SCC Fibers Invitational -- Show #5

Christine Holtz curated the SCC Fibers Invitational currently on view at St. Charles Community College in Cottleville, Missouri. Besides my five pieces there are a host of other works by some of my SIUE peeps and also St. Louis Weavers Guild and MoFA members.

Participating artists:

Elizabeth Adams Marks
Tracy Deniszczuk
Erin Vigneau Dimick

Suzy Farren
Alicia Pigg
Kay Rice
Nicole Ottwell
Pat Vivod
Deborah Waldman-Pontious

Weaving, felting, surface design, rust printing, shibori, embroidery, fashion and works on paper are on display in the gallery and large wide hallway outside of gallery. One more week for the show.

Some highlights:

L-R Suzy Farren and Erin Vigneau Dimick who have work in the show, Christine Holtz, curator, and  Laura Strand speaking with one of Christine's students at the reception.

Two fashion pieces on mannequins by Deborah Waldman-Pontious
That's my Feast of Saint Frackcis on the wall in the back.

Close up of Deborah's work

Felt sculpture by Tracy Deniszczuk

Work by Suzy Farren

Another of Tracy's felt pieces.  

Rust print on paper by Eizabeth Adams-Marks

Sitting in Judgement, shibori rust on silk
One of my newest pieces.  

SDA News Blog makes me giddy! Thanks Marci Rae McDade

Blessings have come my way in more ways than one lately. 

Last week my former professor Laura Strand head of textiles at SIUE invited me to be visiting artist for her advanced students.  (That's a detail of her work to the left which is a collaboration piece using my rusted silk as the weft in her weaving.)  I am excited--yet terrified (as I usually am prior to teaching).  I'm making preparations, pulling out my rusted and organically printed fabrics and typing notes.  The class is next week.  Oh my!  Laura says the class is small, but there is a general invitation being issued to all departments regarding my lecture.  Yikes!

Preparations like this always make me crazy.  I fly around in a tizzy and distract myself endlessly from the task at hand.  So tonight when I was FINALLY going to get something done I checked my email.

And there IT was.  An email from Luanne Rimel at Craft Alliance with the announcement that Marci Rae McDade, now the editor of Surface Design Journal, has finally published an article about last fall's Innovations 2011 in St. Louis, the textile event I've written about in several posts.  Last year my life was consumed in curating and participating in Collaboration: Reaping and Sewing. 

Composite view of Collaboration: Reaping and Sewing exhibit looking to the back of gallery at Jacoby Arts Center

Innovations encompasses many shows in 20 some galleries around St. Louis and St. Charles in Missouri and Edwardsville and Alton in Illinois.  The openings and run dates of the shows vary quite a bit, some starting as early as August and some running late into November and December.  The biggest event however is the weekend mid September with many openings on Friday, followed by the keynote address and the "in the city" bus tour on Saturday of some 11 galleries and ending with a party for the artists at the private home of some fiber art collectors in St. Louis (an amazing collection!).   It was an exhausting day with several thrills along the way, but perhaps the most interesting of all was hearing Marci Rae McDade's keynote address at the History Museum.  She is a fabulous speaker with a seemingly inexhaustible knowledge of both historical and contemporary textile art.

Marci came along for the ride on the bus tour and I got to meet her briefly.  Thanks to a hint from Jo Stealey who has met Marci before, Marci said she wanted to see the shows in Illinois before returning to Oregon.  I made a few late night phone calls (from the party) and arranged for someone to open the Edwardsville Arts Center the next day which is usually closed on Sundays.  Laura Strand who curated the show there met us and afterwards we all drove up to Alton to see the collaboration show that Jo, Laura and I along with Erin Vigneau Dimick, Nina Ganci and Erin Cork worked on together. 

I can't tell you what a thrill it was to spend nearly 3 hours of private time with Marci that Sunday, getting to discuss my work and that of my colleagues.  She was very encouraging, especially regarding my taking the next step to write about and create a catalog of the show.  Everywhere that weekend, Marci was snapping photographs and taking notes.  She promised that she would include my show in the article and she was true to her word AND HOW!!.

I AM GIDDY!   See the article here.  The best is saved for (almost) last.  Woo hoo.
Love you Marci Rae McDade!
Thank you so much.

OK, back to work...

