Exhibiting in Group Show - Pushing the Limits 2012

This work and this work will be included in "Pushing the Limits 2012" a Juried Biennial Fiber exhibition at Artspace in Richmond, Virginia.

The opening will be on July 27th from 7:00-10:00 PM and the exhibit will continue until September 23rd.

I will not make the opening but I hope anyone near Richmond will check it out!

Exhibiting in Group Show

I will have this piece showing in a group fiber show called "Home is Where the Needle Marks" at Pop tART Gallery in Los Angeles, CA. There will be two venues for this exhibit, my work will be at (Sub) Urban Art, 101 West 5th Street.

It is a themed exhibit focusing on the concept of home and is curated by Ellen Schinderman.

Opening reception (which I will not attend) is June 9th from 7-11 PM. I'm sure it'll be fun! The show will run until July 9th.

New direction

I decided to go 'back' to the type of collages I was doing that made me bump head-first into embroidery, except in this case on a larger scale. I made this specifically for an upcoming show (a first). I also wanted to concentrate on the flat surface more, like a painting. This one is stretched on a frame. There is still the concentration of stitches in the center like my previous embroidery work but there are also stitches floating alone, in space, and most of the fabric is left to be itself.

I experimented further with texture by adding stars that pop about 1/4" or so from the surface, as well as making suture-like stitches as if the fabric were like skin, and finally, taking clippings from old doilies and covering them completely with a million little stitches of smoky monofilament thread.

Black on black is a hard thing to capture in a photograph, just another hurdle in my eternal struggle with getting accurate photos of my work.

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New work

After taking a considerable amount of time on the last one, I decided to do a series of smaller pieces. Then I decided to specifically do a series of head/face/mask related images. I had seen a beautiful and strong tattoo on the back of someone and I wanted to reproduce my memory of it. I'm sure the tattoo that I saw looks very different from this however.
I experimented with the background by stitching 'smokey' monofilament thread over multicolored metallic thread. Of course the effect isn't shown very faithfully in this flash-photograph reproduction.

Exhibiting in Fiber Philadelphia 2012

This piece will be included in the show "Outside/Inside the Box" which is part of the International Biennial Fiber Philadelphia 2012.

The show will be held at Icebox Project Space located in the Crane Arts building in Philadelphia.

The opening reception is Saturday, March 3, 5-8 PM. I'll be attending.

Exhibiting in group show

This, this and this will be in the upcoming Art of Fiber exhibit at Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton, Virginia. The show runs from November 23rd to December 31st, opening reception is on the 25th from 5-7 PM. I won't be able to attend but if anyone is around the area please check it out for me and let me know how it looks!

New

This is the largest piece I have yet completed in embroidery, 6 1/2" x 6 1/2". Actually I think there is another one with the same size, but not as dense. This one is completely filled solid with stitches.
It started out with the central figure based on an image from an old 50's French cheesecake magazine. Then I had a flash of late 60's comic book sci-fi influence. Then a PBS show about chickens happened. Then all hell broke loose, literally. The human figure plummeting through the demonized depths on the left side is myself.

What I have been trying to avoid is too much use of a black outline on things to define them, to pull them out of the background. I want to make everything look 'painterly'. Adding a black outline looks too 'cartoonish'. I have nothing against cartoon imagery but I just want things to look more painterly. But I couldn't avoid using black outlines in this one.

This piece took too long. I think my stitching may be slowing. Maybe I have reached 'stitching Nirvana' and I no longer am aware or care of the passing time. Nah. Next one is going to be smaller.

Exhibiting in group show

I will be showing this piece and this piece in "in-organic", a group show of fiber artists curated by Jennifer Hunold at Collar Works Gallery in Troy, New York.
The show runs from August 26th to September 16th. Opening reception is on Aug. 26th from 5-9 PM. I plan on attending.

From the press release:
"in - organic showcases how fiber has become a dominant medium of choice by artists across the country. With innovative adaptations to historically rich techniques and materials, these sixteen artists are invigorating these mediums with new perspectives and applications. in - organic includes a range of works that integrate fiber with painting, sculpture, drawing, assemblage/collage, and installation, while addressing topics that range from the body to politics, memories to the environment. These textile works -- previously allocated to the periphery of artistic dialogue as kitsch, craft, or hobby art -- are gaining recognition with a captivating energy that is recontextualizing traditional notions of “craft.” The exhibition draws work from coast to coast, including California, Montana, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York."

Stitching in the Park

This is basically what I do on weekends in the warmer months - take my current hoop, needle and threads and venture out. This is Prospect Park Brooklyn.

Backs

I know I've admitted before that the backs can be more beautiful and interesting than the fronts.
Here we have, in order, the back of this one finished.
Next we have the back of this one finished.
Finally there is the back of one of them, not sure which, when it was in progress.