new blog

Hi! I have a new home. Please visit me here.

impression

I have been playing with the idea of "impression." As in the impression of an object, something left behind after that object is gone. I just wanted to see what would happen with the tomato....

But what I am really interested in are tea bags. I have been saving my tea bags from this quarter to possibly do something with in the fall and I had this idea last week to also have the impression from each bag. So I began on this piece of watercolor paper last Monday.

I love the ghost-like image that remains. The contrast between the hard and soft edges are beautiful and they almost resemble cocoon shapes.
The blue-green impressions are from a green tea with berries. Its supposed to suppress the appetite, but I dont think it works. I like the taste tho and the colors from the impression are intense and deep.

I am going to start a daily practice of collecting the impressions from my tea bags. I have made small pieces of paper into single signatures (just a folded piece of paper that would be sewn into a book) but instead of binding them I am stacking them between two blocks of wood.

Once the stack gets very high it will be hard to balance, which is ultimately what this piece is about. Drinking tea brings me a calm and balanced feeling. I try very hard to have balance in my life, I need it and I thrive on it.

Thats it for now, I am trying to figure out whether to post my daily collages all at once because I have about 16 to catch you up on. It would be a super long photo post, but I guess that wouldnt necessarily be a bad thing.

coptic

I just couldnt get this idea out of my head last week, so I had to make it to see what it looked like. I went crazy with the coptic stitch. The book is about 5.5" x 7" and it took about 8 hours total, worked over 3 days. Every stitch was very meditative and satisfying. As I got into a rhythm it reminded me of the breathing practice we do in yoga, called ujjayi breath. It is an audible, hollow sounding breath through the nose used to sooth and focus your attention to your practice. In a sense, this practice demonstrates how the breath can connect your physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual selves together. The sound of piercing the paper and drawing the thread through each opening reminded me of the breath. It created an essence. I recorded the sound to capture this essence. I did a few test rounds then a final round, and after each time I listened to the recording as I continued to stitch the book together so it created this stereo effect- listening to the recording while creating the sound. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process.

hostel in the trees

This is where I'll be spending my birthday this year, with Chris and about 14 fibers girls (and painting and graphic design girls). This was the only time we could work in the trip with my class and it happens to be on my bday so Im pretty freakin excited! Its going to be great.

Ive been trying to get organized and straighten out my life lately but its been super difficult with school and my internship. Im trying not to be too hard on myself and feel like I havent made enough work, because I have been working really hard, its just in different ways where I dont end up with something physical or complete to show for it.

In an attempt to get myself back in balance I am taking yoga classes at the Savannah Yoga Center. And Chris signed up too, completely unexpected! We've been to two classes so far and its been wonderful. I have been out of practice for too long and its great that Chris is doing it too. Yoga is such a great way to clear your mind and strengthen your body. I started practicing at the gym where I worked almost 10 years ago (? 10? is that possible? am I that old where 10 years ago I was a teenager?!), and have been doing it at home with crunch fitness dvds (which are awesome by the way). Ive been out of practice for almost a year now and feel grateful to be getting back in to it.

I must be going now but since I hate to leave you pictureless.....



Sawyer eating the floor in my newly organized studio. I cant wait till the whole house is done! I promise to post with in progress and completed work soon. Ciao!

knitting math

For anyone interested in writing their own knitting patterns or altering the ones already out there, I found this article. And if you know any other resources for knitting math leave a comment. I usually use a pattern as a guideline and then alter it myself, but sometimes the increase/decrease ratios are tricky for me. Any solutions or tips?

I just got a package from my friend Jessica in Tennessee and this was inside....

Gorgeous, fluffy Llama and Alpaca fiber!

And the same fibers handspun! Wow, she is the greatest. She got these goodies at an alpaca farm near her house (Jess- let me know where and I'll post it). Im planning on making an earflap hat sort of like this, but without the waves or peace sign over the ears. Im going to try to work up my own pattern so hopefully it'll turn out right.

two, three and four

two, 28 Jun 07

three, 29 Jun 07

four, 30 Jun 07

I am having a lot of fun with these daily collages! I am also getting better on being more disciplined with my studio practice. I made a calendar that outlines my entire day and it has been much easier to stick to.



