made in france

Float, 6.5 x 4.5″

Teather, 6.5 x 4.5″

Engage/Disengage (Sold)

Pulse

These are some of the pieces I did in Lacoste. Im so excited that Engage/Disengage sold at the show in France!  A sweet couple from Germany bought it and then I saw them again the next day at the market.  Im starting to get my portfolio together and I have big plans to create a website/online portfolio and redesign the blog! With the way Ive been procrastinating lately it seems like it may never happen, but it’ll get there.

Chris and I have been reorganizing the house and donating our stuff to Union Mission. Ive been working on my studio and its starting to look pretty good. I’ll be back soon with pics of my paper storage solution!

vernissage

Finally, here are some photos of my installation, I Stay Around the Positive Ones so I dont get Taken Under. I collected used tea bags from my peers in Lacoste, sewed them on raw silk, then created three dimensional vessels from the fabric. My gallery space had a beautiful stone wall and I knew I wanted to do something with it. The vessels hang or sit on the irregular wall with string connecting some together. In this installation, I created community and connections while representing the individual through metaphor.

sagrada familia, barcelona

Things seem to be happening slowly slowly here lately. I was in Barcelona towards the end of February and these are some shots of La Sagrada Familia cathedral designed by Gaudi. It is still in construction so it was interesting to see how things are coming together.

The chapel was blocked off so I lifted my camera over the barriers so I could see what was back there.

I loved that most of the stained glass windows were unfinished so the interior was filled with light.

picking back up

Well hello darlings! I have been away from the blog for way too long. Thanks for sticking around! Ive been back in the states for a month now and I have finally been able to recuperate and process my trip. I still have so many photos to go through so I’ll upload in stages so as not to overwhelm you too. I left off after our trip to Paris I believe, but first, why didnt I buy this whole suitcase full of buttons at the antiques market in Paris!?

Shortly after we got back we drove over to Rousillon, a town near Lacoste, where they process (or used to process) the ochre pigment from the earth. The hillsides are covered in beautiful earthy golds and reds.

So here I am in Rousillon.

And all of us.

The stained shirts of the workers from years ago.

We got to experiment with some pigment in the workshop and I bought a wooden box with 12 little jars of gorgeous pigments.

Rousillon was beautiful but I still have to show you photos of Barcelona and Vernissage, our gallery opening, from the end of the quarter! So much to catch you up on! I hope you all have been well!

small progress

Machine stitching on vellum. All of the vessels are connected with jump stitches (loose threads that connect the stitching). I like the sketched quality of these and that you can see the jump stitches from the back as well.

Machine stitching on vellum.

Machine stitching on vellum.

Watercolor, tea and machine stitching. These vessels are also connected with jump stitches.

In progress. Tea and machine stitching with jump stitches connecting each vessel. I am going to go back into this one with watercolor and see how the loose threads affect it.

4 small postcards. Earth pigment, tea and machine stitching.

You might remember this one from the last post. I took out the read threads and appliquéd a tea bag over the tea stain.

vessels

I have been thinking a lot about the mind/body connection lately, how the mind has incredible control over the body, and how we are connected to everything around us. Here are a few things Ive been working on since Ive been here:

I was using the tea bag impression a lot this summer but didnt exactly know how to use it. Now I finally see how it fits.

For me, the tea bag impression represents the entire process of making the tea. Filling the tea kettle, listening for the gentle roll of the boil, steeping the tea bag and relaxing to enjoy a cup. It is very meditative and helps me slow down and re-balance myself. This is the psychological aspect.

The vessels are physical. Ive been seeing them as boats, but Im trying not to get locked into that just yet. They represent the body, the journey, and what physically connects us to the world and each other.

I am stitching over the tea impression, reinforcing the mark, creating physical connections. Sometimes I also collage with the tea bag.

In this piece there was another red line under the small boat but it looked unbalanced so I took it out. I like that the holes are still there, maybe a broken connection or a psychological connection.

I tried creating the “environment” or “atmosphere” by directly painting with watercolor. Meaning I was putting brush to paper using intentional strokes. This turned out horrible and I wanted a more indirect approach so that I wasnt in control and I could let things just happen. Now I am essentially doing a mono-print with the watercolors and I love the result. It reminds me of the irregularity of color in the stone here.

I would love to know what you think, please feel free to make comments and suggestions. What do you see? How do you feel we are connected to ourselves, our environment, and others? Feedback is more than welcome!

second round in paris

My second trip to Paris was very exciting. We went non-stop the entire time going to museums and site visits and just walking around the city.

