Thread Reviews.

Just another of my opinionated opinions about the Feminist Discourse today. Read here.

getting ready to hit the road.

Agh, crazy getting ready for going out of town. I have not been able to make a thing as my mind is racing 20 miles a minute. So weird to prepare to go out of town so long. So sad that I will not see my kitties for over a month. So exciting that I have a month of NO teaching. So immensely wonderful to think about how much work I will get done while I am there.

This is where we will be, I will take much better picture when I get there, it is the Tin Shop in Breckenridge, Co. The way the residency is set up is that there is a studio on the storefront level of the building, located in the towns arts district and a small apartment on the 2nd level. You spend time in the studio and make you work having open hours for 4 hours 4 days a week.
I will also have a public reception on November 11 from 4-7 pm and a super cool workshop on November 17 for those of you in Colorado that want to say hello.

We leave tomorrow so posting will be light or non-existent until Tuesday of next week.
Wish us an easy and safe drive.

the quilt where you live.

I am loving the simplicity of the Soft-Maps that Designer Emily Fischer creates. Her quilts are straightforward stitched maps of neighborhoods and cities around the world.


She include main street names and important places...

Detail of Central Park

You can get one that is specific to your neighborhood.

Park Slope, Brooklyn

or maybe follow your past.... where I use to live:

Boston

Where my parents lived for years:

Dallas

Where I live now.


Where I will maybe live someday?

Paris

She describes the work that comes out of her design firm Haptic as:

"Haptic" refers to the sense of touch that includes the entire body, inside and out; it is also the mechanism we employ to situate our bodies in space, feeling the world around us. Haptic designs counter the rapid digitization of our lives by privileging the real, physical world our bodies occupy. Like a cane that safely guides someone down the sidewalk, haptic projects serve as tools for sensation.

I love art that you can truly use in your every day.

See more of Emily's quilts and her other projects here.

an indian summer to the dead of winter.

Guess how cold it was in Colorado where I am about to head for a residency? Oh yeah, 19 degrees!!! While here in NYC it has been 65-70 for the last few days. Granted I know that we are just getting our last bit of warmth in a wonderful Indian summer moment and granted that when I looked at weather.com Breckenridge will be in the low 40's next week. It still is nuts.

Nonetheless I am so excited to head out- looking forward to a month of no classes, no social engagements, no traffic, no noisy city, and just time to work and be with my family. Since there is no TV we will get to spend significantly more quality time together. Which will be refreshing and will allow me to get a ton of work & reading done, I hope.

Then we just get to come right back into our wonderful Brooklyn community.

Above is a new text piece I recently finished, still needs washed and pressed.

And here is my work featured at the fabulous Secret Lives of the Unemployed. My work fit in perfect to represent the main character Lucy.

gravity take hold.

Someone at on point recommended that I look at the work of Christina Massey and I recently found her name in one of my notebooks as someone to look up. So I finally did.


Christina's work is generally made by deconstructing old paintings, drawings, and works and making them new again. Recently that has led her to a more and more sculptural form.


She describes the recent series (seen above):

Works are made from scraps of painted paper and canvas that has been twisted, tied and sewn together with raw canvas and cloth. Traditionally framed works from my Dead Painting series are literally “butchered” by being stabbed, cut and torn to create the three dimensional forms.

The Business and Pleasure series is based on a trip she took to South Africa after being laid off. She describes the series as:

Physically fragments of new and old, success and failure, business and pleasure these works are bits & pieces of my past and present, likes and dislikes, a merger of corporate requirements and the livelihood of being an Artist.

The textures in the series are gorgeous.

What attracts me most to her work is that though often made from paper and painted canvas it expresses the materiality of fabric. She lets gravity take hold and create form. In a recent drawing series she is literally re- weaving her work back together again.

and even starting to utilize actual fabric.


To see more and read more about Christina's work check out her website.

Lottie Loves me.

Check out an interview with me here.

light and lovely

Just wanting to share some work that is light hearted and oh so lovely so ta da... I present the loveliness of Alice Rose Lewis.

She enjoys creating quirky, whimsical pieces that will put a smile on people’s faces and get their imaginations going.


such a sweet lovely simple stuff.


And I LOVE her pin cushions, I want them all over my studio.

intuition and some coming quiet.

Like I said yesterday I had a studio visit on Friday and it was great to show my work and talk about it with another curator. It made me feel very good about the arc and direction that my work has taken and have faith in my process.

In my newest piece I am working a little different then I normally do and it has been making me quite nervous but after our visit I feel like I should continue to follow my intuition as I normally do.

This Friday we leave for my residency in Colorado and I am very excited, to have so much time and space to make work and live a simpler life. I LOVE living in NYC but it can get quite exhausting and overwhelming at times so the entire family looks forward to fresh air, new sites, and a quiet life for a little bit.
...and since we sublet our apt. we don't have to worry about the kitties as they will be well cared for.

wonderful opportunity.

Have you heard about the new artist residency program that the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn is beginning. It is a great opportunity you get a studio at a great price and...


● 24/7 access to brand new resource library and lounge; classroom/conference room; large communal work tables
● 24/7 access to TAC studio and equipment (includes floor looms; sewing machines; drying rack; utility sink; dye lab for natural and synthetic dyes; washer/dryer; steamer; screen printing facilities which include 3 yardage tables, large exposure unit and washout booth)
● 6-week long group show at Textile Arts Center featuring all 6 participating artists at culmination of rental cycle, as well as Artist Talk events for each Artist.
● Monthly group critiques with special guests from galleries, museums, textile industry, other working artists


amongst MANY other perks. Get all the details and application requirements here.

archive.

getting ready for some things and just getting out of a truly wonderful and affirming studio visit.
made me need to re-look at these images of my solo show in June and thought I would share with all of you.
My studio visit was so nice and worth it even if nothing comes out of it. It was so nice just to have some honest dialogue about my work with someone who seemed to truly enjoy and get it.

You can be a mama and an artist. Each day I believe it more and more.

pile of.

Instead of playing with a pile of linens today I am buried by a pile of tissues. A terrible cold came on with full force last night. Sucks to be sick and taking care of baby.
But yesterday was a great studio day at least.

I will try to muster up the energy to post again but will hopefully be taking a long nap with lil't.
Fingers crossed

Future Heirlooms

Check out my awesome interview with Janice Jakielski over at the Mr. It might be one of my favorites yet.

some details...

of Clay's piece.

old guy that sews.

Above is the incredible work of Clayborn Jackson Lohman, a self ascribed "old guy that sews."
The above piece was in the Cutting Edge exhibit and it was gorgeous. It is quite large about 6 x 6 ft. and incredibly detailed with stitching, patterning, and gold leaf. (I have detail images to show but they are on my laptop and it died as I was posting so I will upload soon.)


His work has an interesting blend of very traditional techniques and old worn fabrics with a very contemporary style of collage, for the lack of a better word. He also often references more contemporary imagery.


and he for sure has a thing about skulls and the inner workings of the body.




and often is his work seems quite connected to out west, where he lives in Oklahoma, originally from Texas.


He shares little about his concepts and motivation but his love for stitching is quite obvious in the integrity of the work. To see more of his work and some cool in progress shots go here.

ketubah.

Finally getting the images up of the completed Ketubah all ironed and pressed. I am so happy with how beautiful it turned out.


But I do apologize for the green wall. Images taken at home not the studio.

What do you all think?