Yellow-breasted Chat

(Above:  Yellow-breasted Chat, 12" x 12" mini art quilt.  Manipulated digital image printed on fabric with hand stitching and trapunto/stuffing.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Earlier this year I created three, 12" x 12" mini art quilts that included a central image "stuffed" from the reverse.  This technique is called trapunto.  When approaching this technique, it is essential that no stitching is done between the two layers, front and back.  That's where the "stuffing" goes.  While stitching the last piece, I wondered how I might stitch in this area and still do the trapunto work.


(Above:  Photograph of the dead yellow-breasted chat.)

I had an idea but needed an image ... something with an obvious, central shape and an equally obvious background.  I'm sure the current COVID-19 crisis had a lot to do with my selection of a dead gold finch.  Every day news carries statistics of increasing numbers of the infected and of those who have died.  How very different this year is from last year when I was in Belle, Missouri at the Osage Art Community art residency program.  During my stay, the neighbor mentioned finding a dead gold finch.  (At the time, we thought it was a dead gold finch.  Since originally posting this blog entry, I've learned and re-titled the piece correctly as a Yellow-breasted chat!)  I retrieved it from her trash bin and took over seventy images of the poor, beautiful bird.  Dead birds have always held a place of sacred fascination for me and for many other, famous artists ...

... like Albert Pinkham Ryder's 1890s Dead Bird.  This tiny 4 1/4" x 10" painting absolutely touched me when touring the Phillips Collection in Washington, DC.  Dead birds are symbolic of life's briefness.  Their still bodies instantly tell tales of flight cut short, the loss of days, and voices never to be heard again. They elicit empathy for creatures of the earth and sky often dying because man has interfered with the natural order of the world.  (Ryder might have titled this piece Dead Bird because he didn't know what species it really was! LOL!)

 (Above:  Gold Finch, detail.)

I don't know what killed the tiny Missourian yellow-breasted chat, but photographing him was part documentation, part inspiration, part reverence, part a promise to create art.  I did not return him to the garage; he was solemnly buried on the nearby farm, under the wide sky.  Until now, my promise wasn't kept.  I hadn't done anything with the photos.  As touching as the original image is, I knew I wanted a different look ... something ominous.  Through Photoshop, the image was altered.  Turning some of the yellow feathers green was an attempt to create a slight, sickly background for brilliant yellow thread.  This area ... the bird's entire body ... would be "stuffed". 

 (Above:  Opening the area for trapunto but also for additional hand stitching.)

After totally seed stitching the background in indigo and black thread with a metallic silver running stitch suggesting a stilled ability to fly, I cut open the felt under the fabric.  I pinned it open and then stitched with the yellow thread.

 (Above:  Tracing the bird's outline.)

Once finished with the stitching, I traced the outline of the bird ...

... and cut the outline approximately one-quarter inch inside the pencil line.

This pattern was used to cut a piece of scrap felt.  Then, I cut another piece ... again, a quarter-inch smaller than the pattern.  The larger piece of felt went against the bird.  The smaller went against the felt ... which was stitched back together again.


(Above: Reverse side of an oriental embroidery ... being made into the reverse of the mini art quilt.)

For the art quilt's reverse, I found a piece of gold work embroidery in my stash.  It was a donation from one of my friends, a lady who regularly attends Bill Mishoe's estate service's Friday night auctions.  She knows I might not use anything from my stash "as is".  This fancy embroidery is the type made for the tourist industry.  It was exactly 12" in height and included two birds!  I've always wanted to see the back of the stitching, so I cut it.

(Above:  Gold Finch, reverse.)

One of the pieces cut away was turned into a hanging sleeve.  Now, the back is as beautiful and bird-inspired as the front!

