Examiner's Insider digs the doily

My birdseed doily appeared quite a few times in Danielle Lee's slide show of "Art St. Louis: a Diamond among Rhinestones" on November 15. Find the article here.

Art St Louis XXV Opening Images and Award

Here's the great montage that Robin Hirsh, gallery director, took during the Monday-Thursday installation...(and sent out in the ASL newsletter the week of the opening.)

Thanks to Travis for bringing his camera, and obsessively shooting images during the three hour opening reception. The doily was well-received, I even had a gallery visitor say "I like the fact you call it a doily and doilies are not meant to be handled, but people can touch this."

This doily was my largest- 12 feet wide, with three different types of seed: nyger, millet, and milo. I was definitely influenced by the East Asian sculpture and architecture lectures I've been giving in my Art Appreciation classes during the week of install. The show continues until December 28th, so stop by if you're downtown.





I earned an "Award of Excellence" from juror Sheryl Conkelton, author and independent curator, along with four other artists from the exhibition. So I am now eligible to submit works for consideration in "Honor Awards 2010" next Spring, curated by artist Carmon Colangelo, a prof at Wash U. I am hoping to get some images of my Canton wall-to-wall install for the CD of images for jurying.

Octo-been

October is over. Here's the long list of scratched out to-do's:

Lighting in studio. Lighting in rest of basement. (It now consists of several 4' fluorescent tubes controlled by 4 switches. So happy to see downstairs now that daylight savings is over and it gets dark so early these days. A big improvement from 4 compact florescent each on a pull string. )

Three shelving units are now downstairs- we still need more.

Yellow living room is now gray. Ahhhhh....soothing.

Small bookshelf now in office, instead of living room---cookbooks stored in kitchen and lots of clutter removed.

Designated: "Library book" shelf in office- that I can easily see and access.

Began and finished reading The Language of Ornament. Such perfect timing for a treatise about not hating beauty and how to look at pattern and ornament.

Got my new nearly fully-functional computer. Imagine a very sick computer getting harnessed to a tiny spunky one, without necessary programs and you get the idea. It's been a great reason (both when just dealing with the ailing one, and in getting frustrated over the issues of compatibility to not be blogging or online except for the occasional email.)

Deep cleaned the house. It was in a state of serenity and hidden activity- i need to put in a few hours to return it to that state again.

Drove up to Quincy, IL to see Jen and the gallery space for January. Lots of great surprises: an apartment to stay at, carpet I can easily work with birdseed on, and a home-cooked dinner with Jen's family consisting of bread from scratch; lentil, sausage/ minestrone soup; and pumpkin pie. The only bad part of the day was listening to Q & A (Slumdog Millionaire) on tape set to random... and forgetting to give Brad a call during the 12 hours I was gone. Lesson learned- although we still haven't figured out how to make the Sansa behave without randomly ordering the tracks.

with bells on

After looking at my 2009 Goals post-it and seeing that I haven't been able to mark this one off- I signed up for the Jingle Bell Run for the Arthritis Foundation. I ran a slow 5K between class and a presentation this afternoon- on a treadmill so at least I have a baseline time to improve on. So we'll see how much impact training will have in the 7 weeks until go time.

the awful

The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
- Flannery O'Connor
Thanks Google quote of the day. I read Flannery O'Connor's short stories and analyzed them in my undergrad Ethics class...and thanks to a great philosophy professor and class discussion, I can still reflect on the implications of her narratives. Her words and works can be a great moral compass. O'Connor can capture the shock and violence of change(and what proceeds it) in a few pages. Here's a small private toast to a few new beginnings...

let it shine

Material Studies and my three installations in Crystal Lake are coming down this weekend. In planning my delicate tear-down and technology pick up--- Andrew let me know the St. Louis Beacon's Ivy Cooper has included us as one of her "Bright Spots".

Here's the article, since I'm not sure how the link will fair with updates:

3:12 p.m. Mon. Sept. 21 - "A bit off the beaten path of Fiber Focus -- literally and otherwise -- is the exhibition "Material Studies" at Good Citizen Gallery. But if you're in the fiber way at the moment, this is one not to miss: a selection of works by six emerging artists who work with various conceptual and material strains of fiber, to really interesting effect.

Courtney Henson, who had a phenomenal show a while back at the now-defunct Maps contemporary art space in Belleville, weighs in this time with "And We'll Measure Your Brain." It's one of her signature process outfits: a handmade dress, hooked via knitted umbilical cord to a tiny video monitor which plays a loop of the artist performing in the dress. Henson is interested in twins and tautology, and makes some of the weirdest, most engaging fiber work around.

Christine A. Holtz is back to her subversive tricks too: "I Gotta Get Out Of This Place" is a space helmet, gloves and gravity boots made out of smashed styrofoam peanuts sewn together. Holtz plans to complete the outfit, and - who knows? -- it may actually help transport her to another dimension. (At the very least, the peanuts will outlive us all when the apocalypse comes.)

Erin K. Cork has transformed a vintage kitsch gold couch into a breeding ground for cell-like colonies made of felt and doilies, and Jessica Witte has followed suit with a "Birdseed Doily" on the floor nearby.

The show also includes works by Alicia Pigg and Jessica May."

new and old loves...

I spent my first afternoon in Edwardsville, IL since I was close by dropping Brad off for his first real vacation since moving to MO. With all the travel we've been doing through August and September, he has been in dire need of R&R and had to race to get ready for this venture. I hope he enjoys his male bonding weekend.

I have a new soft spot for Edwardsville- the main street is alive and full of character. Courtney directed me to stop by "Beyond Timbuktu." I ended up talking to the owner Andy for a long time over the Kuba cloth collection, teaching, and just raving about the store in general. Fiber dreams are made there- and I had flashbacks to my childhood days in fabric stores just running my hands over the merchandise. Incredible store- I am now seriously contemplating taking a weaving class to actually understand the process thoroughly (especially since seeing Laura Strand's artwork at Jacoby). I plan on going back with Brad to select a cut-pile embroidery for our house and to use as a reference for my classes.

I also had a chance to case out the Edwardsville Art Center. The space is great- and I love the concrete floors that scream to be installed upon as well as the storefront window span. (When I have to install over carpet I always want to work in ways that are physically impossible on an uneven surface that can't be mopped up.) Their "Impressed by Design: Letterpress in the Heartland" show curated by Creativille, Inc., was phenomenal. I wanted to move into the space permanently. Since I was already familiar with Hatch Show Print , I knew I would enjoy several works, but I was caught up by each of the artists involved- Amos Kennedy, Ken Botnick, Jim Sherraden (of Hatch Show Print), Eric Woods of Firecracker Press and Brady Vest of Hammerpress. Since prints are so much easier on the budget, I coveted many of the posters, broadsides, and books. I left proud of my self control (I rarely get excited about objects enough to want to bring something else home to find a place for it, so when my interest is piqued I can get a bit manic with purchasing)- but U-turned and purchased a work by Amos Kennedy to christen my studio space and inspire me. Ahh...good 'ol printmaking. See a great write up on the show at Felt and Wire.