Day to day journal of installation, embroidery, and fiber arts created by Susan Lenz
This piece was inspired by both the fan and a scrap of a vintage quilt that was roughly the same size. There was a challenge too! I wanted to use the little railroad scene people who would ordinarily be sitting on a bench. Since I didn't have a bench, the edge of the fan along with the nutcrackers were used. Stitching through the thin wooden fan was also a challenge but I'm pleased with the results!
From the moment I started the free-motion machine embroidery on these 120 vintage handkerchiefs, I was looking forward to "installation day". My mind's eye could see them criss-crossing the hallway at Stormwater Studios in Columbia. The vision was so strong that it didn't surprise me at all when I had exactly the right number to fill the space. If I can say so myself, it looks perfect. (Click here for a very short video on You Tube!)
While this installation is "perfect" in my mind, it hardly represents anything else one might consider ideal. Every one of these handkerchiefs has a phrase expressing some grievance regarding the current socio-political scene. There's nothing ideal about the actions against marginalized communities or the roll back of DEI iniatives or the number of government offices shuttered or the research grants that have been cut There's nothing ideal about misinformation.
There's also nothing perfect about the installation in terms of its scope or completion. I didn't mention things from Trump's first term or the four years between the two terms. Some grievances couldn't be adequately condensed to fit on a handkerchief with letters that might still be legible when hanging on an overhead clothes line. So, they weren't included. I had to stop at some point long before the insults stopped. After all, this exhibit had a firm deadline!
The exhibit, presented by Jasper Project, is a short one. It goes only through the coming weekend but it includes a poetry protest, an activism postcard evening, a drum circle, other musical performances, and both an opening and closing reception. The exhibit also includes two of my other artworks: Nails in a Coffin and The Locks Have All Been Changed.
I approach each mandala as a challenge. This one had more than one! First, I really wanted to use the braided coil place mat but it was thick ... thicker than I wanted to use with a quilt base. Thus, I stapled a piece of a yellow table cloth over a piece of a canvas apron to a stretcher bar instead of using a quilt. Next, the Sesame Street color wheel looked very balanced with the place mat. I went from there ... adding the coasters and lids ... but needing "something" between them.
At that point, I knew I needed to bring the yellow onto the place mat. The toy chairs worked well but weren't really tall enough for the space. I kept eyeing the Cinderella figurines. They weren't really right for a mandala because the dress stuck out fully in the back. My challenge was to cut away the back with my Dremel tool without cutting myself or breaking the figure. It worked!
By this time, I knew I wanted the perimeter to be a row of colorful buttons ... but not yellow ones. Yellow buttons wouldn't stand out against the yellow background. The final challenge was the space in the corners. It looked empty ... but I wanted the overall perception to be "yellow". Thankfully, the laminated grocery stamps did the trick! I might not ever use another tablecloth but this time it worked out well.
Often, my mandalas include a perimeter of buttons ... all the same buttons. Occasionally, I sort through my stash for a variety of bright, colorful buttons to use on smaller pieces that are equally bright and colorful. This is one of those!
The thoughts running through my head when I designed this piece had everything to do with the mandala I'd just finished. I've used the same antique applique quilt and the same moulding/frame. Yet, the first piece covered up almost all of the appliqued flowers and didn't have a button edge at all. I decided to use a totally different approach ... one that would allow the quilt to peek through the objects and one that would capitalize on the reflective quality of the moulding/frame's shiny, silver lip. I think the results worked well!
I only had one yellow record. It came along with several others, all red. I might not have used it but the song was The Owl and the Pussy-Cat. How could I resist? Alone, the six-inch record was just "too much/bold" for a mandala center. I tried several other objects in my stash but didn't like any of them. Some were simply too small. Those that seemed balanced with the record covered up both the title and the cute characters. The shears worked. The owl and pussy cat peek out from behind the shears!
As a child, I adored the poem. The words are available HERE (The Poetry Foundation). Until a google search, I didn't remember most of the words. I knew there was something about a pea-green boat that "sailed away for a year and a day" but the ending was always with me: They danced by the light of the moon. Even as a kid, I knew this was romantic! The rest of the mandala came together easily. The Screamin' Sicilian paper mustaches were coated with acrylic gel. I'm in debt to everyone who send me things like them! THANK YOU!
Several weeks ago, I constructed the foundations for lots of new work. Lancet Windows CCXXXIX and CCXL were among them. More recently, I stitched them and then worked under the exterior vented oven hood in my kitchen to solder holes in them. Outside (because the fumes are more than the hood can handle!), I subjected them to the intense heat of my industrial heat gun ... melting away the synthetic felt between the various foundation shapes. Only the 100% cotton thread connecting the shapes didn't melt. They held the pieces together. Finally, I mounted and framed them.
