Creating a New Project – An Animal Alphabet

This week, I wanted to share a new project with you. Though I’ve been working on it for a while, it’s a little different from my normal style! It’s been so much fun to branch out, though facing a new set of challenges can be daunting, too. Of course, that makes success feel all the better!

I had already been thinking a little about experimenting with screenprinting when my friend Lisa Fiscus approached me about developing a product for children. Lisa has created an amazing space in the Hawthorne House - it is equal parts fine decor boutique, interior design headquarters, and inspiration central! In addition to running her interior design services out of the building, she also offers a great selection of antique furniture, contemporary furnishings, and local art in the renovated showrooms. As the house was originally designed by Athens architect Fred Orr, we met when I was hard at work on the Orr2 exhibit that was held in the Circle Gallery in April 2009. For many of his buildings still standing in the Athens area, I created a silk piece highlighting a particularly interesting aspect of the design. In the case of the Hawthorne House, it was so amazing that I sketched the entire thing for my silk piece! Here it is:                        

Lisa recently decided to expand her offerings to include decor for children’s rooms. Though the shop carried some of my silk pieces, she asked if I might be interested in designing an animal alphabet. Her idea was to display a prototype in one of the vignettes that she would be setting up around the store in preparation for the big annual party. 

Since we wanted to develop a set of letters that could be used in any combination and in many different formats - on a pillow, as a wall hanging, even on pajamas! - we decided to choose a few to display on individual squares of fabric. After much discussion, we eventually chose a cotton muslin in a light cream color. 

As for the pictures - well! The alphabet is so long, and there are so many animals to choose from! Studying dictionaries, encyclopedias, children’s books, talking to friends and family – I tried everything I could think of to come up with designs of animals that were unusual, recognizable, and aesthetically pleasing. Some letters were especially tough, like X and V and N, but my favorites were the elephant: 

 and the fox:

Finalizing my decisions and making the sketches was a lot of fun, but when it came time to print, I had a lot to learn! Though I silkscreened a couple of times in college classes, the details had to be worked out on my own this time. What kind of inks work best? What consistency is most effective? What’s the best way to blend colors? As each order would be unique, I wanted to offer customized colors, but I also wanted to be able to reliably reproduce colors. Watching someone create a silkscreened print, it looks so easy - but I worried about every step of the process!

 

 

It’s important to do a series of prints when silk-screening, as you never quite know which ‘pull’ is going to be the best. You don’t just make one, as I do with my silk paintings – and you have the opportunity to print on different cloths in the same series to see how the ink and design and fabric all work together. One thing I continue to be amazed at is that when silkscreening on a heavily textured cloth, the ink does not move down into the ridges and valleys of the cloth the way my silk dyes do – so the image left on the cloth is textured too, rather than being crisp and saturated. Smoother fabrics seem to take the print better – but I would love to figure out a way to achieve a crisp print on textured fabric! 

For the prototype that is still on display at the Hawthorne House, I decided to spell out the name of Lisa’s son. After much trial and error, and lots of repositioning, I completed the sample and hung it on the wall over a beautiful antique bed next to a giant lamp made from Hable Construction fabric. The vignette looks great! I’m so excited about this new direction that my work is taking, and I am pleased to have finally mastered this versatile skill. Though I’m still stuck on X and V and N, if you have any suggestions, let me know!!

 

Delight and Wonder

"…the artist appeals to that part of our being which is not dependent on wisdom, to that in us which is a gift and not an acquisition- and, therefore, more permanently enduring. He speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives: to our sense of pity, and beauty, and pain…"

…Thank you to my friend Terry C. for sharing this Joseph Conrad quotation with us this week.

Colors of Spring

The March winds are blowing today. The sky is dark and grey, then I see the long lines of blue sky open up and the sunshine flows through. The days are getting longer. The night skies are getting clearer. I don’t have to wear 3 layers of clothing to stay warm all of the time! All of these signs of spring are tugging at me, and that means my creative juices are beginning to flow again.

In the middle of the winter, which can be cold, and the middle of the summer, which can be very hot, I find myself wondering why I’m not as productive, creatively speaking. I spend time in the studio, but I focus on the less creative aspects of my business: sorting, organizing, and cleaning, feeling okay-productive because I know I am taking care of housekeeping tasks.

Yet I know, in the big scheme of things, that even when I’m doing those ‘mundane’ jobs; even when I’m not in front of a sketch book with pen in hand, even when the dyes are still closed up in their jars, my mind is working on design problems, noticing the colors in the sky, the smell of the coffee, the sounds on the street, the shapes and composition of that plate next to that cup….

