Teaching with Web 2.0

As I research options for my on-line course -- probably  "Text on the Surface" after feedback from a number of readers on and off the site -- this video by Dr. Michael Wesch, a cultural anthropologist, came across my path. Synchronicity was working overtime -- Linda wanted me to see if because of the implications for her Mass Communications teaching and research, and it opens ups a whole host of possibilities for teaching with the aid of electronic, digital interfaces. He presents an overview of the educational issues of teaching and learning in a web 2.0 world, and says that no one, no matter his or her age, is starting from scratch with this media --"There are no natives here," he says, explaining that most of what is happening of relevance to educators today had been launched within the past 3 years, and that daily hundreds of other interfaces are being created, tested, marketed, and used or discarded. So, no excuses, you aren't too old. Even today's 18 year old is faced with the same challenges of learning these new tools. Most of them, Wesch says, are still working just superficially, with no experience either at actually using the creative potential of these new tools.

It's a fairly long piece -- and specifically directed to university professors teaching young people -- but if you are interested in the landscape of kids, media, information and teaching, it's well worth the time. Although my ambitions for using technology aren't that ambitious, I do think that as a teacher the meta-message about the learning environment is one that must inform my work, in and out of the studio. Obviously, my "learners" are already looking for something meaningful; most of you who might take a course are already self-selected -- no course credit here. You might just try the first 30 minutes, that covers most of the big ideas-- though the remainder is a fascinating look at how his students recreated world history and cultures through a simulation based on "rules" of anthropology and using web-based tools.

One of the key ideas in this longer piece is well presented in a shorter, visual piece, "Information R/evolution." That how we have traditionally thought about information, as a thing, that can be catagorized -- filed -- in one kind of linear way, is no longer the case. Now information can exist simultaneously in more than one category, can be user-defined (rather than "expert" defined) and is no longer defined to a material form. "There is no shelf."

Wesch also produced "The Machine is Using Us," an great piece produced in 2007 that became one of the most-watched videos in the blogosphere ever. If you haven't seen it, the link is here.

If you are interested in creating web-based learning portals for yourself, fear not. Here are a few places I have found to play around. The first two are wiki-like aggregators that you can customize, keep private or publish to the world. Flock is a social network friendly browser that puts Flickr, My Space, etc all on your home page, Ning is a social network site that lets you build pages and whole sites around interests and then lets people subscribe to them. Stumble is a nonlinear "earch" engine that lets you find web pages you didn't know to look for!

• www.Pageflakes.com
• www.netvibe.com
  
• www.Flock.com
• www.ning.com
• www.stumbleupon.com
  

Please remember: YOU CAN NOT BREAK ANYTHING DOING THIS. You probably can't even screw up your computer unless you have no virus protection and use a PC and that's only if you start downloading a lot of strange applications. Check the site, make sure it's real and exists with actual content, not just links do other webpages,

No one is going to grade you or make you feel stupid except yourself. Yes, you are entering a public arena sometimes, but you control that. Most of the sites that I am exploring have a "private" function where only you have access to the material, links, tags that you upload or make use of. However, I would also challenge you to release some of your fears about going public on the web. I don't believe that I have opened myself up to harm, to stalking, to any physical danger by having a blog or by participaing in wikis (used authored sites). I have made many interesting connections with people whose ideas and input have stimulated my learning and my life. It is a new frontier, and we all can grow with it. 

I'd love any meta-sites that you like to use. New ones appear everyday. Some last, some don't -- we are in the equivalent of the wild wild west frontier days here -- nearly lawless, but there are fortunes to be made.

Material Inspiration

Don't you love it when an artist uses unusual and intriguing materials that completely surprise and enchant? So it is with this installation by Caroline Lathan-Stiefel at the Mason Gross Gallery at Rutgers University. I have seen Lathan-Steifel's work in magazines but never up close, and what she does with a pipe cleaner is simply stunning.

Lathan-Stiefel makes me want to push the envelope with other materials. too. (Like my sister ACN artist Rayna Gillman does with old kitchen tools and printing and soy on fabric.) Perhaps this work will inspire my garments for this year's FASA Runway Show. Can't you imagine an entire ensemble or two constructed with similar techniques and materials?

 

Interesting enough, just up the street from the art school's gallery, and at another Rutger's art must-see, the Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, is a work with similar linear interest. Russian abstract expressionist artist -- nonconformist, though apolitical-- Evgenii Mikhnov-Voitenko in this undated work, an untitled oil on canvas, was working with a similar vocabulary of shape and line. Here's the detail, then the entire work. I love how the synchronicity of creativity speaks across oceans, decades and even the choice of media.

Catching Up or Starting Fresh?

I find myself getting back into the blog after nearly a month away. Not even an intentional vacation from the page, rather a retreat from on-line life in favor of a packed August -- between exhibits, deadlines, workshops, and designing several new web-based projects, my calendar suffered a meltdown.

Perhaps more to the point, I've taken a vow to leave the computer in the studio -- or packed up in its tidy little briefcase -- during early morning and post "work hours," in the interest of sanity and domestic harmony. If this (blogging, et al) is important as part of my work, of my bigger picture of self in the studio, of the business of being the artist and teacher I want to be, then its worth doing as part of my work day. Frankly, the laptop was taking over my living room -- even the bedroom --  at all kinds of inappropriate hours. Inappropriate, because, well, live people deserve my undivided attention when I am in the same room with them. In order to step back from the brink, it seemed necessary to just shut it off for a bit, and decide how and when and what was most important to continue.

So we will see what that means. Exactly.

One issue, as I've come back online with the new month, was whether to try to catch up the record and my readers with all that's gone on -- two shows, three workshops, two trips, new art cloth projects and techniques, new classes planned and promoted. Yikes. No way. So we start fresh with today. With what's right now, as I sit here in the University Inn at Rutgers, a day early into town (New Brunswick, N.J.) for the Art Cloth Network meeting.

I have a visceral "new year" reaction to the first week after Labor Day, from 16 years of school calendars (back when schools still started after LD). The month has that new pencil, new notebook, new box of crayons feel and energy, so what better time to start on a virtual new slate. I've always considered myself lucky to have this second fresh start during one calendar year, don't you?

