PaMdora's Box

I've Moved

2007-03-08T05:16:00.000-08:00

But not far, just over to here.

This is my new blog where I'll be adding new photos and articles -- but I've also moved all my archives there so you can still read the old stuff too!

I'm still trying to figure out how to change all you who have subscribed, so you will get emails from the new blog.

Getting Back on the Horse

2007-02-27T19:49:00.000-08:00

PaMdora's back!
Maybe not in full strength, but she's getting there...

In cleaning up my hard drive, I happily found this old template for the blog. It's a couple of years old so it doesn't have my blog links, but it will do for now. However I wasn't too worried about recovering it because I've been working for a couple of weeks to learn WordPress.

So far I've created this new site for my group Uncommon Threads using WordPress. I hope the members will be able to use it to publish their own art. And I converted another blog RuBert Studios to it. I've been trying to get the courage to tackle PaMdora's Box. It has over 300 posts, and seems like a lot tougher nut to crack.

The reason I was cleaning my hard drive was a package that I've been anxiously awaiting has arrived.

I've never really been a Mac person, but disaster struck our studio and several computers needed to be replaced. After shopping around for a month, I decided it was time to make the leap. Don't worry Windows-lovers, I'm still a fan too, and if Russ works the same magic on this laptop as his did on another, I'll be running Windows in Parallels. Because I just love Picassa and can't give up a few other favorites.

We've always seen technology as something to help us in the wild weird art world, and there's nothing like a little trama to make you re-think, re-group, and recharge. Besides, how can you not love something that is packaged so beautifully. Can you believe that's the styrafoam under the computer?

The Art of Quilting PBS program

2007-02-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

Next Saturday, the documentary The Art of Quilting will air on our local PBS station. Check out Lisa Call's quilt in the background of the PBS website, hopefully it will be on the cover of the DVD when it's released! Last March a crew from Wisconsin came to my studio to do an interview. I haven't seen the show yet, but I've been told by the producer that my interview will appear in the first segment. Check your local PBS schedule, because this program is supposed to be airing nationally in March. For Springfield, the PBS - KOZK schedule is:

Saturday, March 3 at 8 a.m.
Thursday, March 8 at 12:30 afternoon
Saturday, March 17 at 12:30 afternoon

Coincidently, that first showing is the same day that 50 art teachers will be touring our studio as part of their spring state conference. Yikes, next week is going to be a scrabble to get things in some kind of order. I had this idea to get a bunch of tarps, cover everything, and label them "Top Secret Projects", but I don't think that will work!

More Bright Lights

2007-02-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

Although our studio is still a wreck, good things keep happening. Yesterday afternoon we had our third photo session with Bob Linder of Signature magazine for a feature article that should come out the end of March.

We did the session in the back warehouse with lots of Russ's metal cutouts in the background. It's hard to know what to wear for these things, and the lighting was so wacky, I couldn't take anything very good, except for this photo of his beautiful crinkly light umbrella. But Bob is such an excellent photographer that I'm excited to see what he's taken. But I did get this photo of Russ and Bob on a website I'm using to learn WordPress.

The Squirrel Tree

2007-02-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

Humans weren't the only people who suffered in the January 2007 ice storm. I think a lot of wild animals struggled too. Yesterday I saw a disoriented racoon sitting in the middle of the road in the bright daylight, so I imagine he was sick or hurt. And in our own yard, there has been lots of ruckus in the old squirrel tree.

Sometime during the storm, the big north branch crashed to the ground. Then third-story squirrel apartment broke and fell over. Next there was lots of activity in the second-story apartment, and Russ said he thought the squirrels were adding a extra bedroom for their third-story relatives.

Now that we're cleaning up the yard and trimming the trees, I know a professional arborist would say this old tree has to go -- it's in too bad of shape to save. But can't you just see it in Mochi's eyes, she's saying," Please Dad, save the squirrel tree. I won't have anything to watch all day long if you cut it down."

Honestly, it is better than dog TV.

