Sheila Hicks.

While I was in Philly teaching a workshop this Saturday, in addition to catching up with a friend who has moved there, I stopped into the Sheila Hicks "retrospective" at the ICA.


I was surprised by how small the exhibit was, it was essentially one large gallery, so I was a little bummed to not have the opportunity to see more of her work together. This was especially disappointing since much of her work is large scale works installed specific to each location.


But the works that where there were a wonderful display of her career. From her earlier works at Yale that obviously reference minimalism and painting more directly.


To her large scale works. Her large scale installation which was actually 2 pieces combined, was by far the highlight of the show and does not even begin to translate in photographs. It was gorgeous and beautiful and thought provoking.


I loved the many, many small scale weavings included in the exhibit as they traced her experimentation's and ways of thinking.


The texture of the work in general was awesome. But conceptually the work fell a little flat for me. I have always only seen one work of hers at a time, as part of group exhibits, so I remained intoxicated by her use of materials and color. But with so many works together I did want to understand her conceptual drive a bit more, her use of piling, etc. Perhaps she is like an academic modern painter interested in color, shape, and art "concepts." But because of her attachment to the materials of thread, yarn, and weaving I feel like there must be something more and want to understand that and feel that.

The exhibit is up for a few more weeks so make sure to stop by if you can it is so worth it and FREE.

red rags.

Still working toward finishing up the work for the show and starting to get a little stressed about getting it all done - but I have faith and need to get working at home a bit more in the last few weeks leading up to the show to get all the ends tied up

So.... work, work, work. I am trying to work out the small installation and think I need to collect more materials but am getting very excited about it and hope it turns out well. It will be a hand made rag quilt that writes out the text "I want a happy home" on the floor. I just need to get enough fabric. Fingers crossed that everything looks great.

some more red threads.

I have been working away finishing things up for my show next month.

This week I finally got around to properly photographing all the works and am so happy with how they have turned out.

I only hope I can get the remaining work done and that it looks great in the space. Fingers crossed.

hard/soft

I am loving the play of soft hard in the gorgeous sculptures of Debra Baxter.



Most of her works are quartz and alabaster and they are all gorgeous.


See more here.

my head hurts, i am tired, and i want to be on vacation.

Thread Reviews

Astrid Lewis-Reedy's work looked absolutely gorgeous lit from behind.

Jill Magi's incredibly beautiful installation of text works.

Read my review on the current Textile Arts Center exhibit here.

thow him across the room.

The photo that I am currently working from.

Do you ever have days where you look at your partner/spouse and think "Who the hell are you and why am I with you?"

One of those days for me. I love my husband deeply but he is a highly complex man,which is half of why I am SO attracted to him (after almost 13 years) but also half the reason why I want to throw something across the room. And hey I am highly complex, aka difficult, myself so I know he wants to throw something across the room sometimes too (probably me.)

But I feel like in having a child you kinda start to think- man we need to get our shit together. Which I know is just a fantasy but you do start to be like seriously after this long we still argue about the SAME crap.

I once read that couples telling the story of how they met is actually really healthy and an important part of a long lasting relationship. This is because as you are together longer it may become easy to forget why you fell in love with someone and by re-telling this story you get reminded. Maybe that is why I make so much art work about my love and my relationship to remind myself that all the frustrating pull your hair out moments are worth it for being loved in the end.

Who knows....

(BTW I kind of noticed that my blog has gotten a lot less personal and more "professional" and have decided I don't like that. I started this blog because of the very fact that my work is personal and autobiographical so it was an extension of my studio practice and because it led to so many opportunities I started to feel that maybe it need to be more "professional" but then that made me bored. So I feel like I am wanting to go back a bit to my original intention. We will see. No worries artist features will continue.)

simple is good.

Joe Cunnigham

Agnes Martin

Recently I have been looking at the quilts of Joe Cunningham aka "Joe the Quilter" and I will openly say that generally I am not that moved by quilts. Perhaps because they always seem so perfect when they are an " art" work. The skill level is SO high that the innate quality of the quilt and it being hand made is missing. Especially since most modern quilters use a machine for the actual "quilting."

Joe Cunnigham

But one series of Joe's is drawing me in. He makes other works that are colorful and playful and graphic but I am drawn to the simplest ones.

Joe Cunnigham

Containing only lines and a limited color palette. They have such simplicity that I can get lost in them and choose to stay for awhile.

Joe Cunnigham

They very much remind me of Agnes Martin's paintings. All of which are actually not that far off from the size of a small quilt. Agnes Martin made painting after painting of horizontal lines and subtle color hoping to imbue her work with spirituality and the celebration of nature. I never understood or cared for her work until I had the privilege to see it daily.

Agnes Martin

When I worked for Pace Gallery, who has long time represented her, I handled and walked by many Agnes Martin works and to see her work in person is to be transcended. Though her work may seem somewhat rigid in its form she actually embraced the imperfections that come with a hand never erasing or fixing moments where the line became flawed.

Agnes Martin

Joe's quilts remind me of her powerful work and leaves me a little inspired to find simplicity.

Art is the concrete representation of our most subtle feelings.
Agnes Martin

Read a previous post on Agnes here.

red rag.

a week ago. It is much further now...

a peek into a rag rug that I am making out of red found and old clothing. It will end up as part of a small installation in my August show. I have SO enjoyed the process of weaving the rug and am feeling a little addicted to it... I feel more of them coming on.

must get back to it.

Flash cards.

Loving the series of digitally embroidered flashcards by Jess Larson. A friend of mine who was once her student brought my attention to her work and I love it.


I have always enjoyed vintage flashcards and the reinterpretation of these by Jess is intriguing, playful, and also critical.


She takes common objects and pairs them with descriptive human qualities in an interesting and provocative way.


Not to mention how gorgeous the objects are themselves.

She describers her work as:

My ongoing creative work recontextualizes and subverts common objects or beliefs as a proxy to examine the complex terrain that women must navigate to shape an identity within a culture offering mixed directives in that pursuit. The conceptual goal is to illuminate the paucity of positive, if not reasonable, feminist social messages by specifically delving into the morass of negative ones in order to reclaim or destroy them from within. Interjecting humor into the critique not only exploits the absurd agendas of such “norms,” but also creates a more hospitable situation to introduce contrary arguments defining why they do not serve women well when considered with a bit of laughter. I deliberately use source materials from the eras belonging to my mother and grandmother in the construction of my imagery—from vintage girdles, dresses, decorative mid-century chalkware, to flash cards used to educate children—as these items reference a bygone era but convey my intentions much clearer than such items of contemporary times. We are more apt to think about inequities faced by women in times when the sexism was more obvious, and perhaps find possibilities in the work that connect to our lives today.

In addition to her flashcards he has an incredible series of highly hand worked and detailed corsets. They feel a bit different in their style as they read almost like minimalist modern sculptures and only as you start to visually explore them do they become the complex commentary that they are. See more of them here.