So here, besides the blog, are my fresh starts:

1. More time for just doing nothing. Letting quiet and peace make a space for what's new.

2. Saying "I'll think about it. Let me tell you tomorrow" before I automatically say "yes," to a request, no matter how important or  how much fun it intimates.

3. Take a yoga or NIA class weekly -- I need the class structure to move myself into fitness. The sweets of summer have gone to my waistline.

4. At least two "no drive days" each week. With planning, I can do that. Without planning I spend way too many hours in the car.

That's enough. See number 1. And number 2, even when I am the one doing the asking.

New Work -- Textile Art on the Coast

Here are just a few photos from the opening reception and Artist Talk -- taken by Linda, friends present and accounted for!

Textile Painting vs. Art Quilt

"Dreaming: The Beach" detail, 2008

We artists in this world of textiles, fiber art, quilting go round and round about terms. Is what I do textile painting, fiber art, art quilts, studio art quilts? Why is it important? For one thing, if we are to ever have a broader understanding (perhaps, demand or desire) for our chosen medium, we want that broader public to "get it." Some of us making what have become known as "art quilts" as opposed to "bed quilts" come from traditional quilting backgrounds. Others, like me, have never tried such a project, and, while respecting the tradition and while borrowing, stealing and emulating some of the technical aspects, feel that our work is more akin to a painting than a bed cover.

Then, when one adds the aspect of surface design -- actually "making" some or all of the fabrics used in the artwork -- things get even a bit more complicated.

I am taking a free internet marketing course - The Thirty Day Challenge -- that has presented a whole new set of information that relates to taking this work to the web and what words one uses to describe art. What do people "look for" and how many searches does a particular set of words engender in a day. I won't go into it indepth -- still too much to digest --but its interesting to hear how an outside perspective looks at this "content." In the rubric of this course, if one wants to actually sell something via internet, one is looking for search terms (keywords) that have at least 80 searches a day, and fewer than 30,000 competing sites that include those keywords, as well as a whole lot of other search engine criteria that put one at the top of a google page, since that is how most of the people "out there" are looking for items and topics on the web. What's really interesting is that there are a whole lot of people inventing sites for marketing purposes that have very little to do with the actual making of content or product. So how do these terms measure up? Art quilt has relatively more searches but way more competing sites. Textile painting has less competition, but not many searches either.

Meanwhile, I am thinking about the artist talk I will make tomorrow (Saturday at 4:30 p.m.) at my solo exhibit of new (and recent) work at the Rockport Center for the Arts. Here's a bit from the artist statement booklet I made for the show:

This work continues my lifelong exploration of fabric as an art medium, as I pursue a vision as expressive and personal as that of any artist who uses watercolor, oil paint, or acrylics, albeit informed by the traditional craft of the quilter. Some of the fabrics I use began as vintage table linens rescued from estate sales, or embroidered Mexican dresses that have seen one too many fiestas. I keep my eye, like the raven, attuned to things shiny and intricately patterned. The selection of ethnic textiles from Africa, Mexico, Guatemala honors the work of those anonymous hands, no doubt many of them women’s. When the fabrics come together on the design table, color and pattern are the voices that speak to me, with stories inspired by the icons, images and natural beauty of these South Texas Borderlands. Stitched lines add another visual element, tying together the tales and textures.

The techniques used to create the fabrics and the art work include hand-dyeing, screen-printing with dyes and textile paints, soy and traditional wax batik, foil and metal leaf embellishment, hand and machine embroidery and stitching. One of the appeals of this work for me is its variety of scope, scale, precision and improvisation, and its connection to both the past and the future through craft and skill.

Notice that I kind of sidestepped the terminology issue -- the mention of the "quilt" is a bit oblique. (ironically, the piece above  incorporates more machine stitching and a more regular "quilting" pattern than anything I've done before.) What's your take on this? While I don't really expect to sell large works from my website -- I think art of any kind is hard to fall in love with on a screen -- I am toying with making my altered jean jackets available, maybe doing some cards, and the idea of an online workshop or course is still floating around in my large scheme of trying to make a living as an artist.

P.S. There's a preview of 2009 dates and topics for El Cielo workshops on the Workshop page now.

Newsletter, finally: Fiber Arts Exhibits, Workshops & More

I set a goal last spring to start a quarterly newsletter to send to workshop participants, collectors, friends and family -- an emailed summary of the events and activities of my art life, and a few articles about the images, stories, natural history and materials that inspire my work. You may have received it if you're on my mailing list (or not, my list is still a mysterious and unwieldy thing) and if you didn't you can either check it out today by clicking on the link above for a downloaded pdf.

I will be repeating some of the information about shows and events, with more detail, here on the blog, so if this is your preferred window into El Cielo Studio, read early, read often!

Some reflections on the process:

The new tools available for work like this are nothing short of astounding. As a young woman, my first job was as a paste-up artist for a shopper/neighborhood publication -- Suffolk Life -- out on the end of Long Island during a brief residency after college. Each morning I took long strips of headlines and shorter sections of shiny column width text and built pages, ads, etc. It was tedious, exacting and challenging for one whose acqaintence with a ruler is tenuous, but I suppose to those who had once set metal rows of  type for newspapers, it was its own miracle of technology. Now, not only do I not need hot wax and strips of type, I don't even need paper. The photos float in; the type face changes with a whim. The choices seem overwhelming.

Publishing a newsletter takes bravery, chuzpah, ganas. As artists we who intend to sell our work (or teaching skills) must come to terms with shameless self-promotion. That little voice (well, not so little) announces with regularity, "Who the heck cares about your shows, work, ideas, blah, blah, blah." And then, get an "UNSUBSCRIBE" notice and it's immediately confirmed. (No matter that its only a few out of the several hundred sent.)

It's never going to be good enough. Just like making a piece of  art work, doing something printish (or electronicish) is prone to its own learning curve. I hope the next one will be more interesting, helpful, compelling, intriguing. I'd like to get all of my work into a more consistent style and spend a little more graphic designer mindset on it. The choices seem mindboggling, so its quite easy to let the template designers do all the work for you. By the way, the software I used was PAGES, part of Apple's iWork suite of tools. If you're on a Mac I highly reccommend the modest investment for this software. It's taken time to get a hint of its capacity, but its been well worth the learning curve.

What is this stuff? A Fiber Artist's Natural History

 

I am a chemist's daughter. Let that be the backstory.

