Suspend

Another stop on my First Thursday tour was at Wingtip Press to see the exhibition Suspend.  The Wingtip space doesn't have a whole lot of wall space for hanging artwork.  During a discussion Amy Nack and Karl LeClair came up with the idea of hanging work from the ceiling.

Curated by LeClair, the artworks are by local artists.  Just as the hanging is unconventional, so too are many of the pieces.  Suspended in space, the original prints become three dimensional and seen from more than one side.

Above you can see the swoops and swirls of the collaborative work of Nack and Cassandra Schiffler.  A long continuous monotype the artwork pushes the conception of original print.

To the right of the collaborative piece is a work by Jessica Wright.  Delicate prints are supported by a wooden structure (which appears to me to be balsa wood).  The front shows stitching lines through the prints and the wooden support can be seen from the back.  The prints are on a very lightweight paper so that light can come through to the back.

LeClair's piece is comprised of prints on paper that have been cut up into strips and shapes.  The resulting configuration takes advantage of the negative space and gravity to help form the piece.

Here are a few more works.

They will be up (literally) at Wingtip Press through November.

Dia de los Muertos Again

The weather was pretty nice for First Thursday last week.  There were a lot of people walking around downtown.  I went to several places, the first being the Idaho State Historical museum to see the Dia de los Muertos stuff before they took it down.

I just wanted to share a few more of the steamroller banners.  These three were done by students.

And I especially liked this one that was done on a tie dyed sheet.  Hmm, a thought for next year maybe.

Utility Series

Here are two more T-Squares from my Utility Series.  And the Small Works Group Show's opening reception at the Lisk Gallery is tonight from 5-9 p.m.!

T-Square #4, 2013

fabrics hand dyed by artist,

fused appliqué, machine stitching

10" x 10"

Available at Lisk Gallery through Dec.

T-Square #5, 2013

fabrics hand dyed by artist,

fused appliqué, machine stitching

10" x 10"

Available at Lisk Gallery through Dec.

Utility Series

In my last post, I showed you the first piece of my Utility Series.  Here are two more.

T-Square #2

fabrics hand dyed by artist,

fused appliqué, machine stitching

10" x 10"

Available at Lisk Gallery (Nov. 7-Dec.31)

T-Square #3

fabrics hand dyed by artist,

fused appliqué, machine stitching

10" x 10"

Available at Lisk Gallery (Nov. 7-Dec.31)

The Utility Series is named for the the shapes in the artwork and for types of tools and hardware. I have sketches for L-brackets, C-clamps, D-rings and O-rings.

These first pieces in the series will be in the Lisk Gallery Small Works Group Show starting this Thursday, Nov. 7 (opening reception 5-9 p.m.) through Dec. 31.

Small Works Show and a Rant

I have started a new series that I call the Utility Series.  Here is the first piece in the series.

T-Square #1, 2013

fabrics hand dyed by the artist,

fused appliqué, machine stitching

10" x 10"

This artwork, along with four more in the series, will be in the Lisk Gallery's Small Works Group Show. There will be works by 21 local artists and the opening reception is First Thursday (Nov. 7).

I dropped the artwork off at the gallery yesterday.  Each artwork was labeled on the back, had a hanging rod, was in it's own clear, flat bag with a copy of care and hanging instructions and one of my business cards as well.  This is so that when they sell a piece, it can go right back in the bag and be ready to transport.

I also had two copies of a consignment list which I had signed.  One for the gallery and one for my records after having the gallery person sign it.  

I introduced myself to the gal working there and pull out the artwork and list.  She says to me, "I like you already.  You are punctual and organized."  She indicated that in general most artists are not.

So, this brings me to a little bit of a rant, which I don't normally like to express here on the blog. But this topic irks me somewhat.

I think of myself as a professional artist.  This means I make artwork and sell it.  There are two words in that phrase "professional" and "artist".  I think many artists forget the first part.  

There is a generalization that since artists are creative, they can be a little scattered brained about other things.  I have been around other artists and I have also worked at the museum and have seen the flip side of dealing with artists.   And there is a reason this generalization exists. Some artists don't seem to think the "business" of art is important, or think they are too busy being creative to deal with that stuff.  Or maybe they feel they are predominately right-brained and have a hard time with left-brain tasks.

Well, I think that is a cop out.  If you are an artist that wants to sell your work, then you are a small business.  I don't see being creative as an excuse to not be professional.  It is not hard to follow directions, meet deadlines, write legibly, return emails/phone calls in a timely manner and pay attention to details.   

I do have a business degree, in addition to my art degree, but you don't need to have a business degree to be professional.  This is just common sense.  And I realize that artists aren't the only ones.  There are also businesses that don't run their business in a professional manner.  (You are not going to get my business if you tell me you will call me back and never do.)

As an artist, it would be nice to spend all your time creating while somebody else takes care of business. But many artists can't afford to hire someone to do that.  So they really need to take care of business themselves.

If you are an artist (or anybody else) and have different views on this subject, please feel free to leave a comment. This rant is just my opinion.

Day of the Dead Banners

Last Thursday and Friday, Amy (from Wingtip Press), Kurt (education curator at the Idaho State Historical Museum), Judy, Mary and I spent some time in the old Macy's department store downtown hanging a few of the steamroller printed Day of the Dead banners in the windows.

The banners are also at the Idaho State Historical Museum, Sesqui-shop, Zions Bank and the Flying M Coffee Garage in Nampa.

I did not know when I first arrived to help that the store windows were painted and that we would have to scrape off the paint.

Looking out the painted windows.

One set of the windows wasn't too bad to scrape.  The windows on the sunny side were a pain to scrape off.

Judy scrapping.

Kurt working on the hard stuff.

