More on - Long Journey Into a Series

"Long Journey Into a Series" is on exhibit at ArtSpace Maynard, in Maynard Massachusetts, until November 21, 2008.

I don't often have the opportunity to see my work hanging, because many of the shows I'm in are great distances away. Because this show is a half hour from my house, I got to take pictures of it myself, instead of depending on a kind friend who lives closer.

At the top of this post is Orange Construction Fence Series #53 and Orange Construction Fence Series #54, with one of Catherine Evans' wall sculptures in the center. Catherine makes mixed media wall mounted pieces using painted bath mats, wire, string and other found objects. They look great next to my work!


This is Orange Construction Fence Series #56 (center left) and Orange Construction Fence Series #55 (center right), with two more of Catherine Evans' pieces, one on each side.


And, here is another of Catherine's pieces on the left, with Orange Construction Fence Series #50

in the center, and Orange Construction Fence Series #46 on the right. (Please note that the image of #50 has color problems in the photo. The red is not at all bright.)

The focus of this show is to present a body of art work, completed in a series, by a group of artists. Each of us has been working on our own individual series for many many years.

The Opening is on Saturday November 8th, from 4-6pm. I'll be there. If you're local to the area, please stop by and say hello.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front of my 44th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year, and below is the back. Eight more weeks to go.


Before I cut it up and felted it back together, the center of one side reminded me of this painting by Mark Rothko.


You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

ArtfulHome.com

I have updated my work on The Artful Home.com website (otherwise known as Guild.com). Take a look.

The image above is Recycled Fence Series #19/2-3. On My website I show all of them shown individually, but on ArtfulHome.com there are three complimentary pairs. I like how the pairs look.

On Exhibit - Long Journey Into a Series

I am very happy to announce that my work will be in a show called "Long Journey Into a Series", at ArtSpace Maynard, in Maynard Massachusetts, from October 29 - November 21, 2008.

The focus of the show is to present a body of art work, completed in a series, by a group of artists. Each of us has been working on our own individual series for many many years.

If you can see this show, please do. If not, please check out the websites of each artist: Catherine Carter, Catherine Evans, Virginia Fitzgerald, Jennifer Maestre, Ruth Rosner and Jeanne Williamson (me)

Rubberband Ball

I'm not seeing any changes in my family's rubberband ball. since the last few photos two weeks ago.


I think it's fossilized. I gently touched it last night, and all of the broken rubberbands are very hard and brittle. I don't think there going to be too many changes until the big black band breaks, and that feels hard as a rock. Hmmm.

I try to post updates every two weeks or so. If you'd like to see what it's looked like in the past, click here. To see what the first picture I posted, in July 2007, click here.

There's also a short movie of my rubberband ball on youtube, that shows the pictures I took from July 2007-June 2008.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 43rd Weekly Mixed Media piece this year, and below is the back side.


What I thought was going to be a quiet week, turned in to a busy one with nice surprises. Because of that, I had less time to create this week's piece than I thought I would have. I was taken by the circles I felted for the blue sweater I tweaked last weekend, so for this week's piece, I decided to felt more circles on black wool fabric, and cut the centers of each circle, so a hint of black shows through the color at the cuts.


You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

12 x 12 x 12 October 2008

This is my 12 x 12 x 12 Series piece for October.

This month, while wanting to keep to my monthly construction fence monoprint theme, I also wanted to incorporate handstamped rubber erasers, painted fabric (all done on one piece of fabric), AND also cut it up and sew it back together again.

I've been having fun cutting up some older Orange Construction Fence Series pieces, and reassembling them in my "Recycled Fence Series," so this month's piece is fits nicely in the theme of cutting things up. (Come to think of it, cutting my sweaters up and re-sewing them, does too!)

On Monday, I posted pictures of this piece in progress.

If you want to know more about this series, you can read past posts about my 12 x 12 x 12 series here on my blog, or see all of the completed work on my website.

Tweaking Sweaters

I have some pullover sweaters that I like, but since I'm at that point in my life when I'm either cold, or suddenly warm, I now hesitate to wear them since they can't opened (or removed) quickly and easily. This past weekend, I decided that tweaking two of these sweaters is better than having them sit on the shelf, so I took the chance, and made them in to cardigans.

The sweater above is the result of my cutting an opening in the front of this simple blue-ish pullover. It came with the fun little round wool bead-like things on the edge of the neck, arms and bottom. I wanted to play on that, and also add some black to make the sweater more bold, at least in the front.

