Opening Tonight.... Good Work

detail from Erica Harris's "String Funeral"

GOOD WORK:

A May Day celebration of the makers and making of textiles

April 29 – June 12, 2011

Opening Reception: Friday, April 29, 7-10PM

Hands-on workshops and celebration: Sunday, May 1, 2-5PM

Featuring artists/makers: Abigail Doan, Atefeh Khas, Belinda Smith, Charlene Lam, El Hombre Sobre la Tierra in collaboration with Global Goods Partners and Via Nativa, Erica Harris, Erin Considine, Hillary Steel, Jill Magi, Maya Valladares, Michele Pred, and Susan Weltman

detail from Charlene Lam's "I am a Sewing Worker"

For this juried show, artists and designers were invited to submit works for the inaugural exhibit in the Oak Knit Studio Gallery with their own broad interpretation of “Good Work.” What has emerged is a meaningful body of work that touches on labor, justice, gender, care, fair trade, the hand, immigration, community, skill and craftsmanship.

detail from Atefeh Khas's "Wig"

A May Day Celebration and afternoon of hands-on workshops is scheduled for May 1st. Join us to make and mingle with some of the show’s participating artists.

Free and Open to the Public. Please rsvp to rsvp@textileartscenter.com

At the Textile Arts Center/Oak Knit Studio Gallery

505 Carroll St. between 3rd and 4th Ave in Brooklyn

Closest subway: R train to Union st.

Open Studios

Come visit me this weekend at....

OPEN STUDIOS
Saturday April 30th and
Sunday May 1st
Noon -6pm
Visit openstudios.screwballspaces.com for even more information

60 artists, Ceramics, Collage, Drawing, Digital Media, Fiber, Installation, Jewelry, Lamination, Mixed Media, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Video, Watercolor, Wood Work.

Come see the inner sanctums of the artists and see their new work, works in progress and talk with them ask questions and generally have a grand time.
Free and Open to the public.

Saturday, April 30th Noon to 6:00pm
Sunday, May 1st Noon to 6pm

Screwball Spaces

183 Lorraine St. 3rd Floor (between Court and Clinton)

Brooklyn NY 11321

We would love to see you, and to be seen by you.

Map it

Take F or G trains to smith and 9th street subway stop and/or B61 bus to the corner of court St. and lorraine St.

deconstructed america....

The work of Valerie Hegarty.... oh my!


From her page at the saatchi artist archives:

For Valerie Hegarty, the joy of her work lies in its destruction rather than its making. Centring her practice on the politics of the American myth, Hegarty's canvases and sculptures replicate emblems of frontier ethos - colonial furniture, antique dishware, and heroic paintings of landscapes and national figures only to demolish them by devices associated with their historical significance.

gorgeous deconstruction...gorgeous palette...gorgeous shapes...love.


love.

PUSH

Ok everybody get excited. I am FINALLY allowed to share the exciting news about the very awesome and exciting book Push Stitchery: 30 Artists Explore the Boundaries of Stitched Art edited by the fabulous Jamie Chalmers.

It has been under wraps for over a year now but wowza it is going to be a good one. I am so proud and excited to be included amongst all the very talented artists featured in the book and it will be a requirement for any library of someone who loves the stitch.

You must be patient as the book is not set to be released until September but you now have something awesome to look forward too.

teaching and stuff.

This afternoon I head to NYU's Gallatin school to teach the first of a 2 session workshop. I have a feeling it is going to be great. The instructor contacted me and asked me to teach the final 2 classes so that the students could put their theoretical research and understanding toward a more creative expression. The class was described to me as:

Studying African American women's literature and art through the metaphor of quilting, the act of making beautiful, functional wholes out of fragments, scraps, and even leftovers. Through the idea of quilting the students are thinking about larger issues like memory, history and self representation. The students have read a series of novels, but also visited museums and art exhibits. At the end I would like the students to move away from examining other kinds of work and create projects of their own that use pieces of material, that make texts out of textiles, images, and more.

So needless to say I am very excited to lead this group of students into the act of making through some basic skills. I will be sure to document their progress so you can see what they do.

