A handful of fine things

Here are five things that I am especially happy about right now.

1. Tomorrow is the grand opening of the Cute Show at the ellO Gallery and I can't wait to see my work on display and meet the other artists. Ah, what to wear?

2. A new machine has debuted that is a self-contained screenprinting device much like the Gocco. It's called the YUDU and looks like it has the potential to satisfy me in some way after I run out of supplies for my beloved Gocco printer. This gives me hope.

3. Etsy and Apartment Therapy have teamed up for a new creative competition called "Do It Now!" which encourages everyone to finally tackle a small household project in a creative way. I have so many ideas for fixing up my place that I never start so I am glad for the little nudge. Actually, the possibility of winning a $250 Etsy shopping spree is kind of a big nudge. I've already begun to spruce up the entryway to our apartment.

4. I am going on a business/fun trip! My old friend Ashley (of Fern Animals) and I are headed to New York City next week for the premire of Handmade Nation and to hear a lecture by Faythe Levine. I can't wait!

5. I finally thought of a concept for my first attempt at zinemaking and, by popular request, it will be overflowing with bunny illustrations.

I'll elaborate on all these super things in other posts but I just felt like bursting and wanted to share. Let me know what you're especially overjoyed about and help keep this glee-bubble intact!

My fancy wall

I noticed quite a few of my favorite bloggers have been showing peeks of their own homes and displays of their favorite possessions. I really like seeing the homes of artists because they are often very thoughtful spaces filled with unexpected treasures.

It is amazing to me how much my home is my mirror reflection. When I'm feeling happy; my home is bright and clean. When I'm feeling moody or stressed; I tear the place apart. Justin just sort of goes with the flow. Our home is in a pretty constant state of change. It gets messy then clean and I'm often rearranging everything. Our apartment now is quite small and the three rooms have very obvious roles but when we lived in a bigger place; I was constantly switching the bedroom, office, living room and studio locations.

I thought I'd share a few images of a wall in our home that displays an ever-growing art collection. The wall is devoted to our small artworks (primarily prints). They are arranged in a semi-orderly blob that builds in an organic formation as we accumulate more art. I think we are beginning to run out of room though.

Pictures of our wall with notes over each print crediting the artists can be found here and here.

"DOMUS"

"Diamond Snakes" handstitched rug in wool

"Mumbling Slugs" machine stitched rug in wool

"Eat Upon Antlers" vintage dishes with painted antlers

"UVULA" handstitched rug in wool

"His & Hers" appliqued and embroidered hand towels


These are a few of the pieces that I made for the DOMUS show that Katy Irving curated. When she asked me to participate, I was overwhelmed because I hadn't been making anything at all. She thought I could pull it together and the domestic theme was pretty inspiring so I made this collection of housewares for the show. It ended up being a very positive experience and I'm thankful that it forced me to make things when I had been slacking.

It was the first time that I let the imagery I'd been using for my Lazer Beanz clothing designs spill onto different surfaces.

"Come High Water"

"Bob Squad" hairdo shaped refridgerator magnets

"Wishlist" giant mound of furniture cut from paper

"Egg Screen" screen made of a zillion eggs woven together and projected on with a video of the eggs being blown.

"25 feet wound around inside me" crocheted intestine spells the word accompanied by a photo of the yarn on my stomach.

"Tchotchke Terrain" hundreds of blue painted figurines from the dollar store.


I thought I'd give a little bit of background before I start posting about my new makings.

These images are from my senior thesis show when I was a student at Montserrat College of Art. This is the art that I created in my last year at school and it is a good bridge into my work now. Each piece uses a technique that is normally classified as craft rather than fine art. The differences between fine art and craft is a question I was looking into at the time. While at school, my persuasion was definitely very fine arts and the description of art as "crafty" was generally meant to be a little condescending.

My senior work was made with the humblest of craft skills that most children could grasp such as:paper mache, ceramic magnets, egg blowing, crochet and paper cutouts. The techniques were simple but I tried to make them monumental through sheer magnitude and repetition.

I am no longer as interested in the question of art vs craft because the more I thought about it, the less the labels made sense. The work in my show that year made me remember materials and techniques that I hadn't used since childhood and also helped me lighten up a little about art.

Back then, I called myself an artist and for a little while I called myself a crafter. For now, I feel most comfortable as a maker and that gives me the freedom to create anything and not obsess about labels and frivolity vs seriousness. Whew!