rollercoaster

wow! well THAT was a weekend. First a big thank you to everyone who supported the Routes to Art open studio tour. I had a great time talking to people about my work and I even had time to finish up some bindings as I chatted. Then, in the middle of it all Saturday night, my daughter’s fiancé ended up being rushed to hospital and spending a few days in ICU – turns out he has type 1 diabetes – just what those poor kids needed, chronic disease and hospital bills right before their wedding – send as many good thoughts as you like their way!! All prayers gratefully accepted.

Monday I started back at the print shop for the summer – since I have been teaching I have scrimped and saved to be able to take the summer of to work in the studio, but this summer it is just not going to happen, too many major expenses, two kids in college and the wedding! I am feeling lucky that they were busy enough to take me back part time and that I have a skill to fall back on. Oh and the shop is within walking distance of my house so I can walk to work and back. Of course I am a little sad to give up my full days in the studio – so I guess I will just have to work harder and smarter when I am there.

Things are ticking over in the studio, ideas are still flooding out – most of what I worked on last week was functional stuff for the sale – hopefully soon I’ll have some more new fancy bindings to share, and perhaps some work for my upcoming show in August. (let’s hope so anyway). So I really need to get back to work. I hope I’ll have time to fill you in every now and then in the coming weeks.

One last thing, the Women Create project is still on display at CCAC on Main Street in Allegany, NY. We are having a reception on Friday night, so come on by and have a cupcake on us as we continue to celebrate the creativity of women in our community!

here’s what I liked today

So here’s a little preview of some of the work and the exhibition space

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

more news tomorrow maybe – right now I am off to bed, jet-lag is catching up with me!

busy doesn’t even come close!

Wow! I am so busy I don’t even know where to start…

This afternoon I will be found hanging the Women Create exhibit. Thank heavens we have a true professional to help us – thanks so much Colin! It is amazing to watch someone do what they do – seeing Colin reflect on what should go where and move the art around in the space was so COOL! I can’t wait to finally get everything up on the walls and cross that off my mental to-do list.

I am putting the finishing touches on the Occupy(ied in) Suburbia piece and packing to go to Sweden. And doing the shopping and cleaning to make sure my family survives while I am gone. I designed a new postcard to take on the trip with me. What do you think? It was hard to narrow down a few images that represent what I do as an artist!

Plus I am making sure that all my teaching materials are all set for next week – so that I can enjoy my trip and make the most of this huge opportunity.That means finalizing an exam and making sure all my studio students have materials for their upcoming projects. They are working with paper and wire to create self portraits right now. Thank heavens I am not teaching any new courses this term – I would be going nuts – it is hard enough just tweaking an existing course right now!

Not to mention working on a piece for the 15th Leeds International Contemporary Artist Book Fair – I am sending one of the new blackwork embroidery bindings as this year’s theme is “bound”.  It is a very large book and I can’t wait to get some pictures of it as it progresses.I am incorporating little lacy doilies to enhance the reference to Victorian collar ruffs. I think it is really going to be quite spectacular when it is finished!! (Which has to be soon!!)

Life is bustling and full to overflowing – off to have my coffee and get started on my very long list of things I still need to-do before Tuesday arrives!!

cabinet of curiosities

There are some pictures up here of the exhibit in Leeds,  some of the work is just exquisite… the woven story, what a beautiful idea… how will I ever have enough time, oh yes, after Friday, all I have is time… woohooo!!!

finally some time to play!

Friday I managed to leave the print shop a little early, just getting out of there before 5pm felt like a vacation!! So that was a really positive start to my weekend. I tried to get some chores out-of-the-way so I could free up some guilt free time in the studio, which for once I actually managed to follow through on. Usually what happens is I use housework as a procrastination tool, being afraid to actually get to work on something, I putter around the house doing super important things like cleaning out the cupboard under the sink, or whatever.  I did take my youngest daughter shopping for a homecoming dress, but I still managed a couple of hours of studio time…

Sunday was even better, aside from laundry, dishes, dinner, I spent a glorious afternoon just making books for the Bonagany festival this weekend. The hardest thing for me is I don’t like to make the same thing twice, and really to be competitive price-wise at these things I probably should mass produce, but I can’t make myself do it! Instead I find I make themed books, so I’ll be inspired by some paper or binding and end up making some books that are related but not identical. So generally the theme for the weekend was buttonhole/sewn bindings and purple Victoriana, although I then made an autumnal book which has inspired another one I haven’t finished yet, maybe later tonight after I finish marking my visual survey exams… so without further muttering on my part, here are the pictures!

