Everything is a learning experience....

Well i finally got to see pictures from the show, "From the Center : NOW!" that is in Chicago, IL. The show is running for a few more days (January 22 - February 25, 2009) at the Woman Made Gallery. If you follow the gallery's link it will take you to the images of the show taken by Cara Boldarini. It looks like a beautiful show - I am so sorry that i could not see it in person however even if it was closer i don't know if i could have made it!!! This 'recovery' thing is harder than i ever thought!!!

I was happy to see Black Widow made the trip safely and that she looks good, I am only sad that they hung her from the rod that i used to secure her during her shipping. I had asked her to be hung and they did do that ~ there was just some miscommunication about how to hang her.... just a lesson for the future. This was the first time that i sent a piece out on her own and I now know that i need to be really specific with my instructions when I am not installing the piece myself. This is all a learning experience!!! And possibly the people seeing it for the first time are not bothered by the rod (although I think there is a price sticker on one end ~ alas.....)

But I am honored to have been included in this beautiful show. And it has given me some solace that one of my dress is out there doing her thing as I convalesce in bed!!! I am not a good patient!!! and I have gotten a cold to BOOT!!!! anyway as i lay in bed .... I am working on a giant white crocheted creature - or as i see it a giant white blood cell - which is going to conquer all these germs & get them out of my system!!! And crocheting is good therapy for my hand so things are good!!!

If you are in the Chicago area - try & stop by I would love to know what the show is like in person!!! take care & peace to all!!!

the dress is in the mail!!!

Well Black Widow has officially made it safely to the From Center show @ the Woman Made Gallery in Chicago,IL ~ yeah team!!! The process was quite a learning experience - both in the physical sense ~ getting a dress out of state safely and economically and on a personal level.

I was a bit 'anxious' about sending a dress out on her own ~ putting her in the hands of some mail personal (and I have not had the best 'shipping karma' in the past.) So there were some concerns but on the whole I was totally pumped about this ~ one of my dresses in a national WCA show which will be up during the WCA conference!!! Quite an opportunity!! So I was puzzled when i entered my studio on Monday and I could not focus on the tasks at hand ... honestly I wanted to FLEE!!! This was confusing - the 'task' was straight forward ~ primp, pack and ship. However I was only able to get myself to 'primp' her. I came home discouraged - the piece needed to be in Chicago by Friday - the clock was ticking.

So as the evening wound down and I was checking out different carriers' quotes, i decided to check out the blog site of an author that I had just rediscovered, Oriah Mountain Dreamer. She is a author and poet who wrote the inspiration poem, The Invitation , which lead to a series of books. I had stumbled upon her book, The Dance, soon after starting the Dress Project and her message resonated so clearly with me. But, as happens to the things that are so healthy for you, I sort of forgot about Oriah's writings until this past weekend. I again stumbled upon one of her books , What we Ache For, Creativity and the Unfolding of Your Soul. I learned not only about more of her books but also about her website and blog. On Monday night I looked up her blog, the Green Bough ~ and the post i found was Resisting What We Want ~ the theme could not have been more appropriate. Here is an excerpt which really hit home.... "But sometimes, we just need to acknowledge the resistance and keep walking into the thing that calls our name. Resistance is the ego sensing danger. Engaging in creative work involves taking new risks, entering uncharted territory that may change us in unpredictable ways."... Reading her post gave me a sense of ease. I went to bed knowing that I would be able to get Black Widow to Chicago and I did. I woke Tues morning with a new resolve and sense of calm. I knew what I needed to do and everything just fell into place. Finding that blog entry not only calmed my mind it also made me realize that many creative people go through this resistances and that it is a learning experience and not a fault or failure. So thank you Oriah.

Now for the engineering....

So I woke Tuesday AM knowing that I needed a short garment box - compact, sturdy & set up to hang garments - like a dress.

Now instead of using the metal rod that came with the box I used a lighter rod made out of wood. I wrapped this rod with bubble wrap and securely bound the dress to the rod.

Then I took all of the skirt and put it into a large plastic bag which I then hung to the rod. This way nothing would be resting on the skirt - causing it to wrinkle.

Then I settled the dress into the box, sewing the rod onto the sides of the box. The dress was just suspended in the box.

Once secured in the box I wrapped the dress within an inch of its life with bubble wrap!!

There was lots of room around the dress so I made my own large packing bubbles by blowing up gallon Ziploc bags and sealing them.

Once the box was really stuffed and the dress was NOT moving (I even turned the box upside down) and taped the box up and took it to the UPS center. And not only did Black Widow get safely and soundly to Chicago - it got there on Thursday!!! :)

the end

So that is the story of the packing of Black Widow. hope u liked it & peace

Black Widow is heading for the windy city

Black Widow got accepted into the national Women's Caucus for Art's exhibition 'From the Center' to be shown at Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL. I am so excited ~ besides getting into this nationally juried show, the juror was Lucy Lippard!! Lucy Lippard is an internationally known writer, activist, and curator from the United States and she was an early champion of feminist art, and among the first writers to books on contemporary art. I have read many of her writings and I am so honored that she selected one of my pieces!!! Black Widow was one of only 45 pieces selected to be shown at Woman Made Gallery from over the 450 pieces submitted; there will be an addition 30 pieces to be featured in the online gallery and in the catalog. If you go to the online gallery you can read Lucy Lippard's entire juror's statement ~ but I wanted to highlight part of her statement here because it addresses DRESSES ......

"Another thread, so to speak, was the number of pieces on clothing, specifically dresses. How many of us wear dresses on a regular basis? Not me, for sure. Yet these dresses seem to represent fantasies. They are for little girls and sexy sirens, representing our childhoods (happy and unhappy) and the dreams of glamour and success that remain intertwined in the female image, often seen through a lens of irony or disillusion." ~Lucy Lippard

I am honored that one of my dresses will be represented in this exhibit! Now all I need to do i figure out how to ship Black Widow to Chicago (with no packing peanuts)....any suggestions????

peace