My first project of the week, before I launched into an
intensive engagement with the computer, was to complete a free standing dove
sculpture that I wrote about last week.
I’ve been making whimsical, colorful birds and one of my Facebook
friends asked if I had ever made a dove.
Hmm... I could do that, I thought!
I pulled out my white fleeces and white yarns with the idea that I could
layer white on white, making the slight color differences the focus of
attention. I love working with white on
white, but when I came up with the idea for the design on the wings I knew I
had my composition. I think it’s vibrant
without having any color.
The project that took the most time this week was assembling
an application for the call for a public art piece in the Zionsville Town
Hall. I would like to move in the direction
of creating more large installation pieces.
For the application I first had to assemble a complete resume. I don’t think I realized everything I have
done over the years. I had forgotten
about many of the public art commissions, talks, and special projects in addition
to all the art fairs, workshop and costuming on top of the hundreds of
dimensional weavings I’ve created and sold.
It’s been quite a ride! I even
had a laugh out loud moment when I was searching my computer for images related
to one of my recent pieces called “Pie Fruit.”
The screen was filled with just a partial list of all the pie images
that have appeared in my blog – and I still could scroll through another screen-full!
And that doesn’t account for all the pies that have come my way. It reminds me of what a sweet husband I
have.
My concept for the Zionsville proposal was to channel what I
imagine their Farmers’ Market must be like and how that is like a Town Hall for
meeting people and exchanging ideas. I
used our farmer’s market as a reference point, because my family and I go
almost every Saturday that we’re home.
It’s a comforting ritual to engage the changing colors, smells and
people we encounter each week as spring turns to summer then fall. We usually come home with more produce than
we expected, but we always run into friends that we haven’t seen in a while for
a quick chat and connection. I went through
collections of images, some of which I had forgotten about, and it was nice to see
strong pieces I had made years ago. Because there is always a spark of an event or
an experience that is the starting point for each of my weavings, I got to
think about the family stories that went into piece. As I make each piece there is a dialog that
goes on between the piece and me. The composition
and process is interactive. The stories
have been in the back of my mind and it was nice to relive them as I produced descriptions
for pieces I featured in the application.
And - if you are interested in seeing a selection of my work
in a group exhibit that focuses on food, I’m excited to announce that I will be
participating in an exhibit at the Garfield Park Arts Center in December called“Palate: An Appetite for Art.” The opening reception is on December 7th
from 6-8 p.m. and the show will be up until Dec 29th.
This week I played a little more with dyeing using a very unconventional
approach. A couple of weeks ago, after I
did my first dye bath with black walnuts, I still had plenty of dye. I decided to over-dye some intense red cotton yarn - of which I probably have far more than I’ll ever need. As I was washing the yarn, which I always do
before I plunk it in the dye bath, I noticed that it was bleeding a lot of dye. I thought—hmmm—what could I do with that
red? I finished the overdyeing project
and I did get a really pretty deeper muted red, but this week I decided to try
and tap into the concept of transferring the dye color. I wound a large skein of red and just put it
into the dye pot and let it boil for an hour.
Lo and behold the dye pot was almost black because of all the dye that
leached from the yarn. I pulled the
source yarn out and, because I didn’t have any alum, I threw in some aluminum foil
and half a cup of vinegar with the thought that some might leach out and behave
like a mordant.
Of course the scientist
in me wishes I had done a controlled experiment [similar pot, no aluminum foil
and vinegar] but the fiber artist in my said:
“who cares, I just want the dyed wool!” I grabbed about a half a pound
of fleece, washed it, and put it in the pot to boil and let it steep
overnight. The next day I pulled it out
and wow, what an amazing red! And yes, it
is fixed to the fleece. I’m very pleased
with how the experiment turned out.
Last, after a long run of wonderful raspberry pies that
culminated with a pumpkin spice apple pie when the berries ran out, there will
be no fresh pie this weekend. I sure do
hope I can make it until the Thanksgiving pies kick in!
Until next week,
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