fantastically gruesome...

Look at the amazing products by Amy Lau perfect for a horror filled home.

Oh, and they are totally gorgeous and clever.

I sort of totally want that amazing white chair---and it get the wheels turning in my head for a great new work...

Found via here who has a nice link to me here.

empty head

painting by James Wyeth

Just to give you a sense of how carved out and empty my head is of late....
I entered one show and forgot to include the proposal
and another with an empty entry form?

So needless to say thank god it is Friday.
Have a very happy, hokey, and horror filled halloween.

for my minds health...

I need to get to my studio asap.
I am so almost done with my big embroidery. seriously only like 2 hours of work left
Done with a template for a new knitted work.
Ready to embroider another knitted work.
And my mom just purchased me a good bundle of new linens. last time her bundle inspired these...

Can someone come manage my life while I go to the studio?
I will pay you with art and good lasagna?

heroes and villains...tonight

Opening tonight at the gallery I work at:
Heroes and Villains from 6-8pm.
With a gorgeous and powerful image by Roe Ethridge -above
A fabulous new work by Jacques Vidal- you have to come to the show to see it
And some very interesting Steve Claydon sculptures....

Thanks and welcome...

a big Thanks to Stitch Spectacular for posting about me and my work and thanks to the always talented Emily B for letting me know about them and their awesome blog on all things stitched...

And if you are new from there, take you time to browse around there is plenty of stitching going on over here at the bird.

a little light shedded on me...

I just saw this light created by designer Stuart Haygarth at MAD last week...
and let me tell you it was so beautiful it was shocking.
Such ordinary, banal, dated objects collected to make a prism of colors, lights, and playful shadows...If I ever get rich and have a house big enough for a giant chandelier I will commission one of these and it will make me smile everyday.

Some other work by Stuart:

Shadey Family

optical

You really must go over to his website and see his genius and gorgeous lamps out of the most ordinary of materials

woops.

sorry no posts yesterday.
I overslept and had a crazy busy day.

neglect

¹ne·glect
Pronunciation: \ni-ˈglekt\
Function: transitive verb
Etymology:Latin neglectus, past participle of neglegere, neclegere, from nec- not (akin to ne- not) + legere to gather — more at no, legend
Date: 1529

1 : to give little attention or respect to : disregard
2 : to leave undone or unattended to especially through carelessness


The neglect I am doing and receiving must stop.

simplicity and subtlety

Photographer Rebecca Horn is taking my breath away. The palette and the quality of the light she finds is just magic.


Once again a little frustrated as no artists statement to let me in on her perspective but...I do not need it too much as I can place so much meaning on her quiet still life's that it could fill a book.


She also create images that play with illusion and such and though still lovely I prefer the straightforward ones best...as her work really needs no added illusion they are quite perfect as they are.
Her work also reminds me of on of my all time favorites Laura Letinsky.

the first time.

I remember the first time I realized that I loved photography, I was 15, loved Mapplethorpe, and had finally found something that I was good at.
15 years later, I still get excited every time I see the developer bring a picture to life, or the processor spit out a new image.

I remember the first time I printed a c- print that was perfectly color balanced- it took an entire semester...but the rich deep colors were one of the most satisfying things I had ever seen, and I have barely bought black and white film since.

I remember the first time I was out of school how much I missed looking and seeing...
and how I had to go back to school to learn how to see again.

I have been in a photography shop twice this week and their elevator smells strongly of stop bath and fixer...and every time I go into this elevator I both feel happy and nostalgic as well as want to just cry. How does our life get so far away from what we really want it to be.

I do not want this.
I want hands that stink like stop bath, students that have never seen the beauty of a Sally Mann image or the color of a Joel Sternfeld landscape or the complexity of a Gregory Crewdson set, and a day of art.
This is not what I want and I do not know how to change it.

FYI:

I am not going to make it to the Artists Talk today.
My schedule has gotten a bit out of hand.
But there will be 10 other artists so it should still be great.
So just an FYI in case any one was planning on attending.
Next Time...

I hope all of you are having a lovely weekend.

hair-ilicious

Last week when I was at the EFA open studios I saw the above work by sister duo
Las Hermanas Iglesias and literally I walked into the gallery and my jaw dropped to the floor.
This image just gives no justice to the beauty or disgusting-ness (not a word I know) of the piece.
It was gorgeous. So what could I do but research more of their "hair work." And they did not disappoint:

hair sculpture....
They state on their website:

Hair is both a grotesque and beautiful material, signifying the presence of an absent or present body. These works reference Victorian hair jewelry, Scandinavian wreath making, our mother’s habit of collecting our hair clippings from infancy to adolescence and mythological representations of hair.

