FIBER PLUS: Fiber with Mixed Media in the 21st Century

I am please to announce my acceptance into FIBER PLUS: Fiber with Mixed Media in the 21st Century invited entries from within the mainland borders of the USA, focusing on materials and modes that included art quilt-constructions with inventive surface design, knitting, crochet, tapestry, weaving, felt making, rug hooking, embroidery, needlepoint, basketry, beading and metal work in scale from the most intimate to ceiling touching This survey of 56 works by 38 artists demonstrates a vibrant diversity of fiber art on the national scene. 

 Blue Door Gallery 

13 Riverdale Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10701

I dreamt I knew a man who was a tree. He described the wonderful lights that he could see.

Digital Fiber

Digital manipulated interpretation of a photograph of rock crevices.

Printed on inkjet prepared cotton satin and silk organza.

Creatively stitched and tied.

19x27 

Juror's statement

The quest was to find artists thinking outside the box; adventurous in their choice of unusual materials, or use of common materials in unexpected forms. Such artists often ground their production in craftsmanship; informed by the almost known at the growing edges of their creative imaginings.

While we all experience the incessant bombardment of visual imagery from “pretty” to “gritty”, the work of these fiber artists invites the participating viewer into other ways of seeing and penetrating the cluttered blur.

The selected artists in FIBER PLUS exemplify this sense of adventure.

detail
Book in the works-    INFO Here

Art and Balance

another thought
Creativity breeds passion but life also happens. Balancing the two is a struggle. I find my art has ebbs and flows but like exercise, if I leave off too long it is difficult to get my swing back. I try to listen to myself more and criticize less. Big lesson!

Out My Window

When I look out my window

every season brings new

vistas for my eyes

I travel on time seeing

fresh and wonderful things

Warm Moments

I chanced to look out the window, then,

letting the smell of my warm tea 

cause me to pause.

Sipping thoughtfully, out of focus, 

I chanced to see the bright yellow school bus

climbing up the hill, quickly running away from my view.

Flashes

of remembered moments,

of children coming up the lane.

Watching it all, my children returning home,

leaving behind the world.

Watching it all again, in my mind's eye,

sipping tea, children grown, nostalgia.

How lucky I am, how grateful for those memories that 

take you back.

circa 1990

Back to warm moments.

Acceptances

 More acceptances- nice word!
I just found out I was accepted in PSAQA Art Quilts Movement- all 3 of my pieces and Handweavers Guild of America 's Small Expressions.

Touch the Soul- HGA's Small Expressions

This comes at a good time. Validating and reaffirming my commitment to the fiber arts. 

Realizing we all have ebb's and flows, like the tides, taking time out is good for the art-soul. But for now, I am busy shifting work around in the galleries that represent me. Adjusting work keeps it fresh for the galleries but is a lot of inventory sorting for me. 
I look forward to the end of it and finishing the dreaded taxes!

Fiber Directions biennial exhibition

The Fiber Directions biennial exhibition is one of the premier events at the Wichita Center for the Arts. The juror and curator for the 2011 exhibition, Jill Rumoshosky Werner, selected 80 artworks showcasing the fascinating and imaginative creativity of the fiber artist. Wichita Center for the Arts http://www.wcfta.com Cormorant's Perch Digital Fiber Digital manipulated interpretations of a single photograph, created by melding the photograph, and painted fabric in photo shop. This is fused digitally and printed with an Epson 2400 on a variety of inkjet prepared fabrics. The digital fiber photographs are mounted on free sections using heavy stabilizer. Segments are creatively stitched and held together with a hand-tied bookbinding method using dyed pearl cotton. Edges and top are sealed with UV medium and paint. 30x47

The Space Between

Dinner at Eight Artists is happy to announce that the following pieces have been accepted into the special exhibit "The Space Between." The exhibit will debut at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach July 28-31, 2011 and is sponsored by Moore's Sewing Centers. Our plan is to exhibit at Festival in Houston also, after securing a sponsor.

My Work The Trees Are Singing was accepted!

The Space Between 

A pause as we reach for the telephone. The moments between the lines. Negative space in a painting. Uncertainty, and finding your voice. From one place to the other. Birds on a wire, and the distancebetweenfriends...The SpaceBetween thought and action. Thin cracks separating this from that. Lines on a highway, or reading between the lines...The Space Between.

curators

Jamie Fingal
Leslie Tucker Jenison
Dinner at Eight Artists http://dinnerateightartists.blogspot.com/

Trees Are Singing detail- Seek Peek

To see the Artists Profiles from  "Beneath the Surface" click on this link http://dinnerateightartists.blogspot.com/search/label/Artist%20Profiles 

Art to Soul

What is an artist?

