Artistic Endeavors Roundup
This edition of Artistic Endeavors features lots of videos, not surprising in our time of virtual exhibits. Most of the work is fiber, though I’ve ventured into another medium. Warning: this is a picture heavy post.
I wasn’t aware of the work of Leslie Gabrielse, even though it is featured in “Art Quilts Unfolding,” until I came across a video showing an extremely speeded up creation of his art quilt, “Ocean Life.” To make this large (93″ by 48″) piece Gabrielse roughly cut and laid down chunks of diverse fabric, including a man’s shirt, following a cartoon he overlaid on gauze backing and batting. He flipped the cartoon up and down as he worked at a design wall. The pieces were held together with rough hand stitching. His fabric choices seem culled from thrift store bins. No designer fabric is in sight. Then he added details with acrylic paint and stencils. You can see photos of his process at the bottom of this page. (I hope the links work as they weren’t on December 4.)
For a glimpse of interesting work in fiber I suggest the Surface Design Association’s Mandatory Color show. I was taken with Barrie Mason’s “Skin Deep” in thread and wire.
I was amused by “Hedge Your Bets” (by Kim Ritter and Kay Hendricks) in the midst of much Covid-19 related work in the show.
Thanks to Sue Benner, who has a piece in the show, I learned of “Expanded Dimensions,” now on view at the Riffe Center in Columbus, Ohio. The center, with the show’s curator, Tracy Rieger, has made the show available virtually in three forms: a room by room video, a slideshow, and a curator’s tour. I dipped in and out of all of them. Because almost all the pieces are somewhat sculptural, the video and tour help you appreciate how the pieces look in person. For example, Myers’ piece is huge, over 110″ long; and McCavour’s work is thread painted and each bit floats separately, suspended from the ceiling.
Yet another online fiber show that just started is Excellence in Fibers VI at the New Bedford Art Museum. The website helpfully presents accepted work by type – installation, sculptural, vessels, wall and floor, and wearables. Here are some works that struck me; many involve lighting.
You can also take a virtual tour of the Quilts=Art=Quilts exhibit at the Schweinfurth Art Center. This annual exhibit features work by many prominent art quilters. I will warn you that the tour swoops around and I found it a bit difficult to control. The list of artists juried into this show contains many familiar names, and I thought little of the work broke new ground. My reaction may be a result of how hard I found it to look at the work head-on in the video tour.
In another medium, because I love her photographs, I’m linking to Dorothea Lange’s digital archive at the Oakland Museum of California.
Finally, if you’re a SAQA member I recommend Jane Dunnewold’s recent critique session available as a video. The way she expresses comments and thoughts on the work of three artists is masterful. She draws the artists into the process and makes it plain that it’s their artistic vision that counts, whether or not anyone else shares it.
Artistic endeavors
In addition to quilting, or, for the past few years, virtual quilting, I play around with other creative pursuits. I’ve sewn a few bags, because I hate paying for bags that aren’t exactly what I want anyway. Zentangling, or at least my version of it, is another way I soothe my brain. I’ve also played around with acrylic paint. I’m by no means a great artist, but I found a technique that makes pretty designs and also works like meditation for me. Have you seen the dot mandalas popping up all over Pinterest?
I went about it backward, of course. Normal people would have started with a tutorial, painted a simple, small mandala, then moved on to larger canvases. Nope, I saw a photos, said “I can do that,” and painted a 4 foot long plywood hummingbird with dozens of mandalas.
And then I turned it over and painted the other side.
I figure I had about a hundred hours in the project, which was one of 26 displayed throughout Rotary Botanical Gardens, then auctioned off at the end of the summer.
I did it again the next year, this time on a fish that had nearly twice the surface area as the hummingbird. I used an actual fish as my inspiration, the Queen Trigger Fish on one side…
… and the Clown Trigger Fish on the other side. I thought about just leaving the black section plain, but decided to give a black-on-black mandala a try. It worked, and I love the way it looks.
I try not to think about the time vs sale price comparison, because both the hummingbird and the fish went for around $200 each. It was a donation, I remind myself.
After doing the fish, I finally looked up a video on painting mandalas. Who knew – I’ve been doing it “wrong.” I was just freehanding it, but it’s much easier if you draw guide lines – basically a + and an x through the canvas to help with dot spacing. I decided to pick up some cheap canvases at Michaels when they were on sale, and give it a try.
Twenty mandalas later, I thought maybe I should try selling them. I took them down to the Gardens and listed them at the gift shop, which offers locally made art and gifts. I’ve even sold a few. I’ve painted canvases from 4″ to 10″, and I have some larger ones when I feel up to it.
This year I’m not doing the art project at the Gardens. It’s a frog, with weird skinny legs, and it costs a lot to participate (did I mention the artist purchase the plywood shapes?). They always go very quickly, so I don’t feel guilty about not getting one this year. Instead, I’m going to paint a gumdrop shape for the Janesville Performing Arts Center’s kids’ program fundraiser. They’re doing Willy Wonka JR and the candy pieces will be on display throughout downtown.
