Why oh why are there not more hours in the day. Until the exhibit is installed- next week- I feel like I will end up being brief at the blog as my time is becoming painfully precious and I am away all weekend at a wedding, ACK.

But the ketubah I am making is coming out so lovely. Fingers crossed I get it done. It is a ton of very small, neat, repetitive stitching, Stich, stitch, stich.

and so many little details to do for the exhibit, I have not even gotten my personal email announcement out yet. With the 2 weddings and all the showers and bachelorette parties to go with them craziness has ensued in my life. But the show is going to be amazing I am so excited to see all the work in person and install it.

woven sound.

I am super intrigued by the woven work of Lars Preisser- it has a gorgeous level of minimalism yet still feels very current and not dated, especially in his choices made towards the installation of the works. It is his unique take on minimalism, weaving, and sound.


Many of his works include aspects of sound- often literally building sound elements into the weaving or referencing sound waves and the digitization of sound in the patterns of his weavings.



He states:

You can enlarge it to read it if needed.

Many of his works are gorgeous in their simplicity but apparently he occasionally throws in a more intricate piece that is equally gorgeous.

His blog is as minimal as his work but you can see a few more works here.

plastic baskets.

The plastic baskets of NY based artist Josh Blackwell are quite cool and a great way to utilize the constant stream of plastic bags in out lives. He re-creates basket patterns on found and collected plastic bags.


Some of them are quite beautiful- but they also remind us of our wasteful habits and patterns.


In his manifesto he states:

Carelessness with carefulness
Soft-build not athletic
Vintage and future
Casual and formal
Mountains not beaches
Volume after flatness
Grace Jones and Leigh Bowery
Ballets before musicals
Demy and Tati
Trousers or sweaters
Oxford Bags and Nantucket Reds
Sandals instead of shoes
Booking versus tooling
Imi Knoebel and Donald Judd
Paper and plastic

Repeat

I am not sure if that is suppose to clarify anything for me but it's cool. He also makes some interesting work on paper. I would love to know a little more about his work conceptually.

See more here.

caught up.

Now that the curation is finally done I have a little lull until the week of the installation that I can attempt to use to get caught up on the rest of my life. Thank goodness.

One thing that I am working on is the Ketubah for a very close friends wedding. From what I understand the ketubah is a Jewish wedding contract. My friends have chosen to have me embroider their wedding vows on an incredible piece of linen and I think it is going to end up so gorgeous- but it is also going to take me forever and I am on a tight deadline so stitch away I am.


I am also fingers crossed going to start on another commission next week and was very excited to sell 2 of my favorite text pieces (above) last week. Visit my shop and find something for yourself.

Congratulations!!

Work by Sierra Furtwangler.

Congratulations to the artists selected!!!!!

Cutting Edge: A Celebration of Fibers

September 17, 2010 - October 11, 2010

Opening September 17, 2010 8-11pm.
Artists Talk TBA


Heidi Field-Alvarez, Sarah Bahr, Emily Barletta, Jamie Bertsch, Andrea Donnelly, Erin Endicott, Mallory Feltz, Virginia Fitzgerald, Sierra Furtwangler, Meredith Grimsley, LUKE Haynes, Tod Hensley, Jennifer Hunold, Janice Jakielski, Sheila Klein, Julie Kornblum, Lucia LaVilla-Havelin, Clayborn Jackson Lohmann, Alisha McCurdy, Margarita Mileva, John Paul Morabito, Suyeon Na, Erin M. Riley, Rebecca Ringquist, Leslie Schomp, Lou Trigg, Cayce Zavaglia

tough curation...

So finally, finally after much debate and inner dialogue and tough decisions the artists for the exhibit at the Textile Arts Center have been chosen. This was by far the most difficult curation I have had to do...

partially because it is a huge show and will hopefully get tons of attention but that also means the pressure is on for me to do an amazing job. This show is an opportunity to get my name out there as a curator and that is awesome but it also makes me feel like it has to be a blow out show. So my fingers are crossed that it will all come together as I would like.

In addition I had a HUGE number of applicants to choose from and with space limitations and the fact that 2 of the works selected are 16 ft long my decision process was so hard. So much good work to choose from and only so many walls to fill. I could have easily made the show twice as big and just as good or made just a quilt show!!!

