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!

Art Show

The bookstore-cafe that Kinsey and I are managers at (www.midtownscholar.com), had an employee art show for the month of April. We each exhibited 3 works which all but one were made especially for the show. Here's what 4 of them looked like.

Here's Kinsey's burning building collage. Kinsey's medium of choice is recycled magazine pages. I don't know how he can find the exact colors he needs so well. You don't really noticed that his art is made from magazines until you really get up close.


And a close up of the building and a car. I love all the detail in this one.


Kinsey had the idea for each of us to do the same design, but only in different materials. He chose magazine paper and I of course, choose fabric and embroidery. We entitled these "Ship at High Seas I and II". The first two shots are of mine. The overall work didn't photograph well in this light. I'm hoping to get a good shot before the buyer picks it up.


You can see the colors better here:




Kinsey's version:


I've always had a fascination with maps and trail booklets. I've had this idea in my head for a while and thought this show would be a good experiment with what I like to refer to as map embroidery. My subject (which shouldn't be a surprise to anyone) was Acadia National Park.


My favorite part. I liked this close stitch look a lot. All the different colors and the circular stitch motion have a really nice feeling to me.