Final Screen Printing Class

Mathias, Alex, and I went to our final screen printing class last night. It was absolutely wonderful and we created dozens of great images. We learned to "register" our multi-color designs. Nick and Sara, our fabulous instructors and owners of Half and Half Design, even kept two prints to use as teaching examples...as "how to do it correctly" not "what to avoid"! Therefore, we feel quite accomplished.

Unfortunately, I accidentally chopped off the tip of my thumb and part of the nail...totally my own stupidity...using a very, very sharp paper cutter. Fortunately, we wrapped it in a scrap of towel and continued with Mathias and Alex working more quickly than I could. They also had to handle all the "cleaning up". It's on my left hand...so embroidery will not be affected. I've posted other pictures on my family blog.

Other news includes the fact that my Dad is recovering slowly but surely.

Backgrounds, Week Two

I've been creating "backgrounds" or "complex cloth" for a second week. I'm trying hard to enter my studio with an open mind, approach the task from new angles, and experiment with my threads, material, and machines in ways I've not explored. I am trying not to "make" anything or even "do" things the way I ordinarily do. I've also been trying to think of a new body of work...something to "say" with fibers.

Creating the "backgrounds" in "new" ways is going very well. "Thinking" isn't. Perhaps, I'm just too preoccupied by all the wonderful moments that come with Mathias being home. Perhaps, I'm preoccupied by my Dad's health. Yet, I have been thinking.

The color wheel is part of these thoughts...it all started with a visit from one of my "fiber goddesses", Lee Malerich. Lee has used embroidery as a form of self-expression, a way in which she could document her battles with cancer, and has been included in Fiberarts Magazine, Craft Magazine, and won our state's fellowship three times (after which, the Arts Commission limited the award to twice...with a ten year period between awards.) Lee Malerich is amazing and will be one of three juror's for the EGA (USA) 19th National Exhibition. She is also part of a group that will be exhibiting at Gallery 80808...where my studio is located. The group had a meeting; Lee saw my embellisher (had never heard of such a machine); and Lee arranged to return last Monday in order to have a better look at the embellisher. (I wouldn't be surprised if she owns one now too!) Of course, I was totally honored.

I was also surprised. Okay, I've put Lee Malerich up on a pedestal...so, I likely linger on her every word more than I ought and was looking for "approval" more than I ought and was quietly too nervous just having her in the studio. So, I found some of her comments confusing.

She picked up one of my "backgrounds" several times. She really liked it. I hadn't included an image of it last week; it wasn't particularly interesting to me. She was impressed with the color choices...yellow and purple...compliments. She said she'd like to see "more of that" and less of the monochromatic pieces that were less interesting...and she held up one of the pieces with which I'd been absolutely elated. She likened bold, complimentary color schemes as better design choices. She said that using colors next to one another on the color wheel was "safe". She said I could learn a lot by finding out how I best work with color.

Instantly, I was both confused and confident....conflicting emotions. I've always thought I had a natural sense of color. I still think this. I've been told so by many people and after twenty years of selecting mat boards for custom picture-framing, I'm pretty sure I AM NATURALLY GOOD WITH COLOR! I also know that I gravitate to secondary colors: purple, orange, and green...especially blue-purple, rust, and olive...but that I can use just about any color...and often do. I also rather like a limited palette...and colors that are closer together on the color wheel. I never considered this "easier" or "safer". In truth, I've never actually THOUGHT ABOUT the color wheel when stitching. Having never studied art formally, I've never initially looked at my work or anyone else's from this point of view.

So, although I didn't say anything, I was confident about my use of color. Yet, I was also confused by the conversation. Would my artwork improve if I did pay closer attention to how I used color? Why I selected my colors? Was this really how more "professional" or "academically trained" artists evaluated art? If so, how does my work "rank"?

Well, this did present a challenge. Consciously working with bold, complimentary colors would certainly be a "new" way in which to "experiment". I printed the color wheel above and took it to my studio. (I also learned that I don't have any "true" yellow at all there!) So....here's red-violet and yellow-green



Here's blue-green and red-orange



Here's red and green



Here's blue and orange



Here's yellow-orange and blue-violet (I'll have to do yellow and violet later!)



