Have I committed heresy?

What will people think?

What do I think?

I have an affinity to silk.-----many people do.  In the textile world, silk is the queen. There is a silk for every technique.  It can be sheer, opaque, smooth, textured, neutral, colored brilliantly or with reserved elegance, frayed, clean cut, and dozens of other properties.

But what if I mutilate it?  take away it's hand? kill a quality that others find so wonderful?

Have I done wrong?  Or have I used this precious textile in a new way for a new idea?  Will I be condemned because I have sacrificed one attribute to enhance another?  I want to freeze it into position!  I want to change it's texture yet enhance it!  I want to use it because this piece of raw silk will work for me in this piece as no other fabric can.  So I will  destroy properties that so many love to create something new and perfect for me and my creativity and expression.

There is a dilemma facing textile artists who wish to change traditional textiles into something different.  Glue Grandma's crochet, cut up Aunt Mary's table linens, quilt Mom's hankies.  There is respect for the original, fabric, hand work, memories in the use, and joy of owning a family piece or a collector's find.  Where is it dishonor to re-use? When does re-use or modify become destroy or exhibit loss of appreciation for the item?

Will I weep over the loss of this white raw silk when I go through my stash? No.

Will I be energized looking at my finished piece?  I hope so.

Or would society or fellow textile buffs be unhappy if I collage my grandfather's watercolor onto masonite?

Perhaps society is not ready to cut up tradition  or change the familiar into the unexpected.

This fabric vessel was skinned with white raw silk.  I patted the gel gloss onto the fabric to maintain the bumpy texture of the fabric.  I like it.


Sumac by Margaret Adele Parker---

40 West Arts Showcase.

I am so pleased to be a part of 40 West Arts.

Three of my vessels and several pieces of wall art are going to be in the November Members' Showcase. Nov. 4-19th, 2016.  Reception: Friday, Nov. 4th, 5-8p.m.

This is "Prairie Grasses".  Hand painted cotton and pen drawing.  I have had an attachment to the prairie since I was a child and my godmother and parents worked to keep the Big Bluestem from disappearing in Illinois. The Illinois Prairie Path was created and is still used regularly in the suburbs of Chicago, accommodating bicycles, horses and walkers.

 

Prairie Edge

 

This basket shape is nice for coffee tables.  It is made entirely from fabric.  The exterior skin and interior lining are hand painted and finished with a gloss top coat.  Note the beaded top edge.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

Prairie Earth is the smallest diameter piece I have made.  Detail of the hand painted fabric.

 

 

We hung the show this morning and there are wonderful pieces by ten  area artists in photography, mixed media, oil, acrylic and collage. The reception is Friday, November 4th, from 5-8 p.m.

 

Here are my wall pieces.

 

 

Skyline Shadows, a 3-deimensional fabric rendition of the Denver skyline.

 

Leaf, printed, pieced and hung on an acrylic painting.

 

Thermal Run Off Series #6

Mixed media, cotton, upholstery fabric, painted misty fuse and beads on a black cotton stretched canvas.

 

Art Circuit

 

Recycled tech pieces mounted on commercial cotton stretched canvas with raised beading.

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Handweavers' Guild of Boulder 2016 Sale

I am so please to have had three vessels chosen to be in the Handweavers' Guild of Boulder 2016 sale and showcase.

While I am no longer weaving or spinning,  I have always been involved in textiles.  Mixed media options have allowed me to combine fabric and acrylic products in producing fabric vessels that sometimes have the look of other materials such as wood, leather or ceramics.

These vessels are entirely made from fabric and embellished with a variety of techniques and finished and/or glazed with acrylic products.

The Handweavers Guild of Boulder is a long established guild that has broadened its base of techniques to include beading, felting and quilting.

I am very happy to have my vessels showcased during their sale week Nov. 2-6, 2016. Here are details from these vessels.

I am a Maker

I am a Maker

I was asked about my intention concerning the fabric vessels I have been creating this past year or so.  My answer was that I hoped to share them with an audience.  Like so many "Things" and "Ideas" close to a person's heart, sharing the joy, experience, idea, passion is part of creation.

The question of INTENTION is important.  I am creating because I want to create. I want to experiment.  I want to play.  I want to express.  But what is my intention?  To bury my product in the closet?  To clutter my counter tops with fabric pots and baskets? My intention is to have them seen. My intention is to continue this creative path, improving and enjoying the process, and sharing them.

Entering shows, approaching galleries, placing my vessels in public view requires me to introduce my work and myself into the world of art and craft.

 I need to choose words to describe myself.  That  requires a choice of label to use on business cards, artist statements, etc..

I am  creative.  I have been encouraged to call myself an artist, but I am not totally comfortable with that title.  I have worked hard to develop the vessels I now make.  I am serious about their form and style and what they bring to an audience.  They are my own creations. My patterns, inspirations, My techniques.  I hope to MAKE many more.

I am a Maker.

