Category Archives: Art Shows

Chimera Reinterpreted

Chimera?

chi·me·ra

/kīˈmirə,kəˈmirə/

noun

(in Greek mythology) a fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body, and a serpent’s tail.
a thing that is hoped or wished for but in fact is illusory or impossible to achieve.

Similar: illusion, fantasy, delusion, dream, fancy

Illusion, Fantasy, Delusion, Dream, Fancy

I don’t think it is delusional, but certainly a flight of fancy to decide last minute (the week your show is installing) to start an additional piece, that you know will be a challenge. But, that is what I did. When inspiration strikes it is best not to question and just go with it.

I was busy doing all the mundane bookeeping type stuff we have to complete before we bring work into the gallery. This includes pricing, entering inventory, creating labels, etc. Things that are far from creative, but are necessary to present and sell your artwork to the public.

I thought about a sculpture that would bring together muliple animal patterns and elements in a single creature. A chimera. My chimera blends a leopard head with ram horns, a giraffe neck, zebra forelimbs, a tiger torso, a cow hind quarter, bird wings, and a lion’s tail. She is not the fire-breathing three headed Greek beast, but certainly formitable in her own way.

Mythical chimera reinterpretation. Needle felted sculpture combines leopard, ram, giraffe, zebra, tiger, cow and lion and bird — Chimera

Chimera is needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature. Her amber/yellow eyes are glass beads that are sewn in place. I used to fishing line to create her whiskers, and metalic threads to highlight her horns and wings.

If I had thought of her earlier, Chimera may very well have ended up as my feature item for show promotion and advertising. I am pleased with how she took form, and think she will have some admirers when the show installs this coming Monday.

Speaking of Monday, and Next Friday…

I will be installing Natural Patterns: Flora and Fauna with painter Ellie Snow this coming Monday morning. The show runs at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts through August 25th. The opening reception is next Friday, July 26th from 6-9 pm during Hillsborough’s Last Friday Art Walk. If you are local, I hope that you can make it to the reception.

Frog Bag and Too Much Garlic?

A Frog Bag for any occasion?

Well, maybe not any occasion. As I get closer to a feature show I usually like to create a few surprises. Over the years themed evening bags have been a fun addition. This year, I created a little rounded bag (recycled from the “teapot” base that my octopus was formerly astride) with a pond theme. I started by creating a color streaked evening sky, and a watery base. I then needle felted several stands of cattails and sculpted a jumping frog in relief. On the back I added a little dragonfly that combines felted wings, a beaded body, and embroidered wing detail.

Frog Bag- needle and wet felt evening bag, pond theme, sculpted frog, beaded dragonfly, fully lined with loop and bead closure — Frog Bag (front)

The bag is finished off with a green fabric lining with a batik pattern, a needle felted clutch handle, and a loop and bead closure. This little bag is just the right size to hold your phone and a few essentials.

Too Much garlic?

In my house, the answer to that question is… Never! But, I am aware that some people do have a lower tolerance level. This little anthropomorphic figure is a continuation of the mini sculptures that I have been making lately. Most to date have been mushroom and flower figures. This little vegitable is also a bit of a departure in size, as he is a bit larger than the other minis. I think I will wait to bring him in for the feature show too as it installs in less than two weeks now. Both garlic and the frog purse will be at HGA then.

Needle felted anthropomorphic garlic figure sculpture — Too Much Garlic?

Remember!

My show with painter Ellie Snow titled Natural Patterns: Flora and Fauna will be at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts from July 23rd through August 25th. The opening reception is during Hillsborough’s Last Friday Art Walk on July 26th from 6 to 9pm. Hope you get the chance to stop by!

Sealife and Save-the-date

First, the new sealife

I was away from the studio for a week or so. On my travels, I had the occasion to visit the New England Aquarium in Boston for the first time in many (many) years. Having just shared my sea turtle, Yuri, and my re-imagined octopus, I thought more sealife was in order.

My newest sea creature is titled Buoyant.

