Installing Sculpture

I installed my fiber sculpture, The Ocean's Whisper to Me at the GoggleWorks in Reading, Pa. I want to thank Lauralynn for her help and for allowing me to pick the very best spot in the gallery to hang my large piece. I was concerned that it would only look good from the front since that's how I had worked on it in my studio so I chose a spot in front of a wall.

I worked out a new hanging system with curtain rods and felted magnets with fishing line sewn to them. After I arranged and rearranged it in my studio I numbered and color coded the magnets and their placement on the rods. I'm so glad I did all this because I wasn't allowed to get up on a ladder in the gallery. I worked with a very patient gallery helper on the ladder. Handing each numbered magnet to him, he placed it to the corresponding number on the rod. It went up easily and quickly.

Lauralynn loved it and said let's see how it looks without the wall behind it. The walls in the gallery are moveable and viola. We liked it from every angle. This was an unexpected bonus so I took some pictures right before my camera battery went dead.

The opening is on Friday, May 4, 5:30 - 7:30. I can't wait to see the rest of the show. The show runs through June 3rd.

Duets Dilemma

I've been trying to choose a duet for my application for the Delaware Center for Contemporary Arts, Annual Members' Juried Exhibition: Duets

The call for entry reads:
Artists are invited to submit paired works of art in order to create duets. The two works by each artist may be in any media. One work may be a video, and the other a painting—or a photo and an etching—or both may be sculptures, or textiles, or drawings, or whatever else is appropriate. The two works may be serial (think Monet’s haystacks) or completely unrelated. Here, the artist acts as a curator of his or her own work. By pairing works in duets, the artist has the opportunity to call greater attention to an aspect of his or her practice, or an element of the work, such as color, scale, subject, medium, and so on. The exhibition that will result from the submissions will be an exhibition of duets. Some works may harmonize, others may offer a radical or unexpected juxtaposition. In all instances, the hope is that the presentation of works in pairs by individual artists will offer the viewer a focused and dynamic engagement with the work. Please do not title the duet. Each work should have its own title and the viewer will make the connection between the two works visually.

I have a lot of options but found out I can only submit one. Here's a few I'm considering.

Duet #1

Bottom of the Ocean, oil on canvas, 48 x 46 inches, and Bubbles, 12 x 12 x 5 inches, silk, dye and nylon thread

Duet #2

Golden, Oil on canvas, 48 x 46 inches, and Sickening, Ink on Paper, 5 x 5 inches

Duet #3

Surf, Encaustic on Board, 9 x 12 inches, and Froth, Silk and dye, 7 x 12 inches

Duet #4

Feeling Blue, Ink on paper, 7 x 11 inches, and Go With the Flow, Silk, dye, wool and nylon thread, 15 x 17 inches

Duet #5.

Ocean View, Silk, wool, dye and nylon thread, 5 x 7 inches and Ocean, Ink on paper, 7 x 11 inches

These are only some of my choices, so you can see my dilemma. How am I suppose to chose just one? Comments welcome.

In the Studio

I've been working on new wool and silk nuno felted bracelets. Here's the process step by step.

Hand dyed silk ironed to heat set and placed on top of bubble wrap.

Pulling tufts of wool and placing it in designs on the silk

I place wool close to the edges if I want the edges finished or place the wool in from the edges if I want ruffled edges.

I use a hand soap that smells like vanilla, mixed with room temperature water. Not hot because then the wool felts to it's self before it has a chance to work it's way through the silk.

After they bracelets are soaked lay bubble wrap over the top and roll it up over a swim noodle, rolling pin or rolled up bubble wrap.

Roll it up in a towel to soak up the water and roll it back and forth for about 5 minutes

At this stage I unroll it and trim off wool that is coming over the edges

If you don't want to trim just push it back onto the silk

Roll it back up and roll it back and forth some more then unroll it and check to see if when tugged on it feel attached. You can also check the back to see if the wool fibers have worked there way through the silk.
If not you can run your fingers back and forth over the back with it face down on the bubble wrap.

Okay now that the wool is laminated to the silk you rinse it in warm water and then throw it down hard on the table or in the sink 200 times at least. I break it up by rinsing it with warm or hot water a few times thinking this probably aids in the wool's shrinking process.

When the silk starts to ripple and get wrinkly then throw it on the table some more. You heard me, it always shrinks a little bit more with the last 50 times it's thrown down hard. This is called fulling.

Here are my bracelets after a final rinse, let them dry then they can be trimmed and snaps or other closures sewn on for finishing them.

New photographs of finished bracelets.

I listed the black and white one in my etsy shop last night and plan to list more soon and send the images to a gallery in Philadelphia.

Silk Sculpture Progress

I've been working on a silk sculpture for my June show in the Elizabeth Denison Hatch Gallery at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts in Wilmington, DE. It's coming along. I'm planning to show this with a new large diptych oil painting.

I thought I'd show you what goes into making this piece. I start with silk organza and nuno felt it with off white wool. Here I'm laying out the wool.

Here I'm drizzling warm soaping water over it until it's soaked.

It's a little hard to see white on white so I also photographed the same process with turquoise wool.

Next I cover it with another layer of bubble wrap and roll it up.

I wrap it in a towel and roll it back and forth.

Then I unroll it and rub my hands over the back of the silk further working the wool fibers through the silk. In this part of the process I can actually see the wool fibers coming through to the back of the silk.

After that comes the fun part, I rinse the soap out and throw it on the table with force at least 200 times. It's called felling and it shrinks and compacts the wool which in turn makes the silk crinkle.

It's time to dye it in a puddle of dye and let it dry untouched for a few days. Here it is dry.

I have to steam it before I cut out the pieces.

Here's a stack of the pieces ready to be sewn together.

I've sewn them together, put wire in the seams and hung them up in my studio.

I'm working on color and composition issues but in 3 dimensions, instead of 2 which is a whole different ballgame. I'm trying to find the balance between too much, and too little. Then, there's the whole logistical issue of how to hang it.

Here I played around with adding the bubble silk to it. I'm going to make some pieces with smaller bubbles in a lighter color. I have a lot of work left to do! If you're in the Wilmington area I'll have my studio open this Friday from 5-9 pm at the DCCA.

Inspiring Artist

I stumbled across this artist when I searched for silk organza sculpture, Lisa Kellner.

Tunnel Vision

Silk organza, thread, pigment, monofilament. Installed at the UICA, Dec 2009. 73"H x 30"W

Almost Perfect

silk, pigment, thread, surgical pins 42” x 31” x 6”

Slab

Silk, pigment, thread, monofilament 58” x 36” x 43”

These are so beautiful and really inspire me to continue pursuing my own silk sculpture installation ideas.

Here's a couple shots of a wave sculpture prototype, I've been working on in my studio. This is nuno felted and dyed silk organza, wire and plastic boning hung with filament.