Tiki Trivia

2007-02-19T22:33:00.000-08:00

I’ve gotten messages from Myra, Merrilee, and Diana in Maui to tell me that the spelling is PuPu, not PoPo. It helps in research to spell things correctly, so I after spelling it PuPu, I did learn something new about the Tiki craze. Apparently it was started in California by a guy who changed his name to Don the Beachcomber, to match the name of his restaurants that were popular in the 1940’s and 50’s. But then here's another story...

As I read about Tiki’s origins, I realized that the common attraction then and now is, people are looking for a fantasy escape. Moving back to the warehouse has not been so easy, especially working by torchlight (heh, just kidding.) But at the same time, it’s reinvigorated my interest in the Tiki Lounge that we built in our studio several years ago. We built it after an inspiring trip to a San Francisco swing club that had a cool Polynesian bar, the kind of place that serves drinks in coconuts with little umbrellas.

When we returned home, we put together our own version of a Tiki bar / Art Lounge in a side room of the warehouse. Russ topped the bar with metal, I covered the sides and roof with bamboo from our garden, and the stools came from Target.

Oh look, we even got Austin Powers to tend bar. It was a great place to hang out, play pool and host Halloween parties. But then we got busy, and the dust accumulated, and the Tiki Lounge fell into shadows.

But now, moving back here and looking at all this stuff everyday has revived my optimism for the strange fantasy world of island life, mysterious objects, and far away places. I’ve decided to embrace the decor, and actually enhance it! As a matter of fact, when all this renovation is over, I might just move the Tiki decor up front for a more prominent place.

So far, I’ve newly acquired a fake banana tree, a retro Metal Art Desk, Hawaiian music box, coconut cleaver and assorted funky lamps. I dug the Hawaiian Hula girl and bowling trophies (my grandmother’s) out of boxes, and dusted off rocks, baskets, and Asian masks. It’s been fun! Okay, but I wouldn't go this far. For the more adventurous DIYers, here's how to make a Tiki fireplace using foam. It's even got eyes that glow.

Totally Tiki

2007-02-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

I’ve been collecting lots of Tiki memorabilia for the Tiki office. Here’s a monkey with wire glasses. He's made out of coconuts, and has a slash on his stomach because he’s also a bank. Next to him is a girl with pigtails made out of some kind of nut. She’s also hollow and her hat lifts up -- so I think she’s meant to be a little purse.

The most fun thing so far has been filling up this Hawaiian serving tray with office supplies. It has a cute carved pineapple on the top and individual trays spin around. I thought this was called a popo platter, but can’t seem to find out for sure. Help Myra -- what’s it’ really called?

2007 Missouri Arts Awards

2007-02-11T19:47:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, we were at the capital for the 2007 Missouri Art Awards. Here is Russ standing between Missouri State Govenor Blunt and the First Lady, just after he received recognition in the Individual Artist category -- the highest honor an artist can receive in the State of Missouri.

The ceremony was held at the State Capitol building. Although I grew in near this building, and it was always a part of our hometown landscape and culture, I don't think I really appreciated it when I was there.

Since then, I've read some histories of the building. Most surprising to me was that 25% of the original architectural budget for the building was earmarked for decoration. Decoration! Do you realize what that means? That means ART! It does put some of our current 1% for the arts programs to shame, and remember that many building budgets don't even have that.

This explains a lot about the building -- the fact that there are statues, carvings and paintings everywhere throughout the capitol. Most famous are some large murals painted by Thomas Hart Benton. Above is a photo looking up through the rotunda, but I don't know who painted these murals. There also should be a huge chandelier in the center, but it got dropped during cleaning and maintenance last fall. I think it's going to take $600,000 to replace.

After the ceremony, we all traveled a couple of blocks to the Governor's Mansion for a nice reception. Many friends of the arts in Missouri were there to celebrate because Governor Blunt has recommended $8 million in his budget to go the Missouri Arts budget, up from $3 million last year and up from zero in 2004. Yay! All in all, it was a good day for the arts.

