#tbt: the story of 'paint-pot dress ... '

'paint-pot dress ...' 

I am honored to announce that  my 'paint-pot dress ...' was accepted into Cambridge Art Association's biennial exhibition, BLUE, which was juried by Katherine French, Gallery Director Catamount Arts, VT.   'lilith in blue ...' was part of Blue 2012-2013. 

'lilith in blue ...'

And as a way to celebrate this exciting news I am going to give the brief story of this dress' creation.  I have been wanting to return to my #tbt blog posts, telling the back-stories of the many dresses in my dressproject.  As I am review the scope of my 'dressproject' I am constantly amazed about how many the dresses have some kind of story, connection or interesting point of reflection.  Some are very poignant, such as 'dear jeff... ' and some are just fun, like this one.  

When looking at this photograph, many people are unsure about what makes up this dress, even knowing the title.  So to clarify, this dress is made out of the paint pots from watercolor sets, the basic watercolor sets that we all used in school and possibly use now.  

In 2013, I was substituting at the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, MA.  I was covering the maternity leave of the Middle School's art teacher, and loving it.

One of our class projects was based around one point perspective and I had the students create a city street in perspective then color it with watercolor paints.  When we first pulled out the sets it was clear that they needed to be refreshed and replenished.  

This is one of the cool parts of being the art teacher, access to the art closet, full of endless art supplies and in this case, boxes of replacement pots of paint so that schools do not need to throw out an entire paint set if only one color is used up!! 

So during one free period I gathered all the paint sets and proceeded to pop out the pots that were nearly empty.  Soon my desk was covered with the old and new paint pots, all different colors and shades depending on the state of the paint.  As I worked, piling up more and more paint pots onto the desk, I knew that a dress needed to be made, and so I proceeded to cull together the blues and purples and made a dress.

Now here is the part of this dress' story that I most love ....  

I hadn't been substituting for too long, maybe a month or so, and I felt as if my advisors and I were still getting comfortable with each other. 

On the day I was cleaning the paint sets I had worked through lunch so when my advisors returned to the classroom after lunch for advisory, I was in the midst of my mess. As I scrambled to find the necessary papers and information for advisory, one of my advisors walked over to my desk and surveyed my mess and inquired what I was doing???

'Well,' I started to explain, 'I was cleaning up in the watercolor paint sets and needed to pop out the old paints so I could put in the fresh paint pot.  But once I saw all the pots of color and noted all the beautiful variations laying across my desk I just needed to make a dress out of them.' And almost before I finished my explanation she looked at me with a smile and stated in a matter-of-fact manner,

 'of course you did!' 

Then all my advisors came up and admired my handiwork and it was at that point that I felt completely welcomed.  They got me! 

link to info about the exhibit

 

peace

dresses on the move and #fromthelandofdragons' blog . . . .

I am not one for letting a few feet of snow stop me! 

I grew up in the windy city and boy do we do weather there!!! 

So between forecasted snow storms got some my my art out into the world!!

 First, I delivered 'torqued and tethered . . . ' and 'dear jeff . . . '

to the South Shore Art Center.  They are part of a group show, curated by 

Bill Houser, called "Forever & After". (more info and link below)

Then after having some motivation issues I framed and delivered some 

#fromthelandofdragons photos to the Wellesley Starbucks, on rt 135.

Reminding us all what a few months will bring . . . 

And this installation prompted me to finally

create and publish a dedicated blog page for my

#fromthelandofdragons series!! (yay)

(link to blog below AND in dashboard) 

now these photos will be 

all in one place, more easily found,

 especially for those of you

who are not on FB or Instagram. 

show card for "Forever & After"

show catalogue 

Description and information about "Forever & After"
"Forever & After" at the South Shore Art Center

click here to view show catalogue

A dedicated home for my #fromthelandofdragons photos:
#fromthelandofdragons has its own blog!!!!! 

Since Starbucks doesn't want artists to post prices I have created this page with all $$ info:
link to pricing information for the work at starbucks

'breaking open' is OPEN!!!!!

I have so much to say about these works,

 but for now the photos will tell the story . . .

'to have and to hold', 'womb wrap (uterus), 'raw' and 'random' 

with paintings by Anne Wright Gilson

 'random' (detail) organic crocheting

metamorphosis' - collaborative sculpture 

created with the Dana Hall student body 

in the spring of 2013

'to have and to hold' (detail) 

press release

'tethered and torqued' and 'this is me, a work in progress' 

'to have and to hold', 'metamorphosis' and 'dear jeff'. 

paintings on the wall by Anne Wright Gilson 

'this is me, a work in progress' embroidery on vintage slip

'shiva' acrylic and pencil on arches watercolor paper. 

this painting was started in 2011, at Vermont Studio Center

and finished about hour before delivering it the gallery

'tethered and torqued' and 'breaking free' 

' to have and to hold'  sculptural dress made mostly out of white rubber gloves.

And here is a favorite dressdrawing/quote 

that has motivated me during these past months ~

peace

Going out with a BANG!!!!

As the saying goes all good things must come to an end.  And so it is for "Upon Further Consideration: what tells a story", my exhibition with David Lang at the Carney Gallery, Regis College, Weston, MA.  But we are not going quietly :) 

Tomorrow afternoon David and I will be conducting a gallery talk which will then lead to a closing reception.  So we would love to have all come and help us toast out our latest creative endeavor!! 

artists' talk ~ 4:00pm

reception to follow

Also some pieces have been added since the opening AND some pieces will be going back to their private homes.  'dear jeff', which is the commissioned by a man who lost his fiance in 9/11, is now part of the exhibit at Regis, for all those who could not make it down to Attleboro Arts Museum.  Another new piece that was in Attleboro's 8 Vision is 'kid gloves'.  And 'in memory of . . .' will be heading back to her owners, who kindly let me show her for this exhibition, thank you Bill and Joe!! 

peace