Skirkanich 1

I am very happy to share that I've been selected for the Skirkanich internship in Network Visualization at the University of Pennsylvania this summer. They are teaming up artists, scientists, high school students and an art teacher (me!) to explore visualizing scientific concepts- especially how the brain and other networks work. The first resource we've been asked to consider is the video above.
I love thinking about the brain. It's such a complex organ that controls everything we do and say. How do we end up being such unique individuals with different ways of thinking? How does creativity work? How is it possible that I can think about how I think??!? I love it. This video shares research about how semantics are stored in the brain. I've heard about there being a "language center" in the brain, but this video seems to refute the idea of language being only in one place. Words and their meanings and related categories are grouped all over the brain. I'd like them to do more study on how foreign language is stored in the brain and how the translations may be grouped. Is mere and maman and annecigim and mom all stuck in one spot in my brain? Is that why I mix up french and turkish and english words all the time? And why do I feel a throbbing or strain in my left temple area when I'm trying to think of a word? Or why do the words breakfast, lunch, and dinner seem interchangeable when they come out of my mouth? How do the words get from auditory processing to understanding to saying? Could there be too many connections?
I like how in this video they used color to help map out categories of words and where they lived in the brain. I also found it interesting how they kept changing the way the brain was represented- sometimes showing all the wrinkles, sometimes butterflying it out, playing with 2D and 3D versions.

I expect I will continue to post more about my experiences as I go through the internship- as long as I'm allowed to share openly.

Playing with pictures

I am the screengrab queen. No photoshop, just the crappy paint program, and some screengrabs from my good friend g o o g l e. I have 2 pieces that are panoramic "drawings" in thread of views of the city, and I'm wondering if I can whip out one more before February and my solo show arrives.

 I would use these photo collages to create a line drawing to transfer to fabric. they're views of 2 places I've lived. I think the streetviews are funny time capsules. I don't know how often they are updated, but not very. Sometimes the streetviews are a shock- like the empty lot on the right in the picture above used to be a boarded -up building that gave you chills to walk by. In the picture below there should be a whole new building mid-right.

I've always loved panoramic photos. When I was a teenager I had a "panoramic camera"- it had a lens that just cropped the standard photo format to a slice. Although it might have had a slightly fish-eyed lens... I forget. I loved the pinhole cameras made out of oatmeal boxes we'd use in my first photo class. The paper bent around the back of the canister would create great distortions of perspective but in incredibly sharp focus. I also have a series of family photos in vacation spots made much like my collages above- but with one of us standing on one side of the photo, then a quick photographer switch for the other to stand in the opposite side of the photo. (I really don't like handing my camera over to strangers). One of my favorite photographers was Art Sinsabaugh who took amazing panoramas of the midwest and Chicago with one of those cameras that was meant for taking long group photos. Come to think of it, my grandparents had one of those panoramic graduation photos hanging over the "davenport" (as they called the sofa). I think this love for panorama might go back farther than I realized....

This whole streetview thing is a little creepy. But I think I might be on to something that I want to work on.

Stitch Bombing!

So, you're walking (or jogging, or biking) down the path along the Schuylkill Riverbank. This is a daytime shot, but maybe it's getting on towards dusk, and you've got to go under these dark sections of bridge- just a bit creepy.

You're halfway through the underpass, and something catches your eye.

Wait, what? What is that? Is there something stuck in the fence?

Oh cool-that's all fabric and some shiny stuff over there.

Woah! that's all stitched onto the fence- and all those pieces are stitched onto the fabric- cool.

Huh- those bits and pieces are all glass and trash and stuff. Weird. But that's pretty interesting. hmm, why would anyone bother?

And you walk away. And you're thinking. And the place isn't as creepy as it used to be because you saw something- dare I say- beautiful?

Or that's what you would do if you were me and think some graffiti is really art and you actually look at stuff in your environment and get transformed by how beautiful this gritty city can be.

This is a project I've started doing with my artist friend Johanna Marshall. Last week we gathered the bits and pieces of debris from the path between the art museum and the 676 bridge. We shisha stitched all the pieces onto blue fabric to look like Nazar beads, and then met up again today to sew them all onto the fence. We got 23 pieces onto the fence. There were supposed to be a few more, but I didn't dig deep enough in my bag to get them all out.  The Nazar symbol is supposed to ward off evil or danger, and we're planning on doing these in spaces that seem like danger zones to transform them.

