Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Snowfall 2004


Snowfall 2004 was a piece done for my Fiber Art class in my 4th year of Art School at the University of Michigan.  I had taken a bunch of photos while going on a walk in the woods after a fresh snowfall. I recall it took me a long time in a dark room with the projector blowing up the size of the image and having to hand-draw this image on paper for my cartoon (resizing and printing off a computer program has really helped speed this part of the design process along, it's still long and tedious, but not as far as the hand-drawing drawing portion).

Detail of Snowfall 2004

I hand dyed the rayon for the brown striped part of the design and I believe I had to bleach out the rayon from its original color to get the white (or some sort of color removal).

Detail of Snowfall 2004

As I revisit these older weavings I notice just how terrible I was at the finishing process.  Which is perfect for me to be going back through since I am giving a seminar next year at Convergence called "Finish That Piece"  discussing how to hang and finish fiber art works. I am going back and fixing some of them, others I'm just fixing the dowel rod situation.  This particular piece I had hanging on a plain wood colored rod that was about 3 inches too long for it!  I'm so embarrassed by these details now, but I was happy to just get the piece done back then.  I finished weaving and said "OK done!" and slapped it up on the wall.  

Detail of Snowfall 2004

Just a reminder that this and other older works of mine can be seen soon!   "Awkward Phase" will be at the Haslett Library's bookshop called Bookends August 8th through the end of September.

The reception for this show is Saturday August 10th from 2-4. There will be an end of summer family party going on at the library on this day too (so come early and bring the kids!). Parking will probably be tight and new information is that the Haslett Middle School lot is under construction but there are some other options and the summer family celebration is supposed to be over by 2 so people will be clearing out.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Scent of Lilies


I'm preparing a small show of my older, rarely viewed, work and I decided it would be a good opportunity to get good photos and document these pieces online.  Scent of Lilies (small version) was a sample for a commission piece, but I'm not great at sampling so it came out as a smaller version of the large piece.  


The technique used here is Theo Moorman Inlay weaving, a style which the design lays on top of the base woven fabric.  The base read weaving is a heavy linen and the lily design is a variety of yarns I picked from my stash. 


The measurement on Scent of Lilies (small) is 24.5 inches long by 13.5 inches wide.

The show is going to be called "Awkward Phase" and it'll be at the Haslett Library's bookshop called Bookends August 8th through the end of September.

The reception for this show is Saturday August 10th from 2-4.  There will be an end of summer family party going on at the library on this day too (so come early and bring the kids!).  Parking will probably be tight, but you can park in the Haslett Middle School lot close by.

Playing with Fire (Small Weaving)

I doodled these matches back in 2015. I had gotten divorced, I was out a lot and "playing with fire" was feeling like the best des...