2nd, THIS illustration from a chemical website is not really correct. There needs to be a "C" in the middle of the junction of the three "O"s for the Carbon atom and the sodium atoms (the NAs) need to be next to the two "O"s at the bottom, where they are bonded. How do I know? Because I was home this weekend and my father explained it all!

3rd: This is the first of an on-and-off series with a completely different focus (and, no doubt more esoteric, less search-engine friendly than the one on creative jumpstarts).

Let me explain: Last week I read a book called: Twinkie, Deconstructedby Steve Etlinger.

Each chapter explains the history, chemistry, manufacture, etc. of one of the ingredients (in order) of the famous snack cake -- it was a totally fascinating read for a foodie. Lurking in the depths of, hmm, maybe chapter 12, sodium carbonate appears as a predecessor of sodium bicarbonate, (baking soda) component of double acting baking powder. I read it not only as an erstwhile Twinkie eater, but as an erratic baker, as well as an artist/frequent user of sodium carbonate (sodium carbonate/soda ash) the catalyst  for the chemical reaction between reactive dyes and natural fibers, allowing for the chemical bond that colors the cloth.

 I had so much fun reading Etlinger's book ,that I have decided to do my own abbreviated version of the natural history/chemical history of some of the common "ingredients" that I use in my art work, borrowing heavily (with due credit and links) from other sources far more technically inclined than I. Obviously, if you read Etlinger's book, one could do this right, with travels and interviews across the nation to track down all the relevant sources. I will take the easy way out and just find what I can on the internet and in print. Recently, several of the internet groups lists that I lurk about have had much discussion of chemicals, health hazards and potential unpleasant interactions between the pigments, discharge agents, resists, etc that many of us art cloth makers regularly use. That won't be my focus, but some of the information from those sources may bleed out into this blog at times. Thus said, Starting with:

SODA ASH

Here's what one online definition from  the Columbia Encyclopedia says:

Sodium Carbonate is a colorless, transparent crystalline compound commonly called sal soda or washing soda. Because seaweed ashes were an early source of sodium carbonate, it is often called soda ash or, simply, soda. Sodium carbonate chemical compound, Na ₂ CO ₃ , is soluble in water and very slightly soluble in alcohol. Pure sodium carbonate is a white, odorless powder that absorbs moisture from the air, has an alkaline taste, and forms a strongly alkaline water solution. It is one of the most basic industrial chemicals.

Basic industrial chemical means that sodium carbonate is used in such varied industrial and manufacturing applications from toothpaste to detergents, glass making (its largest and most important use arguably), brick-making, to give ramen noodles their characteristic look and texture, and in our swimming pools as a ph increaser. The name comes from one of the earliest known sources: the ashes of seaweed. But deposits of soda ash mixed with naturally occurring sodium bicarbonate (known as natrum) have been were used in ancient Egypt in the preparation of mummies, as well as in early glass manufacture.

Most likely, the soda ash you use in dyeing comes from the world's largest known trona deposit in Wyoming.
Etlinger explains that the U.S. produces most (much, much, much) of our soda ash from  this huge mineral deposit in Wyoming. These mined deposits, trona mines, provide the rocks that are refined into soda ash -- a relatively simple and inexpensive process compared to the Solvay industrial process used by much of the world. 

From Wikipedia:

sodium bicarbonate carbonate (Na₃HCO₃CO₃·2H₂O), is mined in several areas of the United States and provides nearly all the domestic sodium carbonate. Large natural deposits found in 1938, such as the one near Green River, Wyoming, have made mining more economical than industrial production in North America.

The Wyoming  trona mines are huge -- the largest with more than 2000 miles of tunnels producing as much as 900 tons of minerals an hour. These giant ancient lake deposits of sodium bicarbonate carbonate have made the U.S. enormously wealthy in soda ash, and keeps the price cheap for our industrial production. Other trona deposits in California are strip mined, with huge trenches mined for deposits from other ancient lake beds.

As far as hazards (we do eat sodium carbonate in minute quantities in various processed foods), the principle problem is with inhalation and skin irritation from exposure and breathing the dust. WEAR YOUR DUST MASK AND GLOVES! From the MSDS date sheet:

Inhalation:
Inhalation of dust may cause irritation to the respiratory tract. Symptoms from excessive inhalation of dust may include coughing and difficult breathing. Excessive contact is known to cause damage to the nasal septum.
Ingestion:
Sodium carbonate is only slightly toxic, but large doses may be corrosive to the gastro-intestinal tract where symptoms may include severe abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, collapse and death.
Skin Contact:
Excessive contact may cause irritation with blistering and redness. Solutions may cause severe irritation or burns.
Eye Contact:
Contact may be corrosive to eyes and cause conjuctival edema and corneal destruction. Risk of serious injury increases if eyes are kept tightly closed. Other symptoms may appear from absorption of sodium carbonate into the bloodstream via the eyes.
Chronic Exposure:
Prolonged or repeated skin exposure may cause sensitization.

As far as its use in Procion Mx dyeing - Soda Ash is a catalytic agent -- ie, it doesn't  become part of the chemical bond between dye and natural fiber molecule, but it facilitates the bonding by making increasing ph and making the fiber molecules of cotton more available for chemical bonding with the dye molecules. For more on the specifics of dye chemistry vis a vis sodium carbonate, the best source I know of is Paula Burch's excellent website on dyeing.

Teaching and Learning

 

This piece of art cloth was made in Kerr Grabowski's Deconstructed Screenprinting weekend workshop. 

 

The pondering that is going on in my morning pages today goes something like this: Who am I learning from? What do I want to learn? What is mastery? Where do I need to stretch, how do I need to polish?

As an artist, especially if one is past the earliest stages of one's education, this can be a tricky place to land. While I relish the role of teacher, I have a longing for the path of the learner, the student. I haven't taken a formal class longer than a weekend workshop for several years now -- the workshops provide great infusions of new techniques and new energy but I seem to have a need for something more sustained ... I enjoyed and profited from the 28-day Artist Breakthrough Program offered by Alyson Stanfield, but this longing is for  something directly related to my work as an artist.

Where will it show up? Who do I need to be learning from? What would take me to the next level in my work, without just being a "technique  of the momemt." I suspect it might take me deeper into the world of precision, or sewing, or traditional quilting. I'd like something demanding and stretching, something that challenges but contributes validly to my path and work. It will take a bit more meandering, I think ,for me to answer this question.