Finishing Up Nike's Advice

(Above:  Nike's Advice XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, and XVIII leaning up against my Wall of Keys.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

A couple months ago I started the free-motion stitching on eleven scraps of painted, unprimed canvas saved after a public art performance work called Nike's Advice.  My initial idea was two-fold: 1) to finally use the paint, ink, pastel oils, and canvas I was saving without a prior plan ... basically, just "stuff waiting", a stash with good intentions that otherwise might never become a reality, i.e. REDUCE, REUSE, and RECYCLE and 2) to face my personal demons with regards to painting, an artistic approach that intimidated me for years.


(Above:  Nike's Advice XIV.  16 1/2" x 10".  Assorted paint on unprimed canvas with free-motion stitching, copper roofing/slating nails, and UV filtering epoxy.

When I selected the eleven sections, I thought I'd picked too much.  Never was an end possible in so short an amount of time.  The process was multi-step and labor intensive  Every piece was free-motion stitched ... which is pretty much like "drawing with the sewing machine".  Then, the work was sealed with Golden GAC 400 fabric stiffener and carefully measured.  Stretcher bars were cut to the outer dimensions and a piece of acid-free, foam-centered board glued to the stretcher bars.  The sides of these substructures were painted.  The stitched pieces were lightly glued to the foam-centered board and nailed into place with 3/4" roofing/slating nails before UV filtering epoxy was poured over the surface.  That's a lot of steps, a lot of time. 

(Above:  Nike's Advice XV and XVI, presented as a diptych. Each side is 42" x 19".  Assorted paint and ink with free-motion stitching, galvanized steel roofing/slating nails, and UV filtering epoxy.)

The last four had UV filtering epoxy poured one-at-a-time.  The plastic covered work table in the garage wouldn't permit much more.  Yet, I had two pieces to catch the excess epoxy.  Nike's Advice XIV was small enough to fit on the table.  At the bottom of this blog post is Sheltering in Place: Paper Wasp Nests, a collection I'd put into a vintage English pub tray that seemed a perfect illustration of Columbia, a city under quarantine where everyone is both isolated but also closely situated to one another ... just like paper wasps in their hexagonal cells.  At just over $100 per gallon, I really try to use every drop of the epoxy as possible!  This seemed like a good idea.

(Above:  Detail of Nike's Advice XV.)

Galvanized 3/4" roofing/slating nails were used on the perimeter of all but the small piece.  The cooler tones simply looked better than the copper nails used earlier.

 (Above:  Nike's Advice XVII.  30" x 38".  Assorted paint and spray paint on unprimed canvas with free-motion stitching, galvanized roofing/slating nails, and UV filtering epoxy.)

I still own quite a bit of the canvas used during the earlier performance art event and for all these pieces.  I'm thinking about attempting to "paint" again.  Because Columbia is under lock-down and my business is deemed "non-esseential", I have the time to experiment.  I'm still very much intimidated by the act of painting but I also know that taking Nike's advice has worked out very, very well.  The weather is wonderful too!

  (Above:  Nike's Advice XVIII.  30" x 38".  Assorted paint and spray paint on unprimed canvas with free-motion stitching, galvanized roofing/slating nails, and UV filtering epoxy.)

Part of me is wishing that I'd kept more of the very little sections of the original 130 feet of canvas painted with the public.  The small piece turned out so well.  I really didn't think that would happen.  Honestly, I thought selecting small sections was some sort of desperate attempt to see promise in what was otherwise a mess.  

  (Above:  Nike's Advice XVII, detail.)

It doesn't matter now.  I've thrown away the rest of the canvas made in public.  Now is the time to see what I might make on my own ... though honestly, the pieces I saved were almost all sections I painted while others simply watched.  What I painted myself worked.  These were the most pleasing parts.  As a fiber artist, I'm not generally that worried about being "self taught", but as a "painter" is is hard to start at the beginning, to be clueless, to embark in a new medium without instruction.

(Above:  My studio ... the only place that I've found for capturing images of highly reflective epoxy!)

