today I discovered karoline hermansen ...

' dOse oF TaLenT ' : dose of talent: karoline hermansen: 

KAROLINE HERMANSEN

 click above to learn more about 

Karoline Hermansen

enjoy!

Sheila Hicks

Sheila Hicks: artist, fiber artist

Sheila Hicks is not a weaver. She has been a sorority girl and 

a synchronized swimmer, an accidental drug smuggler 

and a magazine editor. She married a Mexican beekeeper 

and dated a would-be Venezuelan revolutionary. 

But she is, emphatically, not a weaver. 

 'Itinerant Artist:Sheila Hicks' https://craftcouncil.org/

I discovered the work of Sheila Hicks during a visit to the Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy Andover, MA to experience their exhibit, Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, and I have not been the same since.

I was so moved by her work, the different scale of work, from her miniatures, or  as she calls them, minime literally means "very small".  These 'studies' lined the hallway leading into the main galleries and I found them mesmerizing.

Now she is going to be in the 2017 Venice Biennale and watching the attached video just made me love Hicks and her work even more.  I hope you enjoy the below links and pictures of her work. VF

Sheila Hicks was taught to sew by her mother and to embroider and knit by her grandmother, making her 'thread conscious' from a young age. [2]Hicks attended Yale University School of Art and Architecture in Connecticut (1954-1959), where she gained a BFA in painting (1957) and MFA in painting (1959)[3] and studied with Josef Albers, Rico Lebrun, Bernard Chaet, Jose de Riviera, Herbert Mather, Norman Ives, Gabor Peterdi, George Kubler, George Heard Hamilton, and Vincent Scully. Along with George Kubler, independently, Junius Bird of the American Museum of Natural History and Anni Albers were advisors for her thesis, "Pre-Incaic Textiles."[1] Hicks was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study and paint in Chile (1957–58); she photographed archeological sites in Peru and Bolivia.

wikipedia

Hicks will be participating in the 2017 Venice Biennale, Viva Arte Viva, May 13 - November 16, 2017

Even her miniature pieces, or minimes, assume the asymmetry of a photograph, a landscape's irregularity of color and texture, and all the unpredictability of real life recorded. The French word minime literally means "very small"; and though it also connotes "of very little significance," her miniatures are of the first importance to Hicks. She uses them as studies, sketches, and material explorations: Roulade Amazone (1965), made of crushed, rolled, and sewn pages from a natural history book, explored a concept for larger sculptural pieces.

 'Itinerant Artist:Sheila Hicks' https://craftcouncil.org/

Hicks’s “La Clef’’ (1988) features rubber bands and a metal key.

Sheila Hicks, weaving her own fabric of modernismBy Sebastian Smee for the Boston Globe, November 14, 2010

In fact, a lot of Hicks’s work suggests intimate connections with Klee. Her miniatures, or “minimes,’’ as she calls them, are, like Klee’s watercolors, about the size of a sheet of paper. There are dozens of them on view at the Addison (the show was co-curated by independent scholar Joan Simon and Addison curator Susan Faxon).They’re wonderful — small, woven works in jewel-like colors that use the warp and weft as a natural grid to play with patterns, divisions, asymmetry, varying degrees of tautness and looseness, and above all, color.Some have threads hanging out in tufts or lolling arabesques; others are cut on the bias, creating jaunty diagonals.Each one is like an evocative perfume, with an immediate impact conjured by color and shape, then a tantalizing dry down as subtleties and layered relationships between color, material, thread thickness, and shape gradually emerge.Hicks has made these “minimes’’ throughout her career. Many are initially unprepossessing. They’re like studies or sketches. But they do one of the things that modernism always strove to achieve (though not always successfully): They enhance our awareness of things as they are, rather than as representatives of other things.http://archive.boston.com

Sheila Hicks: 50 Years

November 5, 2010 - February 27, 2011

Sheila Hicks: 50 Years  marks the first museum retrospective devoted to this exceptional American artist. Co-curated by independent scholar Joan Simon and Addison curator Susan Faxon, the exhibition opens at the Addison Gallery and will be touring to various venues.

Born in Hastings, Nebraska in 1934 and a resident of Paris since 1964, Hicks is a pioneering figure noted for objects and public commissions whose structures are built of color and fiber. Independent in spirit and itinerant in practice, she deliberately and provocatively engages what are often considered mutually exclusive domains, rethinking and pushing the limits of generally accepted contexts, conditions, and frameworks.

These include distinct objects and temporal, performative actions, studio works and commissions for public buildings, and textiles made in artisanal workshops or for industrial production in places as different from one another as Chile, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Sweden, and the United States.

The exhibition addresses Hicks's conceptual, procedural, and material concerns via five distinct though intimately related fields of inquiry: miniature weavings and drawings, site commissions for public spaces, industrially produced textiles and workshop hand-productions, bas reliefs and sculptures, and, process works made of recuperated textiles, clothing and other found objects.

Generous support for this exhibition and publication was provided by the J. Mark Rudkin Charitable Foundation, The Coby Foundation, Ltd., Saundra B. Lane, The Poss Family Foundation, Nancy B. Tieken, Able Trust, Target Corporation, Friends of Fiber Art International, Dirck and Lee Born, and several anonymous donors.

http://www.andover.edu/Museums/Addison/Exhibitions/Hicks/Pages/default.aspx

www.sheilahicks.com

Oral history interview with Sheila Hicks, 2004 February 3-March 11Hicks, Sheila, 1934- Fiber artist

https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-sheila-hicks-11947

Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution 

Fashion and Fiberarts at Dana Hall

'lilith in blue' greets gallery visitors

There is only one week left of this stimulating exhibit, Fashion and Fiberarts, at the Art Gallery at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, MA.  I sadly missed the opening as I was west taking care of family.  However I am going to make-up for lost time :) as I have been invited to create a collaborative dress with the entire student body which will be worn during the Dana Fashion Show in the Spring.  This means I will be camping out at Dana during the show's last week, leading workshops and encouraging creative participation.  More about that project later ~ for now I wanted to share some photos of the show.  