Needle felted seahorse in seagrass sculpture wool over wire armature with glass bead eyes and embellishments one of several sealife sculptures for Natural Patterns - Flora and Fauna — Buoyant

Buoyant is a brightly colored seahorse floating among some seagrass. The figure is needle felted wool, with glass bead embellishment and some sparkling tulle in its dorsal fin. The seagrass is wet nuno-felted wool on green tulle, that I needle felted over wire.

I like the movement that I was able to achieve in this sculpture. It is a cheery little piece.

Another Rework

I created a tropical reef mobile last year, but I wasn’t completely thrilled with the end product. So. I decided to take the components of that hanging sculpture and separate them. Three individual hanging sculptures are the result of this rework. Meet “Yellow Tang”, “Pink Tailed Trigger”, and “Jelly and Bubbles”.

Needle felted yellow tang hanging sculpture with glass bead embellishments one of several sealife sculptures for Natural Patterns - Flora and Fauna — Yellow Tang

Needle felted pink tailed triggerfish hanging sculpture with glass bead embellishments one of several sealife sculptures for Natural Patterns - Flora and Fauna — Yellow Tang

I am planning on using them in our window display for the feature show, But, I am sitting in the gallery as I write this, and I’m not sure if that will work the way I intended. I see that I’ll have to try it out first.

The two reef fish, are needle felted wool over quilt batting, with glass bead eyes. Glass and crystal beads are used for bubbles. I hand-forged copper wire to create the “wave” that they hang from. The Jelly fish is nuno-felted and needle felted wool on netting. It also features glass seed beads sewn on to the cap and tenticles. Each of the small sealife sculptures can be wall hung, or strung from above as a mobile.

Save – The – Date

We are now in July. That means that my featured show opening is fast approaching. The opening reception for Natural Patterns: Flora and Fauna with painter Ellie Snow is Friday, July 26th from 6-9. I hope to see you there! The show will install in the gallery that Monday, July 22nd. It will run through August 25th. Stop by HGA and check it out.

Invite for "Natural Patterns: Flora and Fauna" at Hillsborough Gallery of Arts featuring mixed media/needle felted animal and sealife sculptures by Lynn Wartski — Natural Patterns: Fora and Fauna

Octopus Escape

Does That Octopus look Familiar?

This little octopus may look familiar, as she is a rework of an earlier piece. You may recall that I created a “teapot” purse sculpture for the Cedar Creek Gallery bi-annual National Teapot Show last year? That functional (purse) – non-functional (teapot) sculpture occupied our HGA window for a month or so. It seems direct late spring North Carolina sun was a bit too much, and the red of the octopus sun bleached a bit. The subtle color difference was undetectable to most, but I knew it was there. The sculpture came back to the studio for some rehab.

Needle felted anthropomorphic octopus sculpture holding a shell on head — Fashion Or Camouflage?

I loved the original sculpture and its nod to the popular documentary My Octopus Teacher, but I didn’t want to just refresh it. I removed the little figure from her perch on top of the teapot/purse, and repositioned her. She needed some (actually a lot) additional suckers for the bottom of several legs. She also needed a color refresh in her faded areas. I accomplished this by overfelting more fiber in those areas. Luckily, I had some of that wool left! Her scallop shell accessory, is an addition inspired by the original MOT doc, and a newer docuseries on National Geographic. In both, you see these intelligent creatures utilize a variety of objects. This octopus now asks the question “Fashion Or Camouflage?”

This new-ish version of this octopus is needle felted wool over quilt batting. She does not have an internal wire armature. Her pose is accomplished by stategic sewing and felting. The eyes are iridecent black glass beads. The scallop shell is needle felted wool over quilt batting.

Fashion Or Camouflage is headed to HGA next month for my feature show.

A Bit More Fluttering

Finished up several more “Flutterbys” last week. Five Flutterbys (these three and the two I shared last week) will have to be the limit. It was starting to feel a bit like production, and that’s where I tend to bow out. I like to keep such items special. They will become available when the show installs on July 22nd.

needle felted wall hanging butterfly/figure sculpture — Flutterby 3

Wall Sculptures:

Green Sea Turtle and Flutterbys?

