This year's shows

I picked up my piece, The Big Bang: A Bird's Eye View, from the Connecting Threads Exhibit in Seattle this last Friday and realized that I had neglected to mention that show and my current solo show on my blog. (Bad Artist! No cookie!) The Connecting Threads show was for the graduates of the Fiber Arts Certificate program at UW and we had 55 artists participating. I think I didn't mention it because I was physically unable to do all the stitching that I wanted to on the piece and I was therefore unhappy with it. Having it come home after almost 3 months has given me a different perspective. So here it is.


I feel it still needs some work to highlight the splitting/openings in the background but I'm not sure exactly how I'll be doing that. We shall see...

My current show is at the Northlake Unitarian Universalist Church in Kirkland, WA. The gallery is in the sanctuary so my work can be seen when the sanctuary is open for functions and during church office hours (Mon-Fri, 9:30 - 1:30pm). I learned a lot about picking work for a show and hanging my pieces so this has already been a fabulous experience. I hope to have an artist reception sometime before the show comes down in early November.

UW Fiber Arts program - final piece, and some thoughts

Our show (by-hand.org) opened last week at the UW Towers, and I missed the opening because of continuing knee and back issues. While I am saddened at missing the party, I did enjoy the pictures posted on facebook by some of the other class members. I'm also looking forward to going to see the exhibit during the month of June sometime, as soon as my back and knee will allow. This is even more important as I didn't get a final picture taken of my piece and need to go take a picture, if only so I can add it to the webpage. Here's a shot of the piece in progress. James, my son, is holding it up, so it's a terribly traditional quilt picture complete with fingers at the edges and lots of background clutter.



I forgot to load my piece into the car when taking off for class, so Jeff and James did a quick photo and emailed it so I could present my piece that day. We were all showing our pieces so we collectively knew enough to answer questions and talk knowledgeably at the opening.

And now it's time for the big sigh of relief and accomplishment, and taking inventory of what I've learned. This was a fabulous class. I learned so much it's difficult to list it all. Most importantly, I learned to take myself seriously. I learned how to think about my art, the materials I use, and how to think about creating a piece to maximize its effectiveness. I'll be processing these lessons for quite some time to come but I look forward to my progress as I now feel confident I can deal with issues as they arise rather than feeling overwhelmed. It's a wonderful, exhilarating change that's coming and next up on my to-do list is redoing my webpage to reflect the changes I've already internalized. I'll keep blogging about this whole process as one of the things I've learned is how much I, and others, need the community of other artists to learn from. So, in a way, this blog is a way of paying it forward.

Class collaborative project, or doing art in public at Greenlake

My Fiber Arts Certificate course continues to be a fabulous learning experience. As we go into the final week before our exhibit opens (see by-hand.org for details), I'm focusing mostly on finishing the detail work on the piece I'll be exhibiting. But I promised to blog about what we're doing as we do it, so I want to show off our collaborative project. A group of six of us decided to do an interactive public art project for our collaborative group project. We decided on doing a group weaving project - creating a frame, bringing fabric strips and yarns, setting up tables at Greenlake Park near the hiking trail, and inviting anyone who walked by to participate. We split up the basic materials, scheduled slots for being at the tables, and assigned other tasks, such as creating the frame, or, my task, writing a blurb and creating a booklet for participants to sign. Here's the text that went on the sign, and on the back of the booklet:

"Community comes in many forms and is made up of each member contributing their own abilities, like color and texture from threads in a woven cloth. On May 15, 2010, we are creating an opportunity to symbolically create a cloth representing the community here at Greenlake. By selecting a fiber to weave into the cloth and using your own preferences as to how the fiber is inserted, you can help create the final cloth just as each of us creates the community by the way we participate in it. Please use the booklet provided to record your thoughts about community, this project or what your choice of fiber symbolizes to you."


The reason I mentioned community is that Lois, the creator of the frame, also took the initiative to go talk to the staff at the Community Center and arranged for display of the final piece after our class is finished.