It took about 2 hours to sew them on. A freight train went by 8 feet from our faces. Lots of people passed by without comment, but I saw a few back glances over shoulders and a few smiles. One guy tried to sell us a bike for $10. On our walk over, waiting for a light to change some lost-looking tourists walked by and I successfully gave them directions in French to get to the restaurant they were searching for. It was a truly beautiful day.

no idle fingers

I've been preoccupied with paper writing on the subject of Quaker schoolgirl embroideries... one more day to finish that up... But never fear, my fingers have still been busy.

In my sliver of spare time, when I just need to decompress, I've got this little cloth going. There are some silk scraps stitched down to a grey cotton. Next I have a piece of sunprint cloth to go over it all for some reverse applique. I started it as a sample during my last Stitch and Surface class, and I'm just enjoying stitching on it.

I'll sign off with a quote I've discovered on 2 different samplers recently- one was from CT and the other from Philadelphia:

"Count that day lost whose low descending sun, views from thy hand no worthy action done"



The Great Kensington Fire

There was a 3-day long 5 alarm warehouse fire in my neighborhood last week... I keep thinking about history. I live in a place that was a major hub of industry about 100 years ago. My house was likely built to accommodate factory workers. Some of the huge old warehouses and factory buildings remain, and a few have been converted into lofts and studio spaces, but many still stand empty, yawning, just asking for trouble.
In the aerial views you can see the footprints of old buildings in the vacant lots- all the now "green" space you see above. The green spaces can be seen in another perspective in Anna Neighbor's work here, click on her hideout series.

Mapping ideas

Kensington el bridge at Lehigh, part of my daily route

Today I introduced our mapping project in Stitch and Surface. Mapping is one of my main themes, perhaps because I've traveled and lived in so many places, I'm always trying to orient myself and understand place in so many facets. I shared some of my own work, which I don't usually do, and saw that mostly I tend toward the literal side of maps.
But for sparking imagination I gave my students a list of questions and possibilities to consider. Perhaps others might like to take these under consideration:
Where are you from?
How many different places have you lived in, gone to school in, traveled to?
 Where are your ancestors from?
 Can you remember your neighbors and landmarks of the place you grew up?
Are you concerned with international politics?
 What if you were to map the journey your shirt took from being made to being worn?
What is your daily routine?
What was the most amazing trip you ever took?
What would a map of heaven look like?
 What would a map of your attic look like?

The list could go on......... why not add to it in my comments section?

Visual Response

It's so nice to stitch something new. We were asked to make a "Visual Response" to our first 2 weeks of internship in the art classroom. I've had an interesting 2 days over the past 2 weeks with my very organized coop teacher. I decided on a  very organized image with a floor plan of the oddly-shaped classroom showing the limited sight lines. The behavioral monitoring is represented by the numbers and the stars. I decided on the color wheel because the curriculum starts off very formally with elements and principles of design. I even noticed that in a way I've included aspects of all the K-4 projects I've observed so far: color wheel, radial designs, and wacky interiors.

The 9-square was a found cloth. I machine stitched the appliques and then hand embroidered the details. Made it go a lot faster. The whole thing measures about 8 inches square. Stylistically I think it goes quite well with the travelogue embroideries I did over the summer. This is an interesting way to sum up experiences. You have to filter all the information and draw out the most significant points. It fits in with the newer studio-based research, learning/discovering new connections by looking back on what you've made, tracing your thought patterns...

More watercolor

  Had a really good crit on this yesterday. Although I was kind of expecting a good crit. I've been using watercolor for a looooooong time, and my classmates are mostly trying this for the first time. No fair comparison. I'm very happy with the whole thing.



after one day of in-class painting

after a marathon night of painting, thinking it might be done



the finished piece with lots more detail bottom right to imply a sense of distance and space



NY bits and pieces

Besides going up to NYC last week for the gallery opening, we also spent some time bumming around Southern Manhattan. Most of the time was spent at the National Museum of the American Indian right next to Battery Park. It's a beautiful building- former customs house, and they have changing exhibitions exploring both the history of first peoples in North America as well as contemporary art and culture. These 2 images come from the exhibit "Song for the Horse Nation", which explores the importance of horses in native culture and how that is expressed in art, tools, clothing, and horse accessories up to the present time. The baby bonnet above shows exquisite quill-work on leather. It was mentioned that the status of women was elevated when the horse became widespread, as horse labor freed women to spend more time on handwork.
The cloth below is a document called a "winter count". Read in a spiral from upper left, the cloth depicts important events within a tribe in a pictorial manner. I'm reminded of hand scrolls in Ancient Hindu culture where painted cloths become mnemonic devices for the recounting of oral history.