Tonight is also my last class of 3-d embroidery at the Textile Arts Center is has been a fun class with creative folks. It was totally full so if you are interested in my next class there check it out.
Or I have some super fun and different classes offered next month at Brooklyn General.

Do you have a space that you would like to me to teach at or curate for. Let me know as I always love a little more on my plate!!!

Old Souls.

I wish I was going to be in Philly so I could stop in to see this exhibit which opens next week:

Old Souls (Reincarnated Objects)

May 6 – June 25, 2011

In the main gallery space, Wexler gallery is proud to present Old Souls (Reincarnated Objects), curated by gallery director Sienna Freeman. Featured artists include Orly Cogan, Brian Dettmer, Flore Gardner, and Jessica Joslin. The exhibition will run from May 6th through June 25th, 2011. * An opening reception will take place First Friday, May 6th from 5 – 8 pm.

Looks like a good one!!!

the morning.

I spent the morning in my studio getting back to work and knowing that I will have 4 hours on Thursday by myself again I have a good feeling about almost finishing this piece. We will see.
But in general I am feeling very good about the red thread series and am feeling that it will make for a great show.

on another note I reviewed the catalogue lay out for Play and it looks awesome. I am delighted to be able to provide, all credit to the Textile Arts Center, a catalogue for the show and it is a great thing to have for the artists. Cannot wait to see the finished product.

Now back to work.

permission.

AHHHHHHHHH. House guests- though they were all wonderful are now gone and life is getting caught up. It was so nice to have family here to see T and celebrate his very first birthday but of course I got not a lick of work done.

But actually that was ok too. I have SO much to do for my own work, for play, for applications... but knew with so many family coming in and out that it would be totally useless of me to expect to get work done- so I just totally let it go. I chose not to care, dwell, or worry about it. And it was a vacation from my own self-imposed pressure, mind, and ever expanding to do list. And now to be honest I feel so much better prepared to take on the busyness of the next few months and feel excited and invigorated to spend some time in the studio this week.

Sometimes I guess you just need to give yourself permission to not do things.

2 headed monster.

I feel a little like a 2 headed monster today so I thought it was a good day to feature the very fabulous embroidery work of Jaclyn Rose also known as holiday tart. I somehow fell upon Jaclyn's work on etsy and so far that is the only place I can find her work but... it is oh so fabulous.

Most of her work is small scale embroidery that is in some way a portrait...

some seem of very specific people...


some of fantasy ladies and worlds...


and then there are the ones that seem more like statements on issues in our culture.

I love how there is just tiny little elements that reference the beat up, old, and overstuffed couch but yet it is so present in the image- from just tiny little marks.

Either way Jaclyn has a very talented hand and I find her work and technique inspiring.

I like how in this piece she uses the pattern of the background fabric to finish the image. so cool and genius.

It very much has the quality of a drawing and this is something I very much like.


See more here.

Thread Reviews

Check our my post on the relationship of Louise Bourgeois and Rachel Bernstein's work here.

happy birthday...

I can hardly believe that just one year ago you were born.
Your job in life is not to:

Make me happier,
Fulfill me more,
Remind me of who I am,
Remind me of who I want to be.

But you do all these things.
I am a better person with you in my life.
I am beyond excited to see you grow into the man that you will become.
I am honored to be your mama.

Happy Birthday baby!

house.

I have house guests all week so I will try to stop in and post occasionally but... I am not hoping for much.

Hope all is well and springy were you are.

memory and cloth.

Artist Eric Johanni was in the exhibit I curated last summer titled from the tongue..., however both of his works for that exhibit were works on paper so I had assumed his work practice was more in that direction.
But as I recently visited his website I realized his work was quite connected to the act of sewing and the memory of cloth and is incredibly conceptual in nature. I was excited to discover him more deeply as an artist.


I love his button projects. He describes it here:

The idea was simple: remove buttons from my own clothing, build sewing kits with the buttons, mail buttons to friends and family with instructions. The instructions were simple: remove a perfectly good button from an item of clothing, replace it with my button (using the red thread), and mail me back your button. From this simple task, I’ve branched into two different directions. In both, the button that was returned represents the person that sent it to me.

He began to work with how fabric has memory in a project of pillows that were inspired from the illness and resulting death of his mother.


