Make and Take

We hosted one heck of a party at Pyramid Atlantic on Saturday (Dec. 3)–A holiday cocktail party and DIY holiday event that opened up our studios and gave folks a chance to print their own cards and wrapping paper, make paper ornaments and garland, and enjoy some delicious cocktails. We had a lot of folks come by, and hopefully we’ll see some of you all again! Here’s a few photos that a friend sent me of the view from outside (this is of my block printing on fabric for furoshiki wrapping station), and a photo of a test print of by rabbit block.

http://www.pyramidatlanticartcenter.org/

my true, wild self

I’m always looking for ways to shake up my process of art-making–ways to encourage spontaneity, experimentation, and fun.  Creating assignments, using prompts, timing drawing sessions, and using new tools all help me to loosen up and distract my inner critic for a bit, and allow me to surprise myself.  3 dimensional work and work with textiles has provided one way for me to do this lately, and this coil basket is an example of that. I saw a large basket that looked like this years ago at an Anthropologie store (the artists who create the store displays there are so talented!) and have always thought it would be fun to make something similar. It looked to me like a thick rope wrapped in scraps of fabric. I  wasn’t quite sure how to build this, and initially collected a thick gauge wire to create an armature–but as i started working i realized that the rope was stiff enough to hold it’s shape on it’s own, and after wrapping the rope in fabric all i needed to do was stitch the levels together to build the structure.  I ended up using waxed linen thread and an upholstery needle to bind each level together, which worked nicely. I hope to make a mismatched collection of these.

I also recently built a small shadow box and made a miniature version of the felted nests that I worked on several months ago for a project at the Torpedo Project in Alexandria with a team from Pyramid Atlantic. I really enjoyed felting again, collecting fallen branches in my neighborhood, and doing some simple construction–looking back at the photos of the crochet coral reef I’m inspired to push this idea further to create clusters of vessels, similar to swallows nests–that’ll come next!

Finally, the screenprint I’ve included comes from an idea unborn for several years-capturing the wildness and passion of a pack of wolves running. Every time I tried to draw these in the past they came out looking all wrong, and I left the project frustrated many times. This time, I did reach a similar level of frustration, but was distracted by the background pattern, and a trip to Georgia for the funeral of my husband’s granny. Her house is over a hundred years old, surrounded by 50 acres of fertile land that supports pomegranates, figs, persimmons, pecans, and once sustained animals and people alike. The stories that she would tell us about her growing up there and the deep connection that she had to that place made me think of myths and fairy tales, and I always found the plants there to be quite magical. I tried to capture some of this in the pattern that the wolves are running though–an organized way of showing how abundant that place is, and the true, wild self that the wolves have always represented for me.

Streetbox update

Hot off the presses–this week’s city paper reveals our box locations. Mine will live in Cleveland Park at 3426 Connecticut Ave. NW in front of Loews Uptown Theater! Beginning July 1 you can vote for your favorite box at http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/  ps. vote for me! Ha!

Streetbox named desire

I recently participated in a project called “A Streetbox Named Desire”–The Washington City Paper and Pyramid Atlantic Art Center teamed up to celebrate both of their 30th anniversaries by inviting a group of artists to design artwork for some of the City Paper’s newspaper boxes. 10 artists participated, and we had total freedom to do whatever we chose to the box, so long as our additions could withstand life on the streetcorner. for example extreme weather, prying hands, etc, and weren’t pornographic 🙂 So, the results are all quite different as you can see, and all really great. There’s actually going to be an opportunity to vote on your favorite one–I’ll post the link when they put it up. We also don’t yet know where our boxes will end up–that’ll be published in the City Paper soon.

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My box design, which I’ve titled “Moon-eyed”  utilized stenciled silhouettes, transfers using carbon paper, block prints, and hand drawn elements. I wanted the imagery to be graphic and bold, easy to make out from a distance, yet also include layers and details that were subtle and rewarding only at a close range. I had a variety of themes in mind, and in the end I chose to remove the figures from their context (for example, one of the stencils came from a drawing of a woman hanging clothes on a line) and just focus on gesture. I chose my title by thinking about my relationship/reaction  to the city–wide eyed with wonder sometimes and fear others, expecially when considering the city at night. I’ll find out soon where it’ll end up (i’m crossing my fingers for H street!)

