illustration friday ~ transportation

this week the 'topic' for illustration Friday is transportation .... so many possibilities ~ boats, cars and truck, oh my!!! When I finally settled down my creative brain and perused my portfolio for an appropriate illustration, I came across this one. And even though this might not scream transportation, like a big yellow taxi :) I wanted to use it, because this painting was done for a picture book and yesterday I read a disturbing article in the New York Times about the decline in the publication of picture books ~ Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children By Julie Bosman, published: October 7, 2010. Reading this article upset me greatly, as an illustrator and a parent. I believe in the importance of the picture book!!! I bet we all have a cherished memory of our favorite picture book ~ the one we sat with for hours, disappearing into the pictures ~ fighting dragons, rocking with mama bunny or cruising along one of Richard Scarry's wonderfully busy streets. Our house is still full of picture books even though my girls are nine and twelve. I don't think there is an age limit for enjoying a picture book; however this seems to be the main reason for the decline, according to this article. The article concentrated on how parents are pushing their children to read chapter books at an earlier and earlier age ~ ack!!! As a parent I see so many elements of my children's lives disappearing in the name of 'advancement'. How many parent conferences I have gone to where I am told that all these new procedures are preparing them for the MCAs ~ the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. Now don't get me wrong I am all for giving our children a wonderful education with as many opportunities that they can have, but I feel like we are losing some of the wonders of childhood! And this article stirred many of these feelings, especially this section ~

Now Laurence is 6 ½, and while he regularly tackles 80-page chapter books, he is still a “reluctant reader,” Ms. Gignac said.
Sometimes, she said, he tries to go back to picture books.
“He would still read picture books now if we let him, because he doesn’t want to work to read,” she said, adding that she and her husband have kept him reading chapter books.

I read this and it made my heart ache ~ I think as parents we are not only responsible for teaching our children to read but, and maybe more importantly, we need to cultivate a love for reading, especially now that children have so many other entertainment options besides a good book. I know that I am a bit biased on this point (you can ask my girls) but I feel that the written word can take you so many wonderful places and you don't need an outlet!

The article did mention that the cost for a picture book could also be contributing to the decline in sales ~ and I can see that, however then again, authors and illustrators do need to buy groceries and pay rent too!!
So go find a good picture book (or go buy one) and enjoy!! If you feel so inclined please tell me one of your favorites ~ one of my favorites is The Bedspread by Sylvia Fair ~ visually amazing and the story warms the cockles of my heart everytime I read it!!

happy reading and looking!! peace

the insatiable creature

Here are some photos of my latest 'creature', but this guy does want to stop ~ he is insatiable, wanting more and more!!! And I am happy to oblige. In fact I am feeling almost possessed by this creature, just wanting to sit a crochet and crochet. However, I need to take out a loan to pay for all the yarn and material that I keep buying for this guy. And the great thing is it is not only yarn ~ in this creature there is rope, leather, cut black plastic trash bags and, my personal favorite, green gardening twine. The reason I like the twine so much is that when i crochet with it the twine keeps some of its 'body' giving the crocheted strand a life of its own ~ twirling & curling. And depending how i exhibit the piece ~ some of the strands are coming out of the piece ready to grab your leg and pull you in!!!

I started this creature when i heard about a call for submissions. The prospectus read ~

"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 ravenous craving for excess and/ or the consequences of indulging our endless desire for more."

With these words spinning in my brain I thought I wanted to make a creature that represented these ideas. It was an interesting idea because I wanted this creature to be oozing, ugly, sucking up everything is its path. I saw it hanging from the rafters or slithering down the wall. I tried to work on it without an aesthetic agenda per say, yet I noticed how I did edit my greens ~ not any green yarn would do. And I haven't created an 'ugly' piece but the experience has been challenging and i am happy with this creature's presence. And, as I mentioned before - this piece is NOT finished!!!
However the call for submissions due date was last week ~ dilemma yes?? Well no ~ I submitted this piece as a performance piece ~ a work in progress that I would come in a continue to add to during the exhibit. I LOVE this idea!! and hopefully the curator will too.
The pictures that I have posted here are the pictures that I submitted to be judged. I wanted to show the versitiliy of this piece, the aliveness of this piece.

“Love is blind, and greed insatiable” chinese proverb ~ peace

illustration friday ~ beneath

When I saw the topic for Illustration Friday this week the image of worms under (beneath) the ground immediately popped into my mind .. so I sketched it. Now, my girls think the worms are snakes but you get the idea. However, as my weeks have taken on this basic insanity I realized that I wouldn't be painting this illustration any time soon (especially within this week). But then I remembered this illustration that I did awhile back with a snake 'beneath' the jungle ...so voila!!!

happy weekend!!! & peace ~

Portrait Show opening this Saturday ....

