Residual Impact at the Jacoby Arts Center

RESIDUAL IMPACT

October 12-December 23, 2017

Artist Reception on October 20, 5 to 7 pm

I am honored to have been invited to participate in this exhibit with renowned potter Arthur Towata and Eastern Illinois University professor and sculptor Ann Coddington at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton, Illinois.  

Residual impact explores our interconnectedness to the environment, the imprint we leave in nature and somatic memory. It hopefully inspires reflection and encourages the protection of our natural resources.  

I have eight large pieces in this show which are beautifully balanced by remarkable knotted and netted sculptures by Ann Coddington and the incredible textures and shapes of Art Towata's pottery and paintings. The show is gorgeous and thanks to curators Sun Smith-Foret, Penny Schmidt and Jane Sauer, who brought us together, it is the first time in many years that I've been given the opportunity to "speak" to my environmental concerns within a show devoted to same.   I've included my statement below.

A peek at Dakota, shibori rusted silk, 92"x48" in the background through
Ann Coddington's netted piece (title ?) in foreground.

Broader view rear of gallery with a sample of all the artists' work in view.

As a printmaker over 15 years ago, I experimented with fabric to lift prints from rusty farm tools. It was love at first sight! I embraced organic printing, as I called it, because it inspired spontaneity and informed my ideas about process and content. Treating fabric as a vast landscape, I adapted arashi shibori techniques to wrapping rusted pipes, tucking leaves into folds to create additional resists. I prefer to work with silk because it is beautiful and deceptively fragile, but capable (to a point) of surviving the assault of rust printing. Rust is a gorgeous medium, offering an array of colors and exciting, unpredictable patterns when tempered by tea and tannins that defuse the corrosive power of the rust resulting in permanent and stable marks on the fabric. This unsettling recipe of rust and silk goes beyond mere design, however. It is a fitting metaphor for both the fantastic beauty of our earth and the assault on the environment that we are perpetrating to our own detriment. 

On Saturday, October 21, starting at 2 pm Ann Coddington and I will be participating in a gallery talk with demos that I hope will bring that statement to life for those in attendance.  If you click on the showcard above with text, you can read a brief statement of Ann's.  

Arthur Towata has been making pottery for many decades.  His work is the embodiment of his experience defined by the environment that surrounded his forced internment as a child during WWII at Manzanar.  On Friday evening, Oct 20, beginning 7:30, after the main gallery artist reception, there is a special event Hidden Histories with films and discussion on the Japanese internment camps where Arthur can share his very personal experiences.  

More photos of the exhibit can be found at the exhibit page for JAC here. 

I was also invited to populate the gift shop at Jacoby with a number of new scarves and wraps that I've been making such as this very large sheer silk wrap in which I incorporated elderberries.

52"x78" silk wrap with elderberries

The Jacoby Arts Center is located at 627 East Broadway, Alton, Illinois 62002.

Please visit the website for more information about Residual Impact and the concurrent exhibits in the east gallery as well as other events associated with the shows.  

Making It in Crafts III -- Lafayette, Indiana

I am absolutely thrilled to be included in the invitational exhibition -- Making It in Crafts III -- May 12 to August 27, 2017 -- at the Art Museum of Greater Lafayette in Indiana. I delivered three pieces in person last Tuesday and met the guest curator, Jim Sondgeroth.  

The opening reception is Friday, May 12 from 6:30 to 8:30, with remarks by Jim Sondgeroth at 7 pm.  

Carpe Noctem © 2015
Shibori rusted silk dupioni and organza, with tulle and
processed leaves, 68" x 60"

Making It in Crafts III features 140 works by 51 artists (clay, glass, metal, wood working and fiber) from 25 states plus Canada and Australia. I'm in very good company. From the looks of the catalog, the show should be stunning. You can get a peek at some of the other artists' on the brochure posted on my Exhibitions/Events page.

Memento Mori © 2015
Shibori rusted silk dupioni, 66" x 48"

MAKING IT IN CRAFTS III

ART MUSEUM OF GREATER LAFAYETTE
102 SOUTH 10TH STREET

LAFAYETTE, IN   47905

MAY 12, THROUGH AUGUST 27, 2017

This exhibition will feature 140 works of art by 51 prominent professional craft artists (clay, glass, metal, wood-working and fiber), from 25 states plus Canada and Australia.  These artists make their living by creating and selling fine art crafts.  Many of the most renowned artisans are juried participants in the most prestigious art shows in the U.S.  Including Chicago’s SOFA at Navy Pier; Grand Rapids’ Art Prize; and Ann Arbor’s Summer Art Fair.  Guest Curator, Jim Sondgeroth has personally selected and invited each artist.  This unique exhibit expands on the first two Making it in Crafts exhibits shown at the Art Museum in 2011 and 2014.  It is one of the most exciting and comprehensive arts and crafts shows to be presented in the Midwest.

