What I've been waiting for

 My classroom aloe plant has found a summer home in the studio, and finally after a week off from everything I'm back in the studio again too. A few more rows of running stitch on my endless brick wall project brought me to the decision to jump into the text detail.

 I enlarged the graffiti-esque alphabet from my sketchbook onto tissue paper and transferred it to the stitched cloth. Except guess what? Transfer does not really work all that well on bumpy stitched fabric.... So I went back and used a washable fabric marker over all the letters so I could see them. Could have saved myself a hell of a lot of time if I'd just freehanded it.

 But at last, at last! Not only am I back in the studio, I've finally gotten through all the boring background stitching to get to do some fun detail stitching. I'm using stem stitch to give a calligraphic feel to this urban sampler.
In other news, I received a lovely shipment from Dharma with some Kona cotton, silk organza, 5 lbs of soda ash, and a lb of sodium alginate. It's about time, too... look at the state of my last batch of mixed alginate:

It has turned an odd dark amber color and returned to a liquid instead of gel state. I'm afraid to open the container for fear of the possible stench it will elicit!! It is 6 months old now, so it's really not a surprise. HA!
Anyway, I'm hoping for more time and experimentation in the studio over the next few weeks. So nice to have my "artist hat" back on and give the teacher hat a rest. Anyone who complains about teachers getting summer break needs to spend a day or maybe even just an hour teaching in a classroom!

Summer fiber intensives!

 It's that time again! Registration is open and I'm in need for a few curious people to sign up for fibers classes at Fleisher. I'm offering Shibori in the am 10-1 and Stitch and Surface in the afternoon 1-4 the week of August 5th-9th. In Shibori, we'll learn a variety of resist techniques to get pattern and color on fiber, including pole-wrapping, clamping, stitching, and pleating. You'll become familiar with working with fiber reactive dyes, and you can work on cloth or on clothing blanks.

 In Stitch and Surface you'll be introduced to freehand embroidery techniques, sunprinting, and mixed media fiber collage. Projects will include a doodle sampler, an embellished sunprint, and an embroidery inspired by botanical prints. Or feel free to use it as open studio time to work on that embroidery project you've been stuck on.

To register for classes, head over to http://www.fleisher.org/workshops/special.php for more info. There's a 20% discount on the 2nd class for anyone who signs up for both!!

Mind Map

I'm having a great semester with my 11-13 year old silkscreen class at Fleisher (partly because my daughter is taking it for the first time too!). The group worked so efficiently, that we ended up having time for an extra project. One of the adults who takes an evening silkscreen class had left an awesome sketch behind that reminded me of a system or diagram, but which was very open-ended for interpretation, and it gave me a great idea for a project. I wrote out lots of words on slips of paper and had the kids pass a bowl, take a word, and sketch whatever the word brought to mind. After several rounds, they had lots of disconnected imagery. We played with the copy machine, duplicating, shrinking, and enlarging the images, then headed back to the studio and made a collage that would make the images make more sense. Another copy machine trip turned the collages into a photo positive to burn our screens. They printed, and then added color to one print with colored pencils. They cut it into an organic shape, cut out some construction paper arrows, and then headed to the main stairwell to combine all their prints into one installation that made sense or became a system. My daughter's print is at the very bottom and has a sleeping dreamer. The kids thought their images could be a dream system.... an excellent way to make all of these disparate images come together as a cohesive whole. I love working at a place that lets me work as an artist with kids, and lets kids have authentic artmaking experiences. They work in a real studio with real art materials, and we let the work transform and change depending on what happens there. It's easy when I have 8 kids to work with. I wish I could find a way to work more in this vein in my elementary school. Art teacher and teaching artist seem to be different roles, and a lot of it depends on the institution one works within.

Mama Bear

From dream...

 to sketch....

 to a lump of clay.....

 to full form:

Carving out texture is just as repetitive and meditative as stitching, and working with clay is just as tactile.

Animal sketches and some play

 My horse skull sculpture caused a sleepless night last week- I kept dreaming about how to fit all the planes together. The interaction of the jaw joint and eye sockets is very intricate. I'm hoping to find it all fired and ready for me to see tomorrow night.

