no leisure...

I wish I could be at leisure this weekend...but I have a feeling all will be hectic.
I have my opening tonight. Which I need to install in about a half hour.

I have to clean and paint the floor of my new studio Saturday...
So that I can move my massive pile of stuff Sunday!
And then all next week will be setting up the new space- which will be fun...but not leisurely.

So my needles have been put down for the weekend... though I am really loving the new piece that I am working on. It has nothing to do with the fact that it is a portrait of my sweet C.

I hope your weekend is less hectic and more kicking up your feet.

hair memorials...

I was recently reminded of the artist Leslie Schomp by the amazing and wonderful Cathy.
And my breath is still taken away by her gorgeous and painstakingly beautiful portraits.
I was in a show with Leslie over a year ago and was really blown away by the beauty and detail of her work. Family portraits embroidered with hair.



Deservedly Leslie was a finalist for a MassCultural Grant and has an upcoming show near Boston at the Elizabeth B. Beland Gallery at the Essex Art Center. So all you Bostonians should check it out.



The press release for her upcoming show states:

Leslie Schomp stitches drawings in a response to her everyday routine.Working on vintage handkerchiefs that are alternately objects of commemoration and objects that bear contact with the body, Schomp draws from life as much as possible.
Her recent pieces involve sewing through spaces between two handkerchiefs, working two portraits from a mirror at the same time, mapping the stitches on the backs of each handkerchief as well as through the space between them.

Her work brings to mind the hair memorials of the past- which I have always found heart breakingly beautiful and sweet, bizarre, and creepy. Much like how I feel toward her work. But more toward the heartbreaking.

the stitched brooch.

I tend to stay away from products in my features but while I was at Gallery Hanahou I noticed these amazing and detailed embroidered pins and key chains...When I asked who the artist was I was told it was the Japanese artist and designer Mao Numata whose brand goes by Tamao.
My reason for feature besides that they are very sweet is the technique-my understanding of the technique is that she transfers the original found images onto leather and then embroiders over them.




The result is a substantial and detailed little lovely. I would love to see the technique applied to a larger scale installation can you imagine a room full of embroidered toy soldiers, princesses, and giant hummingbirds...Oh how wonderful that would be. And with the background being leather they have a much more substantial and heavy look and feel than most embroideries.


I had never thought of transferring images and embroidering over them but I quite like the idea...it would create a very different result but I think just as interesting.
Maybe once I get settled into my new studio I will try it out?
So excited because I pick up the keys today...yay!

bear hug...

I got some great images of the installation at Gallery Hanahou both of my work and the entire show. I was delighted to hear that the work will remain online for sale for an extra month.
The Gallery folks were excited to have been written up in both TimeOut and the Village Voice for the show.


I of course just could not resist buying this amazing piece by Emily Katz, Bear Hug, It was just to sweet and lovely- Plus C liked it too when he saw it at the opening.

Perhaps I will see some of you at this opening, I go to install today, that I will be participating in this Friday:
Collective Art at General Particular
45 Main St 12th Floor- Dumbo, Brooklyn
February 27 from 8-11pm.
The gallery is also open all day Saturday.

love and boxes.

a new work finished, look for it in my shop. It is about 17 inches around...

Off to here to get a picture of the installation before it comes down on Friday, you still have a few days to see this awesome show.

And otherwise packing my studio- a daunting task.

overlooked remnants

I have recently had the most lovely online correspondence with the photographer Stacey Renee Morrison and she drew my attention to the interesting art of Elizabeth Duffy.


Duffy states:

In my work themes of transience and transformation resurface in objects and drawings made with labor-intensive methods. My sources are things we use in our daily routines: the overlooked remnants of our lives. Business envelopes, cleaning products, lint, and office supplies are accumulated and manipulated to bring out their alternate lives and to draw attention to what we use and discard. I have always lived in urban settings and my neighborhood has been my art store. In its dollar stores, hardware and stationery stores I seek qualities in materials their usual employment belies. Maps have become webs, straws beehives, pencils haystacks.

I love work that alludes to and uses the everyday object. For me the everyday is the most beautiful moment we can be in. So I really like her approach to materials. A lot of her work leads me to think of other artists that I admire too.

Her envelopes:

remind me of a series that my graduate professor, Shona MacDonald did, where she "painted" with the inside of envelopes (the place where you lick or seal):


Elizabeth's sculptures:



call to mind artists such as:
Eva Hesse-
and Tara Donovan-
I always find it interesting which artists one thinks off while looking at another artist. I have never thought of Tara Donovan and Eva Hesse together before but being inspired by Elizabeth's work I seeing stunning similarity between their work.

