Thursday, September 30, 2010

life and light


I have finally gotten the mouth drawn out right and am starting to stitch at it...but the babies face is causing me trouble. In the original image he is in bright light, moving - so blurred slightly, and his little baby hand is in front of part of his face. I want to keep all that as it is so much about the moment of gazing at your newborn child all that life and light- but I cannot seem to figure out how to transfer it to stitch. We'll see.

minimal destruction


When I was first overlooking the submissions to Cutting Edge I was blown away by the large number of amazing works that were incredibly minimal. Generally speaking I am not a minimalist kind of girl but a handful of these works really moved me as they tethered this incredible balance of minimal and yet rich with meaning. Most of these works did not end up making sense in the final version of the exhibit but I just could not get the work of John Paul Morabito out of my head.


John Paul's work is expertly woven natural silk that is the carefully and precisely burned. I love the combination of the slow nurturing domestic act of weaving with the violent, rapid, and uncontrollable act of burning. (Though because of his tools he controls it quite well almost to the point of obsessively conquering the fire.)


John Paul has also buried, stained, and deconstructed a number of his works in the past.


He states:
Hand processes manipulate materials to create both form and content in my artwork. I begin at the loom, building cloth line by line. Once woven, the work is destructed—either through an immediate intervention or a slow, mediated process. This method of working juxtaposes an act of creation with an act of destruction. The sacrifice of cloth woven by my own hands is not a violent act, but rather a quiet contemplation of every individual moment that is destructed. In this I invoke Penelope who each night sat at the loom to unravel the threads she had woven that day. Inherent to this work is the compulsory behavior of the obsessional...

Perhaps left over from the days when we first realized our mortality, we have built into us a yearning for all things impermanent. We find what is fleeting to be the most beautiful.


The hand that makes is the hand that destroys.


Beautifully said words to discuss beautiful work.

I do not include this image because either of us were happy that the band blocked most viewers from his work at the opening but...It gives you a sense of the scale of the work which I think is essential to the beauty of the work.

John Paul will be speaking at the artist's talk on October 8.

See more of his work here.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Where's your hat?



One of my favorite discoveries that came out of curating Cutting Edge was the work of Janice Jakielski. Her head pieces are gorgeous, textural, creations with powerful emotional ambiguity and incredible use of color.


Her work references early 20th century fashion hats, bonnets, pilot helmets, and musicality through their form. Considering that most of her work connects one head to another there is an interesting conversation about connectivity, relationship, and the way we move together in space.


She states:

I make objects for the body in order to transform the world and how we perceive the world... Objects have the ability to cultivate intimate relationships and provide self-awareness through encounter. Fabricating for the body, I use recognizable forms and particular craftsmanship in order to lend the pieces authority as functional objects.


The forms that I choose are drawn from personal but familiar sources; my grandmother’s circa 1930’s hat collection, Amish bonnets from my childhood trips to the farmer’s market, the colors of a Brahmin town visited in India. This familiarity increases the approachability of the body objects. Through the use of humor, meticulous detail and ambiguous function I coax my audience to investigate closer, closing the physical gap between viewer and object. In this way I want the details of my workmanship to act as a whisper, flirtatiously seductive in its discretion.

My most recent explorations have a focus on communication and relationships. This work is a humorous investigation of actual, metaphorical and poetic means of building connections between peoples. I am exploring methods of communication and the navigation of the spaces, both physical and mental, that we inhabit. I am intrigued with creating new ways of seeing, hearing and participating with our surroundings. By disrupting or enhancing the senses, my props make possible an exaggerated self-awareness, a break in the normalcy of daily experience. With the body dressings I am creating a threshold space between reality and the imagination. This work is a social experiment of sorts, a mediated event to explore communication, comfort and complacency through play.


As she states the ambiguity of the work is essential to its power asking the viewer how do we navigate, use, and understand this object? I personally would love to see her venture into more performance forcing people to stand close, be connected, but often not looking at each other...I actually find it quite interesting that most of her work has the mannequins looking away from one another- so they are physically connected but not able to see each others faces.


No matter what I really love Janice's work and am so excited that she will be speaking at the artist talk on October 8. Hopefully you can come and see her speak along with quite a few other artists.

See more of her work here.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

so good.


Got a snippet of work done in my studio today and continued to get the new layout of the space organized. I think it is going to work out great once it is all settled. I just need to find some time to do a good sweep, mop, and paint and then we are all set.