Then when Spring arrives, my mind is like a horse at the starting gate. Rearing to get out. I’m not even fully aware of it, I just start doing more  - noticing more. The sketchbook gets opened more often, the journal has longer entries, the discussions with friends get more deep. All of a sudden, I am trying to solve the problems of the world – on the small scale as well as big, and I’m trying to solve the problems of being in a creative line of business, and I am delving deeper into current design problems and challenges.

You can see the effects of spring in my work, too. Not surprisingly, the color palette lightens up. It’s fun to step back from a new silk and see all the pretty colors, the yellows and blues and pastels and lavender floating before my eyes. I think “pretty”, rather than “profound”. I look for new inspiration. With a new sense of lightness in the air, the perception of lightness pervades the designs. I think of watercolors, colored pencils, of clarity and softness. I welcome Spring with open arms and open heart.

I look forward to sharing my new designs with you. What do you see opening up for yourself at this time of year?

Hanging the Silks

Have you ever found yourself admiring the art on display at a gallery, coffeeshop, store, or restaurant, and thinking about all of the work that goes into getting it there? Not only does the artist have to take the work from idea to reality, and make all of the arrangements to have the work displayed, but there is also the presentation of each individual piece to consider. And as my friend Lydia (GeneralSteuben.blogspot) always says - presentation is everything! 

Each artist has their own set of concerns, of course. Some think that the art should speak for itself, and do very little to prepare it for display. While that can work, I think that the display should always be a conscious decision. Considering the appearance of each piece and the best way to present it to viewers shows respect for their attention. I am always interested in ways to enhance the way people experience my work - and as a fiber artist, I have even more options than a painter or a sculptor. Texture, weight, size, color, design, theme, location - I try to take everything into consideration when I am preparing to display my work.  

While some artists like to plan out the arrangement of their works well in advance, sometimes even before they are created, I prefer to get a sense of the space once I am there before deciding how to lay out the artwork. I definitely don’t restrict myself to the surfaces of the walls! I look at the dimensions of the room, the size of the walls, and ask what options do I have to do something unusual. How does the space feel? I look to see if I can stretch wires across the space, below the ceiling, so that I will be able to hang the work away from the walls in a free-floating way -– I have always been enamored with the way silk floats and spins in space. 

When the UGA Ramsey Center commissioned a piece, Kind Words Rising, for their special events entrance hall, I was blessed with an abundance of space. In designing the piece I was able to take all of that space into consideration when I was selecting fabric, choosing a size, and considering coloring. The silk pieces are 4x15 feet, and hang from the ceiling with a special bearing that allows them to rotate slowly with the changing air currents. In this case, I could create a piece with the display options in mind.

My first solo exhibit, Ethereal Spaces, consisted of a series of images that came from our home. I planned to hang the art in a way that mimicked the layout of my octagonal house - but the pieces presented a bit of a challenge. What is the best way to display a square yard of fabric? I chose to hang it from a clear acrylic rod, so that the hanging method did not visually compete with the designs, yet the weight and the texture of the fabric could be sensed.  

For a long time, that has been my standard method of display. But over the past year or so, I’ve been reconsidering my options. One client chose to have a deep frame built for their silk piece, placing my hanging arrangement inside the frame, in front of a white background. I thought it was a marvelous way to protect the work, yet still retain the three-dimensionality of the piece, and it got me thinking about other possibilities.

For the recent Orr2 exhibit, I tried framing pieces that were stitched onto a large white mat. One of the smallest pieces I had ever made - only 3”x4”! - became the logo for the exhibit:

 Because it was small but powerful, I framed it in a neutral frame - very light-colored wood - with a lot of white space around it. I had a feeling that this might be a great solution because even though it was tiny, it was a strong design, it was on a more substantial linen fabric, and the vivid colors were layered on, giving it a striking luminescent look. It deserved the attention that the frame brought to it. 

Since the success of the experiments with the Orr2 exhibit, I’ve been thinking more about new and different ways to present my work. Of course, each piece and each exhibition presents a new set of challenges, and I have found that letting the specific situation inform the solutions is the way I like to work. One of these days, though, I hope to try stretching the painted silk on a frame, like canvas is stretched, or perhaps wrapping it over a canvas that has been stretched on a frame - yes, that would give the whole piece more substance and weight. While I love the movement of the fabric, and have always tried to incorporate that into my displays, perhaps the design should take precedence and the fabric should merely enhance it. What do you think? I always welcome opinions and ideas - if you come across anything interesting, or have a preference, feel free to let me know!