studio visit.

I had a nice studio visit this week with Kate from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I am doing a visiting artist workshop with them in February so she was in the studio to take some photos and do a little interview to promote the artist events.

It was so nice to have someone in my studio as it has been awhile.  When I first moved here I really made some effort to meet some folks and have studio visits but then life took over, shows were happening and it stopped. But this week reminded me how inspiring and wonderful it is to have a like mind in your workspace and just talk shop.

Kate was so sweet and gracious, we also realized we have a mutual friend. It was fun to talk about the project I will be doing which is inspired by the incredible textile collection at the Gardner and to just talk about the unique elements of the unusual museum.

It made me very much look forward to my studio time next week and get to work.  But that will have to wait as today I am focusing on another exhibition proposal as a curator. SO many hats....

BTW anyone want to studio visit?

self fabricated- Leslie Schomp

 

Above is the work of one of the curators and artists in Self-Fabricated, Leslie Schomp.  I have known about Leslie's work for quite a long time, ever since we were in another show together about 6 years ago.  The work that I first saw was the double portrait she did of herself and her son out of hair, below.  Her work immediately struck me as deeply personal so of course I loved it.

For this exhibit she took advantage of the museums beautiful display cases and showed a number of her works in them.  To me this was a wonderful resolution for her work as her work seems so delicate and fragile that it asks to be protected and revered like an artifact.

Her collection of small portraits looked lovely in a case all together. I had chosen to exhibit a few of these as part of Cutting Edge and it was nice to see how many more she has made since then and how both as individual works and a collection they are successful.

 

Leslie is highly skilled at working with challenging materials such as metallic thread and hair, her  research and honoring of history is relevant and powerful in the overall experience of her work.

 

 

Her work is often very self referential, the self looking at the self, as seen in this double portrait... and it always leaves me wanting more. I want to understand and be let into her work a bit more. I want to hear the language behind the imagery.  But at the same time part of the magic is the mystery.

 

 

As a curator I have seen a lot of Leslie's work in photo form and it was so  wonderful to see so many of her works together and in person.

Above is her response to the kimono work an incredible display of pulled thread work. Quite inspiring to me as this is a technique I have wanted to try for awhile. In this work she, the artist, is looking for something to only find herself searching in the end.  Another perfect example of Leslie's poetry.

Read an interview I did of Leslie here and a previous post on her work here.

my words...

I was hoping to do a big post on the wonderful exhibit that I am part of which just opened this weekend at the arts complex. But alas blogger and I are in a fight and I do not have the time to "research" the new interface until this weekend. So I will just do the show posts in bits over the week. I figured why not start with myself. Self-fabricated is a show that was curated by the very talented artists Leslie Schomp and Candice Corby Smith and has been in the work for a number of years now. (I think they invited me when I lived in western mass and then I went to NYC and now am back in Mass. funny.)

The show features 7 artists whom all work with textiles in some way to make work about themselves and their life. The images above are my piece that was a "response" work. The curators asked all the artist to do a piece that was in response to or inspired by a Chinese robe that is part of the museums collection. (I will do an individual post on all of those.)

The work the curators chose to feature of mine was my text based work, over the course of time that the show was in the works my work changed a lot, sold a lot, and therefore there final selection was very different then their original. It was interesting to only show my text based work. It felt nice for that work to get some deserved attention, but I also felt a little like I was only half there as an artist.

They chose to frame the white works with gray paint and a literal frame. The gray matched an interior gallery and felt connected but I still remain unsure about my thoughts towards this. Visually it does help the work come forward and bring the viewer in. But it also formalizes the work in an unfamiliar way but only partially. I almost think that if the work is to be framed then it should be in a vitrine. I normally do not like my work behind glass as it pushed it too much towards archive but both of these specific collections of text works are specific to a moment and that is a moment of the past. Therefore in a sense they are archives. So it gave me a lot to think about for future presentations of the works.

The opening was a wonderful time and opportunity to meet 6 other talented artists it gave me a ton of hope and inspiration for building my community here and finding folks I connect with as an artist.

I look forward to sharing all the wonderful artists and their work with you. Go see the show too!

studio happenings...

Some things happening in my studio as of late. I had a highly productive day yesterday which was awesome. And though we had a little bit of a childcare emergency last week it has already worked out to a great solution and I am looking forward to a better schedule for me and everybody else.

I was asked to participate in a show this fall and have committed to finishing a work that has been "in process" for about a year and half. So I am going to now force myself to finish it this year so it can be part of another text based show.

Otherwise I am still working on the last plant work, a new commission work and my littlest sleeper. So many ideas and not enough time. I did recently get reminded of how much I was able to get done when I just hard core worked during t's nap. So I am trying to return to that habit and let some career "housework" go a little more unfinished.

Please forgive formatting and bad images me and blogger are in a tiff.

Ok, new blogger interface you suck. seriously why do they always have to change things.
So far... I cannot move my photos, copy or paste or move or place my cursor.
annoying....





bare with me. hopefully it does not take forever to figure this out.
ergh,

 

  

I am excited to be taking part in the new exhibit at The Art Complex Museum here in Massachusetts.  This exhibit has been in the works for quite a few years now and it will be wonderful to see it hung and meet all the other artists.  My 3 featured works are all text based works, which is nice since I tend to show my image work more often.  Additionally my work she danced will be on view as it was specifically made for this show as a response piece to a work in their collection. They built a special light box for this work so that it can be lit from behind. I cannot wait to see the end result.