I haven’t created sculptures for the wall in quite some time. At one point almost all my sculptures were wall hanging. Over time I’ve found my niche in pedestal top scale works. So, why some wall pieces this time around? Partially, it is what evolved out of the ideas I was sketching. I just followed where those works were leading me. But equally, it is a “necessity being the mother of invention” situation.

As the year has progressed, factors outside of our control have lead to my upcoming feature show being myself and just one other HGA artist, Ellie Snow. This is both great and terrifying at the same time. If you visit her website, you will see that there will no doubt be interesting and vibrant interplay between her abstacted landscapes and my creatures. That’s the great part, the terrifying portion is that our HGA feature shows usually include two 2D artists, and one 3D. Since there will be more available wall space this time around, I let myself follow sketches that cried to be wall hung. In the past, I would have figured out how to support such pieces on a base. Instead, I am letting them swim, crawl, or fly on the wall as they please.

Yuri The Wall Turtle

Yuri is named after a character in a YA novel titled Yuri’s Brush With Magic. Set on the North Carolina coast, this book was one of many written by my late mother-in-law, Maureen. The book weaves together Japanese folklore, art, magic, and turtle conservation. In this sculpture I pay homage to one of her other artistic endeavors, art quilts. Continuing my exploration of patterns I decided on a green sea turtle, where each segment of shell could be unique.

green sea turtle wall hanging sculpture. needle felted crazy quilt shell patchwork — Yuri

I drew from some of the pieces already completed for this upcoming show. You will find the zentangles, giraffe patterning, paisley, and what appears to be tie dye. Interspersed with my felted sections, are fabrics from the quilter’s stash. One area is made from precut squares that were, I assume, ready to be pieced together? The result, recalls “crazy quilt” technique. The “green” turtle also incorporates pieces from a recycled wool sweater on her head, flippers and tail.

Yuri’s construction keeps both wall, and pedestal top display possible. I included wire in the flippers and head, but her body is more of a large “bean bag” with poly pellets providing the volume and weight. Loops of high weight fishing line are stictched strategically under the base of one flipper, so she hangs in the position shown. She is a large piece measuring approximately 20 inches across.

Fluttering By

I’ve also created a series of whimsical creatures for the wall that are a hybrid of a butterfly and a human form. I’m refering to them as Flutterbys.

anthropomorphic butterly/human hybrid wall sculptures. Needle felted and wet felted elements — Flutterbys

The Flutterbys are a mix of needle and wet felting techniques. The base of their wings were achieved by nuno felting. This is a technique that involves wet felting on to a net like fabric. This allows you to achieve a very thin felted material. I then needle felt the additional detail elements on the wings.

The wings areattached to thin wire supports at their upper edges, and the human figures start with pipe cleaners. These are wrapped first in black yarn, and then finished with needle felted black wool. Wire and beads complete the antenna, and pressing with spray starch adds additional structure to their wings. They also hang from stitched fishing line on their back.

Remember to save-the-date: Friday, July 26th from 6-9pm, for the Natural Patterns reception. Stop by to see Yuri, the Flutterbys and all their pedestal top friends!

Brood XIX – Sound of Summer ’24

The sound of summer, almost?

Click… click.. click. click, click click-click-click whirrr. That’s my memory of the sound of summer cicadas. A strange almost mechanical sound that makes you think of the heat of summer. Well, it’s not quite summer (though it is hot enough here in NC.) And, the sound this time is quite different. It is a lound constant sound, somewhat like a car alarm going off near by. And, this sound doesnt build up, and then trail off in typical cicada fashion. Instead it is constant, from just as the day starts to warm, until the afternoon shadows start to lengthen. We were warned that Brood XIX, the emergence of both a 17 year and a 13 year brood cycle would be special. It hasn’t disappointed.

Brood XIX - the sound of summer, is a needle felted anthropomorhic cicada sculpture with vintage megaphone — Brood XIX – Sound of Summer

Left out?

I recall, just a few weeks ago feeling a little left out. Local friends were posting photos of cicadas everywhere, and remarking that the sound they made was deafening. We did not see or hear anything. But, we just needed to be patient. The bugs emerge as the ground reaches the appropriate temperature. We were just a bit further north and a little more shaded in the woods. Soon, I was sending video clips of the alien sound up to relatives in New England.

