Seamless Skin

Power in the Chitlin' Circuit

Yes, yes, yes...thank you Lord (stomping feet, head bowed, right hand held high, left hand over heart)...yesterday I was feeling the power, (I GOT THE POWER...hearing the voice in that song that I can't name...anybody???).  I held up to a long day at the Chitlin' Circuit, my studio, and made what felt like progress.  

Untitled at this time but finished.

added the color...since this is of an boarded up storefront church, I'm thinking hand quilting, but I might succumb to machine quilting.

another toilet paper insert fabric...my intent was to go with subdued colours...then i changed my mind.

One last thing and then I gotta go...but Enchanted Arts Studio has this hanging outside their door...it is a work in progress.  It took me by surprise when I saw it.

Looking forward to seeing what comes next...paper maiche, clay, fabric...all of the above

 

 

Indigo: In Search of the Color that Seduced the World by Catherine E. McKinley

Kweli recommended this book to me by way of Facebook.  Being a fabric designer herself she was really provoked to think deeper about the state of contemporary fabric production of African fabrics and the history behind it.  I downloaded the book to my laptop but I should have trusted her judgement and purchased a hard copy of the book, because now for 14 bucks I have it on my computer but for 3 dollars more I could have had the hard copy and after reading it, I wished I had.   Not realizing my assumption before hand, I thought the book would be an informative straight forward historical read, but it was much more than that...it documents one American woman's obsession with Indigo and the reason she is trying to discover why.  On a Fulbright Scholarship she journeys through West Africa looking for authentic Indigo production and use, but the cloth, not being in vogue compared to its past, is elusive.  Her adventure is told in antedotes which helps the book move ratherly quickly, but there are times I wanted more details of the story and wanted to get to know more about her feelings in relation to the people and places she visited.  But it is the search for Indigo that compels the story and the human relationships and geography take a back drop.

When I get taken with a book like I am with this one, I go off on a google search to find out more about the author and ended up requesting a FB connection only to find out she has a friend here in Louisville who I consider a good art-friend and has visited here before.   So I'm hoping there will be a chance to meet her and hear more of her stories sometime in the distant future.

McKinley's book led me to order In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa's Botanical legacy in the Atlantic World by Judith A. Carney and Richard Nicholas Rosomoff.  I started it last night and I tell ya it starts my mind spinning because I'm wondering if I can create a narrative in cloth around the crows, the faces I've sketched (the old woman who can be seen in older posts below), and botany...so my immediate challenge is to get centered and just listen for a bit.

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Yesterday I started a do-over, from scratch...hand-painting with fabric and acryllic paint mixed with Golden 900 vs using thickened dye like I used on the first start.  Its fairly large and detailed for me and I just hope I can meet a mid-November deadline for a regional fine art show.

Remember when I said I was in the studio the day after Davis' murder by the state of Georgia and had the intent of doing one thing and then I heard this phrase in my head?  The phrase was, These are the Boats Carrying Us to Heaven.  I decided to put aside my intent and explore what this could mean.  As a result I have over 200 small "boats" to paint with distinct markings on cotton with a working size of 5 feet by 4 feet.  I would like to hand quilt it as the piece has a RAW art vibe on it.  But no way would I make a November deadline if I decide to hand quilt it.  

Also, yesterday, in preparation to attempt meeting another deadline I sent a completed quilt into surgery.  I wasn't happy with one side but did love the surface...so I removed the facing and, today will attempt to square it up better.

Tuonane baadaye (See you later in Kiswahili)

Meeting deadlines

okay, I have at least 3 coming up...one in October, one in November, and one in January.  I'm infamous for missing them because I can't work as fast as my head finishes a piece and secondly, because I don't hold to a strong dictate of what I'm going to do when in the studio.  Like last week, I had every intent of picking something back up when I arrived.  The world was feeling different for me the day after Davis' execution.   Also, I was in the middle of reading a enthralling travel book on a woman's journey to West Africa in search of Indigo and it's meaning, Indigo: In Search of the Color that Seduced the World by Catherine E. McKinley.   It was both of these I believe that came to bear on a change of plans.

Now what I had observed about myself that day was I was moving slower and quietly both physically and mentally. Shortly after I arrived at the studio a certain phrase came to me and held me spell bound and I chose to follow it in cloth and ended up starting a whole new piece, and thus far, I'm very pleased with it.  The size is large, for me, and I'm wondering if I can have it ready for one of the looming deadlines...maybe I should change deadline to lifeline...meeting it could mean a whole new life for a piece of art.  

