Graffiti!

I am never sure where my inspirations and ideas come from, but I have learned to recognize when one percolates to the top of my consciousness, and to see it as something that has been struggling for my attention for some time. 

This happened to me a few days ago. I suddenly found myself interested in, and wanting to create, graffiti. There are a number things  about graffiti that appeal to me. First, the artist has an 'urgent' message to share, and is willing to take risks to share it. Also, it is usually done in primary, in-your-face colors, to be seen. 

Well, I have some 'urgent' messages to share. But I am not a graffiti artist; I do not really know how to handle a can of spray paint. And I am really not the type to sneak out in the dark to make art on some blank wall. My night vision is not all that great, for one thing.

Besides, I am a tapestry weaver. That is my medium, I know how to 'handle' a bit of yarn. So I have begun a small graffiti 'sample' on my small loom. I have a partial cartoon, of sorts, but haven't chosen color ahead of time, except to gather a basket of primary colored wool to choose from. I am also 'winging it' on the background areas.

The differences between spray can graffiti and woven graffiti are, I am finding, pretty big. The biggest difference is that, if you paint something you don't like, you can just paint over it. So pre-planning is not really a big necessity in traditional graffiti.  Also, weaving as I am on this piece, on a small scale, the necessary outlining and shading to get that distinctive 'graffiti look' is a bit of a challenge on the woven grid.

But I am going to keep going. In my head is a large tapestry of woven graffiti. As I weave this small piece, I am learning the things I will need to know to create the larger work. Because I have some big things to say right now, and I want them to be very visible. 

November 11, 2016

My sketchbook seems to be filling with expressions of grief this week. Today, with all passion spent, I can't bring myself to add color to my sketch.

Leonard Cohen's music has a pretty big playlist in my heart. When I was in high school, my best friend and debate colleague and I would go to the local college to study. We would go, not to the library, but to the basement of the Student Union. There, beyond the pool and ping pong tables, was a small, almost always empty 'music room.' It had a console stereo and a stack of records. The record I always looked for was "Wildflowers" by Judy Collins. On it, she sings Leonard Cohen songs. 

I was heartbroken when we went one day and the album was gone, taken, no doubt, by a poor student thief with great musical taste. I worked to save, and after awhile I earned enough to buy my own album. Since then, I have listened to (over and over) Judy, and Joan, and Bob, and Jeff, and Jennifer, KD, and Roberta, and Leonard himself sing songs that express the times of my life. The songs of a Canadian singer-songwriter, who left us yesterday, at a time when we really need his take on this crazy world.

Thank you for leaving your music for us, Mr. Cohen. Thank you from a young girl trying to make sense of her world in the 60's, and thank you from this woman, who is still looking for sanity in this crazy world, but who will have to be happy to settle for 'dancing to the end,' loving your music.

Hey, I know 'that's no way to say goodbye,' but it's all I have today. Hallelujah.

#trumpNotMyPresident

Thursday, November 10, 2016

The morning after...

On Exhibit!

Last week, my husband and I went to Topeka, Kansas, where his family still lives, and where we both grew up, went to school through undergraduate school, met, and got married. I had helped arrange to have both the American Tapestry Biennial 11 exhibit and a smaller invitational tapestry exhibit shown there. 

The smaller exhibit was of the time related works of Tommye Scanlin, Janet Austin, Janette Meetze, Geri Forker, and myself. The exhibit is called "Time Warp... and Weft" and it is open now at the NOTO Art Center in the NOTO (North Topeka) Arts District. Janette Meetze, my husband, and I spent last Tuesday hanging the exhibit. 

The Art Center is a refurbished old Post Office building. This was at the end of the day - which is why I look so tired!

My Calendar Series tapestries have never been shown publicly all together, so this is pretty exciting for me! They look small, in comparison to some of my work, but they represent eight years of weaving!

At the right of this photo is one of Janette Meetze's pieces. (I was so busy both when we were hanging and later, I did not get a good set of photos, so apologize for some of these images.)

Above; Janette Meetze, and below, Tommye Scanlin's piece on the left, and Janet Austin's on the two right walls.

Tommy Scanlin, the two left walls, Janet Austin on the right wall in the background.

Geri Forkner's piece, with my Calendar Tapestries in background.

The ATB11 exhibit at the Mulvane Art Museum on the Washburn University campus was also stunning! I would love to post all the photos I took there, but will just tell you that you can get a catalog of that exhibit on the ATA website. The Mulvane is a beautiful space, perfect for this exhibit!

The exhibits both had opening receptions on the First Friday. They will have First Friday receptions in December, as well. They were well attended, and I got to see a lot of friends and family and art lovers there... and to meet a few new friends, as well!

The artists who could be at the NOTO reception, Janette Meetze, Janet Austin, and myself, even got to meet Topeka's mayor!

But the sun set over our Kansas trip, and we headed back home, where a taut warp and a pile of lovely weft wool is ready for me to begin a new tapestry....... perhaps even a new series. (I think there is one percolating up there right now!)

Calendar Tapestries Open House

Welcome to my Open House/Studio! Well, it actually was a few days ago, and it was a wonderful success! I had a lovely crowd here! I tried to do a video of the tapestries all hanging in my home to share here, but I just can't get a decent one! Part of the reason is my lack of videography skills, and the other part is that I live in an old Arts and Crafts home, with lots of windows, but they all have deep eaves, so interior lighting is lovely, but difficult to capture in a photograph (to say the least.) I will do a video of all the Calendar Series tapestries when they are on exhibit in a well-lit gallery setting. (Or, more likely, I will have someone more skilled do one for me.)

Anyway, here's a bit of a tour! As you walk in, you first see the "July" tapestry, of my granddaughter, in the entryway.

Hanging in the living room were the Summer and Spring tapestries, plus the two appropriate larger tapestries from the Four Seasons Series. Above the old sofa is the "Summer" tapestry, and the "June" and "August" tapestries.

Above the fireplace are the "March," "April," and "May" tapestries form the Calendar Series. I just couldn't get a decent photo of the "Spring" tapestry, as it was always a bit backlit, where it was hanging.

In the dining room, I hung the winter and fall tapestries. In this photo, you can see the "January" and "February" tapestries, then the large "Winter" tapestry, the "December" tapestry, and the "November" tapestry, which doesn't show up well here, so I've added a closer shot of it below.

The "September" and "October" tapestries were both side-lit, but I have very little wall space, so I had to hang them where I could! They were really both lovely in their spaces, just hard to photograph well.

The "Fall" tapestry hung in the spot in the dining room that I always save for the appropriate Seasons Series tapestry. I almost feel like that one wall was just made for such a tapestry to hang there!

This week I will be taking all the tapestries down off my walls and packing them to take to Kansas, where they will be on exhibit in the NOTO Art Center, in Topeka through the months of November and December. They will be in an invitational traveling exhibit called "Time Warp... and Weft" with the beautiful works of Tommye Scanlin, Janet Austin, Janette Meetze, and Geri Forker. This will coincide with the ATB11 exhibit, in the Mulvane Gallery in Topeka, so if you go see ATB11, be sure to get over to our exhibit, as well! The exhibit will then be in Athens, GA for the summer months. I'm excited!

You are invited.....

You are invited to an Open Studio

at my home studio 

on Sunday, October 16

1-4 p.m.

to celebrate and share the completion of the 

Calendar and Four Seasons tapestry series,

before they travel on exhibition. 

(If you need address or directions, leave a comment and I'll contact you.)