P.S. In a completely unrelated note, and just in case you haven’t seen it yet, although links to this post were everywhere I went this weekend, check out the amazing elephants in this post

more DisCo and other collaborations

A busy weekend, a birthday sleepover for the baby, and two openings, one at Fredonia state, their faculty show and another of a local artist I went to school with, Casey at the arts council here in Jamestown.

Meanwhile in the studio… Through the ingenious Seth’s DisCo project I met a fabulous artist from Germany and got to take part in her one tribe one he(art) collaboration. Here’s my contribution, I hope I am not letting the cat out of the bag by posting a picture here…

My DisCo book has gone off to the faculty show very much unfinished, I have found that I really need a lot of time with the book each time I work on it to really begin and I think because it is already bound I am very afraid of making a misstep. Here are some images of some pages I have started to work on. It is almost a relief to have it out of the studio, it has certainly been occupying a lot of psychic space there. I am looking forward to just fooling around with some new binding experiments, getting ready for Bonagany later this month and the little berlin book fair in October. Well I have an exam to write, so I’ll just leave you with the pictures…

Oh and a big thanks to Jen for sending me this link, these books are fabulous!

blog revisit, another great idea from the altered page!

Seth Apter over at the altered page has a new idea up his sleeve, today bloggers all over will be re-posting their favorite post, a revisit. So here is my favorite, these posts are all about the things I think about when I am hiding out in my attic with all the dead girls from the past… and about the process of writing about art which is really difficult when your mind is a rat’s nest like mine!!

https://dryadart.wordpress.com/2008/11/18/new-statement/

https://dryadart.wordpress.com/2008/11/20/stupid-statements-part-2/

https://dryadart.wordpress.com/2008/12/04/wow/

Sorry that’s quite a journey I just sent you on, I hope some of you stuck it out, and that it was an interesting ride!!

While we’re talking about Seth, don’t forget that the big reveal for the second part of the disintegration project is fast approaching, the new works created from our weathered stuff will be making their debut on August 1st, so don’t forget to watch this space, and soooo many others too!! I wish I could tell you mine is chugging along, but honestly the weathered pages are so beautiful I am loathe to work on them lest failure occur!

another ill spent weekend!! lol!

Friday was our hometown holiday parade, somehow it is always on the absolutely coldest night of the year.!! It was 14 or something like that, bone chillingly cold, but still hordes turn out to watch local business and civic organisations bring in the holidays, this year we were also treated to a pre-parade concert by the 10,000 maniacs. After the parade the official tree is lit at City Hall. Then I took my own hoard of teenagers plus their friends to Pace’s Pizza for delicious food and to get warmed up again. The parade is always a chance to catch up with old friends, and see so many people I rarely see for much of the year. It was especially great to see some of my oldest daughters friends home for the parade. Its a hokey tradition, but I feel pretty wonderful about the community I live in on this magical night!I should also mention that my youngest daughter was a participant, dressed as the tin soldier, in the parade, helping out the DJDC by greeting parade goers and getting her picture taken with lots of excited little children!

Saturday I spent another wonderful day in Buffalo, and saw so much incredible work I had to stop looking my head was spinning!! The Albright Knox is always cool, the work upstairs had its moments, and my favorite paintings were still on display downstairs, Milton Avery’s yellow cow and the beautiful Ben Shaun… then we headed across the street to the incredible new Burchfield Penny Museum, wow what an incredible space, you can take a video tour on line at their web site… My favorites were works by Michael Zwack, a multi layered painting with a feel of paisley… Ben Perrone and Kathi Roussel. Then we visited some galleries on Elmwood, and did a little shopping for the holidays. It was an exhilarating day.

Sunday I played the inevitable game of catch up with household chores, but I also somehow managed to squeeze in time to actually get some work done, I am really on a roll right now, feeling very replenished from all that goofing off!! My batteries are dead in the camera, but I’ll post pictures later…