Congratulations, Capital City Arts Initiative!

I'm so pleased to announce that the Capital City Arts Initiative was awarded a $50,000 grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts! 

Isn't that grand news? 

"Release"

Release

A powerful sculpture of Nelson Mandela, by sculptor Marco Cianfanelli, entitled "Release". I saw it on an older blogpost of Robert Krulwich, of Radio Lab. Check out Krulwich's post, always a great read, for more information. Photos were granted by Cianfanelli.

Release

Isn't it amazing that these 50 columns of broken comb like forms, create such a powerful image.

My Friend & Fiber Partner in "A View Within"

Karen Rips, in World of Threads, opening tomorrow, 11/1. 

A View Within is our collaboration, featuring body imaging works in different formats.

The Brain Initiative Moves to the University of Chicago Medical Facilities

Artists had submitted pieces investigating how  our minds work,  where thinking comes from, what is the origin  of consciousness. It is not only scientists who can shed light  on how our minds  function - artists can also do so. The exhibit goes from 11/1 thru 3/15 Chicago University  (DCAM)  2nd floor corridor link & (CCD) 5758 S. Maryland Chicago, IL 60637

New Venue

Soon many of the pieces in "The Brain-Art Initiative" will be moving from its current location, the Beverly Arts Center, to The University of Chicago Medical Facility.

 This is the first time I'll have work in a university medical facility and I'm very excited. 

This is the piece that will be traveling onto the University. It's multi threads on fiberglass mesh, machine stitched. It received 3rd place. 

Brain MRI

Lia Cook also had a piece in the show, receiving 1st Place. You can see it below:

The Chicago Tribune Today

A Great Pleasure

Change of Plans

It was a great pleasure meeting Tom Lundberg last night. Unfortunately, I have no photos of the meeting nor of his lecture, The Language of Textiles: Fiber in Contemporary Art, but it was such a pleasure to meet and talk about textiles, processes & art.

As part of the CCAI program featuring textiles in my show, Silk & Sinew & a show at their neighboring facility, the BRIC, Tom presented a through overview of textiles throughout the centuries to the present.

As a professor of textiles in the MFA textile program at the Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, Tom Lundberg offers students not only a wide variety of experiences with textiles & their processes, but a broader knowledge of textiles in art. 

But better yet, Tom inspires his students to create thought provoking works of art, as Sara Rockinger's work:

In/Visible

Pics From my "Silk & Sinew" Show

Finally, here's some photos from my show, Silk & Sinew sponsored & funded by CCAI. It's a wonderful gallery space with grand natural light & very tall ceilings.

Check out their site & my Facebook page for more photos. Thanks.

Getting it Done

Just finished hanging Silk & Sinew at the CCAI Courthouse Gallery. The show features work spanning almost a decade, showcasing my large silk florals to my embroidered body imaging. 

Hope you can join me for the reception, Sept. 26th 5-7. The show runs through Jan. 22nd.

Here's details:

Where: Carson City Courthouse, 2nd floor

             885 E. Musser St.

             Carson City, NV

When: Sept. 22-Jan. 22, 2015

            Reception: Sept. 26, 5-7

Sponsored & funded by CCAI

My New Solo Show

Last year I was lucky enough to be introduced to Sharon Rosse and Glenn Clemmer. They visited my studio and offered me a show sponsored by the Capital City Arts Initiative. I'm so excited about this show! It will feature some of my silk florals and body imaging.

One of the grand things CCAI offers besides a great venue to show your work, is an essay written by an expert in your field. I was so fortunate to have Sara Rockinger write my essay. Watch for it to appear on my website.

Hope you can join me, Friday, Sept. 26th, 5-7 pm. If not, hope you can pop in or view some photos I'll post later.

Brain-Art Initiative

The Beverly Art Center, Chicago, presented their new show, "The Brain-Art Initiative" Sept. 12. The reception was the 12th, from 7-9. The show will run through Oct. 26th.

This is my new piece, that I've shown earlier, that was awarded 3rd place:

MRI Brain

Opening at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles

Sunday, 8/10, ITAB currently being shown at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles a juried exhibition of work merging fiber media with or representing technologies. Some artists used digital jacquard weavings, digital printing & photography, laser engraving among other techniques.

Others, like myself, were low tech artists, representing technologies in their work. My work, MRA HEAD, is 12' x 5' stitched fiberglass mesh showing the blood flow of the brain through a magnetic resonance angiogram.

It's an amazing show and will stay open until Nov. 9th. I hope you can see all the amazing pieces.

I'm standing in front of my piece,  HEAD MRA

I really love the shadows that are created from this piece--one of the reasons I wanted to attempt to stitch on mesh.

And thanks to Karen Rips, my friend & collaborator of A View Within, for taking this & other photos. I was so flustered when arriving, I had forgotten my phone in the car.

New Work

Here's a piece I just finished & stretched. It's stitched on the fiberglass mesh multiple times, from the front and back sides. It will be able to be viewed from the front & the back.

I'll post the other side once this is able to be removed from the design wall. 

In Utero (1 side) 

detail 

The Brain Initiative and Good News

Update:

And good news! I just heard yesterday, 8/20 that this piece was accepted into the show! I'm so excited! Will tell you more soon.

Somehow I found this call for entry: 

So I've been working on two pieces I hope to enter. Both are 60" x 60", stitched with multiple threads on fiberglass mesh.  Using 5-6 threads through a needle's eye is demanding, especially since the mesh is so fine. But I'm managing, slowly. 