This Saturday at LynnArts, Inc is the opening for the Portrait show. My piece, Spirited, is in this show. The show runs from September 16-October 29, Time Warner Gallery , LynnArts, Inc, 25 Exchange Street, Lynn, MA.
Opening Reception:
Saturday, September 25, 2-4pm

I hope to post my pictures from this weekend but until then you can find some pic.s at this link ~ Cutting Edge opening party pictures.


Also a little momento from my weekend in New York ~ a little cup of heaven, made at my favorite NYC cafe in Chelsea ~ Le Grainne Cafe.
not sure why, but dresses kept popping up in my food this trip....

peace

Openings!! Openings!! Openings!!!

Hello from Brooklyn, NY!!! where I am still buzzing from the wonderful opening reception of Cutting Edge at the Textile Art Center. Here are a few photos that a friend sent me from the opening ~ I will have more from my camera once I am back home. But it was a rocking event!!! Beautiful art, tasty beer, yummy food, great music and a wonderful crowd!!! the place was packed ~ and my creatures were right in the middle of it all!!!!

Yesterday was a great day ~ besides the awesome opening and spending the entire day wondering the streets of Manhattan, prowling galleries and yarn shops, I also received the news that my shadow boxes were accepted into the 11th annual Frances N. Roddy Open Competition at the Concord Art Association, Concord, MA. This is really exciting news because I have been trying to get into this show for years and almost didn't submit any work this year because I was tired of the Roddy rejection. But my friend David Lang convinced me to do - 'always good to put the work out there' and voila!!! David's wonderful piece Sound Bytes also got accepted!! All very exciting. And last night I realized that at this moment i have work in 5 shows!! ~ ETA8, Portsmouth, NH; the Roddy, Concord, MA; In-Between, Worester, MA; the Portrait Show, Lynn, MA and Cutting Edge, Brooklyn, NY ~ and for this I am truly grateful!!!

The Roddy show runs from today, September 18-October 17 and the Opening Reception is this Sunday, September 19, 2-4pm. Sadly I wil not be there as I will be en route home from New York!! But if you are in the neighborhood do stop by, Concord always puts on a beautiful show!!
Happy weekend & peace!!!!

In-Between is In-triguing

Saturday evening I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the 2010 Inaugural Regional Art Show, In-Between, at The Gallery at Worcester State University. It is a truly engaging show with a terrific collection of work, representing many, many media. I found myself wanting to spend time absorbing many of the pieces. Upon entering the gallery there are two arresting mixed media pieces by Pamela Cooper, My Space V and My Space II which stopped me in my tracks. Each piece is a 3d paper house which hangs from the ceiling. Each has windows in which you can peer to see drawing of the occupants of the houses ~ giving you a voyeuristic thrill.

Once I pulled myself away from that I was drawn to Leslie Schomp's Wedding Dress. Another suspended piece, this one a white dress adorned with 2 embroidered portraits - one on the front of the dress, the other on the inside of the dress, embroidered with hair. Totally amazing!! Leslie's other submission, Double Self Portrait, earned her an award. I am excited that Leslie also has pieces in the Cutting Edge exhibition, opening this Friday in Brooklyn.

Next I was blown away by Andrea Lilienthal's Swarm (pictured here on the right) This piece consists of pussy willow catkins and wire and it too was suspended from the ceiling (I am noticing a trend here). I found this piece astounding ~ it was attractive and repulsive simultaneously. I was charmed by the pussy willow catkins and disconcerted by the idea of a swarm! Since the opening I checked out her web site and enjoyed looking at her other work, especially her dress series :).

Two of the pieces by Zehra Khan, I needed to examine more closely to really appreciate the wonder of them. She creates these elaborate installations and costumes and then photographs herself and/or friends in these 'scenes' ~ most revolving around a rat. The photos are both eerie and memorizing!! You can see more of the rat on her site. (piece pictured here is Last Cigarette, ink-jet photographic print, 20 x 27", 2010. Installation: acrylic on canvas, paper and self)

There were many wonderful pieces, a truly exhilarating show. If I were to describe everything that excited me I would never see my pillow :). The list of the participating artists is below, I have underlined the prize winners, check out all the work. But even more, if you are in the area, this show is definitely worth the trip!!!

here are the particulars ~

In-Between @ The Gallery at Worcester State University
Ghosh Science and Technology Building, First Floor

486 Chandler Street, Worcester, Mass
Gallery hours:Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday 1-4 pm
On view September 11 – December 2