These have been in my back yard for about a month and a half. After many thunderstorms they are tightening up and the felt is migrating down the stick. Some bits have fallen off and my hope is that animals use them for their nests. I still havent made it out to the marsh to see my other installations since my jeep died, but hopefully this week I can borrow Chris' car.

hit the ground running

I was quite bored with my daily practice of drawing the bird bones so Ive decided to do something different. In my effort to live more "green" and create less waste, I am going to make a collage a day using my scraps from other projects. This will keep (most) of them out of the trash and will be a fun creative outletThese scraps were from a book I made for Cori's birthday. I learned how to screen print last week! I printed little alpacas on paper and I used the paper for the cover of the book. I bound it too loose the first time and I had to redo it so I had all these little bits left. I broke a needle on my sewing machine going through the waxed threads.

This was the book I made last week that I wanted to show you. Its my process book for Working Class Studio. It has a grey paper cover and green dots on grey fabric interior. Throughout the quarter I'll add things like scraps or stickers to the cover to make it more fun.

This will be clapotis... eventually. Its taken me months to get this far, I think I started it in March. Geez! But when I do get time to knit its fabulous. Im using a silk yarn by Habu, just about the best yarn company ever.

This gorgeous hand dyed merino wool from Malabrigo Yarn will be a pillow cover. It is kettle dyed and the color is lettuce. I made up the cable pattern and its creating some interesting textures. This wool is like a cloud, it'll be so nice to lay my head on.... eventually.

I generally dont get a lot of time to knit while Im in school, and this quarter already feels like its going to be a sprint. But thats when the good stuff usually happens in my work so Im looking forward to seeing what I come up with.

I have to go research trends in fabric wall art before I head out to WCS this afternoon, so have a wonderful day!

first week back

As one of my assignments this quarter, I am to maintain a daily practice. For me, this means a small drawing of my bird bones on an index card. I made a little book to hold the drawings using organza that I dyed with a potato dextrin resist and layered it over dark brown linen. I did a few test samples and tried to sew areas of the organza to the linen so it would lie flat and have texture but it didnt look right, so I decided just to sew the edges. I think it still looks strange because no matter how hard I tried, the organza will not lie flat on the linen.

There are three panels. The center panel has 2 flaps to hold the index cards in place.

See where it puckers? Its slightly annoying, but I love the crackle effect that the potato dextrin created.

I had some pics of knitted works in progress but somehow I lost them when I went to cut and paste and I am at work so I dont have the files. I'll be back later with them though, promise.

My internship at Working Class Studio started yesterday and it was a great first day. My bosses are awesome, they are very supportive, encouraging and hilarious. For our first assignment we had to create 3 tshirt designs for SCAD. Some were really great. I think my favorite was an illustration of a student showing her work to her parents and it said something like, "Rule #124: They will not understand, but they still love you." So true. Another one of this artists designs was a guy and a girl at their easels, the guy is looking over at the girl with a heart above his head but the girl is ignoring him and it said, "rule #58: There is no time for love in art school." Very cute. We also did an intro to screenprinting session which was awesome. I have screen printed using drawing fluid and screen filler but never photo emulsion so the process was really interesting to learn. I'll be back to show you what I made.

This first week of school has already been crazy so Im not sure how relaxing my weekend will be but I have a friend visiting from Florida so Im sure we'll get into something fun. Have a great weekend everyone!

im back!

Hello!

I know Ive been MIA for a while, but these things happen during finals and breaks in between quarters at SCAD. But I am back now and have a very messy place to start cleaning so I will leave you with some pics from the end of the quarter and my trip home to VA.

These are from my marsh installation series.







Sawyer helped!


My brother Matt and I at his graduation party. He just graduated from Univ. of Tennessee with a degree in engineering.

My brothers and sister and Maddy.

I always have good intentions of taking lots of photos when Im home but for some reason it never happens! I had so much fun with my family and friends and its never enough time to do everything or see everyone.

