Choosing a Word for 2009

Statue in Siena, Tuscany of Romulus and Remus being fed by a she-wolf

We can thank Christine Kane for spurring thousands of us who read her wonderful blog posts to set aside making New Year's Resolutions and instead choose a theme word for attracting desired outcomes in the New Year.

In 2008, I chose the word "fruition" and the images it generated were excellent tools to help me focus and identify specific desires. As the year ended, I listed my accomplishments and am proud of them.

With new opportunities already presenting themselves for 2009, I wanted to choose a theme word that encompasses my clearest intentions.

Confidence is one choice, the desire to feel at my very core that I am worthy and wonderful. Feeling confident about the quality and merit of my work will shine through my applications for new exhibition opportunities. Being confident and self-assured will assist me in meeting new people and networking professionally.

Being confident will increase my commitment to taking care of myself with exercise and healthy, nourishing foods. Possessing confidence will erase the fears that surface when a new work isn't going well that my work isn't "good enough."

In the past I've been able to move forward with bravado and tons of hard work, but now I desire genuine self-esteem to help attract wonderful outcomes. So "confidence" is indeed an important quality, one I wish to make an integral part of my being in 2009.

However, confidence alone doesn't seem quite encompassing enough for what I desire for 2009. Being confident is an attitude, an emotional preparation and mindset but not an outcome. Alone, it doesn't generate images of my desired results.

So I am also choosing a second word to pair with it -- "flourish". The dictionary descriptions of this word are heady and exactly what I desire to actualize in the coming year --"a luxuriant growth or profusion" ..."to reach a height of development or influence"..."to achieve success." The two words bridge my inner and outer worlds; they're a perfect fit, like a pair of comfortable new walking shoes.

So I am entering 2009 holding "confidence" and "flourish" in my heart; like Romulus and Remus,the legendary twins who founded Rome, I envision these two words growing up to build a shining new city for my artistic life in 2009 (minus all the slewing and slaying that go along with Roman myths, of course!).

Interestingly, one of the definitions of "flourish" also is "an ornamental stroke in writing or printing", so the word even relates to my body of work that is evolving through my fascination with letterforms and language imagery.

I love the layers of meaning and intention in choosing these two words, in linking them visually with the twins Romulus and Remus being suckled by a she-wolf (my wild woman self?!)and how strong and powerful the images are that these two words generate together inside me. The New Year is underway; may the power of "confidence" and "flourish" manifest in wonderful ways as 2009 unfolds!

Exciting Gallery Opening

Last night I attended the opening of the Member Exhibition at Rochester Contemporary Art Center - http:www.rochestercontemporary.org -- called RoCo for short. Two hundred artists submitted work to the show, a record breaking number. The gallery is one of the most exciting venues for contemporary art in this area.

I had submitted my Seeds of Compassion piece and held my breath. Would they relegate the work to a dark corner because it was a textile wallhanging? Or would they appreciate a fiber arts piece on its conceptual and technical merit just as any other work of fine art? Would they be inclusive about textiles as a contemporary art medium and hang the work with respect?





They did! It hangs in the center of the second gallery space and looks spectacular there! The salon style hanging of the works created great contrasts and interplay among all of them; the staff and volunteers did a great job curating the hanging of such a diverse group of works.



I met my good friend and fellow artist Paloma there who also submitted a piece.It's the digitally manipulated red and golden yellow and black image that is one of her "she wolf" series. Visit Paloma's website -- http://palomaayala.info -- to see more.

The painting next to her piece, based on bone imagery, is wonderful as well. There were a number of pieces there I would love to own -- not surprisingly, among my top favorites were several subtle monoprints.

All in all, it was a good, validating evening for me as an artist. I hope the exhibition -- and my piece -- will attract lots of positive attention and recognition.

The Writings of Agnes Martin

"Martin, Agnes, "I Love The Whole World," 1999. Acrylic and graphite on canvas.

