Small Wonders

Our Exhibit is ready to be seen! Please join us for the opening reception on Sunday, September 7th from 1 to 4PM at the Etui Fiber Art Gallery in Larchmont, NY.

Here's the official invitation:

Diminutive bugs and birds, petite scale, delicate details of line and stitch – all in tiny treasures on view at Etui Gallery during the month of September, 2014. Eight artists brought together by a love of fabric and stitch show off their varied approaches to mixed media textiles in this exhibit of small works. Layers of machine and hand stitching intimately render buildings and homes both in Natalya Aikens’ works, which incorporate recycled ephemera, and in Kristin La Flamme’s fabric collages. Benedicte Caneill’s work incorporates impeccably sewn pieces of her monoprinted fabrics to create dancing compositions of color and line. Jane Davila and Gloria Hansen turn their focus on small-scale flora and fauna with an eye to graphic simplicity and macro photography respectively. Carol Sloan, Liz Kettle, and Beryl Taylor round out the collection with tantalizing layers of intriguing fabrics, delicate paper, painted textures, wee stitches, and tiny details that draw the viewer in for a closer look.

Here are a few photos to entice you to come see them in person!

Front facing wall with art by Jane, Benedicte and Gloria

Small wonders by Kristin

Corner view with work by Gloria, Benedicte, Liz and Natalya

Gloria's butterflies

Benedicte and Liz's work

Main wall with work by Liz, Natalya, Carol, Beryl and Kristin

A restful spot with work by Kristin, Natalya and Carol

 

Butterfly play

All summer long I've been focused on taking butterfly pictures.  I've done some other outdoor work -- birds and flowers -- but it's mainly butterflies.  While I enjoy simply printing as is, I often use them as springboards to other play.  In this case, I used the above photo as a base for the digital paintings below. 

 

The above is made by taking the photo, duplicating it, adding various effects to it like noise, and then playing around.  While nothing has yet turned into fiber work, I have lots of ideas.  I had hoped to put up some work based on another photo I took of a statute.  Maybe next month ... stay tuned!

P.S. I apologize for the obnoxious copyright info, but too many times my images have ended up on the websites of others.  I certainly don't mind sharing, but I do at least want credit.  :)

Your Elusive Creative Genius

Gloria Hansen here.

This is a favorite TED talk that I shared on my gloriahansen.com blog more than a few years back.  It's by Elizabeth Gilbert – author of a favorite book, Eat, Pray, Love, on nurturing creativity.

In my original post I talked about how Elizabeth Gilbert muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses — and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person “being” a genius, all of us “have” a genius. It’s a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk.

She talked about the success of her book and people now asking her “Aren’t you afraid that you’ll never live up to your prior success … that you’ll be a failure?”

She goes on to discuss how creativity was originally looked upon as an outside entity that visits one and graces it with a bolt of inspiration.  The Romans referred to creativity as genius.  Again, an outside force that would possess one with inspiration.  At one point things changed.  “We went from having a creative genius to being a creative genius.” And with that comes a lot of pressure, suffering, and despair.  She talked about the “painful reconciliation” people go through when success comes along and then wanes.

I periodically watch this video because it's a gem. It reminds me that rather than sitting in that painful place where I feel like I'll never be creative again, and playing in my mind all of those dark thoughts that can quickly sabotage good energy,  I just need to get busy and do the work.  Here's to showing up, doing the work, and finding your elusive creative genius.

From a Single Poppy

Gloria here.

I get immense enjoyment from photography and often use it as a springboard for various design ideas and the basis of new artwork. A year or so back, a new hospital was constructed in the area.  As a result of that construction, there were some gorgeous poppy fields that sprung up that I happily visited and photographed on several occasions.  Yesterday I drove over to see what the poppy fields might look like. Unfortunately, with the earth now settled, there were far more daisies and other wildflowers than poppies. Even so, I managed to find a few few to photograph. This is an example of how one poppy became the springboard to various ideas.

This is the original photo. It's not particularly good, but I like the flower in focus and the soft light behind it.

I used the "content aware fill" to get rid of the weed on the upper right, and I used the "exposure brush" to darken the left edge.

I then added a mask to the edge to create a frame. This I will print as is for my journal.

In this version, I played around with the colors, clarity, and edge to create another look.

One of my favorite things to do in Photoshop is chop up images, repeat portions, and see what happens.  I refer to them as "chop and repeats." I do this as a jumping off point to see what types of ideas might happen. It becomes very addictive, with one idea immediately giving way to the next. Luckily I recently got a new 3 TB hard drive, so I have plenty of space for play.  By the end of last night, I had a folder filled with nearly 50 variations (and I have no doubt I will be doing more, as the ideas keep coming).