Yet, one of the most influential artists for my current work is undoubtedly Suzy Scarborough.  I was reminded of that when snapping photos in my studio.  This location is the only one I've found for photographing the highly reflective surface of the UV filtering epoxy.  It is also the place where I have three, large Suzy Scarborough pieces over which UV filtering epoxy was poured.  (Steve and I own three others by Suzy, encaustic works.  Her new works have evolved ... but similar pieces are found on her website under the "figures" tab).  Suzy and her partner Andrew were the ones who told me about the material they were using.  They encouraged me.  Suzy Scarborough is self-taught.  I think we met when I framed her law degree.  Like me, she turned her back on a lucrative career in favor of a life in the arts.  So ... onward and upward ... I'm going to paint some canvas! 

(Above:  Sheltering in Place: Paper Wasps Nests.  12" x 12" vintage English pub tray filled with a collection of paper wasp nests with UV filtering epoxy.)

Stir Crazy in South Carolina

 (Above:  Detail of Stir Crazy in South Carolina.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

New art ideas have been bubbling since the COVID-19 "sheltering in place" ordinances were announced.  Visions of isolation, solitary confinement, and other "social distancing" situations came to mind, especially when hearing about others needing "entertainment" and ways to escape boredom.

(Above:  Stir Crazy in South Carolina. 32 1/2" x 24 1/2".  Paper-pieced, machine-stitched crazy quilt with hand stitched "counting" motifs.  Materials include discarded wall covering fabric scraps from both the House of Representatives and Senate done when the South Carolina State House was renovated in the late 1990s.

I can't remember ever being bored.  Being stuck in my studio all day, every day is like a dream-come-true.  I have everything I need.  There are no interruptions.  Stepping into the backyard is glorious because springtime in South Carolina is quite beautiful. Azaleas are flowering. All the pink and white dogwood trees are blooming.  The weather is wonderful.  In many respects, this period of quarantine is so fabulous that it is difficult to comprehend the dire straits in over-crowded hospitals, the need for masks, and the panic about too few ventilators.  But that's what's happening, and there are whole families trying to function with parents working from home while attempting home-schooling lesson plans.  What a disaster!  Just because I'm not going stir crazy doesn't mean others aren't counting the hours in a day, the days in a week, and wondering when this will all end.

 (Above:  Stir Crazy in South Carolina, in progress.)

Thinking about other people, made a difference.  My imagination saw a lonesome guy marooned on a deserted island using a sharpened rock on a cliff-side wall to mark the passing days.  One upright, two, three, four, and a diagonal slash for every five days. It would be easy to stitch, a simple and universal illustration ... just like cartoons of prisoners awaiting their release ... very "stir crazy".  The phrase itself suggests a crazy quilt.  But what fabric?

 (Above:  Stir Crazy in South Carolina, detail.)

Well ... my stash of fabric isn't the typical collection of 100% cotton quilting material.  In fact, I don't know if I have anything that most quilters would consider appropriate, but I do have a tub in which I store rather unusual pieces and "things I like".  I decided to create this piece using only fabrics from that one, plastic tub.  I also knew that tub held two pieces of conceptually perfect pieces of fabric ... scraps discarded from the late 1990s State House renovations.

 (Above:  The interior of the South Carolina State House.)

Back in the late 1990s, the South Carolina State House enjoyed a much needed total renovation.  One of the companies hired was from Pittsburgh, PA ... near where I grew up. One of the experts for installing the several patterns of exotic fabric wall coverings was a guy I knew from high school.  He gave me two rather large scraps rescued from the trash.  These were the sections that had been cut away for doors and windows and the waste when lining up the patterns.  He asked me if I wanted more.  I probably should have said YES, but at the time I couldn't think of a good use for this fabric.  At the time, I wasn't a practicing artist ... just a custom picture framer. I worried that I wasn't even supposed to own these pieces of "trash".     

(Above:  Stir Crazy in South Carolina, reverse ... including a seal of the state cut from a section of the fabric wall covering used in the State House.)