We started out setting up on 2 tables, and having to create a sign to try and draw people in. This turned out to be somewhat unnecessary as people were curious about what we were doing and usually we had at least 1 or 2 people at all times, and sometimes were on the verge of having a line for people to participate.



Once we had things set up, and had started the weaving in a couple of directions, we were off and going.


We had a wide range of participants, of all ages, genders and backgrounds. And lots of interesting conversations with people. It was really clear that the people who stopped valued the opportunity to participate in creating art.




By the time my shift ended at noon, we had almost half the frame filled with materials.




I haven't yet seen the finished piece as I missed the most recent class due to the pinched nerve in my back, but I'm looking forward to the PowerPoint presentation next Tuesday when we present to the class. This was a good exercise in working in a group and gave us an excellent opportunity to do some publicity for our upcoming exhibit. I can certainly see doing something similar on a regular basis, although it's likely I'll pick a park a little closer to home.

Guerilla Art (Fiber Art Program)

One of the assignments for my Fiber Art class was to do a site specific piece of public art. Since I walk at the greenbelt near Larsen Lake almost every day, I decided to do a piece for the pier at the lake. I selected pictures I've taken that represented each season, and a detail image to go along with the larger landscape picture. Then I put them together in a banner. I had originally intended to include a strip of green fabric representing the greenbelt, and silkscreened runners on the belt but once I got the images on the banner, I decided that additional layer would be too much.


I had some interesting conversations while carrying the banner from the library parking lot to the pier as it's about a half mile walk on the greenbelt. And I learned some things about creating art for a different presentation. I meant for the banner to hang over the lake but that didn't quite work out due to several problems. I got the angle wrong, the bamboo poles I used, to evoke fishing rods, weren't long enough, and I completely forgot about the predominant wind direction. If I'd gotten the angle and the rods right, the wind might not have been such an issue but as it was, I had to move the poles to a different hole in the railing so that the art was visible.

Lots of learning going on this quarter, that's for sure. And now that I have my new computer installed, and most of the things I need transferred or installed from the old one, I'm back in business and will be blogging about what's going on in the course at least once a week.

Fiber Arts Certificate Program, second quarter wrapup

Despite having knee surgery in early February, I was still pretty productive in the second quarter of the Fiber Arts Certificate program. The focus for this quarter was concept driven art and how to produce it. We started out the quarter with an assignment to do 50 collages in one week. That was a tremendous learning experience, and I'm looking forward to being back in the studio and using the lessons I learned in daily practice. Right now, the knee is only allowing a couple of hours at a desk at a time, so I have to be patient. Not one of my best skills but I'm working on it.

To do those collages, I had to work smaller than I have before. This was an excellent exercise as it allowed me to try out variations visually rather than attempting to edit my ideas in my head. I learned that things don't look the way I expect them to and that my design ideas are greatly improved by trying them out visually.

This insight led to my really grasping the point of working in a series. I'd heard others talking about series work, but hadn't really gotten the why of it before now. Now, I do. I can try out the variations, see what works best, and then do that in a bigger format. A big plus is that I get to feel incredibly productive and have smaller pieces that will sell at a more affordable price. I'm not seeing a downside here which is really nice.

The third big lesson is that thinking over what to do is futile. Do one, see if I like it, if not, do another idea. Experiment! I suppose this is what is meant by the phrase "make visual decisions visually". Spending a couple of hours going back and forth in my head turns out to be a waste of time. In the same time, I can do 2 or 3 variations in a small size and SEE which one comes closest to evoking the emotion I'm aiming for.

And fourth, I learned to have a clear concept underlying a piece and make sure that every part of the piece contributes to that. If not, toss it aside and let it wait for a piece that it does fit.

The other big part of this quarter was producing a clear philosophical artists statement. I found this to be very useful, especially the class we spent doing quick written feedback on our fellow classmates' statements. Having to put into words why I produce the work that I do was a good way to clarify the concepts that I want to focus on. I've written artist statements before, for pieces going out to exhibits, but this time was more productive because of the feedback from others and the questions raised by our teacher.

