Decisions - decisions

Hemoglobin: Chlorophyll
After sewing the motifs I auditioned many red/green permutations for the sheers going over the top and behind the cut out motifs.
First decision was to settle on the right red and the right green sheers.
Auditioned 2 layers of red with the lung sandwiched between and the leaf between two layers of green.

Red behind with green on top for both motifs?

2 greens for the lung and 2 reds for the leaf? 

Red and green on white?

I settled on green over the lung and red over the leaf with white behind.
I opened up a soft, well-worn pillowcase, added the sheers then suspended the motifs between the 2 layers.
These images don't show the shadows on the white cloth from the cut out motifs.
Adding the snag found in the forest was an easy decision.
Done - all decisions made.

Hemoglobin: Chlorophyll - the process

The ground is a collection of domestic linens (pillow cases, bedsheets, table cloths, bed spread) I dyed in reds and greens then strip-pieced. The resulting fabric hung on my design wall for a long time while I tried to work out what to do next.
The image of the finished work appeared one day.
The next step was to get out my collection of machine threads and sort them by value and intensity...

...then make a selection.

After several drawings on paper I was familiar with the vein pattern.
I drew the leaf outline on the back of the stabilised work then free-motion worked the vein pattern from the back.

 I repeated the process for the lung.
Using the smiley-face foam was a big mistake. It became more problematic the further I went. And a fellow stitcher pointed out the archival life of the foam was not likely to be very long. I ended up cutting most of it out. Working around the stitching was a time consuming job.

Articulation's Upcoming Exhibition

After a successful 2012 tour of London, the Articulated Materials: Bridging Waters exhibition is touring across Canada in 2013-4.

Bay of Fundy Architecture
The first stop was earlier this year, in Winnipeg's Cre8ery Gallery http://www.cre8ery.com/, during the Embroiderers' Association of Canada's national seminar http://www.eac.ca/.

The Tide Is Out
The second stop will be in the Tulista Community Art Gallery, Sidney, Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
From the gallery windows one can see across Haro Strait to the USA, which makes it a most suitable place to exhibit work about 2 other bodies of water: the Bay of Fundy and the River Thames.

Saint Martins, Bay of Fundy
The exhibition will be open daily from September 1st to 14th, 10 am to 4 pm.

Hopewell Rocks, Bay of  Fundy
Material Girls, a fibre arts group based in London, UK, has joined with the Canadian-based fibre group, Articulation, to exhibit bodies of work responding to studies of their respective country's iconic waterways.

Jane Dunnewold Exhibition - San Antonio

While attending the SDA conference in San Antonio this year, a group of us got to see a collection of Jane Dunnewold's more recent work.

And, no, it wasn't whole cloth work.
Jane had given herself the challenge of working with plaster, sand and twigs.

A real departure from the work she is so well known for.

She has published a small book on this body of work.

 

 

 

Mark Makers at Victoria College of Art

Victoria College of Art - where the Mark Makers are presently having their first public exhibition. 

In the Drafting Studio, first on the right.
I will be taking my turn sitting the exhibition tomorrow.
Lots of people have been visiting so it will be busy.

This is the first time 'Hemoglobin: Chlorophyll II' has been out of my studio.
The artist statement:

How many breaths has this well-worn, opened-out pillow case absorbed?

Capillaries, veins and arteries make up the lungs of our planet. The sister molecules, hemoglobin and chlorophyll, the red and green, are responsible for the rhythm of our lives.

Familiar, used domestic linens allow me to communicate without the need for translation, to reach across time, and to honour the often anonymous original makers.

Domestic linens were dyed red or green, strip pieced, then the motifs free-motion machine stitched.

Mark Makers at Victoria College of Art

Mark Makers is a group of fibre artists who took classes at Victoria College of Art and wanted to continue getting together after the courses finished.
Yesterday they installed their first public exhibition of work.
This is what the Victoria College of Art studio looked like before they began - a blank canvas....

....filled.
This is just a teaser of how the 82 works have transformed the space.
We do hope you are able to make it to the exhibition.
It is runs August 11th to 17th, everyday, from 10 to 4pm.
There will be a closing reception on August 17th from 1 pm to 3pm, with most of the artists in attendance.
We do hope you can come and celebrate their achievements with them.

SDA Conference - UTSA Graduates

With the conference being held in June we were in time to see a graduates' exhibition at The University of Texas at San Antonio, in the Downtown Art Gallery.

I liked William Billy George's work. He studied at the Appalachian Centre for Crafts.
I looked closely at the folded paper and saw stitched letters.

I read the label. He called it 'Secret', so I looked at the work again, this time trying to find more.
This is just what the title of a work should do for the viewer - give a clue to take them deeper into the work and make them look at the work again.

First place went to a work installed high on the wall, above other works, with only just enough light on it to see some detail.
Julie Shipman cut up and cut out sections of a weathered door and added what looked like corrugated cardboard. The label said Paverpol was used, probably to stiffen the cardboard.
It certainly was a strangely intriguing work - to see something so familiar looking so not right. A door on its side, stuck high on the wall, cut up and its insides showing. Hmmm...

SDA Conference Exhibition at the International Centre

The artists

The labels were intriguing.

Jay Rich, 'Indigo Butterflies'

'Indigo Butterflies', detail - side view

Lisa Grey, 'After the Fall' series, 22" h x 15" w, leaf prints

Lisa Grey, 'After the Fall' series, 22" h x 15" w, leaf print

Lisa Grey, 'Morphology I-XII', 10" x 10", mixed media collage

Lisa Grey, 'Morphology IX'
oops, this work is standing on its side and I can't rotate an image while posting.
But don't you think it still reads well and looks great?

..and another in the series.

There were so many other appealing works in this exhibition but I didn't have time to photograph any more before it was time to get back onto the bus and head out to the next gallery.

SDA are to be congratulated on their exceptional organization of Gallery Day.
All members visited all of the exhibitions without any stress or overheating - quite an accomplishment in San Antonio summer heat!

Another SDA Conference Exhibition - Elise Deringer & Kelsey Wiskirchen

'Looking Through: New Work from Elise Deringer (right) & Kelsey Viola Wiskirchen' (left) at the AnArte Gallery, San Antonio.

A close up of  'Olivia Wade and Lizzie' shows Kelsey's signature technique - free motion stitch over net.

This work is huge, 100" w x 53" h.
The gallery was barely wide enough to get back far enough to view the work.

The lighting added another dimension to Kelsey's works, creating repeated lines on the white walls.

Here is a low quality image of another large work where Kelsey drew with her machine a page from her journal.

'Residue #9 (Why I Wake Early)', 3 pieces, each 40" x 13"
Elise Dereinger's work is very different - opaque where Kelsey's is transparent.
Here Elise has run ink and sand inside silk, dyed pillow-case forms. Her spontaneity and lines-left-to-chance contrast with Kelsey's intense pre-planning.
I was sorry I couldn't get more images of Elise's work.

'Memory, poetry, and landscape come together in this two-person exhibition that examines internal self, the external world , and the space between.'