One Disaster at a Time

Pictured here is a 30"x30" wall quilt (there's a built in sleeve for hanging on the back) that myself and the other members of my artist collective, The Midwives Collective & Gallery, stitched to raise money for our chosen charity: Midwives for Haiti. Each block was done by a different member (though Christiana did the two of the cat and dog dreaming and I did two, the middle stylized flower and below that, the fish scales). But anyway, it's wonderful to have various styles and visions come together into one piece. Additionally, this quilt is being raffled off into the beginning of July! All the $$$ from the raffle goes to Midwives for Haiti.


Now, I know that since Haiti was leveled by that terrible earthquake about 5 months ago, other horrific disasters have happened: Guatemala's sinkhole, Earthquake in Chile, Floods and Mudslides in Rio De Janeiro, BP's Gulf Oil Spill and we're only 1/2 way through 2010 (and of course, we're not done digging out of the global recession....). It's a bit overwhelming at times, rendering me completely helpless. But doing something like this quilt, as well as doing my own quest against Breast Cancer, makes me feel a bit like I can do something, that something is in my control to, if not completely fix, at least be a part of the solution and sending out something positive. And, wonderfully enough, you too can be a part of that positivity and purchase raffles for this quilt for CHEEEEEEEEEP (and know that you're helping pregnant women and new mothers have healthy babies).

Thanks!

Last time I slept?

I'm not sure when was the last time I got a full night's rest. It's been weeks. 

THIS IS WHY

*I hope to see everyone tomorrow, Friday, June 11th, to celebrate. :)

Redwork embroidery quilt block - Finished!

Finished off my redwork quilt block last night! It's fun to see my design done in embroidery. Next up I'll be making hand-painted wallpaper with it and a few other designs.

Redwork Embroidery Quilt Project

For the Midwives Collective's upcoming members' show (June 2010), in addition to our own personal works, we're doing a collaborative group project: a redwork embroidery quilt. Each of us is going to produce a single block. Then my mom and her friend are going to piece the quilt together and finish it off for us (Thanks Mom!). The pictured red fabrics are the other fabrics that are going to be used in our collaborative quilt.
This quilt will either be auctioned or raffled off during our show. 100% of the proceeds will go to benefit Midwives For Haiti.
The design I'm using for my own block is taken from an original repeated design Sarah and I are producing for our collaborative installation for the Midwives members' show. My current designs are based on the stylized florals of Richard Hoffman.

Visions of Things to Come

Once both Lamina (my solo show) and Bedazzzzled (Maurene's solo show at the Midwives Gallery) open, Sarah and I have much to concern ourselves with. June is the annual Midwives Collective Members show, and this year's theme is "red", whatever that may mean to the artist. Sarah and I are working collaboratively on this project. Last night we had a great meeting where we agreed on some key points and ideas, scheduled a few weeks' worth of workshop days, and set goals for the coming weeks. This is going to be good.

A BUSY December

Man, I always forget how November/December gets booked solid EVERY YEAR no matter my efforts. Or because of them. Either way, I'm busy, which is good (and sometimes stressful).
So, coming up this month is a show that I'm pretty jazzed about:

It's been a co-production between my artist group, The Midwives Collective & Gallery, and Off The Wall Gallery of Dirty Frank's Bar. I like the idea of our alternative co-op space and an arty bar teaming up for a show. Perhaps more cross-over teamwork like this would be good for the city as a whole?
I'm also excited about doing a specifically textiles/fibers show because this past year Moore College of Art & Design (my alma mater) decided to drop Textiles as a major, and from my understanding, relegate it specifically to part of Fine Arts. I have a problem with this. I chose Textiles because (A) when we had to choose majors I had no interest in the other majors offered and no idea what Textiles was so I thought "hey, why not?"(plus I thought it weird that choosing a major in art school was required. I had figured that it'd be more like my experience in high school, where we got to learn about all different mediums without hindrance) and (B) upon joining into Textiles, I found that it was the most flexible of the majors I could have ever hoped for. Yes, you can go into a fine arts direction, but you can also go way into the industry of it. With that, you can focus on Fashion vs. Interiors. Or you can do both. Or you can be crafty, or you can take craft and transcend it's usual crafty stereotypes and synthesize Fine Art, Fashion, Interiors, whatever. You can employ sculptural or photo techniques, book techniques, installation. Basically, I found a department that was open and flexible with where you wanted your work to go, but also taught you lots of skills for making your vision a reality. It's a shame to me that the Texiles major (Moore's first major too) is being dropped.
But what I really like about our co-production of "The Whole 9 Yards" show with Off The Wall Gallery is that we on the panel decided to approach "textiles/fibers" from a more open viewpoint, rather than only putting "textiles/fibers" artists in the show. Granted, a lot of the work falls into that category, but we strove to show the breath of textiles and fibers, so that the viewer could see how they were experiencing textiles and fibers in their lives. There's photographs, sculptures, tapestries and other kinds of woven pieces, video, both hand-painted and digital print design, paintings, embroidery, etc. And most of the talent in the show is local, which makes me happy. I think more of a spotlight should be shone on local talent.

Another thing we're doing is an embroidery workshop on Sunday, Dec. 13th:

Later this month is my Midwives Holiday Party, which is exciting! I made my Secret Santa a really fun gift this year (at least it was really fun for me to make) and can't wait for her to open it! Plus, it's always nice to spend some time with the Collective just goofing off and playing, since there's so much business involved with running a space in our spare time.

Also, I got into a show at Desotorow Gallery ("Stitched") in Savannah, GA. It's the first time I ever applied for a show (whyyyyyy did I wait this long!?!) and got in! This bodes well and has totally boosted my confidence. My New Year's Resolution: Apply for more shows, and try to score 5-10 per year. That'd be amazing. That and get a job (helloooo economy! I heard rumor you're improving...).

Oh yeah, and Christmas this year is at our little apartment. I'm excited, but also a bit stressed. But it's good. Should be a relaxed and fun day with the family.

And after the holidays, our roll-out for our "Re-cognition" show (part of the mammoth Philagrafika international festival) begins. I have a ton of images to go through and start working for the printed materials as well as website stuff. Phew!

Hardanger update

So, I've not gotten as far as I'd like on my hardanger embroidery project. Stuff with my collective has been taking some precedence with our upcoming shows:

EL VIAJE:the journey


CALL FOR ENTRIES: The Whole 9 Yards

I'm a juror for this show!

Anyway, here's an update on what I've gotten so far:



There's a lot of planning and pulling of threads happening on other parts of the fabric in prep for adding in decorative stitches and structures. More when that actually happens!

Progress. Slow, painstaking, delicate progress.

I do not think it's any coincidence that hardanger embroidery contains the word "danger". Nope. I delayed this project for a couple months because I was terrified. And I figured that just going in there and starting would somehow assuage this terror. And indeed no, it's not. My fear is like a large and stinky onion, or maybe like an ogre. Or a parfait.


Yuck. I hate that "All-Star" song at the end. But you get the point.

And so I'm discovering that my fear and terror regarding hardanger embroidery has layers upon layers. This is mainly due to the rather unforgiving nature of hardanger embroidery (what with the actual cutting and pulling of threads and creating artful holes in one's fabric). And like any near-debilitating fear, one must face it head-on or it'll take up permanent residence in one's psyche.

So, instead of me working firmly along the outer most edges of this piece, I've dared to dig in further; to about 1.5" in from the edge. Oh, and I've started concretely planning out the huge opening in the middle. So, go me! It's been hours of work, though you may not be able to tell much difference. That's OK. I know it's there and eventually you'll see it too. The open bar running along the bottom of the photo is new.

And hopefully in a week's time, there will be significant changes to this piece.