Either way it felt good to be in the studio.

and she will get a mouth, i promise.

tagged

This is a shot of the gorgeous tag that Kathryn Pannepacker gave us at at the Textile Arts Center opening. She came out to check out the opening and I was lucky enough to meet her and she left this lovely note for us. Awesome.


If you do not know Kathryn's work it is very cool and recently had a very nice feature in American Craft Magazine- check it out here.


Her most recent body of work weaves together fibers, unexpected materials, politics, and the notions of war together. It is well explained in the snippet from an article below:

Most recently, Pannepacker's kept busy making tapestries for a show at the Seeber Gallery, where she shares space with her pal Corey Armpriester, for an exhibition titled Allegiance: War or Peace. Pannepacker presents a series titled Pretty Little Bombs. "The idea is there are all these little fires going on in the world today," she explains.

If the humor is subdued for this one, the element of surprise remains strong, especially when making close inspection of these pieces — many of which incorporate national flag designs — which amply display Pannepacker's penchant for utilizing man-made materials along with staples of weaving, such as wool, cotton, jute and silk. The yellow parts of her flag of Rwanda are made from caution tape. A flag of Sierra Leone sports a diamond shape in the center made of silver pipe cleaners and red-tipped matches: It's her take on the notion of blood diamonds. A piece that shows the Israeli and Palestinian flags divided by a wide band of hundreds of matches, in the middle of which sits a small opening, offers quiet commentary on that particular world conflict.

She has been known to set weavings on fire — the match part, that is. The rest of the piece, which she treats with flame retardant, remains intact. Even without the pyrotechnics, these works burn with a strong message.

"When I weave thousands of matches into something but they're not set on fire, it's got all this potential energy," she says. "It's about the capacity for something to happen."

read full article here.

She also does some graffiti weaving where she leaves little weaving's out in the world as she lives and travels through life. Sharing her love towards the process with the community at large.

Recently she did a large scale public work of painting traditional textile patterns on a large wall.

No matter what Kathryn seems to be doing she does it with a sense of humor and obligation towards her craft and the world. She has a strong foundation in tradition but is always pushing the envelope and looking outside of her own self. Admirable work.

See more links to a number of interesting articles here and her blog where she documents her activities as a renegade craft artist.

Monday, September 27, 2010

sigh.


You have no idea of the relief that I woke up with today. Our last few months have been nothing short of crazy- all for good reasons but when you are stretched so thin sometimes it does not feel so good.
But this weekends wedding was a gorgeous end to a hectic schedule- the ketubah that I made is above. I was working to finish until the VERY last minute and still have a bit of tweaking to do. But it was there and it was lovely.


So now me and the family are welcoming a very mellow month of October and then to Colorado Residency for a month, yeah!!! But best of all I can finally get some time to make my own work. No curating, no shows, no obligations for probably about 6 months and that just sounds perfect to me.
I have quite a few shows off in the distance so I am glad to get the time to make some new work so hopefully much more of that to share here.

Sigh... back to enjoying the quite of my house and the rain and no GIANT to do list for a brief while.

it's in the details.



Check out plenty of images that feature detail shots of many of the works in Cutting Edge- all I can say is gorgeous.

See them here.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

mode off.

So I am in wedding mode for one of my closest friends nuptials this weekend and attempting to finish her ketubah. So I am out until Monday and then more pictures of the show.

but in the mean time check out this interesting discourse. I have no opinion on it but did find the discussion interesting. I think folks should do what they want I may have a personal opinion but that is mine not theirs and there is no need for me to do what they do or them to do what I do...

How to market or not market???
an opinion: here
and here


and the source of the controversy.

What do you think?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Future Heirlooms- Richard Saja


Check out my interview with the ever fabulous Richard Saja over at the always fabulous Mr X. Stitch.

Cutting Edge in its glory.


See images of the installation of Cutting Edge over at my curatorial blog here.
As you can get a sense the show has some incredibly gorgeous work... and every single piece & artist will get a feature in the upcoming weeks- so you have a lot to look forward to.

See some mentions and more pictures of the exhibit here and here.

If you attended and have pictures please share them with me.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

studio re-do


Another thing keeping me busy is ... a total re haul of my studio. While my parents were in town to babysit and unexpectedly art handle (thank you Dad) during the install and opening of the show- My dad built a platform loft in my studio to open up more space and allow us to have a great community/baby zone. Since my studio mate is due tomorrow it makes sense to make our studio very baby friendly.

