"Looking for a Mate" sock art quilt and Rosewood Elementary

(Above: Detail of LOOKING FOR A MATE, a public sock art project. Click on image to enlarge.)

The public donated their "mateless" and threadbare socks during Vista Lights, the autumn art crawl in downtown Columbia. Several people stitched on the socks and the recycled acrylic felt that evening. Later, I finished the piece....with some help from my new studio assistant. Now, less than two months later, the piece is finished and ready to go on display during the spring art crawl, Artista Vista, April 21 - 23rd.


(Above: LOOKING FOR A MATE, a public sock art quilt. 56" x 56". Click on image to enlarge.)

The piece will become the property of the Congaree Vista Guild, an organization that sponsored the newspaper advertisements informing the public to bring their extra socks. This group is now looking for a permanent display place....perhaps even City Hall! My fingers are crossed.


(Above: Looking for a Mate, reverse....an old, recycled tarp!)

For the back, I posted a request on Facebook. I asked if anyone had an old camping tarp or tent that was headed to the trash. After all, the socks were all recycled and the white acrylic felt "batting" was recycled from River Runner, the kayak and canoe shop in town. (Believe it or not, there's a distributor in North Carolina that ships its vessels to retail shops wrapped in giant acrylic felt bags....meant to be thrown out. River Runner's owner, Guy Jones, has been giving them to me for over two years!) Anyway....with everything else being "used" and "repurposed"....the back just had to be recycled too! My friend Jane Friedman read the message and was more than happy to donate an old brown tarp. The grommets were fashioned into a unique hanging device. I used a bunch of old, vintage buttons to "stitch" the layers together.

I'm very please with this public art quilt but I'm even happier that a few parent volunteers from Rosewood Elementary happened to come by, get inspired, enlist the art teacher, and started TWO art quilts for the school's upcoming auction!



They sent me an email and invited me to share the public project with the students. I also took the opportunity to present my "Four Family of Stitches" demonstration. The photos below are from the time I spent with the kids. There are even more images on Flickr! Just CLICK HERE!

Endless Life, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt

(Above: Endless Life, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt. Crayon on silk rubbings on repurposed painter's drop cloth. Hand and free motion machine embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)

I've been working on this piece for weeks and weeks. It's been my evening handwork after dinner while watching television. It's been on our road trip to Slippery Rock for New Years and on the plane and back from Seattle. There must be a million little "seeding" stitches.


(Above and below: Endless Life, details. Click on any image to enlarge.)

I made three of the rubbings (the folk art angels/skull) while in Lydford, England. The markers were from the late 18th century.



Two of the other angels date from the same time period but were in Maine. The epitaph, however, comes from Rock Creek Park Cemetery in Washington, DC. Two of the letter....the ones right before the date....were not quite defined in the rubbing. I went to my computer to check the photos I snapped that day only to discover that the recent hard drive crash claimed them. I really thought I had all my images backed up....but apparently I'll need another day in that cemetery! I stitched what I could make out....almost an "I" or an "L" and almost an "R" or a "B". Fortunately, I don't think it matters at all!



The background of this piece is sort of special too. I friend here in Columbia, Libby Gamble, moved to California to pursue an MFA in photography. She gave me her stash of vintage clothing, material, and other assorted fabrics....including an old painter's drop cloth. I don't think I could have intentionally created a more perfect ground for these rubbings. Occasionally, I'd hit a patch of more solid, acrylic paint through which it was harder to stitch....but it was worth it!


(Above: Endless Life, reverse. Vintage embroidered cloth on vintage damask. Click on image to enlarge.)

Sock art quilts and Decision Portraits in Greenville

(Above: LOOKING FOR A MATE, a public sock art quilt, in progress .... on my studio floor. Click on image to enlarge. This quilt top is complete!)

Last November during the annual autumn art crawl, Vista Lights, my public art quilt project called LOOKING FOR A MATE was held at River Runner, a local kayak and canoe shop. The Vista Guild sponsored the project by designing and paying for several advertisements in the weekly, free newspaper. People came....with lots and lots of cool, mateless socks! (The blog post covering this fun evening is HERE. The original proposal is HERE.)

Well, since that time I've been stitching the donated socks to the recycled felt. (The 100% acrylic felt was originally packaging material for brand new kayaks and canoes being shipped to River Runner.) At last the top is complete! I've also just acquired a great plastic tarp from my friend Jane Friedman. Her family had no further need of camping gear and needed to "dispose" of it. Thus, the sock art quilt will have a repurposed backing. More photos coming!


(Above: Genius, sock art miniature quilt. 17" x 14". Recycled socks and felt. Hand stitching. Click on image to enlarge.)