I have work in progress pics to take so I will be back soon to post those.

I'd like to take a second to say goodbye to my trusty '93 Jeep Cherokee. It blew the head gasket and over heated and is not worth the price to fix it, so thank you my trusty tank, you've gotten me through many moves and minor accidents, and Im sad to say goodbye.

a few things

The sticks after about a day. They are beginning to lock up but some pieces have gotten loose. Ive taken some short videos of the installation and will figure out how to upload that (any suggestions?). I think movement is very important in the work. Individually they take on a life of their own while still remaining a collective whole.

My four little birds have almost been completely cleaned off. Some stains seem to have transferred to the linen and Im sure the bugs have eaten holes under the birds. I havent decided how long I will leave these out, but it'll be a while longer.

Im still trying to figure out what to do with my buzzard bird bones. I want to document each one then incorporate them with felt or rusted fabric. I am thinking of treating the bones as specimens on display.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

sticks

Just wanted to show this installation real quick. I wrapped wool roving around sticks and hung them outside so that they will felt up. The sticks are hung to resemble an abstracted spinal cord. By placing them outside I am letting the felting/disintegrating happen naturally so the weather becomes the process.

happy mothers day!

My moms name is Margot. She has 4 children, age 25 (me), 21 (Matt) and 12 (Teresa and Bill). The only reason I am an artist and got through my undergrad degree is because of her. She gave me constant reassurance and encouragement when I felt insecure. She is totally unselfish and always puts others first. We live too far away from eachother, but Im hoping to convince her to move to Savannah (you know you want to mom!). I admire her strength and optimism and hope that I will be as patient and loving with my children (whenever that may be) as she is with hers.

My stepmothers name is Michelle (I cant find any pictures of her right now). She has been in my life since I was 9 or 10 and has always been a great friend to me, ready with advice whenever I need it. She tells the greatest stories, she has this incredible storytelling gift, and is an awesome cook (I still want your recipes!).

I am such a lucky girl to have two incredible women in my life. Happy Mothers Day to all of the mothers out there!

review

My Conditional Review today went great! I got some excellent input and advice and the faculty couldn’t be better. When I was in the Painting department I felt like a dark cloud was over me because I didn’t want to be painting, but thought its what I “should” be doing. I am so appreciative of the Fibers department and it makes me so nerd-ily excited that I wriggle around with delight! Yum!

So here are a few images from the review, and first things first, my outfit! Ha!

A table set up for the review with some of my felt explorations and rusted fabric.

Some work back from my Advanced Painting class. Rusted razor blades, found objects and hair.

Felt, hair and Habu yarn.

Felt, Hair, Habu yarn

Felt, tampons


I have 4 little birds laid out in the yard on linen in the process of decomposing. I am documenting the stages and hopefully some kind of imprint will appear on the fabric.

Ideas were flowing very easily today and I have a bunch of projects planned. Cori and I have also decided to create a piece of work every day for a week with a chosen material. This week is {nails.} We are still working out the details and will eventually come up with a set of rules but we are going to see what happens.

The condo has been such a horrible mess lately that I am making the final push in getting everything in order and clean. I have decided to host an Open House in an attempt to get rid of some stuff that other people might want. This means original artwork, clothing, a cute entertainment armoir thing, a tv, and whatever else I can clear out of here. I want to live more minimally…. Or as much as my lifestyle will allow. So sometime soon I will transform my place into a gallery space and put it all up for sale, with appetizers and cocktails of course.

Please check out No Impact Man’s blog today. He wrote a great post about things we can do to create less of an impact in our daily lives. It is really important to start incorporating things into your lifestyle that will have less of an effect on the environment and No Impact Man has some great suggestions.

I have to go get Chris motivated for our Home Depot trip this evening, I'll be back soon with updates!

im in!

I heard from WorkingClassStudio today and Im officially in! So its settled, instead of traveling and going to the beach this summer I'll be slaving away at WorkingClass and taking another class. The crappy part about the otherwise awesome opportunity this will be is that a) I have to PAY to do this internship because it is counted as a class and, b) if I design something they produce and sell, I dont get credit (or reimbersement) for my work. But the experience is going to be great, I'll get to see a production studio in action and its gonna be fun!