I also managed to stitch, melt, mount, and frame two In Box series pieces. I make these in three sizes: small, medium, and large. These two are "medium" but I can create them in any desired custom size. Right now, I have two more "Windows" and one large "In Box" waiting to be stitched and finished. I'm also working on a group created on white synthetic felt. In the past, I've only hand-stitched the ones on white felt but I think I might machine stitch at least one using a bright colored, variegated cotton thread ... just to see how it might look! There's never a dull moment here in retirement!
Some of my early Found Object Mandalas have failed to find homes. It's sad. Occasionally, one even gets damaged. That's sadder. Such was the reality of Mandala LXXIV. Steve never liked it anyway. He thought the doll heads were creepy. Though I marked it as "In a private collection" on the Found Object Mandala blog, it was actually "taken out of commission" ... as in "taken apart".
This task entailed removing all the staples that attached the piece to its stretcher bar ... snipping all the heavy-duty thread running through the piece and the acid-free foam-centered board that was glued to the stretcher bar (these stitches distribute the weight of the work) ... and finally ... snipping hundreds of stitches that held all the objects in place. I was ready to reused the quilt. The sheer layer of tulle/netting that went over the quilt before the objects were sewn down was replaced. Some of the objects were reused ... like the trivet and the laminated Tampa Nugget cigar bands, etc. Other objects were added.
The new piece really does look even better. It's not creepy at all! Instead of the Fall Guy action figures from the 1980s, it features much older baseball figures. I truly hope that this mandala finds a permanent home!
Everyday I stitch. I love stitching both by hand and by machine. Yesterday I shared two, hand-stitched In Box series pieces that were finished, melted, mounted, photographed, and framed. I mentioned that I always have more than one piece going. One of the pieces "in progress" was Large In Box CDLVIII. It progressed while all the other pieces sat idle, but it got totally done!
After I finished stitching, it was stapled to a stretcher bar. This prevents it from shrinking during the melting techniques. Two sizes of soldering irons were used to melt holes through the layers of polyester stretch velvet. I can now do this inside! The new oven's hood vents to the outside but I still wear my carbon filtering respirator. I'm too close to do otherwise but at least the kitchen doesn't get stinky.
Melting inside has two advantages. First, I'm not outside under the hot, hot, hot sun. Temperatures here are hovering around ninety degrees. Second, there's no wind. Believe it or not, ninety degrees is COOL for a soldering iron. A breeze actually cools them. There's no breeze in the kitchen!
Although I've always been the one to design our framing and the one cutting the mats, it's Steve who builds the frames, cuts the UV filtering/anti-reflective glass, and closes each frame. I'm lucky to have such a nice, big (literally sanctuary-sized) studio but I'm also lucky to be part of a great, artistic team effort!
Several weeks ago, Steve and I delivered my Lace Forest Installation to Fiberart International in Pittsburgh. I stitched a small In Box series piece on the trip there and another on the trip back. I blogged them shortly after our return. Then, I prepared another two small In Box series pieces. Why? Well ... we returned to Pittsburgh for the opening weekend activities. That's another trip north followed by miles going back south. As result, here are the two newly finished pieces
I really enjoy stitching these piece while in the passenger seat. There's really no serious planning involved. I can grab any color of floss and just stitch, stitch, stitch ... still looking out of the window at the passing landscape. In about two months, we will be going back to Pittsburgh to pick up The Lace Forest. You can bet that I'll have another two of these ready to go ... but next time, I'll try a white felt background!
Several people have asked whether I create one piece at a time. I don't. I'll have anywhere from two to ten in production on any given day. Most days, there's at least one or two Found Object Mandalas in progress and at least two to four of these polyester stretch velvet pieces in the works. Often, I've got an installation going too. Before we left for Pittsburgh (the second time!), I didn't just create the foundations for the two, small, hand-stitched In Box series pieces shared in this post. I constructed two Lancet Windows, two Large In Box pieces, two medium In Box pieces, and three Windows. Right this moment, some of them are stitched and stapled to their stretcher bars waiting to be melted. Others are constructed and waiting to be stitched. Window CCXXIII, however, was stitched, melted, mounted, photographed and framed. In the coming days, more of these pieces will be finished. Blog posts are coming!
For years I've wanted to have an artwork accepted into Fiberart International in Pittsburgh, PA. It's a triennial. So, if one is rejected, one must wait three years to try again. I've applied and waited several times but this time was different!
The Lace Forest was ACCEPTED and Steve and I went to Pittsburgh for an incredible weekend of opening activities ... including a private artists reception on Thursday, a lovely public reception on Friday evening, and artist led tours on Saturday followed by a riverboat dinner cruise on Pittsburgh's three rivers! Fiberart International was presented in two different gallery spaces. Half the work was at Contemporary Craft; half at Brew House Arts. There were shuttle buses going between the two locations.