This week I played around with video taping in the studio...I think I need one of those twisty style tripods.  So far my camera man (youngest son) hasn't been convinced of all the exciting things that I do while at Mellwood and hasn't jumped at the chance to film me.   I mean what 20 year man wouldn't want to party like this!?

 

 dye painted cloth wrapped in newspaper waiting to be steamed

It was a smoky black indigo day...

Yesterday was a really looonnnnnnngggg day...I was out for over 12 hours straight.  After taking my oldest grandson, Adrian, to his school bus, I kept going and a headed to the studio, (by 1:00 I was ready for a nap and thought about my comfy chair which I miss).  I worked on trying to redeem my bruised ego from last week's disappointments.  I started 3 new cloths and reached the point were I was ready to steam them before going any further.   Here they are wrapped in newspaper with the ones I did last week and forming a sculpture in the window...

While I was there Petra called me to remind me of a presentation at The Filson Historical Society that started at 6 which I thought was going to be on Thursday.  My shirt was filled with dye stains. Petra lives close to Mellwood and the presentation was also not far away.  Petra agreed to loan me a shirt to keep me from having to go all the way home.  So I stayed at Mellwood until 5 and headed to the presentation...Two Centuries of Black Louisville: A Photographic History.  These 3 authors are powerhouses alone in their respective fields and the book represents 15-20 years of research on their individual efforts and 5 years of working on the book collectively.  

After the presentation Petra treated me to dinner at Smoketown USA.  A place I kept promising myself to go to but have never tried, mainly because it is not in a high visibility area.  But the food was good, the joint was crowded for a Tuesday night, and the back room is a yard sale room where you can purchase other people's junk that you don't need.  Cool.  

I'm not sure if I'm going to the studio today...the spirit is willing but the body is weak.  I might just stay home and curl up with my laptop to read a downloaded book, Indigo: In Search of the Color that Seduced the World, by Catherine E. McKinley.  

 

What can I say...I'm just an elliptical kinda woman...

It all started yesterday...I was trying to get the idea out of my head onto a piece of cloth that I was trying to salvage and wondered what would happen if  I wrote with school glue directly on the fabric as the resist and then after it dried, spread a layer of jacquard discharge paste over it.  So today I scurry in to apply the jdp and this is what happened...

before

 after
Discharge paste doesn't discharge metallic fabric markers...a tidbit of info that means nothing at the moment but seems like it could come in handy down the line.

More layers are forthcoming, but I'll not try this again as the dp just bullied the glue and the glue dried overnight.  In the past I applied the glue directly to a silk screen AND for the time involved, because it takes a long while for the blue school glue to dry, (typically a day), I am better off using soy wax which dries immediately.  

And these...(ellipis are my favorite grammatical mark...signifying the long trains of fluid but focused for me thoughts that I edit out to keep readers from suffering through the dips and peaks in my mind.  I've considered trying to refrain from using them as they are in just about every post I write, but at this point, it feels more like my trademark).

are in the washing machine along with a few other pieces.  The one on the bottom is smaller than a fat quarter and I used my new favorite tool (toilet paper insert) as the stamp.  

Oh, oh...another conclusion I reached yesterday...for batching dye painted fabrics, I prefer steaming the fabric versus laying it out in the sun, has less loss of colour/dye.  I've been tracking this for the last 3 months.  BUT, the steaming creates a strong odor when it is immediately unwrapped and rinsed but dissipates very quickly under running water.  So I now put on a mask for gasses when rinsing out.

 

Stop hitting the repeat button in my mind

I can't believe it is after 1am.  I was in the studio for  3 hours today.  Three hours of bliss.  I applied a second layer to the fabrics shown...the dye colour is brazilnut....looks black, so I'm eager to see what they will look like after the wash out.   My mind bounces between thinking about what comes next for the fabrics and imagining new quilt designs for them.  I try to lay down to sleep and end up wondering about any studio time tomorrow (today) and what will come next.  If I'm not thinking about this, then I'm being consumed with the upcoming garage sale and fielding phone calls and emails about items listed for it.  Its been this way all week so far...over and over and over my mind goes on like nothing else exists...I read/watch the news and it immediately gets pushed back.  The only thing I've given some thought to besides what I've mentioned is an agreement our public hospital has entered to honor the Catholic doctrine of being against tubaligations and will no longer perform them.  The article didn't mention vasectomies, but I'm assuming they will not do them as well.  This is OUR PUBLIC hospital...the one that cannot turn you away for not having insurance.  It is associated with University of Louisville and thus has a stellar reputation for being a public hospital.  I know there is a petition that has started and I will contact the person tomorrow, but this pisses me off, to put it mildly.  I mean couple this with the debate insurance companies are having about paying for birth control and there is nothing subtle about the erosion of human rights.  