I used my needle felting machine and felted some different colored circles on the black wool, and then attached it to the sweater. I then made a trip to my local sewing store where I found some fun buttons to funk this sweater up some more.


This is the sweater opened up. Success!



Next I was on to a black wool and angora blend turtleneck sweater, that came with pink yarn stitched in to it as a decoration. I love this sweater. I was extremely nervous about cutting it but since I find myself too warm when I wear it, I held my breath and got started.


I wanted it to button, but I didn't want to sew button holes. I already had this very large scale black rick-rack, so I decided to put it to good use. I attached it to a thin strip of black wool, and then sewed it to the sweater, so it could act as my button holes. I got black velvet covered buttons at the sewing store, and sewed them so they would button through every other zig-zag apart from the rick-rack. Above is a close-up buttoned closed, and below partially opened.


Both of these sweaters came from Marshalls, my favorite clothing store, a few years ago and cost under $20 each. The buttons added to my expense, but not much.

Since this project worked out so well, I'm going to see what other sweaters I have in my closet, that could use funking up or be transitioned from pullover to cardigan.

(Note: The black sweater is jet black, but I had to lighten the photo to show what I did.)

12 x 12 x 12 October in progress

I'm working on my October 12 x 12 x 12 Series piece. It started with the black and white fabric I printed above, and then transformed into this:


I have no idea how I ended up with these colors. New England Fall color had not arrived before I started it. I've been working on making more "Recycled Fence Series," many of them 3" square. Some of the new ones I've been working on right now (which are not yet on my website) have a lot of reds in them, so maybe that's where this came from. I think I was also influenced by a beautiful red pashmina shawl (or scarf?) a friend gave me after her trip to India.

Not sure how this piece will end up, except to say I am planning on cutting it up and rearranging it, like I've been doing with the Recycled Fence Series.


Above is a little something I tried in Photoshop, just to play around with it, before I take the plunge and really cut it up. I'll be doing the real thing hopefully some time this week, and will post after it's finished.

Balloon Art

I heard about this on "Science Friday" on NPR, on Friday.


Jason Hackenwerth uses balloons and science to make beautiful sculptures. There are videos and pictures on his website, and this interview on the Science Friday site.

Awesome!

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

Above is the front side of my 42nd Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. Below is the back side.


This piece was made from scraps of felt from the piece I made last week. Last week's turned out ok, as opposed to OK. I like this week's better. It's more interesting, and fun to use both the front and back sides of the felt.

I have ten more weeks to go on this project. I think I should make felt next week, cut it up, and then reassemble it.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

On Exhibit - Playing with a Full Deck

Playing with a Full Deck, will be on exhibit at Quilt San Diego/Quilt Visions, in San Diego, CA, from October 17, 2008 - January 4, 2009. This show was organized by Sue Pierce, and was first exhibited in 1995 by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling  Exhibition Services (SITES).


The show consists of 54 quilts, from a deck of cards, including two jokers.


I created the Two of Clubs in 1994. This piece was created by hand stamping hand cut 1" rubber erasers with fabric paint on one piece of fabric. Because there was no piecing or applique, making it required full concentration, and it took a few tries before I made a perfectly stamped piece of fabric. While I'm still working with grids, my work has totally changed in the past 10-15 years.


Also in on exhibit at Quilt San Diego/Quilt Visions, is a survey of the work from a selection of artists who made quilted playing cards. My "Orange Construction Fence Series #41," created in 2006, will be on exhibit there also.

And, four (of the seven) "Recycled Fence Series #33 will be for sale in their shop.

In Conversation with Tara Donovan and Lawrence Weschler

On Tuesday night, I went to the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, to hear "Tara Donovan In Conversation with Lawrence Weschler."

Obviously it's not possible to take enough notes, or share the intimacy of such a talk, but here are a few words of note:

From Ms Donovan: "accumulation" (of objects), "visually expansive field," "had faith that doing her art would lead to something," "stay true to the material," "what the materials wants to do," and "I have assistants who work with me in the studio. Everyone has a different way of ripping or stacking (she has to take that in to consideration as everyone works)."

From Mr Weschler to Ms Donovan about having assistants, and also about women artists vs artists, he asked if there is a "quilting bee quality in the studio?" (which is something that makes my skin crawl as a fiber/mixed media artist because of the negative connotations even though I know he did not mean it that way). Ms Donovan responded, it's "not women's work, but a group of people working together." GREAT answer!