Meanwhile, I challenge you to the same inquiry. What would you like to end the summer with that you don't know now? Is it  a new skill or a new work habit? Is it more precision or more determination? Is it fluency of idea or better drawing skills? Do you really need a new technique -- or do you need to spend more time in your studio or at your desk? If you could pick any (teaching) artist alive to apprentice with this summer, whom would it be? Can you create a virtual version or that apprenticeship by setting your own learning goals for the next three months? Cobble together a plan that includes self-study, time with books, a couple of short-term workshops or classes, a once-a-week drawing salon, a monthly gallery crawl or museum day?

P.S. If you think a weekend at El Cielo might answer one of these questions for you, check out the schedule on the workshop page -- next weekend's Text on the Surface still has a couple of openings! 

She Steps

 

A breakthrough in the studio yesterday -- that big blue quilt background that has been plaguing me finally had a visitor. I started my morning with dance as usual, and during the floor time and its final short meditation, I used Eric Maisel's 6 breath centering sequence (See Coaching the Artist Within for more information.):

"1.Come to a complete stop.

2. Empty yourself of expectations.

3. Name your work.

4. Trust your resources.

5. Embrace the present moment.

6. Return with strength."

This meditation, which one does with first person affirmations timed with in and out breaths "(I am completely) (stopping)" is becoming a practice for me. I haven't been successful at sticking with meditation techniques that ask for 20 or 30 minutes a day: I'd rather be dancing, which is for me a moving meditation about being present in my body. Maisel's 6-breath focusing technique, more cerebral and left-brained bridging) is do-able for me, and seems to be giving me what I need as I move through my day. I can call on this technique whenever -- not just at a specified "meditation" time, or when I have a spare 20 minutes (hah!).

Yesterday, I knew I needed something specific to work with when I finished the meditation, so I had Linda trace my body on some large brown paper to use for pattern cutting. Then I headed to the studio, spread out the pieced blue background, dumped out some fabrics I had already auditioned during a previous visit to this work, and started fusing and cutting.

The women who inhabit my art quilts don't come to me full blown; they really do appear in the making, somehow communicating their insights and stories as I move through the design process. I've never been one of those artists who had a preset mental image or a schematic or detailed sketch or the final project, though I do sometimes use sketching as one of the stops on the journey. My starting place is generally with color or a color scheme, and with shapes and iconic doodles that are part of my tool box, those things that have come to my work over and over and have become part of my "style."

 

By the time I left the studio last night (for a really fun evening watching a DVD of Fat Actress) this new woman had found her place, stepping from one reality into the Cosmic swirls, juggling stories and moon spheres, leaving her watery scales to become part of the stars. As I worked I realised that Jill Bolte Taylor's story had worked its way into the piece, and that this was about that step from left to right brain. I'm not going to include a photo yet, I may want to enter this in one of those prestigious exhibits that don't allow prepublication, but I'll stick in a detail to give you a taste.

I'd Rather Be in the Studio

 

No kidding.

Wouldn't we all? The teetertotter between marketing and making is yet another of those dicotomies, those dualities, that I am working to embrace.

One of the best resources I have found is Alyson Stanfield -- Art Biz Coach, extraordinare. As

I mentioned a few weeks ago, I signed up for her first Artist Breakthrough Program. The results were both helpful and surprising. I intended to work on a plan for launching a coaching aspect to my work -- mainly because I know that I am called to mentoring other people's journeys to their deepest creative work. In working through the process with 11 other wonderful artists (see links to their sites at the end of this post), my first breakthrough was that I was nuts to try and start ANOTHER "business," which even a deep calling becomes when one decides to market it or make it part of one's profession. I do have my hands full. Instead, with the rest of the 28-day program, I focused on putting together a do-able promotion plan for the exhibits and shows that I am committed to the rest of the year: Fiesta Arts Fair on April 19-20, a group show at the New Braunfels Art League Gallery in August, a solo show at the Rockport Art, also in August, and a presence in the regional quilt shows in the Dallas area, September through December at the Arlington Art Museum. This blog will play a part in keeping my focus on making the most of these opportunities, and I hope all of you that are reading will help me stay on track! My goal is to show exceptional work, to invite friends and interested audiences, to sell work and find opportunities for commissions. All of these exhibitions mean that I must be both in the studio, and on my best business behavior -- with organization, optimism and confidence -- and good promotional materials, as well. As much as we artists would like to live in our little bubble studios, those of us who must pay for groceries, shelter and the ever-rising gasoline bill, have to face the entrepreneurial realities of the marketplace.

The ABP is just the latest of the courses and resources that I've had from my connection to Alyson's web-based work, and everyone of them has been helpful -- her's is one of the blogs that I read every week; I play her podcasts on my iphone; I  refer to her materials, and now, I dip into her book -- I'd Rather Be in the Studio -- for answers to specific marketing and business  questions. And I'm scheduled for a virtual book tour when Alyson stops by this blog on April 22. I am in great company I realize, now that the blog tour has begun. The first stop was with Cynthis Morris, a wonderfully inspirational coach and writer; today's stop was at Christine Hellmuth's blog. I can't wait to read who's next, and I encourage all of you to follow along. Here's the blurb from Alyson's promotion:

I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion is for artists of all kinds. Painters, sculptors, ceramist, jewelers, photographers, and others will benefit from the easy-to-follow self-promotion practices in this book.

Author and art-marketing consultant Alyson B. Stanfield, of ArtBizCoach.com, focuses on sharing the artwork directly with potential buyers through electronic and traditional communication outlets—in a manner that is comfortable, not artificial. Artists match Internet marketing strategies with sincere personal skills to take charge of their art careers.

The book includes online worksheets and downloads.

Meanwhile, what's up for MY promotional materials?  A new website for my gallery/art work home-away-from-home  is coming soon. This blog, at least for the foreseeable future, will stay on Squarespace, but I hope to move my gallery site to .mac within the next couple of weeks, with new images, updated navigation, a more professional appearance and an easier interface that will help me keep it updated!