Do we use the term more casually than in years past?

Does an art degree make you an artist? Or do you become an artist by degrees.

Step by step, inching closer.

Taking it all in and letting it out.

Developing an Eye and then always seeing.

Listening in on our whispering muse, we hone our voice to honor our soul. 

Art to Soul.

How do you define artist? 


Is it when time melts? When you disappear into the flow, revealing.
When can you tell you hear your authentic voice?
Is it when you step back to listen?
Moving out of the way, you can dance.
Is it when you remember to remember?
What makes you real?


"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

Art and Balance

"I was his mother and his wife and now I want the luxury of my own life"

Ani DiFranco

         This question, art and balance, plagues female artists more than male. We, who need to divide our lives into segments, are more vulnerable to the judgements and cultural influence than men. In the past, I think, women had to give up having the "traditional" family situation to devote their energies to the art. 

         And it does take an enormous amount of energy. Now we have more options. Sometimes TOO many!

I was lucky enough to be able to raise my children without having a second job. It was in the 80's when this was very untrendy. It was thought to be a cop out on the advances of women in the work place during the late 60's and 70's. Without dishonoring those said advances, I felt that the job of raising children was just as important! Our society does not compensate the at home parent with social security- which it should. I also feel that Child Development should be a required course in schools. Knowing what a child is capable of will help cut down on child abuse, which then affects the following generations. 

Anyway, off my rant, art for arts sake is something I must do. I feel out of sorts when I don't do it. It feeds my soul not only in the process of making it but wanting to capture what I feel and see when I go for walks, read a poem or even get inspired by someone else's creativity. 

Return to Our Senses        2008 silk organza collage

I am coming off of 20 plus years of selling my art with vigor. I've been taking it viva 'booth et all' to shows for the last 6 or 7 years. I will take 2012 off. I may not take my work on the road again. I am going to taste teaching this year. Then gestate. Decide. Rethink. 

Balance is not my forte'. I struggle with it. 

I wrote a blog post in 9/08 about this subject-

HERE 

Crafts Boston this weekend

I will be exhibiting at Craft Boston- a very fine art and craft venue. 

I'm in booth #348, toward the rear.

It's this weekend at the world trade Center in Boston. March 25-27

more here!

Sure hope you can make it!

Surface Design Association Conference excerpt circa 2007

     In 2007, I took a four-day workshop with Susan Hammond West at the Surface Design Association Conference, held at that time, in Kansas City. The workshop, called "Art as Quiet", began with each day with a meditation. Susan Hammond West is a painter and mixed media artist with a hunger for experimentation. She combines art making with the energy of Buddhism and Yoga philosophy.

         Susan’s work is simple in appearance and reflects her inner serenity. It's simple with barely tangible circles and organic shapes surrounded by large quantities of space. 

     Her works expands beyond the rectangle to present in attached free constructions of numerous sizes. She uses paint, molding paste, assortment of fabrics, industrial felt and even stitches with copper wire.

            I told her that it was ‘intense simplicity”. Years later, I can still feel her energy in her work.

            Simultaneously, Sue had an exhibition in Kansas City during the conference.  There are so many exhibitions and vendors that I call these conferences ‘fiber heaven’.

            Currently chair of the Visual Arts Department at Naropa University, she teaches and researches contemporary and ecstatic art forms, and how to infuse art with a palpable haunting presence.

             “Art is an open form of communication that evolves powerfully in a supportive environment. Here a vibrant space is held for something extraordinary to happen. Through art making the student discovers their own self-reflected consciousness.

            Teaching is a transmission and energy exchange from teacher to student, student to student, and student to teacher. Both intangible and practical connections are important for the transformation of matter and energy. As artist and mentor, I teach from a full expression of candid enthusiasm. I activate contemplative and intellectual investigations where each student discovers their dynamic role as creator in the world.”

Susan Hammond West

SHHHHHHHH!                                                                                                        info here

Digital Paint Brushes

Recently I visited a blog having a discussion about how printing on fabric is not creative. 

Yikes I thought!

  When things went digital, my work expanded ten-fold! I could do so many more things than I ever dreamed of. I married my interest in photography with my love of fiber.

      I think working digitally IS a creative tool. Not only must you have an eye and take intriguing photographs. You need to know how to interpret this into fiber, then your vision can show.

      You can then leave the photo as is, manipulate it in a variety of ways ( much like you could do in the darkroom), layer them, fuse them with other photos, tile them, collage photo's, draw into to them using a digital pencil. And more. It is a vast field.

plain rice paper

painted rice paper

Not to mention deciding how to print them. What cloth or paper to use. Add a digital underpainting, or not. Print on painted or plain substrate. Print on a collage made from cloth, paper, or tea bags. Endless!

