Wired at Sunrise

October 30, 2008

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Lately more often than not, I wake up really early. When that happens, I workout and do some yoga, get breakfast and coffee, and head to the studio. I actually enjoy the quiet time before sunrise. This is the sun rising on the edge of the street headed east in front of our studio.

Filed Under Inspiration, studio | 7 Comments 

“Quilts - Art with a Q” at the Fries Museum

October 24, 2008

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Quilting the ice is what I was most worried about. I finally decided that I that I wanted a swirly, skatey pattern, and was thinking about how ice skates leave those white scratches in the ice that get covered over and over.

What was that term that Jason Pollen used for layers and layers of drawing marks made on top of each other, like on an old chalkboard menu where yesterday’s image is ghosted behind? Can’t remember, oh well.

The skating marks slowly transform from swirly to crackly at the bottom, where PaMdora’s skate blade precariously balances. Not sure how successful that was, but it was an interesting experiment.

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Here’s the finished quilt, Skating On Thin Ice — it’s 42″ x 61″. Today I have to ship it off to The Netherlands along with another winter-themed quilt for a November-March exhibition at the Fries Museum. For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been stressing about how to do the shipping, but this morning got it worked out with the museum register. She was very nice, and told me that some of the hundreds of quilts — both traditional and contemporary — were already arriving at the museum.

Filed Under exhibitions, process, quilts | 17 Comments 

Little swatches

October 22, 2008

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Usually I think that once the quilt top has been designed and cut out and pieced together, it’s all downhill. Not in a bad way, but a sort of you-did-the-work-and-climbed-the-hill-and-now-you’re-on-top-and-ready-to-sail-down-on-your-sled/bike/snowboard-squealing-weeee kind of downhill. Mostly it’s like that, mostly it’s easy, fun and satisfying. But there are usually a few places that require some tough choices, a bit of nail-biting, and a lot of faith.

For those, I make test swatches to try out new ideas or stitch designs and threads to see how they interact with the patterns and colors of the fabric. But then when it comes to the real deal, it’s still a performance that requires practice, attitude, and spontaneity.

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How to be in two places at once

October 17, 2008

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The editor at the last book I submitted photos to complained that my photos were not good enough, so I’ve been working on my photography. Something cool I learned this week was how to use the auto-timer on the camera. So I can set up the camera on the tripod, then run around to get in the picture. This photo probably give you a better sense of what it’s like to work on one of these quilts, since you can gauge the scale.

A couple days ago I finalized the design on the wall and started to fuse everything down. The fusing is only temporary, things almost immediately start to curl up and fall off. But it’s good enough that I can get in under the sewing machine and stitch everything together for good. Did I whine it took a lot of time to cut snowflakes. Now I’m sewing them, which could be worse!

Thanks to Virginia, Gerrie, Jeanne, and others for reminding me about Blog Action Day/Poverty. I missed it here, but their posts reminded me to get off my duff and donate to The Kitchen, a great local organization here that provides food, job-training and medical care to people in need.

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Filed Under process, quilts, studio, technology | 5 Comments 

Why Do they call them flakes?

October 14, 2008

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Awwk! Yesterday I went crazy cutting out snowflakes. It will take me forever to get a real snow-storm going, but thanks for all the support. I can always count on you all to make me laugh. Love the orange pompom and hot pink snowflake suggestions. Actually I have an idea for a snowflake quilt that is full of HOT colors.

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The snowflakes are helping though. What is it about them that makes things seem magical? Even though I feel tortured to come up with unique patterns, I am in in awe of nature who produces billions of these just so I can shovel the driveway. :)

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An early frost?

October 12, 2008

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Although it’s hard to think about when it’s 78 degrees outside, I’m going for the frosty look — so don’t know about using the spots of green color. Maybe everything should be blue? Still have dog eyeballs, camera and snowflakes to make. And a pompom.

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Visiting Calder and other inspirations

October 3, 2008

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Yesterday we went to visit this sculpture by one of my very favorite artists Calder, the master of cool shapes. I read somewhere he said, “My fan mail is enormous. Everyone is under six.”

calder2.jpg Unfortunately we missed the big Obama rally that was held underneath the sculpture by just a few hours, because we were inside at the conference listening to the history of this piece and how it was one of the first public art installations funded by the NEA — after Nancy Mulnix Tweddale wrote a long-hand letter to then congressman Gerald Ford for support. So artists, maybe we need to get back to writing long-hand for our agendas and skip this email stuff!

Russ took this photo of me testing the weight of the sculpture — yes, it is too heavy to lift.

The rest of the day was busy with lectures at the Meijer Sculpture Park. I took pages of sketch-notes at a mentoring session with Patrick Dougherty who makes fantastic sculptures out of sticks, and at a profound keynote address by Barcelona artist Jaume Plensa, and will have to wait until I’m home to fully reflect on it all. Both are artists I’ve mentioned on this blog before, so you can check the links in the meantime.

Filed Under Inspiration, journeys, sculpture | 9 Comments 

Public art conference - a day of workshops

October 2, 2008

iron_pour.jpg Crand Rapids is hosting an ISC public art conference and Russ taught one a great one about three-dimensional computer-aided design for sculptors and artists. While he was teaching inside, a group of sculptors built kilns in the roped-off street outside for an iron-pour and sculpture casting. I tremble at the thought of walking around with a pot of molten metal, but they had many practice runs for timing and safety, and the result was dramatic as the sun set in the evening.

The workshops were held at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art — a very cool place offering artist workshops and exhibitions. I was happy to find a couple of ceramic pieces by Lisa Naples that have me itching to try my hand at ceramics again. Here’s an article about how she changed her style without losing identity from The Crafts Report.

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The UICA spread out the best workshop food I’ve ever seen. Take a look at these cupcakes! I’ll be dreaming of painting with icing in my next cake dream. At the end of the conference, the UICA will  also be hosting “One Big Art Party” on Friday — can’t wait!

Filed Under journeys, other artists | 6 Comments