Well it looks awesome- things are still being prettified like rugs are needed and some paint spread but I am super excited about the change and think it will just make it easier to be there with t. We hung out there for 3-4 hours yesterday and it worked great.

Tomorrow I will take some pictures so you can see the new and approved studio and maybe I can actually get to making some work to show you too.

opening night...


Sorry about the lack of post yesterday. I know you are all waiting on the edge of your seat to see images from the opening of Cutting Edge- right? But alas we had some internet issues yesterday but I AM BACK and...

The opening was in short amazing!!! We had a huge turnout. The space is quite large and was packed, I mean packed, the entire night so I would guess that we had at least 400 people but most likely quite a bit more. The band was fabulous, the crowd awesome, the food looked fab, the raffle prizes so cool, and the space looked incredible.

I was honored that so many people came out to the exhibit, many of the artists traveling far and wide to be there. So check out more images of the crowd over here. And tomorrow I promise some nice clean install shots so you can see the overall exhibit and then some detailed shots of the GORGEOUS work in the show.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Tonight, tonight, tonight!!!!!

work by Sheila Klein

Cutting Edge: A Celebration of Fiber

SEPTEMBER 17, 8-11PM
505 CARROLL STREET (BETWEEN 3RD + 4TH AVE)

There will be food, drinks, live music, raffle prizes and, of course, fiber arts:

Cutting Edge: A Celebration of Fiber

Curated by: Joetta Maue
Exhibting Artists: Heidi Field-Alvarez, Sarah Bahr, Emily Barletta, Jamie Bertsch, Andrea Donnelly, Erin Endicott, Mallory Feltz, Virginia Fitzgerald, Sierra Furtwangler, Meredith Grimsley, LUKE Haynes, Tod Hensley, Jennifer Hunold, Janice Jakielski, Sheila Klein, Julie Kornblum, Lucia LaVilla-Havelin, Clayborn Jackson Lohmann, Alisha McCurdy, Margarita Mileva, John Paul Morabito, Suyeon Na, Erin M. Riley, Rebecca Ringquist, Leslie Schomp, Lou Trigg, Cayce Zavaglia, Amanda Tiller

Live Music: Raya Brass Band

Entry is FREE but we suggest a donation of $20 to support our programming (and it buys your raffle tickets!)

Thanks to our Sponsors: Bencotto, BK Craft Central, Fire Island Beer Company

Raffle Prizes by: Keds, Little Candy Cake Company, Trois Pommes Patisserie, Enlightenment Wines, M2 Jewelry, Two Lovers, Olga's On Smith, plus Textile Arts Center classes!

Teaser.


Okay installation has been crazy, my schedule has been crazy, weird things with walls have occurred but the show LOOKS AMAZING. I have not been able to take many pictures yet but I promise many, many of them VERY soon. But until then see this awesome little teaser of a post over at the Textile Arts Center Blog.

Hope to see you tonight!!!!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

be inspired.


I forgot to mention last week that on my curatorial blog here you can now find links to all the artists included in the exhibit at the Textile Center. There is some super amazing work and artists included so take a click over there and get inspired.

You can also find all the details for the exhibit.

above work by cutting edge artist Suyeon Na

install mania is beginning.


Agh, after a being a bridesmaid in a whirlwind weekend of a wonderful friends gorgeous wedding I am preparing to go crazy installing over the next 2 days. There is a ton of work in the show and a few pieces are HUGE so I am a little nervous and stressed.
But I always get this way before the installation of an exhibit that I have curated, more so then my own solo shows. I just sincerely want all the artists involved to be so happy with it. I know that it will come together and am excited to meet many artists tomorrow as a handful are coming to install their own piece, yay.

But the nerves have begun.... Cannot wait to show yo some install pictures tomorrow.

above work by cutting edge artist Virginia Fitzgerald

Friday, September 10, 2010

Disposable

Perhaps you can check out this opening that sounds great- sadly I cannot....

Disposable: Ciudad Juarez and the War on Women
September 10-21, 2010
opening of a group show this Friday, September 10th from 6pm-8pm
at the Gallatin Galleries in NY.


