Lynnwood Solo Show

My solo show is now closed, the pieces have come down and are back in their boxes. It was so much fun to see it all hanging there together and I thought it looked great! What a great experience to apply and get a show all to myself. How nice to have someone else do publicity and hang the show, all I had to do is make art -- almost like having gallery representation, (ok, not really, but I can dream.)

Now the pieces are back at home, some get put back on the walls, but most get put back in boxes waiting for their time to shine. I guess that's just the way it is unless you have 50 feet of wall space. Someone told me "art not hanging in a gallery is a storage problem" I might have to agree.

 

I love putting my work out for people to see, all and any comments are welcome as it is usually the critical ones that help me grow. Now it's back to the studio to put the finishing touches on a couple of pieces and get ready for the next exhibit at Auburn City Hall in June.

Many thanks to the Lynnwood Arts Commission for giving me this opportunity to show my work.

Exhibits - getting ready

I have not had a solo show since way back in the school days, things are different now. My plan of attack was to take the diagrams/measurements they gave me and first see how mach empty wall space I had to deal with. All of the places I am showing in this year have wall “spaces,” walls for hanging with doors between, or wall sections to hang on. I won’t have the luxury of having that long white wall of uninterrupted space. The pieces not only have to go together, but need to fit each chunk of space without being too squished or too spread out. I guess the space between each piece should be similar on all of the wall sections also.


After studying the Lynnwood Arts Commission Gallery, I made several versions of what pieces I thought went together and sizes. After much juggling around I came up with a plan and only created a couple of pieces to fit and fill out the space. Hopefully the people hanging the show will agree with me and it will all work out great.

The attached photo shows the space as it is now, with some very colorful close-up nature photography. I wonder if they like having everything the same size like this show, it’s probably easier to hang. My art will be all different sizes including one very large piece consisting of 10 sections. I hope we’ll be able to hang it like I envision.

Moving on to 2011

During 2010 I made a goal to have a solo show somewhere in the Seattle area in 2011, I wanted it to be a formal gallery setting, preferably a government agency or a business. I felt this was my next step for me on the “food” chain, but if nothing came along I was going to do a coffee shop or something, just have the experience of having a space all to myself.

Around April 2010 there was a call for art at University Unitarian Church, not exactly what I had in mind for my goal, but well worth trying for; plus the information said they liked fiber art and large pieces. I figured I had a chance and it would be good experience. They required everyone who was interested to bring some examples of work to the church on a specified time and date where they would make their decisions and we would pick up our work the same day – no files or money to send.

While I there I also got a sneak peak at the exhibit space – it was huge! Within the week I got a letter saying I was accepted and they would let me know when I would be scheduled. I was thinking that with all that space I better get a late date, because I would need a LOT of time to get enough work done. It took a couple of months before I heard back, but when I did, I found out that my month would be November 2011 – perfect, more than a year to do new work.

Knowing I had a solo show scheduled already by May, I thought I should challenge myself even more, after all it wasn’t really a gallery space. I had photos taken by a professional photographer and when the calls for art started being posted in early fall for the next year, I was ready. I sent out 2 proposals about a week apart and much to my surprise, got them both. Wow! this was too easy (lucky). I was prepared to keep sending out proposals until one hit, or they stopped being posted.

Then the reality of getting ready for these exhibits hit home -- I needed to get some new work done, a lot of work. I was tired of seeing my old work over and over at all those group shows, but making the work is time consuming. I also knew most of the old work would be shown with the new to fill the space. It’s all suppose to gel into one body of work and look cohesive anyway, so it was “get to work” and make more, growing my vision within the body of work.

This is a tremendous opportunity for me, but in some ways my competitiveness, keeps looking at the opportunities/the calls for art and realise I’m booked for 2011 and can’t try for anything else -- sigh...

Next, getting ready for the exhibits.

Silly resolutions -- dead!

It’s well past the middle of January, time enough to have failed on all the silly resolutions and get serious about the ones that matter.

I’ve been working on many art pieces which have given me plenty of time to think about the past year, but because I’ve been working on art I haven’t had time to write anything down. The short version is that 2010 was fantastic and 2011 will be even better. A goal in 2010 was to show work and take advantage of every opportunity that came my way. The result was that I had art hung somewhere 28 weeks out of the 52 (starting in March). These were mostly group shows -- my fiber group and because I took the EDGE program (a sort of a business program for artists) we became a second group and this resulted in 5 months of shows. The other weeks were single items in juried shows. The result was a lot of lines on the resume, fairly minimal exposure due to the very local venues -- but great practice in getting ready to show.

This was a wonderful experience to have, but at the end it left me a little tired and wanting better venues.

Next post, my 2011 goals.

Fiber 19

Groups are “interesting” (insert whatever word you feel is appropriate).