I find his work beautiful in it simplicity and very interesting in how he melds the techniques of and organization innate to a print maker to talk about fabric and its roles in our lives.


and he has the best artist statement ever here is a peek:

Eric age 5 + Legos + Building = Creativity...
Eric age 35 + Parts + Process = Creativity = Art Work = Good!

See more here.

progress.

Progress being made. I just wish more was happening faster.
My time in the studio this month has been too little and too distracted.
And due to house guests little will happen next week.
But slowly and surely progress is made.

a little tale.

Lets get back to beautiful stitching.... and take a roll in the bed...I do indeed love my bed.


have some eggs fresh from the chickens.


take a trip to a wonderful land.


Sip a tea on the porch.


All reminding us to "love life."

See more sweet things by three red apples here.

beds, beds and more beds.

The Sleepers, Sophie Calle

Yesterday I posted about Sophie Calle's bed piece- in which she invited strangers to come sleep in her bed- so I thought it was appropriate to mention a project by the conceptual artist Josh Greene.

The Sleepers, Sophie Calle

Sophie is a unique and well "ballsy" artist. Her work skirts the line of legal and crosses over into an unknown territory of voyeurism, intimacy, and violation. Her work often is very intimate while also being very removed. For instance in Address Book she calls every person in a found black book talks to them and works to uncover who the owner is. Speaking to strangers to discover a stranger. But all the while having intimate conversation about them. Publishing her findings in the newspaper.


Or her infamous project Suite Venitienne, in which she overheard a man at a party in Paris say he was going to Venice- So she books a ticket and follows him throughout his trip. Documenting him. All the while he does not know. (until he does and confronts her.)

The list goes on as to how Sophie pushed the limits of intimacy and voyeurism to find greater truths about human existence.


So I really like Josh Greene's response to her work where he asks Sophie to mail him her bed. He has just broken up with his girlfriend and wants comfort. So of course Sophie mails it complete with sheets, pillows, etc. He then slept in the bed for 6 months corresponding with Sophie about his emotions.

See the project here.

come into bed.

I would not normally post about the same artist in one day.
And if I did I would normally include it all in one post.
But this series of work by Sherry Aliberti seemed so removed and different then her fiber works that I felt like they needed to be experience as separate entities.


But, I love, oh love the project of A lot of People Have Been in My Bed. Anyone that reads this blog know that I love the bed as a place. You can see my 6 month project of documenting my bed here. Or see the countless works I have done of figures sleeping, or perhaps you are following the progress of Sleepers my new series of life size sleeping figures. So I mean this project was made for a viewer like me.


Plus it reminds me of Sophie Calle, one of my all time favorite artists, and her project The Sleepers, a project in which she invited 24 people to occupy her bed continuously for eight days. Some were friends, or friends of friends, and some were strangers to her. She served them food and photographed them every hour. (did not realize the title overlap, funny.)


Sherry's project is a perfect continuation of this genre of work. Inviting people into her bed. But turning the bed up on the wall so the experience is all play acting and breaking the intimacy out. So interesting.
Or maybe not- maybe by imagining how we would sleep together we create a more intimate picture then the reality?


See more pictures here.

moving through a coccoon.

Look at the amazing and innovative work of Sherry Aliberti. She creates very cool inter-active sculptures that become performances in your hands.


With her use of gorgeous and bright colors her sculptures pop out of any landscape and with the human body playing and "performing" beneath they create incredible beautiful shapes.

mock up of piece.

What I really enjoy about her work is that as a viewer you see these gorgeous, living, breathing sculptures in space and as a participant you view the world from inside her cocoon of fabric.


In her statement she mentions some of her inspiration as Ernesto Neto and of course Martha Graham which is appropriate as her work takes on a modern dance energy as the viewer moves through the piece.

The Tumbler

inside.

For her, as an artist, it is much more about the experience of the person within the fabric, stretching, moving, responding. She states how people respond very differently to the interior experience some people feeling very connected while others feel very isolated. Some feeling their senses of the body amplified and others feeling them dissolve away.


I think that the outdoor aspect of the work is unique and essential. I hope to get to experience them one day myself.

See more Sherri here including videos of the works in action.