As a disclaimer, the wordpress editor does not want to separate my pictures when I try to put space in between them, which is why everything is going to be a little close this time. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt, its a very fickle thing this wordpress editor. Anyways, on to the photos…..

Our first stop was Prell. They are a 5th generation weaving company.

They created the fabrics used in the Marie Antoinette movie from the original fabrics in their archives. All of the fabrics they produce now come from their archives. Their current exhibition is their Art Nouveau fabrics.

The Pompidu Center was having an Alberto Giacometti exhibit, one of my favorite artists.

He mostly used plaster but his figures look like they have been rusted.

Giacometti used his studio walls to work out his ideas. They are like pages from his sketchbook, he would draw and write all over the plaster walls. After he died, his studio landlord wouldnt renew the lease, so his wife had the walls removed so they could be preserved.

We also went to the Christian Lacroix exhibit at the Louvre. They had his pieces separated by color and pattern. My favorites were the Blancs.

The Greens.

Polka dot dress with lace.

A Paris metro station with beautiful painted graffiti on the walls.

Thats me freezing my tush off in front of Notre Dame.

Prayer candles inside Notre Dame. We happened to be there during mass so we sat for a little while and took communion. It was a very nice experience.

We went to Li Edelkoort, which is a trend forecasting studio. I wasnt allowed to take photos in the studio, so I took one in the bathroom. I liked the trough sink. We watched a presentation on trends and color forecasting for summer 2009. The studio and the trend books were amazing, I wish I couldve photographed them to show you.

A Paris street.

My feet on a Paris street.

After the rain, the trees had so many gorgeous colors.

On our last day we went to an antiques market. I got scolded a few times for taking photos. Oh well.

I couldnt read what the letters said, but I imagined them to be old love letters.

A suitcase full of buttons.

This was the sink in the Avignon train station. The left nozzle is the automatic soap dispenser, the middle is the automatic sink, and the right is the automatic hand dryer. Genius.

the lace lady

By the time I got to the studio today to take photos of my work it was too dark to get any good shots so it will have to wait till I get back from Paris. In the meantime, I wanted to show pics of the lace lady’s booth at the market in L’Isle sur la Sorgue. This is one of my favorite markets and she is an expert on antique handmade lace and embroidery and had so many things to show us. Enjoy!

Handmade lace is made using a template, pins and bobbins of string. They would pin the template into this pillow, then wrap the pins with the bobbins to create the pattern.

 

 

This is the template she gave me as a gift when I bought 3 of the small bobbins. Its paper but almost looks like leather.

 

 

 

 

Notice there is no “W” on the embroidery sampler. From what I understand, the English brought “W” to the language and it is not used in French.

I will be back in 4 days hopefully with new inspiration and lots of photos to share!

studio and bedroom shots

My friend Christy and I did this tea bag installation in our studio window. After people heard I save my tea bags they started giving me theirs from the cafe.

I like the little cheesecloth ones.

A little sailboat embroidery.

This is a view of my bedroom from the doorway. I am really lucky to have my own room.

Mom, see that scarf hanging from the wardrobe? I hope you like it!

I think I might be the only one here with a double bed. It is hard as a rock but I guess it beats a twin and sharing a room with 3 people.

We are leaving for Paris tomorrow! I am going to try to photograph some of my work and post later today because I wont have my computer with me and limited access to the internet. Have a great day!

matali crasset

During Matali Crasset’s workshop we were given the assignment to build a new world only using paper. Our concept of this world was that the earth was no longer able to create seasons, so in order to avoid a year long summer in desert conditions, the humans created robots that lived in the clouds and manufactured the remaining 3 seasons. We were split up into 4 groups to work on things like architecture, transportation, nature, and robots. I was in the robot group and had a great time creating them and thinking of specific tasks they would perform.

Installing the structure

 

The robots. One makes water by combining hydrogen and oxygen, one holds the water, one condenses the water into ice, one is a fluffer to fluff up snow, one distributes the water/ice/snow to earth, one creates energy, and one communicates to the robots. They all have an orange engine with a yellow communication device built in.

 

My robot, the “distributor.” Other robots can dock at any of the 4 docking stations around the bottom and the distributor would shoot the rain/ice/snow out the large cone.

 

 

Matali with the cloud world.

What I learned from Matali:

I learned to ask questions. To dig deeper to find the most basic and underlying parts. Keep it simple, form should follow function. Color is a universal language.