After a heavy focus on making costumes, this week I launched
back into making pieces for the summer art fair circuit. Yesterday the thermometer reached seventy and
the day was sunny. Eranthis, snowdrops
and crocuses started flowering across the yard, filling it up with fresh colors. The weather seduced my mind with thoughts of
summer, so off I went to make some summer birches by a stony lake shore. I picked up some florist wire remnants and
have been wrapping them with yarn from alpacas that I buy at the summer farmer’s
market.
My friend Cathy Crosson of RedRosa farm raises alpacas and sells a yarn, spun from a particular color of charcoal
grey alpaca that work well for me. The
wrapped wires contribute the narrow diameter branches of the birches, and I can
bend them as I like to make natural tree pieces that hold their shape. I wove the background for the piece about a
month ago, but other responsibilities prevented me from advancing the
piece. I stretched out the weaving in
one of the oak frames that Thom Bertolacini builds for me, so now I’m ready to
build forward the background using a dimensional crochet technique. When everything is in place I’ll attach the
birch trees and start listening for the waves splashing up on the rocky
shore.
Friday marked a milestone in my other major focus, making circus
costumes for the current Sounds of South members in the upcoming production of ‘Pippin’. I’ll share a few individual pictures, but I
think the image I like best shows the two racks jam packed and bursting with
purples, blues and greens. I even threw
in some black, silver and white for good measure. That was a good stopping point for my
costuming, which allowed me to go back to creating weavings. I’ll use the next month to focus on making
art to travel to summer fairs.
I also
need to develop pieces for a fall exhibit I’m working on titled ‘Treasures from
the Earth’. In April I’ll go back to Bloomington
South and making circus costumes after the freshmen class has been selected and
measured. I’ll continue collecting
used clothing in the color palette for the show until then to draw on for the new
costumes.
Speaking of costumes, yesterday I delivered twelve
mannequins (a big thank you to Deb Christiansen from IU!) to the Blue LineGallery. These will support my costumes
from last fall’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ production.
The gallery will host a joint exhibit with a
fashion designer that will take you behind the scenes a little bit. I’ll share my rough sketches for the costumes
so people can see the thought process that connects the conception with costume
building and leads to the final, wearable product. Jim Andrews is curating the exhibit so I’m
looking forward to getting a list from him describing which characters he would
like to include. I know he’s partial to the
grater, the whisk and the potato mashers.
Mark your calendars and come out on March 4th for the opening
reception, although the show will be up for a couple of months.
In travel news, I’m packing for a workshop in Memphis,Tennessee next weekend. I do know that my
three big boxes with fifteen looms and mountains of colorful yarn have arrived. That helps give me confidence that everything
will go smoothly when I get there. I’m
looking forward to the explosion of color when they come out. I just need to remember to pack my Swiss army
knife in my suitcase and not my carry on when I travel!
I probably won’t be able to write a blog next
weekend, but I should have lots of news and pictures when I write again on
March 5th. On the home front, Jim surprised me with a
cherry pie on Saturday morning. Hooray,
my favorite! I think he knew that. We definitely need to pack more fresh farmer’s
market cherries into the freezer for the cold months. I’m going to have to muddle through on
blueberry and raspberry pies until May.
Until next week,
Martina Celerin
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