Saturday, February 18, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Daily art for 2012 -- progress report 1
My daily art project for this year is hand stitching. I work on four-inch squares of Kona cotton (because I have boxes and boxes and boxes of the stuff in many different colors) and the rule is to do some kind of stitching. So far I've always used embroidery floss, but that wasn't specified in my rules so perhaps I'll experiment with other threads as the year goes on. Or not.
Now that I'm halfway through the second month, I thought it might be time to let you know how things are going.
Some days I have made pictures relating to something I did, saw or learned that day. For instance, on January 1 we were cruising at Santarem, Brazil, several hundred miles up the Amazon. At Santarem (as at many other places along the Amazon) there's a phenomenon called meeting of the waters, where the blue Tapajós flows into the muddy brown Amazon. The two colors of water don't blend for several miles, so you can see a distinct line down the center of the river.
Here it is in embroidery.
Another day on our cruise we heard a lecture on the mating habits of birds and how the males put on various shows of plumage, song or behavior to prove their superiority as potential mates and fathers. Our lecturer told how male ospreys will catch fish, hold them under their bodies in aerodynamic position, and fly around in front of the females who sit in trees and watch the show.
Here's the square from my friend's birthday.
I'm finding these picture embroideries challenging, since I can't draw. But it's also kind of freeing to work without a cartoon, just making marks directly on the fabric (no guidelines allowed). And I've given myself permission to look crude and primitive.
I'll write later on some of the non-pictorial squares I've made so far.
Now that I'm halfway through the second month, I thought it might be time to let you know how things are going.
Some days I have made pictures relating to something I did, saw or learned that day. For instance, on January 1 we were cruising at Santarem, Brazil, several hundred miles up the Amazon. At Santarem (as at many other places along the Amazon) there's a phenomenon called meeting of the waters, where the blue Tapajós flows into the muddy brown Amazon. The two colors of water don't blend for several miles, so you can see a distinct line down the center of the river.
I'll write later on some of the non-pictorial squares I've made so far.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Restricted entry
I checked over my to-do list Saturday morning and realized that it was the last day to enter a fiber art show that had been vaguely on my radar screen. What the heck -- as Google says, I'm feeling lucky. All entries had to be submitted online, a clever ploy for show organizers who want to cater to procrastinators like me.
When I do electronic entries I like to review the rules and entry forms and collect all the information and images I need into a single folder before I go online. The rules page talked about size and age restrictions, but the details of how to configure the entry said this:
Entries are submitted electronically through this website. To get started, create a free account. Once your account is created and you log in, click the "submit a photo" link on the left navigation. Credit card payment only. Deadline for online entries is midnight on February 11.
So I gathered the dimensions, year and price, which surely they would need. I gathered images of the quilts, hoping they would turn out to be the proper pixel size and properly named. I gathered artist statements in case they wanted them. I got my credit card.
Then I began to create my free account. Typed in my name, email address, and gave them a password. With which the machine was not satisfied. It gave me a message:
password strength: low
The password does not include enough variation to be secure. Try:
• Adding both upper and lowercase letters.
• Adding numbers.
• Adding punctuation.
How nice that they want to protect me from hackers. Now that I thought about it, I realized there are probably lots of people out there just waiting to break in, delete the photos I posted and substitute rotten photos of awful quilts, and I'd never get into the show. So I made the password longer, adding some numbers. Still not good enough, although now the password strength had made it to medium. I added capital letters but it still wasn't enough. Why didn't they say at the beginning I had to do all three things! Finally, with a period, the password got to high -- but wait!!
The user name and email I submitted were already taken!!
I guess that means the computer's memory goes back a year to when I entered the same competition. So I clicked on the "forgot your password?" button. Some time later the rescue email had not yet arrived so I went to eat lunch.
After lunch the email was there and I logged in. Changed my password to one that's Chinese-hacker-proof, including capital letters, numbers AND punctuation. Which I should probably write down and put in a safe place in case I try to enter this show next year.
Clicked the "submit a photo" link. Typed in the title of the piece. The next box wanted "description" so I typed in "commercial cottons; machine pieced and quilted." Began to upload my first image. The image upload failed but worked the second time around. While I was watching the little white circle of death go round and round, I realized that they hadn't asked me for the dimensions and year, so I went back and typed those into the "description" box. Apparently didn't need the price or the artist statement.
It didn't take long to complete the forms, and once I got past the uploads, the part with the credit card went quite smoothly. (Funny how they can develop user-friendly ways to separate you from your money, but not so much for collecting your information.
It did occur to me along the way that maybe I didn't want to enter this show after all, but I know and respect the juror and decided to struggle on. I have to wonder whether the people who organize shows ever try to navigate their own entry systems.