On Friday, I finally picked up the books I ordered through inter-library loan at our local college. Agnes Martin: Paintings and Writings, a catalogue published in 2000 by the prestigious Pace-Wildenstein gallery in New York City, combines ideas about artmaking that Agnes put into writing with 15 paintings completed in 1999. All the works are acrylic and graphite on canvas, all are 60" x60" and have titles like "Happiness-Glee", "I Love Love", "Innocent Love" and "Lovely Life." Agnes always painted in a square format -- in her younger years she worked in a 80" x 80" format, but as she aged the larger canvases became too difficult for her to manage and she shifted to the 60" x 60" size.

At the time this exhibition and catalogue were produced, Agnes was 87 years old. In the final years of her life, she lived in a retirement home in Taos, NM, but still drove to her studio every day to work. The paintings in this exhibition are different in coloration from Agnes' earlier works, which were mainly shades of gray and white with her characteristic hand drawn graphite lines. These later works introduce muted pastel washes of earth red and sky blue, greens and yellows. Nancy Doyle's profile of the artist at www.ndoylefineart.com/martin.html suggests that these colors may be Agnes' response to the white desert light and the colors of the earth in the southwest.

Even as I started reading the essays interspersed between the images of the paintings, I noticed Martin's writing is as spare and condensed as her painting. Like her art, her writing seems to contain a wealth of insight distilled from experience into each statement. In the essay, "What We Do Not See If We Do Not See," Agnes declares that she wanted to "live a true life." Living this true life meant seeing the joyfulness in reality, maintaining an awareness of beauty, innocence and happiness because without them she believed one could not make works of art.

In the essay "What is Real?", written in 1976, Agnes wrote, " Works of art have successfully represented our response to reality from the beginning. The artist tries to live in a way that will make greater awareness of the sublimity of reality possible. Reality, the truth about life and the mystery of beauty are all the same and they are the first concern of everyone."

Agnes concludes, "There is a purpose in our lives and it is in operation every minute. When we are right on the track we are rewarded with joy. We can know the whole truth with a request to our minds. If we are completely without direction we can withdraw and our minds will tell us the next step to take." I remembered a similar comment Agnes made in the interview with her in the New Art City DVD. Agnes found that connection to an inner voice that revealed insights to her and answers to questions as she worked.

It is that very connection that I depend on more and more with each new piece of work; that inner voice increasingly guides and shuts out the chatter and clutter of marketing, promotion, sales. The making of the work is now central, the connection to that center within fuels and guides the exploration.

It is possible to track Agnes' artistic evolution from her early days in New York City as part of the Abstract Expressionist era of the 1940's and 50's through her seven year sojourn from doing any painting at all followed by her choice to live and paint alone in an isolated part of the northern New Mexican desert. Studying the unfolding of an artist's life and work can be a rich source of inspiration. Alone with her work and a quiet contemplation of nature, I find great inspiration in Martin's leanings towards Asian philosophy and her connections with nature. How fortunate we are to have access to so many artists through the enormous documentation in both books and film of their work and ideas and inspirations.

As Nancy Doyle writes in her profile of Agnes, "Her work was influenced greatly by nature, however not in the sense of replicating nature - rather, she wanted the viewer to experience the same feelings they have when in front of nature. Some of her titles allude to nature - to leaves, rivers, flowers, etc., but her work has more to do with expressing positive inner states of existence. She has been associated with the Minimalist movement, but her work is less rigid, less cerebral - more spiritual in inspiration than Minimalist. She shared with her friend, the artist Richard Tuttle, certain attitudes about art and life, which stem from their interest in eastern philosophy - the ideas of ego-lessness, humility, and the Tao - in life and in art."

Many of us are drawn to art that attempts to express these "positive inner states of existence." Increasing numbers of western artists have been drawn to Asian philosophy. The works of those artists whose true inner selves seem to radiate through their imagery, marks and concepts are those that currently inspire and encourage me in my own artistic journey.

Let me close with this last quote from Martin's writing. because the advice it contains is vital for all of us:

"Make happiness your goal. The way to discover the truth about this life is to discover yourself."

