Photoetching with threadwork

These are from my photoetching workshop taken in early august at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. The first image shows the wall above my workspace where I was playing with layering the threadwork with the etching prints and with woodcuts that had been printed on silk organza. Some of the etching plates were made by exposing the plate with some threadwork lace on top of it, so the thread is both in the etching and on top as real thread. I also have one print with the threadwork stitched right to it, but I have to take a better picture before I can post it.


The second piece is one of the organza prints surrounded by threadwork. More experimenting to come.

Telephone book

Found this very cool looking telephone book in a old-style telephone booth. The book was all distraught and aged from being exposed to the elements. I don't have a detail the book but here is an overall image of the phone booth.

Waterfall

A friend of mine asked me this question about my artwork.
I thought I would share the question and my response along with images of the artwork.

Nisha: Remember when you did that exquisite installation in Montclair that went from inside, flowed outside and onto the ground? How did you prevent it from blowing away? How long was it installed?

Dear Friend, It was attached to the metal framing of the Windows by a metal bars that are used in fencing, I had holes drilled into the metal bars, then the school had a guy come out and install the bars with the fabric onto the metal portion of the Windows with self tapping screws, using only two screws per panel. The fabric was attached to the bar by stitching a simple sleeve into the top of the fabric. Then I pulled the fabric taut by using metal bars on the ground with two tent stakes. The metal bar would lay across the surface of the fabric holding the fabric taut, and the tent stakes would be at either end of the metal bar keeping it flush with the ground. The nice thing about that system is if the wind picked up the fabric would loosen and not rip. The rest of the fabric was just laid along the ground and sculpture Garden. In hindsight I wish I had mounted more of it permanently to the ground. So much of it got blown away. I would go back periodically and rearrange it. It was supposed to be installed only for month. But because of a 16 inch snowstorm it was left up for six months. It actually did rather well and stood up to 60 mph winds. Hope that explains the process. :-)

Art Commissioned Projects

Phoenix, Arizona has many numerous public commission art projects. Check out the link for more information.

Idea for project-relief map

Crumple a blank 8.5 x 11-inch sheet into a tight ball. Smooth it out. Use it to create a relief map of your life, or your character's life, and use the map as a writing starter.
You may want to "start at one corner of the piece and trace a random map from your earliest memory to where you are today... or let yourself go off into different pathways and roadways, detours. Let your mind wander. This is not a linear exercise."
This came from website for more ideas visit this site, juiceboxartists.com

Bigger Threadwork

I worked yesterday and off and on all day today on this bigger piece. It's about 13" x 7" and includes pieces of silk organza and loose weave cotton fabric. I rinsed the solvy out and may add more to it tomorrow.

Here's a shot of Thread Pangaea, all my bits laid out together:

Dumbo district...where is it in NYC?

Nisha,

Thanks for all of the great resources....funny, I've a lot of sketches of arches and such, harking back to the Norman cathedrals I saw in Sicily...but I LOVE these! Just wondering what part of the city they reside....

DUMBO district doors

I love these old doors in a warehouse in the DUMBO district in New York City.

Association of Teaching Artist

This website is really helpful I signed up for their listserv. Which they had job postings and also questions you never thought to ask. Even though this is for New York State teachers there is a lot of helpful information on the website.

Art horizons/resources for educators an artist

As I mentioned in my other post art horizons is a another place to look for resources for educators are artists wanting to teach in school systems. They work in the New York City metro area.

Bubbles

New thread bubbles. Sewn on solvy with my new machine and playing with white top thread and assorted bobbin thread colors. I'm thinking of cutting out windows in prints and adding this behind the opening. Looks like bubbles, sea life, or something organic.

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...