The two pieces came from the House of Representatives and the Senate.  I know this because these words are in the weave of the cloth.  One piece is blue; the other golden yellow.  The golden yellow piece included the words South Carolina Senate outside the seal.  I cut the words off, leaving only the seal as my signature place on the reverse.

But ... before getting to the reverse, I had to stitch the crazy quilt. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I remembered a very early experiment with paper piecing.  After less than fifteen minutes of research, I had the process committed to memory.  It took me longer to remember how to use the "line tool" in Photoshop.  Within an hour, I had twelve eight-inch squares designed and printed.  I found fabrics in the tub that went well enough with the two from the State House.  It was fun to actually stitch something "functionally" but it was so much more fun to hand stitch all the little counting lines.  I have no idea how many there are.  I got lost in the process.  Who knows how many there are or how many days are left in this "stay-at-home" time of a pandemic.  As long as it continues, I'll be making more art.

The Red Carpet Dress at Castaways

(Above:  The Red Carpet Dress, currently at the Bateman Foundation in Victoria, British Columbia ... which is closed due to the COVID-19 virus)

Even though Castaways, an international invitational exhibition focusing on climate change and consumer textile waste, is closed to the public, the incredible staff along with curator Vivienne Challandes created this virtual tour.  Click the link for a 360 image on which several "dots" appear.  These "dots" are links to audio clips ... including my one-minute talk on The Red Carpet Dress.

https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=YCUmTufY5Hb

Nike's Advice Continues

(Above:  Me holding Nike's Advice XIII in front of my Wall of Keys.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

For quite some time I've been working on eleven pieces in the Nike's Advice Series.  The first two were completed and shared HERE.  In that earlier blog post, I recapped the public art event during which 130 feet of painted canvas was created and how the series started. It also mentions the hair-brained idea of pouring UV filtering epoxy over the saved, stitched sections and using 3/4" copper roofing/slating nails to attach the work to wooden stretcher bars. 

(Above:  Nike's Advice IX.  26" x 20 1/2".  Assorted paint on unprimed canvas with free-motion embroidery mounted on painted stretcher bars with copper roofing/slating nails and UV filtering epoxy.)

I was really pleased with the results but there was a delay in the progression of the work.  I was temporarily out of both epoxy and the pretty copper nails.  While waiting for these orders, I carefully painted the sides of the stretcher bars in colors to coordinate with each piece.

 
 (Above:  Nike's Advice IX, detail.)

(Above:  Nike's Advice XI, X, and XIII on foam-centered board being glued to painted stretcher bars.)

Foam-centered board was cut to the outer dimensions of each stretcher bar.  The edges were also painted.  The boards were glued to the stretcher bars.  Then, the stitched artwork was gently glued to the boards ... just a few dabs of glue.  On the earlier two pieces I learned that "more glue" wasn't necessary.  In fact, gluing the piece to the foam-centered board first tended to warp.  Borrowing from the 1960s Brylcreem advertisements:  A Little Dab'll Do Ya!

 
 (Above:  Nike's Advice X.  26" x 20 1/2".  Assorted paint on unprimed canvas with free-motion embroidery mounted on painted stretcher bars with copper roofing/slating nails and UV filtering epoxy.)

The glue only needed to keep the two layers of stitched canvas in place.  The actually "attachment" between the stretcher bars, foam-centered board, and canvas was the copper nails.  These 3/4", large headed nails were hammered all around the perimeter ... one at a time ... intentionally at slightly varying distances from one another for a truly "handmade" look.

  (Above:  Nike's Advice X, detail.)

Between the painted sides and the nailed perimeter, the edge of these pieces provide a nice, professional finish.  There's no need for a frame ... which is rather a novel approach to artwork for a custom picture framer like me!

 
 (Above:  Three, one-pound boxes of 3/4" roofing/slating nails from Jamestown Distributors.)

Ordering nails by the pound is probably an every day occurrence for those in the construction business.  For me, it was amazing that such small boxes contained that much weight!