Last night I met with my fiber group. I expect it’s pretty impossible for any group to meld together perfectly, but sometimes this one has me laughing one minute and the next whacking my forehead thinking “what the..?”

We’re together because we took a nine month fiber art class last year. Like the classes before us, decided to continue to meet once a month for socializing and encouragement in our art endeavors – at least that was the idea. Going from having an instructor/ leader handing out assignments, to meeting on our own caused us to flounder at first. Socializing was the easiest thing to do, so we did a lot of that. The art making was not happening for many; they seemed to need an assignment to move forward.

I of course was appalled and disgusted with the non-art making part. I kept thinking, “we just left nine months of work, developing concepts and working in all sorts of ways with all kinds of materials, how could you not have a vision of what you want to do next? How could you not have ideas flying around in your head that you can’t wait to get to?” I had to settle down and keep reminding myself that we weren’t all in the same place; everyone has different priorities and time commitments. (But my head still does explode once in awhile with rantings of “what the..?) Time went on and the social part started to gel, so I figured socializing might be the main focus and I was ok with that.

Then someone came up with a format for our meetings; social for “x” amount of time while everyone shows up and gets settled, then the “business “part of the meeting, and then “show and tell." This gave us structure. We started from the beginning with discussions on why we were meeting and what did we want to do as a group. People started to settle into roles, we had a self-appointed “den mother” who always brought lots of food, took notes, and sent them out. We had people volunteering to look into places to exhibit – our number one mission, and others passing on information on how we could be a more professional group. As in any group, there are people who do nothing and the people that never seemed to know what is going on, but generally it’s working – and I keep telling myself we’re all in different places.

How long will the group continue? Who knows? Will it continue to serve my purposes? I’m not sure. All I know is that last night I had a lot of fun; we’re going to put an exhibit up in March one way or another. The show will be very eclectic and probably not very cohesive, but I guess that’s ok for now. I can only be responsible for my own work.

EDGE

I’ve started Artist Trust EDGE training through ArtsNow. I think of it as a how-to, business course for artists.

The official description: Become a successful artist entrepreneur after obtaining the important knowledge and essential skills taught in this nationally acclaimed program for visual artists. Artist Trust developed the curriculum and trained the instructors to give you 50 intensive hours in goal setting, business planning, portfolio development, marketing, funding, grant writing, and exhibiting. Program includes presentations, panel discussions, assignments, and peer to peer support and exchange with your cohorts.

We started out Friday night with the overview of the course (and passing out of huge binders). We then presented a fellow student to the class after a bit of one-on-one and learning what we each other wanted to accomplish. This was followed by each of us presenting our art to the class. I of course did terrible at that part. I don’t mind talking about my art, but hate to get up in front of a group. I can’t think straight and remember what I want to say. We also found out that we will have a group show a couple months later following the class – that will be fun! BUT it also includes a 5 minute art talk by each of us on opening night. This will be good for me, but unfortunately it is also all I will think about until it’s over. I’ll do my best, I’ll practice more than anyone, but it still won’t be half as good as the presentations by the people who love to talk.

Tapestry diagonals

A quick update on the self taught tapestry project; I completed this little one using three yarns across, changing the one in the middle for variety -- another rug ready for a dollhouse somewhere. Doing diagonals is pretty easy and fast. As your making the row smaller (or opening larger) for the next color, you can keep going with one color until it’s time to reverse direction, instead of going all the way across the whole row doing the rightmost color and going left, picking up the middle yarn going left and then the last color going left and then starting back to the right.

I was a little disappointed with myself, because even in something this small and simple I still made mistakes that I didn’t see until I was well past. Tapestry does take a lot of concentration and practice.

Fiber class January meeting

Our fiber class continues to meet once a month – it’s been six months now and  half the class is still getting together. Although our bond began by seeing each other every week for 30 weeks, it is definitely strengthened as we continue to get together.

This month during the social part of our meeting we found out how one member had gone through two major surgeries in only a few months. Another gal is nursing her husband back to health after a heart attack. Plus mixed in with the “I took a really cool class in metalsmithing” and “two trees fell on my house,” we found out that two out of the ten people there had been severely bitten by dogs when they were kids – the stuff you find out.

We talked about our upcoming show during the business part of the meeting – scheduled for the month of March at Café Solstice in the University District. The details are being worked out, everyone has a task, and most people know what they’re going to create. I think we’re on a roll.