Russ's Award

2007-02-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

Not all the news from RuBert Studios is bad. On Wednesday, we'll be traveling to the state capital for Russ to recieve his award from Govenor Blunt and the Missouri Arts Council. Each year the State of Missouri recognizes only one individual artist (including performing artists), so this is a huge honor. The award ceremony will be at the capitol rotunda at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, with a reception following at the state Governor's Mansion.

Another notable artist is Susan Leslie Lumsden. She's a member of Uncommon Threads and also a friend. Her work (an art quilt) was selected to grace the cover of this year's poster and invitation.

On the Move

2007-02-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

Greetings from the Tiki Bar! We're moving our offices back into the warehouse, because of mass destruction and chaos in the front of the studio. I'll send more photos as we get settled in and the place becomes more photo-friendly...In the meantime here's a quick February One update.

The green machines have multiplied, and now we're blocking up or moving out furniture because there is still moisture in the floor and carpet. This used to be my office, now everything is spread all over the place, and I can hardly find anything, much comprehend what it is when I do see it.

Meanwhile, the heating ducts under the floor have to be cleaned because they were filled with water which also went into the furnace. This is a vaccum attached to a truck-mount system that was so loud that I couldn't hear the fire alarm when it was being tested today.

Yesterday the Perils of PaMdora show was over, so we had to find somewhere to store all that stuff. It was freezing cold and then snowing. Rebecca may be right, I must have really pissed off Mother Nature. Maybe she's mad that she wasn't in my quilted cast of characters. So definitely I'm going to put Mother Nature in my next quilt. Actually I've thinking about putting her in a professional wrestling costume. I thought of that last December when she snowed out my show opening, and apparently she's not going to let me forget this idea.

Taking down the show was real pain -- in the foot! because yesterday I dropped a heavy saucepan on my foot and think I broke something. Maybe I shouldn't be climbing on ladders until it heals, but a girl's gotta do, what a girl's gotta do.

On the bright side, those wonderful Christmas Elves that helped me before my show showed up to organize and clean, in fact Merrilee, Lettie, and Lucy helped organize photos, files, move furniture, wash towels, and cheer me up!

And for the last two days, I've been trying to find time and sanity in all this chaos to finish fourth quarter tax reports that have to be filed. At least my typewriter is still working- ha ha!

Water Damaged Photos

2007-01-26T20:39:00.000-08:00

This is my photo-washing station. Luckily since I have LOTS of photos to wash and dry, I have great scenery for my work -- one of Russ's aluminum and plexiglass paintings that hangs in our group room as a partition to hide to all the snacks in the kitchen behind.

Every day I do another batch and lay them out on tables to dry. Last week, someone on the QA list suggested I look up how to save wet photos on the internet (thanks very much!) and I found this website. At the time, I was laying on the sofa, but this site reinforced the urgency of the situation, so I jumped back to work. I wish I had read these ideas earlier, but everything still seems to be working although it's been over a week. As suggested I did freeze one box of lower-priority photos because there's just so darn many of them, and my back is killing me!

There are too many to take to a photo shop, especially because all the shops here have been without power for a week and are behind on their other jobs. I also read another site that says that now preservatives have been washed off the photos, so they will probably fade more quickly. We have been planning to scan them when dry. Since all of these projects happened in the ancient pre-digital-camera days, it would be nice to have them on computer. But there's too many, so I'm definitely using my editing trash can.

This photo was taken before the green machines arrived. Now that they're here, the photos are drying faster but it's also a lot messier. There are cords and tubes on the floor everywhere, a lot more dust in the air, and the green machines keep blowing circuits. Yesterday the DSL was down most of the day. I was feeling a bit lonely with no email again, but it was nice to get home and read so many of your nice posts. It really cheered me up -- thanks!

Green Machines

2007-01-24T20:17:00.000-08:00

Because there was so much water released in the offices by the broken sprinkler system (first it rained, then it flooded), the whole place has to be dried out to prevent mildew. So now there are about forty noisey green machines --high-powered fans and dehumidifiers -- running night and day. It's a little like trying to work inside a windstorm, so it seems ironic that we have a whirlwind painted on the wall of what used to be our conference room.

