and out of the snow rises.....

Not sure what the weather is like where you live, but here in the Boston area we are living in a winter wonderland ~ and by that i mean SNOW!!! loads of SNOW!! I am now teaching art at a local high school and I have not had a week without a snow day since returning from winter break!!! And 'they' say another monster storm is forecasted for tonight!! With more snow pending the question on many folks minds is where will all this snow go?? we already are surrounded by mini mountains of the stuff, making getting out of driveways a bit of a leap of faith.

In front of my house our friendly plow guy, Louie, has created quite a pile around one of our trees. Between the plow and the elements, snow had collected up on to the trunk of the tree. Yesterday while I was cautiously backing out of our drive, one of my girls pointed out how it looked like a dress!! and lo' and behold she was right!! (see upper left photo) I just felt that it needed few 'alterations' here and there!! SO out I went, into the elements, butter knife in hand to start carving away. A little scrape here and another there & voila ~ a wedding dress fit for the snow queen herself. I love how this dress works ~ just rising out of the snowbank, like a phoenix. I love how the dress is composed of both the clean white snow and the dingy street snow ~ giving a sense of toile. And lastly I love how the undulating snowbanks gives this dress the feeling of movement ~ I see this dress is sashaying down the street or through the royal gardens, and I can hear the swishing of all the luscious fabrics as she floats by. Even though my fingers were not so happy about the activity, I was really enjoying carving the snow and with another forecasted 20 inches on its way I was wondering if I could build and carve a free standing, life sized dress out of snow?? one never knows.....

So I look to the possible snowstorm with mixed emotions. The idea of having enough good snow to sculpt a large dress makes me giddy with anticipation, yet the snow could affect an opening reception that I am truly excited about ~ the coming~out of my piece 'insatiable' in the show 'Insatiable'. The opening reception is this Thursday, Feb. 3, 2011, 5-7:30 p.m. We will just have to see how it all works out!!! Click here to see all the wonderful artists that are included in this show and the other events that are related to the show. One of these events will be ME working on 'insatiable' in the gallery at certain times during the show. Also visitors will be able to bring in material for 'insatiable' that i then will work into the piece. This is all very exciting for me!!!

So we will see what mother nature brings us and how we deal with it. If you are in the neighborhood of Brandeis University on Thursday please stop by ~ it should be a compelling show. Just remember to throw some kitty litter and a shovel in your car!!

Stay warm and peace!!

the countdown has begun!!!!!

This week in the mail I received the announcement for the upcoming show, Insatiable, in which i have a piece. And what a thrill it was ~ to see my name among all these other wonderful artists, and to know that this exciting show is just around the corner!! Not that I am not always excited about every show i am in (or most any art show in general :) It is just that I am truly gaga over the piece that is in this show ~ 'insatiable'.

I have been obsessed by this piece ever since its conception ~ gathering different yarns and twines, then moving into the more unique materials, such as old headphone, electrical wires, gardening twine and tattered plastic bags. As the time has passed i have gotten even more adventurous with what I can crochet into this beast ~ the ribbons from old balloons and the popped balloons themselves!! Also I was at a birthday

party with my girls where the girls at the party were taking off the plastic wrappers from their water bottles and pulling them into a long string!! I flipped when i saw this and asked the girls for all their wrappers and left the party with a roll of plastic 'yarn'. It is amazing how my eyes seemed trained to see more material ~ a bunch of gold streamers from a cheering pomp-pomp, cut rubber bands left over from creating a window-box, excess dental floss from an overly zealous pull. The mishmash of material that i am collecting is beguiling. As I scooping up the many pieces of flotsam and jetsam which is left behind by our everyday life, i feel that this piece is becoming a true illustration of our ever consuming appetite.

As 'insatiable' grows it seems to speak more and more to the subject of the show ~

Gluttony is the new status quo. Our appetite for food, power, wealth, sex, new experiences, and information is seemingly insatiable and poses increasingly greater risks to the welfare of our planet and its inhabitants. This juried exhibition will feat

ure work by 42 artists from the US and abroad that explores our ravenous craving for e

xcess and/or the consequences of indulging our endless desire for more.

I must confess that i am collecting more than i am crocheting. I keep hoping for that quiet moment where I can sit down and start 'spinning' this 'magic' into the piece. However another wonderful

element of this piece and the show, is that 'insatiable' was accepted as a performance piece!!! So it is going to grow during the show and i am going to have designated time that i need to be in the gallery crocheting. That alone is a gift - scheduled 'work' time!!! Especially since i have taken recently been given a teaching job I hardly see my studio ( But the teaching is wonderful (so far) great opportunity, great students and a regular income ~ WOW!!!) But for now the elation is with this coming show and my ever growing piece.

However also, for now there is also a great sadness. In the wake of the horrid news out of Arizona... may we resolve to open our minds and hearts to love and to embracing differences; to dynamic discussions of politics and ideas withOUT firearms and violence. My heart & prayers go out to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and the other victims and their families. Especially the family of the nearly 9 year old girl who was attending the event because she had just won a position in her school's student's government, and who is now dead ~ a victim of gunfire. In my busy day i had missed this event until I turned on my computer to finalize this post & once i saw the announcement my heart broke - on so many levels. so as i say every post ~

peace!!! peace !!! & peace i mean!!!!

insatiable got into insatiable!!!!

I am SO excited to be able to announce that 'insatiable' got accepted into the show, insatiable, at the Kniznick Gallery, at the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center!!!! I was honoered once I learned that they received many submissions from artists all over the US (25 states), Canada, and Turkey. And the even more exciting news is that it was accepted as a performance piece ~ I am truly psyched!! So during the exhibit I will be coming in to continue to add to the piece. As I mentioned in an earlier post this piece just does NOT want to stop - it wants more and more, and I am trying to oblige!! During this past Natick Artists' Open Studios I asked people to bring in any material that could be 'fed' to this creature ~ yarn, ribbon, rags, wire ~ anything green, black or brown. I was hoping to be working during the open studios ~ I set up a 'pulley' system in front of my favorite chair, however I spent most of the time chatting with wonderful folks!! So not a lot of crocheting but many wonderful ideas.

I am really enjoying adding the more non-traditional material. Here are some photos of interesting additions ~ a broken headphone, old plastic wrap & the old balloon ribbons and balloons from the open studios. I was tempted to crochet in one of the floating helium balloons but I figured it would not be as successful once the balloon landed!!!

So 'insatiable' is growing and growing and it will continue growing at Brandeis university.

The show will run from January 25 through March 15, 2011 and I will post the times that I will be there working!! peace ~