Project Mapping Taxidermy

I'm working with Kristen Gunther, a grad student at UWyo, on visually interpreting her map of taxidermy and gun shops in Laramie. Here are the works in progress:

I am trying to interpret taxidermy through the fiber arts, since working with actually taxidermy materials would take a lot of time and knowledge that I don't have. I painted the antelope form red and I'm going to be putting pins in it to represent where the shops are. The weasels are made of a lace shower curtain and a whole bunch of zigzag stitch. I also stretched a deer hide over an embroidery hoop. I'll post it once it's dry.

Show in Fort Collins at CoCOA gallery

Disregard the lighting, I hadn't placed the lights before I shot the photos. The show is called "4 Artists , 1 Family" and all my immediate in laws are in it. We had a good crowd opening night, it could have been bigger if the weather hadn't been so cold. I've done a couple of embroidery demos though not many people showed up. Here's more photos from setting up.

New Felt Sculpture, Flower, Thingy

 I got some time in the studio last night - drinking rum and coke, listening to crazy pop music, blind stitchin' like a fiend - and look what happened:

It doesn't look like a Christmas wreath any more, but more like a carnivorous flower. It could suck you in with it's concentric rings of felt! And don't get me started on those crazy strings. The only problem is that it's a pain in the butt to figure out how to hang. It caves in on it's self. I'm thinking a dowel, or a sewn series of hangers....I'll figure it out some other night. Let me tell you, I was ready to call it a night after having to thread the wire into the binding. It took forever! I'm not sure which is more tedious - threading it after sewing the binding in - or sewing in the wire as I sew the binding. It would have helped though, if I had used a three inch wide binding instead of a two inch. I'm definitely much happier with it now than a month ago. Wahoo for following through on ideas!

Other awesomeness this weekend. My wedding dress will be done in two weeks! We figured out the pleats and the hem and took the bows off the shoes. Icky bows. I'm thinking of gluing some jems on there instead. Not bad for three dollars at a thrift store.

I also got the rest of the favors canned - Apple Rhubarb Butter. Sounds tasty doesn't it? Now I have to work on decorating the jars. Too bad we were too late for apples from the community garden, otherwise I would have made some apple sauce. We did find a whole bunch of tomatillos and some green cherry tomatoes and coriander seeds!.

My New Studio @ Clay Paper Scissors

Here's my new studio at Clay Paper Scissors! I haven't quite got it decorated yet, but I'll get some pictures up as soon as things. Things were a little messy for Art, Design and Dine because I didn't have the time this week to really clean up. But, hey, working studio. It's pretty amazing to have white walls to hang things up on. Makes for good pictures. My soon-to-be-father-in-law and his gaggle of middle school students stopped by to look at art and talk to the artists. It was really fun to talk to them about working in fiber arts. I wish that I had known that you can be a serious artist and work with fabric when I was in middle school and high school. It would have saved me a few years of bumbling around in paints. Then again, you learn great things in painting too. I also met a woman that runs a quilt shop that I didn't know was in town, Around the Block Quilt Shop. I'm getting interested in doing a block of the month workshop.

I finally figured out what to do to the sister sculpture of "The Spine".The problem was that it was too wide and too short to carry off the wideness. I couldn't quite find a way that I liked to display it so that you can see the petal like ruffles and thread and not a whole bunch of the underside. I think this works because it fills up the inside - shows you the outside and still sculpture even though it's hung. I'm pleased with the little red strings handing down from it and the shadows that it casts. It reminds me of a weird flower or a snail. So I call it "The Snail", though I should probably come up with a more sophisticated name for it later.

This is the next sculpture that I need to get done. When I drew it out it seemed really cool, then I put it together and I thought it looked like a wreath and I hated it. Now, have it quilted and the beginning of the binding put on it and I don't think it's all that bad (This is a terrible picture). I'm teetering on the idea of either bending it in on it's self, like I originally planned or bending it out to kinda form a poof ball.

I was working on it last night after Art, Design and Dine and I was so engrossed the hours just flew by. That's the great thing about finally having a studio, I can just work and work and work. But that's also my down fall. When I finally surface I'm like, "Man, my back hurts, why does my stomach feel weird?" because I've been sitting on a bench for four hours and haven't eaten anything in a while. That's exactly what a studio does to me. I love the exhaustion too. You don't go home till your utterly exhausted from all the work, and if you do anything else your just going to mess it up because you can't even see straight.

Love it, absolutely love it.

October is better anyways...

Ok, September was one of those months where your entire life decides to go crazy. It's not like anything gets better or worse, but it's a mega tectonic shift to the right or left that you totally didn't expect. This is why I haven't written the entire month of September. Last month, I had to tackle creating and sending out wedding invitations, moving to a room in a house from a one bedroom apartment, getting new bosses and a new office, and running down to CO to work on my wedding dress. Plus, there was three art events to attend in town. Madness, shear madness. Now I look back on it and think, "dang, how did you get it all done?" Well, maybe the big secret was coffee. I've started drinking coffee again - moderately but it's because someone has been putting little creamers in the break room, and I really can't resist. Coffee is really just a vehicle for cream and sugar anyways.

There have been some interesting things brewing this month in my artwork.  I've fully embraced this idea of fabric sculpture made out of felt. I've started two pieces and have plans for three more. I keep making these drawings and thinking about the texture and color and form. I'm really interested in trying to create vessels and I've come across mesh. which doesn't sound like much but I'm in love. There are amazing things to do - now all I need is time!

September has also been marked by my obsession with Project Runway and Fashion Weeks (like all of them) I've been religiously stalking "Tom and Lorenzo" and Vogue to look at everything that is coming down the runway. And there are so many cool things! New textures and shapes and inspirations. I've also been trying to funkify my work wardrobe and wearing more heels. It feels like a new period of inspiration. I'm getting ready for a new direction and it will be awesome!

At the moment there needs to be more work made. I'm looking into a studio, and trying to schedule some art time. I'm now living in a house with some other creatives (comic artist and a writer) and I really admire their dedication. They set aside time to work on their passions every day. How could I not do the same? This will take some thought,...a plan....a list! Eventually, the boat will stop rocking quite so much and I'll find some time for my creative endeavors.

Hopefully next time, pictures of all the works in progress.

It's Like Art Camp!

My beau and I spent literally all weekend indoors making art. It was three days of nothing but sewing and cutting and folding. But the pieces are awesome!

This is the wall piece that I made. I made a second one that is a little skinnier and I put wire in the binding so you can mold it. I haven't been able to find a shape that I really like yet. I'll post it when it's done. My fingers hurt so much from putting on two bindings in two days. What you can't see from the pics is that the black background is a denim weight material from the scrap bin of Hobby Lobby and the binding is felt. Yah, painful fingers. I really like these new pieces and they are going to be the start of a new direction for me in fiber sculpture.

Newest Obsession