write me a letter?

Check out these amazing paper cut letters by Annie Vought. I mean awesome. I obviously love letters and text and have been really yearning to get back into a series I am excited about of letters so if I needed some inspiration I got some...

These are, generally speaking, quite large scale. I love how the shadow plays with the work.


Crazy details above. Her work reminds me a bit of Michael Scoggins though the themes and style are quite different.


She says this:

Email, text messages, instant messaging and Twitter are all examples of fun and immediate means of “written” communication. Through the computer I am in touch with people I may never have seen before and I can respond in real time to a loved one. But with the ubiquity of this access and convenience, we are losing the tangible handwritten letter. Handwritten records are fragments of individual histories. In the penmanship, word choice, and spelling the author is often revealed in spite of him/herself. A letter is physical confirmation of who we were at the moment it was written, or all we have left of a person or a time.

...I meticulously recreate notes and letters that I have found, written, or received... The handwriting and the lines support the structure of the cut paper, keeping it strong and sculptural, despite its apparent fragility. In these paper cutouts, I focus on the text, structure, and emotion of the letter in an elaborate investigation into the properties of writing and expression. Penmanship, word choice, and spelling all contribute to possible narratives about who that person is and what they are like. My recreating the letters is an extended concentration on peoples’ inner lives and the ways they express their thoughts through writing.

See more of her work here.

bakc to work, sort of

I am starting to, though barely, get back to work. I still have a lot of things to tie up in regards to upcoming shows, shipping work back from small stories, articles, commissions etc... But I feel like getting back into my studio is a possibility in the not that far future.

In an attempt to get my wheels turning and my hands excited again I have picked up a few pieces I started within the last few months. I figured finishing them is a good thing and since they are already started and laid out the hard part of the idea is done.

I do really want to get some drawings/images I have in my mind translated onto linens but timing in my studio has not worked out for that. I am hoping that by the end of this week it has worked out and I can get started on these new works. Fingers crossed.

If only I could clone myself one makes the money, one is the mama and wife, and one gets to be in the studio all day.

"investment of material"

Just in case based on my mention of the TAC artist resident show you did not have time to venture any further into Josefina Concha's work, I did.



I saw Josefina's work a few times over the course of the residency in her studio and the first time I was just blown away by the density of her stitches. Most of her work is done on a machine and because of the sheer number of stitches he work becomes extremely heavy and sculptural. The only artist that I have seen that uses such dense stitches would be Rebecca Ringquist. But where Rebecca is sharing personal narrative Josefina is exploring abstraction, gesture, and her relationship to painting.


Sadly what her website shows is that her work DOES not translate well in pictures. First the scale is pretty big, generally about body size of slightly bigger.



But the density of her stitches and the subtly of her color moves is lost on screen. Her work is interesting in that it has a boldness to its form and presence but then after that is has a very quiet subtle voice of color, undulation and texture.


In her statement she says:

Instead of painting, I sew, and I explore the qualities of the thread, trying to recreate gestures that go from the saturation of the matter to the synthesis of the line, and from the expressiveness of the stain to the definition of the image, evermore indefinite and evocative

The building of my work is articulated through the investment of a material (the thread) on a piece of cloth, and the time dedicated to sew it...

The work ventures between the rapprochement and the estrangement towards painting: rapprochement for the intent of simulating it and estrangement for the will to replace it.

Do not miss seeing her work in person at the TAC but... if you do I think you will have plenty of opportunities in the future. See more here.

another edition of artists

While in NY on Monday I stopped in to see the current edition of the Textile Arts Center artist in residence exhibit. As usual it was not ideal viewing with all the teaching and weaving supplies all about but the work was totally worth seeing. I especially loved both the work of Veronica Fuentas and Josefina Concha.
I have known Veronica and her work for quite awhile now and you can read a prior post about her here and here. But is was so exciting to watch her work evolve as she took time at the residency. She started to break out of the direct narrative and invite more ambiguity into her work, which I think was a great move.


I love the aesthetic combination of refined and messy, finished and unfinished, tight and unraveling.

I mean these butterfly wing pieces are amazing.

There were also the weaving's of Stacie Baek.

the works of Natalie Moore.

The hand dyed and painted shirts of Katie King.



The wall drawing combined with knitted works of Melissa Dadourian.


and the unbelievable dense, sculptural, and awesome works of Josefina Concha.
Follow links to each artist and learn about the program which is accepting applications for their next round now right here.

one story ends another begins...

Eileen Hoffman

Sarah Bahr

Caroline Kirton

I went into the city to de-install small stories yesterday and it was an easy fast day. All things went smoothly and I got to chat with a few of the artists as they came by to pick up their work. Definitely my favorite part of being a curator is getting to meet and know more artists and this show was no different.

Di Ellis

Millicent Bradleigh

Jane Lee Horton

Now I just have the tedious task of packaging all the works and getting them sent off to their homes. But I did choose to buy a piece that I adore and am excited to find its place in my home.

Rachel Rose

Susan Lenz

Just to leave you inspired I chose to share some details of the works...

Jan Johnson

Bonnie Sennott

Di Ellis

Peg Grady

Skid Lo

Kristy Bishop

I want to see YOUR work in my next show...

Lora Rocke

So make sure to check out my current call for work!! Info here.