I will let the viewer decide if they are art or craft, interesting or not, to be viewed for more than 30 seconds, to be purchased or chosen or passed by.

They are mine.  I am happy to have made them.

Indian Summer

October 8, 2016 - We have had our first hard freeze and the weather is gorgeous!  Indian summer is here.  It is a perfect day to be outside painting fabric.

I have three yards of white cotton.  It will soon become sand, rocks and canyons to celebrate the west where I live.

How great is this?!

Dorothy Caldwell - Human Marks Workshop

As an artist, I have understood the connection between the creative spark from the brain/soul/heart through the hand into the processing of material, stone, fabric paper etc.

After experiencing this workshop, and listening to Dorothy Caldwell, I have a greater understanding of the human factors within this creative transition.  There is a physicality with the use of the hand, an ability of muscle which includes strength, flexibility, and individuality. Tension, length, rhythm, are personal traits of the processes used in creating. Stitch, cutting, lettering, marking with so many instruments and methods are individual to the maker.  Handwriting can be read by an expert and personality traits can be assessed.  The writing can be assigned to a specific individual. So can the result a the physical touch of an artist, a maker, a craftsperson in their hand created pieces.

I can have more joy in the results of my quilts, vessels, painting -  appreciating the  personality, the individuality of  my marks, my stitches.

Not only can I accept the individuality of my marks, I have a better understanding of the history of my marks.  I have a connection to stitchers, mark makers of the generations of the human race before me leaving their marks on what they touched.

I am grateful to be a maker today, using a huge dictionary of marks, using old and new techniques,  using the old and new  products.  I can be traditional or unique and be part of the stream of makers putting their mark on their creations. I can appreciate the individuality of my marks and appreciate mark makers before me.

My tension, my pressure, my rhythm, my creations.

In Order to Race, I have to Slow Down

It's not the tortoise and the hare.  I am the only one in the race.  The race is.....?

Is there a race? Should there be a race?  Do I have to race to fulfill my goals, or do I have to change what I want from art?

What are my goals? What do I want from art?  Some of my friends can answer that question, not for me, but for themselves. 

What I want to say- to express, gets all mixed up with what I can produce, my ability with technique-  my ability to produce, ----my ability!

So, I worry that I am not there yet.  Where?  The finish line?  The final lap of what race?  I came to art late.  I have been creative all my life.  I have only been exposed to fiber art for the last several years.  These years were spent absorbing possibility.

Now that I have found an idea, a method of expression-  I am afraid that I will not  fulfill my expectations.

I think I have to mute my expectations and enjoy the process.  Slowly, with enjoyment, find the opportunity to express with the tools, actual and internal, that I have without worry of the result.  Be true to me and what is important to me.

Enjoy the process.

Start and Stop Art

When I stop in the middle of handwriting a letter and start again, the handwriting never looks the same.  The pen may be different.  The slant of the letters may have varied.  The size of the letters is different.

My mood is different.  I may be more or less relaxed.  I may have a time restriction and hurry.  I may have lost the train of consciousness from the first part of the letter. 

It is different.

So, too, are the pieces I lose touch with and don't complete.  Picking up the feel, the touch, the emotion from the beginning of a creation is difficult with a pause in the work..  The idea is still there.  The materials are still there.  The intension is still there, but the I don't seem to be able to find the same flow.

I have just finished two pieces that were begun several months ago.  The work had passed through the mechanics into the final stages.  They were both disasters.  The colors were not right.  The pieces didn't seem to fit together. I struggled.  I had lost the flow of the piece.

Lesson learned.  Follow through, enjoy the process.

Rosalie Dace Workshop

What a marvelous, creative! I am so glad I had the chance to take a workshop with her.

Three days working with talented FRCQ artists, creating, learning, listening.

"Trees" was the exercise.  Talk about unlimited options.  I have always been fascinated with trees.  I suppose most artists have been at some time in their career.  Not that I have a career----.  I learned about trees from my Godmother, Helen Turner and from May Watts of the Morton Arboretum outside of Chicago. At age 6, Mom and I took a class together learning the names of trees, the shapes of their leaves, special things about them.  There seem to be more species in the east than here in the Colorado plains and foothills, even the mountain forests and waterways. Illinois, where I grew up, is at the edge of the of the native forest and the prairie.  It is a place of mixed ecology and there are changing plants and trees and landscapes that continued to evolve as the cities replaced the open space, as cultivated fields replaced prairies, as suburbs replaced farms.

There is just too much to think about in the wide open subject matter of trees.  Symbolisim, genealogy, ecology, texture, color, shape, line, singles, bunches, forest edges, aspen glades, were all options.  Simplify - start with one tree, start with the trunk, show it in its place. A TREE IN SITU.

I have a great stash of commercial fabric and I chose pieces that would work for me, close up grass, tree line farther back and a fall foliage as a canopy.  I usually work in smaller pieces with more organic shapes.  This piece is larger and the fabrics became a horizontal stack creating depth with a lot of interest. The tree was a hoot, stripping warp and weft to create texture.