 

Next I will print many of these "chop and repeats" along with the original source photos to add into my sketchbook. My hope is they will become a springboard for some smaller works in fiber.  I am already anxious to use the photo itself for some watercolor sketches.  What fun!

Getting A Creative Jolt

Gloria Hansen here.

I’ve recently been in a place of pause, not making as much art as I’d like due to a variety of circumstance.  Such times have happened in the past, and I’m sure they will happen in the future. What’s important is finding a way to accept the cycle of creative flows and keep myself open to what’s around me. One way of doing this is taking in some art exhibitions with the hope that something strikes a chord and gives me a needed creative jolt. 

In late January while in San Francisco attending MacWorld, I spent a day at SFMOMA initially to see a Jasper Johns exhibit. While I enjoyed viewing that exhibit, what truly knocked my socks off and moved me to near tears was another exhibit called Jay DeFeo: A Retrospective.  I didn’t know much of her, but learned while perusing some information that she was an artist of the Beat generation of San Francisco who died of cancer in 1989 at age 60.  The more I viewed her work and learned, the more overwhelmed I became. The retrospective is now at The Whitney Museum of American Art in NYC until June 2, 1013, and I encourage anyone, especially those in need of inspiration, to visit.

Her most well-known piece (shown above, and I did get permission to photograph) is The Rose. It weighs nearly one ton (yes, one ton!) and took some eight years to complete. When I first viewed it, which is nearly 12 foot in height and some 8” thick, I thought it was made of layers of painted plaster.  It is, however, oil on canvas with wood and mica. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around nearly two thousand pounds of paint in a work she refers to it as “a marriage between painting and sculpture.”  It was eye-opening to listen to some of the stories, such as the painting was too large to fit out of her studio door and that a moving company was hired to remove the bay window and lower the work with a forklift!  It was only shown for a short time, and she was unable to find a museum home for it.  Because some thought it would take over 100 years for the oils to completely dry, eventually it was placed in a plaster mold and put behind a temporary wall for nearly 25 years years before a historic conversation restored it to public view.

However, I didn’t see her most well-known piece until the very end of the exhibit and I was already in complete awe.  Pieces such as The Eyes, which is graphite on paper, her many untitled photographs and works on paper, and her oil paintings such as The Jewel, Origin, and The Veronica,  held me absolutely captivated.  Even without The Rose, I was incredibly moved and humbled by her work. I still am.



If you cannot get to The Whitney, you may enjoy viewing this video, which runs about a half hour and goes through the show. You can learn more about her and her work, including news and events, at The Jay DeFeo Trust's website.  I hope her art and story inspires you as it did me.

The multi-talented Benedicte Caneill

by, Gloria Hansen

Today I get the pleasure of introducing you to Benedicte Caneill. While she is a bit uncomfortable with the title I wrote, preferring something like "a tale of two countries," Benedicte has such an impressive variety of artistic skills that I'm sticking with my title, which happens to be an understatement.  I hope she forgives me.

Benedicte was born in Paris, raised in Toulouse, France, and has since 1981 been living in New York.  Before becoming a full- time artist, she had a career as a biology teacher in various international schools.  I met Benedicte several years back through art quilt circles and was immediately drawn both to her arresting work and her genuine warmth. It was easy to gravitate towards her each time we'd run into each other at other events, such as during a shibori dyeing class at the Newark Museum or at the celebration weekend for Quilt Visions, and I'm so glad that we've since become friends.

Benedicte Caneill in front of "Units 26: When Botany Meets Geometry"

Ms. Caneill has quite an exotic background, some of which she'll reveal to you in her 8 things list below. I'll share that in a relatively short period of time, Benedicte has managed to achieve several impressive milestones with her art quilt work, most of which I'm still trying for!  For example, in addition to having work in Quilt Visions, she also had work accepted into Quilt National, Art Quilt Elements where she won the SAQA Cream Award, and she has her work on the cover of Quilting Arts Magazine to illustrate a feature written about her!  She also had work in Craftforms. While one could color me envious, her achievements are all very well-deserved and inspiring.

A detail from "Units 26"

I am most familiar with Benedicte's textile work, almost all of which is made from cloth that she first creates.  She starts with either white or black fabric and then will use a variety of surface design techniques (such as dyeing, monoprinting, silk screening, or direct printing) to create layer upon layer of design and pattern.  From this, she will often cut apart and then stitch together the basis of her work. The layers evolve as the piece develops, and can be cut apart again and again. Eventually her final layer will include machine and hand stitching.  The finale is work that pulsates with rhythm and movement, yet has texture and depth.