This is ground zero, where it all started, but now the custom desk and carpet are removed. Nice of the de-humidification company to bring decor-matching equipment.

Not only all carpet has to be removed, also all the ceilings and (wah) our beautiful tile floors. I think the hand-glazed walls may be the only thing safe from total replacement.

This was my office, peacefully drying out slides and papers. That was before they torn out the ceiling and the green machines blew papers all over the place.

My studio in the back of the warehouse fared pretty well, except water from the flood crept under the doors and into the carpet. It wicked across the room, spoiling lots of things I hide under the table and into the flannel on all my pin boards. So we've moved those down to dry.

What about all my fabrics, you may ask? All okay, except that I had them packed so tightly on the shelves, that just to be safe and prevent any potential mildew problems, I've moved them off the shelves so the de-humidifiers can circulate air around them. Tomorrow we'll move more green machines back here. Some really nice art books are drying on the table, and Madalaine waits patiently for all this to be over.

p.s. You may have noticed I lost the template for PaMdora's Box. Someday I'll try to fix, but not now, I'm trying to fix too many other things right now!

2007-01-23T07:36:00.000-08:00

Barn's burnt down --
now
I can see the moon.

Masahide
1688

Simple Things

2007-01-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the sun was shining, so some of the ice melted -- but not much. Today was cloudy and snowy and now an icy rain is falling. Predictions are for another two inches of sleet, so this does not bode well for getting back to normal life. Here's a link to more ice storm photos.

Yesterday I had a photo session scheduled at my Perils of PaMdora show at Pool Art Gallery for a March article in Signature Magazine. Although it was difficult, the photographer and I decided to go ahead as planned. It was a great opportunity to get some restoration advice for water damaged slides and photos. His advice seems to be working better than expected, so maybe later I'll write it up to help other artists who might someday have this problem.

I was hoping to look really sharp for my photo session because Bob is an awesome photographer, but as my friend said, we're all looking a little rough these days. Since I have been staying up all night at the studio trying to clean up the flood, I told Bob he had to Photoshop the bags out from under my eyes. Just as he finished and packed up his equipment, a transformer blew up nearby and the whole building lost power, so we finished just in time.

Walking around my show yesterday reminded me of objects that I put in the installation -- little things I hoped would express joy in the creative process, a love of my artistic materials of choice, and other small and simple things. These are embroidery threads that I wind on old wooden spools to keep them organized.

Last fall I saw photos of a Kiki Smith sculpture using jars -- and although her concept was very different from mine, I was inspired to include some jars of dye to express the amazing process of hand-dyeing fabric. It was a little tricky to get them to look right -- I ended up using bits of vintage lace, something I had been wanting to experiment with anyway.

Before this storm hit I was working on photos of my show to put on my web site. But I've had to drop most creative pursuits for the last week because this storm has become a serious situation in which lots of people are really struggling to just to survive.

Thanks so much to all of you who have sent email sympathies and offers of help. For others, it may be easy to second-guess choices that people make in such situations, but folks here are doing the best they can and have been quite resourceful. We are luckier than many, having a small generator to run the boiler and radiators in our house, a couple of lights, the TV, and DSL box. But to truly keep our house warm, we've had to burn a fire around the clock -- and cutting and thawing ice-covered trees for firewood is a full time job.

Then there's making ice on the porch to keep food in coolers at the right temperature, preparing candles for after-dark, feeding the neighbors and elderly people that we have taken in, keeping their abandoned house pipes from freezing, and yada yada yada.... Not to mention many of these people are still trying to go to their day jobs on top of all this survival stuff. I have a new respect and understanding for how hard it is to be a pioneer, a farmer, etc....I'd rather get back to my job of being an artist!

Since we got power back on at our house on Thursday, it's been a little easier, but there are still lots of dark neighborhoods around us. And if you get the power back, you can lose it just as fast because the whole city power grid is unstable and under repair. So we're still stocking up on firewood, and inviting our neighbors over for a shower and load of laundry. It is surprising how important these simple things are if you haven't had them for a week.

From Bad to Worse

2007-01-19T06:26:00.000-08:00

Another day breaks in the crystal forest. Meanwhile, news from the inside isn't good...

