in the studio...

absence of home.

I am loving the potential in the work by Brenna K. Murphy. She stitches onto photographs and also creates installations.


I want to see the photograph works (above works) on a very large scale....


And want everything to become an installation.


Her work is quiet and potent work about home, the desire for home, the absence of home, the idea of home, and the temporal and fragile nature of it all.



She says this:

My work explores the possibility that the body can be a surrogate Home for those that don’t have one as is traditionally defined in our culture, while also acknowledging the temporality of both the body and our collective cultural notion of Home.

By the way, her stitches & most of her installations are made with hair.

See more here.

the dark side of curating...

Luke O'Halloran

This is indeed the part I hate about curating, rejection letters. Being an artist that has received more then my fair share of them it breaks my heart to send them out. To add to the heartbreak I know so many people either in person or via this here blog that I often feel like it is saying no to a friend. But as I curate I try to do it blind without any awareness to who the person is and just judge by the work.

Jennifer Pettus

For this specific show I really had to consider the relatively small space, the role of the venue as a place to sell work being more important then the concept, and wanting to show unique works. I am having to say no to a number of works that I really loved but due to size, subject matter, or other very similar works I had to make the choice to edit those works out. Sucks.

Sarah Touslee

But with all that said I am also SO excited about the work that I did select and really look forward to figuring out how I am going to make it all work together in such a small space. hmmm I am imagining salon style installation. I also think that the window display will turn out super cool.

Looking forward to seeing it all done.

oh the process of elimination...

Ack, I love curating but oh it is so hard. There is so much work to consider and decide from. I ended up getting many more submissions then I expected and therefore have many tough calls to make. It ends up being a lot about what I think makes the most sense for the space and connection to other works while also being unique.
I got a lot a great narrative mini quilts and though they are all sweet it just would not be interesting to include them all as they are so similar so I am trying to pick my favorites. And then there is just so much other great stuff and the space itself for the show is quite small.


So wish me luck... if you submitted my process has been delayed a bit so you may not hear from me until Monday.

The work featured in this post is from the submission of Nicole Monjeau. I love the french knots as stubble.

now that's a lot of thread!

Work by Mexican Born artist Gabriel Dawe.

See more of his amazing work here, his other fiber projects are also very cool and read an article on him here.

life has been a strange complicated beast as of late. But this is what has occurred in my studio...

wonderful woven...

Another show currently in Chelsea is the Sheila Hicks exhibit at Sikkema Jenkins Gallery. There has been a lot of recent attention on Hicks since her successful exhibit in Philly and this work is not very different then that work. In truth a fair amount of it is the same work.


But the installation at Sikkema Jenkins feels better. The work is somehow less jumbled together feeling so that one can really allow an individual reaction to each work. It felt much more quiet and thoughtful.


One of my favorite works was the black piece perched in the corner, Shadow of Oracle from Constantinople. It felt like something living and breathing.


Baby time again felt very different for Hicks with its ripped recognizable fabric. The overall work has much more vulnerability then most of her works and was nice to see in contrast to what is usually shown.


The exhibit is up until the 25th so when you go to see the Ernesto Neto make sure to drop in on this one too.

into the hoop and stuff

Astrid Phillips

Bonnie Peterson

Marie France Cournoyer

Sorry for my lack of posting about the studio as of late but in truth not enough has been happening there. With working on these commissions which will be done by today, teaching in NY and here and getting the small stories stuff in order so that I can curate it time and energy has been short. Not to mention a currently rather messy personal life. My studio has been neglected.
But with that said I am super looking forward to today as I have a LONG day all alone with my work. And though I have some minor "other" work to do I really can jump back in to my neglected hoop. With my solo show creeping up fast that is exactly what I need to do.

Be inspired by some more small stories submissions above.

ending chapter.

some unusual works submitted for small stories... a porcelain work by Nathan Carnes above.

and a unique ring by Julie Anne Danylewich.

Have you submitted your work. If not do it today. The deadline is end of day today. Details here.

crawl inside...

Yesterday I had a great trip to Chelsea perused around the galleries and saw a lot of good work and stopped in to visit a friends studio. By far the highlight of the visit was the current Ernesto Neto exhibit at Tanya Bonakdar. Partially this was the highlight because I love his work and have for a long time, part of it was because it was a really solid exhibition with a gorgeous color palette, and part of it was that T had SO much fun crawling around inside of the work.


I have long loved Neto's work because it simply makes you feel good, it is gorgeous, but it also invites you to discover, explore, chill-out, and laugh. Though his work has complex layers of meaning first and foremost it feels good. You feel safe and secure as you walk, crawl, roll, lay through his installations. He always seems to have a path leading to a space so you have the chance to be playful and discover but then you also have the chance to stop and chill out inside his womb like creations. So all you gallery goers that are too cool to take your shoes off and crawl in, you are missing the whole point.

From the press release:
Ernesto Neto presents a series of vibrantly colored installations of crocheted polypropylene and polyester cord that hang from the ceiling ...

Crochet has become an important part of Neto’s formal vocabulary over the last two years, and the artist has translated this craft traditionally done by women on a small, delicate scale to structures of massive proportions... Like giant paintings that the visitor is invited to climb into and move through, the installations provide an opportunity to experience the gallery space from the inside of the artwork itself... While breaking down the barriers between installation and viewer, these new works simultaneously propose a change in our relationship to time. By lifting us off the ground, to float between the floor and the ceiling, Neto offers us a space in which we can slow down, breathe, and rest.

Although these are spaces meant for relaxation, they are created through a meticulous, labor intensive process. Each element is hand crocheted from multicolored strings that the artist combines from a wide-ranging spectrum of threads. The intense, subtle, and sophisticated juxtapositions of color that Neto chooses are then woven together into a single strand, and knotted into circular units that combine to become the walls of the sculptures.... Here, the inside and the outside universe are represented in the same form, demonstrating the interconnectivity of life...


the installation in the main space upstairs includes, stones, plants, and spices. These natural materials serve as a kind of landscape for the main structure of the installation, which itself resembles an amoeba-like animal floating in space. The fusion of figure and ground, or animal and landscape, is a central part of Neto’s practice. Just as his work blurs the boundary between artwork and viewer, inviting the visitor to inhabit and experience it on a visceral, primal level, it also draws no distinction between types of life—we are all a part of the natural world.

Neto's work is powerful, gorgeous, and a total sensory experience. He seems to invite us into a more thoughtful, contemplative, and playful life. Anyone with kiddos should take their kids as it is also a very unique experience for them to get to interact with art work on such a personal level.


One of my favorite moments in the exhibit was actually a little less like his womb shapes, but more like a hallway canopy. On one side the canopy was lined with small bells, the other side was lined with seed pods that made a beautiful chime sound. The contrast between the 2 sounds was powerful- one so earthy the other so sharp. It was such a pleasure to walk through the canopy and softly hear both sounds mingling together.

GO see it or at least visit it online. Here.