The final two images are of printed material. I embellished felt through from the reverse and added stitching.



This picture shows three pieces of material. The one in the center has nothing done to it. On the left, ocher colored felt was embellished through from the back. On the left, light blue felt was used. I'm thrilled with how the embellisher can subtly change an ordinary printed material into something unique. All these images can be "clicked" on for closer inspection.

Surgery

My dad required heart surgery about six months ago. Everything went according to plan and he recovered beautifully....but there was later a concern about his thyroid, a suspension of cancer and the need to remove it. Dad, however, couldn't pass the stress tests due to the recent surgery until just last week. His thyroid was removed yesterday morning. Unfortunately, everything didn't go according to plan. He swelled up considerably...requiring another surgery by evening...then a helicopter ride to a larger hospital around 11 PM...then a third surgery....finally a tracheotomy before a mostly drug induce sleep in ICU. All this is happening in western Pennsylvania...and now in Youngstown, Ohio...a drive of nearly ten or eleven hours from my house and a trans-Atlantic flight for my sister Wanda. (My other two sisters do live there and are helping my mother who is "knitting up a storm".) We've been told to "sit tight". I've got photos to post...so I just might "sit tight" on-line...trying to occupy my mind with artistic ideas...something beautiful to balance out the worry.

The Beach

After delivering my artwork to Francis Marion University, we drove to Charleston. We sell framed antiquarian prints at Terrace Oaks Antique Mall. Sales have been good lately...which means our walls were a "mess"...a "hodge-podge" look in need of a good rearrangement and more pictures. The work went quickly...and then it was beach time. I'll post more images on my family blog.

Show going to Francis Marion University.

http://alpha1.fmarion.edu/finearts/gallery.htm
Above is the link to the Francis Marion University website with my solo show listed. We deliver the work tomorrow morning. I will post photos later.

Okay...we're back now! I have only one photo because images will have to be taken after the curator, Roberta Olmstead, hangs the work. This is one of the nice walls with pieces stacked in front of it.

Screen printing: The Second Class

Having finished our "homework", Mathias, Alex, and I were ready for our second class at Half and Half Designs. Alex traced designs from a child's coloring book. I used one of my digital images of a Pre-Raphaelite inspired stained-glass window in the Birmingham Art Museum. Only Mathias drew a design free-hand, an illustrated word, IRAQ.

I brought along some decorative papers, including antique end papers from an early nineteenth century book. The image here is my design on this paper. We were thrilled with the process, the class, and are looking forward to next week. Our assignment is to be prepared to create a two-color edition.

I've posted more photos on my "family blog".

Backgrounds

Last week I finished everything for my solo exhibition at Francis Marion University. I deliver the work this Saturday. I also finished up all sorts of other pieces which left me in a wonderful position...time to devote to "backgrounds". I am taking a month off from creating "whole" artwork. I am just experimenting...playing, really...learning the possibilities of my new embellisher and letting Stitch, Dissolve, Distort by Valerie Campbell-Harding and Maggie Gray influence me. (I'm not copying anything in the book...just READING it...over and over, slowly, and trying to free my mind to new ideas.)

One of the first things I did was to take scraps of fabric and work with them. Above was a piece of transfer painted polyester that had been cut off some other project. It was a good "warm up"...trying to see what I could do with something I'd tossed to the side.



Another book that has really been helpful in triggering ideas is Dale Rollerson's Surface Tension. Somewhere in it, Dale suggested using "metallic netting" and making a "sandwich". I'm not sure if the image above is doing exactly that...but this is what I did. In fact, I had an entire yard of this gold, lacy stuff and made four piece...two much larger ones...in various colors.



Most everything I've read about the embellisher reminds users to work from both sides. At this point, I can safely say that I really like working from the back. Yes, that's me...backwards. The piece above, however, has a wool yarn worked from the front and little snippets of craft felt worked from the back. At first, this was just another piece of heat transfer painted fabric that I had cut off a section I liked better.



