The opening reception for “Art Colors Life”, my featured artist show with painters Chris Graebner and Marcy Lansman, is this evening during the Hillsborough “Last Friday” Art Walk. If you are local, I hope that you can brave the heat and stop by the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts to enjoy the art (and our air-conditioning!) Downtown Hillsborough will be alive, with music, art and activities.
If you are not local, here’s a link to a YouTube video I put together after we installed the show on Monday…
Last Minute Details
I’d love to write some more, but have some things to do to get ready for this evening. Hope to see you tonight.
Hi, I know it has been quite some time since I posted anything new here. I have been quite busy with things in and out of my studio. A redesign of my website is just one of those tasks. In fact, I am still in the process of the redesign, so if you click around, things might be different next time you return. This post is also a check, to make sure that the redesign still allows those of you who have graciously subscribed to my blog to still receive them.
The biggest change in my site is that I now have a static home page that doesn’t update with each post. That page is still very much a Work-In-Progress. My posts will now live here on the Blog page. Posting will not occur with as much regularity as in the past. But, I will write each time there is an event, or new development in my work I want to share with you.
I have updated my Current Gallery page, and will be working to keep it as up-to-date as possible. I am playing around with making some items directly available for purchase from time to time. That requires some interplay between this site, and my Square sales to allow for convenient and secure transactions.
I may also try to work a BlueSky embed into my new home page. That way you can see what I post there (daily) without needing to have your own account… I think?
New Work
Here are some pieces that I have worked on since the last time I posted.
Love is NurturedBoho SlowLuna MouseAvoid Shiny ObjectsFledgedFamily PhotoRabbit MoonVenetian Canard
There do seem to be quie a few new pieces here that I had not posted about!
Several are for my upcoming featured artist show at the end of July. I will tell you about them in the run up to the opening. A couple, Luna Mouse and Venetian Canard, have already sold. Boho Slow is currently available at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts.
All, are my usual construction of needle felted wool over a wire and batting armature. Some have unique qualities like the embroidery on Venetian Canard. I incorporated upcycled denim in Avoid Shiny Objects, and Rabbit Moon and Family Photo both are hanging display mobiles. Fledged, is unique in that is doesn’t include a figure, only the suggestion of one.
I have two pieces this week that are ready for spring to arrive. One is a mystical looking deer with antlers that form blooming branches. The second is a Pollinator Purse for the HGA spring Pop-Up event.
Spring
Spring
My interpretation of Spring is a melding of botanical and animal. I wanted this meditative looking ungulate to appear to be pulled from some boreal mythology. I’m not sure exactly what magic this creature possesses, but I’m guessing that it is ancient and powerful.
Spring is needle felted wool over a wire, batting, and wood (antlers) frame. I fashioned the unique antlers from chopsticks, skewers, and tooth picks drilling and gluing them peg fashion. The flowers and leaves are glued and felted to the antlers and the yarn wrap “bark.” You can watch a time-lapse of his creation on my YouTube channel.
Spring features sequin and bead dappled spots on his back, and iridescent glass bead eyes.
Pollinator Purse
Pollinator Purse
My Pollinator Purse features a needle felted and embroidered bee and dandelion design. This bag is also an example of upcycling, as the base of the pouch is a section cut from the leg of an old pair of jeans. Two pockets, one on the back, and one sewn to the interior lining came from the same pair of blue jeans. The cross body length strap was recycled from another denim bag. The zipper of the bag was also recycled, and the pull was changed out for bee charm and copper beads.
Pollinator Purse zipper and lining detail
A slide show process video of this bag can also be found on my YouTube channel. I think that I will be hanging on to this bag until the Hillsborough Gallery of Arts’ Spring/Mother’s day Pop-Up event on May 10th.
Bonus Work!
I had a couple of other pieces, one just completed and another from a couple of months back that were both gifts. They were both just delivered, so I can now share them with you!
The first was a sea life hanging mobile sculpture for above a baby crib. It is tricky to get an image of the whole mobile at once as all the elements are moving and twisting. So, instead here is a little collage of all of the seperate parts.
The other sculpture is a small snowy owl on a natural wood base. Both pieces traveled to their new home this week.
Here’s a little of what I’ve been creating the past few weeks. Recently three figures have emerged from my studio. As I wrote last time, I have been mostly posting process videos of those works-in-progress (WIP) on YouTube, or sharing on my BlueSky feed.
La-La-La-Llama
La-La-La-Llama is a small anthropomorphic llama figure that I recenlty described as lovin’ life. This “just for the fun of it” sculpture features a brightly colored almost “Klimpt-esque” pattern. Llamas are rather comical looking animals, and this one’s title is inspired by Sesame Street “La La La” song by Bert and Ernie. She is needle felted wool over a wire and batting armature.
March Hare..
March Hare
My March Hare might not be crazy, but certainly appears to be on the move. As with the Llama, I was continuing to play with bold surface patterns. I used a small weighted concrete base (encased in the little mound of earth) to counterbalance this figure, and make it appear to defy gravity.
I just took photos of this completed figure piece yesterday, but I feel she may as yet still be a work-in-progress. It continues to be hard to just produce light hearted work, as things in the world continue to be insane in a larger sense. So, as I was sketching in my journal, the idea of a winged liberty pulling herself off the ground emerged. This piece is what had developed. Unfortunately, I have to admit, she’s too cute, not beat up enough to convey what I was thinking. So, for the time being, I have set her aside, and will work on her again in the future. You can catch the WIP video of me creating her
Reminder…
This coming Sunday, February 23rd there is a special event at The Hillsborough Gallery of Arts from 4-6 pm. The poet Jeffery Beam that we’ve collaborated with for our current gallery show will be doing a reading. Stop by and check it out
Meet “Milk and Apples”. They are the latest anthropomorphic sculpture to emerge from my work table.
I must admit, they took some time. Not with regard to the actual sculpting time, but more in a manner of conception. I think I experienced something similar to a writer’s block, but not in the area of coming up with ideas, but more the desire to create? Events of the past week or so, don’t exactly inspire light joy-filled work. During this time, I also took a bit of a social media break. The owners of some of the platforms I use decided to dispense with fact checking and decency. So, I decided I didn’t want to consume their products. I’m not sure if I want to go back. In fact, if you want to follow me on social media (minus the ads, bots, and crazies) I did start a BlueSky account. You can check out things I post there at:
This little social media break also made me reconsider what I do here. I will be honest with you. Maintaining my website as a blog is really just another chore I’ve assigned myself that really doesn’t do much. I have more interaction with the spam bots that manage to evade the filters every time I post or update, than I do with actual readers. I’m still considering options. I will update you if/when I make any decisions on that front.
Back to Milk and Apples
These two rather contented looking porcine characters were inspired by a quote from George Orwell’s Animal Farm, “It is for your sake that we drink that milk and eat those apples.” For those not familiar, this is an explaination offered to the other farm animals as to why only the pigs would be enjoying those particular goods. This seemed timely to me. So, I felted my dismay into a light hearted wool wrapping. I don’t know if this has made me feel any better, but it did inspire some charming art.
Apples
The pigs are needle felted wool over a wire and quilt batting armature. They each have hand sewn iridescent glass bead eyes. Individual elements (pigs, bowl of apples, milk can) are stitched and felted through the top two layers of the base. The base is made of three layers of heavy wool felt: green, brown, and grey (not shown).
Milk
I am not sure if Milk and Apples will show up at HGA right away. I may hang on to them for my feature show. That show opens the last week of July.