Feature on Erin Cork, Collaboration Partner

This is the 3rd in a series of posts on the people I worked with for the exhibit Collaboration:  Reaping and Sewing.  I met Erin Cork in 2006 when she was in grad school.  She came to my home studio to learn about my natural methods of coloring cloth.   Her graduate professor, Laura Strand, head of textiles at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville had asked if I’d be willing to share my organic printing methods with Erin.  (Laura is also one of my collaboration partners who I’ll be writing about in a future post.)  Erin and I quickly bonded and worked together for 2 summers    experimenting with composted and solar dyed fabrics with natural materials.   I was just starting my transition to rusting then and so we both experimented with that process too.  Although it wasn’t a formal arrangement I certainly considered Erin my student and I have treasured the friendship she has offered in return.

Erin recycled bed sheets for this early composting experiment.  The larger piece used walnuts hulls, banana peels, turmeric spice.  Fabric was then covered with plastic and sealed up for several weeks, then picked up and cured for a time before laundering.  

A number of bundles were solar dyed on the roof of my house.  We attempted to document what we were doing.  I don't know about Erin, but I know I wasn't very successful in keeping numbers and notes with the fabrics after they were washed.    This is one of Erin's bundles before it was sealed up in aluminum foil and ziplock for the process.

Erin created some wearables with the composted fabric she did at my house.  This skirt was exhibited at Main Street Gallery in Edwardsville.  If you look closely, you can see the yellow flowers of the bedsheet.

Erin’s work with tongue in cheek crochet installations of domesticated doilies and felt for her thesis exhibition and a 2009 Innovations in Textiles show at Fontbonne University greatly impressed me--and they are a hoot to boot.  You can see images of her thesis show on her website.  When I began formulating my plan to become involved with Innovations 2011, the idea of a teacher student collaboration seemed perfect.  

Erin Cork 2011, Collaboration with Erin Vigneau Dimick

Erin was my first recruit.  Then I learned she was moving to Virginia and getting married!  Suffice it to say, this year has been a busy one for her.  Starting a new teaching job; commuting home occasionally for wedding planning; making her own wedding dress which was embellished with hand crocheted and beaded elements; AND working on three complex pieces involving felt for the collaboration in addition to squeezing in meetings with our group—sometimes in person, sometimes on SKYPE—would be enough to send anyone over the edge.  But Erin handled it all with aplomb.   And she was a radiant bride!

The first piece Erin started for the collaboration involved this weaving by Laura Strand into which she integrated both needle and wet felted elements.  A detail is below.  Look closely at the wall tag and you'll notice a little red dot indicating a sale.  The buyer was none other than Marci Rae McDade!  Marci is former editor of the now defunct FiberArts Magazine, but as of January 2012 will be the new editor at Surface Design Journal.  I'll tell you about Marci's visit to our exhibit in a future post.

Erin created a third piece for the show, but my own photograph of the piece does not do it justice.  I promise you'll see all the work eventually.

To complete this post I contacted Erin who was kind enough to answer some questions about her art.

What possession do you most cherish?

There is something that William Morris said that I try to live by in regards to my possessions - "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." The usefulness of objects to me is not only that it is something functional, but also is it an object that holds some kind of memory as well. An object's usefulness could be as a memory trigger. Many of my possession are cherished because they belonged to someone else before me. In particular, I have many things that belong to my grandmother, in many ways I think of these objects as a way to stay connected to the original owner. I think one of my most recent acquisitions is probably my most cherished possession, my wedding ring. Not only does it function as a symbol of my marital relationship, it also was my great grandmother's wedding ring.

 

Erin Cork 2011, Detail of collaboration with Laura Strand

What is the source of your creativity? How much is from within? How much comes from outside sources?

I derive a great deal of inspiration from everyday events. Domestic life and the natural world spur my ideas. The way that I manipulate real occurrences comes from within. Combining two things (nature and domestic culture) that aren’t integrated in reality is where my internal creativity comes into play. I use creative thinking exercises to exhaust all possible options for a piece. Then I have a long list of ideas to choose from.

Thanks Erin!  

Look for upcoming posts about Erin Vigneau Dimick and Laura Strand.  The posts featuring Nina Ganci and Jo Stealey can be found here and here.

Eventually, the entire collaboration show will be documented, but that takes time, so I hope you'll be patient.

Feature on Nina Ganci--Collaboration partner

Interior long view of SKIF International in St. Louis

I took this shot about half way up the steps at one end of SKIF International, Nina Ganci's fashion factory and wholesale shop on "The Hill" in St. Louis.  Nina founded SKIF in 1994 after she returned from a year long odyssey in Milan and Paris.  Her European adventure afforded her the opportunity to work four months (unpaid!) in the atelier of Martin Margiela, an independent designer in Paris following a stint in Milan working for a man who installed fire sprinkler systems.  An odd combination of experiences to be sure, but they left an indelible impression on Nina.  Nina told me a story about hand stitching the cuffs on the jacket below for the designer in Paris.

