Exhibition Reception!

Oh My! There will be another chance to see my artwork in person- this time without ceremony or a religious service to sit through. We're having a gallery-style reception for my exhibition at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral this Friday, November 16th from 5-7. Come see the work, meet me, and enjoy some wine and refreshments before heading out for Friday night fun. On display are my 100-foot-long Prayer Cloth (a feat of embroidery if ever there was one.- Well, it's only about half the length of the Bayeux tapestry) and a selection of work following the theme of Memory and mourning. Hope to see you there!

Prayer Cloth

 Sunday was the culmination of 6 month's of work (and a final week of sleepless nights trying to get it done in time), as we presented and used the 100 foot-long prayer cloth during the Great Litany in honor of All Soul's Day. I was given the opportunity to speak the homily about why this piece was made and why I work as a fiber artist.

It was very fulfilling to see everyone holding onto the cloth during the prayer. This piece belongs to the whole congregation, not just me as maker. Creating work with and for community is different from working just on things for me- it has greater purpose. It's bigger than me.
The cloth and and accompanying exhibition will be up for the month of November at the Philadelphia cathedral, 38th and Chestnut. Open daily for noon eucharist, and on Sundays at 10 for services. Next Sunday will be a special evensong performance/service at 4 pm.

A Coming Storm

We're quietly waiting for a hurricane/nor'easter to hit. I went out shopping this afternoon for my daughter's birthday presents and the stores were mobbed with people fearing the end of the world. I don't have to work for the next two days since my college and my elementary school have both preemptively closed for an emergency. I'm seeing these 2 days as a blessing- time just to sit at home and stitch (as long as our roof doesn't blow away!) I have a lot to get done in a very short time.
The storm looks scary and we visualize the worst case scenarios. We just have to trust that things will turn out ok. I feel very lucky right now that my family is all home together for once and we'll weather the storm.

Home Stretch

 This beautiful bundle of fabric is 8 months of  work and has become 100 feet in length! It transitions in color from black to gray to white to pastel to bright colors thanks to all the donations of precious fabric given to me by members of the Philadelphia Cathedral. I debated about whether it was complete or not as I stitched the last piece of bright fabric on the end.

 I'm a sucker for hard work, so I decided to add embroidered text to it... After looking through the Book of Common Prayer, I settled on the 23rd Psalm. Since it's a piece representing grief and mourning, it seemed appropriate to include the words that have given so many people comfort in their loss. As I go though, certain phrases from hymns and psalms keep popping in my head, so I'm adding them in smaller text between stanzas, under the main text.

Yesterday I bought the binding tape I'll need for the edges. It's hard to believe this piece is almost finished! It seems massive! It will be revealed at the 10:00 Sunday service at the Philadelphia Cathedral on November 4th in honor of All Soul's Day. It will connect us as we name those we've lost. The Dean has suggested I speak about the work in lieu of a sermon that day too, so I hope you'll join us for the culmination of this project.

Morris Arboretum: opening the senses

I had the luxury of a mid-week day off last week. I suppose I could have cleaned the house or finished some grading, but instead I decided to spend the day with my mother exploring a place neither of us had ever visited before. (the heart opens... how seldom do I spend time with my extended family anymore?)

 Morris Arboretum is on the far Northwestern edges of Philadelphia, a long drive out Germantown Avenue and past Chestnut Hill. The arboretum is run by the University of Pennsylvania, and it lies along the Wissahickon upstream from Fairmount Park. Near the visitor center is a fairly new treehouse installation. It extends the hilltop level out into the trees so suddenly you have the perspective of a bird or squirrel. A rope net invites children to climb like a squirrel, and two megaphones on pulleys can be brought to ear level to hear the sounds of the forest like an animal. (The body and the ears open.... to experience the environment in a totally new perspective.)

 We strolled along the paved paths, and I marvel at how many plant names my mother knows. We delighted in flowers still blooming at the end of September, bees and butterflies gathering the last bits of pollen and nectar. We stopped to stroke and smell fresh herbs- mint and rosemary. (The nose opens... appreciating the differences between plant varieties and how different forest air is from city air)

 A lawn opens up, sloping down hill. An arrangement of large steel sculptures stand at the top. Its negative spaces frame new views. (the eyes open... seeing different perspectives, noting contrasting colors and surfaces)

 Along an oak-lined lane the path becomes criss-crossed with painted lines radiating from one of the trees. An artist has illustrated how expansive the hidden parts of the tree are underground. The roots reach out far, far beyond the trunk and even farther than the canopy. (the mind opens.... what else is hidden from view?)

We ended up in the fernery greenhouse, almost passed by. It's an escape into a primordial tropical rainforest. The air was warm and moist, the sound of water dripping and trickling, and everywhere incredibly GREEN.

I love living in the city, but I think it dulls the senses. I need to get out into nature to enliven them again.