Though I haven't been to many, I have really enjoyed the artists talks I have attended. Two (other) memorable ones for me were at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University, one with Fred Tomaselli, and the other with Oliver Herring. Tara Donovan's talk was very insightful, intelligent and well worth attending. I am so glad I went!

Art/Movie/Poverty/China

There is a movie that I saw six months ago that I am still thinking about. It's called "Manufactured Landscapes," which I posted about on March 21st. (I hope you'll read my original post if you haven't yet.)

While this movie is mainly showing beautiful and interesting photographs and video by Edward Burtynsky, there is much more to it than that.

Looking past Burtynsky's photographs of quarries and mines located in different places in the world, and the factories in China, there were the social aspects behind many of the photographs.

There is a lot of poverty in China, and unlike what we saw during the 2008 Olympics, it is obvious in some segments of this movie. There was a segment that showed adults and children as they picked apart electronic equipment (from America) and separated the e-waste. This process is very dangerous because of the amount of lead they are exposed to, but people do it all day long, so they can earn money to survive. And, there is also a segment about men participating in the deconstruction of a ship in Bangladesh, to salvage scrap metal so they could earn money. It's also a dangerous process because of the large scale they are working. Both segments were very powerful.

I see many many movies each year, and I quickly forget about most of them. "Manufactured Landscapes" is going to be with me for a very long time.

Today is Blog Action Day, with the theme of Poverty.

On Exhibit - Nicholas Hlobo at the ICA in Boston

If you can get to the ICA in Boston ASAP, besides seeing the Tara Donovan show, I highly suggest "Momentum 11: Nicholas Hlobo."

Quoting the ICA's website: "Nicholas Hlobo creates works on paper, sculptures, and performances that harness the associative potential of materials, such as pink satin ribbon, rubber inner tubes, leather, lace, and weathered wood. His evocative images and forms play on connotations of gender, ethnicity, and his South African heritage. For Momentum 11, his first solo museum exhibition in the U.S., Hlobo creates a new sculptural installation, large-scale drawings......” Read more.

After thoroughly enjoying my visit to Tara Donovan's show, I also had the pleasure of seeing this show. It was very refreshing. Hlobo's work is very different than other shows I've seen with mixed media or fiber. He has a wonderful sense of playfulness in his work. How often do you see a huge rubber sculpture that's held together with ribbon and zippers?!?

His large-scale "drawings" are huge pieces of paper that are cut and sewn back together with ribbon. These particular pieces reminded me of a silly toy I played as a child, that was made of cardboard with holes in it, and I was supposed to string laces through the holes. Hlobo's work is obviously much more creative and intelligent. The scale of his work is large and very accessible. I loved it.

Unfortunately, this show closes on October 26th.

Tara Donovan at the ICA in Boston

I had a religious art experience this past Saturday night. I went to the Opening of Tara Donovan's show at the Institute of Contemporary Art, in Boston.

The Opening was fun. I've never been to an ICA Opening before, and I was happy to see a number of people I know there.

The religious part was how I felt and responded to Ms Donovan's art. For many people, if not most, visual art experiences involve just looking at a piece. The viewer can either relate to it, or not, and they may like it, or not.

For all of Tara Donovan's work at the ICA, you don't just look at the work. You feel it. This is the best of art experiences. Her work is installed in a number of rooms. Sometimes on the floor, sometimes on (or in) the wall, and sometimes hanging from the ceiling. As you enter each room, your senses go to work. The sound in the room may change, or the light, or your depth perception. It's wonderful.

And the most interesting part of it is the work is made of thousands of plastic cups, or straws, or buttons, or feet of tape, or mylar, or ....


There is a really good review of Tara Donovan's show by Sebastian Smee, the Boston Globe's wonderful new art critic: Delight in detail - Tara Donovan finds beauty in abundant things, by Sebastian Smee, October 10, 2008 on The Boston Globe.

I wrote about Ms Donovan's on September 24th, after I heard she won a MacArthur Genius Award. I know a friend of a friend who won a Genius Award in music, and he's incredible. It's obvious from this show that Tara Donovan is too.

Tara Donovan's show is at the Institute of Contemporary Art through January 4, 2009. Visit Boston, and go see this show!

Rubberband Ball

These are the most recent pictures of my family's rubberband ball.


No big changes this time. Some more pieces broke off, and fell on to the tray.