Show and tell is probably the best part of the meeting – when we can show off what we’re doing. Nikki is starting a clothing business for plus size kids. Debra had a really cool leaf print/fiber/stitched piece that had wonderful color and a translucent/transparency quality. Kaylin is almost finished with her newest quilt of purple, magenta, orange fabrics in her tree motif she has been exploring. Barb is working with paper collages and trying to incorporate a grid and transparent fabrics in it. Tre showed a loom/card weaving project she finished, a double sided twill of her own design; it’s a twill on one side, but with very subtle coloring on the other. Louise is playing with leftover Christmas package ribbon – she has a lot – right now it’s stitched together into a fluffy, curly mat, she plans on adding spears to it for our equinox/solstice theme show. I showed more of my burlap landscapes, I had one that was finished, one that was well on its way and one that was just at the start (for the show). I think they liked the fact that they could see the different steps and how it evolves.

I can weave diagonals

I know this is a simplistic tapestry, but I’m LEARNING. After doing the first little weaving I decided I would do another practice piece of just diagonals, I now feel pretty good about this technique using 2 colors, I think I’ll go for three before moving on to another technique. My learning style for tapestry weaving seems to be “find ways to have small successes,” and for me finishing a 4” x 5” weaving seems to work. Someone told me I should felt them when I’m done, not a bad idea…

I’m also continuing to work on the burlap fiber pieces, they take a larger block of time than my tapestry learning. The burlap is into the 3-d building phase, this is when I attached the perpendicular pieces that will later be trimmed and coated with GAC-400 to keep them upright.

Photos: I shred the burlap, so I have some long fibers to poke through the burlap, the fibers then get tied on the back side and ta daa! They stand up on the viewing side.

Stones into Schools

OK, this has nothing to do with fiber art in any way, but I just finished reading “Stones into Schools” by Greg Mortenson. It’s comforting to know something good is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan rather than just the horrors we read in the paper. Greg Mortenson also author of “Three Cups of Tea” (read that one first) has been building schools in these countries for years – with the emphasis on education for girls, believing literacy will do more for peace than anything else. The work he is doing is astounding, but I will let the books talk for themselves as I cannot do them justice.

My favorite quotes are: an African proverb, “If you teach a boy, you educate and individual; but if you teach a girl, you educate a community.” According to the book in military parlance, girls’ education is a “force multiplier” – and in impoverished Muslim societies, the ripple effects of female literacy can be profound… Young women are the single biggest potential agents of change in a developing world. – WOW!

Another quote comes much later in the book when they have also started some classes for older women who lost out on the chance for an education when they were younger. “When women take charge, things start to get out of control really fast.” Talking about how whatever these women learned, whether it be how to read or use a cell phone the knowledge spread like wildfire, Greg’s men in the field couldn’t even keep track on how many women’s lives were being changed.

How lucky/spoiled we are to have been born in the U.S. of A. We can work, earn money and spend our free time making art. We can quilt and make “pretty” things to hang on walls; they don’t have to keep anyone warm.

What a luxury.

Secret places

I’m working on the computer at my day job, (actually I’m writing this) but thinking of stitching burlap. Waiting until I can steal time away during a break or lunch to work on my project. I usually go across the street to one of three buildings and sit in their lobbies, pull out my project and get to work. I try to rotate my destination so as to not always be in the same place at the same time. Technically these are private areas; I suppose I could be kicked out for loitering or not have business to accomplish in the building, so I try not to call attention to myself. They all have cafes in them, so at lunch I could have a reason for being there and hanging out in the lobby, but I’m usually not buying the food provided there. It was suggested that I should carry a glass or cup previously obtained so it looks like I just purchased…


I have one place at lunch that I particularly like, it’s quiet, a nice big space, has great light, and looks out onto a patio/open space; when I rains I can watch the drops plop into the water feature/stream right outside - perfect for stitching fabric. There's one exception, usually a security guard posted there. She doesn’t seem to mind that I’m using their space, but still, I don’t go there every day.

First "tapestry"

This is my first “tapestry” as I attempt to teach myself something new. I glanced at my book, ignored the first instructions and jumped in. The bottom vertical strips were the first part to be done working with 2 “shuttles.” Basically the dark color is followed by the light color, both traveling in the same direction, when it comes to returning the other way I just did a twist of one color over the other and went on my merry way. In looking closely at my selvages I didn’t really like the way it looked and when I referred to the book, I had of course not done it the “best” way or the correct way according to the book.

Now this is exactly why I did not want to produce a “sampler” -- all the techniques in one weaving  -- while learning techniques, at this point I would be so annoyed that it doesn’t look nice that I would either unweave it and start over or procrastinate and slowly (very slowly) continue. But the way I’m doing it, I can completely start over putting the “bad” one aside; I can also do another variation to practice the technique. Maybe it’s easier for me to focus on one technique per project. Having something finished – yea! victory! And then move on to the next project. I also have “cute” little weavings suitable for a doll house or maybe coasters – never underestimate the “cute” factor on the satisfaction scale.
I did like doing the angled weaving part, I’ll do more of that for practice building up some confidence for when I get the nerve to do curves and someday a circle!

