11.17.2011

Mingei









We went to San Diego for a wedding last week (it's a long way from Maine to San Diego!), and got a chance to go to the Mingei International Museum. These quilts are from the Bold Expressions exhibit. They are African American quilts from the collection of Corrine Riley. I only had my iphone so the photos are not good, but I thought it was worth it to show them anyway. I was enthralled by all the tiny pieces in some quilts, and the pintucking in another one. The designs are so imaginative and fresh they just got my heart pounding. What women will do to make something beautiful out of a pile of scraps, eh? And the last two images are from another exhibit, San Diego's Craft Revolution. I loved these hand made cards. It was a very nostalgic show for me because I saw many of the mediums my mother worked in when I was a child. Copper enamel, ceramics, mosaics, hand printed textiles. It reminded me of what a creative dynamo she was, and how much I owe her. 

11.04.2011

Aboriginal Art

Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Yam Dreaming, 1995, via Cooeeart.com
photo by Bindi Cole
photo by Bindi Cole
photo by Bindi Cole ( all via Aboriginal Art Coop Gallery)
Last year when I saw the drawing show at MOMA I was very interested in a large work by Emily Kam Kngwarry (Australia, 1910-1996). I started looking at the way she used dots, lines and color. It got me looking at the beauty of pure surface design, and it influenced me in my paintings and textile designs. I was looking around this morning for more images of her work, and came across this Kngwarry painting, this photographer, and many other aboriginal artists. Some links to visit are:

11.03.2011

a new painting


Here I am again! I have been so absent from this blog; I do apologize. Photographs have been the problem. I'm learning about how to use manual settings for my camera as well as a whole new software package for working with them. So far I've messed up all the interfaces between my camera and computer so royally that it's a wonder I was even able to get this (overexposed!) photo up here. I will get better, but in the meantime the ride is bumpy. I've had little studio time (sigh), but have been working on this canvas collage. It's in the early stages, and it keeps on morphing in my head. I think my next step will be to do some small abstract embroideries on separate fragments of canvas and then glue them into the canvas. I want to add some horizontal elements as well. I feel so full of ideas, and I want so much to make all the creative leaps I know are in the works, but I have to be patient, which I'm not so good at. I just keep telling myself that frustration and uncertainty are just as much a part of creative progress as flow and confidence. I'd be interested in how other people handle this place.

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