Cori and I had our gross girls day last week and I have pics of the buzzard thats been disinegrating for the past 9 months.





Arent the bones beautiful? It reminds me how fragile life is. I have some smaller birds decomposing right now so I'll update you on those in a few weeks. Ive put some of the smaller ones in a jar on top of linen fabric and rubber banded cheesecloth over the opening to see what happens. Idealy, the imprint of the bird will somehow transfer to the fabric but im not sure how or if its gonna work. Im not sure what Im going to do with all these bird parts yet, but Im going to start by setting up the bones and photographing them.

I am getting super sick with allergies again. Ugh I am so over feeling crappy. I had a major sinus infection in January that lingered through 2 doses of antibiotics and finally, after a lot of bloodwork and doctors visits, I was just starting to feel close to 100% again. There was a day last week that smoke from forest fires in Southern Georgia blew up to Savannah and completely ruined me. I am very resistant to taking medication so Im trying to survive this season by putting local honey in my tea every morning, and 6 times a day drinking 10-15 drops of a homeopathic liquid my chiropractor gave me thats supposed to help. We'll see. Im going to the doctors on Thurs and hopefully I dont have bronchitis or another infection.

I hope you all arent suffering from all the pollen this season. Even though I feel crappy, this is my favorite time of year because the weather is so perfect in Savannah and walks with little Sawyers are so pleasant.

fingers crossed

I had my interview with WorkingClassStudio this morning. It went well, the team showed us around the space, which is this awesome studio inside a bridge - its crazy, and then the 12 of us interviewees showed examples and talked about our work. After I spoke about my work Sari, the director, said she had heard that I worked with bird bones. I was shocked she knew about that! It must have been obvious that I got really excited because Devin, the project manager, said that my eyes just lit up haha. Its always fun to shock people a little bit. Everyone is usually grossed out by it but they are always intrigued.


And this was my {I belong at WorkingClassStudio} interview outfit. A new Free People top from Terra Cotta, knickers from anthropologie and my fave greyish purple flats from Aldo (I wanted to buy more pairs but I cant find them online). I really hope to get this internship because It would definitely help my work and open up some doors. I'll hear something by Monday or Tuesday.

I feel stuck in the middle about a lot of stuff right now, like, wanting to make less of an impact on the environment and wanting to buy new clothes. gah! seriously though, Im slowly making changes to reduce waste and harmful effects on the environment.

So far, I have been driving less and riding my bike more. I only drive if its far away (out of the immediate downtown area), Im buying a lot of groceries, or its raining. I actually love riding my bike. It is a completely freeing feeling. Im not a slave to finding a parking spot or being stuck in traffic. Plus Im getting a great workout, the cruiser only has one speed and thats med-low so Ive really got to work if I want to go fast.

I am also trying to shop locally. I have been incorporating more groceries from Brighter Day and Polks Market, but we still occasionally make trips to Fresh Market and Kroger. Hopefully I will phase that out completely soon. We are signing up for a recycling program in Savannah because taking everything through the ghetto in the car is not something I want to continue doing. Also, and I wont go into too much detail, I have stopped using tampons and instead use the Diva Cup. Read the info on the site, its interesting.

More and more I am incorporating new things into my lifestyle so that I can make a small difference in this world. No Impact Man is my inspiration. I dont think I will every be able to take it as far as he is, but Im trying to figure out what works for me and try to achieve a good balance. My next step I think is to create a compost.

Later today my friend Cori is coming over so that we can give each other moral support when I clean off my bird bones and she cleans out her cow intestines. hahahah wow. this must sound very strange! Cori and I have a rough aesthetic I guess. But Im excited that we are working on similar things. I'll post photos later. For now Im off to get some spices for a dye experiment so have a wonderful day!

a few peeks

Rusted Linen
Hand felted wool

Just a few peeks. Now Im off to work, have a great day!