I try to post updates every two weeks or so. If you'd like to see what it's looked like in the past, click here. To see what the first picture I posted, in July 2007, click here.

There's also a short movie of my rubberband ball on youtube, that shows the pictures I took from July 2007-June 2008.

Massachusetts Creative Economy Council Bill

An announcement from Massachusetts Associates for the Arts, Sciences and Humanities (MAASH):

"Governor Deval Patrick signed into law the bill to create the first statewide Creative Economy Council to advise the Secretary of Housing and Economic Development on best strategies to grow the Massachusetts’ creative economy."

Read the bill.

About MAASH (quoting from their website): "MAASH is a broad-based, statewide organization that serves as a unified voice for the cultural community of Massachusetts. MAASH identifies significant issues of importance to the industry and works to influence legislation and public opinion."

Thank you Governor Patrick, Dan Hunter (the Executive Director of MAASH), and everyone else involved in this!

As nice as it would be for support for the Arts just for art's sake, relating the Arts to every day life is really smart. There are every few people, especially in today's economy, who support funding or supporting the Arts. This is a good way to go.

Read BigRedAndShiny.com for more info.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 41st Weekly Mixed Media piece this year, and below is the back side.


I still had scraps left over from weeks #38 and #39, and decided to incorporate them in to a layer of yellow, and a layer of red, pre-felted fleece. I also used a piece of netting with small dots, that I cut from a piece of antique hat lace. I spend quite a lot of time needle felting it. I plan was for the background to be mainly signal yellow, but the netting wouldn't felt from the top down, so I had to do almost all of the felting form the bottom red side, which took over color-wise. Ugh.

This piece is OK, not great. I do like the back side, which looks very quilted, even as a piece of felt.

I have come to the conclusion that, for this project, I prefer working with patchworked felt, using scraps to create a collage, instead of making one piece of felt as a finished product. This conclusion is VERY interesting to me since in my art work, I use only one piece of fabric, and I add paint until I am happy with it. No collage.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

Book Birthdays - Mine, and Stephen Colbert's

It's the first birthday for my book, "The Uncommon Quilter," and also for my hero Stephen Colbert's book "I Am America (And So Can You!)."

A year ago, as I was waiting for the release date of my book, I did a little comedy writing myself (with a little help from my husband). Read my Open Letter to Stephen Colbert, and more of my posts to/about Stephen, Books published (tomorrow) by Stephen Colbert, Jeanne Williamson, Eric Clapton, and Ken Follett, Tip of the Hat, Wag of the Finger to Stephen Colbert!, and October 9th books - Stephen Colbert's and mine.

Stephen, have you read my book yet? Whether you have or have not, you're my hero! And Mrs. Colbert is too, after I read "Colbert - And His Wife - Rock The New Yorker Fest" on the HuffingtonPost.com. (Even if he's unfortunately not my Congressman any more, I hope Barney Frank will forgive you. He's a wonderful Congressman, and just as brilliant and funny as you are!)

Happy birthday "The Uncommon Quilter!"

Inspirational Photos

I don't usually click on photo essays on newspaper websites, but "Earth From Above comes to NYC" looked intriguing to me on Boston.com.

Quoting Boston.com, "Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand will bring his work back to the United States - to New York City for the first time in 2009. Aiming to inspire people to think globally about sustainable living, Arthus-Bertrand has been photographing unique views of our planet, seen from the sky, since 1994 - and has produced an exhibit of over 150 4-ft. by 6-ft. prints which will be on display in New York City at the World Financial Center Plaza and along the Battery Park City Esplanade from May 1, 2009 to June 28, 2009. When completed in New York City, the Earth From Above exhibit will also move on to California in 2010. Photographs and captions all courtesy of Yann Arthus-Bertrand. (38 photos total)"

You have got to see these incredibly, inspiring photos! There are 38 in total, and I think #3 (Worker resting on bales of cotton, Thonakaha, Korhogo, Ivory Coast), # 8 ("Tree of life", Tsavo national park, Kenya) and #37 (Tea cultivation in Corrientes province, Argentina.) are my favorites. So is #13 (Iraqi tank graveyard in the desert near Al Jahrah, Kuwait), in a sad sort of way. The color in this picture is amazing.

Which are your favorites?

Museums, Arts Groups and the Economy

I read "Feeling the Squeeze - Museums and arts groups brace for dip in donations," by Geoff Edgers, in The Boston Globe, on Sunday October 5, 2008.

