My Next Series

Kristin here. Working in a series works for me. First it was houses with roots, then it was The Army Wife, and next up will be Security Blankets. Of course, that doesn't mean I can't go back and create more houses or army wife related works as inspiration hits. But, for now, I'm moving on.

My work seems to moving more and more towards social commentary. If I can pull it off, I like that. I've never been too tied to one technique or "look," so if I can have a theme or approach that is consistent, I think that's good.

Something I did last week is not tied directly to my Security Blanket series, but is related in terms of social commentary. I went to the US Capitol and disassembled a flag for a little while. It was my protest  by way of metaphor of the way our leaders have been tearing apart our system of government. 

My timing wasn't great, as I staged this on the day Congress voted to end the shutdown and to raise the debt ceiling. However, I have plans to incorporate the flag parts into a textile project for an upcoming exhibit. It's all conceptual at this point and I have no real idea of how it will come together, but I'm very much looking forward to the journey.

what inspires...

Where do you draw inspiration as an artist? Natalya here to tell you where I get mine...

If you take a peek at my art you'll see that obviously I am very inspired by architecture. All sorts of architectural styles from Romanesque to Baroque to Modern, with many things in between. I am especially inspired by architectural signatures that certain cities have. Such as New York is usually instantly apparent in a snapshot. Other cities maybe a bit more difficult to recognize: it is Paris or is Prague? Some cities have almost a color signature, Venice anyone? Or St.Petersburg? I could go crazy here... so I stay focused on just two cities for now.

And it's not just the structures that are inspiring, the textures too. Dilapidated or shiny new.

a wall in St. Petersburg

rainy steps at Lincoln Center

But you know what else inspires me? And feeds my architectural work at the same time? Nature. Yup, the greatest architect there is. Take a look at these recent photos I took and see how much architecture is in them.

city streets?

parks commission?

city blocks?

steps?

What inspires your art?

THE TIME IN BETWEEN

Beryl here. What do you do when you have time in between projects for teaching, commissions, book and magazine articles ? I was taught a huge lesson when I was at college doing my City & Guilds creative embroidery course; the in between time should not be viewed as down time because if you view it that way it's hard to snap-out of it and to get inspired again. So instead of taking my foot off the gas I put the pedal to the floor and start work on small books, play and feel free to do what ever comes to mind. It doesn't matter if it doesn't work out as expected or dare I say it, if something might normally be viewed as a mistake, there is no such thing !!!!!

These books are little note books, the smaller the better. Pages are slapped with paint, stenciled, stitched, photo transferred images, lots of modeling paste plus lots more techniques, just feel free to let go and have fun.

Some books are just individual pages worked on and then bound together to make a fat book. The great thing about these is that even when you think they're finished they're not, you can just carry on, then where do you stop !! Try it.