Hand labor experience in the atelier

I first encountered Nina in my classroom at Notre Dame High School where I taught art for nearly two decades.  She and I talked recently about her high school years.  Both of us are fuzzy on details.  (Give me a break--it was the 80s!)  I remember asking about her "portfolio" (during her senior year) only to hear that she'd made a bonfire in the backyard over the summer and burned most if not all of the art she'd made to date.  I was shocked by the declaration but also in awe of her confidence.  She knew then what was of value and what needed purging and she is the same today.  I'm touched, however, that she still has the art award I presented to her, an odd bar of glass she coveted from my desk.  And one look around the riot of color and design, found objects, racks of colorful fashion, murals on wall and floor and still lifes everywhere convinces me that something else of the Notre Dame Art department rubbed off on Nina too.

One of many still lifes scattered around SKIF

After high school Nina studied at Webster University for a year, then attended FIT in New York on an off for three years.  She was initially interested in interior design but switched to fashion with the aim of becoming a designer.  She's worked hard to make that a reality. Recently she showed me some of her old sketches, made around the time the "gig in Paris" was coming to an end.  I was absolutely enchanted.

The dame (top right) with the hairy legs is a hoot!  I am taken with the shoes too.  I think these designs are as fresh today as when they were drawn.  Simply timeless.

I asked Nina what she got out of her experiences across the pond.  I wondered where she'd gotten her business sense.  From the sprinkler businessman, she explained, came her understanding of handling money.  I should add that when she first arrived in Milan, Nina fearlessly talked her way into a job involving knitting machines (for which she had no previous experience) that lasted all of two days. She could sew however, having learned at an early age from family.  So she began sending out resumes.   The Paris designer she described as "anti-marketing".  He was mysterious, never gave interviews.  But she credits her clothing design skills to those four months with Margiela where she came to appreciate the artisanal, handmade things and especially the raw edges that Margiela favored as seen below.  Perhaps the greatest lesson was how NOT to treat employees.   In Paris she was hired to "basically sew--by hand and machine, leather and recycled costumes.  No pay, no thanks, minimalist grunge".  

Martin Margiela fashions

Nina returned to St. Louis in 1993 with big ideas.  On a visit to the Gypsy Caravan, a huge open air flea market held yearly in St. Louis, she stumbled across and bought huge cones of mop yarn made in the USA.  (I asked, and yes, it is yarn for making mops!)  She acquired a knitting machine and video instructions and practiced for a couple of weeks.  (Remember those 2 days in Milan!)  She began turning out sweaters which friends snapped up.  Word began to spread.  A high school chum of Nina's modeled the sweaters for her in this album.

Early sweaters by Nina, modeled by Trina (Boyer) Barchi

Nina's vision was to start a huge company, create good jobs in St. Louis and to produce radically different clothing.  She opened a studio on Washington Avenue downtown and acquired 2 more knitting machines (for different weights of yarn) but for awhile she worked solo.  It soon became clear that to grow the business she would need representation in other cities.  She found reps in Chicago, New England and San Francisco and did a trade show in New York.  In 1996 she introduced a line of pants and shirts.  She had to have something to wear--she doesn't wear sweaters!

NY runway show, courtesy SKIF website

Today Nina has five in house employees at the headquarters on Marconi Street and subcontracts with 20 others who work out of their homes with their own knitting or sewing machines.  SKIF fashions are sold in over 125 boutiques around the USA and in Canada.  In 2009 Nina was given the St. Louis Business Journal's "Most Influential Business Woman" Award.  You can read about it here.

Gorgeaous blues on the rack--spring 2011

Ever changing displays keep the factory boutique fresh.  And unlike most designers, Nina holds no secrets--her factory/workshop/design center is also a showroom for the latest fashions and they are available for purchase at wholesale prices to anyone who comes in off the street.  She provides dressing rooms and a fabulous mirror/still life arrangement for your viewing pleasure.  When you visit you'll often hear the clatter of the knitting machines that are located on the second floor balcony that completely surrounds the main floor.

SKIF International office/shipping area

The nerve center of SKIF is this area just steps away from the racks of fashion.   Inventory and shipping are done here, orders taken and business conducted.  In house employees are masters of many jobs and do whatever needs doing on a daily basis.  But they will stop to help customers whenever the need arises. 

