drawig..

This week with the holiday is weird and full and hectic but I did fit in a nice studio day yesterday and am so looking forward to 2 full studio days next week.
I have really been digging the drawing I am working on and am definitely going to turn it into a small series.
What do you all think? It has been so nice to spend hours on a medium other then the stitch.

string paintings

Loving these new works by Nike Schroeder.

reminds me of an early work of mine but so much better.

cool

I love these visual poems by Steve Mcaffrey.

more from the gradma's house series....

Rough, unedited or clean versions. Straight scans.  Feeling really great about these negatives.

knit, paint, drip

I would be interested in seeing this show at Heller Gallery.
Liz Collins---   The work they show as an example makes me think of Vadis Turner's ribbon paintings had a baby with Sheila Hick's materials.

pencils out

I spent yesterday morning in the studio. I went in with the intention of stitching but just kind of did not feel like it. I have been playing with the idea of doing a series of drawings of slightly torn or damaged areas of fabric. I had done a quick experimental drawing a week or 2 ago....

Well I had happened to bring a piece of large-ish paper from my house that day so thought lets try it for real.

So I spent 2 hours starting a drawing of the above image of the above object that is in my studio. I will post pics of the drawing itself later. But I am sooo excited. It was so nice to get lost in the drawing. It was also great to have this medium that was slower and more hand evident then my photos but way faster then embroidery. I am thinking about an actual real serious series of the drawings.

Image of it soon. 

Don't forget to visit mamahood on occasion. But of course the actual act of mamahood is always delaying my ability to post to the project mamahood.

work.

 It feels like I have been working on the above work forever, like fooorrrrevvvvah. I am sure I have talked about the actual piece. Repetition of daily acts and motherhood...

Wash face, wash, dry, repeat. Kiss boo-boo, wash, dry, repeat. Buy band-aids, wash, dry, repeat. Tuck-in, wash, dry, repeat. Do dishes, wash, dry, repeat. Make dinner, wash, dry, repeat. Read bed-time story, wash, dry, repeat. Say I love you, wash, dry, repeat. etc, etc.

I really wanted it to be about repetition.  But also the love built into that.
And it is taking forever. But I see the end. I am not there yet but I see it. And I am excited.

miminalism, love and collaboration

I am into this.  She weaves it. He paints it.

Annoyingly he often gets the credit.
Good stuff.

See more.
See now.
Read about.

old negatives, new work.

I unearthed some old negatives that I never did anything with and they are genuinely making me so excited. I shot these photos after I got out of graduate school but then sort of just left them as I did not have access to a c-printer.
With my new found desire to just accept and move forward with attempting the digital wave I have scanned them and am thinking of printing them up as a series. These are just a few and are not cleaned up at all from the scans but to give you a sneak peek. 

They are all shot at my grandmothers house.

 

I have about 3 rolls. What do you all think?

talking, speaking, words

I spoke to a wonderful group of folks last Friday as part of an event at the Atwood House Museum in Massachusetts. It was a wonderful day and event. There were 3 speakers one who spoke of an obsessive and incredible recreation of a historical embroidery piece. It was nutty but totally awesome to hear about the dedication of all these people to accurately recreate the piece. Me talking about me and all the awesome art being made with a needle. And finally a conservator talking about how to properly store, display and hang textiles. As an artist I will not be displaying as she suggested but I did learn a lot of good stuff about how to best store my work and learned I was not doing a terrible job.

But to my talk, I felt really good abut mine and generally I do really love public speaking.  The audience was just a delight. They were so warm and appreciative after the talk. One even gave me a hug of appreciation. Quite a few talked about how inspiring it was to see how artists were using embroidery and found textiles.

Then as I was leaving and walking out to my car a women at her car spoke out to me and said she so enjoyed my talk. She then told me that she had an "aha" moment.

Of course I inquired as to what it was. She proceeded to tell me how she had a moment as I was talking about the act of catharcism and how one often makes work as a cathartic act and how confessional and autobiographical art often has this element. She then explained that her daughter had made art about something that had happened to her and she never understood why and now she did. I was so grateful that she shared this with me and so grateful that I could open the eyes of a mother to her daughter's healing practice- it really made my day!  As an artist that has often made her mother uncomfortable  with my art but who has also always had a mom that supported this- it was a really wonderful experience.

I was so happy to be a part of this event and the nice long walk on the beautiful cape cod beach I took afterwards was not to  bad either. 

holy moly I love this work...

made by artist Allyson Strafella with a typewriter. The textures patterns and holes are created by her using the mechanics of back space and return over and over.  Love. Gorgeous.

See more.

gender play

adding ballerinas to the bed of that toy truck, kinda loving it.

What do you think?

mended.

So even though most of my day will be on PowerPoint making I am planning on finally finishing this piece. It was been a passively work in progress for quite awhile now and I look forward to having it complete. But like all mu "drawings" on paper I am struggling with how to present, photograph and afford framing them.

But here is to getting another one done. Finished image soon.

with Thread in Hand

 

I am delighted to announce my participation in this great event this coming Friday.  So today instead of making work in the studio I am making a powerpoint of my work and other awesome fiber artists to talk about. Get the details here.

 

 

November 7, Friday 9 am to 3 pm

With Thread in Hand

A program celebrating the historic and vital art of embroidery

Sponsored by
The Atwood House Museum and the Women’s Club of Chatham

Enjoy a morning of informative and inspiring talks about embroidery. Then join friends for a light lunch catered by Chatham’s Pampered Palette followed by a private visit to the Atwood House’s popular exhibition Works most artful & ingenious: The Embroidery of Ann Grey (See exhibit page).

Presenters will include

• Tricia Nguyen, who will talk about the fascinating project to create the Plimoth Jacket, the extraordinary project to re-create a woman's embroidered waistcoat of the early 1600s (Learn more)
• Joetta Maue, a contemporary artist for whom embroidery has become a medium for exploring a range of ideas (Learn more)
• conservator Marie Schlag, who will offer advice on how to care for both historic and contemporary embroidery

Registration for this program is $30 per person and space is limited to 70 participants. Register with a credit card by calling the Atwood House Museum, 508-945-2493.