As a sculptor who focuses on cretures of various sorts, I could not pass up the chance to pay homage to the event. So, meet my cicada, Brood XIX – The Sound of Summer. He is needle felted wool, over a wire and batting form. I constructed his wings by stitching pip cleaners to tulle, and then needle felting wool over those wires, and on to the tulle to form veins. Two large orange-red glass beads are stitched in place for his eyes. I used some commercial deep red wool felt to form the cone of his megaphone. This was needle felted together, and then gold wool fiber was needle felted in place to form the rim, mouth piece, handle, and Roman numerals.

No Pattern Play?

The cicada is a little departure from the exploration of the animal print patterns I have been playing with in my sculpture lately. The cyclical nature of the brood’s emergence seems to be enough of a natural pattern to warrant his inclusion in this summer’s feature show. He’ll be at HGA beginning July 23rd.

Over The Rainbow

Frogs, Frogs and a Rainbow of Frogs

Continuing my explorartion of distinctive animal prints led me to consider poison dart frogs. These tiny little inhabitants of the rainforest come in a literal rainbow of bright colors. Their patterns say “see me” and also “leave me alone!”

Instead of changing or altering their patterns in any way, I used their natural looks to create a rainbow. I guess it would more acurately be described as a frog pyramid, but the shades of the spectrum are present in an arching form.

sculpture rainbow pyramid of anthropomorphic poison dart frogs in needle felted wool over wire and batting armature — Poison Rainbow

This piece stands about 14″ tall. The individual frogs are quite a bit larger than they are in real life (.75 – 1.5″ long.) Each frog is approximately 5 inches from nose to tail. I created the individual frogs separately. All began with a wire armature wrapped in quilt batting. Reference photos provided the colorful patterns that I felted on to the surface of each. Each of the amphibians is finished off with large glass bead eyes that are sewn in place.

Once each frog was sculpted, I played around with different configurations to create a self-supporting structure. An additional wire was run through most of the frogs to provide additional stability to the final form. I then stitched and felted the frogs to each other wherever two connect together. The final sculpture was then secured to two layers of thick felt for additional stability.

This rainbow of frogs will make its debut at my feature show at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts during the Last Friday Art Walk in July.

So, Not Quite Done

I returned to my little snow leopard cub, Snow Cat. I fuzzed out his coat a bit more, and took some new images against a dark background. He might actually be done now?

Bee Now And Mini Later.

This week I turned my attention to some smaller “mini” pieces. I think that I mentioned before that HGA will be having another Pop-Up event in May on the Saturday (11th) before Mother’s Day. Though it would be wonderful for visitors to all want to give their moms one of my larger sculpture creations, I am realistic about Mother’s Day gifts. Most mother’s day gifting is in the form of smaller remembrances, flowers, cards, etc. Much like my one-of-a-kind ornaments for the holidays, I sketched up a few smaller sculpture ideas. So far, I have settled on a few anthropomorphic botanicals. I wanted to strike a balance of sweet for mom, but not too “cutesy.”

Meet the Mini Sculpts

From my work table are some small sculptures that would be at home on a book shelf, or desk corner. Meet mini Mush, Morel, and Thistle. They will make their debut at HGA for the Mother’s Day Pop-up. It may be hard to wait for their arrival, but May will be here before you know it. I will be creating a few more of these in the coming weeks, so check back to see them too.

anthropomorphic mushroom figure sculpture , needle felted wool over wire and quilt batting, glass bead eyes, and accents

anthropomorphic morel mushroom figure sculpture, needle felted wool over wire and quilt batting, iridecent bead eyes

Anthropomorphic thistle flower sculpture designed to sit on shelf edge. needle felted wool over wire, glass bead eyes.

Speaking of Gallery Debutants

You met Coronation, my queen bee, a couple of weeks ago. She came into the gallery with me today. She seems to already be making friends. I think that she makes a sunny addition to this front pedestal grouping. There is nothing mini about her presence.