P.S. Here is a list and links to 5 of the artists who were partners in the Artist Breakthrough Program (in no particular order, the others will be in the next post):

Patricia Scarborough, painter 

Lyn Bishop, digital fine art 

William H. Miller, fellow Texan (Houston), photographer, digitalist, painter 

Lynne Oakes, painter and teacher 

Karine Swenson, painter, abstracts, lives in the desert 

Mavis Penney, painter, photographer, lives in Labrador

Be sure to click the links to these artist's blogs (those who have them) -- a wonderful way to catch a glimpse of the creative life in a wide world of media, locations and situations -- like studio open house visits without the travel.  

Zero InBox

Here's another helpful organizational hint from Merlin Mann's 43folders, one of my very favorite website/organizational resources. I am posting this today, because of a topic on a private blog that is being used by participants in Alyson Stanfield's Artist Breakthrough Program -- more about that in my next post.

Email can do us in, but also add immense productivity. It's all in the way we use it. Taming my Inbox has made me more efficient, less likely to succumb to cute-but-tame-wasting forwards, and has helped me keep the main thing the main thing.

More Soy, More Fun

 

Soy you want ta make some pretty cloth?

Sorry, I couldn't resist. I have been fighting technology all day, and making bad puns seems to be the only way I can get back on the sunny side.

Things were a lot more fun this weekend at the Soy Batik workshop at the Southwest School of Art and Craft. Eight participants attended, most of them from outside of San Antonio, and only one person was an APKTM (Artist Previously Known to Me). We were up to our eyeballs in dye and wax and the place reeked like a Chinese restaurant from all that soy wax. (One of the things I miss about beeswax is its luxurious scent. But I don't miss the hasstle of removing it from fabric, as opposed to the hot-water wash required by soy wax.) I think everyone did splendidly, but I always think that, because they do. This group of artists were particularly eager, experimental, able to take an idea and fly with it. Teaching is one of my true delights in life. I share with the "students" all over again the pleasure of the techniques, the sensory joy of the materials, when I see how others react to their "first time" at something new. That seems particularly true with hot wax and painted dye. The colors can't help but make your day.

Marta from Del Rio works on a watery swirl -- inspired perhaps by the creek that will be the focus of an art and science project this year in her home town. She and Linda (in back) are spearheading an exciting study at their art center, housed in the old Fire House.

Here's a sampling of work in progress. I left my camera at home on the second day, so I am waiting to receive promised photos from the participants. Unfortunately some of the emails I collected are impossible to decifer, others are just wrong, so I hope the magnificent 8 involved will see this post and send me the pics.

 

Roberto took a particularly adventurous hands-on course. He gave us all recipe calendars from his sales merchandising -- Nestle's Mexican product line -- La Lechera.  Take my word for it, the Dulce de Leche is fabulous.

 

 

One of Sharon's pieces in progress -- doesn't this look like a fabulous magic carpet? 

Hearts and Journals

 

Button, button, whose got the button? I've been making these little stuffed heart milagros, embellished with vintage buttons. The ones I'm using were gifts from my friend Zet, and a few others that I've picked up  and stashed away. But now I need more, since I want to sell these at the Love and IndepenDance sale coming up at Joan Grona gallery on February 21 and 22. I did have them (as well as some art cloth journal covers) for sale at the Federation conference -- a last-minute sales idea that recovered the cost of my room and meals on the road! ($22.00.)

Coincidentally, Linda's niece sent me a link today to this Austin artist Malka Dubrawski  and one of her posts (see January 3) showed the buttons she had bought at a nearby junk and treasure's shop. I am jealous, so I guess it might be time to look locally for some junky shops -- buttons are rarely available at my usual thrift store haunts. So, dear readers, if you know of some shops for me to check, please leave a comment. Or better yet, send me 20 buttons and I will send you a heart!

Here are a few of the journal covers:

  

Workshops in 2008

 

I've finalized my El Cielo schedule through August -- now all I need is to get the word out. These workshop-retreats are filling faster and faster, and that's good news for the studio and my larder, but I love doing them and hate to cancel, and hope that having the schedule published a bit earlier will let more people participate. So, all you loyal readers, help me spread the word by passing along a link to my schedule -- I'll post this all on the WORKSHOP PAGE within the next couple of days. I can accommodate out-of-town (meaning outside of San Antonio) participants on Friday nights even for the workshops that aren't two-nighters, that's one of the benefits of flying or driving in. Let me know if you have any questions, either on the comments here or in an email to susiemonday@sbcglobal.net. Here's the body copy, the borchure looks better, but I haven't had much luck attaching it here as a pdf. More learning to do!

Susie Monday leads workshops and artists’ retreats throughout the year at her studio near Pipe Creek, Texas, about an hour from downtown San Antonio. Designed to nurture the creativity of beginning artists as well as professionals, each participant comes away from a weekend with renewed energy, new  materials and techniques in surface design applicable to fiber, ceramics, jewelry, painting and mixed media work. El Cielo Studio workshops are designed with the needs of the participants in mind;  free time is scheduled throughout the weekend for reading, reflection and personal work in the studio. You are welcome to bring projects in process for Susie’s critique and for peer feedback in an environment of trust and respect. You’ll share meals, poetry and stories, mu- sic and advice for living an artist’s life. Enjoy the 25-mile vistas from the deck and strolls down the country roads. A spa and pool, and large screen media room are also available to participants. The fee for each workshop retreat is $160 for each  2-day event with $10 discount for early enrollment. Comfortable accommodations are available from $15 -  $30 a night . Some workshops offer a Friday night potluck option. Limited enrollment - 7-8 participants.

 ARTIST’S JOURNEY/ARTIST’S JOURNAL

January 11-12-13, 2008
Friday evening, Saturday & SundayThe new year is time to reflect, to reevaluate, to set new actions and new rituals into motion, to make new habits. This retreat will enrich your creative path through the year’s start, and, with some persistence, into the next. Designed for the fiber artist, book artist and anyone interested in journaling as a tool for creative growth, reflection and inspiration. Whether or not you consider yourself an “Artist,”  these projects in mixed media collage, a personal card deck, and an altered book will intrigue. On the optional Friday evening, mixed media artist Suzanne Cooke will guide us through the process of making a Coptic bound handmade paper journal, just the tool to take you through the first month of notes and sketches. This binding was invented in early Christian Egypt and its particular advantage is that the book lies flat when opened,; perfect  for writing or decorating as a journal.

