Occupy(ied in) Suburbia 102

So here’s some more pictures of the project taking shape – I am very happy with how it is turning out. My projects are so time consuming there is a period between idea and final object where I get really discouraged and despondent, as the hours of labour add up but no forward progress is evident, but then there is a tipping point and suddenly I can see it revealing itself, then the excitement is renewed. I am back at excited now!

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busy, busy, busy!!

Yes – college is back in session, and I am busy!! I have very engaged enthusiastic students (right now) – so I am eagerly expecting a great semester of learning and growing together. It really fills me with energy when I have great students! Woot!!

The Stockholm project is finally taking shape and I have finished sewing all the tiny boxes and am finishing up the little books to go in them all. They look so amazing, worth the work after all. It looks as if I am going to be able to go to Stockholm for the weekend so I am nervous and exited about that. It seems like such a big scary step, to rub shoulders with all those real artists and curators. I hope I am up to the challenge. If any of you have advice to offer on places to stay in Stockholm, or things to do, where to eat etc, I’d love some insider info!

The Women Create project is slowly unfolding. The show is curated, the artists have been notified and as Jen is such a wonderful organizer, so far everything is going well.It was fun to use my neglected design skills to make this postcard for the show, I haven’t done much design work since I quit my day job, so it was nice to stretch my mind a bit!! Next stop – posters and workshop flyers – wow! I am going to need more hours in the day!! LOL!

I am still working on those blackwork embroidery bindings, they are slow, slow going, but I get such an enormous rush from completing one. It is a puzzle to figure out how  embroidery pattern can become a binding that will work, and then I am so happy when I put in the last stitch. I just keep thinking of more and more ways to explore the possibilities of this!! I am just brimming to the top with inspiration right now!

Lastly,  head on over to Seth’s blog the Altered Page for this weeks edition of the Master Class. You can find out which artist I would love to take a class with!! Although I don’t think you will be too surprised by my choice. I am really enjoying this “chapter” of the Pulse – it is fascinating to see who other artists would pick to study with.

tiny little boxes

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Often I wonder why – why am I drawn to these insanely repetitive projects that require hours of manual labour? So far about 20 hours of sewing here, back to work.

black and white & read all over!

Today I’d like to start out with a plug, the amazing Seth Apter over at The Altered Page is publishing a book. (I have mentioned this before as I am included in the book in a small way.) Seth will be holding a book signing event in NYC. You can read all about it here. Seth is a great guy who has created a really inclusive mixed media community through brilliant blogging. I have worked on some of his projects and I hope I will be able to work with him again in the future. Congratulations to Seth and all the other artists involved in the book.

And now for another plug – before the holidays my photographer friend Jennifer and I applied for a grant to fund a project idea we had. I am proud to announce that we received that funding and are embarking on a crazy big art event! It all began last year on SWAN Day, our little, hastily planned event was such a success I wanted to think of ways to keep the momentum going. I live in a great community filled with creative people, but as in so many other small places we are often invisible and can feel isolated from the art world at large. A casual conversation turned into an opportunity to stage a large exhibit of women’s art work, and from there the whole thing sort of snowballed into a two month long extravaganza. There will be workshops, lectures, art salons where artists can talk about their work, an art market and a day long series of events on SWAN Day that will culminate with the unveiling of a new installation created by Jenn and myself in partnership with the community. I am excited, scared and amazed at how this has all come together – you can find all the details of what is going on over on (where else) the project blog!

OK that’s the news, over to the weather (in the studio) which is hot, hot, hot!! Not literally of course because it is winter, but because ideas seem to be flooding into me faster than I can get them down. This new series of bindings is exciting and challenging and has broken the creative log dam. I am working and sketching furiously, and new things keep on bubbling up. This is a welcome relief after all the worrying at the end of my last project. Isn’t it amazing how one tiny idea can become the germ of a whole body of work? Lots of work to do, so I leave you with a picture of another new binding. And one tiny complaint – again the universe sends me a tedious repetitive series of ideas, just punching the holes for this binding took over an hour – but I am not really complaining – happy to be productively back at work!! Still trying to figure out the best way to execute these with good tension…hmmm on to the next one!!

Stockholm 101 – Occupy(ied in) Suburbia

Happy New Year everyone! I hope that you all got to ring in the new year with someone you love. I am so excited to be heading into a busy new year filled with so many projects and opportunities.