 (Above:  Copper roofing/slating nails being hammered into Nike's Advice XI.)

Most of the nails were hammered into place.  The ones at the corners, however, were glued into pre-drilled holes.  I couldn't risk hitting the V-nails that are used in the mitered corners when building the stretcher bars.

(Above:  Nike's Advice XI.  26" x 20 1/2".  Assorted paint, oil pastels, and ink on unprimed canvas with free-motion embroidery mounted on painted stretcher bars with copper roofing/slating nails and UV filtering epoxy.)

At the time of this blog post, there are still four more (larger) pieces needing epoxy.  Why?  Well, I would have run out of copper nails.  Four pounds wasn't enough.  This didn't matter though because I decided that "pretty" galvanized/silver roofing/slating nails would look better anyway.  They were ordered and soon I'll be able to share the last four pieces.

   (Above:  Nike's Advice XI, detail.)

After all the nails were hammered into place, Steve and I started mixing and pouring the UV filtering epoxy.  We can only do two of the smaller pieces at a time.  The plastic covered work table in our garage is only that large.  Epoxy is very, very sticky.  Elevating the work is important ... so that the pieces don't stick to whatever they are laid upon!

 (Above:  Epoxy Day in the garage.)

The propane torch is used after the epoxy is poured.  It isn't the heat but the carbon monoxide fumes that release tiny air bubbles in the epoxy.  Mixing the epoxy also produces odorless fumes.  This is why I'm wearing a carbon-filtering ventilator mask.  We are running out of heavy-duty latex gloves.  During this COVID-19 health crisis, ordering more gloves isn't possible.  Generally Steve is wearing a pair too, but recently he is using shrink-wrap plastic shaped like a bread wrapping.  We've used rubber bands to keep them on his arms.  They are sort of like "plastic mittens" but they are working!  I might go down to one latex glove on my right hand and one "plastic mitten" on my left.  Where there's a will, there's a way!
  

(Above:  Nike's Advice XII.  34" x 23".  Assorted paint, oil pastels, and ink on unprimed canvas with free-motion embroidery mounted on painted stretcher bars with copper roofing/slating nails and UV filtering epoxy.)

Nike's Advice XII was stitched first with a lovely, heavy red rayon thread.  I thought this would look great but it didn't.  These pieces just seem to need the outline of black thread.  Once the black thread was added, the red thread looked good too.

 (Above:  Nike's Advice XII, detail.)

Photographing these pieces has always been a problem.  The UV epoxy is highly reflective ... so much so that the resulting images generally include the reflection of the camera and tripod and whatever "background" is behind them.  I've attempted to take photos on my front porch after shielding the background with pieces of black foam-centered board or by hanging black curtains.  It was never quite right.

(Above:  Nike's Advice XIII.  25 1/2" x 32".  Assorted paint, oil pastels, and ink on unprimed canvas with free-motion embroidery mounted on painted stretcher bars with copper roofing/slating nails and UV filtering epoxy.)

This week, I hauled two 96" x 48" pieces of foam-centered board up to my studio.  The track lighting in my studio has color-correcting bulbs.  The angle seems perfect.  I attempted to block the reflection of my studio with the foam-centered boards.  It seemed to work ... at least better than any other attempt.

(Above:  Nike's Advice XIII, detail.)

Nike's Advice XIII also has a variation.  I hand seed-stitched the central area.  It was a lot of work but I like the results.

Angel Mirror

(Above:  Angel Mirror. 22" x 16". Antique mirror, black-and-white photocopy transfer, epoxy.  $225.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Sometimes at an auction, I bid on badly broken items ... things that I don't really need but want to salvage, want to touch, want to transform so that others might see the unspoken stories they seem to be telling me.  Such was this old, oak leaf mirror.  Many of the individual leaves were hanging on by a single, rusty nail.  Many were cracked. A few were missing.  The quarter-inch mirror was damaged too, but I didn't care.  I bid on it, and for somewhere in the neighborhood of $12.50 it became mine.