THE HEART OF ART

February 9-10, 2008
Saturday & Sunday
Romance your creative self with a focus on heart energy. Try your hand at mixed-media valentines to yourself, chocolate as edible art, and heart chakra mediations and movement to inspire an art cloth scapular  as heart armor/amor.

CALLING ALL ARCHETYPES

March 7-9, 2008
Friday evening to Sunday
Explore the inner team that keeps you going, makes a difference and sometimes holds you back from your best life. Create a unique fiber art quilt altar to one of the archetypes. learning fusing techniques. Suitable for all levels, great for those  beginning an art journey. Note: Friday night is an optional evening potluck and stayover for a small additional fee of $10.

SOMETHING SPECIAL: Workshop in Tuscany

March 16-22 in Lucca, Italy.
Susie and Carol Ikard (director of the Texas Fiber Arts Museum and writer/researcher) will lead a week of fiber art and creativity in the mountains of Tuscany. Explore the colors, textures, natural history and traditions -- including a cooking class, visits to Florence and more. Email susie at susiemonday@sbcglobal.net for brochure, price and info. OR you can go directly to the registration site at  http://www.abbondanzatoscana.com  

WORDS ON THE SURFACE

May 9-11, 2008
Friday evening to Sunday
Experiment with different ways to use written language, letters and text on surface of fabric for application in  the making of art cloth, art quilts and art-to-wear. By putting your ideas and your personal vision into your work, you will deepen your own expression of your individual voice, finding words that are important to you. Using your story in a quite literal way can be part of personal expression and powerful art. This is a repeat of one of Susie’s popular workshop with some a few new exercises.

ALSO IN 2008:

WORDS FOR THE WHOLE  CLOTH

April 11-12, 2008
Friday evening  & Saturday
(no overnight stay)
Bring to the Friday evening workshop at Gemini Ink four or five photos of people, places, and experiences that are important to your life: images from childhood, a memorable vacation, vintage photos of ancestors, your quinceañera or bat mitzvah, anything that moves you. Led by Susie Monday, you’ll translate the photos into powerful moodscapes, capturing even intangibles that don’t show up in the pictures. Next morning, pack a sack lunch and join Monday at her El Cielo Studio near Bandera. There you’ll combine your photos and your writing with textile dyes, paints, photo transfers and other surface design techniques to create your own unique fiber art piece ready for hanging. Fee to Gemini Ink: $65/member; $75/non-member. NOTE: Saturday, April 12 fiber art workshop at El Cielo Studio is a separate fee payable to Susie, 10 am – 4 pm, is $70 & $15 supply kit.

SUMMER DATES:

CREATIVE JUMPSTART

June 21-22

FOOL MOON/FULL MOON

July 18-20

BURNING WOMAN WORKSHOP

August 9-10

WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT SUSIE’S CLASSES & WORKSHOPS:

“There was a good balance between thinking, processing and working ... you are good at letting people work at their own pace.”  
“Excellent accommodations; exquisite food!”
“I like the spirituality aspect--it drew the group together as a family for two days.”
“Great class, it was just what I needed right now. I have been in a creative slump, questioning what I do and how I do it. The exercises we did this weekend were freeing on the one hand, but will also help me focus.”
“Your workshops are ALWAYS money well spent.  I learned techniques I have read about but never tried ... I also now feel confident that I can make art quilts!”

Susie Monday can teach at your studio, guild or art center. Any workshop listed here can be adapted to your audience. Other topics available as well. She also accepts commissions and can plan private retreats at her studio for you and your friends. For more information, call 210.643.2128 or email susiemonday@sbcglobal.net

iki (いき, often written 粋)

 

I've been trying to figure out how to better describe my approach to artcloth. Improvisational is OK, but taken. And all of my methodologies aren't precisely improvisational -- I intend to print an image at times -- I just like it to fuzz away under and over and beyond some of the other surface aspects. And I don't care a lot about how precise the placement or even the coverage is. Maybe its pure and simple laziness, but if so, I am trying to take the trait and push it into a positive attribute! And I am not so interested in making something elegant as I am in making it tell some kind of quirky story.

So I was taken by the discussion of a Japanese concept called "iki," on one of John Maeda's blogs (this a new photo blog on Technology Review).

"Nozomi and I chatted about the strange "fuzzy logic" fad in Japan of the early 1990s, when it was not uncommon to see a "fuzzy logic vacuum cleaner" or a "fuzzy logic rice cooker" on sale in the Akihabara electronics district of Tokyo. The premise is quite simple: instead of encoding values as numbers, ranges of numbers are tagged as having membership association with a word. Words are such great containers of knowledge.

Nozomi suggested that our conversation was essentially about iki (pronounced "ee-kee"). It's something to do with inexactness and openness but all in all "the right fit" to a complex issue. Although it's difficult to comprehend, I totally got it. I guess iki is iki too."

What do you think? I love the part about inexactness and yet, "the right fit." As the wikipedia link above shows, iki is related to wabi-sabi, but unlike that aesthetic term and concept, has more modern and current useage in Japan.

 

I love this part of the definition:

An iki thing/situation would be simple, improvised, straight, restrained, temporary, romantic, ephemeral, original, refined, inconspicuous, etc. An iki person/deed would be audacious, chic, pert, tacit, sassy, unselfconscious, calm, indifferent, unintentionally coquettish, open-minded, restrained, etc.

An iki thing/person/situation cannot be perfect, artistic, arty, complicated, gorgeous, curved, wordy, intentionally coquettish, or cute

I am not sure but that my life, not just my work, aims for iki. Course there is that unfortunate cross-meaning and slightly different pronunciation.

Looking and reading further reveals a whole host of information about iki, and it will be interesting to study further. Just a glance revealed that "I am iki" is an impossible statement, and the following in a Master's thesis by Yamamoto Yuji gives me pause -- I think my work is too complexly textured layered to adopt iki as a descriptor, even if I thought anyone would know what I meant.

Other examples of spontaneous manifestations of iki include the locution of casual conversation, a
certain posture, dressing in a gauzy cloth, a slim body, a slender face, light makeup, simple hairstyle,
going barefoot etc, suggesting how innocuous everyday phenomena emit iki. On the other hand, works
of art can be iki, but their “artfulness” makes them rather difficult to be iki.

At any rate it is an interesting idea to ponder. Tanslated concepts are a rich gift of living in such a connnected world. 

