The Show!

Last Friday was the Art Opening of my first solo show in 10 years!  I had not seen the work up until I arrived, and I was thrilled!  The gallery was spacious and crisp, and the work looked great!

The gallery made a poster for the entrance, and postcards to promote the show.  They also set out quite a spread of food and drink for the reception. Family and friends came to support me, which was wonderful...and there was lots of conversation with strangers who were interested the work.  I heard a number of times, ALL of these are yours?  And it did seem like a lot all together... I was proud, and that's a nice feeling.

It is up all month and many professors who were at the opening said they will be bringing their classes there to discuss the work ;)  The Color Theory professor had already brought her class, and they have a reflection paper due on my work next week!  I asked her to send them to me, I'm super interested!! 

Visions

This September, to add to the craziness,  I was offered an opportunity to have a solo exhibition at a lovely gallery in Dutchess County.  This was an offer I could not refuse.  For one,  I have not shown in so long, that even thinking about it got me giddy.  Second, the gallery made postcards and put an ad in a popular local magazine, which is pretty cool. And the kicker is that the gallery is on a college campus, and many art instructors will use this show as a teaching tool.  Many people will see it, and I am happy about that.

The opening is TONIGHT!!

Experimental Letterpress Printmaking

This summer during the end of August, after our trip to St. Croix, I went to stay in a cute little cottage and engulf myself in a week long art class.  I did this last summer, and it was an extremely memorable experience. I had a blast and was able to integrate my learning into my own practice and my classroom. 

Last year I took a Paper Making and Encaustic class where I learned each technique and how to combine them.  This experience was just amazing!  I LOVED both techniques, separately and together. Below is an example where I made a sheet of paper, collaged images/items on top, enclosed them in another handmade piece of paper, and dipped it into melted bees wax.

Feathers and Fishnets #2

This summer I took Experimental Letterpress Printmaking.  For one, it fit the dates I could attend, second, I have been loving printmaking lately as well as using text in my work and with my students, and third, my lovely landlord is a letterpress printer and runs her own website, Briar Press.

During the week I stayed at Clove Cottages, located in High Falls.  Although I mostly just slept there, I would definitely go back, and recommend it to others!  When I arrived I was given fresh eggs from their farm, (which I ate every morning) fresh kale and cherry tomatoes; and in the room there was homemade soap in the bathroom and granola in the kitchen. These lovely touches really made it for me.  Plus the land was beautiful and the cabin was quaint and cozy.

The classes were taught at the Woman's Studio Workshop, which was not far way from the cottages.  They offer an interesting array of classes each summer.  Although I enjoyed Paper Making and Encaustic more, I did have the opportunity to experience Letterpress Printing and make a lot of art!

And make a lot of art I did.  Honestly, once I start I can not stop!  I was getting into the studio at 7am, although the class did not start until 9, and left well after it was over each day.  I was even bringing my work home with me to continue some relief carving in between...well actually to my dear friend Andrea's home, where we made dinner and bonded each night!  Below are some images of my studio space, the Press, and my work in progress.

Tee-Shirt Quilt

A ways back I wrote a post about quilts and mentioned that I hoped to use this summer to make a tee-shirt quilt.  I have so many tee-shirts I don't wear, but I don't get rid of... so I have been planning this in my head for quite some time now. 
Quilts take time. I spent many many hours in July, practicing patience, and little by little making a tee-shirt quilt!

Some of these shirts go back to 1998.  Some are shirts my brother made me using his photography, some I made in a silk screening class in college, many are tye dyes we all made...and some are just tee shirts I used to wear all the time.  There is also a pair of old pjs, boxers, and a beach dress.  The beach dress and the pjs had pockets, so I left them in so the blanket would have pockets too!
 

The process in short:

1. Had a stack of tee shirts I wanted to save.

2. Took the stack and used the rotary cutter to cut out all the save worthy parts (i.e-the picture, the logo, etc)

3. Years later...cut out the tee shirts I had built up since..ha!

4. Laid out all the pieces into 18x24 rectangles that had a variety of colors/images.

5. Began to sew each 18x24 panel together. (A wound up with about 25)

6. Once they were all sewn, I began laying them out to choose the best combination to connect them.

7. Started sewing the panels together into four very long rectangles.

8. Cut off excess fabric, and sewed those four long panels together.

9. Then came the hardest part...putting on the back. I used two old sheets, and screwed up a lot!  I spent hours trying to fix my mistakes, and never completely did. To be honest by this point I just wanted it done so bad, that during the front to back connection things got a bit sloppy and the edges of this quilt are a complete mess. At the time it seemed horrible, over time I got over it.

10. Enjoy your quilt!

The back before I closed it up.

Finally done!

In retrospect, I should I have done a few things differently with the backing.  But on a positive note,  the shirts have been transformed into something new that, if I do say so myself, is very very colorful and comfortable!  It has been great on the couch!  You don't even notice the edges when you're all cuddled up and cozy.

cards, guest book, treats and signs! (11/14)

Some of the little details:
For the cards we used an antique birdcage my mother-in-law had in her dining room.  Our guests just slide them inside.  Loved it!

Instead of a guest book, we had a bin of postcards with things we love..like art, Dylan, etc that people could write on and pop into the birdcage.