Unfortunately photography wasn't allowed in the gallery where an exhibit of contemporary art by native artists entitled "Hide: Skin as Material" was displayed. However the exhibit is viewable online here. I especially enjoyed the work of Sonya Kelliher-Combs.

Walking up Broadway, I was struck by this wall and I-beams (you know me and walls). At first I didn't get it. It looked like either a structure had collapsed or some artist had built a parody of a construction. It wasn't till we walked past the building beyond it, that I realized the odd tilted structure was buttressing the stand-alone building! I enjoyed the play of geometry in space. Everything is art.

Home again, Home again, I finished the little map piece documenting the day. The coins came from Chinatown and sort of create the rolling route between NY and Philly. The dark blue concentric rings delineate my home turf.

Tomorrow I'm off again for a few days. I won't be able to access the Internet, but when I come back I'll have loads to share-- Amish quilts and Fiber Arts International exhibit info.

More maps!

Almost exactly a year ago I discovered the work of Emily Erb, gorgeous painted-silk maps of Philadelphia that were on display at a temporary South Street Gallery. Apparently I wasn't the only one inspired at that show, as my friend and fellow artist educator Donna Bridy recruited Emily Erb for a residency project with the K-8 students at St. Mary Interparachial school where she teaches. Here's her description:

Each child at St. Mary did one of the pieces of one of the three maps. The first map, when Philadelphia was known as Coaquannock, was done by 6, 7 +8. The second map, Philadelphia as William Penn Knew It, was done by 3,4 + 5, and the last, Philadelphia today, done by K,1 + 2. Especially unique is the Delaware River on the second and third maps! What an exciting project! The maps are all on tracing paper- I like how the joins make the map look like its been folded and used. I can just hear the crinkle. I also enjoy all the lovely details, like fish in the river and arrows showing street directions. Congratulations to the students at St. Mary for their work, Donna for seeing so much potential, and Emily for the inspiration!

Mapping: Outside/Inside

With my errands done in Center City and still 40 minutes left on my meter, I headed down to the Gershman Y on Broad and Pine with a vague recollection that there was an exhibit I was interested in seeing. Yes!! Mapping: Outside/Inside is showing in the Borowsky Gallery and features one of my favorite artists: Joyce Kozloff. Here's a little tour of the space with a piece from each of the four artists:Eve Andree Laramee had a selection of paper maps painted over in acrylic, altering the perception of the space represented, concealing and revealing certain features. Alas these blind spots seemed more a result of random patterning than imposed meaning.I found the one above and below, "Eastern Pennsylvania" the most interesting as the abstract patterning had concealed the majority of the map and additional colorings of contour lines broke the landscape into little planets. Joyce Kozloff's map imagery was recreated in paint and print with symbolic markings stressed, but with an additional superimposition of biological system imagery. The parallels between macrocosm and microcosm blend body and space in a symbiotic relationship. In "Bodies of Water: Songlines", below, snippets of text sharing quotes of journeys are collaged onto the surface as well.

Nikolas Schiller had a series of digitally manipulate aerial photographs. Several were rendered from images of the Gershman Y itself, and a larger piece was titled "Federal Triangle". The manipulations turn the photos into kaleidoscopes and quilt blocks through repetition, and the manmade cities are perfected. Can you imagine living in such awesome symmetry? He has quite a website here.

Finally Leila Daw had a series of invented maps of reclaimed land, marked with symbols of long-buried cultures. Her surfaces are resined, creating a sense of preserved artifact or holy icon. More here.

A larger piece of paper mounted on canvas, entitled "Northeast Seas Exploration, Fragments", reads like a renegotiated journey of maps rewritten, appended, conflicted.

As you can imagine, I was in map heaven. You can be too if you head to the Gershman Y on the corner of Broad and Pine sometime before August 15th, 2010.

As the world turns

TaaDaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It spins! It's finished! Problem solved! The top was great, with the pipe wrapped in waxed red hemp and using the metal disk from the original globe. The bottom had been wrapped as well, but the globe kept slipping down. After some kind suggestions and then some hunting around down in the basement, found a metal washer that was exactly the perfect diameter to slip over the pipe, but not slip over the wrapped sections. I added a piece of black felt between the metal and the globe to protect it and provide a smooth friction point. It's a little squat and the stuffing filling out the gores created a sort of peeled orange ribbing. If I were to do it again I'd stretch the pattern vertically a bit. But the earth actually is a bit squat, right? It's not a perfect sphere. I'm also concerned what people's reactions to the patterns and stitching will be. The selections were somewhat arbitrary and don't precisely represent borders or specific cultures. They are more generalizations. Part of the reason for stitching was just to boost contrast- the large format printer really washed out my image.