While this article mentions institutions in Massachusetts, it's really a reflection on the national picture. The economy is having an effect on Museums and Arts Organizations, but how big the effect will be depends on whether the museum does or does not have an endowment.

While most of us are not in a position to make sizable donations to our favorite, or local, Museums or Organizations, becoming a member is a more affordable option, and one way to show our support.

Art and Universities

I highly recommend reading "Higher art, Universities should become society's great patrons of the arts," by Marjorie Garber, in The Boston Globe, on Sunday October 5, 2008.

Here is a quote from her writing, to spark your interest:

"What should the role of art be in the modern university? Today, art often serves as what business calls a "loss leader" - an appealing product offered at a nonprofit-making price in order to attract buyers. A college or university can advertise its dance or theater or musical groups, or its art classes and galleries, with handsome photos on the website and in the brochure, while at the same time reserving its major fund-raising efforts - and major donors - for science laboratories, international affairs, or sports teams.

It may be that the time has come for the university to become a patron of the arts, embracing and funding the actual making of art on a new scale, and bringing to bear all its institutional traditions of judgment, peer review, and freedom of ideas. An open-minded patronage, providing courses taught by the most talented artists - in the same way that the university seeks the most talented philosophers, psychologists, and physicists - could change both the way we learn, and the way we encounter the world."

About the author, also quoting from The Boston Globe, "Marjorie Garber is chair of the department of visual and environmental Studies at Harvard University, and director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts. This article is adapted from her new book, "Patronizing the Arts" (Princeton University Press)."

Ms Garber's piece is very worth reading, and pondering. If you have trouble reading long articles on your computer, I suggest printing it out. Or better yet, buy her book!

Many thanks to The Boston Globe for placing her writing on the front page of the Ideas Section! I'm always happy when they have Arts related articles in the paper, and happier when they're on the front page of what ever section.

More Voting and The Arts

On Friday morning, October 3rd, I posted "Voting and The Arts", with links about the Arts and the 2008 Presidential Candidates, and also the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate.

Mid-day I updated it with a few links I received from a fellow artist, about John McCain's positions, because I had trouble finding any. I had no trouble finding Barack Obama's positions. If you read my post that morning, you might want to read it again.

On Friday night, I got an email from ArtsVote, with pretty much the same information I posted, plus one very interesting document showing both candidates record.



The above image shows ArtsVote's the "Arts Positions of the 2008 Presidential Candidates." I encourage you to read it, and follow the links they provide in the PDF.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This week didn't feel THAT busy, but it was busy enough that every time I was about to start my Weekly Mixed Media piece, something happened to distract me. (This is the front side of my 40th piece this year, and below is the back side.)


So all of the sudden it was 5:00pm on Friday, and I had a few minutes to work on it, before it was time to help cook dinner. What to do?

I took strips of felt made in previous weeks, figured out a decent placement, and zigzagged them together. Then I cut it down to 6" square and it was done. A few quick scans on my computer, so I could post them here, and on my website, and then my husband called saying he's on his way home. Phew.

My weekly deadline is actually Saturday night, but I wanted to make this, just in case I got busy on Saturday and forgot. Wouldn't want to ruin my yearlong project, since the end is in sight. I'm going to try to make next week's piece on Sunday or Monday, so I'm not so last minute about it again.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

Voting and The Arts

I wasn't going to post this until closer to Election Day in the United States, but now that there is early voting in many states, I thought it's a good time to post.

While I hate to admit that there could possibly be any issues more important than the Arts, there are. The economy, the war, healthcare, and etc, are obviously moe important, but for anyone who is interested in the opinions that the candidates have about the Arts, here are some links to follow:

Presidential candidates: "The Fine Art of Politics," by Elizabeth Currid, and "McCain and Obama's arts policy statements," The Salt Lake Tribune, 10/03/2008.

John McCain: I couldn't find any Arts policy info on his website. All I could find is this: "McCain's anticipated arts platform comes in at four sentences long," by Julie Checkoway, The Salt Lake Tribune, 10/03/2008. If you can find a better link, please send it to me.

Barack Obama: "Obama '08 Arts Policy Committee" and "A Platform in Support for the Arts."

U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate: Vote smArt - Americans for the Arts, Congressional Arts Report Card 2008 "Your Guide to Voting for the Arts in 2008."

Whether you can vote early, or must wait until November 4th, please vote!