storied stitch.

Looks like a great show with lots of familiar faces...

The Storied Stitch  

 Azarian McCullough Art Gallery

March 31st through April 19th

Needlework has a rich history in America. From early native Americans to the first European colonists, needlework has been used both as a record and as a means of communication. Family history and traditions are remembered in needlecraft, embroidered details communicate messages of status, wealth, and beauty.

Modern needlework may utilize the same techniques, but the message has been broadened. The Storied Stitch provides a space for that message. Here we see traditional techniques in uncommon contexts, reminding us of our past while exploring current issues. We also see the stitch pushed beyond the familiar shape, stretching and sketching and living in a new form. What begins as an intimate craft results in work that reveals a narrative both personal and universal.

Megan Canning

Orly Cogan

Michelle Kingdom

Katrina Majkut

Tamar Stone

Welcome reception Wednesday April 8 from 4:30 to 6:30, with an artist talk beginning at 5:30.
Closing reception Sunday April 19 from 2:00 to 4:00, with an artist talk beginning at 3:00.

More info here.

abstracted interior.

I like this work by Marsha Cottrell.  Made using office printers and fine papers. They are so minimal but I can imagine in person very rich with flaw, tonality and having an essence of magic in the banal.

See more here.

See in person now here. The installation shots on the galleries website really add to your understanding of the work, scale and how they relate.

critique....

I happily found a crit group a few months back. It has been so great to have monthly dialogue about art. The intention is always to stay on track about work but inevitably goes into broader art territory, which are often the best moments of dialogue.  It really has just been a game changer.

In my first crit they really helped me see directions I could take my drawings with layering, going in and removing, line quality etc... This time since all my new work is at the gallery I took advantage and showed some unresolved work. The window piece which I have been struggling with resolving was the main topic of conversation. One suggestion that I loved and am going to pursue was that maybe it's less that the embroidery is not done and more that it is part of something. I.E a dyptich or tryptich. So I'm planning on exploring what those missing parts might be.

I'm also seriously thinking about using color pencils in a new drawing.  eek. Who am I?

In the studio all morning, so glad.

piles and pulled threads evaluate change.

There are way too many things to check up on when you are stopping in NYC for a few days and even though I looked up all the major museums to see what was up... I missed the Asia Society Museum.
I really need to get this space on my radar as a few years ago I remember going to see this fabulous show. 

The work currently on view Takahiro Iwasaki: In Focus appears to be a great piece. Inspired by a 1600 screen of floral imagery evoking the changing seasons Iwasaki takes found kimonos (representing the changing season) and rebuilds a landscape by piling the kimonos, towels, toothbrushes and clothing.  He pulls thread from the kimonos to create 3 dimensional imagery that evokes the changing landscape & economy of modern Japan.

You know how I love piles, thread, and luscious color so this work is just too lovely to me. My city trip was complete and busy but I do wish I had not missed this one.

Up until April 29th.  Also so much wonderful info on their website.
and the NY times review.

my work...

Check out the write up Kingston Gallery's new Director Shana wrote about my work.  It has been a good week I went to NYC saw great things and great people, had crit group Tuesday and had great discussion that may have led me to be able to FINALLY figure out this unfinished window piece, my work is up for the rest of the week at Kingston so....GO SEE IT. I will be in the gallery today so perfect day to stop by.

Read the post on the blog here.

strings pressed.

 

I have always been a fan but really loving the new work of Julia Elsas.

I did monoprints a lifetime ago and always loved their quality especially how threads showed up these remind me of that work and make me super excited.

 

Sally Hewitt repost...

A nice re post of an old feature on the super cool Sally Hewitt.

Toward Textiles

Wow the John Michael Kohler Arts Center is rocking the textiles right now. They have so many cool fiber shows going on. So if you are anywhere near Milwaukee go and see. I wish I could.

 

CAROLE FRANCES LUNG: FACTORY TO FACTORY
Through October 11, 2015

 MATERIAL FIX
March 13–October 11, 2015

In recent years, fiber has eluded characterization as it infiltrated traditional art practices and expanded into installation and performance. However, fiber-based art has grown more mainstream, its material-based, multidisciplinary practice has risked being compromised, overlooked, or assimilated by the contemporary art world.

The exhibition Material Fix is an exploraton of fiber’s unique material specificity and the means by which a range of contemporary artists join fiber-based processes with current theoretical and aesthetic concerns. The artists in Material Fix insist on the materiality of their work, challenging the detached vision that is preoccupied with the “purity of ideas” in which appearances are often separate from real-life existence. The exhibition suggests that, in an age dominated by linear, cerebral, and linguistic analysis, it is more important than ever to reinforce awareness of humanity’s shared physical experience.

Included in the exhibition are works by Polly Apfelbaum (NY), Jen Bervin (NY), Louise Bourgeois (1911–2010), Sonya Clark (VA), Dave Cole (RI), Jim Drain (FL), Josh Faught (CA), Susie Ganch (VA), David R. Harper (WI), Jesse Harrod (PA), Elana Herzog (NY), Amy Honchell (IL), Yuni Kim Lang (MI), Christy Matson (CA), Cat Mazza (NY), John Paul Morabito (IL), Sheila Pepe (NY), Piper Shepard (MD), Alyson Shotz (NY), Deborah Valoma (CA), Katarina Weslien (ME), and Anne Wilson (IL).

