Doris Salcedo

About eight years ago or so, I started collecting magazine clippings and photos and organizing them in binders. This was spurred initially by being overrun by magazines. (I love ordering magazine subscriptions...it is always so great to go the mailbox and find something new and interesting waiting for me.) My binders, one for fashion, one for baking, one for cooking, one for dream home ideas, one for crafty projects I might just do some day, etc. allowed me to hang on to the best snippets of my magazines and recycle the rest (hopefully avoiding ending up as an eccentric elderly woman crushed in her home by her possessions someday). Unexpectedly, the binders also became a sort of Encyclopedia ala Betsy...a catalog of my interests and tastes that I could see change over time. An old-school version of Pinterest I guess...with scissors, glue, and protective plastic sleeves. 

When I entered grad school, my clippings expanded to include photos from library books. Of course I did not cut them out of library books...instead I scanned the photos and printed them out. When I flip through this binder, it is like entering a time warp. I am whisked back to my first couple years of study...the ideas, the struggles...ah....those were the days...

Today, I leafed through my "interesting artists" binder and I came across Doris Salcedo. She is an artist from Columbia and works with domestic furniture and cement, among other things. I never took the time to learn a lot about her specifically but I always respond to a certain haunting quality in many of her works. The fabric details emerging from the cement filled furniture seem like looming, heavy memories.

The images above include a range of Salcedo's pieces. You can read more about her here and check her out in PBS's Art 21, Season 5.

Mona Hatoum

Thinking about Lebanese born, Palestinian artist Mona Hatoum today. She seems like she will chase down any material or technique to best convey her ideas. You can read more about her here.

Laura Sharp Wilson

I was working in my studio this morning on some smaller pieces when my mind wandered to the work of Laura Sharp Wilson, an artist I encountered at the Byron Cohen Gallery in Kansas City, Missouri. I went running to my computer to look for images and info. I snapped the photos below at her exhibition, Sculptures, way back in 2005. I was and still am attracted to Wislon's careful use of texture and attention to detail...not to mention the playful, alien, cute yet strangely dangerous world I find myself immersed in. I love the painstaking work with little pieces of paper, bits of clay, natural materials, cloth, and dabs of paint.

From what I can gather online, Wilson currently lives and works in Salt Lake City, Utah. I can't find images of her sculptures, save what I have squirreled away in my files, but I do see lots and lots of paintings such as the one above. You can see a selection her current work at McKenzie Fine Art Inc.

Meghan Currie Yoga

In some ways, this post may seem a bit off topic.
Afterall, I am usually posting about art, not yoga. However, this video really struck me on a couple of different levels. First, as someone who has done yoga for years, I was amazed by Currie's strength and control. I am in awe of her discipline and the obvious commitment to her practice...these are things that are essential as an artist too. Second, this video has an animated quality which I am always interested in. Chopping up otherwise smooth movement and speeding it up in this case, along with the soundtrack, makes me look at it in a whole new way. Last, it is awesome to see the body flex and contort...so many forms and positions and ways of balancing. The maker in me is excited about the many ways Currie's form interacts with the ground.

You can visit Meghan Currie's website here.

Kate Budd: Elegant and disturbing forms I want to hold in my hand.

Recently, a new friend suggested I look up Kate Budd. I did and now I can't get enough. I love the simplicity of form and the tremendous attention to surface.Wow! She can really transform materials. Graphite over wax...who knew! Take a look below and then make a beeline to her website for more: http://katebudd.net/home.html

The Amazing Felted Works of Stephanie Metz

Last month, when I was preparing for a needle felting demo at Washington & Jefferson College, I came across the work of Stephanie Metz. I hadn't ever heard of her before and I was blown away. She does great things with wool....even drawing on paper! It becomes something else entirely in her skilled hands.

Check out the images below adn then visit her website for more...



To Tallahassee and back again...

It has been a busy few weeks...as evident in my sorely neglected blog.  I have been doing some traveling for exhibitions - the first of which I am excited to share today.

Last year, I applied to be in a fibers exhibition at Florida State University. I was rejected (sigh!) but along the way, my work made it in front of the eyes of Dr. Viki D. Thompson Wylder. It turned out she was curating another exhibition simultaneously...one  in which my work fit perfectly! She invited me to be part of her exhibition, "Coming Out of the Closet: Clothing as an Emergent Art Form" at the Mary Brogan Museum of Art & Science in Tallahassee, Florida.

Of course, I was thrilled at this opportunity. The show opened on November 4th and will be up through February 26th, 2012.

My piece "Rag Rug" along with two small drawings on the gray wall to the left!

A huge dress made of velvet and a pool of blue organza by Beverly Semmes.

Amazing stapled steel wool garments by Lydia Friedland

One of my favorites, Red Sisters, by Priscilla Roggenkamp

A collection of dresses and shoes by Linda Hall...the fragile and delicate tissue paper seems like skin.

Guerra De La Paz

Thin Dresses by Priscilla Roggenkamp

The striking Heritage/Inheritance by Laine Wyatt fit the curved space perfectlty.

When I walked through the doors of the exhibition, my jaw dropped. I felt like I was surrounded by a long lost family of like-minded artists. It was great to meet so many of them at the opening.  The experience was very inspiring to say the least.

It was also great (mostly in retrospect :) ) to drive the long trek from Kansas to Florida. I forget just how massive this country is and how distinct its regions are. I met a lot of nice people and even saw some manatees and gators!