The opening is this Sunday and should be a great opportunity for me to meet and chat with all the other artists.  I am looking forward to that as I need to start building my creative community here as I really miss my Brooklyn one.

In conjunction with the exhibit the curators have also put together a gorgeous catalog, with essays, that I cannot wait to have in my hands. I will share details with how to purchase that soon. You can read a little interview with them here.
and... I am teaching a workshop so come and say hi.

So hopefully it will be fun.
Meanwhile my week has been totally thrown off by some daycare problems and jet lag. I am hoping next week is a little less eventful and a little less tired.

Self-fabricated opening...

Self/Fabricated

September 23 - January 13, 2013
Opening Reception - Sunday, September 23, 1:30 - 3:30PM

Ilona Anderson, David Curcio, Wylie Sofia Garcia, Jan Johnson
Joetta Maue, Leslie Schomp, Candice Smith Corby

The artists in Self/Fabricated re-examine the use of cloth originally used for craft and domestic activity as a new means to paint or “draw” on or from. Each artist explores autobiography
 through themes of home, the body, self-portraiture, and relations. In addition to painting, drawing, and printmaking, the exhibition artwork incorporates a range of needlework techniques such as beading,
embroidery, sewing, quilting, and stitching, including punch work, pulled thread and a variety
of historical stitching techniques.


Museum hours - Wednesday through Sunday, 1:00 - 4:00 PM
The Art Complex Museum / 189 Alden Street / Box 2814 / Duxbury, MA 02331

time.

super cute clock idea from here.

Oh time, time, time. We just got back from a week on the west coast for my sister-in-laws wedding and WOWZA jet lag sucks. So exhausted and out of sorts but also so overwhelmed with time. AKA not enough of it. How do we do it; be mama's, work, and make art. hmmmm now that I am working again I really do not know.

I am feeling that time crazy. From all the travels we have done this summer I feel as if we have been in a constant catch-up mode and I am SO happy that we do not have any travels planned in the near future. I am itching to get into the studio and start really working again. Though I must say it is amazing how you really do make progress even when it is just little bits here and there. I am done with embroidering my baby sleeper image, now to the applique, and almost done with another plant image. But I would love to have some more work happening in the studio soon. I am hoping that is coming.

and my website will hopefully get some images of 2012 up before 2012 is over, ack.

But exhibits are happening, work is slowly being made, and tomorrow I have someone in for a little studio visit which will be nice.

time, time, time.

Sleepers...

I wish I could see it myself. Though I did not get nearly all the new works I wanted done for it I still think it turned out to be a lovely show. I still hope to get at least 4 more large scale sleepers done. So that hopefully it will show again elsewhere with only the large works.

decorated cloth...

I am loving the work of Izziyana Suhaimi. Simple in concept but lovely in stitch.



Much of her works combine her drawings, generally bust portraits, with embroidered or fabric elements.


The works becomes much more of a portrait of a culture, specifically the youth, then the individuals themself.


The works also seem to celebrate the decorative nature and importance of handmade elements in our everyday wear.

She also did a series “Let’s talk about everything” which focused on objects and statements that connected her to specific memories and people.


Sweet work. See more here.

workshop anyone?

Have you checked out my workshop link lately? I have a number of fun things coming up. Besides a number of super great classes at the Eliot School I will also be teaching during their first Fiber Arts Weekend where you get to taste a number of classes and instructors all weekend long.

I am also leading a critique class and a New Media and Your Artistic Identity class at the Essex Art Center in the fall.

Check out all my classes here.

a nice little write up here about me and my work.

Future Heirlooms-Teresa Paschke.

In case you missed it Friday here is my most recent installation of Future Heirlooms with artist Teresa Paschke. Her comments and comparisons on samplers and graffiti are fascinating and incredibly thoughtful.

Read it here.

sleepers...

I have a show that opened on Friday in Portland, Indiana so if you just happen to be in the area please do stop by!!!

Sleepers, an exhibit by photographer, fiber, and installation artist Joetta Maue, will be on display in the Hugh N. Ronald Gallery at Arts Place.

Monday, September 10, 2012 through Friday, October 05, 2012.

This work features all of my large-scale embroidered portraits check it out if you can. Hopefully some pictures soon.

art/sewn

Gina Phillips

The upcoming exhibit at the Asheville Arts Museum looks like one to catch. Art/Sewn curated by Ward Mintz is an exhibit that celebrates contemporary artists blurring the line of art and craft. Sewing is an essential part to all of the works exhibited.

Since I spend Christmas in Asheville I will happily get to see the show before it comes down. Maybe if your lucky you will too.

Nice to see some familiar faces too... Emily Barletta & Elisa D’Arrigo (both featured in my recent article in the SDA Journal)


See the press release here, the exhibit opens this coming weekend.

quiet.

Oh how the work of artist Camela Guevara is making me happy today. It is one of those wonderfully gray rainy days that makes you love the gray and my mind is quiet and heavy with thought. So when I followed a link sent to me via the VERY talented Kristy Bishop I was so delighted with joy at the simple, subtle and truly lovely work of Camela.


In some ways her work makes me think that if Louise Bourgeois and Agnes Martin had a baby then maybe when that baby was a young emerging artist they might make work like this.


Her beaded, sewn, and stitched works combine a beautifully subtle palette....


with tiny little moments of personal memento and story....


and a wonderful sense of minimalism.


I am searching for work such as this that can inspire me as I desire to strip my work bare. I doubt I would ever be capable of getting rid of narrative, as I am a story teller first, but the minimal story or poem are often the most profound.


See more Camela here.