Here is a picture if the top in its unfinished state. Maybe I will be able to post future updates.

 

Multi-media = Multi-mess

My space!  Oh, my!    Working in multi-media, I collect all kinds of "stuff" that I might use one day.

Many of my pieces have been enhanced by just the right piece of something that I have had for years.  I am so used to moving things of ancient age from one place to another that they have become friends.  I don't discard friends!

If I have saved  special beads since I was a teenager, they must have value, at least merit.  What ever happened to the " If you haven't used it in six months- pitch it."?  It takes more than six months to mull over an idea, much less execute it.  And- if the stash of stuff doesn't work for today's piece, it may work for one next month, or next year.

My mother's organ finally could not be repaired anymore. She didn't play it because some of the notes were so out of tune.  There were no buyers.  It had no purpose.

My grandson and I took it apart.  We saved all the screws, wires, pedals, keys, circuit boards and the carved wood music rest.  We loaded several plastic bins with parts and the pieces too large for a bin were hung on the wall in the garage.

I passed on the larger pieces, took the circuit boards to the studio and my husband made a board to hang keys from the music rest. He, at least was productive.  But -

A Call For Entry

A recycle challenge - there it was!-----  I used the circuit boards for my entry and the piece hung in a show last fall. Here are pictures to prove that some hoarded objects can be "just the right thing".  Just where do I store them?

This piece is called Beaded Circuit. Subtitled: Organ Donor 1.  I hope there will be more.

40 West Arts - a creative district

I have become a member of 40 West Arts.  This is a creative district along Colfax in the Denver metro area.

Last fall I had a piece juried into "Farm to Table", Things that Grow on Vines.

This was a piece originally inspired by a challenge to depict what you saw when you opened your refrigerator.

I used painted fabric background, thread painting, applique and twine and organza..

Here is the piece:  Fresh Vegetables

New Opportunities - New Workspace

New opportunities are waiting for me.  I have a new space in which to work!  Situations change.   I have more time and have switched the guest bedroom and the sewing room.    Sorry -- quests will have to do with the smaller room.

Here are a few pictures of my new space.

Roadblocks

Life is full on roadblocks.  There is a relationship between the size of the roadblock and the strength one has to overcome it.  Sometimes hitting the wall means you can't bounce up - or, at least, not easily or quickly.  What defeats one person on a given day is what it is.  There are no excuses. There are circumstances.  There are rationalizations.  But it is what it is.

One can say, "I am better than this."  But----- if this is where you are.  At this moment, this is as good as it gets. That is not to say - I quit, give up, I'm not good enough!  I have more tolerance and acceptance of what is, how strong I am, where I have struggles. I try not to let difficult times dictate what choices I can make and where I go from here. There currently is a tomorrow.

I am not excusing or apologizing.  Sometimes " I CAN'T".  But I will.  I have friends and family and God.

This blog is spotty.  There are many empty months.  I started this form of communication for my family and friends who are not geographically close.  I wanted to share my explorations.  I still do and hopefully this blog  will be full of the wonder I have for life, what I see and make and want to share.

Right now I am hopeful.  I have made two new vessels and I am happy with them.

A am going to a three day workshop later this week and I am looking forward to something new - inspiration and companionship.

I have seen the glass empty.  Today it is more than half full.  I will forge on.

All flat surfaces should come to a point

Since my mom passed the end of September, I have been trying to incorporate useful household items, sentimental things, and arts and crafts supplies into my home.  It is not an impossible task but it has been a challenge.  In order to complete the process, making good decisions, items must be unboxed, evaluated, considered and acted upon.  This is a weighty process.  All the easy decisions have already been made.  I am dealing with the 20% that requires courage.  Options include throw away, find a good home, keep ----including find a place in my house --- or put aside for further consideration.

This process requires space, and since I seem to be unable to get past the last two options on the above list, I am running out of flat surfaces. Lack of work spaces is not a good thing. It limits the ability to do daily work, like art.  I am loath to re-box.  That is a step backwards, but may allow me to follow through on daily activities at little more easily.  Until everything has been processed, I am afraid my flat surfaces may have to wait for an archaeological dig.

One of my daughter's friends had made a comment when helping box Mom's things, "all flat surfaces should come to a point".  The saying is now common in our family, since our flat surfaces seem to all be stacked, and may remain that way for quite a while.

Of course, I have been called upon to eliminate some of our "stuff" to make room for Mom's "stuff". My sewing room/studio/junk room has been accused of being over filled.  The accusation is appropriate.  I will not deny I have saved and purchased and saved some more.  You just never know in mixed media when some obscure item may be exactly what you need.  I don't know where I am going in my art today much less 18 months in the future.  However, the evaluation process is now flowing into my "stuff", too.

We are considering installing some new storage into my studio, maybe floor to ceiling cabinets.  Of source, there will be no counters. And if there were, they would all come to a point.