The last big lesson I learned is the usefulness of a regular critique group. Having a supportive and knowledgeable group to ask focused questions is a very useful way for me to get clear on the underlying conceptual basis for my work.

To sum up: an incredibly powerful quarter, and I only hope I can apply the lessons I've learned once I'm back in the studio full-time.

50 Collages, lessons learned

Class on Tuesday was very interesting. Few of the others in the class did all 50 of the collages, so I felt pretty good about my having "only" done 30. The other interesting thing I noticed is that my 50 were not as tightly related as most of the others. My theme, spiritual journey, is kind of a large one and I did a couple of different sub-themes. I also didn't have a particular palette. Obviously, my word for 201o (Focus) comes into play here too.

So, for the next class assignment, I've narrowed my theme significantly. For now, it's hummingbirds, but while I like the sketches I've done, I'm wanting the spiritual aspect to be there too, so I'm going to have to think about how to bring that back in. And I sorted through my fabric stash in my studio. I'm moving some of it downstairs, as it's not the right visual texture for my current work. If it's not in the studio, I won't be tempted to use it, and can more easily develop my own palette.

Our next assignment is to do a diptych on the theme as we're developing it. I've picked the phrase "Joy & Comport" as a working title. I wanted a vague background, impressionistic in style, so I did my preliminary sketches (size 9"x12") using watercolor pencils and then did some experimenting with adding a wash to blend them. I like the effect, and I'm looking forward to experimenting with the pencils on fabric in the future. For now, I'm working with the hand-dyed silk I have on hand, except for the piece I need for the sky which I will be painting today.

The class assignment is for at least 14" on each side in size. I've set myself a personal goal of producing 6 sq. ft. of art per week. So, in line with that goal, my fabric version of the sketches will each be 18"x24". We'll see if I can actually finish them in a week. I'll just keep telling myself my new mantras: Focus, Use what you have, experiment. ( These are the things I've gotten from the class so far.)

At the very least, I should have the fabric tops done by class but I really believe I stand a good chance of having the complete pieces, or at least 75% of them, finished by next Tuesday. Whatever happens, it will be a grand experiment!

50 Collages, day 4

I took Sunday off, how traditional. I was back to work on the collages yesterday, and got 7 done. I also had a couple of epiphanies about my work process, and I'm mulling over how to change things. I'll be talking about the changes when they're done, I expect. I find I have a hard time doing more than 5 - 7 collages in a day, given the restriction on each of them being different. When I did fabric postcards for an exchange, I did small collage like things, but did variations on a theme in sets of 5. That I could do really fast! This has been a very fruitful and productive assignment, in both work produced and insights achieved. I'll be talking about what I learned tomorrow when I wrap up with things I produce today.

Yesterday's work yielded these 2 among others.

Number 24 came about because I was reflecting on how literal I can be in my thinking. Then I looked down at my work table, saw the remaining pile of dancer figures already cut out, and the image just popped into my head. This one was almost instantaneous which was a nice break from the slogging I felt I'd been doing all afternoon. I was good until the fifth one for the day, then I started slowing down, overthinking, and generally having to push to keep going.



This one, #25, is the visual sketch for a piece I'm doing for an online challenge. I wanted to try out the TAP paper (Transfer Artist Paper) which worked great on transferring the hummingbird images from my computer to the fabric background. I also wanted to try the composition which has been sitting in my head for a bit. I find I really like doing the visual sketch. I had tried doing a pencil sketch, but I need the color and the texture that comes from the fabrics I use to really evaluate the idea. The word theme for the challenge is Comfort.




In addition, I want to share #14 which was the one I used ExtravOrganza on for the first time. Given that I'm sharing the experiment with TAP, I thought I'd include my other experiment.
I like the transparency of the globe that I printed using Extravorganza and I expect I'll be using it in the future, unless I actually get around to the image transfer experimentation I have on my want-to-try list.