'lilith in blue' with Merill's work

Whenever my fiber pieces, especially my creatures are exhibited I give the gallery complete freedom to display the pieces anyway they see fit.  So when I entered the gallery I was thrilled to see how curator and beloved teacher, Michael Frassinelli, displayed the work!!! Many time the curators display the work in ways I never have thought of.

I especially liked how he placed 'raw' over a podium - letting it ooze and slither.  

I am so honored to have been included in this exhibit - all the work is exciting.  I have always enjoyed Merill Comeau's wondrous fiber collages, her uses of clothing with a past, giving them new life.  Her pieces of deconstructed clothing made a wonderful juxtaposition to Sarah Campbell's and Tia Penney's beautiful coats and hats - ready to be worn.

Here are two examples of Michael's envisioning my creatures in a way I had not considered.  I love the pairing of 'blue angel' and my crocheted shawl, and the way he hung 'pinkie' created a delightful shadow!!

peace

a day of thanks...

This Thanksgiving has been an intense day for me because last year I was 'recovering' from sticking my hands in the middle of a dog fight. My hands were stitched & bandaged and I was not sure how it was going to affect my work ~ needless to say I was a bit blue. But what a difference a year makes :). This year I was able to go for a run, cook up a storm and enjoy the day with wonderful friends and family. However, there was still a cloud of introspection that followed me . An anniversary gives you a time to reflect, and today I thought about my journey since the 'incident' and I found more positives than negatives. One positive outcome was being introduced to acupuncture and meditation ~ two practices that have entered my life to help balance my ‘crazy’ tendencies. (she says as she blogs at 2:30am) And the second positive was my passion for crocheting. Yes I was crocheting before, but after the ‘incident’ crocheting became essential to
keeping me sane. It was a creative activity that I could do with stitches and soon after my surgery. And with this crocheting obsession came my creatures, and most recently, my ‘healing wraps’. This idea also sprung from my surgery ~ a fiber piece that brings the owner positive healing energy, warmth and TLC. I guess it is along the lines of my womb wrap – a ‘garment’ that gives you comfort. And this week I finished my first healing wrap and it was delivered on the eve of Thanksgiving, which seemed appropriate. It went to a friend who is the midst of a tough battle with cancer. I made this wrap with blues and purples, colors that I connect with healing. Crocheted into the piece are many beads and charms, saying things like ‘laugh often, love much’. When I worked on the piece I tried to be present with my crocheting and concentrated on filling the stitches with positive thoughts and prayers.

In the past months I have been aware of how garments can bring the wearer strength or confidence or healing. When in New York I went to a show that highlighted this idea in many of the exhibited pieces. This remarkable show, “A Stitch in Jewish Time,” is at the Hebrew Union Collage - Jewish Institute of Religion Museum until June 30th, 2011. It is a beautiful show with some truly amazing pieces ~ some personal favorites are Ten Plagues (2009) and Exodus(2008) by Carol Hamoy, The In-Between Yeshiva (2008) by Jacqueline Nicholls, Coat of the Agunah (2010) by Andi Arnovitz and Lisa Rosowsky’s We are Not Safe(2005), to highlight a few. This show is definitely worth a visit.


And I am thankful that I was able to see that show, along with the many wonderful art shows that I see in NY and anywhere I can. And I am thankful to have my work included in many wonderful shows. I am thankful that I am back to my old creative, high energy, insomniac self. I am thankful for the many wonderful people in my life that support me, encourage me and love me. So thank you & peace!!! & good night :)

Mandy, Mandy, Mandy....

Well thanks to Mandy Greer I am totally 'hooked'! I love crocheting or at least what i am doing with a hook and yarn. I say that because I learned the basic stitch at Mandy Greer's crochet-a-tron 3 weeks ago in Portland ~ the chain stitch and the single and double crochet stitch. The crocheting 'lesson' was loose and casual ... encouraging exploration and creativity. I figured after learning the basics I'd get a crocheting book and learn to crochet properly. But when i returned & got a basic crocheting book from the library it became quite apparent to me that I did NOT want to learn the proper stitches. I was enjoying my free form experimenting ~ I am creating these web-like pieces that i just adore. In fact I can't stop working on the piece that i am making to donate to Mandy's 'Mater Matrix Mother and Medium' ... I just keeping crocheting the chain stitch with different yarns, fabrics and beads and attaching it to its self - I see it as a whirlpool, many waves overlapping each other. It has been the most satisfying and relaxing piece that i have worked on. For one reason - I can do no wrong!!! there are no expectations of this piece - it is going to be one of many. Also this piece is very portable and i can work on it anywhere - in a car, in a dark movie theater (and i have learned that i am a more contented person if i am working). And lastly it is cozy and warm and tactilely satisfying - in fact i would LOVE to have a skirt like this!!! But with all that said I believe it is time for me to send it west. Because as much as i love working on it I also have my own crocheted creation that i can work on, and I am DYING to sink my teeth into my slip project!!!!

One last Mandy Greer nugget ~ check out the article in this month's Fiber Arts magazine. The cover story is about Mandy Greer and there are many other interesting articles worth reading.

peace