Coronation of Queen Bee (anthropomorphic bee sculpture) at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts — Coronation at HGA

Reminder:

This Sunday at 4pm, HGA will be hosting a performance by Mary Rocap, the singer songwriter who served as a muse for our yearly “It’s All About the Story” show. Me and many of my fellow HGA artists will also be in attendance and can guide you through our inspiration for the visual component of the show.

Update: My piece for the “It’s All About The Story” show, Venus Dances For Herself”, has already sold and gone to her new home. Normally, works in a feature show stay with a red dot until the end, but this was a special birthday purchase, so we let the piece go home with the customer. So, just in case you missed her…

Venus Dances For Herself - anthropomorphic dancing rabbit sculpyure with celestial designs. needle felted wool — Venus Dances For Herself

Peace and Procedure –

First a little Peace.

Seems we could all use a little peace right now. My latest anthropomorphic figure sculpture is a “tie dyed” giraffe named Peace. I looked at numerous sources for the symbolism attributed to the giraffe, and grace, gentleness, and peace came up over and over. You may recall several other giraffe sculptures, like last years’ Change Up. They are an animal that I find I enjoy sculpting. Giraffes have such interesting forms and proportions. I think I find them simultaneously graceful and comical.

Peace is a "tye dye" giraffe sculpture. Needle felted wool over wire and quilit batting armature. — Peace

Peace stands about 15″ tall, and casts a glance at her viewer from under long magenta lashes. She is needle felted wool, over a wire and quilt batting armature. Her hooves are hand-stiched faux leather, and her eyes are iridecent glass beads.

close up of Peace "tye dye" giraffe sculpture. Needle felted wool over wire and quilit batting armature. — Peace’s portrait

I created Peace using a different approach. Needle felting is usually done with loose wool roving fibers, but this unique hide pattern required something different. I hand dyed wool prefelt using alcohol inks, and then cut the individual blocks of color and needle felted them to the sculpture.

Not Quite Tie Dye Procedure

There is a faux tie dye method you may be aware of that uses permanent Sharpie type markers, and alcohol. I modified that process using drops of alcohol inks in place of drawing dots with markers.

Tie dye process 1 - fabric stretched across cup — Tie dye process 1

Tie dye process 2 - applying dots of alcohol ink — Tie dye process 1

prefelt fabric is stretched across plastic cup and secured with rubber band
drops of alcohol ink
alcohol is dropped over ink drops allowing colors to spread and mix
mixing of colors
complete panel
dyed prefelt after rinsing and heat set in dryer

Peace will probably not make an appearance in the gallery until this summer for my feature show at the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. She is the first of several sculptures for that show. These sculptures will feature animals that have distinctive “animal print” coat patterns that I have altered in some way.

More Dancing Rabbits?

Yes, more dancing rabbits.

Happy New Year! Now that the holiday season has past, it is time to turn attention to shows for the new year. Currently, at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts there is a show featuring the work of past member artists titled, Past To Present. It is definitely worth a visit to check out, and will be up through February 18th.

What about the Dancing Rabbits?

Opening in February, we again will be presenting our “It’s All About The Story” show. This year, we are partnering with a local songwriter and musician, Mary Rocap. We have created work in response to her music, and yes, I have again turned to dancing rabbits. Actually, just one rabbit this time. You may recall the pair of dancing rabbits I created in response to Jaki Shelton Green’s poetry last year. This year’s representative of the family Leporidae is titled Venus Dances For Herself, and she was inspired by Mary’s song Jupiter and Venus.

The song is a reimagining of the myth based on the December sky conjunction of the two planets. My sculpture is a reimagining of Mary’s song. She tells the tale of Venus’s yearly plea to Jupiter to accept her and Mars’ love child. My Venus is dancing to please herself, and doen’t care if she has Juputer’s approval. She is dancing with her own joy.

Venus Dances For Herself is needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature. Her black coat is patterned with swirls, stars, and a sylized Venus “tattoo.”

Venus is further embellished with hand sewn crystal and glass beads. Her eyes are irridecent glass gems that are glued and felted in position, and her whiskers are fashioned from fishing line.

I will remind you about Venus, and the story show again as the date approaches.

Wartski Art Dolls and Sculpture

Art dolls and mixed media sculpture