I walked into the mother's garage today for the first time in over a year and thought I'm so in over my head because the place is a mess! It is not the mess I can see that bothers me as much as the messes I don't see...you know, the disorganized closets, attics, garages, etc.  But come what may, we're going to do this and get it done somehow, someway!  

overlapping writing in darker value

soy wax resist irregular scrapping stamped dye paint

Not sure how the day will go tomorrow but the one thing I'm really looking forward to is picking up my first crop of veggies and fruits from the organic food co-op I joined!  Woohoo! So I'll let you know what I score!

Okay, it is now almost 2 but writing this helped me to empty my mind...thanks you for stopping by...I believe I'll sleep now. :)

I'm engaged...

Mad Crazy Love for this piece of cloth.

Deconstructing

Someone asked me today that I hadn't seen in a while if I was still writing and I took too long to answer until I remember yes! I've been writing a blog for seven years! I added a brief intro to my textile work into the conversation.  Do you have difficulty explaining what you do and how you do it?  Textile work is so process driven before one gets to the final creation and I still haven't found a way to describe it when in casual conversations.

I have a demo coming up this Saturday.  I was going to make silk paper but can't put my hands on my supplies which has thrown me for a loop.  Then I was thinking about doing freehand cutting and strip piecing, but now I'm thinking about bringing the slow cloth piece and showing hand quilting.  But for viewers that might be like watching molasses pouring.   How about making yo-yos?  But I'm not sure where my yo-yo makers are...I'm also deconstructing my sewing space, a.k.a. The Basement Workshop, and have slowly been breaking it down the last few weeks and fitting what can fit into the Chitlin' Circuit studio and the rest will go into storage.  Painting cloth and dyeing will be my main groove for a while longer.    Here is some of this week's results:

3 different deconstructed screens on 1 piece of cloth

the beginning of something...see below the sophisticated tool I used 

 

Slow Cloth for a Slow Body

I knew yesterday was going to be slow-going.  I was a mixture of doing with intent and off the cuff.  Off the cuff was throwing a bunch of fabric  off the clothes line into the bucket of soda ash for over-dyes because I got irritated by walking into them as I was messing around on the print table.  Intent was cutting more shapes from the contact paper to use as a resist and scrapping over the fabric with thickened dyes. Off the cuff was doing this screen of break down printing when I said I was going to wait until next week.  

Intent was stitching slow cloth.  Off the cuff was ordering pizza for dinner because I was too exhausted and in pain to come home and cook.

Today is a "Mama Day".  I'll be running errands with my Mother and then going to the wake for my great Aunt this evening.  This evening is going to be a big night at Mellwood with the Brewfest going on and the First Friday Trolley Hop in the NuLu district...I might attempt dropping by Mellwood for a short while to socialize but the evening is calling for chilling out as soon as I can get back home.

Out of the mouth of babes...

WHEW!  Let me tell you!!!!!  I was be-bopping and hip-hopping in the stu-dee-o to-day!  This morning while my two and half year old grandson was saying grace over his pancakes he also threw in a request to bless my strength.  We kinda chuckled as it seemed like an odd afterthought.  While in the studio I didn't even think about his prayer.  It wasn't until I was driving home that I remembered it and I got so tickled.  His request was granted because I just couldn't stop!  I amazed myself and couldn't explain the energy.  But her are peeks to give you some idea...

 

If you use dyes to paint, scrape, on fabric or do break down printing then you have some idea of the processes involved.  If this is foreign to you and you have questions about what the pictures represent, feel free to pose your questions in comments.  

I got there today around 2 and it wasn't until 7 that my body began to crash and it took me another hour to straighten up and I hobbled on out but I'm telling ya I feel great and I am looking forward to turning in soon and getting a good night's sleep!

 

Let the Work I've Done Speak for Me.

I've been rolling along since coming back from The Crow Barn.  I've joined the Y with Mo, my daughter, and am exercising 3 times a week.  Remember last summer it was me and Adrian, my oldest son going to the gym at the Family Life Center (affiliated with the church where my name is on the roll but my seat is vacant).  We did that for 4 or 5 months...well I'm back at it again and trying my semi-best (working up to my very best) to deal with diabetes as well.  

Dye painting has been my focus with the exception of a week spent to make traditional quilt blocks in felt to be used at the Speed Museum in their children's area to coincide with an exhibit of traditional quilts.  That was sweet to be able to do for them on commission.  

