crossing but not meeting

My paths crossed but did not overlap with artist Lisa Foti but it did bring my eye to her work. Lisa was recently in Boston but is now in NYC, the reverse of me.


She taught at one of the locations that I am working with so I trickled to her website in my research.


Her embroideries are simple and good. I tend to like work like this a more direct drawing with thread instead of fancy stitches and layered ground.


Her portraits have a sense of joy to their style that I enjoy.


But I also LOVE the white on white "body" works. Of course I like white on white period.


Her work still feels a little young but her technique and eye skilled, so I have a feeling that NY will be good for her and will be a place where her work grows. She also makes really gorgeous textiles.


Another one to watch. See more here.

See my post in Missouri based artist Jacque Davis here

threads, cut and stitched again

After deciding the above green was the wrong color for this piece I started to cut out my satin stitch and fell in love with the messy, fuzzy texture of the cut stitch. I ended up ripping them out for this piece but feel like it would be a lovely technique for something else.


and then I got back to work with the right color. I started this piece a long time ago but kind of put it aside. Not sure where is belonged and questioning some color choices. But in visualizing my solo show the walls crumbling in it seemed like a perfect fit so now it is finally getting finished.


Also finally got to the store for some more black thread so I can get back to work on this one. I am very excited about it as the statement and the linen and the pale colored thread with the black create a great contrast. This is from the back, I love the flowers.

What is happening in your studio?

jealous?

What has been inspiring you lately? This is my new awesome floor covering. I needed something for my studio as my husband claimed his rug back for his office. So when I saw this hand cross stitched awesomeness at the antique store I was blown away. It is so weird, quirky and wonderful. Unlike anything I have ever seen. Luckily my visiting Dad treated me to it. SUCH a perfect one of a kind christmas gift.

The indian motifs and super bright colors are inspiring me. I love the neon pink lotus flower.


and the super perfect craftmanship of the cross stitch is pretty awesome. Do you have something in your home or studio that absolutely inspires you?

minimal- domestic -space

The work of Tom Burr.

Incorporating references to minimalism, design, and social space, Burr infuses the manufactured aesthetic and sleek lines of 60s sculpture with an ultra-modern sensibility, incorporating narrative associations. Through his sparse presentation and refined media, Burr’s arrangement compels with almost fetishistic elegance; its domestic size and ‘naughty’ details create an evocative subtext to the austerity of his composition. from here.

Watch interview here.
A glimpse into his studio here, very cool tacked blankets in the slide show.

ripping things apart.

I have been playing with tearing, ripping, and cutting into my linens for a few months now. This piece was the first time where I worked right were I stitched.


It was a bit of an experiment and I learned while doing while also being pretty happy with the result. Conceptually it will make the piece much stronger and more interesting.

It is always so scary going in to permanently change something after I have worked on it. But generally worth it.

read....

Spending too much of my time reading articles linked from facebook this morning but today was a good one. That is my favorite use for facebook to be led to interesting things that I would maybe not have known about otherwise. These images are from an AWESOME and wonderfully simple project by artist Yayoi Kusama. Read about the project here and see more pictures.

Also a very interesting review on the current exhibit at PS1. Though it rambles a bit I think it is an incredibly intelligent and thoughtful response to the work and the curatorial viewpoint.

And for all you new years resolution-ers there is a fascinating and beautiful art about the Joy of Quiet in the Sunday NY times.

Read.

I am feeling a little collapsed, tired, maybe even dark today. Also feeling quiet, contemplative, and open.


So the work of Rodney McMillan is speaking to me.


For some reason or another more minimal and sculptural work has been drawing me in. It seems a little bit like I can get lost in it.


Since my own work is so much about my story maybe sometime I need to not hear another artists story but instead just hear with my eyes?


From his 2008 Whitney Biennial profile:

Reflecting his diverse interest in the boundaries demarcating class, economic status, culture, and their relationship to the physicality of the human body, Rodney McMillian’s mixed-genre practice both incorporates and challenges the notion of art as social and historical critique. Aesthetically, McMillian pits light against dark, while his materials— a palette of primarily black, dark blue, and gray paint on raw, unprimed canvas—eloquently symbolize the often opposing cultural forces underlying the delineations he studies. The battered and discarded mattresses, filing cabinets, wood paneling, chairs, bookshelves, and other post consumer objects that his installations present elicit comparisons of domesticity, education, and race. Recently his sculptures have begun to formally mimic his un-stretched paintings, which drape loosely in gallery corners, trail sewn appendages, or unravel onto the floor to highlight their textile nature. The three dimensional quality of McMillian’s paintings recalls Eva Hesse’s work, though their quick, linear brushstrokes evoke the subliminal emotive release inherent to Abstract Expressionism. Read in its entirety here.

Any way see more of Rodney's work here.

new day...

Very mellow New Years for us this year. We had family in town to hang with and a little tot to get to bed early. So quiet it almost passed without noticing.
With the move our "new" year has already begun.

Mine is already filled with wonderful opportunities, new challenges, risks and adventures in my work, and hopefully a continued abundance of community, friendship, and art.

Today I look forward to getting back to my work, after a few days off... and start working out how to write 2 articles I need to focus on. I have never had to write "formal" articles before so it is a new challenge and an exciting new role to play.

Pushing the limits- call for work.

The fabulous artist Heidi Field-Alvarez is putting together a great fiber show, along with Mary Buchanan. So below are some details and the link to the prospectus and such. Just thought I would pass the information on to all of you.

Heidi Field-Alvarez

PushingtheLimits@artspace
Exhibition Dates: July 27, 2012 - September 23, 2012

PushingtheLimits is a biennial exhibition held at artspace gallery in Richmond, VA. The show aims to expand the definition of fiber work within contemporary art while providing a venue for established and emerging artists to exhibit. Multi-media, video and installation work will be considered.

Mary Buchanan.

Get all the details here.