Yet, I didn't use all the socks on the quilt. There were frankly too many blue and black dress socks and white athletic tube socks. One sock was donated long after all the socks were pinned and mostly stitched....but it inspired me! How could it not! Thus, I created a miniature art quilt featuring this particular sock with a few of the other "leftovers"!


(Above: Genius, reverse. Click on image to enlarge.)

The batting for this miniature quilt is more of the recycled acrylic felt from River Runner. The back, however, is repurposed acrylic auto upholstery felt.


(Above: Central lobby at Warehouse Theatre, Greenville....with a selection of Decision Portrait Series. Click on any image to enlarge.)

Socks, however, are not occupying all my time. Just yesterday I installed a selection of my Decision Portraits at the Warehouse Theatre in Greenville, South Carolina. The artwork will be on display during a run of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? starring Mimi Wyche, Chip Egan, Debra Capps, and Brock Koonce, January 21 - February 5th....although my exhibition will be up through Wednesday, February 23rd....when I'll give an "artist's talk" before taking down the work.



The first photo was taken from the front door. The photo above is the view back toward that front door.



Above is the interior wall with a break leading to the restrooms. The concession area is just off the image area above on the left. There are stairs leading down to the theater just off the image above to the right.



The short flight of stairs from the central lobby bring audience members to the theater seating. This wide, long hallway includes the window treatment above. I hung fifteen Decision Portraits from a provided black metal ceiling grid in front of the windows. Title cards are placed on the lower right side of each piece.


It was difficult to select the pieces for the show...especially since I have another exhibition with the Decision Portrait Series that opens at Waterworks Visual Arts Center in Salisbury, North Carolina before this show comes down. The work I picked for Warehouse Theater includes:

Advocate
Argentine Tango Dancer
Atheist
Blood Donor
Cheater
DUI III
Family Role Models
Gift of Life
Happily Ever After Again
Husband II
I Buckled Up!
Immigrants
Inventor
Living With HIV
Making a Difference
Midwife
On Fighting Cancer I
On Fighting Cancer II
Overcoming Domestic Abuse
Patriot
Pet Owner
Prisoner I
Recycler
Standing Up for Peace
State of the Economy
Twenty-Five Years Sober
Unplugged
Vintage Clothing Vendor

Yet, in one sense, all 107 portraits are there because I printed another book with the story behind each piece. The pedestal below is right inside the front door!

The Last Bouquet

(The Last Bouquet, a window installation at the old Tapp's Department store. Click on any image in this post to enlarge.)

I'm a little behind on my blogging, especially since Steve and I just returned from an unexpectedly long weekend in Arizona! (Our return was delayed by two days due to the recent storms!) I'll be "catching up" soon!

Before we left, however, I installed The Last Bouquet, another window installation in the old Tapp's Department store at the corner of Main and Blanding Streets here in Columbia. From November through December my Keys for the City was in the largest, corner window....but....now my work is in one of the more intimate windows facing Blanding Street. I had a blast transforming this space, and I had help from the building's art coordinator, Brenda Schwarz Miller too. Brenda took several video clips.



Brenda's daughter Syna helped with the artificial flowers. I created a nice, two-minute video HERE.



It's nearly impossible to get good images during the day. There are too many reflections.



It looks so much better at night....sort of haunting and eternally beautiful. I put a sign in the window.....just enlarge the image below to read it!



The next photo shows the window from a further vantage point....to illustrate how the side of the building looks to passing vehicles.

Post 800...start of a New Year

(Above: My mom posing with her Christmas present, Lancet Window I. Click on image to enlarge.)

This is my 800th blog post and also the first one in 2011. I've reflected on the past year, my artistic progress and the goals I'd set out to accomplish. (Yes, I generally do succeed with my resolutions!) I've also thought a lot about new resolutions, ways to advance my work and outcome negativity and my personal doubts.

So...I've come to a conclusion! My New Year Resolutions are:

1) work on my website more regularly
2) include sales information, even on this blog (something I rarely do because I allow "doubt" to interfere....thinking "No one will purchase anything over the Internet", etc....which has been recently proved false
3) look for new sales venues
4) continue applying for artist residency programs and solo shows

So....before recapping the end of year holiday in Pennsylvania, I want to share a blog post on "My Family Blog" about our trip to Seattle during the first week in December. It is HERE. Also, I created several Flickr! sets of photos:

Slideshow of general photos from Seattle
Slideshow of ferry trip to Bainbridge Island
Slideshow featuring artists' studios open during Seattle's "First Thursday"
and most inspirational:
Slideshow of artwork from Seattle Art Museum

The museum photos are all high resolutions...and include pieces and details.... like:

(Above: Foreground: Do-Ho Shu's Some/One, 2001. Garment made of stainless steel military dog tags. Hanging: Anselm Kiefer's Die Welle (The Wave), 1990, Lead, clothes, steel wire, and ash on canvas)

I also took dozens of images of tribal art. It was an excellent day! I can hardly believe it was a month ago but December just flew by....and we are about to spend another long weekend outside South Carolina. On Saturday we travel to Arizona for three days!

