild.)

I am free-motion stitching on another, large canvas painted in public during an art event called Nike's Advice.  It isn't complete yet.  Why? Well, I've also spent time with the Allatoona Quilt Guild outside Atlanta, Georgia.  I presented a truck show but got to enjoy the guild's general meeting and fabulous "Show-and-Tell".  Some of the work is donated to charity.  Some is the completion of a piece bound for a special family member or friend.  One lady modeled her quilt, a great jacket.

 (Above:  Images from the Southern Pines Quilt Guild.)

I forgot to share these photos taken last month.  I went to the Southern Pines Quilt Guild in North Carolina and gave a trunk show there too.  Again, these ladies are so talented and very, very generous.

 
 (Above:  Mounting 19th century dictionary pages to fabric and collaging vintage and antique images to each one.)

Some days are spend doing prep work.  This week I fused fabric to the reverse of 30+ pages selected from Charles Richardson's English Language Dictionary, 1846 and added images cut from pre-1950s magazines and assorted 19th engravings.  Soon I'll be adding some free-motion embroidery and collaged letters.  They will become the next wave in my new Great Quotations series.

There's never a dull moment here.  Tomorrow my husband Steve and I go to Salisbury, North Carolina to pick up my recently finished solo show.  Next Tuesday will find me in St. Augustine conducting another two-day HOT workshop and giving a power point lecture.  I've got a grant due on the 15th and several juried shows to enter.  Between the "paperwork" of art, the promotion of art, and the actually making of art, I sometimes feel like I have three jobs.  Thankfully, I like to keep busy!

I am linking this post to Nina-Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays", a site for sharing fiber arts. 

Nike's Advice III and other work

(Above:  Nike's Advice III, framed. 34" x 42". Assorted paint, oil pastels, and ink on unprimed canvas with self-guided, free-motion stitching.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

During the annual spring art crawl, Artista Vista 2016, I painted over hundred feet of canvas with the public.  My friends Barry Wheeler and John Allen created a video of the experience.  (CLICK HERE for the one-minute, time-lapse of the experience.  It is a blast!)  For over a year, I did nothing with the fabric.  Now, I'm really enjoying stitching some of it. 

 (Above:  Nike's Advice III, framed and hanging beside my mat cutter and small Seal dry-mount press at Mouse House, my business.)

The first two pieces had three layers:  the painted canvas (top), recycled industrial packaging felt (middle), and blank canvas (bottom ... more from the same, original bolt of fabric).  These first two were finished without a frame.  The edges were simply button-hole stitched. Yet, I wondered if I really needed the packaging felt.  There was only one way to find out ... TRY IT.

(Nike's Advice III, detail.)
  
Nike's Advice III is the result.  Although I have the next piece under my sewing machine and it has the felt layer, I'm now wondering about using a larger piece of the canvas on the back ... and stretching the finished work around wooden stretcher bars.  One thing always seems to lead to the next!

 (Nike's Advice III, detail.)

I'm very pleased with the finished work and hung it at Mouse House, the limited custom picture framing shop I own with my husband Steve.

 (Nike's Advice III, detail.)

Yet I wasn't pleased until making the decision to cut off approximately 6" from the right side and 3" off the bottom.  This fabric was painted without much thought to composition, color, or even having any edges.  The bolt was simply suspended from the ceiling.  It flowed down onto two folding tables.  As the fabric was covered, I pulled more fabric down and continued painting.  Even though I thought I cut a nice arrangement, it needed a little trimming.

 (Above:  Nike's Advice IV.  10 1/2" x 10 1/2". $40.)

I took the parts I trimmed away and made two little pieces.  It was fun to work with the scraps, cut them, and make a new arrangement.

 (Above:  Nike's Advice V.  9 1/4" x 15 1/4". $50.)

These two little pieces were shrink wrapped and thrown into a print bin. 

 (Above:  Relic XCV.  Unframed 6" x 5".  Framed: 11" x 12".  $100.)

Every time I conduct one of my "HOT" workshops, I finish the demonstration piece.  I figure that I'm hired not just for a "workshop" piece but as a working artist.  I ought to be making art.  So, that's what I do.  This is the piece from last week's workshop in Fairhope.  The one I stitched in Mobile never made it home.  It was sold to one of the participants!  That really makes me happy because it means that I am succeeding in my desire to "teach like an artist" not just as someone going over a lesson plan!

(Above:  Window CXLVII.  Framed: 15 1/2" x 12 1/2".)

Before I left for the two workshops in Alabama, a friend commissioned me to create a special piece for her mother's birthday.  She selected a design from one of my earlier Lancet Windows ... but just the top half.  Happily, she picked it up today.  Commissions are always very special too!