storytime?

LOVE this piece by my wonderful friend Sarah Bahr

some more recent submissions to small stories that I am liking. Man oh man I can tell that as always it will be a hard curatorial process. But I am getting excited to sit down and really look through everything.

Another nice submission by Patricia Reis.

remember you have until Wednesday to submit so take advantage of those extra days and get to it!

All the details here.

I feel like while I have been away that I have gotten nothing done except good conversations with friends. I know that is not true as I have seen plenty of work and am heading to Chelsea tomorrow.
So I am chalking it up to taking time to be inspired.

opulent

Love the collaborative work of team Ghost of a Dream made up of Lauren Was and Adam Eckstrom.

Their creations of spaces, textiles, and environments out of found detritus or discard comment on the opulence and desire in out culture.

They say this about their work:

Our sculpture and installations embody the essence of opulence while being constructed of materials that typically end up in the trash. We mine popular culture searching for discarded materials that people use trying to reach their goals. Whether it is a romance novel that someone reads to enter into a dream reality; a religious track promising the glory of eternal life; or a lottery ticket that gives the possibility of a future full of rich decadence; we use these remnants to re-create people’s dreams.

See more here.

sssssmall stories

Submit, Submit, Submit the deadline for small stories is technically tomorrow. But I am out of town until Wednesday so I am extending the deadline to then. So that gives those of you that need it 4 more days. Officially you have until midnight on May 2nd.

Submit I want to see your work. Above is some of the work submitted by Di Ellis an artist that I have had the pleasure of working with before.

some art in the city.

Looking forward to seeing a ton of art this weekend and then sharing it with all of you. But I am sad that I just missed these 2 shows at SmackMellon looks as if it is very interesting.

Yoko Inoue
Mandala Flea Market Mutants:
Pop Protocol and the Seven
Transformations of Good-luck
National Defense Cats

Jeanne Quinn
LaceMath

But am excited that I will see Sheila Hicks at Sikkema Jenkins.

And Oldenberg and Van Bruggen at Pace.

woven and torn.

I saw the work of Scott Andreson in a show in Chelsea a few months back and was quite attracted to his woven and torn works. They are much like a painting with his approach to formalism and color, which is not surprising since he went to Yale for his MFA. The found everyday materials break down the formality into something familiar and personal, creating an interesting dichotomy in the work.



He says this about his work:

I begin my artistic practice with process, primarily the tradition of quilting. With historic precedents and familial connections quilting allows me to connect personal, political and social concerns in a single work. Using castoff remnants as source material my work focuses on slowness, detail, and labor. In these pieces patterns are severed, borders do not complete their paths, works do not form a perfect rectangle and the partial is never whole. Materials oscillate between the singular and the unified, where their history is never negated, but more importantly, the treatment given to these cast-off remnants is central.

You can see his work currently at the Fleisher Art Memorial Gallery in Philly or visit him at one of the open studio days at Smack Mellon in Brooklyn where he is a current artist in residence.

deadlines, deadlines.

Don't forget to submit to small stories only a few days left. Above is one of the works submitted by my friend Jane Waggoner Deschner and one that I definitely love.

I have a pile of applications and writing that I need to do myself. But today I am just letting myself be in Brooklyn. Something we need to sometimes do.

simply be.

Some design work that is distracting my limited studio time. Pushing through to finish it all up this week and send it off. Then finally return to my art work... and thank goodness no house guests for the entire month of May, whew.

In the last few days I have gotten some really lovely submission for small stories, which is starting to get me excited for the curating process. So I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Otherwise trying to simply be...

for your finger...

I felt the need to feature something playful and fun today to put a little light in my heart. So... I bring you the adorable and amazing felted finger puppets made by my really good friends little sister.


I am not a fan of the roosters, since my child was literally attacked by a rooster last week. But I love all the detail and personality that each finger puppet has. To me they are more sculpture then finger puppet because of that.



You can buy one of your very own little puppets at Jocelyn Krodman's site here. A little whimsy in life can go a long way.

here I come big apple...

architectural quilts by Natalya Aikens remind me of NY.

I am SO looking forward to being in NYC for the entire week starting this Wednesday. My main reason to head in is to lead a 2 day workshop at NYU Gallatin for the 2nd time. I work with a class that has been reading literature of various genres that focus on women characters who are doing "women's work." The class is a really wonderful class with an incredibly unique way of looking at women's roles in society and such. The instructor ends the class with me coming in and working with the students so that they have the actual ability to make a work of self expression through these techniques that they have been reading about. I am so looking forward to coming to their class.

