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 Floral and An Argyle

The photos below aren't the best but it's some progress. For our MWC members show (theme is RED, be it the color itself and/or some emotional/psychological meaning of the color, or even the absence of it), Sarah and I are going to collaborate. We've tried to collaborate before, and haven't quite gotten there, but this feels different. We both have a long-standing fascination with the Turkey Red patterns popular in Europe in the 1890's as well as the redwork embroidery that was popular at about the same time (the red embroidery floss was dyed with the colorfast Turkey Red). For our collaboration, we're planning some sort of installation that celebrates this particular red and the patterns on patterns of the fabrics that were popular in the fashion of the time, possibly doing wallpapers. We worked once before on a wallpaper installation together, for Sarah's solo show "The Hesitation Waltz", where she designed a donkey wallpaper. I taught her the basics in repeat structures, helped her transfer her pattern onto the paper and helped install things. It was a good experience.

This is actually my first attempted argyle. I can't believe I've never designed one before. I am planning to layer on some sort of floral pattern over the argyle structure.


This is a simple "checkerboard" repeat with abstracted florals in a medallion setting. Not sure if I'm going to keep the grid or not, but will try different variations for fun.

When life gives you snow, make a snow whale!

After all that snow finished falling, there wasn't much to do except play! (click on the photos to see them much bigger!)

So Sarah and I decided to build a snow whale in my backyard.

Here we are cutting the perimeter of the beast, and pressing in the sides to start shaping it.

The whale's face and it's tail.


It's taking shape! Looking like a whale!

All done. Sarah's fiance Brian came over to survey our work while Brendan snapped photos.

Niiiiiiiiiice!

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.