 

All three of the photos on this post are examples of some recent artcloth. Each of them is pretty small -- the largest is about 40" long and they were are created as demo samples during my recent workshops on scraps of cotton and old sheeting. Now the challenge will be to find the same feeling and get the same qualities on larger pieces of fabric, maybe even on silk.  The first two were monoprinted with dye and/or textile paint. Then soy wax batiked with both handpainted wax and with a soy wax silkscreen. The purple and yellow piece was first layered with brown and pale blue with a deconstructed silkscreen, then soy wax batiked with a soy wax silkscreen (the same screen used on the other two pieces). I really like the batik quality one gets with the soywax screen -- I think its an interesting faux batik look that goes well with a direct waxed process on top or under. One gets the repetition of the screening process, with the overall compositional quality and layering of color of the batik. Now, just finding time and emotional focus to do some bigger pieces! iki or not.

Another, less layers, but done with the soy wax screen and thickened dye:

 

Tagged times two

I thought I might could just wait it out, but no, now I have been tagged twice with this seven things thing. My fear: there is noone else left in the bloggosphere (blogasphere? bloggingsphere? ) who has not yet had to find seven other bloggers to lead all of you eager readers to.
But no, with two tags -- first by Thelma Smith and then by PaMdora --

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

So, seven facts about myself.

1. I lived for 35 years in the same house, then picked up and moved to the country, Pipe Creek, which has a post office but is not anything incorporated or politically real in terms of elected officials.

2. Our companion animals: Rodeo the border collie, Sam the killer old man cat, Cheech, the indoor Burmese with three legs, Lucky, the kid -- Maine Coon. 

3. I never learned to type until I was a feature writer for a major metropolitan daily.(didn't want to end up a secretary, ever). The most interesting assignment was going out into the middle of the Gulf and watching people scubadive into the Flower Garden Reef, or maybe it was having to learn to rock climb, or the little family circus on the Texas border.

4. My inlaws call me Susiepedia. I think they mean it as a compliment, but I am not certain.

5. I LOVE to take driving vacations with Linda in to Mexico. Mexico is an incredible country with amazing people and breathtaking natural beauty and most Americans -- even most Texans --  never get beyond the resorts.

6. This should be no surprise to anyone who knows me: I am the eldest child, eldest grandchild on both sides. (that is me and my little sister above)

7. In another life,  (maybe my next one) I would be a travel tour organizer or a travel journalist.

 Seven taggees:

Sabrina Zarcos 

In the Mood for Arte 

Gay Pogue 

That's all I can come up with for now. Maybe more later, maybe not. It's kind of annoying to have to do this. Like a chain letter with recipes or underwear or recycled paperbacks. It sortof seems like a good idea at the time, but doesn't quite seem to pay off the way you think it might.. so I hope those I tagged forgive me if they pay any attention. 

Color Ways

 

Raspberry, lime, eggplant, lemongrass -- notice how many foods give us color names -- so what would be something fun to do with that?

Friday night my new El Cielo "Field Guide to Color" workshop debuts, the first that has included a Friday night get-together pot luck. In researching exercises and approaches I found virtual rainbows of color theory, color quizes, color lore. Just a few sites I stumbled across:

www.wetcanvas.com/ArtSchool/Color/ColorTheory/
This site has lots of good information, including a 16-part series of lessons on color, most applicable to painters but with some nuggets for fiber artists.

http://www.livelygrey.com/
Very cool color blog with interactive games and other very interesting posts. Check out Igel Asselborg’s posts on saturation, hue and brightness.

http://www.rit.edu/~rkelly/html/04_cou/cou_col2.html
Artist and teacher Rob Roy Kelly  teaches a mini course on color. Good exercises from someone who studied with Albers.

http://www.sensationalcolor.com
Professional color consultant’s site with lots on verbal color lore.

http://www.sherwin-williams.com
Color Visualizer tool can be helpful way to find coordinating colors for a project, even if its not a room.

http://www.colour-experience.org/
Virtual color museum with broad scope of information

http://www.colorcube.com/play/play.htm
more cool interactive color games, there are some really challenging ones dealing with saturation and value.

 

What a timely investigation it's turned out to be -- I have been designing a large art quilt to send off to the FASA juroring and managed to pick myself a quite challenging color palette -- one that is using cool colors to approach and warm colors to recede -- though the green/yellows are on the cool end of the cone for that hue. Anyhow, I love the composition, but I am not sure the color values work as well as I would have liked. Doing the reading on these sites, reminded me: IT'S THE CONTRAST NOT THE COLOR. If you don't have the bones down in your compostion using value, then, making the color work is always more difficult. This piece has a ground and figure, that while they are different in hue, are very close in value, so now I wonder if it holds together. Here's a couple of details in progress only, in case I  decide to hold this one as one of those " it can't ever have been published or shown before you enter it" pieces. (How does one decide?)

 

And, speaking of workshops, for those of you even thinking about attending my next El Cielo workshop November 4-5 -- "Text on the Surface."  -- this weekend's event is the second one to completely fill and have a waiting list. So if you are interested,  check the description on the link and email or call. If you don't have my contact information, leave a comment and I will forward the complete brochure. We are having a fabulous time out here in the country. (And, yes, I know it is THE Quilt Festival weekend -- so come to Texas, go during the week, and let the crowds have the show on Saturday and Sunday, come to the Hill Country for the weekend -- that's what I'm going to do.)

Beading Workshop in San Antonio

An exciting opportunity for fiber and bead artists in the San Antonio area is coming up. Larkin Van Horn who (literally) wrote the book about using beads as an embellishment on fiber art will teach a day-long workshop sponsored by Fiber Artists of San Antonio. Here are the details from the workshop flyer:

 Vessels, Shrines and Reliquaries

 

Larkin Jean Van Horn of Whidbey Island, WA will present a six-hour workshop on Saturday, November 10, 2007 at Alamo Heights Christian Church (near northside San Antonio), sponsored by FASA, but open to the general community.                                                     Workshop Fee: $50.00         Kit Fee: $15.00

Larkin is an internationally known author, lecturer, and fiber artist known for her wearable art and beading. She has been a  designer at the Bernina Fashion Show (International Quilt Festival in Houston) and is the author of Beading on Fabric. She will be teaching at the Quilt Festival this year. FASA is pleased to be able to take advantage of her proximity to bring her to San Antonio. This is an exceptional opportunity to study with a fiber celebrity at a very reasonable price.