Hey kids, don't try this at home!

Even though we've been running generators around the clock to keep things above freezing, the 4 degree weather for two nights in a row with no power got us. The fire sprinkler system in the ceiling at the studio frozen and exploded when the power came back on Wednesday night, sending thousands of gallons of high-pressure water everywhere. Luckily a City Utilities worker saw water pouring out of the front door, and was able to turn the water off at the main.

The offices and front warehouse were flooded with six to eight inches of water so everything on bottom shelves and in all my files drawers is soaked. The worst place the water exploded was right in the middle of our photo and slide room. See that black hole where the light is falling down? That used to be the ceiling.

There's nothing like opening drawers and seeing a lifetime of slides floating in water, not to mention all the family and wedding photos albums I was storing in that room. And camera and video equipment. So now we're working around the clock to control the damage. This is the photo and slide triage room.

Another Dark Night

2007-01-15T22:12:00.000-08:00

Another night without power. And the excuse to burn candles to make things romantic. At the same time, I think about the ingenuity of simple things, such as putting a string in wax to burn and make light for a whole evening. I think we often take what we think are simple technologies for granted. But to invent such a thing before it was common probably made major diffences in world history.

I discovered something important today -- how to make a cup of coffee without a coffee-maker. I found a funnel, lined it with a coffee filter, and poured boiling water through it to make a good cup of coffee! yay -- the first few tries were not so good, because I was used old pre-ground coffee. Then I got the chance to try to some better pre-ground coffee beans, and Success!! Especially after adding the cream that's been sitting out on the porch.

Luckily we have a gas stove-top so we can cook and boil water. Luckily also, I have some talented friends who make hand-carved coffee mugs with things like giraffees and little funky cars on them, because I truely believe, even if you're roughing it, you should do it in the artistic style in which you are accustomed to.

Not much luck at the studio, however. We returned today to find the power company's efforts in vain. Three power-poles have fallen over...

and crashed terribly. Several more poles are tipping dangerously.

I hope to get more photos of the trees that I saw today. But tonight we'll sit by the fire and try to re-charge for tomorrow, when the temperatures will be even lower. Thank goodness that we have a big fireplace to dry and burn wood.

Ghost Town

2007-01-14T18:50:00.000-08:00

Nights are dark without electricity, but I like to keep lots of candles around. I usually just put them inside of clear canning jars so they make lots of light and are easy to carry around the house. Except I got a little carried away and created a tray (a Mexican bar tray) full of candles.

The reason there's no electricity is we've been hit by a terrible series of ice storms. There's not much ice on the road, but the trees have been covered with thick coats of globby, gleaming ice. Walking outside of our house feels like walking into a ghost forest of deathly white trees, into a ghost town where almost all the houses are dark. If you stand outside for more than a few minutes, in the unnatural silence you will hear the eerie noise of branches falling and trees crashing down somewhere from the weight of the ice.

We haven't had any power since Friday night, so a lot of time is spent working on alternative ways to stay warm -- gathering down jackets and lots of blankets, gathering and drying out fire wood. I've been checking in with some of our elderly neighbors, because if you walk around the neighborhood, you see that a lot of people are blocked in their own driveways with fallen branches. Actually there are branches and trees and power lines fallen down over most roads, so it's difficult to drive anywhere even if you do get out.

We were hoping the studio would get power get power soon because it's in a commercial district, but so far no luck even though yesterday there were eight trucks working on the street outside.

Once the power company gets a power line hooked up, another one falls somewhere else, so half the city is without power. The worst part of all this is, the weather forecast for the next few days predicts temperatures dropping into the low teens in the day and lower at night. So for lots of people who haven't left town already, the trick will be to stay safe and warm until the end of the week.

Here's the view out our front door. We can't even walk this way because of fallen trees.

And in the back, this hundred-year-old tree has been shattered. This summer we'll miss its shade and already our yard squirrels and dog are mourning the loss. We might just have to use it for firewood though, if the power's not on soon.