 (Above:  Angel Mirror, from the side.)

I glued some of the pieces together and rearranged others.  A little gold metallic paint provided highlights and touched up some of the damage.  The angel image was printed on a photocopy paper, and the ink was transferred to the mirror in an acrylic-to-acrylic process.  Because the antique mirror is so thick, the reflection of the image is seen from the side.

(Above:  Angel Mirror with reflection of me, taking photos.)

Over the past week, Steve and I have been pouring UV filtering epoxy on a number of stitched fiber artworks. (Blog post is coming!)  This mirror was positioned beside each piece and caught the over-flow of the epoxy.  This was done in order to prevent the oak leaves from wiggling on their rather flimsy nails and to keep the glued pieces from separating.  The epoxy stabilized the components of the frame while adding a shiny new surface.  The damaged mirror now looks as if it had been one of those even older, wavy glass mirrors.  From near ruin, this mirror was successfully transformed into a work of art ... saved ... to whisper stories from the past to people now and in the future.  I'm really pleased with the results.

Lock Down 2020

 (Lock Down 2020, detail.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

All of Columbia, South Carolina's non-essential businesses are under lock-down due to the spreading COVID-19 virus.  For me, these days are very much like an unintentional, at-home art residency.  There is no custom picture framing for me to do, no clients, and no interruptions.  There is, however, EVERYTHING in my studio, shop, and garage.  I didn't have to pack a limited selection of art objects for a specific residency proposal.  I can stitch anything ... any hair-brained idea, any project that was otherwise pushed to the recesses of my mind, or any chance opportunity that magically appears.

 (Above:  Lock Down 2020, (framed) 39" x 27". Found keys, lock, and hinge hand stitched onto vintage brocade.)

Lock Down 2020 happens to be the result of a chance opportunity!  By chance, my friend Dolly came upon three, small fabric bank bags filled with old keys.  They'd been in her late mother's house.  She gave them to me last week (when we were practicing social distancing but not totally under the city's lock down which advises residents NOT to congregate at all, regardless of keeping six feet apart.)  KEYS!  I love keys.  I've always loved keys.  I have an entire Wall of Keys hanging here at Mouse House. These keys, however triggered another idea!

(Above:  Lock Down 2020, detail.)

Instantly, the phrase "under lock and key" came to mind.  We are "under lock and key" now.  These keys had to be used to illustrate the current situation.  I knew just what to do!  Below are in-progress photos and several additional detail shots of the finished artwork.

There were so many keys in these fabric bank bags that I thought I wouldn't have to use any from my own stash.  In the end, the keys from Dolly made up about forty percent of those used.  Thankfully, I have lots and lots of old keys!

 

I knew just what fabric I wanted to use too!  I'd been saving this piece of vintage brocade for at least two decades.  It's been used only once for an installation.

 

I love the texture, pattern, and the color.  The keys look great on it too.

 

Carefully, the fabric's pattern was measured and a stretcher bar cut accordingly.  Acid-free foam-centered board was placed on the stretcher bars, just under the fabric ... which was pulled and stapled to the reverse side of the wood.

 

I knew every stitch would have to go through the foam-centered board.  This stiff layer is  necessary to hold the weight of so many keys.  In the workshops I conduct, participants often have trouble pushing through foam-centered board, but I've been doing it for years. This is how custom picture framers generally mount sports jerseys, christening gown, and other artifacts in a shadow-box presentation ... stitching! The work was stitched in my living room atop two work horses.

I used a strong, linen thread for all the stitching ... laying out keys as I went.

 

The most interesting keys were the hinged ones.  They were placed first ... along with an old, locked hinge.

It took three evenings to stitch all these keys down.  The end threads weren't actually knotted because I couldn't turn the piece over.  Keys that weren't stitched down would have fallen off.  After finishing, all the thread ends were hot glued to the back of the foam-centered board.  Below are more detail photos.