But art quilt making is just one of her talents. Not only does Benedicte know how to put paint and dye to cloth, but she also knows how to put pen to paper and stylus to iPad! When I received Gwen Diehn's latest book, "The Complete Decorated Journal," I was excited to see images from one of Benedicte's many art journals/sketchbooks gracing the pages.  On another blog I was perusing, I was happy to see Benedicte pictured for work she was doing in MOMA's NYC Print Studio (which concluded in 2012).  These things just scratch the surface.  Currently she has three works at the Windsor Whip Works Art Gallery in NY at a show titled, "Fabulous Fibers and Bewitching Baskets."  She also currently has work at the Blue Door Gallery in NY in a show titled, 'Show and Tell 5," where she  gave a talk.

"Units 24: Going Around in Circles"

detail from "Units 24"

"Approxymmetry"

"Marks in the Sand"

I just adore Benedicte. She has such grace and is a beauty, inside and out.  I am also glad that she joined 8 That Create.

Benedicte shares 8 very interesting tidbits about herself. I'm still wow'ing over number 4!

1.  I grew up in Toulouse, France, capital of the European aerospace industry and its gorgeous architecture that is a constant source of inspiration.

2.  I love music, classical, jazz, rock, and folk.  I studied the piano and I have sung all my life in choruses.  I often sing when I paint.

3.  I majored in botany in College, specialized in alpine botany and loved exploring the flora of the Pyrenees Mountains.

4.  I lived in India and studied the classical Indian dance drama called: * Kathakali*.

5.  I love animals, especially dogs.  At one point my husband and I shared our home with two parrots, two cats and three dogs.

6.  Painting is my technique of choice, direct painting, printing, moving paint on a surface can make me forget about eating!

7.  My grand-mother and mother both taught me sewing, embroidery, knitting and crochet.

8.  Walking is my form of meditation and my inspiration very often comes during my walks in nature.

Beryl Taylor's Artistry

Gloria Hansen here.

Carol introduced you to Kristin; Liz introduced you to Natalya.  I am over-the-moon happy that I have the pleasure of introducing our other two new members: Beryl Taylor and Benedicte Caneill, both of whom I consider dear friends.

Today I present Beryl Taylor.  Beryl creates amazing art.  I've followed her work for years, and was practically first in line to get her Mixed Media Explorations: Blending Fabric, Fabric and Embellishment to Create Inspired Designs back when it was published in 2006  by Quilting Arts LLC.  Not only has the book  gone on to be wildly successful, but her innovative methods of creating "fabric paper" to incorporate into her unique artwork launched an entire trend with others going on to publish their variations based on Beryl's method.

Beryl gave me this gorgeous piece as a gift Lucky moi!

I knew Beryl was from England, and that she trained at the City & Guilds textile and embroidery program, but I was floored to learn that she, her husband, and son moved several years ago to the same town as my mom in NJ, about a 15 minute drive from my home!  It wasn't long afterwards that she contacted me relating to a  web project, and I was thrilled with the opportunity to work with her.  Having been in the crewel embroidery master craftsman program through the Embroiderer's Guild of America many years ago, I was immediately captivated by her attention to detail and exquisite hand work.  Next thing we were swapping stories, sharing work, and becoming fast friends. 

Every time I visit Beryl she wows me with whatever it is she is working on.  Never fail she'll smile and say, "You won't believe what I made this from, " as she then describes some unusual concoction of what sounds like trash, such discarded book pages, tossed away lace with holes in it, tissues, the shredded lining of a jacket, napkins, torn pieces of wallpaper, molding paste, or other such things.  She'll then explain how she combined those materials with more traditional ones such as gesso, paint, beads, and thread.  She is an absolute master at transforming such mixes into sophisticated and rich pieces of art that go far beyond her original ingredients.  Her work is complex and layered, yet soothing and inviting.  She combines hand stitching with machine, ragged hard edges with softness, and I find myself often getting lost in her work, discovering new details as I move in closer and wonder through the textures. 

While visiting with her this week she pulled out a huge clear plastic bag filled with what at first glance looked like a massive pile of corn husks.  She explained it was a gown from the 18th century that someone gave her.  The silk fabric was heavily pleated , and it shredded in our hands as we stroked it.  She said, "Look at this texture. Let's use it in some fabric paper and see how it comes out."  (In a future post, we'll share some results.)  That is one of the many things I love about her:  She has not only the vision to look at things through the lens of artistic possibility, but the drive to explore, play, and discover.  She is a very cool lady to have as a friend!

