gorgeous white walls.

a glimpse of the very nice entrance gallery.

So I trekked my uber pregnant body into Manhattan to check out the space for from the tongue and was quite happy with the space. It is in a super great area of Tribeca with great restaurants, a sprinkling of galleries, and very high end shopping. Street level with the entrance calling for some super large colorful pieces- so get your minds thinking.
The space itself is very bright, high ceilings, with some gorgeous chandeliers.

the huge back corner- there is a very open corner to the right as well. HIGH ceilings.

a nice big showcase wall behind the desk.

The initial walk in space, which is all gallery, is smaller but very lovely. You can see through the back to the salon to another great big space of wall that really would love some creative, colorful installation pieces. In general, a lot of work can fit into the space and color will do well as it is big, bright, and white.

gorgeous street level entrance.

I am very excited to see what folks submit and how the show will come together. Hopefully next week I can check out the Greenwich Village satellite space too as it is also street level and is a corner space so will get lots of traffic seeing the work.

Please, Please pass the word about the call. Ok now I have to get to working on my own show that opens in early April.

Thanks to here for a mentioning me and here for featuring my work.

sprouting from her head...

When I was curating for connective thread, I loved the submission of the artist Veronica Fuentes, sadly her work just did not fit into the overall direction that the show took. But I so enjoy her technique of embroidering comic book pages.


These images are from her submission which is of the work not quite finished. But you can get a sense of the sweet story, emotion, and vulnerability. I would love to see this work in its completed state and more work done in this style.
Embroidery as narrative is perfect.


Veronica states:

For the past few years I've been developing an interest in nature, children stories, the fantastical and the surreal. I feel that in childhood we welcome ideas that are whimsical and fantastical. Exploring them is a way of rediscovering that childhood world that vanishes through the years and introduce to it the complexities of adulthood.
In my work, I explore a whimsical vegetated world where plant-like creatures sprout an array of human emotions. In this whimsical vegetated world, emotions like fear, anger, sadness, and lust are part of the physical and subconscious make-up of the vegetated inhabitants. As the artist trying to breath life into the work, I have become a researcher, like a biologist, cataloging the inhabitants, their characteristics and habitat of the wondrous vegetated world.

She also creates other super lovely embroidered pieces that you can see at her website here.

You are invited-

image from here.

So very excited to finally get this all started. So if you are in NY please come join us:

We invite you to be a part of a collective of fiber artists in New York City. Crystal and I have been so inspired by the artists connecting through the local fiber community. We are hoping to create a collective of fiber artists to share opportunities, benefit form regular critique, curate exhibits, and simply create community and get the word out about the awesome things being done in fiber.

You do not need to be an artist that only works in fiber but the collective itself will have a focus towards this.

Anyone and everyone is welcome so please forward to all your fiber artist friends or anyone you think might be interested.

The first meeting will focus on discussion of what members would like to see come out of the meetings and collective, brainstorming, etc, We will meet either monthly or bi-monthly. Next meeting will include critiques of up to 2 member artists. Location will rotate from members homes and studios.

Please come with ideas and opportunities to share.
As the collective grows we will create a website with gallery pages, links, and opportunities.

The first meeting will be held at:

28 St. Marks Ave #3
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(near Atlantic Center train station)
714.928.1922

Sunday, March 21st, 5:00

Please RSVP to Crystal Gregory crystalirenegregory(at) gmail com

We hope to see you all there!
Crystal Gregory and Joetta Maue
www.crystalgregory.org
www.joettamaue.com

exhibition space???

Today I am heading into the city to see the space for my next curatorial endeavor. I am very excited to see the space as it sounds really wonderful. I will post pictures tomorrow for those of you that are thinking of submitting.

Please pass the word on about the Call for Work.


This weekend I was a teaching fool, Saturday with the Teens at Rush Art. It was our last session and we got over 20 final cloth banners done for their exhibit in Chelsea in May. I cannot wait to see them all hung.


and Sunday I taught a class at Brooklyn General it was a group of lovely ladies as always. BG is such a nice place to teach as the space is wonderful the staff is warm and helpful but leaves you to teach without interruption. I am so glad to be a part of their space. I have a little lull in teaching now in preparation for the baby but will be back to teaching more classes in late spring and summer.

Today applying to lots of show and such. Tedious- NOT fun work- but must be done.

almost done.

So the embroidery itself is done on this floating portrait- I am actually quite happy with it. I like the detail of the bubbles around the hair too...
I am definitely going to add some paint in to differentiate the moment where the skin is above and under water. But otherwise, we are close to finish. This piece is in an exhibit in May and usually I would be working to the last minute- but with the babe coming I breathe with a sigh of relief knowing that it is ready and waiting...

and now I am going to try to squeeze in another piece for my small solo show next month. We'll see - it helps me avoid all the "computer" stuff I should be doing in the studio. Like applying for shows and curatorial calls. As of late my attention span cannot handle those. Ergh.

thanks for some sweet mentions here and here.

painted piles.

