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Thursday, February 28, 2013

Reduction Linocut

Last night I went to Wingtip Press and printed the first color of my reduction linocut attempt.  It went pretty well.   So now I'm really scared for when I go back in a couple of weeks to do the second part of the "suicide" print.  That's a nickname for reduction linocut because if you mess up, you can't go back and print more. You are always cutting away on the same plate.

I have carved out the material for the second color and hope I made enough of the first color prints that I will have enough good ones on the second color run.  I think this one will be tricky to register as I don't really have any wiggle room on lining up the second color.

Here's what it looks like at this point.


Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Public Art

Last night was another session of the Public Art Academy workshop I am taking.  We had guest artists come in and talk about their experiences doing public art and how they jumped into it.  And we got to see the actual proposals for some public art.

 My bookclub buddy and mosaic artist extraordinaire, Reham Aarti, was one of the guest artists to speak.

Above is the proposal for the installation at Idaho Ice World.  Below is the proposal for the mural that was at 8th and Main for some time. I believe both of these were by Byron Folwell.


 Several different proposals for different projects.

Above is the proposal for a kinetic sculpture that will be built in Julia Davis Park.  Below is Mark Baltes, who has completed several public art pieces around town.  He discussed some of his projects and how he came up with the ideas and how he works on a proposal.


I have been enjoying this workshop and learning a lot.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Linocut

I am switching gears this week.  The exhibition is up at the art museum, so I am back to my regular routine.  But instead of working on the large in-progress fabric piece, I am working on a linocut for a print exchange.

Below is just the start.  I'm attempting a reduction linocut.  Right now it kind of looks like duck feet, but that is not what it is.  I'll post a picture when it is completed (if it turns out).


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Daily Fabric Compositions

I cannot believe that three weeks of February have already passed by.  I've been enjoying creating my daily fabric compositions in the morning before heading off to work at the art museum.  It's time to get you caught up.

These will all eventually be squared up when finished.

 Daily fabric composition #21

  Daily fabric composition #20

  Daily fabric composition #19

  Daily fabric composition #18

  Daily fabric composition #17

  Daily fabric composition #16

 Daily fabric composition #15

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Sesqui Shop

I don't think I had ever heard the word "sesquicentennial" until this year.  Because it is Boise's. The city has opened a shop for the year to hold events , sell stuff and have small exhibitions. They also have information about celebration activities throughout the year.

I have been there several times as I am taking an eight week workshop hosted by the city's Arts & History department about Public Art.  We meet at the Sesqui shop once a week.

If you are in town, you should check out this month's exhibition of some of Pat Kilby's paintings.  I didn't have time to get any pictures of his work.  Check the link on his name to see some of his work or go check it out in person.  I think it is only up through the end of the month.

He also created three Boise prints that are for sale in the shop.





These are some great collagraph prints of buildings in Boise.  They were created in Wingtip Press' workshops to honor Boise's 150 years.  Throughout the year, Wingtip will host FREE workshops to create a collagraph print.  Anyone can sign up, but you do need to sign up as space is limited. You can see a schedule of the workshops here.

Monday, February 18, 2013

Imperfection Achieved

Before Christmas, I started working on a large piece that was to consist of four panels.  I didn't get very far because I had to switch gears in January to meet a deadline.

I met the deadline and now my attention is back on the large piece.  Here you can see the start on my design wall.


My idea was to fill in all that background with extreme machine stitching, covering closely every inch.

So I started with the only panel that had a full circle (that third one).  I sandwiched it with batting and have spent hours stitching the bleep out of that background.  

Doing big sweeping circular motions using free motion stitching is quite difficult.  Here's a section.  There are about four or five different thread colors in this.


The stitches are not consistent and the lines are wobbly.  But what I'm going for is the texture.

I've been working at the art museum quite a bit lately.  We are installing an exhibition that includes some Native American bead work.  In the work, the artist would purposely put a bead out of place (i.e. a white bead in a blue sky) so that it was not perfect, because humans cannot be perfect.

Well on this piece, I don't purposely have to create any imperfections because they are already there.  I noticed an even bigger one after I finished stitching the entire first panel.   Doing big circular stitching in different directions made the fabric very distorted.

I steamed and ironed and pulled and stretched.  Although it is now flatter than it was to begin with,  I still cannot get the circle to lay flat.

Looks o.k. from the front . . .

but not from the side.  See the nice bulge?

I can press in the center and make a crater instead.

I have learned a few things from this, I think.  I probably need to use a heavy stabilizer on the back of the fabric before quilting.  Or maybe I just use canvas behind it with no batting.  Now I know how to make a hill if I ever need one (although if I actually try to make another bulge, it would probably turn out flat!).  It also gave me an idea to try for a different way to construct a piece.

What to do?  Hmm, I don't think I can salvage this panel for this particular piece.  I will probably have to make a new panel to replace it.  But I am thinking about cutting this panel up and see if I can make it work as something else.

It is definitely disappointing as I've put a lot of time into this and I am now back to square one.  But hopefully, I can now figure out how to fix it so it won't happen again. We'll see.




Sunday, February 17, 2013

Generosity

I work with two guys at the art museum that are also artists.   (I posted about an exhibition they were in last year at the Enso space.)  On Friday, Todd gave me one of his artworks to thank me for all the work I have been doing at the museum.

I was very surprised and honored to receive such a gift.  Here is the piece. It was very generous of him to give me some of his artwork.

(Photo posted with permission of artist.)
Untitled
by Todd Newman
acrylic on board
approx. 10" x 6-1/2"

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Daily Fabric Composition

Happy Valentine's Day!  Today's daily fabric composition was made with this holiday in mind.  And I'll get you up to date with the rest of them  (you can always see them daily on my Facebook Art Page). Which of this group do you like the best?

 Daily fabric composition #14

 Daily fabric composition #13

 Daily fabric composition #12

 Daily fabric composition #11

 Daily fabric composition #10

 Daily fabric composition #9

Daily fabric composition #8

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Studio Talk

This past weekend was a busy one.  One of my activities was getting together with some artist friends for some studio talk and sharing.  We met at Kathleen Probst's studio.  She had lots of cheery fabrics and in-progress work up on her design boards.  She talks more about it on her blog.

It's always good to get together with other artists.





























A view of Kathleen Probst's Studio.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Art-full Weekend

I was going to post some pictures of Sue Latta's opening reception for Best Worst Case Scenario at the Visual Arts Collective, which I attended with a friend last night.  Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the pictures from my camera.  So, I have nothing to show.  The exhibition is open through March 30th. The Visual Arts Collective gallery hours are only Saturdays from 12-6 p.m. or by appointment.

This morning I met with some artists friends and we shared what we were working on.

Then, I stopped by Flying M to see the Valentine for Aids artwork before the bidding ends tomorrow.  Here are some of the artworks.

A print by Amelia Tiedemann.




I noticed that there were quite a few more fiber/sewing related items this year - like this black cross stitch by Jane Bingham.


Below is a doll made by my friend, Rachel Linquist.
 These are hand embroidered socks, made by Erin Cunningham.