The artists: Erica Aubin, Susan Bennett, Claire Burke, Mary Calkins, Kathleen Cammarata, Peter Ciccariello, Don Collette, Pamela Cooper, Linda Dagnello, Myles Dunigan, Catherine Evans, Virginia Fitzgerald, Diane Francis, Tom Grady, Gillian Haven, Debra Horan, C.M. Judge, Lynn Johnson, Ena Keo-Thompson, Zehra Khan, David Lang, John LaPrade, Jeannine Lazzaro, Charles Lemay, Andrea Lilienthal, Jane Lincoln, Anni Lorenzini, Jonathan Lucas, Coelynn McCinnich, Denise Manseau, Sarah Meyers, Robert Morgan, Martha Monroe, Ashley Parent, Marcy Pope, Susan Post, Pamela Redick, Alya Romeos, Jacqueline Ross, Donalyn Scholfield, Leslie Schomp, Mari Seder, Wendy Seller, Susan Swinand, Elizabeth Thach, Timothy Winn, Peter Wise, Agnes Wyant
(top photo is Birsh book by Donalyn Scholfield)

peace

what makes a portrait???

this is the question that I found myself asking last week when I submitted some pieces, which could be thought of as unconventional portraits, to the Portrait Show at LynnArts, Inc. Happily I can say the piece, Spirited, was accepted, but this situation got me thinking & in fact explaining myself which I am not one to do usually. here is a section from my email which I sent once a little bird told me that

my submissions created some questioning looks....

"For me both these pieces are self portraits, however not in the traditional sense. Most all of my dresses are self portraits. The dress image represents a vessel containing the spiritual, emotional and physical essence of being female, and even more they correspond to elements or facets of my personality and life experience. I felt that ‘Spirited’ was a more direct interpretation of a self portrait ~ the figure is similar to my own and the words found on the dress are some of my characteristics. The photo might be considered a little more of a stretch, yet I believe that the bud personifies strength, potential, vibrancy & beauty, while the droplet suggests clarity and 'fertile'ness. Also they both embody the essence of an Anais Nin quote which speaks to the current place that I am in my life journey. This quote is “There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”

So it will be fun to see the show and see the juror's interpretation of a portrait.

Here are the specifics for the show ~

LynnArts' Inc ~
Lynn’s Central Square at 25 Exchange Street.

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 25, 2-4 pm
the show runs ~ September 16-October 29
Juror: Joseph Wardwell

peace

illustration friday ~ proverb

Lately I have been bummed because I haven't had the time to do Illustration Friday & I truly missed the challenge and the community. And I was even going to skip this week, even though the topic made my head swim with ideas ~ the topic being 'proverb'. I mean, OMG, the amount of images that were popping into my head almost hurt. But I have so many other things to do ~ girls in school with all their needed supplies, prepping my creatures to go to Brooklyn, redesigning my web site!!!! and applying for grants ~ just to name a few. So I told myself this was a time to make priorities and reign myself in (as I have been advised to do by some people) and I was not going to post anything for IF. But then, while on my many dog walks, I noticed so many busy bees frantically gathering up the last bits of pollen before the first frost ... "pop" ~ 'busy as a bee'. Then I remembered a greeting card illustration I did with bees!!! And how appropriate is this proverb for me right now ~ busy as a bee!!!! That's me ~ buzzzz, buzzz, buzzz!!

happy weekend & peace!!!

Treacherous' coming out party

The Gallery at Worcester State University is proud to host an opening reception of

“In-Between,”our Inaugural Regional Art Show,

Saturday,September 11, from 6-8 p.m.

The gallery is located in the Ghosh Science and Technology Building on the first floor.

All are welcome.
The show will run September 11th - December 2nd.
Gallery hours are:
Tuesday and Thursday, 1-4 pm,
Saturday, 1-4 pm,
and by appointment.
For more information:
Catherine Wilcox-Titus
508-929-8651
www.worcester.edu\gallery

need I say more..... peace

Road trip anyone?!?!?

I am getting my creatures ready to send to Brooklyn for the upcoming group show ~ "Cutting Edge: A Celebration of Fibers" ~ at the newly opening Textile Arts Center . The show is part of the grand opening of the center & it should be fun!! There will be raffle prizes & refreshment provided by local vendors, as well as music by Raya Brass Band. The center is located at 505 Carroll Street (Park Slope/Gowanus area), Brooklyn, New York City.