White is a Color

2007-01-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

I try to always carry a little spy camera around with me to snap photos for my inspiration files -- especially ideas for color schemes. And often while getting haircuts, I've admired this little box from afar, but yesterday I finally got out of the barbar chair to capture it.

My hair stylist says this company has been making bob pins since the 1930's and probably never redesigned the package in this time. Good thing! because I think it's so handsome in simple pink, black and white.

It's a great example of something a friend taught me -- white is a color. Previously I knew that white in terms of light is a mix of all the colors of light. And white in terms of pigment, as in mixing paints, is an absence of color. But once while judging a student logo competition, my friend Mary who runs her own graphics studio, turned to me and said, "These students haven't learned that in graphic design, white is a color."

I've thought about that often since then. In some of my quilts I've used white as a color, as you can see in The Singing Telegram and Blue Christmas. When you use white, you have to be more careful while working -- not to get it dirty! My dog Mochi walked through the warehouse one day, smelling every odd thing, then smelled Blue Christmas which was on a low table. Horrors -- a dirty smudge! Had to ban the dog after that, but the spot came out and you can't blame her really -- she's so smart, maybe she knew the quilt was about her!

So here's a toast to white (as I raise my morning glass of milk!)

VOTE in the FiberArts studio competition

2007-01-08T18:42:00.000-08:00

Yay, I'm a finalist in the FiberArts Magazine studio contest! I'm not sure why I entered, except that the fact that the prizes are mysteriously not named added a little intrique to the whole thing. It about killed me to enter, because the deadline to submit photos and written information was the same day that my show opened on December first.

But I had to take some photos anyway of my studio right before the show, because I figured it would never look better than when it was full to the gills with work in progress. Except of course, I had to clean it up.....yikes!!!

The sad part is I don't think I entered my best photos. Silly me, I had this crazy idea that I would make another, probably illegal entry from PaMdora, not really to cheat --- but because I thought it would be funny if she entered the mock-studio installation at the Pool Art Center Gallery. Unfortunely, it proved to be too much for me, and I never got the joke studio submitted. I know you think I've been slacking off in the art department, but since the opening of that show, I've hard at work on a re-vamp of my website which will include a photo tour of that installation.

In the meantime, enjoy a visit to FiberArt Magazine's website. You can read stuff I wrote about my studio. There are also 43 other artist studios on display, and you can VOTE here for the winners (hint, hint, I've been selected for the Best Stash category :)!

Refrigerator Art

2007-01-07T09:11:00.000-08:00

Around here we celebrate the New Year's most all of January. Some people make New Year's resolutions on January one, but I usually have to start with something like a rough sketch and fiddle around with it for the whole month.

This arrangement is on a refrigerator in our kitchen. I've covered it with magnetic letters that I got at a vintage salvage place in Chattanooga called "Estate of Confusion." The magnetic letters were all brown, so I sprayed them with Krylon paint. At the center is the schedule of classes (aerobic, step, spinning, combat) at the gym near our studio. I guess it shows that most of my New Year's ideas have to do with health and fitness. Here's some resolutions I've been thinking about:

Cardio workouts five days a week
Drink a glass of of milk every morning
Eat more vegetables
Get a better haircut
Use more ribbon

When our nieces and nephews visit, they like to play around with the letters on the refrigerator which why I put them there. If they are missing a letter to spell something, they can use a Scrabble letter to fill in. You can turn anything that's not too heavy into magnet art by getting a roll of magnetic stuff at an office supply store. It's easy to cut with scissors, and already has adhesive on one side.

We call this refrigerator our beverage refrigerator. There's also a lot of sauces in there. If we ever finish remodeling our kitchen, we'll have to find another place to store all those bottles and my magnetic art.

Here's where we store everything else. Magnets don't stick to it because it's stainless steel. Russ took the doors off and polished them with his magic tools at the studio. The patterns he said were inspired by something -- can you guess what?

So far we haven't met anyone else who has his-and-hers art refrigerators!