98% of our guests slept over at the resort.  We wanted to make sure they had a special treat when they went into their room that night... so little fairies (I mean our friends) put a little goodie in each room.  My mom and I bought the goodies at BJs, (peanut m&m's and water) and the almost married couple and my mama, sat around one afternoon and put them together with a special note!

Since our wedding was in a remote area, our friend Tim made a sign that they pitched on the side of the road so our guests would know where to turn.

 

It's all in the details.

the Flowers (6/14)

I love flowers!  I have mentioned this before.  Flowers have always inspired my art, stood as metaphors in my work, been the focus of papers I have written and was even the theme of the bridal shower my friend Andrea threw me.

Flower Scape Installation

There was no way I was paying someone tons of money to arrange flowers for me.  I knew this. I also knew as I perused those wedding blogs, I was drawn to the arrangements in simple mason jars.  And anyone who knows me or has seen my art work, knows I love love love color!

One day I sent an email to my family, friends and co-workers asking them for interesting jars..just as an experiment to see what I would get.  That week I had an incredible amount of jars finding their way to my desk.  Large and small mason jars, jam and jelly jars, sauce jars, even some interesting bottles.  Light bulb moment!

That's when I came up with the idea to use a variety of recycled jars and bottles to create a Flower Scape.  This flower scape would serve as a changing installation, your table card, a take away and the centerpiece created by the people at your table. Phew! (I would also have one larger jar of flowers on the table with the table number, and some throughout the resort.) 

 Jar Organization and Storage

I spent a lot of time washing and sorting jars that summer.  Once I had my sets complete I created labels using old cereal boxes and yarn.  The cereal box was a great component because my man and I heart cereal, it was again a recycled element and it added another bit of color to the mix. To attach the names and numbers I used the leftover mailing labels from the invitations and the fancy invitation font. All of this was done in advance and stored in sturdy boxes I had gotten from work.

I bought the flowers whole sale, (planned in advance, picked up the day before) and because I wanted so much color, I chose a lovely variety of flowers including: Red Hypericum Berries, Red Alstromeria, Red Spray Carnations, Orange Montbrethia, Orange Spray Roses, Yellow Solidago, Small Sunflowers, Yellow Button Mums, Green Hypericum, Green Buttons, Bells of Ireland, Purple Buttons, Purple Veronica and Limonium.

 I decided on a rainbow hand-tied bouquet, using the same flowers that would make up the flower scape. Doesn't a rainbow bouquet sound so beautiful?  Oh it was!  Different from all sides, bursting with color! The beautiful mothers and a few other important ladies wore a sunflower corsage, and the gentleman wore herb boutonnieres made of sage, rosemary, thyme and lavender. The groom had dried blueberries too!

The day before the wedding my two closest friends came with me to pick up the flowers and we went to town filling those jars!  It was so fun to play with so many colorful and beautiful flowers!  When all was said and done, we packed them in boxes and were ready for sleep!

Making the arrangements!

The next morning when we arrived at Full Moon,  Mary Jo set up the flower scape.

Lovely.

Papercranes (5/14)

Beginnings of the Paper Crane Collection

The decision to make origami paper cranes came early on. I frequented creative wedding blogs just to look at the visuals, and found myself attracted to paper cranes.  I had never made one before, but loved the beauty and delicacy they created, the color they added, and their symbolism.


Traditionally, in Japan, one thousand origami paper cranes were given as a wedding gift to wish the couple a thousand years of happiness and prosperity. Now, I didn't make a thousand, (a few hundred) but believe it still brought a magical beauty and happiness to our marriage. (and wedding!)

I worked at an art store for years, and they graciously gave me lots of origami paper..in all colors, and my favorite, glow in the dark!  Then my lovely friend Mary Jo taught me to make the paper crane during a sleepover party!  It took a few times, and I never felt they were perfect, but I began to get the hang of it.

Ruby loves the cranes!

For a few months I made paper cranes.  I made them during the day... and I made them at night.  It was actually really fun! Listening to music, watching television, hanging with friends...I would make paper cranes. I would make them and toss them in a box.


When the second box began to fill up I started to play around with how I would hang them.  That's when I realized making them was the easy part...hanging them proved a bit more challenging.  In the end I used a needle and fishing line and tied a little knot where I wanted the crane to rest. As each strand was complete I would tape them on the arch to our living room entrance way.










Now if I thought hanging them was challenging, getting them safely transported 3 hours away and hung in time for the wedding...now that was the real challenge!  I wound up tying beads to the bottom, hanging a few at a time from canvas bars and attaching those to hangers.  We covered them in huge plastic bags (carefully!) and hung the hangers in the back of the car.

The morning of the wedding I helped remove them and hang them all over the landscape.  Many of them were in the trees in the entrance.  Some were in the dinner tent, some were in the woods where we had the ceremony, and others were in trees throughout the fields.  We also placed some on tables throughout the resort, like the check-in desk and the dessert table.

After the wedding many strands came home with me and some went home with friends and family.  A number of them are in our wedding memory box, and a number of them are hung throughout our house!  The glow in the dark strand still wins me over, but I love them all!  The legend says, "hanging them in one's home is thought to be a powerfully lucky and benevolent charm."  I sure feel lucky.