efficient mama.

Yesterday proved to be SO fruitful. I was able to spend some time doing research and adjunct applications and still got in a huge chunk of studio time. Before I had a child 5 hours would seem like a needle in the haystack of time but now it seems like an ultimate luxury of productivity. If nothing else, when in actuality there is EVERYTHING, but becoming a mama sure makes you much more efficient.

Today I doubt I will get much done as I must pay my dues and watch another little kiddo with T. But we will have fun and I can at least think about making. I have so many rich ideas in my head I cannot keep up. If only I could have an assistant and one more available wall in my studio...oh someday perhaps.

a loss of inspiration.

I will take a break from my NYC show reviews to honor the great artist Mike Kelley. Sadly Kelley died this week in what seems to be from his own hand. This is incredibly sad as he was way to young and had so much more art within him to share. The reality is that the life and mind of an artist is complicated especially someone whom makes such poignant and raw art.


I first was introduced to Kelley as a result of my obsession with Annette Messeger, a fellow stuffed animal worker, and immediately responded to his work. To me his work is much about loss, fragility, and vulnerability. We know he worked from childhood and about childhood a lot but in my interpretation of his work this was just a source of inspiration to talk about humanity as a whole.



I have always been drawn to artists that use thrift store finds ever since a colleague in undergrad made an installation with found hook rugs. Via this piece I realized the power and weight the found object has, especially the discarded and stained found object and Kelley was a master at working with this and honoring it.


His afghan and stuffed animal works made working with these materials cool and conceptually valid. As an artist working in fiber but reaching out to be in the mainstream art world I owe a lot to artists such as Kelley and am saddened by the loss. You can read a very thorough obituary that gives a good overview of his life here much better then the much to brief NY times one.

studio time, oh yeah.

Ahhh, a morning on my own. T is with another kiddo and I have more then 4 wonderful hours to be in the studio. Annoyingly a little bit of that time needs to be spent on the computer but hopefully not too much. I am REALLY hoping to start to do some adjunct teaching in our new New England life and have been busy researching, applying, proposing classes, etc.... So much work and who even know if anything will come of it. But fingers crossed it will. I would love to get my mind working with college kids again I miss it. So if anyone has some leads please share.

Otherwise hoping to make a big chunk of progress on my current embroidery, which is moving along nicely. Because I have so many more to do. Ack.

stitch, stitch, knot, thread, stitch.

the animal world of dreams.

Another great reason to enjoy my time while in NY was a meeting of our collective. This time around we looked at the INCREDIBLE needle felting of Zoe Williams.


In the meeting I was reminded how there is simply no better way to learn about an artist's work then from their very own mouth. I learned so much behind the work and Zoe's motivations.


But even better in a critique setting you not only just look and appreciated- you analyze and learn what the artist themselves are unsure about. So even though I love Zoe's work I also got to be part of a discussion about how it could become better and grow as art.


I first came to Zoe's work via her bunny work, this older work dealt a lot with mutated bunnies and overt fantasy, nightmare, otherworld references.


Her recent work is more subtle, though still manipulated by fantasy and the dream world, often she is combining multiple animals into one but it is so realistic the viewer barely if at all notices. Perhaps we just notice a strangeness or off-ness.

I find the detail and the sheer awesomeness of the work itself inspiring. The works are both totally and utterly beautiful and strange. We talked a lot about her presentation methods which led to a great conversation.

You can see her work in person in NYC at a show that opens tomorrow night: Hey, Beautiful! at Amos Eno Gallery in Brooklyn. Guest curated by Richard Rinehart. And see more of her work here and an earlier review I wrote about her rabbits.

our nature.

While in NY one of the best shows that I saw in Chelsea, and the most unusual, was that of Monica Cook at Postmasters. Her exhibit Volley is an exhibit of poignant sculptures of monkey-like creatures and a video made with them.


You walk into the gallery and are completely drawn in by the monkey figures arranged on pedestals. They are sitting as if interacting and their overly human eyes are full of emotion. Their bodies are hyper real but also full of fantasy; with growths of pearl and crystal-like substance, bodies become transparent at times, and organs made visible and exposed...


Their humanity is evident in their posturing, their emotive expressions, and the overt sense of fragility in their bodies.


They have a sense of hodge podge construction yet also feel expertly created. The anti-aesthetic made beautiful. There are also a few photographs on the wall that I could have done without. Then you step into the back room where there is a video playing. The video shows the interactions of these creatures- from their animalistic nature, to love, to birth. It is moving, compelling, and repulsive all at once.

still from video.