I also posted a video of Seattle's International Fountain....an amazing display of water choreographed to music. It is HERE.


(Above: Christmas window in one of Harmony's log buildings. Click on image to enlarge.)

So....now....New Year's holiday was spent in Pennsylvania with my parents. We went to Harmony for Silvester. (Harmony was founded in 1804 by the Harmony Society and later became a Mennonite settlement. Silvester is the German celebration of New Year's Eve!)



Inside several of Harmony's log buildings are great shops....like this full service cafe.



The Silvester celebration includes pretzels....



....and pork with sauerkraut....and beer! (These are my parents!)



The art gallery had lots of great work....and this interesting denim/skull covered chair!



I couldn't resist snapping this photo attached to a porch running along the main street of Harmony!



During our trip we also visited my Grandma. She turned 92 earlier in the month. I gave her five of the wrapped wooden spools with family thumbnail sized photos on the ends. These are call Ancestors.



We also exchanged Christmas gifts. My mother received Lancet Window I. Unframed 28" x 8"; Framed 31 1/2" x 11 1/2". Click on image to enlarge.



It is now hanging in her log home between two-story windows overlooking the lake!

Christmas vacation in the studio

(Above: Window XXII. Unframed 11" x 9"; Framed 17 3/4" x 15 3/4". Click on image to enlarge.)

This is the first Christmas that Steve and I have spent by ourselves. Our elder son, Mathias, stayed in Great Britain, visiting his girlfriend's family. Although our estranged child Alex did manage to visit briefly and there were several great telephone conversations with other family members, Steve and I had a fantastic few days alone. It was like a wonderful, quiet Christmas vacation. I went to my studio ... the place on earth I enjoy the most. It was peaceful and perfect. I was productive and happy. We will be heading north on Wednesday to spend a long New Year's Eve weekend with my parents in Slippery Rock. We are going to the "Silvester" celebration in Harmony, PA. (That's the German name for New Year's Eve!)

S0....here's what was accomplished in the past few days...when I have nothing but glorious, uninterrupted time for art!


(Above: Lancet Window II. Unframed 28" x 8"; Framed 31 1/2" x 11 1/2". Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Lancet Window III. Unframed 28" x 8"; Framed 31 1/2" x 11 1/2". Click on image to enlarge.)

(Above: Lancet Window IV. Unframed 28" x 8"; Framed 31 1/2" x 11 1/2". Click on image to enlarge.)

(Above: Lancet Window V. Unframed 28" x 8"; Framed 31 1/2" x 11 1/2". Click on image to enlarge.)

So....This is a new size for my faux-stained glass fiber pieces. It was a size sort of suggested by my mother for a special location in her log cabin home .... between two story high windows overlooking her lake. That's why Lancet Window I isn't posted. It's her Christmas gift. She knows it is coming .... but she'll have to wait to see it in person! I'll post images later.

A lancet window is, according to an on-line dictionary: a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singularly or in pairs.


(Above: Window XXIII. Unframed 11" x 9"; Framed 17 3/4" x 15 3/4". Click on image to enlarge.)

I also finished Window XXII (first photo in this post) and XXIII. With all this work, I've run out of several supplies including 100% black cotton quilting thread and Wonder Under, especially the "previously painted" Wonder Under (also known as Bond-a-Web). So, I've been shopping and painting!


(Above: Yards of painted Wonder Under on the hallway floor just outside my studio door on a perfectly quiet Christmas Day!)

I've been thinking about New Year's Resolutions too but haven't quite settled on which one(s) to concentrate!

ACCEPTED!

(Above: My friend Ashleigh, my third cat Max, and I last November wearing the artificial cemetery floral garments for our entry photo shot. Click on image to enlarge.)

Both my Cemetery Flower Dress and Cemetery Leaf Dress were accepted into the Wearable Arts Award performances and exhibition at the Port Moody Art Centre in British Columbia! For a fiber artist who generally creates NOTHING that is functional in any form, this is BIG NEWS! I hadn't made anything "useful" in well over two decades. Now two dresses are going down the catwalk in another country! To celebrate, Steve used our "companion ticket" (basically, buy a flight and get the second seat FREE) to book airline reservations for us to attend the fashion show in February. We're going to Seattle and renting a car .... looking at scenery, stitching during the ride, and seeing a high class, recycled fashion show! I'm SO EXCITED!