Needless to say Elizabeth's work is very interesting and made my brain turn this morning. I only wish her website had a little more explanation to her installations...but you all now I like my web info. Forgive me.

abc...

absence- Simona Paleari

ache - Julia Feldman

lost - Jennilee Marigomen

I am so in love with the photographic dictionary. Look up a word - find an image. I have a feeling this will be a place I revisit a many a times.

These three images, besides being gorgeous, represent a little bit of me and my mood today.

I wish...

she were my best friend.

This work is done and hooped. I am happy.

At first I was afraid that the pink in the 2nd layer was too saturated but now that the final presentation is done, I like it.

I enjoyed playing with layering one image over another and learned from a few mistakes since this was my first time doing it.
I look forward to playing with layers in the future and perhaps -
continuing with work from my family photos.

This one is all images of me and my sister-
I like the idea of having a grouping of images from my family albums hung on the wall-
like a family wall.

This one got finished just in time to be in a show at this space next week.

here comes the sun-

Even though it is still bitterly cold outside and my fingers were practically blue by the time I got home last night-


You can still tell that spring is right around the corner- each morning I wake up and the sun shining through my kitchen windows is a little brighter, a little warmer-

And my cabin fevered body and mind is thirsting for it like a dry plant.
So come sun, come.

Button me up!

I remember as a child going through my mom's button tin and noticing all the colors and how each button was special and unique...I loved sticking my hand in and just letting the buttons slide around my fingers-


So the lovely and interesting button family portraits of Lisa Kokin truly caught my eye. The meticulous craft and construction is impressive as well as the use of buttons as materials. I feel like we all have some wonderful association to buttons.
Kokin's parents were upholsters therefore the stitch and the button were easy choices for her when she turned to make work about her family.

Kokin creates works that is seamlessly both contemporary and nostalgic at the same time. Creating memory and honoring the past.


Her sewn found photo work is just as lovely and inspiring.


She states:

I am intrigued with other people’s photographic recording of their lives both for the generic quality they possess -- the family and social rituals, studio portraits, vacation shots -- and for the feeling of sadness and nostalgia that acquiring other people’s memories provokes in me

I particularly like her style of installation of the photo works. In ways it reminds me of one of my all time favorite artists Annette Messeger.

Kokin's work is truly lovely and gets my mind spinning.

I am having a tantrum!

Today, I am finally bucking down and going through all our tax paperwork.
Thank goodness we do have an accountant but as two self employed folk there is still a ton of organizing on my side. Agh.
So I essentially feel like this little one from the amazing and beautiful series of photographs from Jill Greenberg.
I feel like that because taxes and accounting is no fun but also 'cause I want to be in my studio Waaaahh!

Check out this interesting article in the NY times about the state of art in the recession.

I recently saw the flickr page of artist and designer Neta Amir and it put a huge smile on my face.
She creates everyday objects out of fabric and stuffing.


I love the detail she puts into her work but also the chunky heaviness of it.
She recreates it correctly and simultaneously embraces the weight and natural qualities of fiber.


Amir uses her everyday life and daily environment as the theme and inspiration of her work.

from a press release:

Her installation tells a story about the traces left behind by various people, on the same place, at various moments. Combining objects within the context of an installation adds another story to the existence of the objects once more, and invites viewers to complement this by their own personal interpretation.

She also creates some incredible puppets-like creatures and has a lovely blog.

studio piles...

Loving the sun...
the fact that it is Friday...
and that I am so happy in the studio this week.

These images are some piles around the studio- I have to say I love how now that I work mostly from images from my life and with fabric -my studio is such a lovely place.
I have piles of thread, linens, quarter flats, and photo's all around.

But next week my studio will end up being one giant pile...because I am moving into my new space on the first. I am so, so excited.
It will be much more private (just me and my studio mate)- have lovely light (2 giant windows)- and in general I am just going to put in the time to make it really nice. I already have a ton of ideas and plans. I cannot wait to share the space with all of you.
We ware going to have an open studio party once we are all settled- maybe you NY folk can stop by.

a huge thanks to 2 very special posts:
Robin wrote beautifully about how my work reminded her of a childhood memory and interviewed me to include my personal voice. I am honored to be so sweetly written about
The Butterfly Collector somehow found solace in one of my pieces- which simply humbles me

Thank you to all of my wonderful readers.

yearning for airy beautiful places...

So as I sit with my window open and my kitties noses get excited from the fresh air I am yearning for spring....
Spring always seems to bring magical places, sounds, and smells.
I think about cherry blossoms snowing down, laughter creeping up into my window, and sunlight on my eyelids.



And well, the interior photographs of Debi Treloar express exactly the kind of place that I want to get lost in and wander through today.
Her palette and use of light is just gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

Since the work is commercial - she is not giving me a concept to go through these images with so I choose to create a little fairytale of spring. Will you wander with me?
To see more of her lovely work check out her website.

And speaking of my love of beds..ahhh.