In addition I am teaching a really fun and in depth workshop at the Manhattan Textile Arts Center during the weekend. So SIGN up if you have not already so you don't miss out. Details here. And for those of you in the Boston area my workshop in May at the Eliot School is FULL. But you still have opportunities to take a class in June with me at the Eliot school and/or take a class at the Essex Art Center. Hope to see you at one of the many classes coming up. Get all the details on classes here.

Very excited to see more and more small stories submissions coming in and CANNOT wait to see what these last few days bring in. Make sure to get me your submission. Details here.

The studio has been quiet as I have had house guests since Tuesday, I am trying to get some sort of job, and my lil't celebrated his 2nd birthday. WOW how did that happen. But I have been making small progress on a commercial project that is due at the end of the week. And once that is done I look forward to focusing on the last 2 pieces needed for my solo show in Brooklyn.

"out of the closet"

I am loving these paintings of everyday clothing by artist Laura Craig McNellis. The simple and strong mark making. The playful way of adding color. The images are life-size paintings and drawings.



To me the press release for her current show at Ricco/Maresca Gallery in NYC says it all:

“Out of the Closet,” an exhibition of life-size paper and paint cut-outs of clothing by Laura Craig McNellis. McNellis’s record of everyday life, whether it focuses on clothes, tables of food and drink, buildings, or events, invites us to admire the significant beauty of a day’s details. Looking at McNellis’s work, we allow ourselves to take pleasure in daily events often ignored, and recognize each day’s minutiae as ritual, rather than rote. Her paintings are intimate, revealing with joy the role these objects play in composing our lives.

I love the work and the directness of it. I look forward to seeing the show next week when I head to Chelsea. Here is an article about the artist and her stuggle with autism.

Very interesting work by Katie Grinnan.

See more of her work here.

CALL FOR WORK

Only 8 days left. Submit your beautiful, weird, wonderful, interesting, fantastic work....

Call for work- small stories- Fiber exhibition

Small Stories is an exhibit which will celebrate the small moments in life. We are looking for work that tells the stories of the everyday this can be in a literal or abstract way. Perhaps you make work about the banal, from the detritus of every day life, mapping your daily existence, or from the everyday relationships we surround ourselves with or desire too. Submit your work...

In the 2012 June/May exhibit, small stories, at the Urban Alchemist Gallery & Collective we desire to share and celebrate the small stories of life. We ask artists who work in fibers or fiber techniques to submit works. Feel free to interpret this theme widely, abstract & conceptual works are welcome. Wall work, suspended, and sculptural work is applicable. Though there is no exact limit of dimensions the space is limited so most works selected will be smaller or larger works that are flexible in how they are installed (i.e multiples hung or placed separately). There is one large window space and we welcome proposal's specifically for this space.

Please note we are looking for contemporary interpretations of fiber and textiles.

All the details and submission requirements here.

so much to see and love...

I am so glad that the TAC blog recently featured the french artist Elodie Antoine. Her work deals with space, the home, relationships and fabric.


I really enjoy her approach to talking about space in installation the most. Her replication of familiar and nostalgic aspects of a home from crown moldings to shag carpets hit home for me. The minimal but familiar nature of the materials is really successful. And surprisingly for me, I tend to like her least narrative works the best as their ambiguity really allows me to have a personal experience to her installations.


I also am drawn to her relatively expansive amount of work that deals with chairs, she makes them no longer usable in provocative ways that make me question ideas of comfort, support and feeling safe.


As a mother I cannot help but love this series dealing with pregnancy.


As a bed addict I like seeing this piece and am intrigued to see the same type of image I would work from done in such an entirely different way. I am currently working on a aerial view of a couple and seeing this work makes me eager to see how mine turns out.



And her unbelievably gorgeous lace drawings are just well gorgeous...


Read the TAC post here see a lot more work at Elodie's website. Sadly everything is in french. I wish I could read the text as I would love to know more about here approach.

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.

Last night, as I was sleeping,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.

Last night, as I slept,
I dreamt -- marvelous error!—
that it was God I had
here inside my heart.

by Antonio Machado

mark made.

I am compelled by the quilt and mixed media works of Jette Clover. Since I live the quality of paper, hand writing, text, and fiber the work is an obvious interest to me since it combines all of these things.




As far as quilts go I think it is a refreshing, contemporary and personal approach to the medium.


I do think the approach, ideas, and palette could be pushed much further. And it seems the artist perhaps agrees since each new series is more successful. I would be intrigued to see scale pushed, one way or the other, and a letting go of in the color palate of the work.


They write this about their work:

The text in my pieces is not meant to be read, but to be seen as representing the very human need for making marks, stating 'I Was Here' - from writing letters and diaries to scratching on a rock or spray-painting an abandoned building.

That human need we all have to make marks. Make a mark today. See many more works here.