New Year's Yoga Mala

2007-01-02T22:04:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year's everyone! Okay, I admit it -- I have been a blog slug for the past three weeks, and am trying my best to rise out of slugdom. But really, wasn't it only a few hours ago that Dick Clark's countdown was on tv, and we were opening the headache-inducing champagne. At midnight, it seemed like a great idea to run outside, fire up the cooker, and grill some steak and eggs and listen to the center-city fireworks over our garden wall.

Anyway, I'm not ready to list a bunch of new goals and resolutions -- it was enough to get out of the house yesterday to participate in the New Year's Yoga Mala at a downtown loft. Especially because I already know how much fun it is to do 108 Sun Salutations in one afternoon. Thanks for the photo, Kirsten! Russ asked me when he saw it, why do they call it Sun Salutations when he said all he saw were a lot of moons.

I also took my camera to the event, and even tried to capture what it looks like half the time. But it was a little hard to hold this downdog pose and hold the camera.

I learned long ago in public high school that the best way to get out of class legally is to become the class photographer, so I bought a camera and got someone to teach me how to develop and print photos for the yearbook and newspaper in those pre-digital days. So likewise, whenever I got tired of doing the sun salutes, I took photography breaks.

Overall the event was pretty cool -- about fifty people showed up, there were real live improvisational musicians playing all sorts of strange instruments, and a singer-chanter who counted the chants on beads. And snacks! For all my yoga friends, I've put together this slide show of the New Year's Yoga Mala.

Photos of my Solo Exhibit

2006-12-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

Here's a photo of the front part of The Perils of PaMdora exhibit at Pool Art Center Gallery. I have six new quilts in this exhibit -- "The Singing Telegram" is on the left and "Alien Invasion" is on the right.

The back of the partial wall with my quilt "The Vintage Purse."

This is the section behind the partial wall.

Sixteen quilts in all. I feel pretty good about this, because a year ago when I first got this show scheduled, that's how many I planned to have done. But since two of the quilts are very small, these sixteen quilts don't fill the whole gallery. That's why I designed the quilt-studio installation in the right wing.

From this view, you can barely see the installation on the right -- PaMdora's Pink and Blue Quilt Studio. I choose that section for the installation because it seems almost like a separate room in the gallery and doesn't seem to interfere with viewing the finished work. Would it have been easier to finish more quilts or the installation? I'm not sure, but it does make for an interesting mix that has been well received by the students and faculty at the university and most people who have seen the show.

Back at the front again, this shows a better view of the Yoga 101 series. At first we had them evenly spaced, then later squished one to add the small ones, but I kind of wish we hadn't.

Last week we made these Christmas cards with Russ's sculpture to send out, so I could send a note that the PaMdora opening had been delayed due to weather without paying for extra postage. It worked out well though, and we had a nice turn-out that filled the lecture room at the university.

I also spent a lot of time organizing my photos and thoughts for the Artist's Talk. This week I hope to get some of this stuff posted on my website. I'm thinking about presenting some of my talk in a web-magazine format.

The Perils have been Postponed!

2006-12-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

The opening of The Perils of PaMdora has been postponed until next Friday because a big ice storm the size of three states hit yesterday. It feels a little like having school cancelled because of snow on the day you have a big test. Oh great, I have another whole week to prepare. And then, Oh no, I have another whole week to prepare.

Actually it's mostly done. I spent the snow day finishing up my jars of blue and pink dyes and arranging tedious details like these vintage tidbits in an old Danish sewing box. Lisa asked where I got the day-glo pink plastic gloves. The Asian food store. If you haven't been to one of these, check out the kitchen utensil section, there's always interesting stuff there.

The pink and blue clothespins came from Japan where many people still air dry their clothes. Lisa also asked if I was worried about any of my stuff disappearing. At first I was, then realized I couldn't do my best if that's what I focused on, so I'm just putting my personal invisible force-field around everything and going for it. Actually, when we visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water house, there was millions of dollars of stuff laying around, but there's micro-chip alarms attached to everything -- so you never know!

There are stories about most of the stuff in this installation. The sink came from our old house, but I love it so took it with me. The little metal chair I use to reach high places on the design board is actually one that Russ built for baby chimapanzees when he worked at a chimpanzee psychology research center (they need strong furniture because they are very strong.)