When I served for several years as an intimate advisor to a juried quilt show, I would always comment that there are an awful lot of quilt shows out there competing for people's entries, and we should do everything possible to make our show more attractive than the others. We could never offer the prestige of Quilt National, or afford to print a hardcover catalog, or give $10,000 for first prize. But we could offer fast turnaround, so a quilt wasn't held in limbo for months, and we could offer an easy entry process. For instance, why did everybody have to send in artist statements, which the jurors didn't read, when we could simply ask those accepted to provide later?
We hadn't come up with online entry at that time, so I didn't offer any suggestions along those lines. But if anybody asked my opinion today I would suggest that difficult, confusing and bug-ridden entry systems are a good way to shoot your show in the foot.
When I do electronic entries I like to review the rules and entry forms and collect all the information and images I need into a single folder before I go online. The rules page talked about size and age restrictions, but the details of how to configure the entry said this:
Entries are submitted electronically through this website. To get started, create a free account. Once your account is created and you log in, click the "submit a photo" link on the left navigation. Credit card payment only. Deadline for online entries is midnight on February 11.
So I gathered the dimensions, year and price, which surely they would need. I gathered images of the quilts, hoping they would turn out to be the proper pixel size and properly named. I gathered artist statements in case they wanted them. I got my credit card.
Then I began to create my free account. Typed in my name, email address, and gave them a password. With which the machine was not satisfied. It gave me a message:
password strength: low
The password does not include enough variation to be secure. Try:
• Adding both upper and lowercase letters.
• Adding numbers.
• Adding punctuation.
How nice that they want to protect me from hackers. Now that I thought about it, I realized there are probably lots of people out there just waiting to break in, delete the photos I posted and substitute rotten photos of awful quilts, and I'd never get into the show. So I made the password longer, adding some numbers. Still not good enough, although now the password strength had made it to medium. I added capital letters but it still wasn't enough. Why didn't they say at the beginning I had to do all three things! Finally, with a period, the password got to high -- but wait!!
The user name and email I submitted were already taken!!
I guess that means the computer's memory goes back a year to when I entered the same competition. So I clicked on the "forgot your password?" button. Some time later the rescue email had not yet arrived so I went to eat lunch.
After lunch the email was there and I logged in. Changed my password to one that's Chinese-hacker-proof, including capital letters, numbers AND punctuation. Which I should probably write down and put in a safe place in case I try to enter this show next year.
Clicked the "submit a photo" link. Typed in the title of the piece. The next box wanted "description" so I typed in "commercial cottons; machine pieced and quilted." Began to upload my first image. The image upload failed but worked the second time around. While I was watching the little white circle of death go round and round, I realized that they hadn't asked me for the dimensions and year, so I went back and typed those into the "description" box. Apparently didn't need the price or the artist statement.
It didn't take long to complete the forms, and once I got past the uploads, the part with the credit card went quite smoothly. (Funny how they can develop user-friendly ways to separate you from your money, but not so much for collecting your information.
It did occur to me along the way that maybe I didn't want to enter this show after all, but I know and respect the juror and decided to struggle on. I have to wonder whether the people who organize shows ever try to navigate their own entry systems.
When I served for several years as an intimate advisor to a juried quilt show, I would always comment that there are an awful lot of quilt shows out there competing for people's entries, and we should do everything possible to make our show more attractive than the others. We could never offer the prestige of Quilt National, or afford to print a hardcover catalog, or give $10,000 for first prize. But we could offer fast turnaround, so a quilt wasn't held in limbo for months, and we could offer an easy entry process. For instance, why did everybody have to send in artist statements, which the jurors didn't read, when we could simply ask those accepted to provide later?
We hadn't come up with online entry at that time, so I didn't offer any suggestions along those lines. But if anybody asked my opinion today I would suggest that difficult, confusing and bug-ridden entry systems are a good way to shoot your show in the foot.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
My new toy
As any machine sewist knows, you can't go anywhere without your seam ripper. But since said tool has a very sharp point (if yours doesn't any more, throw it out and buy a new one) it's a little tricky to transport it to workshops or other venues. My typical solution was to get an old wine cork and jam it on the sharp point before I put the ripper in my bag.
That works fine, and has the additional benefit of being no-cost. (If you need a cork, let me know and I'll be happy to send you three dozen or so.)
But when I taught a workshop last year, I was totally thrilled to be given a present: a new and improved seam ripper that protects itself (and you) when you're not using it.
Here's the ripper in defense mode:
And here it is open for business:
You'll notice how tiny this little baby is, which can be a problem when it hides under your fabric. But who could resist this adorable toy? And it has a skinny point and sharp blade, extremely helpful when you're doing fine piecing.
That works fine, and has the additional benefit of being no-cost. (If you need a cork, let me know and I'll be happy to send you three dozen or so.)
But when I taught a workshop last year, I was totally thrilled to be given a present: a new and improved seam ripper that protects itself (and you) when you're not using it.
Here's the ripper in defense mode:
Monday, February 13, 2012
Quilter in transition
I recently had the pleasure of attending the opening reception and gallery talk for a new show of work by Terry Jarrard-Dimond, at the Arts Center in Greenwood SC. The seven quilts on display show her transition from one striking, highly individualistic style to another; it's neat to be able to trace this evolution in style.