50 collages, day 3

Yesterday was less productive, but I had anticipated that which is why I tried to get off to a big start. Not only did I have a morning appt, but I slept poorly so I was brainfogged. However, I got in 3 hours of solid work, producing 5 more (total so far is 18) collages. In addition, I had some insights about my work process and how to integrate this collage process into it, and got some prep work done. Here's a couple of the ones I did yesterday. They're getting more sketch like as I go along but that's okay, these are conceptual sketches, reminders/tryouts of the ideas, and I'm now to doing one in 20 to 30 minutes max. I foresee this being what I do in my sketchbook when I have an idea, and want to see if it's worth developing.

This was #17 in the collages. The idea was to visually present walking a maze. I like the strong graphic imagery, and think this one might work really well on a larger scale, where I could stick in lots more detail in the walls of the maze. I intended for the green fabric to imply one of those garden hedge mazes and that would give me lots of room for birds in the hedges, etc.


This next one was the last one I did yesterday. The hummingbird theme is a strong one, but it's not as prevalent as it might seem based on the pictures I'm posting here. I'd estimate the hummingbirds only show up in no more than a third of the total so far.

I originally laid this one out on the peltex which is 8.5 x 11", and then when I realized I was using paper, I switched to the 9 x 12 watercolor paper for the base. This led to there being more leafy stuff at the bottom. I'm contemplating cutting some of it off. On the other hand, I kind of like the slightly topheavy feel. I'll set it aside and think about it later, I suppose.



Going to bed early did not solve the sleep problem, which is probably related to the beginning of tree pollen season, so I anticipate today will also be low on the collage count. So, I'll be catching up on my accumulated email, doing some miscellaneous stray studio tasks, and tidying my work area so I can go big tomorrow. Realistically, I'm hoping for a total over 35; I think I've already benefitted tremendously from doing this exercise so I'll be happy with whatever happens from this point on.

As part of my relaxed day, I put one of today's collages into jigspot as an experiment. I've been meaning to do this but haven't gotten around to it. Here's the link to it.

50 collages, day 2

Well, I did it. 10 collages yesterday in 7 hours, for an average of about 40 minutes each. The last few were in about half an hour so I should be just burning through them today, assuming I don't fall over from the effort. *grin* Only 37 more to go...

I had a couple of comments on Facebook that brought it to my attention that I forgot to mention the size. I started out using 9"x12" watercolor paper as a base. Spiral Dance was cut down to a square, 9x9. Then, because of the curling factor for the paper and because I'm scanning them in to show them here, I cut peltex to 8.5 x 11 size. So, they're roughly the size of a piece of paper.

I did 10 and then laid them out on the floor to see them all at once. This was instructive because I could see visually how my thoughts had run. Since this was something the instructor had mentioned in particular, it was nice to have it happening so early.

These two, selected from the day's production, deal with an image that I was already wrestling with to turn into a larger wallhanging. It's very useful to play with the composition in this smaller format and I'm looking forward to seeing if the design that works in the small can scale to a larger piece well.

I don't think I've told the story about the hummingbird we feed, or one of them, going into the garage and trying to fly through the window in the back. He didn't smash himself, he just kept buzzing at it. I had to run an errand, and he was still there when I got back, so I went to get the feeder and held it hanging from my finger to try and get him to turn around so he could see the open door. He ended up landing on my hand to rest which was an amazing sensation. That experience has deepened my fascination with hummingbirds, and is leading to a whole series of pieces so I tried out one of the ideas for this collage.



This was #10, done after the above one. I finished the first one, and I'd printed out some smaller globes to use, and thought about fingertips, smaller globes, that led to multiple hummingbirds, et voila!

More tomorrow!

50 Collages in one week, Yikes!

My new Fiber Arts instructor gave us our first assignment: make 50 collages on a single theme in one week. This will be an interesting learning experience, for sure. Class is next Tuesday evening, and I have 3 done so far. I spent one day brainstorming, so I have a huge list of ideas to explore, and assembling materials from various nooks and shelves around the house. The first 2 took over 3 hours to make; the third took one hour. I set a timer on myself on the third one so I could keep it to an hour. Today, I aim for 10 collages, and less than 45 minutes each. We'll see how we do. I need to let go of doing a finished piece, and do a compositional sketch or I'll never make it to the total number. And as he explained, the idea is to experiment and see our own conceptual connections so it is important to do the whole 50 (plus or minus a couple...). Somehow, I still feel like I've been pushed off a cliff and am trying to learn to fly as I go down.