For fun, here's Ruby, my constant companion and biggest non-human fan:

Whoah, girl. Settle down!

Happy 4th of July!

Yay! 4th of July! A day of great smells: sunblock, BBQ, fresh air... and best of all the crappy excuse for a drum circle is NOT playing their one and only 7-hour off-rhythm "song" in the park across the street today! Hopefully they're all at the beach with their bongos or whatevers, subjecting new victims to their very own free and unwarranted concert.

In art news: I'm going for the West Collection Prize. In a on-going quest to not only make art regularly, but to - dare I say - accrue personal confidence in said work, I'm looking for appropriate grants, shows, prizes, etc to apply for. This could totally backfire and riddle me with demons after landslides of rejections. Or I could finally grow a pair. And I've been really hoping to earn my balls sooner rather than later.

And now some photos of the work that recently came down from our MERE: Recent Works show:



Cell Mates, 2009, silk & thread


detail of Cell Mates


Potential, 2009, silk and thread


detail of Potential


Our Shared Secrets, 2009, silk and thread, paper and graphite


detail of Our Shared Secrets


Next up, I have several embroidary hoop projects I'm putting together.

Photoshoot!

Hey all,
been busy lately. Last Friday I participated in my friend's on-going photo project series. Helen Maurene Cooper is an awesome photographer who lives and works in Chicago (though she used to hail from Philly, which is how I was lucky enough to meet her and become her friend).
Her current work (which is not yet up on her website but other great stuff is) deals with issues of hip-hop culture and race relations, gender relations, and black American history. She recently won a fellowship to go to the Underground Railroad sites in Ohio and continue her project in those sites. She composes the figure(s) in front of a backdrop in typically mannerist poses. In a few weeks she'll have sifted through all the shots she took of Sarah Hunt and I and choose her favorites.
It was a real joy to work with Maurene on this project. We discussed having a show of her work in our space in the future and I am really looking forward to bringing this to fruition.


Maurene set up her backdrop in our gallery space.


Maurene and her many cameras. She shot with three different cameras for three different formats.


Sarah in costume.


The set up in our gallery space during our most recent show.

Last night's opening: MERGE:Recent Works

Hi all! Last night was the opening for our show MERGE:Recent Works. It was great! Lots of folks came out and I sold a piece! Hot dog!
Some pictures below of us in the curatorial stages and then on the wall:

Recently Unemployed

Recently I was laid off, ergo, I thought starting a blog about my "funemployment" would be a good project. I'm hoping that it acts as an impetus for my art work as well as my larger life goals. We'll see. I'm pretty good at false starts.

However, since my unemployment began (it's been less than a week) my mind's been racing at the possibilities: WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THIS TIME? (aside of course, looking for a job). And while the job part is very important, I can't help but entertain other possible directions and uses for this "temporary retirement" that I've suddenly been granted.

1. artist residency?
2. internship?
3. volunteer?
4. concentrate harder on my artist collective?
5. knock out a few of those prerequisites for grad school?

Well, how's about them all? So, I did some research.
I researched artist residencies, and considering I'd have to pay my own way, that fell off the list. I also already have a studio and am now on a paid vacation so what's the point? I looked into internships at the Fabric Workshop and Museum but if I did the Fall internship, it'd go through December, and God willing I'll have a job well before December.
So, I'm going to concentrate on my collective and gear up for grad school, all the while job searching (helllllooooo Upenn and Drexel!) and getting my artworks up to par as well as SOLD.

So, below are pieces I'm working on for my upcoming group show, MERGE: Recent Works at my co-op gallery in South Philly. They're strewn across my dining table.
They're silk fabric pieces, hand-dyed and patterned, then stitched.










I'm a little amazed that I'm using neon green for any of this work, considering my fears of using any neon colors. But I've happily discovered that anything, in the right proportion, works wonders. Plus I'm getting out of my comfort zone with the colors.