More Fiber

I went back to the Crane Arts Building to revisit the show Outside/Inside the Box last week with some friends. This time I remembered my camera and I took pictures of a lot of my favorite pieces.

Andrea Noeske-Porada,
Inside is Outside,
100% Merino wool fibers
9.06in x 7.87in x 15.75in

Emily DuBois,
Naga (1-5),
Polynesian tapa (bark cloth), sumi, acrylic medium, bamboo rods
70in x 30in x 1in

Arlé Sklar-Weinstein
Ice River Vine Bound,
Free floating organza panels, wood dowels, monofiliment thread stitching
36in x 72in x 3.5in

Magali Rizzo,So bitter were my feelings,
Linen cloth, cotton thread
53in x 34in

Tamryn McDermott,
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow,
Silk organza, matt medium, fabric dye, aluminum rings
174in x 96in x 96in

Ann Wessmann,
Words Unspoken Series: 37,499 days - June 9, 1932 - December 31, 1941,
Text on vellum on foam board
96in x 96in x 4in

April Dauscha,
Exposed: An Armory of Physical Longings,
Muslin, boning, grommets, ribbon & dress form
72in x 18in x 18in (Close up views)

Brigitte Amarger,
Humanoids,
Bones, organs, prostheses X rays, scanners and magnetic resonance imagery, transparent nylon and color cotton threads
84in x 25in x 0.039in

Picture taken at bahdeebahdu, Warren Muller, lighting sculpture

Kim Kamens, Ken, 5 ft. x 7 ft. thread, nails and wood

FiberPhiladelphia

FiberPhiladelphia 2012 is an international biennial and regional festival that celebrates textile and fiber arts. The opening was on Saturday and I was kicking myself that I didn't bring my camera. The show is outstanding. I was unsuccessful in grabbing photos from the website so you'll have to follow the link and see for yourself Outside/Inside the Box

My husband snapped this picture of my daughter and her friend standing next to my piece.

Sea Foam, silk and dye

If you're local it's worth seeing in person. Pictures can be deceiving some things I thought were large are actually small and others are surprisingly large and commanding. I think there's something for everyone to love in this show. Fiber art is alive and kicking and it's not your Grandma's knitting.


If you go don't miss stopping in on Warren and R.J. at bahdeebahdu a working studio for design and the development of art, sculpture and furnishings at 1522 N. American St. I featured on my blog here. You will find beautiful art, beautiful furnishings, and amazing trash to treasure light fixtures and sculptures. It's only a block away from the Crane Arts Building.

FiberPhiladelphia 2012

My new silk piece titled Sea Foam will be included in Fiber Philadelphia 2012 Juried exhibition.

The show titled Outside/Inside the Box will be at the
Gray Area, in the Crane Arts Building, 1400 N American Street, Philadelphia, PA 19122
March 2 - April 15, 2012 with 2 openings, March and April.


The exhibition showcases innovative fiber/textile art that transcends disciplines and combines historic concepts with contemporary perspectives. This juried exhibition represents 68 artists working in media with fiber/textile reference. 516 artists from 15 countries applied with 1,316 pieces of work. Countries represented are Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Sweden,Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.(excerpted from the website)

I've been checking out the accepted artist's websites and I'm so excited to see their work and hopefully meet some of them.

My Opening in Arden

Thanks to everyone that made it out to my opening at the Buzz Ware Village Center in Arden this past Friday evening. It was nice to see so many neighbors and friends and meet some new people as well. It was a great turnout and I received really nice comments about the work. Here's how it looked minus one corner I didn't get a picture of.

I know it's not quite the same as seeing it in person.

My next show is in Wilmington at the Carvel State Office Building at 820 N. French Street in the Delaware Division of the Arts, Mezzanine Gallery for the month of July. The opening is July 8th, 5-8 p m. This is the second Friday due to the 4th of July weekend.

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.