Now I'm back to the fabric.  The next piece in the Crowbonics will be The Sperichil (The Spiritual).  I'm listening to an interview with Joe Carter as part of my research for the piece.  The 2nd piece that I had going morphed into a study instead and where I'm at now is working with the image of the crow, a trumpet, an adinkra symbol and marks from African alphabets/syllabaries and my own writing and symbols to go into the sheer lamination and on the background fabric.  I'm still on search for a local source of very very sheer silk or polyester organza.  Claire and Leslie bring some from the UK that is amazingly sheer and now that we only have the chain fabric stores, I've been disappointed in what is available.  But I have one source to check in Shelbyville, up the road from Louisville.

I'm going to make a transition in the train of thought here due to my mother just calling me to tell me a beloved Great Aunt passed away yesterday.  Aunt Doll was married to my Grandmother's brother.  She was a well spoken, well coordinated, soft toned voice, strong opinionated woman with proper leanings (somewhat of an exception in my rather loud leaning, shut your mouth, sarcastic bent family).  The last time I saw her was last summer when she sang at my father's funeral.  

Directly related is that Crowbonics is about my ancestors and how we communicate.  I'm really trying to express the nuances of communication between and across generations.  It really isn't tangible and sometimes isn't valued and sometimes is suppressed to the point of invisibility.  Aunt Doll is apart of my cultural transmissions as a woman and artist struggling to abstract, cultivate, and manifest, (like some archaeologist digging in dirt 1000s of years old), these phenomenon.  I just want the work I've doing to speak for me.

Anything is possible

with dye and fabric!  

 The joy of having the "best me" back can't not be expressed fully in words...words are just failing me, but I can tell you it occurs at the cellular level.  I had been holding in a lot of stress and what the week of being surrounded by creative people and being focused on my own thoughts around my art practice with guidance by Claire and Leslie coupled with being pampered by wonderful meals prepared by Margaret Wolff did for me was to allow that stress to dissipate right out of my body!

The goals I settled on were to obtain a specific palette that I want to work in for awhile.  I came close with this piece ...

 

I will go back into it but I don't want to lose the colors so I've selected an ecru dye that I think is unifying to the cools and warms.

My current short term goal is to completely saturate cloth with dye.  It seems the dyeing and repeated over-dyeing is the answer versus a heavy measure of dye powder with one use.  

 

These represent my other goal for the workshop which was to work with the same motifs.  Below are two more.

The intent for the cloth is to end up in quilts, but I must admit the confusion comes about when I just want to sit and hold the cloth or stare at it from across the room.  I haven't really constructed a quilt this year, so I question if I'm going for whole cloth, art cloth, or what???  If its whole cloth, I'm great at creating backgrounds but need to get better at focal points.  Art Cloth?  Maybe on occassion, but I really love stitch and layers.  The only stitching I'm doing is slow, slow hand work...if I charged by the hour on the piece it would be out of range for the ordinary art textile buyer. (is there such a thing?)

Primordial Womb in progress.

 

WOW! will have to be sufficient.

This is the part where I'm suppose to write something coherent about my week with Claire and Leslie at The Crow Barn.  A very rare occasion that words seem insufficient.  

I have to acknowledge that all my fears and anxieties proved unnecessary!  I stayed well and am still well!  My stamina held until about Thursday when I began to slow down but still it was a full and amazing week for me! And every personal snafu that presented itself worked out smoothly for me which added to the joy and productivity.

I really don't even have adequate photos to convey the week I had because stopping to take photos was an inconvenience and using the camera rarely entered my mine but here are a few:

This is the beginning of a new cloth and a picture of my print table. The bottom photo on the right is me presenting my review to the rest of the group on closing day.  My 2 goals where to create a palette inspired by a painting of Barbara Earl Thomas and end the week with paper lamination.  I came very close to the palette and will continue to work with it here at home.  One of the paper laminations didn't turn out. I used too much medium and I think my print table was too soft...at least it was softer then my own.  The other is destined for greatness!  

I have to give a shout out to my girl Bev, who came to my rescue.  Over an hour from home and close to Cincy, Mo calls to tell me I left my silk screens.  Bev lives just east of Cincy so I called her to ask where I could pick up some screens...and Bev, being Bev, had a friend, etc.  She met me off the highway with 3 screens that she cleaned up for me!  Thank you for the blessing Bev!