Brew House Art's executive director Natalie Sweet actually hung all forty-six strands of The Lace Forest. Some were doubled up, the bottom of one attached to the top of another. She used a genie lift to ready the overhead I-beams. They were perfectly placed at different levels, creating an amazing overhead environment. Lots of people were fascinated.
In the photo above is my friend Nolan Wright's incredible, sculptural basket in the foreground, my friend Leisa Rich's tapestry in the center area, and The Lace Forest in the background. Steve and I met many of the artists and committee members. Now ... just check out some of the other work on view in the two galleries!
Driving The Lace Forest to Fiberarts International in Pittsburgh and back meant time in the cargo van. Time in the cargo van is an opportunity to stitch! Many people don't know how I manage stitching in the passenger seat, but it's easy! I use whatever color my hands land on first. There is no pattern. It's just stitch, stitch, stitch!
In one sense, there's not much to it. Only straight stitches and French knots are needed. When I run out of a color, I just switch to another. I'll be doing it again ... very soon. Why? Well, Steve and I leave tomorrow to return for the opening events associated with Fiberarts International. I have two more In Box pieces ready to go ... one for the ten hour trip there and one for the return.
I'm frequently asked, "How long does it take you to make a piece?" Well ... I now know that it takes about ten hours to stitch one of these, but that doesn't incorporate the time spent cutting polyester stretch velvet shapes and ironing them to the industrial felt. It also doesn't include the time to melt, mount, and frame the work. Plus, there's the time to iron heat-activated adhesive (Pellon 805 Wonder Under) to the back of all the polyester stretch velvet. I really don't know how long a piece requires but t least I now know how long it takes to hand-stitch a piece this size! LOL!
Meanwhile, I've been wrapping up the work for next month's Degenerate Art Project at Stormwater Studios in Columbia. These are the last handkerchiefs for my installation Reasons for Tears. Since being rinsed and dried on this makeshift clothesline, they've been ironed and photographed individually. There are 120 individual pieces. I had to stop. Honestly, the list of grievances from the Trump administration is weighing heavily on my mind and starting to seriously affect my attitude. I want to be happy, especially this coming weekend in Pittsburgh. I've waited years for the opportunity to have one of my pieces in the Fiberart International triennial! It's going to be a great time no matter what is coming out of Washington DC (at least that's my hope!)
When I'm working, my mind is often roaming down rabbit hole ideas, especially when a strong concept is in the forefront of my brain. Because I was invited to participate in an exhibit called The Degenerate Art Project at Stormwater Studios in Columbia, SC, I've been stitching a new installation called Reasons for Tears. (Click here for a recent blog post.) I've been stitching collected grievances about the Trump administration on dozens of vintage handkerchiefs. There are now more than one hundred, but the process does allow my imagination to roam to other related ideas. First, I just had to make The Locks Have All Been Changed. (I blogged that last Monday ... here.) Yet, I had another idea. I couldn't help myself ... again ... and it just had to be made too.
It was actually quite easy because I already had thousands of old nails wrapped with yarn. I've used these nails in other installations and even a collaboration with poet Al Black (Images HERE.) I have two, plastic parts containers (the sort others use for beads or screws or other small items) filled with letters clipped from various magazines and vintage books. One container has mostly black-and-white/vintage/antique letters. One container has colorful letters clipped from magazines. It was quick fun to select letters to collage on the wooden coffin which I ordered from Woodpecker Crafts.
All I basically did was to stain the wooden coffin maple colored, collage the letters, and fill the interior with nails. At this moment, I don't even know whether the show will allow me to have three different works. I've asked and am waiting for an answer. I hope it gets to go! One way or the other, this piece just had to be made.
UPDATE! This piece will be in the upcoming exhibit!
Further UPDATE: Due to limited space, this piece was withdrawn from the exhibition by the organizers who initially gave permission for its display. (I did ask, of course ... and this piece still just had to come into existence whether allowed to be on view at this particular show or not. I have no regrets over making it!)
One more update! The piece is back in the show!
Last week I asked Steve to cut me a floater frame with precise outer dimensions: 12" x 12". This was for my SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) annual fundraising auction donation. (Click here for that blog post.) He found a short stick of moulding that he said "might work". It was going to "be close". We had no more of this particular moulding. So, Steve tried to cut it to the required size. The last piece, however, was three-quarters of an inch too small. I told him to simply cut another moulding to the needed 12" x 12" size but to trim the three sides of this moulding to the length of the leg that was "too short". So, I ended up with this frame: 11 1/4" x 11 1/4". I designed the two pieces at roughly the same time. Like the donation, it was a challenge to work this small but also fun to stitch!
