Wallace foundation/arts in education

I just discovered this foundation. They offer grants for arts in education. But the thing I found most intriguing was all their articles on the state of the arts in education in this country. One of the articles that I read was increasing arts demand through better arts learning. Which talked about that right now 8/10 Americans say they participate in the arts but because the arts have been neglected in the schools for 30 years there is growing concern that their world not be in audience for the arts in the upcoming years.

The other thing that the website had a lot of other well-written articles, which if you're in the education field I highly recommend.

Resources to share

Found some resources to share
The alliance of professional artists has medical plans and prescription drug discounts website is www.AllProArtists.org

The new Art Calendar magazine July/August is excellent. Very good article on copyright law and another on social networking.

You can now copyright your images online at www.copyright.gov/eco/index.html

For professional social networking check out www.LinkedIn.com

Good old Kenmores and Singers

If anyone is flirting with the idea of using a sewing machine in combination with their own art practice, the one Jenn purchased and others like them are really the way to go....they're semi-industrial, all metal, and work forever....And, they're inexpensive to maintain...Go Jenn!!!!

Kenmore 158-13200

My new baby from eBay just purchased tonight. I hope to have it in a week or so. I'm so excited to get going on stitch work in prints.

Hello from Jenn

Hello everyone! I'm Jenn, Laura's student in the now completed "Stitched Narratives" class at DeCordova. I'm a woodcut and monoprint printmaker, but have been a knitter and fiber lover for a long time as well. I took the class as a way to join the two media in my work. Last week I had a break through when stitching directly on two small woodcut prints, joining a bird and an egg with a white thread nest. This week I played more with silk organza and how it interacts with a sample woodcut.



Thematically, I have been using the imagery from colonial headstones (skull with wings the most familiar to folks) for a while in the printmaking, but want to explore further what I can say about the lives the headstones represent. Stitching is something these women did, and I do, but I have a very different voice to use so what can I say that they couldn't?

I also like to tie in my own family history and stories, and occasionally veer off into the realm of science and microbes and DNA when I need a break from navel gazing.





You'll find more images of work on my flickr pages.

I look forward to sharing thoughts and ideas about work and art and playing with different media. Thanks Laura!

Concept, TIME, details....

Here's a detail:



Here's how I work, a picture taken in my old studio in Lowell.


Jodi, I LOVE this piece...it looks like it is sitting on sand...you've completely transformed the materials. Do you need the plastic newspaper bags? My fiancee gets the Globe daily, for now...let me know and I'll give you bags. The 6ft. scale will take it out of sea growth...and take it into the lovely but threatening....

Jenn: A printmaker who is my student in stitched narratives...now she is beginning to incorporate textile techniques in her work...she also works in the corporate dept. and member services at the Museum! Our class blog Stitched Narratives , features some of her experiments...here's a direct : link

My work? It's all thread...no mixed media on this one. I work with dissolvable stabilizer that I machine embroider...and embroider...

ON TIME IT TAKES: I've accepted that they, like yours, take a ridiculous amount of time...but I'm always reassured when I read about Lenore Tawney's arduous processes...and, as long as they take a viewer somewhere, it's worth the time.

CONCEPT: Usually, I begin with an idea drawn from little drawings from my sketchbook. Retrosective started life with a far different 'end product.' I've been studying and interested in Eve Hesse's work...

But, I was away from my studio during the time I was doing a residency/teaching stint at a middle school in Brockton,MA...and when I pulled it out and hung it up after a couple of months...I realized it was nearly complete with a whole different idea behind it!!!! A nice surprise...

What else can I do? Is your studio near Boston? Let me know...mine is in the S. End at the Boston Center for the Arts...We could do studio visits...

Thanks for the Invite!!

Hi Laura,
Thanks for setting this up. I love the idea of networking with you and others. Is Jenn an SDA conference alum also?

Your piece is intriguing. I would love to view a detail of it. Is it mixed media or a collection of all embroidered pieces? Impressive. I also love the scale and posture.

I'm interested in learning about how other artists work. Do you set out with a concept/plan in mind? Do you allow it to develop on its own as you work? I'm assuming these pieces are time intensive and meditative... is that true?

My work is that way and I often ponder the question of balance. Do my pieces require too much time? Or does it matter..

Here's one of the 'in progress' time sinks I'm talking about.. A large MUM or flower or organic growth from the accumulation of plastic bags from the delivery of daily newspapers that have been cut, spun and crocheted into tiers of the flower petals. It is currently 3.5 ft wide and 1 ft deep.. the plan is to reach at least 6 ft in diameter.

Interested in your feedback.

jodi

What's Mass Surfaces all about?

Welcome! Mass Surfaces is all about what we're doing in and out of the studio....To begin, I invited a group of attendees of the recent Surface Design Conference, Off the Grid, to contribute their own content...

..and to begin, I'm uploading a piece I just finished for comment...it's called Retrospective, because it includes scraps of pieces that I've done since 2003...sort of a cathartic and surprising piece for me...Comment or tell us about your favorite part of the conference...or let us know what you're working on...