 

TOWARD TEXTILES

 January 18–October 11, 2015

A series of six exhibitons presents an exploration of the expressive possibilities of fiber through the work of 27 contemporary artists, while engaging the viewer in broader considerations of the medium’s emotional meanings, its connections with ordinary experiences, and its capacity for critique and social commentary.

Including an Ann Hamilton piece. Go textiles!!! 

I really like...

and need to spend a lot more time on her website. Such cool stuff Christine Wong Yap.

I like...

I like this. I like color. I like texture.  Need more art. Laurie Miles.

in transition...

 

 Come on in, walk through the Kingston Gallery to my show... tucked in the back gallery there I am.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so proud of and happy with this work. I will, I swear, be updating my website very soon with images of the individual works and all the other work that I have made over the last year and a half. I must say it was a little crazy to be offered this opportunity to exhibit only on December 18th.  Every single piece in here has been made since September and most of it since December 18th. It was such good motivation to get these images and these drawings to a place of completion and share them with the world. This work is so new and I am still so unsure as to where it is headed but... I am loving drawing, loving seeing my photographs printed and very ready to return back to stitching words. So this is sooo "in transition" but I look forward over the next few weeks to talk about this work a little more in depth with you.

Let me know what ya think... and if you are anywhere nearby please come and see the show live and in person. Details here.

A Common Thread

I am honored and proud to be  a part of this exhibit which has its opening gala tomorrow.

 March 7, 2015 – July 5, 2015
A Common Thread
Guest Curated by Susan O’Malley

A Common Thread brings together the artwork of seventeen contemporary artists from across the United States who examine and sometimes subvert the centuries-old tradition of needlework. Representing a sampling of a larger wave of stitching fanatics, the artists in A Common Thread find inspiration in the medium’s history, materials, technique, and process to create works that are surprising, provocative, and at times, deeply personal. 

The exhibit runs from March 7 – July 5, 2015, with an opening reception March 15, 2-4pm.

The show includes work from artists Emily Barletta (New York), Gwenn Beope (California), Chandra Cerrito (California), Joe Cunningham (California), Lauren DiCioccio (California), Josh Greene (California), Aubrey Longley-Cook (Georgia), Joetta Maue (Massachusetts), Stacey Page (Florida), Maggy Rozycki Hiltner (Montana), Jeana Eva Klein (North Carolina), Rebecca Ringquist (New York), LJ Roberts (California), Hadar Sobol (Texas), Jessica Tang (California), Claudia Tennyson (California), and Amanda Valdez (Brooklyn). 

detail of love letters

Sadly, the wonderful and warm women that I corresponded with for over a year in the curatorial process of this exhibit passed away just a week before the exhibit installed, I did not know Susan personally but through the admiration of her work, her warmth via our correspondence and phone calls and working with her I felt I did know her.  Her selection of which work to include in the exhibit was very telling of her loving heart, including love letters seen above, I am humbled by the love that her community has expressed at her sudden and tragic death and am inspired to be a better, warmer more loving person myself. 

Susan O'Malley

The museum will have a memorial at the opening and write this:

In Memory of Susan O’Malley (1976-2015)

Susan was an inspiration in every way possible. An inspiration to live. An inspiration to love. An inspiration to share. An inspiration to dream. An inspiration to give. She was the most beautiful person imaginable, and possessed an inescapably infectious energy, spirit, and positive outlook. There was no bright, optimistic, loving force as great as she. Looking for moments between herself and individuals in her life, she made work that connected people and offered glimpses into the possibility of understanding one another better. With this at the heart of her work and at the core of how she lived, she was an advocate and a daily reminder of the great power of connectedness and the power of love.

- Romer Young Gallery

There is a wonderful site celebrating all that she was here http://morebeautifulthanyoucouldeverimagine.com/

IF you are anywhere near the area please see the beautiful show that she has created.

Opening Tonight

My opening is tonight!!! Hope to see some of you there.  I am so excited about the work. My install day went smooth and easy, the frames all work well and though the show combines, drawings, photos and an embroidery I think they converse very nicely together! I am really looking forward to exploring this new direction in my work over the next year.

After tonights opening I will post more pics.

Come and be with art!

In the Members Gallery of the Kingston Gallery from 5-7:30pm

All the info here.

install day.

This space is about to be transformed into my show. I am heading in as soon as I finish my coffee.
I feel excited about the work. Excited about how different it is then anything I have shown in years.  I am surprised by the last minute change I made to the selection. 

And really nervous about the fact that I want to hang 8 small frames in a small grid. Any advice?

I am looking forward to the opening and really looking forward to giving myself the month of  March off to get my hair cut, some yoga in, my house and studio organized and a trip to NYC.

I can already feel the sigh of relief that will come at the end of this long day.