To see how I created these wash-and-wear, recycled dresses made of artificial cemetery flowers/leaves collected from dumpsters, CLICK HERE. They were stitched on a water soluble, adhesive coated stabilizer. Then, the stabilizer was rinsed away .... leaving only the thread and the flowers/leaves.

Four New "Windows"

(Above: Window XVIII. Framed 17 3/4" x 15 3/4". Click on image to enlarge.)

I've tried hard to prevent the busy holiday season from intruding on my personal studio time. It isn't easy but I've managed. As a result, I've got four new "Windows" to share!


(Above: Window XIX. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Window XX. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Window XXI. Click on image to enlarge.)

I've also decided to try a new size .... long and skinny. The measurements will be approximate 28" long by 8 " in width. The Edelweiss colored linen mat board on which each will be stitched will be 30" x 10". I can get four pieces mounted from a single sheet of mat board. It is financially important to maximize my framing materials ... but it also feels good not to be wasting anything. The first one is nearly finished so there will be photos coming soon! These will be called "Lancet Windows". According to Wikipedia, the definition of a lancet window is: "a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance."



(Above: Window XVIII framed and hanging on the wall here at Mouse House. Click on image to enlarge.)

With the mention of "framing", here's a photo of Window XVIII in its frame. It is stitched to the very palest "sea grass" green mat board ... which is likely just a green tinted off white ... with a matching silk liner and a dark frame with a distressed silver lip. The glass is between the liner and the frame ... which holds the glass away from the artwork. Now ... back to work!

Stained Glass XXVI and Ancestors

(Above: Ancestors, detail. Wooden spools, painted, wrapped, and stitched with thumbnail images from vintage family and assorted found photographs. Click on image to enlarge.)

It's holiday framing season even at a severely downsized Mouse House, Inc. ... the business I have with my husband Steve. I haven't done a thing with the amazing photos from our long weekend in Seattle, but I will soon ... maybe on Christmas day! In the meantime, I've been framing various 2D gifts and earning the money for future travel. (I'm not really complaining....ten years ago I would have been spending every waking hour at my mat cutter ... from before Halloween until Christmas eve!)


(Above: Me with two of the kittens!)

We've also been very busy with a litter of kittens and the feral mama cat who deposited her family in the shed attached to our garage. My mentor Stephen Chesley has talents beyond painting. He's an expert cat catcher ... has his own cat trap and a pair of heavy welding gloves. He caught the kittens by hand. Mama Cat was in the trap by the next morning. I took her to our veterinarian, Shawn Verbrick at The Cat Clinic. $232 later, Mama was spayed, given rabies shots, tested for feline leukemia and then released. She's more than capable of survival in our neighborhood; we've seen her on an off for over two years. She can now hunt squirrels without the worry of another pregnancy. Yet, we still had three kittens ... until posting them on Facebook. The amazing power of the Internet found loving homes for all three.


(The little black and white kitten's photo for Facebook!)

My blogging and correspondence time has suffered through all these activities ... but I refuse to cut into my studio time. Therefore, I can share Stained Glass XXVI and Ancestors.


(Above: Stained Glass XXVI. Polyester stretch velvets, previously painted heat activated adhesive/Wonder Under, metallic foiling, chiffon scarves, free motion machine embroidery using 100% black cotton quilting thread, melting. Unframed: 58" x 18"; Framed: 64 1/2" x 24 1/2". Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Top of Stained Glass XXVI. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Middle portion of Stained Glass XXVI. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Bottom of Stained Glass XXVI. Click on image to enlarge.)



Scale is often a difficult thing to visualize when surfing the web. Sure, I post dimensions ... frequently "framed" and "unframed" ... but sometimes a photo with something for "reference", like our cat Shadow, is helpful. These three pieces are stitched to over-sized linen mat board and already in black linen liners. They will soon be put into frames with Plexi-Glas between the liner and the moulding ... which will bring them to the 64 1/2" x 24 1/2" total size.


(Above: Ancestors with fiber vessel. Click on image to enlarge.)

Most evenings I stitch by hand while Steve watches television. (I'm supposedly watching too but I often can't even remember what was showing!) Recently I've been stitching into the yarn wound around the sanded and painted wooden spools created a week or so ago. Each one includes a thumbnail image from a vintage family or collected photograph. I took photos with and without the fiber vessel. I'm not sure which is "better" or "why". Vessels are created after zigzagging several strands of old yarn together and then zigzagging the cord into a three dimensional form. It is very meditative to do!