Saturday, August 15, 2009

Past Entries- Images Found

Well I've decided to post all my past entries into the Art/Work Show and then I will move on in the next post to more "current events" so here is a list of the things I've posted in years past.

2007 Weaving:




Both are woven on a small "lap" loom. The top is called "The Dark Lady's Mantle" and the bottom is "Forest Floor."

"Forest Floor" went to Union Station, and I to a very wonderful woman who came to the show, and loved my work. They day I delivered it to her, she hugged to her- and that was better than winning an award or even getting paid for my artwork. I hope she is still enjoying it.

"The Dark Lady's Mantle" hangs in my kitchen- and the picture does not do it justice, but was hard to photography when it's all black.

More in 2007- Assemblage:





The Top piece is called "Sumhail" and the bottom is "Piuthar" both are assemblage with polymer clay "masks"/faces that I made paper collage and found objects. I did these mask assembled pieces for about 2 or 3 years before moving on to fiber and more 3-d work. I like collage and I may re-explore this in the future.

2008- Fiber- Collage/quilt and Needle felting





The Top piece is "Sir Lionel Taraxacum- The Dandy Lion", and he's a needle felted art doll in the form of a lion. I also handmade all of his clothes (and they are removable) out of cotton, velvet and silk, with vintage buttons and trim, and he carries a walking stick topped with a glass bead. He's very dapper IMO. - you really can't see it in the picture but he has a long tail that comes to the floor and is tied with a bow (the bow matches the bow in the "pony tail" in his mane as well). I'm very proud of him-
The second piece is "Crow Augury" and is made of layers of felt, canvas, tea stained cotton, hand stamped cotton and velvet, hand drawings and free lace. There are nine crows on the image, and is made with the concept of predicting the future through observation of crows- and the various crow poems I've heard:
"One for sorrow and two for joy,
three for a girl and four for a boy,
five for silver and six for gold,
seven for a secret never to be told,
eight for a wish and nine for a kiss,
ten for a time of joyous bliss"

Well that's it, those are the pieces I've enter in the Art/Work show for the past 3 years. I hope you enjoyed them. If you want more information, just let me know. I think I will go take some pictures of what I am working on now so I can share.

Enjoy your day(s)!

Saturday, August 8, 2009

The Results are in...

My piece was not selected :( which is disappointing BUT...

1) Having my art on display in Union Station for a week is big exposure, and I had a lot of people tell me they really liked my piece. A lot said that they didn't think that it was well understood what the process of making the piece was- which was what happened last year. I made a needle felted lion art doll, and he wasn't chosen. (I thought I had a picture but I can't find it- I will take some and either update this or post about him alone.)

2) It's a great push to do something else, and step up my game. Fiber Art is a hard category in this competition. I will break the barrier I know I can- I just have to find the right piece, and blow the audience and judges away. I think I might do that with one of the art dolls I am working on, but I really want to break the barrier in fiber. I think it's become a challenge now. Despite the disappointment, I like the push- we all need that push I think- otherwise we as artists can become stale and compliant.

The comments of misunderstanding what went into and the subject matter of my piece actually led to a somewhat interesting conversation between Mr. W, my mother, and myself about "mass appeal" and that I what I do tends to not have subject matter that has "mass appeal". There was a brief discussion of whether or not I should change this. Mr. W said to me- "Yeah, but would you enjoy creating something like that-is it really coming from YOU if you "sell out" (my term when discussing this)." I sat there and stared at him a second (it really was the first thing he said in the conversation) and I said "absolutely not". He seemed frustrated that I would suggest changing my subject matters. He told me to be myself, to continue to make things that I like, develop original ideas and execute them in unexpected ways. He's right and so supportive and so many other things that I could get all gushy about but you're not here to read about all that.

So what's next? I dunno... I have other things on my plate right now- and I have a little bit of time. I currently am working on a large art doll for a woman's retreat in September, so she's taking all my art time. I will cover her in a future post (not too much in the future). I have plans for a 4-harness weaving and I got a magazine last night (Fiberarts ) that may provide more of a push and inspiration. I am thinking a weaving, or continue with needle felting- maybe I need to keep putting it in front of them so they can really see that needle-felting is an art form- and a time consuming one, to say nothing of dangerous- those barbs burn when you impale your fingers! If you didn't bleed during creation, then it's not done (a joke- not serious). I just tried to find a good definition of needle felting for this post and came up empty- looks like the world wide brain (wikipedia.org) no longer has the information about dry felting in it's entry on Felt so maybe it is a little known technique outside of my world. I am self taught, and I use different techniques than I've read about, but I started by reading Sharon Costello's instructions for figures on Black Sheep Designs. So if you are interested, that might get you started too.

Anyway to make this long story as short as it should have been- I once again have missed the elusive phase 3 opportunity- but it has not stopped me, a minor bump to my confidence but a good push to move forward. Onto the next I say!

Next time- Post on the dolls I've made both needle felted and others- some pictures of my weaving and of course I will share about autocross, we have an event Sunday, so I will have some info fresh in my mind.

Thanks for listening/reading! More sooner rather than later -
Jenn*

Friday, August 7, 2009

Overdue and Anxious

So I've been too quiet on here for various reasons-

I have been struggling with blog block and didn't really know what to write about- I have various interests and just didn't know where to start. Doll crafting- I have completed two in the last 2 months and I am working on my 3rd. Weaving- I've completed my first rigid heddle loom piece since I went to weaving class (for 4-harness weaving) and since I bought the loom. I could talk about driving autocross- I've joined my husband in "racing" the Porsche 944 he has. Plus other things-


But I really think I need to talk about something that I am involved in with my art and my day Job. The company I work for is very supportive of the arts, and the city it's headquarters are in, and every year they have an art competition that is 3 phases.

First phase is an internal visual arts show where they display your entries for a week, and the company votes for the pieces they like the most- either on-line or in person.

Phase 2 is a show in the "public" an external display of artwork- At Kansas City's Union Station. The pieces are displayed with other local businesses in Kansas City- kind of a corporate art challenge. The pieces are judged by a panel of artists and winners are selected in each category. Additionally the public gets to weigh in with "People's Choice" voting.

Last Phase isn't really a phase so much as a "prize" in that the selected pieces go on display at the annual Plaza Art Fair. This is considered a big deal because the artists that display at the fair are invited, and are some of the nation's best artists.


I've entered pieces every year for the last 3 (which is how many years they've been doing this). My first year I was selected for the Phase 2 show, and it was an amazing experience. My second year, I did not go farther than the in-house show at my company.

This year I was again selected for the Union Station show, and at this moment, I don't know if I have been selected for phase 3 or not. I am anxious to find out- but honored either way- the Union Station show is really a great experience and good exposure.

I will be attending the reception/party/announcement this evening with my Mr. Wonderful and my mother. Part of me doesn't want to go and that's the nervous little girl in me. I would LOVE to be selected, but the competition is fierce and varied in what is there. The other part of me wants to go and Mr. W says I have to go (I've seen the exhibit and he hasn't and he wants to see everything)- he's so supportive, I'm very lucky.

Here's more info on the show Art/Work - Creativity from the Cube and Union Station.



And here's the piece I entered... He's 26" x26" and is needle felted. It took a year for me to get him from concept to hanging on the wall- Ouroboros



Well I must get ready, it's a long drive into the city, and so I go with knocking knees and crossed fingers. I will let you know the outcome, and I will blog more than I have- I autocross this Sunday- do you want to hear about that, or do you want to read about the dolls or weaving? If you don't tell me I'll just pick one to begin with.