Stencils

 I have a new crop of silkscreen students at Fleisher- this time in the 14-18 age group. With only 8 kids, it's really a pleasure working with a more mature group. We kicked off the semester learning about the roots of silkscreen in paper stenciling.

 Asked to combine a word and image that related to nature, the students designed a freezer paper stencil, being careful to include enough "bridges" between shapes. Then they came up with a second simpler shape and cut it out of contact paper for an adhesive stencil on the screens.

 Last week we printed the large simple background shapes using the adhesive stencils on the screen. This week we stenciled our key image on top with sponges, which allowed for more specific color placement than regular screenprint would have allowed in one layer.

 Once our paper prints were complete we headed out to the "free wall" in the parking lot and stenciled our key images in a random arrangement. The wall has been totally blank for a few months, so it was pretty cool to activate the space with our nature-themed prints.

Having put our art out in the urban environment, next week we'll go looking for image from the urban environment to put back into our art.

Kindred Spirit

 Last Friday was the opening reception for Jeff Dentz's solo show in the Works on Paper building at Fleisher, which he was granted as part of a faculty fellowship award. Walking in, I first noticed the woodblock above and was reminded again how much I love Jeff's work. Maybe it's because we have similar interests in urban imagery- remember my "Dawn Over Tacony" stitched watercolor from about a year ago? For comparison sake:

Of course, Jeff's large woodblock took a lot more time and planning than my little watercolor. That's one more reason why I admire his work. I have great appreciation for artists who put so much time and labor into their work. The process of woodblock printing was definitely honored in this exhibit. Series of prints hung in progressively complex layers.

Along with finished prints, Jeff included several original blocks in all their inky relief. I almost prefer the sculptural qualities and intricate surfaces of the carved and inked blocks over the prints. While his prints have an airy and delicate feeling due to the translucent paper and ghostly layers of color, his blocks are raw and tactile. They hold the history of the prints they released.

Printmaking is a doubled art of process and product.

Head over to Fleisher's Works on Paper building at 709 Christian St for a closer look. The gallery is open during class hours Mon-Thurs till about 9:00pm and Saturdays 9-3. It's definitely worth a visit.

I'll huff and I'll Puff

First Friday along the Frankford Arts Corridor is really hopping lately. It's in no small part to the new addition of the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym at Berks and Frankford Aves. This month they've invited Terri Aluise, a fresh graduate from PAFA to exhibit her fairy-tale-inspired mixed media sculptures. I'm a sucker for anything fiber arts, and I think Aluise creates quite successful juxtapositions between hard and soft sculptural materials.

 While I enjoyed the materiality of the objects in the exhibition, what really made me fall in love with it was Aluise's sense of humor and spin on familiar fairy tale stories. The big bad wolf  is skinned and laid out like a bear-skin rug. The 3 little pigs sit contentedly on her piles of building materials.

 The 3 bears sleep soundly on their just-right bed no longer disturbed by naughty girls (a mat of golden braids graces the floor at the foot of the bed).

 And the ugly duckling has blossomed into a rainbow of a swan, leaving the other ducklings puny and drab.

I enjoy the nostalgia of stories from childhood. It's remarkable how a single object can draw up a whole narrative in one's memory. I've always hated to finish a book, because I want to know what happens after "The End". Aluise gives a very satisfying extension to these favorite tales. For more on Terri Aluise visit an article about her show, and her website (with way better pictures than I snapped here).

I can't wait to see what shows up next at PSG!

Teen Lounge, Teen machine

After school today I attended a reception at the Philadelphia Foundation for an exhibition called Teen Machine of artwork created through Fleisher's various programs for teens. It was very exciting to see my Saturday silkscreen students' collaborative piece hanging on the wall right at the entrance greeting everyone:

 Then down the hall were a selection of photographs from the Community Partnership in the Arts mural project I did with Work Ready teens at the Houston Center this summer:

The rest of the show was filled with imagery made by the kids in  Fleisher's drop in Teen Lounge program. It was fun to see the potential of the Teen Lounge because my daughter is finally old enough to join the program, and is looking forward to starting with them this Fall.

Exhibition is an important part of the creative process. It means a lot to me that the kids I've worked with have had a chance to show off their work with a larger community. It's also nice to get this reminder of all the creativity I've facilitated this past year. It's really a privilege to get to work with youth and be a part of shaping their artistic development.

The show will be up in the Philadelphia Foundation's office, 1234 Market St Suite 1800.

70 feet

The wrapping cloth is coming along. It is currently around 70 feet in length, and I've been averaging 2-3 feet completed per working session. At this rate I'm not sure I'm going to get it as long as I'd hoped by November. Either way it will be an impressive length. I had quite a few fabric donations today: a tie from a spouse who passed away, a t-shirt from a priest's first parish, a "birthday shirt". As I near the end the colors are getting more vibrant. The piece is moving from death back into life.
I hope I can keep this going in the next few weeks. I start seeing students at my elementary school this coming week!