Thanks to my great friend Jennifer I have some amazing pictures of the Stockholm project to share with you. My idea for this project was to make a more personal piece than is usual for me, I prefer to be at a bit of a remove from the subject of my work as a rule.I was interested in making something that spoke to the life of middle class America, struggling to keep up as we fall slowly behind-  life in the suburbs as it is lived by me, now.

This new work will consist of 24 2×2 inch cubes made from net curtains (sheers). I choose net curtain because to me it is so emblematic of life in the suburbs, it conceals the reality and difference of the individuals living in each house behind a thin veil of respectability, lightly starched, clean net curtains. Each cube will contain a tiny 2×2 inch cube book created from the paper ephemera of my life, junk mail, shopping lists, bills, college applications, studio notes, lecture notes, packaging from products I use, you get the idea. Some of the paper has been laminated, sewn or modified, but much of it is in its original condition. I don’t have an images of the net cubes yet, but here are a few images of the little books, which take a surprising amount of time to create!!

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blackwork embroidery binding – version 1

ticking over

It has been a year of ups and downs as always – but I am feeling content with my creative life as I move into the new year. It takes a long time to “network” and opportunities sometimes feel thin on the ground, but at other times all that work starts to pay off. This is one of those “when it rains , it pours” moments, so I am pleased to be able to share some Exciting News – my work is off to Sweden – see here – with a group from Liverpool/Leeds in the UK. I am thrilled at this opportunity! (More to come on this project I am sure)

Also I recently heard that this new project related to SWAN day will be funded by a generous grant. Later this week we will be meeting to curate the show that will hang during those months – I am excited to see all the work that has been submitted and I think it will be a wonderful show. There will also be a series of art salons/lectures, a women’s art market and a day of workshops, all still to be organized and announced, so that should keep me out of mischief for a bit.

In the studio things are finally beginning to move again after a bit of a stalemate. When I finished Room for Utopia I was at a bit of a loose end, a decade of research and ideas finally wrapped up (sort of – still a few thoughts lingering!). But this week I had a bit of an epiphany and have began working on a series of new bindings loosely based on a Elizabethan blackwork or Spanish work embroidery patterns. I have finished a few trial pieces and hopefully can scrounge up a camera later this week to post a few pictures. I am also exploring some small sculptural pieces for my show with Molly Jarboe next year which feature fairy tale motifs.

I hope that everyone enjoyed their holidays with family and friends. I am happy to report that my baby is on the mend  and up and about and in physical therapy and that I had a very peaceful holiday season with my family. Hopefully blogging will be back to a more normal pace – talk to you all in the new year! Best & Blessings to you all.

hmmmm

So I have been starting posts that don’t make it here, life has been unpredictable and rather stressful for the last month. My daughter is slowly recovering from her fall, but it is a long slow process and she is an active 17 year old who is frustrated by being stuck in bed. It has interrupted the rhythm of our lives. On the plus side I have been able to make excuses and spend lots of quality time hanging out with her. It has also made me realize that despite the fact I keep weeding commitments out of my life I am still over committed and not spending my time on the things that will move me forward. I need to do better.

I have manged to get in a little studio time, but honestly as the end of term approaches I find most of my available time taken up by my students, lots of research papers to grade for my art history classes (and exams to set), and portfolios to evaluate for my studio classes. It is bittersweet to reach the end of another term, just as the students start to get comfortable with each other and we are communicating well it is over and a whole new dynamic will take almost another term to grow. I know I will have many of my 2D design students in 3D next term so that consoles me a little! I have also taught a couple of workshops, which is always fun for me, I am continually surprised to find how much I love teaching!! Here’s a few pictures I managed to get in before I killed my camera yesterday by dropping it lens down – sigh!

two proud workshop participants with their fabric scrap journals!!

I’ll be at this holiday sale this weekend. Stop in and see me – mention the blog and I’ll give you a 10% discount on a single item.Hope I will see some of you there. I’ll be posting any “leftovers” in my etsy shop when I get home so don’t despair if I am too far away!!

books, books, books

Back to functional books for a bit – trying to decide if I have time for some holiday sales. Anyhow, here are some scrap jotter/journals, I love making these, I get to play with textured chords and beads!! The inside pages are post-press scrap from a local printer, the outsides bits and bobs of papery stuff from the studio over recycled board covers. Recycling rocks!!

 

5 for silver, 6 for gold

Next installment in the magpie book, finally managed to squeeze in a few minutes in the studio to finish these pages. The baby is still having a hard time, feeling just better enough to be really bored and frustrated but not well enough to get back to her normal life. So probably a few more weeks recuperation yet. Anyway, hope you like them

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