What is it with Clementine rinds??

Clementine rinds just seem to inspire & inspire & inspire me,

who knew?!

peace

a bit o' buz.

First.... for those inquiring minds....

here is the Clementine dress after about a week -

definitely drying out, but not as hard as i was hoping.

Second ... A rejection....

Sadly my Glass Slipper didnot make the cut for the shoe show at the Fuller Craft Museum. I know this is all part of the job of artist, and one should not take a rejection to heart because you have no idea what the curator was looking for - however this one stung.

Third ....But as they say ~ you got to get back on the horse, so....

I just put a grant application in the mail today(with these supporting images). A fellow artist had mentioned how putting together the material for a grant can be very soul searching which i discovered this week. I am new to this grant stuff but with the direction that my work is going it is definitely time to apply for grants. I found it interesting and rewarding to journey back to the beginning of the dress project and to how the whole thing started. below is the essay that i created to describe the Dress Project ~ thought it was an interesting read.

Wish me luck & peace....

The Dress Project is a body of work which began about two years ago. It centers around the dress form. It started at a time when I was in a creative limbo. I had just had a successful gallery of paintings however I felt as if my work was lacking. I wanted to make my work more personal. It was then that I stumbled upon the dress form. The first dress I made was out of chewed gum – it was about 1 inch big. The next dresses were made on a beach. These dresses were large, two dimensional and made out of materials from the beach. They were ephemeral ~ created on the beach then taken away by the high tide. In creating these beach dresses I realized that I had found that deeper connection to my art. I discovered the truth in the idea that an artist is a conduit to a larger vision/voice. The dresses are a vehicle with which to express my personal thoughts, opinions and feelings.

In creating and recreating the image of the ‘dress’ I have opened a floodgate of ideas and emotions for me as well as the audience. The Dress Project has inspired and excited many who have seen it; there is an intuitive sense of kinship with the work, an innate understanding of the deeper meanings. Besides dealing with my experiences as a woman, and women’s experiences in general - it has tapped into a universal emotion from the audience. On a personal level the dresses have been a lifeline ~ helping me discover as a woman who through upbringing, education, socialization and organized religion had been so buried, had been quieted. On a larger scale the Dress Project speaks to many people, male and female, old and young. The dresses spark conversations, incite stories and generate excitement. However, the reaction that I see the most is that the Dress Project inspires.

P.S. I saw Santa Claus in the post office today when i was mailing off the grant application!!!

I swear - white hair, white beard, a jolly old soul ~ he even 'ho,ho,ho'ed to me.

So ~ yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!!!
I am taking this as a good omen!!!

clementine ~day 1

After one day the dress is coming along wonderfully!!!

peace!

Oh my darling Clementine ~

This is something that I have wanted to do FOREVER – sew orange rinds!! Today I took the Clementine rinds from my girls' lunch and brought them to the studio and VOILA!!! I patched the different pieces together adding buttons on the straps using needle & thread. Now I have placed it in the window so that the rinds will dry – I am very curious to see how it will dry out. As I was sewing the pieces were starting to dry already. I have dried rinds in my studio before and they get very tough so if the dress survives it could be very awe-inspiring and strong. I will try to document the process. Peace ~