I am delighted to have been asked to participate in what I think will be an amazing exhibit at the The Art Complex Museum in a few years. I was asked to be one of 4 artists who will have a long term exhibit, Self/Fabricating. This exhibit will be of 4 fabulous female artists making work that is autobiographical and incorporating fiber. It has been put together by 2 fabulous ladies, Lesley Schomp and Candice Smith Corby. I was unfamiliar with Candice's work but she finally got her website up and running and I am smitten.


Candice makes plenty of super gorgeous works on fiber where she paints highly detailed images that reference the home, the female, and perhaps a little bit of chaos.


I find her work refreshing and unique in its approach and style.


But what I really love are her wall works. She paints directly on the wall or on wallpaper -piles of furniture and general house stuff.


Using her impressive skill to recreate sumptuous fabrics, textiles, and upholstry. And... I love them. I would love to someday get a painting of a pile of couches in my own home.


A statement from an independent curator, ,states:

The narratives in Smith Corby's intricate paintings navigate through the muddied waters of traditional female imagery, carving-out a space for new ideas to grow. Smith Corby uses scale, color, and astute drawing skills to communicate her ideas, creating mignon environments delicately painted on found objects, fabric, canvas, and paper or transformed into large-scale wall installations. Interestingly, her found fabric napkins, doilies, and furniture are reminiscent of the familiar objects one carries through life, which have an energy of their own because of memories, and emotions from their past. Similarly, Smith Corby’s renderings on these ordinary objects transform them into magical goods.




Well said! I am so delighted to be exhibiting with her in the future and cannot wait to see what the exhibit manifests itself into. See more of her work here.

woven woman.

The gorgeous woven work of Andrea Donnelly. Andrea makes super lovely large scale woven self portraits.

I love how each piece comes all the way down to the floor, the feet just barely resting upon the earth... with a soft pile of fabric underneath.


In her statement she says:

I investigate the psychological space of my interior world through the labor and language of weaving by hand. A curious onlooker to my own internal narrative, I gather the ephemeral visions that occupy my periphery into the physical presence of image woven in cloth.

Through passage of time and rhythm of repetition, the actions of weaving are captured and layered like memory in the buildup of thread upon thread. As I weave, I submerge image within its structure. The density and transparency of that structure give form to both image and atmosphere. The cloth I create is a mental landscape, quietly inhabited.


I am so overwhelmed with my to do list today that this is all you get- but Andrea's website had some more very lovely words to describe the different series that she has done and images of her earlier very cool installations.

sunshine.

Loving the spring like weather and the sunshine here in NYC spilling into my studio- hope it stays this way.
It helps me get a little more motivated to work in the studio with this ginormous belly. Because lets face it at this point I just want to lay on my couch and watch bad tv:)

My float portrait is almost done- so excited to show pictures of it to you tomorrow.

future heirlooms- an introduction.

I had mentioned a few weeks back that I was joining the fabulous blogging crew of Mr. X Stitch and today is the premier of my bi weekly post Future Heirlooms.
Future Heirlooms will focus on interviews with some of the most exciting contemporary embroidery artists working today. Many of which who have been featured here.

I am very excited about this new endeavor as Mr. X Stitch rocks but also because over the last few years of researching and featuring so many great artists I have long been wanting to add interviews to my repertoire. I am excited to be able to contact these artists and talk with them directly plus I get to ask whatever questions I have about their work, Yeah!!!


So to introduce both the segment and myself the first Future Heirlooms features an interview with me. So please stop over and check it out.

Talanted Genetics!!!

I am very happy and excited to share some of the talented genetics that I come from. I have encouraged both my mom and sister to spread their skills and creative endeavors on etsy. And Finally they both have.

My sister, Jamie, started her Jewelry etsy store, Gypsy Bones, a few months back. I waited to post about it because she spent a month away in Costa Rica so was out of etsy action. But now she is back. I got some jewelry that she made for Christmas this year and I LOVE the earrings. I seriously wear them almost everyday and get compliments constantly.


So if you want some super lovely jewelry with just a touch of Bohemian Hippie in them. Her work is perfect.
And if you recognize some of the models one of them is totally me!!


Growing up my mom was the Queen of sewing making plenty of prom dresses, curtains, and even the train to my non-traditional wedding dress. So as she explored what she might want to do as a career right now. I said SEW!
She has showered some majorly cute baby items onto me, including super adorable bibs, an AWESOME crib pocket organizer, and a bumper all made from super cute vintage fabric that I found.
Everything was SO cute and perfectly made- I told her she needed to start making this stuff to sell. So she did. Yeah!


Her shop, So sew you, is still in process and only has a few items but... these St. Patrick's Day bibs are just too cute to miss out on.
I know my old Boston Friends would love them.