My theme is Spiritual Journey and here's the first 3 collages. I particularly like #2. These are all a combination of fabric and paper glued or fused to watercolor paper. I'm thinking of using peltex as it's a bit stiffer for the ones with mostly fabric. The watercolor paper is curling on the boat one.


The first one is from an idea that's been simmering for a while, based on a song, Sailing a Blue Boat.


Second one is Spiral Dance, probably #1. I expect more along this path in the next few days.


And this one is based on the Solstice Stocking I did for a friend a couple of years ago. It worked better as the stocking, I think, altho I like the idea and think it would work better with more detail.

Fiber Arts Certificate Program, First quarter wrapup

Now that I've had a little time over the holidays to digest how the first quarter of the Fiber Arts Certificate Program went, and I've uploaded the photos of our last assignment, I'm ready to share.

It's been a challenging quarter. Our instructor's intent was to shake things up for us and she certainly succeeded for me. We only had 2 major assignments so the work we did wasn't primarily creating things but was instead questioning our assumptions, and giving us a broader perspective.

Our final assignment was to do a bigger than life size self-portrait of one persona or aspect of ourselves. I got tangled in the "bigger than lfe size" part of it, and feel my own piece was a major belly flop. A fabulous learning experience however. I was attempting to portray the emotional impact of having a hummingbird land on my hand - an experience that delighted, and astonished me. I also got caught up in the mechanics of doing the shadows and shading, not to mention some serious trouble getting the photo to start from. (That was also part of the assignment.) So, my piece was incomplete when it was time to present. It wasn't until after the class discussion that I realized I didn't need the bottom 2/3rds of the piece. I'm now working on tightening the focus, and doing this again because I do want to do a piece about this experience.




Several of the other members of the class did wonderful interpretations. Here's one of the ones I particularly liked. Roberta captured her love of swimming and water so well visually, at least in my opinion.


I think we've all learned a lot. I know I have. Most of my lessons have to do with my own process, and how I need to tighten my focus, do a bit more planning of the intent of a piece before leaping in and working. I have to balance that with the fact that once I'm in the flow of working on it, I work intuitively and need to not push myself into a box to meet some requirements. The other big thing I'm taking away is to use what I have to make it work while staying focused on the intent and the goal.

Now to see how we all do on applying these lessons to creating work this next quarter. We were warned that the next instructor pushes us to do lots of work; to the point of requiring 50 collages in one week at one point. Yikes! This will be another, and different challenge.

Fiber Arts Certificate Program, Exercise #1

I've started in the Fiber Arts Certificate Program at the University of WashingtonExtension, and we've had a couple of interesting exercises assigned. My daughter wants to see what I'm doing, and posting here to the blog is an easy way to share.

The first quarter focuses on examining materials to develop a visual vocabulary, and establishing a studio practice. She's having us work with materials other than fiber, so that's an interesting departure that's causing me to examine why I prefer fiber. And the connotations of the materials themselves. All food for thought.

The first exercise was based on small group discussions about fiber and our goals, and what stereotypes we have run into. We were supposed to pick a material from around the house that would refute a particular stereotype and do a material study with it. I picked steel wool as not being warm & cuddly, and also not something you would wear on your head. I went past a study with it, because the idea of Barbie in her outfit just tickled me, and I wanted to work small as the steel wool (0000, Super Fine) is not fun to handle. I think she turned out pretty cute.


This one above is the closer in shot, with her posed on the fabric I used for lining & stabilizing the stole and hat. The next one shows the hat from above, so the roll of steel wool is obvious.


It was an interesting exercise, and a lot of fun to see what the other 20some people in the class did.