In this space...

She leads me to the gallery full of freshly hung work for the UNC Gala show that opens tomorrow. "You can get out but not back in to the room." she said. "Just turn the light off when you leave please." "Thank you so much!" I reply as the door closes behind her.

Alone in the gallery or space before a show opens is like climbing into a seed pod before it blossoms. I am surrounded by possibility, story, and process. Possibility that someone will engage with the art work. Stories told and stories perceived. Processes that have happened and will happen. I am left in the space and met with my five canvas on the cream colored carpeted wall. I open my box and pull out the skein of black perle cotton used to stitch on the canvas. There was little hesitation in that moment of time as I tie a knot to a piece of string already hanging from the fifth canvas (image to the)left and begin to unwind the skein. The yarn dances and loops around itself. It puddles on to floor just as I have imagined. Suddenly, I discover that the yarn has the ability to stick to carped wall. This variable is magic and I am drawing with yarn on the wall and floor! It bridges the space between the wall and floor, changing the overall dynamic of the pieces. The unknown has made the space full and the piece complete. Stop. Up until this minute, it was not finished.

Stop

Now it is complete

It exists for now

This work

On this wall

In this space

Inhale

Exhale

The ship has set sail

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I will post pictures soon of the actual exhibit. Nothing beats seeing artwork in person though if you are able to do so! The University of Northern Colorado Gala is Saturday, February 12. The art show begins at 6:00 pm and is free and open to the public. The music and theatre performance is at 8:00 pm and is a ticketed event. Please visit http://www.arts.unco.edu/gala/index.html for more information. Hope to see you there!

Weaving! (at last)

The loom is dressed and ready to go!
This is the top layer of the double weave

This is the bottom layer of the double weave

I am still in the sampling stages of this process but I am quite excited to discover what can be done with double weave!

And we're back...

After some delay, I am back in the studio again. My head has been out of commission for the last two months between my exit portfolio for graduation, filling out graduate school applications, Christmas, and work. I spent this past Saturday milling around the studio and pulling some experimental screen prints. I am trying to find efficient ways of screen printing without a frame.

And after some technical complications with class registration and financial aid, my semester is officially underway with Weaving and Renaissance Art History (I sadly had to drop my Multi-Cultural Psychology class).

Weaving has been interesting so far because I've been helping people dress their looms and even taught one of the class sessions! I was worried that I'd forgotten how to weave but the aforementioned situations quickly refreshed my mind. I am working on a larger (much larger) loom this time, a beautiful Macomber to be exact. First project: Learning double weave. What does this mean? We will all know what it really entails (my self included) in a few weeks but the basic ideas is that two pieces of fabric can be woven at one time, one on top of the other. More to come!

Latest Series

How time slips away with the wind! Above are drawings from last semester. Thank you James and John Holden for the photographs!

The idea of phonetic spelling has launched a new series of images made up of screen prints and ghost prints with acrylic on canvas. Words such as life, death, and hate are spelled phonetically with yarn to create a resist before the print is pulled. The words are stitched with yarn and the leftover string hangs knotted at the bottom of the canvas in space. These rather serious words have lost some meaning in this culture and we are prone to using the words like “hate” or “love” so loosely. Upon suggestion from classmates, these “heavy” words are juxtaposed with “light” almost random words such as “cupcake”. There are currently nine pieces in and I plan to expand the series!

Art Show Photos

Remembering

Photo by Chuck Hanson

In Search of Catharsis

Photos by Jonathan HoldenRip, Stitch, Mend

Photos by Jonathan Holden

The Last of Summer’s Rain

Written August 7, 2010

My mind cannot help but wander
As I gaze across the barren desert
There in the distance
Blooming on the eternal horizon
A single cloud

Upon embrace
I realize how I have missed you
A silent piece of my world
There all along
Between the shifting shadows
And curtains of chiffon

In the heat of a summer’s day
I felt the swift rush
Of an evening storm
Through the tips of your fingers
My heart longed to be held captive
By your pouring rain

In that moment I felt electricity
Lightening grazing the earth
Illuminating the sky
And making my veins pulse with life
Still echoing in the canyons of my mind
As the sun peeks over the bluffs

Autumn Fire

My latest in progress project

Autumn sun and winter moon

The trees ablaze

The air alive
As I burn fabric on the back porch

I am working on 4 wooden frames, hinged together like an accordion book. The frames were once covered in old, off-white paint and sticky gunk. I cleaned, sanded, cleaned again, adjusted screws, and re-painted the wood. From these frames hang sheer, layered, polyester fabric ranging from black and gray to white. This fabric burns beautifully! The light gray fabric was somewhat difficult to find. I bought the remaining 3 1/2 yards from Denver fabric online. When my order finally arrived in the mail, I felt like I had the last pieces of gray sheer in world!

The burning stage of this process (hence the mask) has started. I am trying not to get carried away by torching the whole thing so I have been taking this project a little slower. After the holes finished, areas will be stitched and mended. We shall see where this piece of string ends!