Later in the week Bev, and Kel who lives 15 minutes from the Barn, came up Thursday after dinner and I gave them a quick tour of the Barn and then on Saturday Bev (an artist but not textiles (YET)) went to Athens to view Quilt National!  The treats within the treat was seeing Olga Norris' and Judy Martin's work in person.  I think Olga captures bodily gestures like nobody's business and Judy meshes hand work and philosophy so gracefully. I identify with it somewhat but moreso, am mesmerized by it.  However the one quilt that I would have taken home with me if I could was Vera Loves Her Gun by B. Michele Maynard.  The sole factor was it's ability to make me laugh out loud and the strong narrative it held.  I stood there in front of this quilt trying to concoct a story and laughing in between.

I've almost got everything put back in place in the studio but I'm also not waiting.  I've made up 8 quarts  of print paste,different recipes and varying thicknesses.  Soda soaked fabric was left on the line to dry yesterday and I'm going in later today to over-paint with thickened dyes.  My aha moment was being able to see where already dyed and over-dyed cloth still has room to take more dye.  It was most apparent to me while ironing the cloth.

In addition to painting, I'm hand stitching Primordial. The base is silk paper to felt.

 

Learning Curves, Fall, Week 1

Friday:  

Digital Expressions by Susan Tuttle is my assignment for today.  I almost forgot about doing my Learning Curves this morning.  I woke up filled with the joy of art date yesterday (which I will write about in a few days when I can come down off the high of it).  

I just stopped at page 19 right before getting into the projects which I don't have time to begin as I have 2 appointments today that require my energies and focus.  

Reading and working through 3 digital art books at the same time is layering the knowledge which so far is helping me to retain better.  I was a little apprehensive at first, thinking I should go through them in successive order.

The weekends will be snatches of time to review what I've already covered and to get a small jump toward next week's schedule.

Wednesday:

Digital Designs by Gloria Hansen filled the morning.  A lot of terminology to best understand files and input/output of images.  Very generally, I knew the info at a surface level, but know that it is the type of information I will need to reference whenever I actually have the need to employ the knowledge.

Will review ch. 1-4 over the weekend and start the next few chapters and pick back up with a review beginning with ch. 5 on Wed.

The afternoon I started Secrets of Digital Quilting by Lura Schwarz Smith and Kerby Smith read to page 21.  The strongest imprint on me so far is knowing the difference between jpeg, raw, and tiff files...the ppi/dpi is still fuzzy but if I can hang on to dpi being output (printed) and ppi being what is visible on the screen then maybe the numerical understanding will become clearer later on.

Tuesday:

I continued on dyeing and mixed  red, black and black cherry into print paste and used it to over dye 2 pieces.  I really had no rhyme or reason other than the delight in playing with colour today.  With results like these I had to force myself out of the studio today: (they both are still damp)

I did not get into Image Transfer today (Learning Curve Curriculum).  I need to order Transfer Art Paper (Leslie Riley's product) and Lazertran for cotton and dark fabrics which will have to wait.  

Monday:

For the last few weeks I've been working with Intense Blue, Chocolate Brown, and Aqua Marine...I know by now the potency of the dye stock is on its last leg but I just hate throwing it out until I'm absolutely sure its a total bust.  Its has stayed in the fridge in attempts to keep it as fresh for as long as possible, but today I think I've reached my personal exhaustion point with the colours and I'm ready to move on into quilt design/construction.

Before I left the studio today, I put some time into mark making (one of the exercises found in Finding Your Own Visual Language).  These fast and loose sketches were made using a sea shell dipped in ink.

2 page spread; the right side was the first one...lines and letters; the left side is pears and a banana still life..attempting perspective;

attempt at narrative; 

last one was an angel

At some point I might return to these pages and add some colour but for not the objective holds of just fast and loose line drawing with a sea shell.  

Six Years, but whose counting...?

There are 2 exhibits with November 1st deadlines which I've just given myself permission to not submit. My focus has been dye painting and screening and my muscles are feeling fatigued and I'm releasing the will to push myself the next 2 days.  I did make it to the Open Studios and many artists were in their studios which is always energizing but rest will be the focus for the weekend.

There are 10 pieces of dye-painted fabrics wrapped in plastic that will cure over the weekend, possibly until Tuesday or Wednesday.  I'm on the schedule to to do some campaign calls for Monday and will be at my Mother's for bit also.  Tuesday I'm on the schedule for a few hours to drive folks to the polls so I'm not sure when I'll return to do the wash out.  The piece shown in the post below had very little dye wash out but I dye painted it again yesterday with a chocolate brown.  Here it is before the brown was applied:

I'm sold on curing AND steaming.  