                    This is an MRI slice across the brain: 

It's still pinned to my design wall, as you can see in this close up:

Getting Ready for ITAB

Getting ready to ship my piece, Head MRA, to the San Jose Quilt & Textile Museum, I had to resort to persuasion--hanging it from my 2nd story deck. It's so large, I don't have a space 12' high to hang it. So misting it & letting it hang allowed it to try to get its wrinkles out from being stored on a roller for months. My neighbors probably were wondering what I was doing.

I came across this information about the show from the SJQ&TM site: 

This is so exciting! I love these artists' work & can't wait to see what they've produced for this show. And hopefully, some of the artists will be at the opening reception, August 10. An artist walkthrough will take place 1-2 and reception from 2-4.

The show runs from July 26th through November 9. Hope you get a chance to visit this show.

ITAB at the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles

I've been honored to have been chosen to be one of the participating artists in ITAB, a show based on technology, hosted by the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.

Head MRA

(fiberglass, polyester thread)

Here's the museum's newsletter about ITAB:

ITAB 3

The Museum’s signature exhibition—the third Inter- national TECHstyle Art Biennial (ITAB)—will fill the galleries from July 26 – November 9, 2014. This year 70 artists submitted 135 artworks. Jurors and distinguished artists Louise Lemieux Bérubé, Michael James, and Patricia Malarcher selected a fascinating mix of 39 pieces that related to the theme and description of the exhibit.

Jurors were asked to select works by artists merging fiber media with new information and communication technologies in their artistic processes, as a medium of artistic expression, or in the content of their work.

This year for the first time we contracted with an off-site website, Art Call to help facilitate the entry and jury process. The artists applied directly to the website and uploaded their information and images. The jurors were able to see images, details, and information about the artwork except for the artists names and personal information. 

It was an easy application process and saved hours of administrative work for Museum staff. It was both a fitting trial run for a tech- themed exhibit and a successful way for applicants, jurors, and staff to process a lot of detailed information. 

As anticipated, artists responded with digitally printed works, videos, computer-aided designs, and jacquard weaving. Some highlights of the exhibit include two gorgeous and dramatic jacquard weavings by Janice Lessman-Moss. These complicated and multi-layered designs could only be woven with the aid of a digital jacquard loom, as the patterns, more like abstract paintings, never repeat. The underlying fabric layer of hand– felted wool creates a dynamic and interesting border and textural contrast to the astounding patterns.

The large scale work by Paula Chung, "Head MRA," is a powerful portrait of what is seen through the lens of a medical procedure. Although the piece references an intimate and personal health experience it also shows the strength and vulnerability of what lies beneath our skin. In contrast a small scale work by Melissa English Campbell is a tour de force of how one perceives and creates an image. Composed of 2,640 layers of digitally printed cotton sateen, "Our Sons" reveals a remarkable portrait on all sides of the stacked cube.

Perhaps the most techie of all the works, "NEUROTiQ," is a brain animating fashion—a knitted,

3D printed, EEG brain sensor— that maps thoughts and exhibits brain states with color. Created by Kristin Neidlinger and a team of software, hardware, and 3D modeling engineers, and knit designers, this electrified “hat” reads brain states and translates this into colors from red indicating Delta or deep sleep, to orange for Theta state or meditation, to yellow green for Beta or consciousness.

ITAB once again provides a thought provoking and fascinating look at the creative merging of textile and technology.

Deborah Corsini Curator

You can see the whole newsletter here.

A Long Time Coming

I've never shared my other art pursuits before, but have gotten up the nerve to try today.

I've been attending art classes at our local community college in South Lake Tahoe (LTCC) for several years and have had such wonderful instruction & experiences. I feel so fortunate to have been able to learn from the best, whether it's drawing, painting, or 3D sculpture through carving & clay building.

One of my instructors, Phyllis Shafer, just had a retrospective at the Nevada Museum of Art in Reno, Nevada, entitled, I Just Went out for a Walk, showing landscapes of the Sierras, Great Basin and Arizona deserts. It was an amazing collection of her previous works with an excellent accompanying book. Not only is she an amazing painter, but a wonderful instructor.

So here are two of my paintings from her figure painting class. I was so fortunate, as well, to have the help of a fellow student that is a great framer. He made my paintings look so much better!

Chair with Nude

Mallory

Altered Surfaces

Karen, my collaborator for A View Within, is showing her work in a  solo show, Altered Surfaces, at

ArtQuilt Gallery-NYC . The Opening Reception is tonight, 6- 7:30.

I wish I were attending. Karen's work is so thoughtful elegant. I hope you can get a chance to stop by if you're in the Chelsea area of New York City.

If not, check out Karen's website, Karenrips.com and her blog, Fiberartmusings. 

A Skyping Opportunity

Karen and I were invited to participate in a meeting on Skype with the Trenton N.J., chapter of META, which is a group of techies and artists reaching out to each other to find common ground.  http://www.meetup.com/ArtsTechNJ/events/167330712/

This month’s talk was about x rays and Madelaine Shellaby, curator of our Art Times Two show felt we would be a good fit.

 
We met in Karen's studio where she and her husband, Ted, had set up her ipad. Karen had placed on her design wall behind us some of our work in progress, which was an MRA of the head and some of the images we used for inspiration. As usual, Karen, the more articulate of us, did a wonderful job while I stood tongue tied.

Karen is in New York and will be attending her solo show at ArtQuilt Gallery-NYC tonight.

A View Within

Our Show Lives On

Karen Rips, my collaborating partner will be attending the artist reception March 12th, 5-7. Our show will continue through April 25th. Hope you can get to Princeton's Brain & Spine Care Center to meet Karen and see our work.