I often use fabric to reference the absence and presence of a being at the same time, so this statement really connected with me.

hair rugs.

hair performances.

They have an expansive website that I have not even begun to delve into but... I am so intrigued by their project jump rope and sibling rivalry. Happy perusing

here, here, all bostonians...

I am going to be at this artist's talk with a few other artists talking about our work in the show.
If you are in the Boston area...I would love to see you.

interesting show:

I just found this show online and thought it looked very interesting.
The show consists of contemporary artists and furniture designers making work in response to traditional Chinese furniture.
In many cases I do not know which I prefer the antique or the new work as they all are quite beautiful.

Above work inspired by below work- both are quite lovely.



You can see the entire show online here.

Going to see this:

Martha Colburn's films at MAD.
The press release states:

Myth Labs by Martha Colburn

Martha Colburn uses cut-and-paste animation techniques to create collage films that are both fantastical and stubbornly rooted in the material. Her recent films use hand-manipulated gels and "special effects" on found footage and original animations. In addition to Myth Labs, the artist will present short films spanning her entire career, each accompanied by a rotating ensemble of seven musicians and foley artists. Martha will also be performing an improvised expanded cinema work incorporating 16mm film, slides and sound. Finally, the evening includes the world premiere of her latest work, Triumph of the Wild, accompanied by renowned pianist Thollem McDonas.

The Pragmatic

I went and saw the band, The pragmatic, last night, we know the singer, and they were actually quite good.
Kind of a mix of nerdy computer sounds and storytelling lyrics.
You can download some songs over at there website or visit their Myspace.

Then we went to dinner nearby, Lower East side, in the tiniest restaurant with the most minimal kitchen and had a classic NYC type of dinner. Lovely.

I love the days were you love living in the crazy place of NY.

new light.

I love that the light is changing, I am being inspired a little more often to pick up my camera.
With a tiny NY apt sometimes you get bored of how the light comes in, not really but maybe a little.
But with the new direction of light from the seasons and the shift of time to when the light is at what direction.
My apt. feels like a new subject.

morning miracle...

So this is small and to most insignifigant.
But this light is beyond lovely to me and a little bit of a miracle as -
There is no window on this side of the kitchen.

I am pretty sure, after I investigated, that it is a refelction of a reflection.
But I had never noticed it before and...

Today was a perfect day to get an especially wonderful gift from the morning "spirits" as
I am hoping my week will be moving toward more joy and less stress.

So it started well today, I hope yours does to.

finally a bit better.

I sucked it up and spent my evening finding the home under the layer of dishes, dirt, and mess.
And though I am not quite done, I still need to grab the mop and bucket...
I cannot tell you how much better I feel.

My brain and body feel so much better.
If my home is tidy my brain is a bit more at ease...

So now we just need to tackle that laundry pile
and then to art deadlines, show entries, etc....

Eventually all will be caught up, even if just for a day

some true inspiration...

I beyond words love this work, website, and idea...

and some up close up details to get a real sense of the work and beauty involved in this work...



I have always loved wallpaper as an object, a medium, and as an inspiration
artist and designer Clarie Coles makes such lovely things with it.


I cannot even tell you how seeing this work has got the wheels in my brain turning...
installations, ideas, patterns...this work makes me overflow with wanting more time in my studio.



and Claire's other work is quite lovely as well.

need.

Both of these works by Ernesto Neto are exactly what I need... a hug, a soft bed, and full of letting go and laughter...

Do you ever look at your life and think, I was doing so well, I was keeping up, moving forward, blah, blah, blah...
and then you wake up one day a realize everything in your life is being neglected and you ask yourself- where I am I going, is this life, is this place, is this forward ... the way I want to go?

Well, that is my week so far in a nutshell...I really, really, really want to be in one of those hug chairs right now.

white clouds...

I was not planning on featuring artist Isabelle de Borchgrave when I first found her work, she did not really seem to fit my aesthetic and though I enjoyed researching her I lacked an emotional connection to what she was doing... funny thing is now, today, in this moment...I do.

All I want to do today is be within a cloud of white and the photographs of artist Isabelle de Borchgrave's sculptural wedding dresses (above) are the closest thing to a cloud that I have seen lately.

I know that I am suppose to talk about the craftsmanship and dedication it takes to hand paint all the historically correct textiles and patterns.

and how amazingly exact the paper replications are...how beautiful they are.
How strange it is to play paper dolls on a life size scale.

But today you all can research her more and be in awe if you like.
All I want is to crawl under the skirt of a white, fluffy, dress and hide there... just like when I was a little girl hiding in the clothing racks...dreaming of how wonderful my life would be...

I am still dreaming and today I wish I was still hiding.