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Archive for March, 2010
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March 31, 2010Anywhere near St. Louis?
March 28, 2010If you are, the juried show Fiber Twentyten, an “exhibition celebrating contemporary fiber art”, will open on Friday April 2nd for six weeks at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, MO.
My piece, “Cellular Dance II” will be there as will my mom and I the following weekend. Here’s a detail view:
Cellular Dance II-detail
Brattleboro West Arts
March 23, 2010I seem to be on a roll writing about why I love the community I live in and specifically how that influences my art.
A little over a year ago a neighbor had the idea of creating a group of artists from my area of West Brattleboro, VT. My first reaction was skepticism that there were enough local artists to sustain a group. Boy was I wrong. All kinds of creative folks were living within a few miles of me and came crawling (figuratively) out of the woods!
Brattleboro West Arts has evolved into a cohesive largish group of artists working in numerous media; paint, glass, sculpture, fiber, ceramics and more. Our monthly potluck/meetings are opportunities to share our work, our struggles as artists, marketing ideas and lots of great food! I’ve come to really value getting to know these neighbors and learning from them. This fall we will have our second Studio Tour (more on that later) and the caliber of talent is amazing. Ideas for future joint ventures are percolating. There’s a real feeling of possibility. I find this all feeds me as an artist and helps keep me charged up about my own work.
I wonder how unusual this is for artists working in various disciplines to join together based on sharing the same neighborhood. Has anyone else had this experience?
A local fiber artist’s dream store
March 16, 2010I feel blessed to be part of the amazingly rich-in-the-arts creative community of Brattleboro, Vermont. I sometimes, of course, fall into bopping through my days, taking it for granted.
Then something happens- I attend a local concert or see lots of friends at Gallery Walk for example- and I’m reminded anew how lucky I am. I had just such a moment yesterday. I couldn’t find just the right fabric in my dyed stash to use to stretch on stretcher bars to create a background mount for my latest piece. I wandered into Delectable Mountain Cloth, piece in hand. Jan, the owner, began to pile bolts and bundles of silk possibilities on the counter for me to spread out and consider. I left happy with a few gorgeous yards in several colors. Here’s another detail shot of this piece with more stitching:
new-spaces-between-detail 2
This store is like no other fabric store I’ve found. Hundreds of lusciously colored vibrant silks to fondle and drool (figuratively) over. Eye candy abounds. Since most of the fabric I use in my art I dye and paint myself, I haven’t found a reason to buy much though I do get all my thread here and always feel inspired and my color juices flowing after a visit.
If you’re not near Brattleboro, they have an extensive online store at their website.
What’s all this about “The Spaces Between”??
March 12, 2010I’m still finding it interesting to explore the possibilities in this series. To me, The Spaces Between is about connection/disconnection, reaching out/being guarded, communication/miscommunication…you get the idea?
The shape of the negative space in each piece (the space between) is important to me as is the imagery of the “crossing” of that space.
I’m finishing up this new one. This is a detail shot of it about 90% done. Some additional stitching in the “between” space and some well placed french knots still to come.
new work- detail
The finished piece will be 12″x12″ mounted on silk covered stretcher bars to 18″x18″. I’ll also do some stitching on the background silk. More on that later.
Fiber: Twentyten
March 9, 2010Yay! I was very happy to find out yesterday that my piece, Cellular Dance II, was accepted into the juried show, Fiber:Twentyten, sponsored by the Missouri Fiber Arts Assoc.- April 2nd-May 14th at The Foundry Arts Centre in St. Charles, Missouri.
Cellular Dance II
This is especially wonderful because the show is very close to where my mom lives. I’m planning to visit her and make a day of going to the show together. She’s one of my biggest fans!
I’m also pleased to be a part of a wider “fiber” show (as opposed to an “art quilt” show). I’m finding that those are feeling kind of insular and often repetitive with few pieces that break new ground. So I’m looking forward to seeing close up some other cutting edge fiber creations.
