Seamless Skin

Altering Quilts and Awards

This quilt belongs to the poetry series but I wasn't happy with it when I completed it and over a year ago. I'm still not happy with it.  For one, I've ironed the heck out of the middle section at the bottom and that crease will not come out.  Two, the vertical seams are not straight and that bothers me for this piece. Third, the horizontal strips need to be narrower and the colours are slightly off for what I intended.  Maybe if they had been narrower they wouldn't distract me.  What I love about the piece is the fabrics I created  (with the circles and writing) and the colours of those. 

These are the thoughts I have: One, cut them into three individual pieces, (see below). Two, cut it into postcards; or, three, make my first journal covers or small purses.  Since I'm not attached to this piece I'm open for suggestions.  (There is prolly someway to add a poll feature, but I don't have the time to investigate).  Leave your ideas in the comments...and peace :)

Postscript:  The above post was a draft I wrote yesterday for posting today but since last evening, my fantastic news that was announced at the LAFTA meeting is my quilt, Urban Egression, won the LAFTA award in the Fine Arts division/Constructed Textiles category.  The jurying process was a blind one with 3 jurors from the organization.  I haven't attended a meeting in months so it felt like divine guidance for me to have the energy and inclination to attend.  I instantly had goosebumps from head to toe.  I have the image upon my FB photos, but I'm on a different computer right now and will upload the image later.  Again, Peace...and have a super fantastic weekend!

Standing Again

I returned to the studio last Friday for the first time since my father passed.  Being there gave me back the feeling of standing on solid ground.  I did a sheer lamination that put the be-bop back in my hip-hop.  I used the same Adinkra symbol for law, order, authority, balance that went into Crowbonics:The Scroll and screened the medium through the design in soy wax. 

The cloth underneath is a Jacquard that Peter brought back from Nigeria some years ago.  Not sure if it was made in Nigeria.  I'm recalling a documentary that discussed African fabrics being manufactured elsewhere.  Peter pointed out that the jacquard is much more valued than the adire cloth I asked for.  Adire is considered a "common cloth".  (Being the peasant woman that I am, that figures.) I will put some hand-writing/symbols on the jacquard.  I'm leaning toward this one being called The Songbook or The Hymnal.

I had "ummm moment" last Friday when I was in the studio.  Two of the coolest women stopped in and enjoyed looking at the work I have displayed.  One was a quilter from Columbus, Indiana and the conversation was uplifting and affirming.  I invited her to come down and dye with me when she thought she was ready to start.  I get pumped talking about my processes more than any other aspect of conversation about my art.  I'm really not set up or focused on selling from the studio, so when she asked me how much for one of the 6"x12" pieces, I shrugged my shoulders and said "make me an offer" or something in that vein.  And yeap, she thought it was just as strange reply as you're thinking it is right now.  I've been thinking about my response since and I know I need serious help to get to the business side of all this, but I've said it before, my energy is limited and what energy I have, I'm devoting to art making.  Its not that I don't value my completed pieces, I do, but its the process of making that is more relevant to my well being and it is a conscious choice. 

There is an organization here that supports artists with disabilities and I've spoken with them back in 2008 when I was looking for space still.  They've since moved and are closer to me and near Mellwood and I'm thinking I'll return before the year is out to see what marketing services are currently available. 

This week I've been pushing boulders up a moutain...in the midst of a fibro flare and yesterday was the worst I've ever experienced.  I had to use a cane to get up the steps.  It humbled me.  I had to miss a meeting I was looking forward to at the library for feminists artists.  Its so rare to be able to hold discussions about art making and what factors come to bear as I live trying to be the strongest me possible. 

Other than the lamination sheer, I spent time finishing up these postcards with beads.  I'm undecided whether to complete them as postcard art or small art only. 

  --------------------------------------------------> this one is my favorite----------------------------------->

I need your help...

Really, I need suggestions on how to attach this piece of copper.  What would a mixed media artist use to attach this, is the question I posed to myself.  I really don't want to use thread...I thought about copper jewelry wire but I'm not sure how strong it is...would it snap or break?  I thought about stringing the charcoal beads and using them to intertwine throughout the copper circle and it would also secure them down using fishing line. 

 

 

I didn't go with the black lines, instead I pulled the colours at the top into the bottom using thread and then will pull the charcoal into the top with the tiny beads.

I want to make 10 of these before the end of May.  These are small, 6"x12" simple designs and exercises in colour combinations.   I like the size and the design and after flipping through old sketch books I saw several of quick sketches just like it...here is even a postcard I made in 2006 with pretty much the same design.  I called it House of Peace. 