What is tapestry?

For a brief moment I wondered what the official definition of tapestry was, so to “The Tapestry Handbook” by Carol K Russell came:

Tapestry is the interweaving of discontinuous weft yarns with tensioned warp yarn through two alternate sheds, resulting in a firm, weft-surface textile constructed concurrently with the description of its design. Taken as a whole, this definition identifies tapestry’s distinctive elements.

Uh huh, ok well fine… I knew my first little sample was not tapestry, but I wanted to see what weaving on the little toy loom was like. There are a lot of disadvantages, like hard to tension evenly, no shed to open, it was more like needle weaving, but I still think I can get the techniques down, and convenience factor was high – I could carry it anywhere.


“discontinuous weft yarns” In most hand-weaving techniques, a weft yarn is passed continuously across each row of weaving. Since the direction of the weft is reversed only at a selvedge (an outside edge), weft colors are all interchanged vertically. By contrast, tapestry technique involves several wefts in each row of weaving. Because they can be entered, deleted, or reversed at any point in the row, color can be shifted horizontally.


My little stripe weaving does not meet this criteria.

“two alternate sheds” Tapestry weave is the simplest of all woven structures, universally known as “tabby” or “plain weave” – that is, each weft is woven over and under successive warps, in opposite order to the weft preceding it.


Definitely fits this.


“weft surface textile” Horizontal rows of tightly woven weft completely cover he vertical warps and thus form the surface of the textile.


Ditto on this one.


“constructed concurrently with the description of its design” In most visual arts (painting, for instance), the artist adds an image to an existing surface (in this case, a canvas). In tapestry, however, the artist constructs the image and the surface at the same time. This last criterion helps differentiate tapestry from other types of textiles. Embroidery stitched onto a woven surface may be fiber art, but it cannot correctly be defined as tapestry, it does not form the essential structure of the textile.


Ok, there is not really any image, but it does form the “essential structure.”


My sample is a pretty weak attempt, but others will follow more fitting of the definition of “tapestry.”

A weekend of stitching

What a great weekend, I got so much done! Really helps to get the New Years Eve thing over with on Thursday night so there is still 3 days (assuming you didn't over celebrate) left to get work done before going back to the job.

I spent a number of hours stitching the layers of burlap together on 2 pieces, played with my little loom for my self-imposed tapestry lessons, read a bit and still had time for a couple of naps!


Both of these art pieces have a water/river theme, in one the water is actually blue, curving and swirling around a rock, in the other the water takes on more of an acid color like some horrible toxic accident. I keep trying to limit my color pallet and not use the whole rainbow, and I was successful in the one piece, but couldn’t help myself with the other and just had to use the secondary colors together to see if they would clash – I love color and to play with it in all its glorious forms.

I’ll update the photos as the pieces move forward, they still have a long way to go.

Trail Torches - the show

Spring. It's such a great time, but even without a class to do projects for I would be busy -- more on gardening and cycling later...



My site installation went up fine, I think the neighbors and invitees like it -- or maybe it was the wine... anyway I had fun, I kind of like the idea of installation or outdoor projects.

Photos will show the work from a few different angles, enjoy.


The only annoying part was showing it to the class. I made my first ever powerpoint presentation. I thought it was beautiful, set almost perfectly to music, changing views as the music changed, had this cute little fade that introduced the project, I was really happy with it -- I stayed up till midnight just tweaking the timing and used my lunch the next day to tweak some more. Well, of course you know what happened. Technology failed me, even though I brought my own computer to plug into the AV equipment, the music didn't play until I pulled out the plug and just ran it off the laptop speakers, but by then the timing was all off. GRRRR, if I was only going to show photos I could have went to bed at a reasonable hour and not worried the whole thing. I just really got into the whole powerpoint thing and wanted to show my project off the best I could.



GRRRR, never trust technology, maybe that's why I weave and ride a bike.

Classmates: Self Portraits in 5

I'm showing mostly the 3-D projects.





Moxie



No name - sorry




Debra













Theresa "Iowa"



Jan "Growing comfortable with my age spots"



Joan "Me at Work"

Winter Quarter - U of W Fiber Arts

The University of Washington Extension fiber Arts class starts again tomorrow. We have a new instuctor this quarter - Michael Cepress. The class is titled "Conceptual Strategies in Fiber Art." I've heard he's quite different from Layne and the first assignment is a killer, I guess we'll all find out tomorrow...

Classmate Mary, Self portrait

"Step Ten"
No artist statement.

Classmate Karin, Self portrait

"My own space and time"
No artist statement.

Classmate Joanne, Self portrait

"Traveling Woman"
No artist statement.