Korn and me

Just the other day, the local paper put my "Sewn Stories" exhibit in the "Top 5 Things to Do" at number 3.  Right between a concert by the hard rock band Korn and a lecture about Martin Luther King Jr.  Yeah, that's right Korn.  

For another laugh (or two depending) you can read the interview posted on the Yellow Wall Gallery's blog here:  

In the interview are links to fun things like the Berenstain Bears website and Legos, which is worth the time it takes to read the interview alone!  

Show is up....thumbs are blistered

Show is up and done! We hung my art up in the Yellow Wall Gallery at the Midtown Scholar Bookstore on Monday.  Here's a portion of the pieces before their titles and prices went up.  

I'm pretty relieved to have everything done.  This was my first time doing a completely solo show.  I'm very happy with the final 12 pieces that made it to the walls.  As you may know, most of my work is usually in round embroidery hoops.  I love using them, but it can hinder the overall design and shape.  By doing my work in proper rectangular frames, I was able to play around with a lot of ideas I've had in my head lately.  

While I love sewing and embroidering, I don't share that same love with framing.  So that's why the framing waited until the very end.  Meaning the 2 nights before the show went up.  Most of my frames were made of unpainted wood and needed to be painted.  Here's Kinsey painting the frames two days before hanging.  Yes, it's nighttime.  And yes, there is a few inches of snow on the ground.  And yes, he did have to shovel some in order to stand where he is.  This is why I married him.  (And because he can reach things like honey on the very back of the top shelf at the grocery store.)

This was by far the most crucial supply!  It's a heavy board that has acid free adhesive on one side that you stick to your fabric.  It keeps everything nice and even and if done right, doesn't show wrinkles.  This board also doubled as the backing of the frames because most of my frames were open backed.  We (okay, Kinsey) used small tacks and nails to attach the board to the frame and needless to say his thumbs are a little numb currently from pushing so many tacks down on every frame.
Making a last minute adjustment. 
Here's 2 of my favorites....well, actually 3.  

"someone is outside the tent"

"the logger's wife" and "the logger"

I love these two portraits!  I had the idea in the very last couple days and actually finished them the day before they were hung.  

Also, the artist reception will be this Friday, Jan 21st from 6-9pm!  More details are here!

Sneak Peek at the Art Show....

So my solo art show is less than 2 weeks away (opening on January 18th) and I've been pretty busy finishing up my final pieces and getting everything framed and ready to be hung.  I've especially enjoyed being able to work on a slightly bigger scale than what I'm used to.  I'm often hindered by the size of the embroidery hoop I'm using, so being able to do things in standard frames and rectangular shapes has been a fun change.
Here's a planning stage shot of a new piece I finished (see the end of post for the final piece).  I initially planned to do a full bear who was turning over some rocks, but settled on using just the back side of the bear.  Here's also my beloved rotary cutter and my brand new cutting mat.  I've been using a really old mat that had all sorts of ink spills and gashes in that sometimes made cutting a straight and even line a little challenging.  

Here's a detail of an embroidered ship that I'm in the middle of.  

Here's a before and after of one of my favorite pieces I just finished. I've been playing around with the concept of having a bear sort of "walk off" the page leaving behind his footprints in the snow. I initially had planned to do this in a circular embroidery hoop, but thought the overall design would seem a little cramped in the space. I decided to go with a more traditional rectangular shape for the design. I love the fabric that the brown bear is made with. I actually have no idea what the official name of this fabric is, but it's sort of suede like on one side and a more flat cotton appearance on the other side. The best part is that it doesn't fray. So it's perfect for using when you want sharp/complex edges and don't want to do a proper applique. I've had pieces of this fabric for years. I acquired a stash in my crafts class my senior year in high school in both this brown color and a forest green. Unfortunately, my stash has been dwindling down pretty fast lately.


And here's the after. I love the contrast of the white snow and dark tree trunks. All the trees were made from leftover scrapes of the felt from my owls. I kept the jagged edges on the trees for a little extra detail and more realistic appearance. This work also marks the first time I've ever including a child in a piece. A little reminiscent of Little Red Riding Hood perhaps?