First Inning, New Game

When I get a design idea, it seems to form almost piecemeal in my imagination. I try to do some rough sketching and a few samples to flesh out into some basic structure of an idea, but the only way I can really work through an idea is just to work with it, starting with a seed and letting that evolve and grow.

After finishing Parables 2, I decided to try creating a grid, playing with it a bit by adding on some small squares (possibly of varying sizes and hues and values) within the larger squares and then breaking through the grid with the dancing letter forms in both advancing and receding colors. Believe it or not, I, the whole cloth layering fanatic, actually cut out 5 1/2" squares and SEWED them together to start this piece!! (In my defense, my philosophy has always been to choose the technique to match the concept, and in this case, piecing seemed the way to go.)I now have a 35 1/2" square checkerboard of white squares with thin stripes (yes I am also actually using commercial fabrics, which I haven't used in years but I have a little selection left of black and white prints that I like a lot) offset by plain black ones. I tend to prefer grids that are looser than this one, but I do think as I apply the elements on this surface, the grid will begin to vibrate more.

Now that the ground is pieced and ready, I am currently pinning letter form patterns, same ones I used on Parables 2, onto a variety of fused fabric surfaces and cutting them out. My goal, eventually, will be to have a nice pile with a variety of hues and values, so some of the letter forms will pop when you look at them (like this wonderful red dupioni silk) and some will recede into the ground (a variety of greyscale prints). In the photo above, I am playing with the first cut pieces on the surface because seeing them on the ground will help me determine what other fabrics to fuse and cut to add to these. I know I'll cut a lot more fabrics than I'll actually use, but need to have them ready when I get to the composing stage. Here they are just stuck on wherever and I've moved them around a few times to see how they interact with each other.

I am tempted to tea dye this piece, but am holding myself back at the moment. There is a crispness to these contrasts that I will lose if I do, although the tea dyeing will give me that aged, weathered look that I love.
What I've learned after all these years is to respect these pushes and pulls inside but to let the conversation continue for a bit before I leap into action. At the beginning stages of playing with an idea, it's better to move a bit more slowly than to sit in a glum heap of regret for blindly acting on an impulse. I may not like this idea further down the road at all, the work on this may just end up getting pitched for a totally different composition, but engaging in the deliberation and decision making is the hook that keeps me so passionate about being a maker. I love beginnings, there is always an edge of excitement about not quite knowing where a new adventure will take me but knowing that I'm up at bat and ready to swing.

Resolving the Red

I've edited, re-edited, added, deleted and all around fussed over this piece -- now called "Parables"-- like a teenage girl for a first date. But spending some time considering my options for the final details has paid off -- I like the results. A student and friend wrote and asked me if I revise every piece this much. Because layering is an important process in my work, I often do and that's why I posted the pictures of the evolution of "Parables." I would love for you to believe that I can magically compose the elements and layers for the best visual impact the first time I try. In reality, each new piece evolves as I work on it. So do I --the lure and "sweet pain" of the creative process! There isn't just one visual solution to resolve a composition, there are numerous options. As the artist I work until the composition comes together to the best of my ability.

So how did I resolve this piece to my (present, at least) satisfaction? The first thing I did was to create Thermofax screens and screen print repetitions of fragments of the printed white text in opaque red (I use Setacolor opaques).

Next I grabbed my trusty Aurifil cotton thread (12 wt.) and free motion stitched to create my final lines. It worked well against the slightly darker red silk net beneath it and added a textural element that contrasts nicely with the smooth printed silk broadcloth surface around it. The color contrast works well too.
The marks made by adding hand stitching are visible when close to the piece and add an interesting detail. Needle Necessities makes a variegated six-strand cotton floss that I use a lot for hand stitching.

I used a black 28 wt. Aurifil thread to hand stitch the fine lines for the threadwork that accents this area.

"Parables" heads off to Andrew, my talented photographer, this afternoon, and then I'll start work on the second piece and see if this remains part one a diptych.