 I'm also still uncertain how I'm going to finish the edges.  the canvas is to stiff and thick to roll back using a facing and I do not want to zig-zag...if I did a satin stitch I would want perfect matching thread for the charcoal and the coppery coloured top half.  What if I mounted it on foamcore and then used heavy weight card stock to cover the edges????  I even thought about mounting them on stretched canvas and either using rice paste glue or Y.E.S. glue or a permanent spray adhesive to attach it to the canvas? 

Since I declared Wednesday that I'm getting back on the good foot and shaking off the funk, I've spent 6.5 hours at my workshop.  I did bring somethings to work on while I'm home just in case I do not make it back tomorrow.  On weekends I have to have flexibility since my guys, youngest son and adorable partner, are out of school and off from work.  But I'll be back at the gym tomorrow and am looking forward to it (I can't remember ever feeling like that before...I use to look forward to jazzercise because my sister and I would stop afterwards and get ice cream that was next door to jazzercise).

And I ponder what should the New York Post suffer for its gross and cruel offense? (plus I'm still on the journey)

This morning I had a very distinct consuming Black moment...even more discriptive, Black American moment because my reaction (REACTion) was weighted by the peculiar history of the past and the not-so-past that is rooted and steeped in the formation of this country and its rise as a world power and the injustice of it all.  Check out the cartoon in the New York Post today and tailor your response (or not) to your own leanings as I most certainly will.  Beyond this I will not elaborate further as I will again hyperventilate.  For awhile now I've considered creating a cultural blog as an outlet for my essays on a wide range of topics but keep deciding no, since my RL is filled with a multitude of love and personal and intimate connections that I bounce with daily and as often as I need to.  There are joys and pains associated with living consciously and as encompassing as possible in the way I've chosen as an African American Woman...I'm sharing this much as a way to recognize that which is deep and the backdrop to everything I do today while also updating this journey I'm on as an art quilter which is the purpose for Seamless Skin (of which I could re-examine what I now intend by "seamless", but I will spare you and myself at the moment).

Monday I took myself on an artist date and went second hand browsing.  One place is kinda upscale antique mall...4 floors and is located in the building where I had my first job at 14 in a summer youth program.  I worked the same place for 2 summers as a typist and all around office grunt which included running a mimeograph machine which I thought was cool at the time.  I purchased this embroidered round, very sheer, placemat that feels like papyrus of all things.  It was a handmade thing that cost me a buck so I was thrilled.  I want to tranfer an image onto it but for now its pinned up high on the design wall.  I also went to another 2nd hand furniture dive that has great stuff but isn't located in a high rent district and found lots of old creative looking stuff but I only came out of there with a red linen table cloth.  I have this idea percolating around roughness representing hard times...for now it seems connected to the quilts on prayers.

Yesterday morning I reconnected with a dear friend over breakfast at Toast.  Hi Cari!  Its been close to three years since we've spoken, maybe longer, but it energized my spirit and after we parted I made an impromptu stop at Actor's Theatre to see Upfromsumdirt's piece in the exhibit in the lobby.  As prolific as he is I was underwhelmed with the piece he submitted.  He cultivates an "outsider" as in outsider art philosophy toward creating his digital images that he describes as Mythmatics(c) so he isn't all that open to input but if he ever wanted to know what I thought, Hi Ron, I"ve only viewed his strongest work at his solo shows and online and not in his group shows.

Now to my own artistic issues------I completed the quilting on the current quilt and its stretched out on the design wall drying for blocking...BUT! this puckering grates my last nerve and the solution I thought so brilliant a few weeks ago (embellishing with stones) just seemed a notch above stupid yesterday.  So my new BRILLIANT idea is to go whole cloth with 2 sections (the ones without any puckering) and create 2 smaller quilts.  The red section and the yellow one will be a go!  Peter didn't think the green section was as dynamic as the other two...he thought the green needed to be more intense to hang with the vibrancy of the green and yellow and the green is a shaded green and doesn't have as much going on in it as the other 2 panels.  Parts of the green section will be salvaged into postcards like I did with these from another quilt.

I also made my first fiber ATC's. 

One is destined to Emmy in the Netherlands.  If you'd like to trade with me, buzz me an email.

I have postcards like the ATCs for sale, 3 of which are listed on my new Etsy set-up.  Check here  or click on the page at the top of this blog.

Things Fall Apart

And no, this is not a review of Chinua Achebe's novel! I had just two days at my workshop this week...I was going in today but find myself dealing with the pain of sciatica (something new for me) so I came home and today I will play with some calligraphy between drug-induced naps. 