Featured Artists:
Peggy Adam, Lina Palotta, Patricia Yossen, Hayden Dunham, Keith Miller, Tali Weinberg, Chris Nolan, Amia Yokoyama

"Since 1994 hundreds of women and young girls have been brutally raped and murdered in Ciudad Juarez and still hundreds more are missing. In the past three years the border city has also seen a brutal escalation of the drug war, with the cartels taking on the army and police and leaving more dead than in any other city in the world.
In Disposable: Ciudad Juarez and the War on Women, the artists have looked at these conditions with a close eye and through the lens of the femicide of the past 16 years, trying to make sense of the situation, call attention to global connections, and express the rage, frustration and pain along with solidarity for those working for justice and peace."
------------------

The piece below that is being contributed by the weaver Tali Weinberg is described...
--"The males have wings while it is the females whose bodies are crushed to extract their red dye. But red is also the color of the sun."-- is an interactive installation/performance referencing the maquiladoras (sweatshops), the violence against women they have fueled, and alternative modes of production and exchange. In addition to the opening, I will be at the gallery additiotnal hours weaving a blanket with yarn that I hand-dyed with cochineal (an insect-derived, natural red dye).

Thursday, September 9, 2010

thanks.


Need to send a few thanks out for mentions here and here.

playing with anger.



I featured Maggy Rozycki Hiltner a long time ago and loved the new work that I have recently seen. She is combining embroideries of children with wacky angry "fluffy animals" to make interesting commentary on the relationships in our lives.


Similar to Rebecca Ringquist she gorgeously cuts apart old found linens and collages them to make incredibly gorgeous textures and backgrounds for her work. Often her characters are built out if this same process.


She also has made a series of comic book like narrative works that explore how you navigate friendships and frienemies. They are both hilarious and poignant at the same time.


Her new "landscape" works remind me a bit of Orly Cogan's work from a few years back, in the way the figures unexpectedly peek out and engage with the found work, but are done with much more simplicity and playfulness.


I cannot wait to work with Maggy in the spring when her work is in an exhibit that I am curating. See more of her gorgeous stuff here.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Did ya know ...

that I am teaching another awesome class at the Textile Arts Center in conjunction with the exhibit?

Here are the details- it starts next week.




The Embroidered Journal w/ Joetta Maue

Wednesdays, 6-8:30 Sept 15, 22, 29, Oct 6

Working autobiographically, we will create a daily embroidered journal. Students will create simple samplers, learning traditional stitches, then move on to creating a daily response journal through stitching. When we see embroidery as "drawing" with thread, how does the medium change? Use a combination of traditional stitches, or try your hand at free-form stitching, where recognizable image and text are not necessary in representing personal thoughts, emotions, & events

Price: $150, + $25 materials fee

Joetta Maue is a local working fiber artist specializing in embroidery.
From her artists statement:
"I am not an extraordinary woman. I do not live under extraordinary circumstances. I am a woman who has both flaws and fears and also strengths and hopes. Through the depiction of these characteristics, I invite the viewer to relate to and connect with the work the artist, and the subject of human experience."

CONTACT: info@textileartscenter.com or 718-369-0222 to sign up.

Future Heirlooms


Check out my interview with Caroline Kirton over at Mr. X Stitch here.

Forgive the wonky formatting I think they have a stitch demon in their blog that always wonks up my posts.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

mama pajama


I am a bad friend as this is posted late. But it sounds like it was a great success anyway. You also have plenty of time to make it and see:


Mama Pajama Rolled Out of Bed by Marcie Paper

September 3 - October 9, 2010

First Friday Closing Reception: October 8, 2010 7-10pm.

at 1708 Gallery




Marcie is a good friend of mine from graduate school who makes some incredibly lovely work. Mostly paintings, I am lucky enough to own 2 of them, but also some very interesting stop motion animations. You can see all of her amazing work on her very fancy and uber gorgeous new website, Go Marcie.



The press release for her solo exhibit states:

Through stop-animation and paintings, Marcie Paper records visual abstractions of her experiences in the current moment. As she layers these images on the paper, they become a collection of short-term memories that help her, “hold on to a little longer, understand a little better, and have physical evidence of, (her) existence.”

The paintings and animations on display in Mama Pajama Rolled Out of Bed were created during a two year period in which Paper listened exclusively to one side of a Paul Simon album. She notes that this particular album brought her back to a former time and place in her life, and “began to wonder how much “memory-time” one album or song could hold.” The images that comprise this exhibition represent and capture specific moments in time and explore questions that arise as the artist investigates memory, experience and nostalgia.