THEN when they are printed, you can go forward with creation. Stitching, adding mediums. collageing, layering with transparent media. Cutting apart and re-sewing- any number of options.

Ink Jet Printed Fabric Collage
from my Dig it ALL,  Digging into Digital Printing Workshop
Photo Shop tools are digital paint brushes! It is a very creative technique- much as any surface design technique is! You can take it and run with it!

"It's how the artist uses the media to interpret the subject matter that makes it art - not the media used to get there."
Jayne Gaskins

Vertical Fabric Painting

      Someone recently wrote to me asking me what I use for my design wall. I wrote that I have two- one on each side of my studio.
I used several 4'x8' sheets of light weight insulation boards that I brought from a local hardware mart.
 It's about 1/2" or so in depth. Easy to transport or even cut with a utility knife.

     One is covered in wide flannel, that I think I bought from Hancock Fabrics.
     The other one is painted white. I use this to pin into/ hang work, and as another gallery wall during Open Studio events.
     But I also enjoy painting vertically- like painters do using easels. When I do this, I cover the painted wall with 4 ml painters plastic. Tape my fabric and paint away. This is just the ticket when I don't want to lean over my work at a table.
( Can you guess why I don't pin it?)
     Another trick I find handy, is to cover 20x30 foam boards in plastic or better yet,  kitchen bags. 
Lay on my fabric and paint on those. Then, I can take them to a drying rack or floor area to dry. 

This is really handy when I do sun printing in fair weather. I can paint, take the fabric supported on the covered foam board and simply slide it off outside. Add my items to sunpaint and run back inside (or on nearby picnic table in the shade) and paint some more!!

Painted and Sunprinted Fabric Sample
I reuse my foam board with another plastic bag. I save the bags to use over and over!

a Commission, the Finish

After the main sections of the piece are stretched and stapled, I'm ready to do up the corners. This is done similar to the way of wrapping a present, all the while you're tugging to place pressure on the cloth for a smooth tight corner. This is a little difficult with a thicker fabric like cotton duck.

After the backing is completed and trimmed to fit within 1/4" on the strecher bars. I glue it to the back. If I've done this correctly the transfer will fit exactly under the silk organza photo to create the 3-D effect I call Holographic Images. I always dry with the image up to prevent any mediums or glue from creating blobs on the front.

I weight it down with heavy objects, beach stones and old irons, to make sure backing is in contact with the piece as it dries. Make sure the objects can't roll into your piece and make a pressure stretch marks and ruin it.

When it's dry. I add a label, hanger and wire and it's ready for it's new home!

 

Clear Light

Commission from Art 3 for the Elliot at Rivers Edge which is part of the Elliot Hospital in Manchester, NH

Holographic Images- Multi-level Surface Design/Mixed Media.

Original image taken at Deer Isle, ME, printed on archival digital canvas. Sewn borders in hand painted and surface designed cotton duck, additional stitching line details, silkscreen and mediums.

A section of the image was constructed with transparent silk organza, providing a holographic effect.   30x40

Clear Light 1st finish

Clear Light full side-view

Scraps left over are used in my collage work!

"amazing-- ripples of water can look so calming and so serene- sunlit and inspiring work."
Thank you! Donna Watson
her blog here

a Commission Phase III

Today I decided to highlite the glass bead and pumice gel accents that had thoughly dried with silver oil stick. I like this technique and use it often. It's hard to resist adding a little color but I think it makes the added textured medium stand out like sparkling water. 

  

     I silkscreened a few waves from a thermal fax silkscreen I made from a detail of the original photo. Just a few squeegees to carry the wave action softly into the borders. I used a mix of antique gold and metallic paint from Pro Chem. The colors mixed here and there into a great olive. Just the touch of green I needed!

     I decided the right side of the bordered piece needed more accent. I had painted some scrim earlier with the dregs of the paint brush- I always 'clean' my brush on a scrap cloth, hand-wipe or something rather than washing all of that wonderful paint into the drain. So I had some already to use. I cut into it and moved it around and applied with gel medium. I added the bits I cut out too and an overlay of more textured medium, to which I applied more silver oil stick. 

      Perfect. Now to let this all dry before I can mount it. I work on the backing that I painted the other day. I use HTC brand poly/rayon medium weight stabilizer for my Holographic Images backing material. It can take the abuse of ink jet transfer, paint and stretching and most importantly, will not tear as easily as a paper backing will. Unfortunately, I need to piece it as it doesn't come wide enough.

