Double-Take: Photo and Fiber

"Tigerlily" ©2010, 18" X 24"

Once again, I have the wonderful opportunity to participate in a Sisters in Cloth exhibition. This time is will be in collaboration with CT Shoreline photographer, Rose Alpert, in a show entitled "Double-Take: Photo and Fiber". Each of Rose's captivating floral photographs will be interpreted by one of the fiber artists in an 18" X 24" piece accompanied by an 8" square detail. The show will debut in February at the Haskins Laboratories at Yale, New Haven, CT. Stay tuned for more information!

"Tigerlily", detail

An amusing aside......it was only after completing "Tigerlily" that I discovered the photo image I was working from on Rose's website.....*rotated vertically*! It actually makes more sense this way:)

Beyond Comfort

"Tall Poppies" © 2010, 39" x 10"

I'm so pleased to announce that my "Tall Poppies" has been juried into the SAQA "Beyond Comfort" exhibit, debuting in Birmingham, England in August, 2011! It was selected, along with 29 other pieces, by Marci Rae McDade, editor of Fiberarts magazine. Eileen Doughty will curate the exhibit.

The exhibit "challenged artists to venture into uncharted territories of creative expression". "Tall Poppies" depicts a departure from past work in both composition and technique......beyond my comfort zone.

I'm looking forward to some celebrating with my CT friends Diane Wright and Kate Themel, whose pieces will also be included in the show:)

Goetheanum Series: West Stairwell

Goetheanum: West Stairwell (Dornach, Switzerland) ©2010

Here is the first in a series of stairwells I am doing from within the Goetheanum. It measures 18" X 24" and is rendered in hand-dyed fabrics purchased from the Ruby Mountain Dye Works Etsy.

A brief history (excerpts from literature I picked up in the building)....The Goetheanum is the "seat of the School of Spiritual Science and the General Anthroposophical Society, Center for Cultural and International Encounter". This building (the second Goetheanum) was "constructed between 1925 and 1928 and was the first large-scale building to employ reinforced concrete for sculptural forms....designed to harmonize with the local topography - the movement of the terrain and the rocky spurs of the Jura Mountains".

In my experience, it is a magnificent structure to behold on the horizon and a place of great beauty and peace within.

Gyotaku, Take 2

Branzini, direct method

Spent the morning yesterday working on perfecting my gyotaku technique in preparation for a run with the 6th graders next week. This time I was able to get a whole (uncleaned) Branzini, aka Sea Bass aka Loup de Mer (Sea Wolf.......how apropos:)

I used a bed of sand in a jelly roll pan to support the fish and level it for printing. The sand was covered with plastic wrap before placing the fish in it.

Using Super Glue, the fins were open and bonded to cardboard. Cardboard absorbs the Sumi ink readily so it won't print around the edges of the fins.

Siggi was printing with me again and he'd brought an armful of wonderful fabrics for us to try out (thank you, Lisa-Marie!), among them batiks, rayon and a beautiful shibori.

By the end of the morning, I was really pleased with the prints we were getting. I'm looking forward to trying some larger, more exotic species next time!