How do they do that?

Have you ever stood in front of a piece of art work and wondered "How do they do that?"  I feel very fortunate to have some  highly talented artist friends.  And while their work is certainly visible in the art world ... I wanted to post some of their work in case you, the reader, are not familiar with their creations.

At the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham last weekend, I was delighted to watch this woman come across my friend Marita Dingus' installation in the current exhibition Show of Hands: Northwest Women Artists 1880-2010.
The woman was chattering quietly with a friend when she stopped in front of Marita's piece and was immediately silenced: she remained there for a very long time, solitarily engaged with this wonderful creation titled 200 Women of African Descent.  The whole exhibition is certainly worth a visit.
Marita is represented by Francine Seders Gallery, in Seattle.  Another delight was to see the work of Diem Chau ( with whom I had taken a class at Pratt some years ago ...  "before" she was famous!) in three of her beautifully detailed pieces.

When my friend Alicia Tormey invited me to her studio to take some images for her to use, I had my first experience of watching the process of encaustic painting happen ... before my very eyes ( as the over used expression goes!). I had no idea of the complexity of laying down all those layers of paint, wax and shellac ... and then taking a torch to it!!!  EEK!  The painting didn't incinerate, the studio didn't catch on fire, I didn't catch on fire
and the effects are stunning. But not done yet, said Alicia!  Looking at the images later I found myself intrigued by the process images as much as the "almost completed" works.  Alicia's work can been seen currently in a show at the Alexis Hotel in Seattle, Pacini Lubel Gallery - Seattle, and Gillman Contemporary in Ketchum, Idaho.

 Each month my friend Colleen Maloney and I volunteer in the Open Art Studio at the Tacoma Art Museum. When the chores of maintaining the studio are completed ... we "play".  One of Colleen's many talents ( she first identifies as a graphic designer) is as a paper/book artist and yesterday I watched her assemble a book from the stunning pile of paste papers she had created.  Her sense of color always amazed me and when a book is completed, the manner in which those colorful papers are assembled - is simply stunning.  How does she do that?  Surrounded by so many talented people, one just hopes some of it rubs off!

 

Playing with jello!

If you were to ask me where I've been and what have I been doing, one of my answers might be - playing with jello! Not the gooey bright green, harrrowing yellow or terrifyingly bright red stuff of childhood delights. But the plain old, unflavored gelatin.
About a year ago my friend Colleen introduced me to "Gelatin Printing" following a reading by her of an article, by Jenn Mason, in the Jan/Feb. issue of 2008 periodical Cloth, Paper, Scissors (pages 14-16). Colleen is an amazingly creative paper artist who has a fabulous sense of color. Under her tutelage I began to play with this medium and after trying out paper images, I switched to making monoprints on fabric - I was hooked ... ( that terrible hackneyed expression follows) ... and the rest is history.
The accompanying images are of a garment I called - "Veiled and Unveiled" - (created for the competition mentioned in my previous entry) at the Larson Gallery at Yakima Valley Community College tiitled "Nature by Design: New Directions in Fiber and Jewelry. At this time I remain in the dark about whether or not my pieces were accepted. However the fun for me was in pushing myself to do something new and different. I usually avoid slithery fabrics like the plague! They have a mind all of their own underneath the needle of the sewing machine. The fabric is silk organza ( doesn't get much more slithery than that) and the cloak is meant to convey my thoughts about the amazing mysteries that go on inside our bodies ( design by nature) that we mostly are unable to see or feel or even know about. Just one example: one doesn't see the blood circulating through veins and arteries or the exchanges of nutrients or any one of millions of "events" going on constantly.And what is it that is allowing me to sit on this chair and tap my fingers on this keyboard? Not any one thing for sure ... but millions of events and most of us don't give a thought to any of these ongoing events.
Printing bodies and a few parts of bodies on gelatin and then onto the fabric gave very interesting images, which I found quite wonderful, and my delight was furthered by attaching them to the inside of the cloak - seen and unseen events going on "inside" - and hand stitching connections to the various body images. Difficult to describe but very challenging and in the end fun to do. Whether or not the jurors will think it's worthy of inclusion really doesn't matter - it was the pushing myself to do something new and different that made it all worth the effort. And the gelatin printing is an incredibly fun and inventive way to play: check it out.
And the other answer about what have I been doing - designing, cutting and sewing long hours for the RAGS, Wearable Art show and Sale to occur March 12,13,14 at the Mercedes Benz dealership in Fife. This event raises money for the Domestic Violence Programs at the YWCA Pierce County in Tacoma - our 16th year of raising funds for these very worthwhile projects. Hope to see you there.