After, I carefully position the inkjet transfer (printed in mirror image) on the backing to line up with the transparent organza section. I iron it on and peel. I really like the way the painted backing allows the transfer to blend in.

All set to mount.

I use 3/4" Dick Blick's or Fredrix artist stretcher bars for mounting. These bars are a good quality and I've used them for a number of years.
Reference- https://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-standard-stretcher-bars/
or
https://www.dickblick.com/products/fredrix-standard-stretcher-bars/

After I assemble the bars, tap corners dull, I'm ready to mount. I stretch the piece by centering and stapling with a staple gun and J21 size staples.

Starting to staple on opposite sides, I check often to see if I need to change the position- which I do a couple times. I use a standard staple remover to remove staples in order to do this.

My son gave me this gismo for the Holidays. I think they used to use it to moisten stamps. I get my fingers wet which gives me a better grip on the cloth when stretching it.

 Finishing up the corners and I'm ready to back it and glue it down.

a Commission Phase II

The first thing I did when I woke this morning, before coffee! I went over the painted fabric with some pewter, silver, light green and off white- to tone it down, add more depth and texture.

Hmm- we'll have to wait till this dries to see if the color is what I want.

I should share the previous work that inspired Joni to choose me for this commission. It is called Essence.

Essence


        The fabric is dry and I'm ready to cut into it- almost hate to do it! I even like the back!

The fiber photo is sewn and ready for border. I want the placement of borders to echo the color placement in the photo. 








I use an old iron to steady the clear ruler for long cuts. I’ve had too many wonky borders. It’s like a third hand holding the ruler at one end while I cut. Sometimes I use two or even heavy beach rocks.

I trim all the threads on the back and seal the seams with medium. This ensures no loose threads will show though the silk organza ‘window’ and secures the seams. 

I choose the mediums I will apply to the front/face of piece, which I decided to call “Clear Light”. 
I use a satin varnish to seal/UV protect the painted fabric borders and gloss medium for photo. The gloss medium adds a little punch, shine and deepens the colors on the ink jet fabric photo. Do not do this in direct sunlight! There is some kind of reaction and it turns white! Make sure you shake any product you use thoroughly and if you haven't used it in a while test it. 

I also add a small bit of pumice gel to accent shadows, some pearl-x mixed with medium to highlight shine on the water and glass bead medium to really bring this home. When you add the medium it is milky white but will dry clear.

This is a bit like an act of courage because once it's dry, it's on!

a Commission

I was contacted by a friend, Joni, in a gallery I have been with for years, Art 3, Manchester, NH.  here They took me on as a newbie when I first starting pushing my artwork out of my studio.
Last week she phoned me with a commission for the Elliot at Rivers Edge which is part of the Elliot Hospital in Manchester, NH. Great! But it needs to be done before March. OK I can do this!
After looking at some of my previous art, she decided that the piece is to be a combination of digital fiber, holographic imagery and painted/silkscreened fabric with a water theme.
I sent a variety of pix to her to choose from, my artists price and got the approval to go forward.

original image

image simulation 

Next, I worked on the photo to enhance the colors, change the hue to meet a slightly different color scheme and divided the photo into parts that will be sewn together. I needed to figure out the size of each piece and the painted borders to fit her size requirement of 30x40.
     Next to the printer! I use inkjet prepared fabrics. This coating gives the best colors, makes it permanent and are UV protected. My Epson printer Ultrachrome inks are guaranteed for 200 years, light fast and water resistant. I feel confident in the durability of the finished work.
I choose a durable canvas for this project. I ran a couple tests to see which setting gave me what I wanted, then cut and printed the fabrics.

printed canvas and organza ready to sew

I like to allow this to dry at least over night before sewing or ironing. I feel it has a chance to set and won't smear when I iron it. These fabrics are practically water proof then.

     While I wait. I paint the fabric I will use for the border. I choose a hearty cotton duck and got the color palette out that Joni sent me. I want the colors to work with the image, playing off the contrast of blue and orange, while enhancing the room it will be displayed in. This is the fun part. I really enjoyed painting on fabric. 

     While these dry, I go back to production work for Craft Boston which will be coming up in March. here

In addition to my art which is now hanging at my solo show at the Lincoln Levy Gallery (see previous post), I did a line of silk chiffon kimono and scarves. They are in various stages of dyeing, painting, ironing, labeling. Plenty of work. 

But this allows my mind to gestate on the commission piece... more later!

Solo Show in Portmouth NH

The show just before the opening. Up until Feb 25...

The combination of my mixed media/fiber and sculpture is terrific! Deb and I both use the circle and bird motifs, and connect with nature. This was unplanned and a serendipitous surprise!

I hope you can see the show.

It really is, Flying with Light!