Sweaters drying--fresh from a very yellow dyepot

 


When I first approached Nina regarding the collaboration show, I naturally assumed that her contribution would encompass the tools of her trade.  But yarn was not on her mind.  Over the years she has surrounded herself with all sorts of found objects in the factory that are artfully arranged in the shop for all to enjoy.  Found things have also become design staples.  The block print used on the seersucker fabric I selected at the swap meet came from a sheet of carved plywood abandoned next to a dumpster.  Nina has been using it ever since to print fabric and sweaters.  You can find examples on her blog. 

As luck would have it, one of the items Jo Stealey brought from her studio for the collaboration swap meet were a set of vintage porcelain casters that Nina grabbed the first chance she had.  They were incorporated along with some paper bowls made by Jo into a mobile structure she appropriated from an artist friend and made her own.

Photo of opening by Andrew Dobson of Jacoby

At the opening last Friday, Nina (center), Melissa Cunningham (right) and Barb Farar are having a good time discussing one of Nina's mobiles.

Nina took fabric from me that she whipped into a great dress.  She also stitched shibori rusted silk onto stool cushions that are in the gallery to scoot around on.  She constructed another very large mobile and a felt and paper cone piece that hangs on the wall.  Pictures of those things will be included in a post about the show in general.

Nina's confidence, shrewd business sense, vision and creativity have ensured her success even through this damaged economy.   I've enjoyed getting reacquainted with her through this collaboration process and I can't thank her enough for her generosity in allowing SKIF to become the meeting place for the collaboration group--even supplying the computer on which we Skyped Erin Cork when she was in Virginia. 

Thank you Nina, best wishes for you and for SKIF!
Check out the SKIF website and Nina's blog.

8 months of work

Meander (detail) c2011 Patricia Vivod

Still debating whether this piece is finished or not, but I have a few days.  Still must rig up the hanging device.  Lots more to do on other pieces.

This piece is 56" H x 36" W.

Some tidbits

The showcard is off to the printers--will be so excited to see it in hand.  We are all working like crazy to get things done.  I know I have much to do yet and less than a month left!  In fact I need to get back to the sewing machine right now.  I've just started following the Illinois SDA blog--see the link in the sidebar.  If you are an Illinois SDA member I hope you'll start following it as well.  We want to spread the word.  The National SDA buzz has posted information and a link to Innovations 2011 too.  The ball is rolling...  (BTW, Missouri has a SDA blog too, but nary a mention of Innovations.  Boo hoo.) 

On another note:  I got a pleasant surprise the other day when a friend from the Netherlands shared with me ARTeries: Rust Never Sleeps on Mr. Stitch,  a contemporary embroidery and needlecraft blog.  The author is Canadian artist and blogger Arlee Barr who also writes her own blog.  Arlee penned some very nice comments about my art with rust and featured some images as well.  I'm in good company with the other artists mentioned, two I know--Lois Jarvis and Kimberly Baxter Packwood  were in a quilt show I curated a few years ago at Greenville College.  There are some spectacular things being done with oxidation.  Thank you Arlee--nice rusty work you do too!

Now it's back to the grindstone for me!

What I won't tell you

I've spent a lot of my time in my basement studio over the last several months-- staring at block printed seersucker fabric, handmade paper, cooked and manipulated leaves, curly wool roving and a weaving I finally cut into three parts -- all the original property of my partners in collaboration for an upcoming show that is part of Innovations 2011.  You can see an explanatory post on that here and a preview of another piece here.

Notice I said staring.  I was basically paralyzed at first, not sure what I wanted to do with the materials I had chosen from my colleague's studios, nor how I would incorporate them into my own work.  But work is progressing now (which is very good as the show is only 42 days away!) and I wanted to give you a peek at a piece I'm working on right now. 

Shibori rust silk and this work will being combined to create a large wall piece.  I shot this detail while it was on the table with a light from the side so you could see the 3-D qualities I've achieved with my needle felting machine.  For those of you who saw Innovations 2009, this weaving might seem vaguely familiar.  That's all I'll say for now.  You'll have to come see the show to know how this will turn out.  Stay tuned!  (Of course I'll post about this and the other works after the exhibition is up for those of you in far flung areas.)

Work in progress

For the first time in my life I am collaborating with a group of artists.  The work will be exhibited as part of Innovations (see the sidebar).  We shared materials from our studios in a swap meet about a month ago.  I brought home an unusual combination of things, chosen simply because I was attracted to them.  Here you can see I'm stitching down some block printed seersucker fabric (originally a skirt) created at SKIF International by my former student Nina Ganci.  The silk I'm using was shibori rusted last year.