 

superconnected

I wanted to share this wonderful exerpt from a new yorker article i just read called “Social Animal” (there’s a link to the full article below)–it’s the first time i’ve heard someone use genetics to describe something like Joseph Campbell’s universal consciousness. It also does a wonderful job of describing why losing yourself in a conversation, or a song, or a drawing can make us so happy.

During the question-and-answer period, though, a woman asked the neuroscientist how his studies had changed the way he lived. He paused for a second, and then starting talking about a group he had joined called the Russian-American Folk Dance Company. It was odd, given how hard and scientific he had sounded. “I guess I used to think of myself as a lone agent, who made certain choices and established certain alliances with colleagues and friends,” he said. “Now, though, I see things differently. I believe we inherit a great river of knowledge, a flow of patterns coming from many sources. The information that comes from deep in the evolutionary past we call genetics. The information passed along from hundreds of years ago we call culture. The information passed along from decades ago we call family, and the information offered months ago we call education. But it is all information that flows through us. The brain is adapted to the river of knowledge and exists only as a creature in that river. Our thoughts are profoundly molded by this long historic flow, and none of us exists, self-made, in isolation from it.

“And though history has made us self-conscious in order to enhance our survival prospects, we still have deep impulses to erase the skull lines in our head and become immersed directly in the river. I’ve come to think that flourishing consists of putting yourself in situations in which you lose self-consciousness and become fused with other people, experiences, or tasks. It happens sometimes when you are lost in a hard challenge, or when an artist or a craftsman becomes one with the brush or the tool. It happens sometimes while you’re playing sports, or listening to music or lost in a story, or to some people when they feel enveloped by God’s love. And it happens most when we connect with other people. I’ve come to think that happiness isn’t really produced by conscious accomplishments. Happiness is a measure of how thickly the unconscious parts of our minds are intertwined with other people and with activities. Happiness is determined by how much information and affection flows through us covertly every day and year.”

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/01/17/110117fa_fact_brooks#ixzz1B8oFriYh

Interview

Attached is a recent interview featuring myself  and artists Laura Kinneberg and Clay Harris  shot at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. The interview, filmed and conducted by Joan Madrid, a journalism student at American University, includes some nice footage of the relief  printing process. http://vimeo.com/channels/75194#15967720

PBR Blue Ribbon Art Show

Last night Megan Mueller and I participated in a great event at the Rock and Roll Hotel in NE DC–we were 2 of the artists creating live art there along with Kristina Bilonick, Patirck Owens, and Kelly Towles. We had a blast painting silhouettes of folks playing target practice with a bunch of empty PBR tall boys–we also had a blast in 30’s era outfits provided by our new friend Emme and her awesome stash (they inspired our alter egos Maude and Sally)! Special thanks to Dan Van Hoozer for arranging this fun party!  Check out the photos.

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crochet coral reef

check out this TED talk about an inspiring crochet project. I’m excited to go see this at the museum of natural history!

New goals

Recently my friends Gretchen, Landria and I decided to each make a piece of jewelry, and then have a show and tell to get feedback on what we’d made. These are the kinds of challenges that actually get me working and I love them! I chose to make a necklace incorporating crochet–I had hoped to make lace, but couldn’t figure it out in time, so made some netting instead. I used vintage cotton thread that Inga Hamilton gave me when she and her husband Andy came to Pyramid for a residency earlier this year. Check out her work in the attached video, it’s awe inspiring!

So after our show and tell I decided to keep working on learning to make lace, and I’m going to give it a go with a book that my friend and coworker Claire loaned me. I’ve also met someone recently who knows how to make lace and tat, and is willing to teach me a lesson. I just love how ideas become a reality when you share them with people!