Here is the list of the other artists which are included in the show ~ I have enjoyed looking at the different web sites ~ there is so much beautiful & interesting work!!! ~ Heidi Field-Alvarez, Sarah Bahr, Emily Barletta, Jamie Bertsch, Andrea Donnelly, Erin Endicott, Mallory Feltz, Virginia Fitzgerald :) , Sierra Furtwangler, Meredith Grimsley, Luke Haynes, Tod Hensley, Jennifer Hunold, Janice Jakielski, Sheila Klein, Julie Kornblum, Lucia LaVilla-Havelin, Clayborn Jackson Lohmann, Alisha McCurdy, Margarita Mileva, John Paul Morabito, Suyeon Na, Erin M. Riley, Rebecca Ringquist, Leslie Schomp, Lou Trigg, Cayce Zavaglia.

The show will run from September 17th to October 11th. There will be an opening gala on Friday the 17th from 8 -11 PM. There is also going to be an artist talk - date to be announced. I am planning to make it to the gala - not sure about the artist talk ... but who knows!!! New York is not that far from Boston .... can you say road trip??? my girls are already planning what they are going to wear to the opening :)

Here's creature perched on a sculpture stand ~ they are just so versatile!!!

peace

opening of ETA 8 @ Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth,NH

Just returned from a wonderful evening in Portsmouth where I attended the awesome opening of Nahcotta Gallery's ETA 8. I was so glad I could go and Hurricane Earl didn't dampen the evening at all. The town was bustling and Nahcotta was too!! Here are some photos I took - the place looked great - with all these little treasures adorning the walls. I met one of the artist, Terry McCue who does these beautiful pastels and was exhibiting some lovely acrylics for the show (sadly I didn't get a picture of her work -but check out her website). Here is a picture of my girls in all their glory ~ and there is a red dot there as well :) ~ hopefully more to come!!!

This picture is of the gallery's window which I LOVE ~ especially with the night sky behind it!!! the window was created by Jennifer Judd-Mcgee and Julia Rothmans for their show at Nahcotta called flora and fauna, last October.

It was a fun evening and I love Portsmouth!! The show runs until September 27th so if you are in the neighborhood you should stop by. And if you are not in the neighborhood ~ you should go... New Hampshire is glorious with the Fall foliage!!! :)

Peace & happy Labor Day!!!

Opening Tonight in Portsmouth, NH ~ be there!!! :)

Tonight is the opening of the Enormous Tiny Art show @ Nahcotta Gallery in Portsmouth, NH. And yours truly is planning to attend ( unless Hurricane Earl has something to say about it). I am so excited to be part of the show!! It is a spectacular idea ~ 'for the months of September and February, Nahcotta is entirely devoted to the incredible creation that is tiny art, each piece measuring ten by ten square inches or smaller and completely original.' As I may have mentioned before they have 14 pieces of mine ~ some 3d and some 2d.

So today I am excited (opening party..), however I am also a little nervous because for this show I am debuting a different style of small dress which i really love. These dresses are part of a series of smaller papier-mâché dresses that I paint like the walls of 'this comes from within'!!! (worlds colliding) I love so much about these dresses ~ i love building the forms and then covering them with papier-mâché ~ the smoothness of the paste. I love how these dresses sit on the surface ~ solid, grounded, sturdy. And finally I love, LOVE to paint these pieces ~ to follow the lines and the thickness created by the paint ~ i just get lost in the process. Additionally I love how I use different papers (maps, letter, spread sheets, horoscopes...) for the final surface of the papier-mâché and how some of the paper shows through the painting. I also love how the strength and meaning behind each piece exposes itself as I paint ~ as I work a 'theme' appears on the dress.

So we will see how these pieces are received!!! But no matter what the opening should be awesome and I hope to see you all there!!!
peace!

testing out my 'photographic' legs

Well the leaves are changing and the kids have started school so that means that Fall is just around the corner. And with Fall comes the Natick Artists Open Studios!!! This year the open studios will be running Saturday & Sunday Oct. 16 & 17 ~ 12-5pm. I mention this now (Sept. 2nd) because today I dropped off my photo, Droplet, to be part of the NAOS "WATER" group show which will be at the Morse Institute Library. This is one of the many events that runs in conjunction with the Open Studios. Over 48 artists who are participating in open studios this year are exhibiting one or more of their pieces that have a water theme. It is a great survey of some of the talent that you will find at the open studios this year.