Platinum Sponsor: Reed & Company, Barb and Tom Reed
Gold Sponsor: Keystone Architecture

Exhibiting Artists:  Peter Antor,   Jill Ault,  Boris Bally, Bennett Bean, Sharif Bey, Dixie Biggs, Anna Boothe, Tanija and Graham Carr, Bede Clarke, Andy Cooperman, Annette Corcoran, Darryl Cox, Angela Cunnninham, Kate Cusack, Joshua DeMonte,  Jeffrey Lloyd Dever, J Paul Fennell, Melanie Ferguson, Brian Fireman, Douglas Fisher and Jeremy Humpherville,  Steven Ford and David Forlano, Chris Francis, Jeremy Frey, Geoffrey Gorman, Billy Hall and Henry Levine, Nina Hole, David Huang, Eric Knoche, Robert Levin,  Pamela MacGregor, Brooke Marks-Swanson, Jennifer McCurdy, Joan McGee, Carol Milne, Woodrow Nash, Kathleen Nowak Tucci,   Edward Risak, Jon Michael Route, Richard Satava, Carrie Schumacher, Eric Serritella, Diane Siebels, Bonnie Stahlecker, Paul Stankard, Debra Steidel, Timothy Sullivan, Judit Varga, Jacques Vesery, Patricia Vivod, Kate Vogel and John Littleton,  Shannon Weber, Melanie West, Michael Wilcox, Matt Wilt       

Bono Malum Superate © 2017
Shibori rusted silk dupioni, 67" x 48'

New shibori

dupioni experiment

Just playing around with a new resist and some mark making--my secret until I see how it all plays out.   

Zebra Scarf

Zebra scarf detail, silk satin

I recently took some of my scarves to Edwardsville Arts Center gift shop.  I am very fond of this one.  One of those unexpected surprises.  The full scarf I posted once before, but here it is again...I love the pinkish tone in the background.

The top image was scanned, the bottom shot with camera, hence the slight difference in color.

I Like the Sun in the Morning and the Moon at Night

Well, not really.  I'd rather sleep in if I had my druthers.
But I took one look at this new piece--detail shown below, and knew I was looking at night and day.  It is so different from the other pieces I unwrapped this morning. Expected a mirror image-not disappointed.

Shibori rust on silk dupioni (detail)

shibori rust on silk habotai

Freshly unwrapped. 

Looks like a perfect mirror image--from a distance.

shibori rust on CDC

Detail of a long narrow piece.  That's a sun flare on the upper right.

Detail

New Scarves for ARTEAST

Haven't posted in a while because I've been working to get ready for ARTEAST which takes place next weekend--October 16/17.  Lots of scarves-- and some new wall pieces--not quite so big as I made for the Kaskaskia show.  These are easily "house" sized.  Those haven't been photographed yet, but here are some details of the new scarves hot off the scanner.

A little turmeric goes a long way--bright bright yellow here.  I'm trying to figure out a different way of applying it with more control.

This scarf has a lovely purplish cast to it with pinkish gold areas.

I bought a few crepe scarves to try and above is one of them.  The others are all silk satin.

Elderberries have created a spectacular blue, but this piece has not been washed yet.  Not quite sure how much will be retained.  I've been waiting as long as possible before the event.
This is a very large shawl at 22"x90"

It always amazes me when I unwrap the silk to discover what design has been made.  This one was particularly puzzling to me with the oval shapes appearing regularly through the length of the scarf.

Sampling

Did some experiments the other day with 12" widths of silk dupion and hemp silk.  I like the results and am anxious to try some big stuff this week.

Above: Hemp silk shibori rust, scanned  detail.  Love the texture and the gold/bronze color.  The blurry marks are due in part to the texture of the fabric and the high humidity.  The design reminds me of ikat.   The piece was tied, but I chose to scan an area where that's not obvious.

This is the silk dupion sample.  I can't get over how deep the blacks are. 

Both of these pieces were wrapped with 8 layers for the rust to penetrate.  Harder going for the hemp silk, but I thought when I started out that the dupion was almost of equal weight.  I've used habotai for so many years, did not realize the potential of dupion.  