It dawned on me yesterday that I'm focusing on dark colours...for no apparent reason but if I were to go all hyper-analytical I would say because I'm dreading the onslaught of winter and the need to readjust my activities due to it getting dark earlier.  But really that would be over-reading the intent.  I think it boils down to 'I'm just dyeing dark colours', (insert shrugging shoulders)

My presentation at the Carnegie last Saturday was a lot of fun for me and hopefully for those who shared the morning with me as well.  What keeps coming back to me is the clarity in which I knew that art-making is a conversation with my body and I used the metaphor of it being a dance that allows me to explore my limitations and sense of freedom.  The surface applications on fabric is hip-hop and the quilt design and construction is the waltz and modern dance sequels. 

This was the last piece I did yesterday and I was tired and don't know where the face came from but right before I did the face I asked myself "what else can I do with the writing?"  I've been doodling faces on scraps of paper and looking back over my attempt at faces in old journals...I do think it'll be a long while before faces as a motif makes it into a quilt but I'm open.

November 4th will be my 6 year anniversary of blogging...for 6 years I've been typing out loud about my journey with the main focus being my own art.  I hope casual readers and dedicated readers of Seamless Skin find some nugget that moves us closer to kindred spirits that keeps and increases the use of the internet as a fully positive human one.  

Beginning next week I'm going to add a new feature on my blog with interviews of local artists.  I'm starting with members of Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists.  When I'm at meetings I'm overwhelmed with all the creative vibes and the group experience that I'm wanting the interviews to be the counter-part and allow me to connect and get to know members as individuals.  The first one will be with ceramist and shibori artist Elmer Lucille Allen (see the video below) who has an upcoming show with Valerie White at E & S Gallery.

 

 

Peace,

The Rent!!!!...is too damn high...

This piece was dye painted last week.  This is the fourth layer of over-dyeing.  In this picture it is still wet so I know it will be a tad lighter once it dries.  The effect is full of intrigue and mystery and I can see it paired with a smoky gray and a deep red for speaking to the root of turbulence that life sometimes holds.

 I've been wanting to get that rich, saturated depth of colour that I see in some quilts.  I purchased a red piece of fabric from Nancy Crow and she said she dyed it 4 times with 4 different reds to get it. My piece batched over the weekend and I steamed it today and will wash it out tomorrow.

Last week I batched AND steamed to see if it makes a difference and I think slightly it does but since I was not doing a controlled test, its hard to say for sure.  I also was a little heavy handed with the dye powder too, again, not really controlled testing here.  I also think I need to get a tighter woven pfd to get the depth I'm seeking. 

Elmer Lucille reminded me that Ed Hamilton and Sam Gilliam along with Mr. Gilliam's older sister, Lizzie Miller, were in conversation last Thursday at the Speed.  It was 6 when she told me on her way out and I was still dyeing, so hurriedly cleaned up and made it over 15 minutes into the program.

I wanted to introduce myself after the presentation...I know Mrs. Miller from my days of working as she stays active in her church and wider community organizations involving human services.  I really would have loved to have a photo with Gilliam and Hamilton but folks swarmed the stage afterwards and I was physically beginning to drag.

These pieces are huge by Gilliam. He said this came about from a question he was asked by a bar mate where he hung out at the time who asked him "why bother to stretch your canvas before you know the painting is good".  I recall reading that he kept wanting to get away from the limitations of the "frame" during his retrospective show here.

The other statement I took away from the presentation was the need for the artist to be larger than their art by getting about in the world in order for the art itself to have substance, the ability to speak to the human state.  He felt that installation work has gone on too long and most of it lacks substance.

Hamilton still resides here in Louisville and one question he says he gets asked frequently is "why he never left?".  His opinion is, "if the work is good enough, it will be found". 

I never want to be guilty of over-romanticising the past, but one of the things they spoke of and Mrs. Miller validated about the early years here in the 50's was the comraderie and accessiblitity of artist in the community.  I wasn't born until '60 but I grew up being able to identify, even if I didn't know them, artists, poets (who I would come to know) in the community.  Is it the same today?  Not really sure, but it doesn't seem so.  

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I've been trying to upload this post since Friday...the problem was the browser...Peter switched over to IE9 which is still in beta and Typepad doesn't support it yet...I'm using Google Chrome and the problem is solved.  I'm so very much an end user...I just want the computer to work the way I anticipate is should, ya know?!  

Every day for the last 2-3 weeks I've woken up to a different resolve about moving from my current space in Mellwood...take the other space, stay where i am, take the other space, stay, other space, stay, yada yada and on and on.  IF I do decide to take the space behind me, it will not be until the end of November.  The Tenant's Council is promoting the Friday after TG and I wanted to stay in my current space for it.  