We were hanging the banners with pvc poles and fishing line.  But the fishing line we had was too thin to hold the weight.  So we had to scrounge for nails and wires in the building to get them hung.

Amy up on the ladder.

You can see the pink polka dots on the side which is just the edge of one of the "Goodbye Kitty" prints. Next to the grim reaper, it makes for an interesting juxtaposition. 

In celebration of Dia de los Muertos, there will be a procession of the banners on Nov. 2 from the Sesqui-shop to the Idaho State Historical Museum.  More details here.

Crooked River Trail

We heard that the weather would be turning cooler and less sunny on Monday.  And even as I type this, the wind has picked up and the clouds have moved in.  It looks like the beautiful autumn weather we have been having the last week or so is at an end.

That is why we decided to go for a long hike yesterday.  We drove up past Idaho City and went on the Crooked River trail.  There wasn't as much fall color there, compared to in the valley, as we were mostly up in the pine trees and the rest of the plants were past their prime.  But it was still beautiful and there is color if you look for it.

Anna on the trail.

Little Free Library

We have a new Little Free Library in our neighborhood.  This one is around the corner and down the street.  There is another one we can go to if we want to take a long walk.

Do you know about the Little Free Library?  This is a great idea where someone builds a small structure to hold books that neighbors can bring a book to add and/or take a book to read.  Read more about it here on the Little Free Library website.  They have tips on how to build your own (and ask you use recycled/found materials) and you can register your Little Free Library on their map.

I like the knob on the one above.  If you do a image search you can see how creative people were in building their little library.

I like how this one re-used a newspaper box.

Anna would like this one.

And this one is really outside the box, so to speak.

Get Together

This weekend I got together with three of my creative friends.  We try to get together every so often to share what we have been working on.  Even though we may see pictures online, it's always better to see it in person.

Linda shared her weekly stitching project with us.  I really like the texture she gets with the all over hand stitching.  She uses simple stitches but is amazing in how many different patterns she can create with them.

You can see better photos of more of these on her blog.

I sometimes use hand stitching in my artworks, but not to that extent.  I only have this one piece that is mostly covered in hand stitching.  I am sending it to The Arts Center ArtShop in Corvallis where some of my small works will now be available.

Three Trees

hand dyed fabrics, fused appliqué, hand stitching
12-3/4" x 8-1/2"
©2012 Lisa Flowers Ross

Kathleen had some of her postcards out that we could cut up and rearrange into different compositions. A fun idea.  Here is a new arrangement I created.

Kathleen has a solo exhibition coming up in Jan. 2014 at BSU in the same space I had my solo exhibition.

Our friend, Barbara, showed us a picture of some costume pieces she created for the play she is also directing!

Afterward, we went out to lunch at a Thai restaurant.  What a great way to spend the day.

Fall Friday

Yesterday was such a beautiful autumn day.  Even though I knew I should be in the studio working, I decided to go to the park (Katherine Albertson's park) after my exercise class to enjoy the beautiful sun and autumn colors.  Since much of my work is inspired by nature, it's good to be out in it.  It was probably a good thing too, as in the afternoon it was breezy and many leaves fell.

Here are some of my pictures.  I used my little point and shoot camera but there were a couple of ladies there with the same idea and they had their large cameras, as well as a monopod.

Display Wall

Earlier in the week, I showed you some pictures from my open studio set up.  In my living room, I had put up this display unit to show pieces in my Greenbelt series.

I made this a couple of years ago when a friend of mine asked me to participate in a market event she was organizing.  I do not wish to do art fairs/markets where you have a booth.  But since this event was indoors and my friend was organizing it, I decided to try it once.

We were assigned a 6' foot space and could rent a table.  I knew I needed some kind of display wall on which to hang my artworks.  But I didn't want to invest in one.  So, I decided to make my own.

I am no designer, nor furniture maker.  But I am an artist and, therefore, a creative problem solver.  I had some free pieces of wood that were leftover from a museum project that I had taken thinking maybe someday I would make a shelf with them.  Instead, I used some for this project.

I purchased some felt fabric, shelf brackets, two curtain rods and some hardware pieces.  I made up the design myself.  And while I was putting it up again this year (I also used it last year in my open studio), I thought that I really need to redesign it because it is not that easy to hang things on the felt.

I designed it this way for several reasons.  First, I knew that I would have to be able to put it together and take it apart by myself.  I would also have to get the pieces in my car and carry them myself.  I also didn't want to have to store a very large unit.

In this picture, you can see that the top bar slides into a groove on the side bar and is held together with a dowel rod.  The pieces of wood I had were about 1" x 1" and I put three pieces together.  A dowel piece also holds the curtain rod in place and can be removed.

The bottom bar also slides into a groove on the side and is held with a dowel.  I used the shelf brackets on the base of each side bar.  They work and it is pretty stable when all put together but there is room for improvement.

I sewed a pocket on the top and bottom of the felt for the curtain rods to slide through.  When taking it down, I can remove the rods and just fold up the fabric.  The whole thing takes up little storage when disassembled.

The problem is that it is very hard to hang the artwork because the felt is not stiff.  I pin the pieces on but don't want the pins to show.  I can't hold the piece and go around to the back and pin from there.  So I pin from the front and try to hide the pins.  If I want to adjust to make it level, it is hard to do.

I'm thinking maybe I could make some panels with foam core or something else to create a stiff surface.  I would have to retrofit the top and bottom bars with something to hold them.  But then I would have to store those larger pieces.  I will think about it some more.  It is not a high priority on my list.  Since I will probably continue having open studios and setting it up, though, it would be nice to have something a little different.  Any suggestions are welcome.

Terry Grant was creative in recently creating her own display wall.  You can read about it here.  Wish I would have thought of that.