Shortly after Christmas I had this pain in my hip/lower back and it progressed down through my leg in days following...sometimes it would seem to get better and sometimes I wouldn't feel it  at all but then last week I had tears flowing trying to get up in the mornings.  The pain would get better as I moved around but the mornings became horrendous! Finally went to the er and followed up with my doc and I'm trying to decide whether to take the PT she ordered or wait for a few weeks to see if there is any improvement.  I really do not want to accomodate the effects of taking the pain pill and the muscle relaxer...I have stuff I need/want to do and this is such an intrusion in my plans here!  Yesterday I did fairly okay without taking anything until the afternoon and had to miss a meeting with area textile and fiber artists.

The other problem which I knew was coming, came yesterday...my cutting table collasped!  (My mother's voice in my head "they saw you coming)  I purchased this table at Hancock's about 2 years ago and got it for 50% off.  I paid 50 bucks and it was the last one. Boy, did I feel smug and satisfied!  Well, when I set up the workshop back in the spring there was one problem screw that would not stay in...okay, I thought, I'll contend with it and just tighten it up from time to time.  Well since then every single screw has fallen out!  I would be in my workshop and here this "ping"...it would be the sound of a screw falling out and hitting the floor.  Every single screw that holds the top to the legs will not stay in.  Since I've been in a printing and sewing mode I've not had to use the table for cutting and have piled supplies on it.  Thinking that the weight of the supplies held the top down I really didn't give it too much thought (or just didn't want to deal with it)...well, like I said, yesterday it gave way...so I'm on the search for a replacement.  I've inquired about 3 wood kitchen tables on Craigslist between 20-40 bucks and am waiting for replies.  I'm thinking I could glue the current cutting surface to the top of a rectangle kitchen table and elevate it with risers.  A friend of my father's could build me one if I don't need it in hurry and he is the same one who I'm waiting to call about building me a sewing table...but he works full time at Ford and it is so up in the air when I'll have them.  I'm just kinda typing out loud here for the most cost efficient and immediate answer to this problem.

And if the sciatica and collasped table wasn't enough...with less than 1/6 of the quilting to go on the current quilt that measures 60"x40" (huge for me) I ran into some SERIOUS puckering where the fusible didn't adhere well.  I would rather make a whole new quilt than to try to take the quilting out (a hell of a lot) and pull apart the fabric from the batting to adjust it...so I thought cutting in down in size since the puckering is near the left edge.  The puckering you can see (click on image to enlarge) is not the worst of it either...I have that section folded back to see how adjusting the width would effect the overall design.  The yellow section is also wider than in the photo. 

 

My other idea is to sew down patches of stone and rock that form circles over the problematic area and across the quilt in other sections...The title of this quilt is "washing over the stone of our origin" or "stone of our origin" which is a line from the poem written on it. 

Ah, but the brave thing that I did yesterday was to re-fashion quilt study into postcards and trading cards...if you take a peek at my old blog, Art Going Postal, they are in the line with Urban Egression.  When I complete the edging I'll place them up for sale and trade on a page here and on my website. 

With the King Holiday and the Inaurugation to follow I'm really jazzed...I like to prepare what I call a Freedom dinner on King Holiday and listen to and read his speeches, especially The Letter From the Birmingham Jail.  I think I'm going to watch the festivities with my parents on Tuesday and possibly drop into one of the community gatherings around town.  How are you planning to spend Monday and Tuesday?

 

I forgot the fun of making these gems

Postcards!  This one came together rather quickly and was a joy to make. 

 

I'm thinking I'll go back into production mode if I can manage them not being a distraction from my central focus.  I really want to complete 4 Poetry quilts by the end of the year.  I'm working on the second one which is a bulldog to quilt.  I can see the lure of a long arm.  This wrestling is making me reconsider working large.  I'm using clips to hold the rolls on both sides of the section under the needle but since I'm quilting in circles using the circular attachment the rolls have to move through the bed and around the needle.  I went online to look at the George quilting machine and became all dreamy eyed just thinking how less difficult it would be to quilt on it.  I printed off a picture and will consider financing one in a year when my car is paid off.  Its a dream, a wish, and a goal...

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And the winner of yesterday's music question is none other than Gerrie!  And I have to admit I have no idea who Orlando Brown is...I'm stuck somewhere around 1999 or before.  I'm just not with it on current singers, actors, actresses, movies...if it wasn't for a few friends and family I wouldn't be able to even buy a clue!

Gerrie, your award will be going out in the mail over the weekend!