Today someone cleaning out there space gave me a great desk that was on its way to the dumpster.  I had to move stuff around to accommodate it and today I was like, moving around the corner isn't worth it.  I was whooped when I finished and I really didn't do that much!  I relaxed enough to clear my head and think about "whats next?" creatively which lead me to writing on fabric.  There is a November 1 deadline I want to meet but I'm not sure I'm going to meet this one.  I hate to blow it but my focus is split this week over items that require my attention outside of art-making.  

The title of this post has nothing to do with what I've written...I just like saying it :).  I'm really tired tonight...sleeping in tomorrow is on the agenda.  Peace,

 

Unity in Schisms (what the what am I talking about now?!)

 The Beauty of Holiness Studio, my art making sanctuary

Odd, ... I cannot recall ever being this excited about Mondays when I was employed.  Sundays now are a signal to re-engage fully as possible with my creative mind.  Sundays are filled with thinking about the different pieces of cloth and quilts in their variuos stage of development and what needs to be stitched and the hows and wheres of it all. 

Last week I dye painted over previously painted cloth.  The cloth was not treated with soda ash and I used Afterfix on it which is used to set dye.  I've used this before and was fairly pleased with it...the colours appear to me more muted and toned down then with soda soaked fabric.  I keep returning to this method because I do anticipate, possibly, at some point I may not be able to physically handle low-water immersion dyeing.  This is the piece I'll rinse out tomorrow if all goes as planned:

 
Over the weekend I attended a state meeting of SDA members that Jennifer Reiss and Mary Nehring coordinate.  This was the 2nd meeting but my first.  My membership in SDA has lapsed but renewing it is on my goal list for the coming year.  Being around other artists and diverse minds gets me spinning like a whirling dervish and I left there thinking that its not so much the lack of opportunity that seems to describe this city/state (although the description can be dead on) it is the fact that I cannot attend to all the possibilities. 

In my own art I can say that I now have a focus, sense of purpose, and a vision...a "Karoda" way of working...but I'm also fertil that when I see the art of others my mind automatically begins to push, combine, play, stretch, mix, mingle, and so on, ideas and what ifs and I'm flying or whirling and it feels fun in the moment.  I've learned to reel myself back down...took me a couple of years but I'm good to go and can now say to myself "okay, Karen, settle yourself down".  I think many artists experience this and in turn are faced with juggling the solitude activities with communal activities and how both impact creativity. 

I also attended the tenants' meeting at Mellwood last week and Planet Janet and I will be coordinating demos and activities by the tenants who want to participate in November's Trolley Hop.  Studio spaces are getting new tenants and I hope this is some indication that economically people are feeling more daring and confident.  Many of the new tenants seem to be more retail/service oriented.  A fitness center, photographers, martial arts, florists, etc.  I hope this will not eventually increase the dirt cheap rents for the artists like myself who are solely using the space to create in, but overall, it is good to see fresh eager faces and more activity.

Speaking of solitude and communal, I figured out why I'm not partial to listening to music on an iPod.  I like my music to fill not just me but the space I inhabit.  I want the essence of the sound to rock the cobweb in the corner of the ceiling...I want the vocals to ooze down the walls...I want the rhythms to cover the floor.  This just doesn't happen using an iPod.  I can listen to podcasts on my iPod, no problem...but the music is too big to fully enjoy it that way...and I'm not talking about the volume of the music but the experience of it...listening on an iPod diminshes the experience of the music, the artistry that went into it.  Playing a cd is much more inviting for a shared experience and much more open experience.  I mean would you rather go to a museum or look at the art on a toy view finder?

Peace,

 

 

 

Its all about value...

I'm spending more time at the studio than at the basement workshop.  Primarily due to my focus of laminating and printing and dyeing which has a better set-up for it than the basement does.  The basement has morphed into the area for sewing with an area for painting cloth and silk dyeing with the microwave.  With the help of Ade I spent some time re-arranging the studio so that I could print from both sides of the table.  Last week I started printing on a piece of jacquard cotton and today this is where I left it-

 There are 4 different greens, 2 blues, and 2 reds used here.  Each colour dried before adding the next layer and then the fabric was heat set.  I'm at a happy point of being stuck so I lifted it off the table and hung in in the window of the studio.  I'm going to study it and do a self driven q & a with it before I decide what will happen next.  The immediate discovery was liking the backside-

From the backside, the lighter colours do the talking and just the opposite on the front.  But right now I'm leaning toward this being a piece that will be cut.  If it stays whole there will be a laminated sheer layered over the top. 