The longest shibori rust so far

I have been invited to exhibit at Kaskaskia College in Centralia, IL. this September/October.  There is a beautiful gallery there and some large spaces to fill.  I've been working on a few long pieces of silk.  I'm pretty pleased with this one.  It's too long, at 112 inches, for my indoor studio pin board set up, so I photographed it on the clothesline next to my outdoor studio. 

You might wonder how the design came about.  Tried photographing the in process piece in the dark.  The days are getting shorter!  (I can't help it--I'm a night person and it was darn near 9 pm!)  This is just after I finished applying the tea before pleating and wrapping the fabric.  The pole/pipe I used is about 8 feet long.

Two six foot tables are end to end here in my outdoor studio.  The 45 inch silk twill is folded in half for the application of tea.  

A new order of silk arrived Friday.  I've purchased some 55 inch wide silk to experiment with.  Not sure how I'm going to handle it.  I'd love to find a longer pipe too. 

Comparison

I washed the soft gray scarf seen in yesterday's post and the color is warmer now with some pinkish tones.  Interesting, but I wish I could hang onto the cold gray tones.  I have hard water.  I neutralized the rust with baking soda then washed by hand in Ecover.  Will take some experiments to discover why the color shifts.  Not much I can do about the hard water.  Not sure it is the culprit as I do a thorough rinse of the rusted silk outdoors with the hose immediately after the reveal and nothing changes then.  I scanned approximately the same area as before.

Rusty bits fresh off the press

Another hour or so and I might have had to kiss this silk good bye--at least for wearing.  I nearly forgot to unwrap the goodies.  Humidity was high and the results are strong.  Silk satin is difficult to photograph--too much shine--and the scarves never want to lay very flat, so I threw these on the scanner and just did details.  All but the last one will be at the EAC gift shop soon.

                                                                           

Pocket Square

I've spent a good deal of time lately in the garden getting the tomatoes and other veggies in the ground as well as planting flowers.  I just made a list of all the shows I have on the calendar this summer and fall and scared myself silly tonight!  Thought I would post some scans of scarves to prove I've actually been working in the studio too.  This is a detail of a pocket square 17" on a side before rusting.  It was done in the shibori method.  Quite a bizarre design isn't it?  More new work to see in the next post.

Fiber: Twenty Ten

Ananas Comosus c2010 by Patricia Vivod was accepted into Fiber: Twenty Ten.

Missouri Fiber Artists (MoFA) is cosponsoring this national juried show with The Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, Missouri.  The exhibition, which was juried from over 300 entries by Kay Khan of Santa Fe, New Mexico, will open MoFA's 2010 conference on Friday, April 16, 6-9 pm.  The weekend will be filled with a number of workshops and Khan will be the keynote speaker at a brunch on Sunday.  I am really thrilled to have a piece selected for this show.  I'll be attending both the opening and the brunch and am looking forward to meeting many other fiber artists. 

Ananas Comosus is a shibori rust piece.  A long piece of silk was pleated and wrapped around a long pipe and tied in place.  As always when I do shibori, I relish the surprise when unfolding the silk the next day to see the resulting shapes and marks imprinted on the fabric.  The rust penetrates the pleated fabric easily and the silk is very receptive to the color.  The mirror image patterns reveal all sorts of little creatures.  A detail appears at the bottom of the page.

Happy New Year

I was once embarrassed into standing up to take a bow at a faculty meeting because I had scored the lowest of anyone in the room on a time management test given by a guest speaker.  It didn't help that I sat next to someone (a nun of course!) who got a 95 compared to my 5.  I was told my score reflected a chronic problem connected to perfectionism.  My fellow teachers and I had a good laugh, but honestly, I had not previously thought of myself as a perfectionist, nor made the connection to procrastination.  Later I Googled the two words and found I had a choice of 140,000 possible articles to read.  Now you know why it has been over two months since I last posted! 

Here it is the end of January--I don't suppose it is too late to wish everyone a happy new year.  It has been very cold.  The propane tank was filled again today for the whopping price of $3.36 a gallon.   Snow is supposed to be on the way tonight although the prediction is only for an inch or so in this area.  Darcy my one eyed cat who usually loves to be outdoors is content to sleep in her warm basket, just about 24/7.  I am wishing I had some fingerless gloves to keep my hands warm.  It is chilly in the basement where the computer lives.

A friend emailed today asking about tights she'd heard I made.   I took these pictures at the fashion show I spoke of in the November post.  The model is wearing a dress and boot legs designed and made by Lillian Bates.  The tights are my design using the shibori rust method I use to make scarves and larger silk pieces.     The 3rd image is a detail of a different pair of tights.  No two ever come out alike, but I was completely surprised when the design was mostly black and cream with hardly any rust color.