SDA Conference in Kansas City

After spending a lovely week in New Mexico with my family, I flew to Kansas City on May 24th for the Surface Design Association Conference, which was held at the Kansas City Art Institute. I arrived early to do some volunteer work. I was fortunate to be able to help Jan-Ru Wan, a wonderful artist from Raleigh, NC, hang part of her installation, "Potent Thread" one of the numerous exhibitions featured in Kansas City's gallery district in conjunction with the conference. (The Spring 2007 issue of Surface Design Journal has an excellent article about her work on page 24.) The piece shown here is called "Sacred Connections"; it's dyed and printed silk organza with found relic objects from Thailand, spoons and waxed string. Attached to the bowl of each spoon are small wax Buddha figures.

On Sunday I started a four-day class called "Visual Metaphor" with Jo Stealey, head of the fiber department at University of Missouri at Columbia. We worked with a huge variety of materials and processes to brainstorm and flesh out new ideas and imagery and created several 3-D interpretations of our subject matter. Jo is an excellent instructor, gives helpful feedback and crits and it was a pleasure to learn from her. Here, Linda and Wendy are working on a class exercise.

Jo's standing at the back on the left talking to Charlotte and Carol. Working hard at sketching are left to right, Wendy, Lyn and Sue.

After the class, the conference started. It was a whirlwind of demonstrations, lectures, slide presentations, social interactions, excellent vendors and gallery exhibitions. If you have not been to an SDA Conference and you love an environment where every imaginable type of fiber art happily mingles, this is a must attend. It's a volunteer run conference, not at all slick or perfect, but that adds to its charm.

One of my favorite exhibitions at the conference is the Member Exhibition. This is an unjuried exhibit open to all SDA members and the only restriction is that the pieces must be 18" x 52" and hang vertically. This year over 200 entries were received and exhibited in the H&R Block Gallery space. You will see amazing examples of just about every surface design technique imaginable in this display.

Of course I was happy to visit my own piece there. It's the third piece from the left below and it's called "This Indenture." I wanted to create a piece that captures the beauty of nature but also reminds us that we have a deed and obligation to protect this planet. My piece is one of 100 that have been chosen to be part of a traveling exhibition that will tour for two years. If you missed the conference, you can buy a marvelous CD with every piece in the exhibition on it and use its magnifying feature to view each piece so closely that you can see every detail. Check out the Surface Design Association website to order one -- it's only $20.

After the conference ended, I stayed on an extra day to take an optional tour bus to Columbia, MO and see more exhibits there. The first stop on our tour was Stephen's College, a private women's college that has an amazing costume collection. Although the entire collection had just been relocated and wasn't all on display, we did get to see some amazing samples. We donned white gloves and actually got to handle pieces from the late 1800's through the 1980's. Then the curator opened several boxes with several articles of French men's clothing from the 1720's. I was surprised at their small size and intricate embellishment.

This coat is velvet, hand constructed, with very detailed silk embroidery on it. It obviously had been worn a lot and parts of the garment are in poor condition.

But look at the amazing hand embroidery on it.

This was another coat in pale salmond silk that had a matching pair of pants, also embellished extensively with hand embroidery. It fascinated me that I was holding clothing and looking at stitchery from over 300 years ago.

After we left the college and costume display, we toured downtown Columbia, which is a lovely small university town with a real appreciation for art. There were multiple fiber art exhibits.

Jo had an exhibit at the Perlow Stevens Gallery. She worked with handmade paper and natural materials to create these wallhangings.


Jo does an extensive amount of hand stitching in her work. You can see the leaves below that have been arranged and pressed into the paper as well as some of the hand stitching on this piece.


The last stop on the tour was the University of Missouri George Caleb Gallery with Carol Le Baron's exhibition "Endangered Species." The exhibition included Carol's large resist hand-dyed felted pieces and her Jacquard weavings.

The work was amazing. Carol was in Jo's class with me before the conference, so it was especially meaningful to attend her opening and be able to fully appreciate the work that she does.