swooning..

Have you heard of the artist named Swoon? She is not to be missed. Natalya here to tell you about Swoon's exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. It was a spur of a moment visit, I only had my iPhone to take pictures with and I took a gazillion. No worries, it was painful, but I edited them down to just a few...

You do have until August 24th to go see this for yourself, but in case that doesn't fit into your summer schedule, here's a brief review and many links. Caledonia Dance Curry is quite an accomplished artist who started with traditional training (she attended my Alma Mater Pratt Institute), but after graduating was very discouraged with the gallery system and became a street artist. She has managed to fashion an amazing career from that start and is now an artist with exhibits all over the world. She known for her installations and this is her latest at the Brooklyn Museum.

I had never seen her installations before, just have heard about her and seen a bit about her in a documentary film Our City Dreams. Needless to say that I was completely overwhelmed by what I saw and I'm sure Kristin can confirm that my jaw was on the ground. The scale of this installation is immense and cannot be expressed in these photos. Do see the videos in the links above to get a sense of the scale.

plastic drop cloth (my heart fluttered). Swoon used the drop cloths that protected the walls during the installation in the installation.

gigantic tree draped in cloth and lacy cut outs for leaves is at the center and made for very dramatic shadows

cardboard tubes in a beehive like hut

a collage of larger than life prints of her beautiful drawings

delicate cut outs are draped on the floor where they curve and produce wonderful shadows

here are the tree roots, so you can see the fabric

more amazing drawings

two large handmade boats are part of the installation (made from scraps), but I was fascinated by the lace sails and the shadows they made

my kind of whimsical

this is a top portion of one of the boats

lacy cut outs cover many walls and backs of large figures

Hope you do get to see this exhibit, it's worth the trip! And happy Independence Day USA!

Friends and Inspiration

It's Kristin again.
I have completed 11 painted and stitched canvases from the Service Star quilt in the previous post here! The curious can find them on my blog. I am happy to report that I feel no regret at painting and cutting up a decade's worth of work.

I am also happy to report that I had the opportunity to visit friend and fellow 8 That Create artist, Natalya, last weekend. We had a great time in NYC with two of three from a special circle of friends.



We spent the better part of two days together seeing art and soaking it in. This is our posse on Broadway, posting on one of Chakaia Booker's Rubber Sentinels.

One of my favorite exhibits (Natalya will post about the other, was The Urban Fabric, by Liz Kueneke at The Hudson Guild. 

Kueneke embroidered city maps on fabric and then invited the city’s inhabitants to stitch on the maps in response to several questions, such as “what is the heart of the city?” and “what is a negative place in the city.” The embroideries were accompanied by legends explaining the symbols used, and photos and videos of participants telling their stories. The large scale made it relatively easy to "read" the maps, but it also allows the viewer to walk through them and therefore feel more connected to the city and the project.

The embroidered maps themselves are meticulous and attractive, and create a neutral backdrop for the rougher participant additions. It was interesting to see that in some cities, the loves, hates, and interesting bits were scattered overall, and in other cities, they were clustered in specific spots. The maps are beautiful in and of themselves, but the viewers’ responses on them add a wonderful depth. 

Even the backs of the embroideries are intriguing. 

I'm so glad we took the time to seek out this exhibit. I found the work to be well conceived and beautiful.  It was all thought provoking and excellent fodder for further conversations and curiosity.

Of course, it didn't hurt that I was there with friends who were also inspired, and that our conversations veered into our own explorations and experiences and our own personal maps. We may work alone in our studios, but to also come together and commiserate with, encourage, and support each other is just as important to our work as the lone, introspective time. I am glad to have found such a group.

Permission to do Nothing

Liz just wrote about keeping it fresh, and I can't agree more. Kristin here, and I just had a wonderful artist date with a friend that left me inspired to work. I blogged about it on my own blog.

But sometimes I'm NOT inspired to work, and it's always a struggle to find that balance between pushing oneself to keep going, and giving oneself permission to take a break and feed the soul in other ways. Maybe it's because it's the end of the calendar year, but I am always prone to making lists and plans between Thanksgiving and New Years and stressing about how much I wanted to do versus how much I actually did do during the year. And of course Christmas has it's own lists so adding art projects to that doesn't help anyone.

My plan this year has been to give my self permission to work on everything except my artwork (not having any pressing deadlines helps a lot!). Then, come the day after the day after Christmas, I will clear away all the wrapping supplies, the debris of present making, and the cookie recipes, and I will once more focus on my art. I the mean time, I've knit up several presents for family members and a few things for myself. I've made a good effort towards a tree skirt I've wanted for several years but which has been at the bottom of the priority list, and today I cleaned bathrooms that were long overdue.




Merry Christmas and best wishes for a creative and productive New Year ahead!

Inspirational Weekend

Call it what you will: artist date, professional development, girl's weekend, retreat, etc., getting out of the studio alone, or with friends, is almost always inspirational and invigorating.
(Deborah and another guest discuss quilt construction)

I had the pleasure last weekend to have just such an experience. On Friday, long time blog (and now real-life) friend Tonya invited Deborah and I to join her for a special presentation by Gee's Bend quilters Mary Lee Bendolf and Loretta Pettway of their story and many of their quilts.
 
(Deborah chats with Mary Lee Bendolf about her work)

The event was small, and held at a law office hoping to help them find suitable venues for the quilts to be part of a permanent collection. It was unlike the usual shows, but absolutely wonderful to chat with the quilters, and to see the quilts up close -- and even touch them!
(Deborah and Tonya admire -- and touch! -- a quilt)

Saturday, I took Tonya as my guest and met Deborah at a regional SAQA meeting. There was a particularly convivial atmosphere as we enjoyed seeing mini trunk shows from three members, and had a short but very informative presentation about critique techniques.

I'm confident in saying that all our heads were swimming with information and inspiration. Deborah and I both call ourselves art quilters, but our styles are quite different. Tonya considers herself first and foremost a Quilter with a capital Q. Our different approaches but common love for textiles combined to easily fill the spaces between our formal outings with lively conversation about art, utility, definitions of quilts, show and tell, lots of laughter, goals and upcoming projects. By the time I got home, I was exhausted, but I was full in head and heart, and energized in spirit.