The press release states this:

To endow a creature with the power of motion is to bring it, partially, imperfectly, to life. Monica Cook’s monkey-creatures are animated by some very wild magic. Cursed by their creator with deeply corrupted bodies, with scarred skin and secret interiors, with pustules and orifices and inconvenient fluids, these creatures are uncomfortably, undeniably alive. And in their imperfection, they are not only individual, they are beautiful. Volley is a love story, in a sense it is the Love Story, that grand tale which we never cease to applaud: The brutality of biological lust tempered by the delicate delusions of adoration. Cook’s beast beings inhabit a world the colors of spun sugar and wedding mints, where rutting lust and infinite tenderness are indivisible. A mutant monkey with too-human eyes strokes a contented wolf-puppy who dreams of devouring entrails. A perfect luminous monkey-goddess hovers unapproachably, bedecked in lewd sequins. Idealized passions fuse with the violence of birth. Cook renders the sufferings and and storms of biological life with loving, unflinching regard, inviting the viewer to both voyeurism and self-reflection.

I would say that for me the sculptures are powerful in themselves and I preferred them as an experience but the video makes you look at the figures in a more layered and complicated way.
Worth walking the few extra blocks to 19th street to see. And visit it her website to see more of her incredible work.

a halt to normal?

I have been pretty absent the last week as you know due to feeling like crapola. But it seems that maybe finally, fingers crossed I am feeling better. It has been so frustrating being sick, as it is for everyone--- I had all my progress in life, work, and home put to a startling halt. I have literally not touched a piece of work, done yoga, or ate with any vigor for 5 days and my house is in the "omg we were to sick to do anything and now it looks like a tornado went through" state.
So today I am attempting a no pressure strategy of just step by step finding some order so come tomorrow hopefully things can get back to an almost normal state of order and productivity.
Fingers crossed.

Luckily my wellness turned around for just enough time for me to go to the city for the weekend and I had a very good and hopefully fruitful meeting Friday, saw TONS of art to share with all of you, and got pictures of the shop that I will be curating an early summer show for. So lots to share over the next week stay tuned.

sick of sick!

I am SO over being sick. I have been sick for over a week now and though it is definitely a "walking" sickness I really want to feel myself again. I have barely gotten anything done as well as just feel like lazy lump of person. It makes one appreciate how amazing a healthy body is.

I head to the city for the weekend tomorrow and weirdly am almost looking forward to the drive. Having a chunk of time all by myself in the car, listening to music, and NPR, and having some space to get lost in my thoughts. I just hope traffic does not turn my drive into a bitter experience.

image from here.

transparent cloth...

I heard about this piece of Claudia Casarino in a review of the Venice Biennale and was super intrigued by the description of the 3 three dresses, one inside of the other. The title is Pynandi
(not a whore, neither a goddess nor a queen.) It photographs beautifully.

She has done a number of series and projects that involve clothing, usually made out of some type of transparent material, hung in multiples.


The project below is called uniforms and seems a powerful statement towards the mass.

One writer said this about her work: Using external surfaces such as doors, masks, walls, and clothing, she refers to a perpetually inaccessible and often intangible interiority. They are works of distraction, a continual deflection from the location of the 'real' body, putting fantasies, memories, and fabrication in its place.



I would love to read a statement from the artists own words about her work but there is not one on her website and her blog is in another language. I find her work to be an interesting exploration of femininity and the expectations within that.


This is an earlier work where she documents the process of herself getting ready. See more of her work here.

asylum...

This week I went to check out the awesome and unique space of Artisan's Asylum were I will be teaching a workshop next month. So all you Boston based folks come on and sign up, learn to stitch, be introduced to a VERY cool space, and have fun:

Introduction to Embroidery

Saturday, February 18, 10AM-2PM

In this 4 hour workshop you will learn basic stitches that will allow you to create either a traditional sampler following the guidelines provided by history or to create a completely unique piece. With the skills learned you will be able to continue making beautiful pieces of art or simply embellish items of your own. In this class you will begin a piece that you take home to finish. You are encouraged to bring quotes and text that inspires you and to work with found linens.

Sign up here.
Get more information about the Artisans Asylum
617-863-7634.
Located at 10 Tyler St., Somerville, Massachusetts

Or SEE me in in NY this weekend.

Thread Reviews

Read my article on the drawings of Victoria Gitman over here, that is right drawings.