And lastly this call really got out there much more than previous calls. Which means people that do not know me or my work at all applied. So that meant I had a huge variation in the work submitted and plenty of it outside of my normal aesthetic. In some ways this was great as I chose some unexpected work and got exposed to so many fabulous artists. But it also made the final curation more difficult as I had the challenge of how do I exhibit such varied work but still keep a cohesive thread through the entire exhibit.

And weirdly, this call was the first time I had to face the nastiness of some artists. I had a number of people that got quite offended and down right nasty that I did not select them. I was shocked mainly for the obvious reason of the fact that I find this to be TOTALLY unprofessional and silly. But it also was confusing to me, I mean I clearly understand that when I apply for an exhibit I may not be selected and about as often as I am I am not. This is part if the experience of being an artist. Curators have a vision and regardless of the quality of your work you may or may not fit into this vision. So the nasty people were a little hard to swallow but luckily it was made up for by the MANY kind emails from other artists that I very much hope to work with in the future. There was just so many amazing pieces submitted it was overwhelming.

So keep checking in for more details on the show and mark your calenders for September 17th for the opening. Hope to see you there!!!

tough decisions

So today I am finalizing my selection of work for the exhibit at the Textile Arts Center and it has been tough!!! I was overwhelmed with the response I got from the open call- a massive amount of artists applied which is of course amazing and wonderful but makes my job all the more difficult.


The hardest thing is that I got a ton of work unlike what I was envisioning but that is totally GREAT work. So for a moment I started to reconsider my idea for the exhibit.
There were amazing costume works like the above works by April Hale- enough of them that I could create an entire show of wearable work.


And a ton of incredibly gorgeous and technically impressive minimalist works such as these weavings by Jenn McNamara.

But in the end I have decided to stick to my initial vision for the exhibit which includes some large scale works, sensitive narratives, and bright colors- though not all at the same time. The list of artists will be announced this week.

the art and science of happiness.

I received a show card in the mail for the upcoming exhibit, The Art and Science of Happiness, by Patricia Dahlman. The card was playful and colorful and fiber- so I was intrigued.


I ventured to Patricia's website to find fun and whimsical silk sculptures that almost feel like toys along with some other lovely work.


Seriously, her works are so much like modern toys, considering I spent all day looking online for an "activity mat" for lil't I have a good idea of toys at the moment. The colors and shapes. He would love these works as much as I do.


If you look further into the work you actually see some personal narratives and often a bit of political edge. The exhibits press release states:

... explores how economic security, political stability, family, careers, health, community involvement, and other domains contribute (or not) to ones sense of being "happy." Dahlman's subject matter ranges across the political, social, and economic spectrums, while addressing issues of nature and society. She uses sewn and stitched forms made from canvas and colorful fabric to create both sculptural and 2-dimensional works that are playful or serious, and sometimes both. The works selected for this exhibition include landscapes, abstract forms, narratives and figural works that comment on the environmental destruction in her community as well as recent political events in America. They represent her visions and hopes for an improved future for society and the world.

Patricia also makes some lovely embroideries.


You can see more of her work online or stop in at the exhibit which opens September 7.

playful puppies.

Sadly, Eunkyung Lee missed the deadline for the Textile Arts Center exhibit but I am so glad she contacted me as her work is so sweet and perfect for an exhibit that I am curating in the spring. Eunklyung seems a little obsessed with her dog but the result is charming, clever and playful work.



Check out these awesome "puzzle" works...


or her big park puppy.


she states:

By examining the ways that inanimate objects and other living things can become personified, I want to explore the emotional connections that can be had with the material world.

See more of her work here.

light?

gorgeous painting by Holly Farrell

I went to the studio today- all afternoon with Tesla and it was actually quite great. I got a lot done when he was in down time and due to our new comfy couch when he needed a little love and attention I was able to be comfortable and play with him. I am starting to see light at the end of this "never make any work" tunnel. Even if it is just a little light.

I got ready to start a very special piece that I am making- the ketubah for a very dear friends wedding.

Also a lovely thanks to a few mentions of me here, some flattering words here and here, and a mention here. Such a boost to know people are appreciating what I do, get me motivated!!!
Thank you.