The focus of the class in one day is on the actual decoration and construction of the shrine or vessel.  Not everyone will  finish during the class, but should  be well enough along to complete the project  at home with the information provided . Larkin will expect students to arrive with some idea of what they wish to make the vessel to commemorate - that is, if one wants to include pictures of Grandmother because the shrine is a tribute to her, one must  come with those pictures already printed on fabric.  If one wants to make something about the Day of the Dead, one would bring the appropriate fabrics and baubles.  Alternatively, one can just come and play with fabric collage and learn the construction method to apply to other things at a later date. In other words, this workshop can focus on either Process or a Product depending on the student's intent. As part of the kit fee, students will all receive a copy of  Larkin's  vessels pattern, which will serve as a printed reminder of what was done in class.

 

How to sign up for the workshop:

Make out your check for $50.00 to FASA .
Send to
Caryl Gaubatz
19818 Lloyds Park
Garden Ridge,TX, 78266

The kit fee will be paid directly to Larkin on the day of the class. A materials list will be sent to you upon receipt of check. Please include your email address(if applicable) with your check. Cancellation Policy: A refund of $45.00 will be given if Caryl is notified  by 31 October. After that date, NO refunds will be given. Questions? Call Caryl at (210) 651-0208 or email her at slothcloth@earthlink.net.

Larkin will also deliver a lecture, open to the public and free of charge, hosted by Fiber Artists of San Antonio:

TOPIC: Fabric and Beads: A Winning Combination
WHEN: Monday 12 NOV 2007
WHERE: Alamo Heights Christian Church
The church is located on  the corner of Primrose and N. New Braunfels directly across the street from Sunset Ridge Shopping Center. To access the church parking lot, turn onto Primrose and park behind the church. There is a limited number of handicap only spaces directly in front of the church.

Rusted

 

Raining again. What in the world has happened to South Texas weather. Rather than wither, we are molding up and melting. Well, perhaps appropriately, here are some rusted cloth images from some of my work and some of the Burning Women's work.

My recipe, (such that it is):

Find rusty stuff or metal thingies.

Spread out a large thick sheet of polyethelene drop cloth on the  caliche driveway. Put down a damp layer of fabric (my favorites lately have been cotton gauze).

Arrange or randomly toss on the rusty and metal objects. Sprinkle with canning salt. Put down another layer of fabric, repeat as desired.

Once the sandwich is complete, spray with household vinegar  or if the sandwich is really thick, just pour a gallon of vinegar over the entire thing.

Top with another layer of dropcloth and weight the edges with rocks. Gingerly walk around on top of the whole thing on and off for a day or a couple of days (I wear my Crocks to insure nothing cuts through). Preferably with hot steamy weather. If really dry I may roll back the top plastic and spray it all again with water).

When I can't wait any longer, peel it apart, wash the fabrics in the washing machine and make sure none of the nails or screws got loose in the driveway. (Guess why I do this now. $120 tire emergency later.)

Overdye fabrics as desired. (PS. I have also been known to pour fairly dilute dye into the whole sandwich, especially when I am using silk, the vinegar works as the catalyst and the dyes mix with the rust for some interesting colors.) 

Detail from "Desert 2" a large installation piece that will be at the Tubac Art Center this fall. (The image at the top of this blog is also part of that piece.) Both these details also include some textile paint printing using a thermofax.

Sue Cooke's study from the Burning Woman Workshop in July. 

Odds and Ends, Real and Ethereal

As an artist living on a tiny road on the top of a hill  I need to get out one way or another, or my mind and my work becomes a tiny bit insular. At the desktop, the answer and the devilish details sit keyboard-close. Technology, for those of us over 50, provides an almost impossible challenge. I still am not exactly sure how one text-messages (or if I even want to do so.) Information is overwhelming; ideas are rampant; inspiration threatens to overwhelm. As artists we struggle to balance content and technique (especially , I suspect, in the rich anything-goes atmosphere and ever-more-innovative marketeers of fiber art/craft materials and supplies). As a human I thrive on input and finding and sorting all this new stuff, both real and ethereal.

This is all to say:

Beyond the sewing table, the rust bucket and the blogs I read everyday, some intriguing sites have found their way to my inbox recently. Some mindbending  -- OK, FM (f***ing Magic, as one of my friends terms them) sites, sounds and spaces to explore.

UNIVERSE by Jonathan Harris at http://universe.daylife.com/

This site is a newsreader with a different spin. Choose any topic and see what is happening in thousands of global news media (the "content site" www.daylife.com is amazing as well) that are circling that topic. He writes in the "Statement" section of the site:

"If we were to make new constellations today, what would they be? If we were to paint new pictures in the sky, what would they depict? These questions form the inspiration for Universe, which explores the notions of modern mythology and contemporary constellations. It is easy to think that the world today is devoid of mythology. We obsess over celebrities, music, movies, fashion and trends, changing madly from one moment to the next, causing our heroes and idols to come and go so quickly that no consistent mythology can take root. Especially for those who don't practice religion, it can seem there is nothing bigger in which to believe, that there is no shared experience that unites the human world, no common stories to guide us. Because of this, we are said to feel a great emptiness.

Harris's visual sense and metaphor of mythologies and constellations is pretty cool. To find out more about him and the site, go to one of my other favorites sources of thought provoking information, entertainment and design -- the TED talks.

TED Ideas Worth Spreading - http://www.ted.com/index.php/

These are free downloads of talks given at the annual California tech-world awards that honor, give a platform to and expand the synergy of some of the world's most amazing thinkers. Event invites are highly sought and the price is astounding, but they've made available many of the best talks, performances and ideas through this site -- all for free. You can search by speaker, title or theme. Some of the ones I reccommend:

Hans Rosling -- health statistics in a whole new light

David Bolinski -- on truth and beauty in the cell

These are just a couple of the hundreds available. You can join TED and save favorites, create a profile, etc. if you wish, but the site can be used without a membership as well.

On a more practical level, here's some tips for desktop management, parallel tracks to my somewhat-in-action GTD (Getting Things Done) organizational theory becoming reality:

5 Steps to a Kinkless Desktop  -- http://kinkless.com/article/kinkless_desktop