After much deliberating I decided to submit a photograph ~ something a little different for me. I have been taking many photographs lately. I have joined a very casual group which tries to post a photo-a-day ... no assignments, no pressure, just a creative activity. Now, my participation ebbs and flows but I LOVE the outlet and find it SO inspiring. It has been a wonderful exercise to get me to see more ~ to fine tune my artistic eye. Also, I have realized how much I love taking photographs!! But I feel very funny thinking of myself as a photographer ~ feel like i haven't taken the appropiate classes or something. But the more photos I take, the more I like the way the pictures look like ~ and this is a particular favorite of mine. I really enjoy taking pictures, especially after the rain ~ I am captivated by the remaining drops. So I felt this was a good opportunity to try out my photographic legs a bit. And it was so wonderful to see one of my photographs big and in a frame!!! Which does give it a bit of a more professional look.

I am also planning to submit this photo to a The Portrait Show. It reminds me of the Anaïs Nin quote which I feel so connected with lately ~
"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."
Secondly, a friend saw this photo as a self portrait ~ 'mirroring my attention, sensitivity and awareness of the small miracles that surround me' ~ love that thought!! So we will see if the juror sees it as a portrait...

The NAOS Water Show at the Morse Institute Library starts today and runs thru Friday October 29th.

Peace

close the door, I'm dressing!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that i am currently doing work on my web site ~ revamping, redesigning and moving it, so it is under construction and will not be available for awhile.

i plan for this to be a temporary state ~ very short!! but in case you were looking ... my web site is in disposed ;) ~ no peeking!!!

Watch out world, here come my creatures!!!

I just got an email tonight, that said ~

"I am delighted to inform you that your piece : creatures ~ strength, wisdom and trust has been chosen for inclusion in the exhibition, Cutting Edge: A Celebration of Fibers at the Textile Arts Center in Brooklyn, NY."

Yahoo! on so many levels!!!

First - it is in Brooklyn, NY!!! BROOKLYN, NEW YORK!!!! my old stomping ground!!

Second - the show sounds really interesting, the space looks awesome and I love the work and the blog of the woman who curated the show ~ Joetta Maue. Check out her blog as she talks a little about the selection process.

Third - this was the public debut of my creatures, out in the big world, and they got into the show!!!!

Submitting these pieces was part of that crazy week that i blogged about awhile back, and these babies were causing me some heartache. When I heard about the call I knew that I really wanted to submit at least one of my creatures ~ but i just wasn't sure how to exhibit them!! I love them!! I love making them, the organic process, adding the different yarns, beads, whatever. They are very tactile and have a wonderfully comforting weight. When people see them in my studio they immediately gravitate to them & need to hold them and play with them. And most everyone (believe it or not) puts them on their head, making them a hat. Here my daughter is not only modeling a creature as a hat, the blue creature is her baby ~

Madonna and child!

They are also very suggested of living things ~ cells, sea creatures, molecules. The largest white creature I started when I had my hand surgery. I saw it as a healing spirit, an extra large and extra strong white blood cell. In fact, all these white creatures have a charm crocheted into each one, hence the names ~ strength, wisdom and trust.

But how to show them?!?! To leave the experience of them opening to the many possible interpretations of them yet also highlight their beauty, construction and materials. I experimented with hanging them on the wall, draping them over sculpture stands, perching them on fabric structures until I decided to suspend them from the ceiling!! I like that they are at eye level so that you can see their uniqueness. Also, at this level, I hope the veiwer may be able to engage with them. Someday I would love to create an environment/installation with many, many of these creatures hanging, so that the veiwer could wander & weave their way through, maybe getting lost for a minute or two. But for now these babies are going to Brooklyn!!

which is awesome!!!

peace

The girls are on the move again....

This weekend my family & I delivered some of my girls to the Nahcotta Gallery in Portsmouth, NH for their Enormous Tiny Art show 8. Fourteen dresses joined the many mini masterpieces gathering at this great gallery!! It was wonderful to wander around and look at all the work. We all became so enchanted by a painting by Melissa Moss that we bought it. You see, I believe in a kind of support your fellow artists karma ~ if financially possible, I like to buy some art before a show that i am in. So now we own a charming painting!!

The gallery has set up a super website for the show ~ displaying each artist's work on their own page. Click here to see my page. The collection that I gave them consists of 6 of my 3d dress on hangers, 6 of my small dresses on canvases (shown in this post) & 2 3d papier~mache sculptural dresses which are making their debut (more about these in another post) . I really enjoyed thinking in this small scale. I have always loved creating these smaller dresses ~ it is a format in which I can make a statement about an idea a little quicker then with the full scale dresses &/or I can be a bit clever ~ tongue & cheek-ish, if you will.

The dresses shown in this post are Strength (upper left) Black & blue (lower left), Home Improvement (upper right) and Number please (lower right). They are all on a 4 x 6in canvas.

The show will run from September 1 - October 3 with the opening on Friday, September 3rd, 5-8pm. I am hoping to go - I do love Portsmouth!!

peace!