Above is just a piece of felt with things worked from both sides. I did several like this...different colors...using snippets of yarn, metallic foiling, wool rovings, chiffon scarves...whatever was close at hand. Fun!



The piece above started off as a wool circle onto which I attached snippets of felt. Then I embellished it onto the silk with a piece of red felt behind it. Since I could see the "ghost" of the ornament on the reverse...I worked the red felt onto the front being careful not to get the red on the ornament.



I spent a long, long time on this piece. Part of a cotton lace doily was sandwiched with white wool roving between two pieces of tan chiffon scarves. I embellished more wool, in darker tones from the reverse and a bit from the front before zapping the front slightly with a heat gun.



While digging around in the boxes of fabric, I found a little needlepoint from ages ago...back when I did this sort of thing and thought that not following a pattern meant the result was utterly contemporary. It was "finished" but obviously tossed aside...pink isn't my favorite color...so....I thought about an idea I read about on a couple blogs recently...and also in Valerie and Maggie's book...paint it with "emulsion"...house paint and then ink and then bleach. Well...I used the interior latex instead of the oil based exterior stuff and my ink doesn't turn blue and I can't seem to wash out the lingering smell of bleach....but I LIKE IT NOW!

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I also found another piece of needlepoint...three-quarters completed...intended to become a pillow...based on mosaics..some design out of a book I no longer own. Well, I cut off about a third...the mostly unfinished area...and embellished little snippets of felt into it from the reverse...and tape yarns...and kept going...and added a yarn border...and WOW...I LIKE THIS ONE TOO! I haven't decided what to do with the "finished" part yet!



Above is another piece of felt with "things" worked into both sides and then stitched.



Then, I took a lace piece off an old, polyester (very tacky!) wedding dress I bought in a thrift store (there were a few beads actually glued onto it...terribly tacky). I used brown felt with painted WonderUnder and metallic foil, pale blue and mauve rovings, and a light blue chiffon scarf. Then I stitched with a gold metallic thread. From a previously cheap-looking piece of lace...I think I really succeeded in making something lovely.



Then, I went into the upholstery scraps. I cut apart this one piece and resembled it with the embellisher (above). I spent more time with the piece below. Originally, it was a single color. I embellished enough from the front to see the "ghost" of the areas from the reverse. Then, I followed this design in order to "punch" the black felt through to the front...two-toned...covered it with painted WonderUnder, metallic foil, a scrap of a green chiffon scarf and stitched. This machine is amazing. The stack is growing. There are others...these are just my favorites!

My Video now have their own place!

Steve and Mathias went to Washington, DC for the weekend. There was an antiquarian book auction...making it a "business" trip...but the real reason to go was in order for Mathias to take ballet class with his Kirov Academy teacher/mentor Anatoli Kuckeruk.



On Friday I went to the "Altered Diva" meeting at Creative Sewing. (Photo above) I had never been to such a gathering and found it rather odd. It seemed to be mostly traditional quilters. They thought it totally strange that a non-quilter would purchase an embellisher. They asked me, the embroiderer, one question, "What's the 'moss' stitch?", which I didn't know. In truth, I know few very stitches. I know fewer names of stitches. I felt like an idiot, totally intimidated, and out of place. I doubt that I'll return to this group but did enjoy talking to their "leader" Sandra Baker, who is a member of Fringe Sisters...a closed group of quilters working in some non-traditional ways. http://www.fringesisters.com/ I've enjoyed the work produced by this talented bunch of ladies.

In the meantime, I've been in my studio creating my "complex cloth". This is great fun and I'll post some of my favorites later. I did, however, create yet a new blog. This is how I finally solved how to quickly locate my videos of altered books and the "Blues Chapel" exhibition from last summer. I linked it under "LINKS", of course; but, it is also here: http://videosbysusanlenz.blogspot.com/

Screenprinting Classes

Nick and Sara recently graduated from the University of South Carolina with degrees in art. They had enough guts to open a business and have done some great work. I especially liked their Indie Grits Film Festival poster and the two skateboards they contributed to the charity event that I sponsored at Gallery 80808. I noticed their business cards...screen printed, of course...and their flier advertising classes.