Beryl has taught for several years, sharing her methods and inspiring many, many students.  She also stars in the Mixed-Media Art Quilts DVD and Layer by Layer DVD, both available at the Interweave Store, in addition to several appearances on Quilting Arts TV Her work is also regularly appears in a variety of other books publications.

Beryl Taylor

Beryl is a beautiful woman, inside and out, and I am so pleased that she joined 8 That Create!

Beryl shared eight things she loves, which are:

1. To give life back to a tossed book
2. To stitch by hand or with my machines.
3. To work with all types of media.
4. To travel, it inspires me, I love the museums of different countries.
5. Music, especially romantic; I always create with music in the background.
6. My two Golden Retrievers, Buddy and Holly.
7. My family and friends.
8. I believe in Angels (and ABBA).

Welcome Beryl!

Fashion Lines

"Fashion Lines," by Gloria Hansen
21" w x 25" h

Gloria Hansen checking in.  This piece is the second I made for the upcoming Off the Hanger: Form and Surface show that will be on exhibit from October 12th through December 2nd.

The piece is based on torn images from a Vogue fashion magazine that I collaged, photographed, digitally manipulated,  printed onto silk fabric, painted, and stitched.

A detail image

The evolution of "Faith" - my empty spaces piece

Gloria Hansen here. In thinking about "empty spaces," my mind was jumping to many interpretations,  and I quickly realized it's a theme that we all can explore for a very long time. To quiet my jumping thoughts, I decided to keep it simple, keep it simple, keep it simple, and see what flows.  This is how my piece empty spaces piece evolved:

 I started with an empty box and added a red square.  Working digitally, I created a line of progressively larger dots. I envisioned french knots, with the larger knots having an extra wrap of thread.

In this version, I added lines of digital stitches.  Another way to think of it is a line with "empty spaces."

I added black to further break up the empty space, and added more lines of vertical digital stitches.

I turned off the digital layer with the stitches and started to experiment with the shape of the black rectangle.

I added perspective and then experimented again with digital stitches.

Still clueless as to what would evolve, those shapes immediately reminded me of a show I saw in London at the Museum of Design. There was an exhibit by John Pawson, an architect who is described as a "minimalist" and is known for his process of reduction and for creating designs of "simplicity, grace, and visual clarity." The image above on the left was central to the exhibit, a "site-specific 1:1 full-size installation." I'm standing within the room in the image on the right.  I and my business partner, Derry, who took me to the exhibit, spent a lot of time sitting on the bench and absorbing the incredible peaceful feel of the space. Although we were sitting in the middle of a busy museum, it felt more like we were sitting within a zen garden.

Also of interest, on the other side of the back wall are people looking at a different piece in the exhibit.  While anyone within the room could see those behind the room, those outside could not see in. More food for contemplation.

As I thought more about that exhibit, I started going through folders of photographs I'd taken around that time period. In the process, I started pulling out copies of ones I might want to work with. After weeding them down, I decided on two below to form the basis of my piece -- an open road that I took from the front passenger seat while traveling out west and a photo of a window from a decaying building in England.

I selected more photos with things that can move through space -- a bird, a sheep, a train, a flying machine, and I selected an escalator and a statute. The escalator was taken inside a science museum, and I loved the neon colors reflected on it. Two photos that comes up a lot in my personal work are a replica of daVinci's flying machine that was on display at the V&A Museum and a Paris-bound train with daVinci artwork on it (although I've added to the image above). The flying machine is in two pieces I've made: The Journey and Another Journey, and the train image is in a piece not on my website yet.

I opened all of the images in Photoshop and began working with them. Night after night, more nights after night, I worked on the design. Version after version, layer after layer.

This is one of the versions I came up with.

As you can see, the above has a lot of layers, groups, and groups within groups of layers going on. My next goal was turning off layers to see what I could remove. 

 

 

While experimenting with various versions, I added a black/white adjustment layer to remove color altogether. By dragging the color sliders, I experimented with the tonality of the image. Using a black/white adjustment layer is a better option than simply desaturating an image as you can control the value of the lightness and darkness of each color within your image. 

Because the size requirement is based on 8, I experimented with different scales on the elements within the design. 

While I like this, it seemed to also need some type of framework.

The above is the final piece called "Faith" which is left for you to interpret however you wish.  While the image is bordered in gray, I suspect there will be no binding or border on it, but rather a facing.  My intent is to print it on silk and hand stitch it.  Because I have several versions of it, in color and without, I also hope that it is the first in a series.

I often find the path to a new work is an interesting one, and I hope you've enjoyed the thinking behind this piece.