Speaking of Russ, there he is -- hanging folding rulers above the Infinite Drawing on the wall. I like these old ones when they are expanded to look like rick-rack. Have you ever looked through your art books for pink or blue ones? They're rare. And that's my grandmother's fuzzy vintage coat on a blue plastic hanger above all the rolled-up patterns for all the quilts in my show.

Here's another view of a still life I showed a couple of days ago. The printer blocks on top say "Time to make some art!" That pink box is a tiny bottle of vintage Ben Hur Perfume that I found at a flea market. Who ever heard of Ben Hur perfume and what does it smell like - horses?? The necklace on the dress form is made of tiny toy keys and toy padlocks that I accidently found on Ebay when I was looking for something else. I painted the dress form with latex a couple of years ago to match our dining room.

Installation Blues (and Pinks)

2006-11-30T20:22:00.000-08:00

Today has been a crazy day! There's a big snow and ice storm hovering over several states in the Midwest, and everything in our city has come to a standstill as ice rains from the sky, and people are high-tailing it home to hibernate from the weather. It's put me in a bit of a tizzy, because it's unclear if the university will have to cancel my opening tomorrow.

In the meantime, I just keep working -- because what else can I do? The ironic thing is, a few years ago I opted to focus on gallery and indoor art because I had been burned out from working hard on big outdoor projects where attendance was subject to the whims nature. Oh well, we can't argue with Mother Nature, but this means I may have to do a quilt about her!

Above is the installation part of my show. I still have some tinkering to do, but I'm really happy with how it's shaping up. The blank space on the left wall above the desk is where my Infinite Drawing will go. This afternoon while my quilts were being hung on the other side of the gallery, I went back to my (now empty) studio to sew the drawing together.

From earlier experiments, I decided it was easier to sew the columns before the rows, because sewing paper isn't like sewing fabric. You can't fold or scrunch it. I didn't even know if this would be possible since I had never done anything like this, but it's something that does require assistance.

Here's the final drawing -- it's 5' by 11'. I designed it to run off the pages, so that you can imagine the drawing could go on forever -- kind of like wall paper. I can't wait to hang it tomorrow and see how it looks.

Still Life with Mr. Bubble

2006-11-29T20:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Santa came early and left two elves in my studio. These elves are named Merrilee and Lettie, and luckily these elves know how to sew! They also know how to do micro-surgery on frayed fabric edges.

They also know how to sew hanging sleeves on the back of quilts, and since five quilts for the show needed sleeves, I was running short on time. So thank you Merrilee and Lettie for helping me out with lots of final tasks yesterday.

This photo is also a great opportunity to show off the new table shirt that I made a couple of weeks ago for my big studio table. For several years I had been kicking around these amazing draperies that were in my grandmother's house. The pattern on the fabric was so big and bold, I didn't know what to do with them. Even though I was told I could sell the barkcloth for a high price, I could never bear to part with them. Then I had this idea to cover all the junk under my table, so I cut the drapes in half and faked pleates with a staple gun. Now my studio is so much more homey, and I have good vibes from my grandmother's house in my studio.

Because I had excellent help of the elves yesterday, I had the whole day today to work on my studio installation in the gallery. Here's a few closeups -- I'll post a full view when it's done. In case you can't read the printer block letters, this says "Time to Make Some Art!"

I call this "Still Life with Pepto-Bismol." Or maybe I should call it "Still Life with Mr. Bubble." I did it because I thought it was funny to put together all these pink things in a medicine cabinet, but the cosmetics and the brand names on the bottles also relate to the cosmetics theme in my Late Date quilt that is part of this installation environment.

The medicine cabinet also relates to the sink, which relates to the dyeing enviroment of the studio. Talk about free association! Anyway, here it is in a slightly bigger context. After studying this composition, I think I need to move the vintage clothes line to the left, hang the blue apron, and turn the orientation of the pink rubber gloves. Tomorrow I will finish the jars of dye fabric to complete this section of the studio installation.