The structure and price of these classes can't last for long. Currently they are offering three sessions of three classes (6 - 9 PM for three consecutive weeks) for a mere $100...including all supplies and editions of 10 - 20 prints. Class sizes are 2 to 4 people only. Of course, I signed up Alex, Mathias, and myself. We started this evening. It was great!

There was a nice introduction, demonstration of each step, and plenty of hands-on experience. The website for all this is: http://www.thehalfandhalf.com/

We had a great time...have homework...and are quite excited about next week. I posted more images on my other blog: http://susanlenzfamily.blogspot.com/

I've included images below of the last piece for my solo exhibition at Francis Marion University. This is In Box XXXVIII. I sent off the exhibition list and arranged a precise time for delivery of the work.

In my studio, I've begun my month long odyssey to create stacks of "complete cloth" and think about a new series.

Black God Series II

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10060630@N06/sets/72157600971630787/show/

Above is the link to the rest of the "Black God" series. I've finished all of them...I've finished the last piece for the solo exhibition at Francis Marion University. Hopefully, I'll have the photos soon. I also finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I don't generally read much fiction...it consumes me. My mind cannot freely function when in the midst of a good story. Everything becomes difficult, work, sleep, even embroidery; my head is in the book. Thus, I had to finish this one...even if it did take until 2:30 AM. Now, with everything done, I can begin my month long exploration of creating "back grounds"..."complex clothes" while thinking about a new series.

Wonderful Weekend!

The weekend began late on Friday night at Happy Booksellers. The "party" was well underway when we arrived, and we didn't participate in any of the contests or games. But, the boys posed with the "costume winner"...who really could have doubled for Uncle Vernon!

We had three copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows reserved, not four. Alex will have to finish A Lesson Before Dying, his required summer reading, before tackling the nearly 800 pages by J. K. Rowlings.

Steve drove Alex and Mathias to Saluda Shoals Park for a kayaking trip on the river. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, with temperatures below 90 degrees...a rare summer day in South Carolina. While there, Mathias found an arrowhead. More images on the other blog: http://susanlenzfamily.blogspot.com

Meanwhile, I finished stitching the pieces in the "Black God" series and will have them posted soon. Another WONDERFUL thing arrived in the "email"...a piece I created about two years ago and submitted to an artist book juried show was selected for possible publication in an upcoming book by Lark! Amazingly, I was actually not selected for the juried show at the time but the slide was saved! I have a bunch of paperwork to complete but am quite excited.

A Great Friday

Today Mathias went to ballet at the University of South Carolina summer program and Alex went to work. Later, they rode bikes, played "Guitar Hero" at a neighbor's house, and went with me to the "About Face" art exhibit at the Columbia Museum of Art. Mathias is scheduled to pose for this mostly amateur figurative drawing group on August 7. There are other photos at: http://susanlenzfamily.blogspot.com/

During the day, I continued to bead more pieces in the "Black God" series. Around 3 PM a committee looking for original art for the Halsey Institute (a new hospital being built in Charleston) came to look at the "Strata" and "In Box" series. I had submitted a CD of images, resume, and contact information last month. It was thrilling to know that I made it through the first "cut" and that the committee wanted to see my work in person. They asked several questions and one was taking notes. I think the "studio visit" went very well...I'm hopeful but wisely not expectant.

Mathias is on his way home!

Mathias is on his way back from England! He'll be arriving this afternoon. We can't wait to see him. He can't wait to have lunch at Subway, having his brother, the sandwich artist, prepare a feast.

I'm still working on the last "In Box" for my solo exhibition. It's strange how I've seemingly delayed the finish...Am I avoiding "the end"? Am I afraid to step back and view the work...critique it...wonder what else I ought to do...or should have done? Maybe. I'll have to think about this. What is "scary" is often an opportunity.

In the meantime, I finished two little altered books. One of these three I did last year. Now I've got a set. The next fifteen of so in the "Black God" series is also done...but there's still more to go...I'll post these later.