Her "old style" quilts are distinguished by precision piecing of her hand-dyed fabrics. They depict shapes that Terry has always described as "entities" in some kind of relationships that we can only guess at. The quilts are somewhere between large and very large.
Barn Dance: Spring Swing, 2008
I've seen this quilt in the past and have always been intrigued by the stark white panel at the left, balancing and giving gravitas to the saturated colors and strong shapes in the rest of the composition.
Plus Blue, 2009
The star of the show, visible before you even walk in the front door of the gallery, is Plus Blue, the largest piece on display. Terry made this at the same time she was working on three quilts for the Color Improvisations exhibit, now touring in Europe, and I would describe these four pieces as the culmination of her "old style" of pieced quilts. Like those three pieces, this one is huge, bright and commanding with its strong shapes and repeating motifs. My photo doesn't do justice to the brilliant hand-dyed fabrics.
After this tremendously productive year, Terry decided it was time for a change and started experimenting with more assertive surface design. She had always dyed her own fabrics, but in solid-ish colors with only a bit of mottling. Now she started applying the dye or more deliberately, with paintbrushes or monoprints, and also used discharge.
She said in her gallery talk that in her older quilts, color came first. By contrast, in her newer work, "the color is rich, the color is beautiful, but the color is secondary to texture and composition."
Nude in the Dark, 2010
Richter Inspirations 1, 2010
There's a lot going on in this small piece, reminiscent of the work of German painter Gerhard Richter. Some pieces have been appliqued with zigzag stitch. The panel on the left has particularly heavy threadwork in different colors.
Richter Inspirations, detail
Here's her most recent piece:
Personal Space, 2012
Interestingly, the bold, mysterious shapes from Terry's older quilts have returned in this piece, appliqued over the top of the painted and printed stripes.
Long-time readers of Terry's blog saw a lot of her surface design experiments as she started to break away from her old style. Now the fabrics, executed in much larger scale, have started to appear in her quilts.
I wish we could have seen more of these new pieces in the show, but Terry had to share the space with the equally striking work of two other artists, Tom Dimond and Syd Cross. The show continues through February 25.
Her "old style" quilts are distinguished by precision piecing of her hand-dyed fabrics. They depict shapes that Terry has always described as "entities" in some kind of relationships that we can only guess at. The quilts are somewhere between large and very large.
I've seen this quilt in the past and have always been intrigued by the stark white panel at the left, balancing and giving gravitas to the saturated colors and strong shapes in the rest of the composition.
The star of the show, visible before you even walk in the front door of the gallery, is Plus Blue, the largest piece on display. Terry made this at the same time she was working on three quilts for the Color Improvisations exhibit, now touring in Europe, and I would describe these four pieces as the culmination of her "old style" of pieced quilts. Like those three pieces, this one is huge, bright and commanding with its strong shapes and repeating motifs. My photo doesn't do justice to the brilliant hand-dyed fabrics.
She said in her gallery talk that in her older quilts, color came first. By contrast, in her newer work, "the color is rich, the color is beautiful, but the color is secondary to texture and composition."
There's a lot going on in this small piece, reminiscent of the work of German painter Gerhard Richter. Some pieces have been appliqued with zigzag stitch. The panel on the left has particularly heavy threadwork in different colors.
Here's her most recent piece:
Interestingly, the bold, mysterious shapes from Terry's older quilts have returned in this piece, appliqued over the top of the painted and printed stripes.
Long-time readers of Terry's blog saw a lot of her surface design experiments as she started to break away from her old style. Now the fabrics, executed in much larger scale, have started to appear in her quilts.
I wish we could have seen more of these new pieces in the show, but Terry had to share the space with the equally striking work of two other artists, Tom Dimond and Syd Cross. The show continues through February 25.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Photo suite 7 -- tropical food
Over the holidays we took a cruise up the Amazon as far as Manaus, which was quite the metropolis at the turn of the last century when the Amazon was the world's only source of rubber and the growing auto industry was gobbling up more and more of it. The opera house is a replica of La Scala in Milan; Gustave Eiffel designed the marketplace. Tres elegant!
Today the rubber trade has dwindled, since a British entrepreneur/thief smuggled out rubber seeds a century ago and established plantations in Malaya. Manaus is still bustling but its almost two million people make much of their money assembling electronic devices.
One thing hasn't changed: people need their food. Eiffel's little market building is under renovation and the vendors are in vast temporary quarters across the street. Here are some of the sights (more market photos here and here on my food blog).
Today the rubber trade has dwindled, since a British entrepreneur/thief smuggled out rubber seeds a century ago and established plantations in Malaya. Manaus is still bustling but its almost two million people make much of their money assembling electronic devices.
One thing hasn't changed: people need their food. Eiffel's little market building is under renovation and the vendors are in vast temporary quarters across the street. Here are some of the sights (more market photos here and here on my food blog).
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