 Another nightmarish night brought some bears to my door. I dreamed of moving into a new house near Fairmount park, and bears were crawling all around the wraparound porch. I've always wanted a porch- but could do without bears.

Last week there were 2 lifeless fish to sculpt in class, but I wasn't very interested.
Today was the first day I really had off and totally to myself since I don't know when- so I spent it in the studio. I kept hearing somebody clumping around on the top floor, and it got my imagination going. Since my mind wasn't on my embroidery hoop I pricked my fingers, and suddenly had an idea for a short stop motion animation. I played a bit and put this rough video sketch together. I think it could turn in to something more:

View from the Hoop

Literally.

A stitchy landscape. The brick wall is growing... so much faster than the white section since I'm only stitching through 2 layers now instead of 3, and the section is only 6 inches wide instead of 16.

Almost a haiku

 rainy studio Monday

 a little progress on the panorama

Tuesday art teacher hands

freshly fired

In the last post I shared my sketches from the first night of animal sculpture class. I thought I'd share the resulting sculpture as well. I hollowed him out last week and here he is already fired! I think I'll glaze him to soften up his surface. Tonight I sculpted a copy of a horse's skull.... so much harder!

beginnings and middles

 Last week was the beginning of the semester at Fleisher. My embroidery class sadly lacked enrollment and was cancelled, but that means I got to sign up to TAKE a class instead. I'm taking Darla Jackson's Animal Sculpture class (with my honey) and our first night was all about Beep the bunny. I did a bunch of sketches before working with the clay because I need to draw things to really see them. Beep kept moving around, too, making it hard to capture just one pose, but gesture drawings are a great way to capture a quick pose.

In the studio yesterday I began stitching the Port Richmond Panorama. There's going to be so much backstitch! The picture above is about 5 feet of thread stitched in, covering only about 1 x 4 inches of the drawing. It's tedious sometimes, but it was a nice break from the wall:

Forgive the giant hoop marks (Yay! Finally used my standing embroidery frame!!) The white section is now completely covered in sashiko patterned running stitches to give a brick-like appearance. The original background wall is mostly gray up to the apex of the triangle, and I did get some gray thread for it, but I think the whole piece will feel more lively if I switch to the rust color for bricks.

I didn't make it to the studio today, but I did finish observations for two of my student teachers. Finishing things feels wonderful. At least it should. My prayers for the Boston runners whose "Finish" was ruined this afternoon by cruel terror. Although it seems futile at times, I'm going to just keep trying to put out beauty in the world. We need it to balance out all the ugliness.

Unusual threads

It was First Friday! It was Spring! There was finally art worth seeing and weather worth going out in to see it! Unfortunately I forgot my camera. But there were two great sights in Fishtown on Friday night. Firstly, Holiday Campanella showed off her felted "Fleisher" at Philadelphia Sculpture Gym, capturing two of my loves (fibers and my favorite community art center). Secondly, Jason Hackenwerth had an installation/environment at 2424 York that was magical. With light plastic sheeting, clear packing tape, and fans, he created a series of tunnels, domes, and cave-like spaces to move through. The air pressure as the doors to the space opened and closed would dramatically alter the inflation and movement of the plastic structures. It reminded me of the rare occasions the gym teacher would let us play with the parachute and you could run underneath the puffed up cloth and be enclosed.

The next night brought a new adventure out to West Philly to Seeds Gallery to see a collaborative show including Genevieve Coutroubis, Johanna Marshall, and John Karpinski. Genevieve's photos of Greece were the playground for John and Johanna to explore. John's drawings captured the magic of childhood and Johanna's stitchery added nostalgia for the past. 

 I especially loved this scrollwork over the strap on the statue's shoulder:

Seeing these stitched photos makes me want to play some more with stitching on paper. Maybe if I printed out some of the panoramas I've been doing lately. Fabric is more fun to stitch on though. Maybe I could do some digital prints on cotton or silk..... Seeing art makes my mind spin.

I figured out that in my hour and a half in the studio today I was able to stitch about 60 stitches a row, each row was about 2 feet... there were 12 rows making my total for the day about 24 feet of thread and about 720 stitches. I'm hoping for more time tomorrow so I can get a section of my wall piece totally finished.