I think adding the french knot blog hit representations is interesting. It shows who's been reading my blog this past weekend (and in general), and so reveals perhaps the english-speaking and internet accessible areas of the world.

I forgot to mention before one of the inspirations for the piece. One of my ancestors attended a Quaker School in the early 19th Century, where they had young girls stitch globes as both geography and embroidery lesson. Here's to Mary Troth!

Going global

Lest you think I've been slacking in the studio this week after all the other-people's-art posts, be reassured. I've been stitching my fingers off. Here's a sneak peek of my digital print project: I've been reading about the work of Alighiero e Boetti and his stitched world maps (actually crafted by Afghani women). I'm teaching a pattern exploration class in the summer that uses world textiles for inspiration. And I'm completely obsessed by my blog visitor map in the sidebar.

So I scanned in images of textiles from various regions of the world, put them into repeat in photoshop, created my own pattern for the ocean fill, filled in all the areas with the patterns, and used the large format printer to print the image on cotton. After a bit of sewing to seam the gores together into a sphere and some embroidery, I decided to add French knots to represent my blog hits. All those little black dots there.... thank you readers!

Maybe I'll add some more based on tomorrow's visits, then it'll be time to stuff and finish the form. I bought an old globe with a stand I'll use for my softy globe presentation. Hopefully it'll spin! I'll share final photos next week- it has to be finished by Thursday!

What a world..

My surface design prof, Lorraine Glessner asked us to troll through her blog archives to find 3 artists we found interesting. It's quite a feat, because she's gathered a vast collection of interesting artists. She should start curating shows.

How to beat the high cost of living

First up, Josh Faught. I like his eclectic use of materials from everyday life, and the dense textures he creates, especially in the larger wall pieces. They have the same feel as the gritty city walls I've been photographing.

Triage

Untitled

Next, Jacob Hashimoto who makes these amazing 2D/3D constructions/space drawings/paintings made of components of repeating shapes and patterns connected with thread.

Broken Red Circuit

Circumstances and Coincidences

Finally, Emily Miah Stewart who does amazing quilt/embroideries based on maps and memory.

California Routine

Daily Map

Walk in the morning

I'm drooling over these maps. Based on all 3, you can tell I'm more drawn to complex abstract images with pattern, texture, and geometry. I have to start planning my final project, which is supposed to be large format. Let's see what happens.

I don't want to write a paper, I just want to stitch

Why is it I have plenty to say on the topic of embroidery but my brain is so unwilling to focus on Human Development? And I'd much rather have a needle in my fingers right now and am avoiding the pencil. Such a procrastinator I am.
Check out today's endeavors:In Stitch and Surface I had my students start a fabric collage project using the fabrics they had monoprinted last week. First I had them do a magazine collage to get into the rhythm. They all filled an 8x10, which we critiqued, and then horror of horrors! I made them cut up their magazine collage into a tighter composition. It was daring but an excellent move. It really pushed their design skills and I believe their fabric projects will be much better as a result.
The photo above shows my demo piece. I showed them various applique styles: kantha, raw edge, turned edge, fused, and reverse. This sample illustrates the reverse applique technique. There's a lovely stash of fabrics in my classroom from which I grabbed the pink sprigged and the black&white print for my fabric sandwich. I've got the first ring turned and need to clip and turn the second ring.

I had a mixed substrate and handsewing project assigned for this Thursday in my digital print class. Handpiecing and sewing through plastic is not very fun, and I have the callouses to prove it. I really need to pull out a thimble, it's getting ridiculous. I think this piece is done, but I may go back into the image and pick out some of the maplines for a more quilted effect. There's a little bit of embroidery in this one, black stitched over the word "Kensington". Apparently this area used to be humming with textile industry. There's an old building nearby with the faded painted words "Ribbon Factory" near my house. This piece is sort of nostalgic for the old industrial production of my neighborhood- lost to technology.

All my work on the binding tonight might be in vain, though. We're bracing for another massive snowstorm here. They've already announced public school closings, but not a word from the university yet. Maybe I won't have to have this finished by tomorrow after all! Or write that blasted paper!