Using a black and white filter to check for value, I could see that value is working but it's colour that dances---when I'm working I spend more time thinking about value than I do colour. 

I have 2 new neighbors at Mellwood, Janet, a recently retired art teacher.  We seem to be vibing quite well and in sync.  I keep feeling like I know her from some place else.  The other new neighbor is a young man, Emmett, who is a mixed media artist, and who struck me as having "good home training" as my mother would say.  I appreciated how he carried himself and am looking forward to seeing what he creates.  I'll be saving cardboard for him. 
 
 
 

Wiggling and jiggling ;)

Here are 2 more fabrics that put more wiggle in my jiggle, yes m'am!

 

 

This dyeing session I've been obsessed with blacks, greys, greens, and blues.

 

 
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Big Mac, my father, will be coming home on Monday or Tuesday.  The OT/PT staff showed us how to use the transfer board to assist him with transfering.  Daddy was able to bear his weight using his arms and hands which he wasn't able to to for most of this year.  My mother felt that as long as he could do what he showed us today that she/we would try to make a go of his return home.  The OT/PT will continue at home and this time there will be a home health aide coming in to help him.  Of course insurance has to approve all this.  The other issue once my father is home is his willingness to stick to his diet.  He has been on a restricted diet for at least 25 years and in seems in the last 4 or 5 years he has just been horrible with sticking to it.  Now he is on a restricted amount of fluids he can take in each day.  Two visits ago he was trying to play the sympathy card as he kept dreamily requesting a "nice cold coca-cola".  :)   He and my mother have had a rough past 12 months which is the root of my apprehensions which have lessened since this morning as I "let go" and trust that all is in order.

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Look at that bottom fabric above...do you see a man's face emerging?

Can I Get Cute?

It was so humid today I didn't even want to walk across the parking lot to go to the studio today.  My substitutes were to drop in at my favorite quilt shop to see the quilt exhibit by quilter's who are men...I wish I had taken my camera in because I would have showed you a quilted scupture that made me laugh...I can't recall his name but this dude LOVED LOVED LOVED bead embellishing!  His work had such a strong sense of play and fun to it!  There is group of art quilters that meet once a month and he is one of the members.  His work tickled me so much that I'm feeling compelled to attend the next meeting just to meet him and let him know.

The other substitute for applying myself toward quilting was to move my sewing table around in the Basement.  I've been caught up with thinking about a "cute" space due to being under the influence of My Desert Cottage's 2nd Annual Blog Party called Where Bloggers Create.  I've looked at about 10 studio spaces from the blog list party and mostly they were cottage/vintage/cute and lo and behold I'm riding down Bardstown Road today (not while looking at the website though) and bam, what do I spy but a vintage looking body form and just briefly tapped the breaks when I my voice emerged and said "thats not you" keep moving.  Thank God for voices, eh! 

At the moment, I'm washing out dyed fabrics that have been sitting in the car for a few days.  I used Linda Johansen's Fabric Dyer's Dictionary as a reference.  Even though I did not use the exact dyes she did, I'm pretty satisfied with her formulas she offers for colour mixing.  Here I was messing around with creating greens...

Speaking of green, I seem to have 3 times as much green fabrics then any other colour! I always thought it was purples/blues but after really sorting through, purples and reds are the least in my humble stash.  After greens, comes blues, warm yellows, and oranges.  Also, of late I've been vibing with a turquoise acryllic by Liquitex...Turquoise says summer to me and so far everything I've put it on, it becomes the pizzazz, the pop!  Juanita always says "a little bit of yellow goes a long way", but I'm thinking Liquitex's turquoise is the new yellow.

Also, another new find I discovered from a blog of a member, Pat, of the local calligraphy guild is this gem for writing, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen.  It writes well on fabric and I'm going to use it in the next Crowbonics piece.  I picked up on in silver and tried it on a gray fabric.  Pat shows more examples of how she used her pen here.

My studio/basement time continues to be hit and miss, catch it where and when I can.  Tomorrow my mother and I have a meeting at the nursing home...he has reached a "plateau" with his physical therapy which translates into end of insurance coverage...we're in the midst of applying for Medicaid which I'm preparing for this nursing center to say they have limited number of beds available.  He has adjusted very well at this facility and the staff have been great and treat him well.  He has kept a positive attitude and his humor has returned. When my head hits the pillow it will be with prayer that it all works out for the good of both him and my mother.

Peace,