Gathering Winooski 7/14/12

Gathering Winooski 7/14/12

A great turn out last Thurs. night made the little mini-studio in residence hum with conversation, and laughter. So grateful to all those who stopped by.

 I feel like I have traded roles this summer with my students as I experiment with the simple found materials and projects reminiscent of my preschool teaching gig. The little studio is filling up with art and I like the way it is coming together as a whole. I am thinking of bringing in a vintage folding screen with fabric or paper on it to create more display space.

I gathered a stack of New Yorker magazines last week. I thought using them for collage would be more of a challenge than using something known for wonderful photographic illustrations such as National Geographic, Martha Stewart, or Vogue. It turns out they are fantastic for the kinds of collage I had in mind.

The advertisements and illustrations, when torn or cut in small pieces, provide an extensive palette of colors and textures. I created one series with torn pieces, glued to patterned backgrounds from old wallpaper sample books. I am working on a second series now where each edge of each piece is cut with scissors. The second series is my first foray into paper crazy quilts.  After all the pieces are glued in place, I am drawing little stitch lines with a fine point marker along each join to simulate the hand stitching of a crazy quilt. I plan to make some more elaborate drawn embroidery marks as well.

Gathering Winooski 7/8/12

I spent a pleasant week a-gathering and creating. The weather has been phenomenal this summer with each warm and sunny day followed by another equally warm and sunny day. I finally got to pounding the petunias, which is always a fun time. I love the absurdity of it, as well as the physical involvement with the tools. I also love making art outside in the weather. I did one arrangement of sorts by placing the flowers down one at a time. I plan to do more of this and perhaps incorporate the flower prints into another textile work, and try some on paper as well. It was swell of the Winooski folks to give me a whole plant so I can continue my explorations.

I got a Vermont road Atlas in a free box by the curb after yard sales were done last week (collage parts), a couple of trout neckties from the thrift shop(textile collage parts), and this weekend I found a $1 vintage aluminum sprinkler (the kind that goes from side to side) at a garage sale.  This is the type my sister and I used as teens when we would slather ourselves with baby oil, set up our reclining lawn chairs, and lie down for a nice sprinkle and sun bath.

On my drive home, as is often the case (the movement of the car stimulates my little grey cells) two ideas for the sprinkler popped into my head. I can see a large piece of watercolor paper with powdered tempera paint or concentrated watercolor paints applied randomly, then this paper would be laid out on the ground so that the sprinkler would sprinkle it off and on. The other idea is a bit more involved. I would lay a sheet of plastic down, apply some kind of paint to the surface of the plastic, then put on my bathing suit and run through the sprinkler and into the wet paint making footprints and other marks, Then I could lay large paper down on top of the wet paint-y marks and pull some prints.  It sounds like a good messy time. 

I have been working on a series of small yo-yo quilt style wall pieces, exploring the three patterned blue shirts gathered the week prior from the Winooski thrift shop – The Classy Closet. I have made three pieces. Each one uses two of the three shirt fabrics in alternating circles, with three across and three rows down, in order to explore different pattern combinations.  I plan to do some more work with these shirts, possibly more yo yo style, and possibly something entirely different.

Last weekend a plethora of plastic dinosaurs presented themselves. I pondered them for a day or two.  At last I pictured them wearing some kind of hand-made apparel, but what? I decided on teeny, tiny crocheted scarves. I was going to make them all black, but in communing with the dinos further, they informed me that they wished to be more stylish, and so I have chosen vibrant colors to match their individual personalities. Perhaps if they had been properly dressed they would have been better prepared to survive the drastic climate change that did them in. This reminds me of one of my favorite riddles – from my dinosaur joke book – yup – a whole book of jokes about dinosaurs from my elementary school teaching days.

Why did the Stegosaurus wear spikes to the party? Because she was a sharp dresser.

The photos of the dashingly dressed dinos was taken by Joy Kipp when she visited the display on First Friday. Thanks Joy!

Gathering Winooski 7/5/2012

This week's explorations involved the usual strange array of materials. I mentioned in a previous post some experiments I was doing with drawing and stamping on inkjet printer ribbon cartridges to make multiple mysterious markings. I got a quantity of unused ribbons for free so I felt that I could try whatever came into my mind. I created several of these prints on cloth. The completed prints seemed to need another layer of equally skitchy marks. I created this layer with embroidery, using a nice thick, perky thread, rather than embroidery floss, because I like the way it sits on the surface with a certain presence. This kind of thread, especially in black, always reminds me of suturing thread - perfect for mending what ails you. I worked on these pieces in wooden embroidery hoops which I then used for display.

It was only after I completed one of these pieces that I made the connection to the serendipitous meeting with Sister Marie Charlotte at the nun’s yard sale a couple of weeks ago. These  works in the round are very reminiscent of cross section scenes as viewed under a microscope. You can read more about this in my previous post –

http://judebond.blogspot.com/2012/06/gathering-winooski-june-24-2012.html

For another series I used a metallic yarn that I got at this same retired nun’s yard sale glued to cast off cardboard to create a printing block.  I then inked the plate with water- based printing ink and a rubber brayer, and printed it on a variety of papers. I was quite pleased by the simplicity of the technique and the final prints.

I am finding this way of working so refreshing and relaxing. The spontaneity and simplicity of the materials and techniques gives my mind, body, and soul a respite.

Gathering Winooski June 30, 2012

Gathering Winooski June 30, 2012

What a great week! Fun finds, and the generosity of strangers. I think people in Winooski are pleased that the Pop-up Galleries and the accompanying events are bringing people into downtown this summer, and as a result they seem happy to contribute items to the project.

 I had fun exploring the candy wrappers donated by the Pho Dang Vietnamese Restaurant with needle, thread, and some satin cording I had picked up at the retired nun’s yard sale. They turned into butterfly blossoms and were finished with a wall-mounted installation in a vintage glass flower frog.

 After hot crayon markings on the striped oxford shirt with stitch, I continued the oxford exploration with a similar technique to the one used on the candy wrappers. There is a summery nature theme emerging, as these too turned into butterfly blossoms, and a whole bouquet of them is now displayed in a vintage glass bottle.

The Peking Duck Restaurant donated a bag full of fortune cookies (how fortunate!) that I quickly put to good use creating cellophane blossoms on wooden coffee stirrer stems (from Cupps Bakery).  I stained the fortunes with soy sauce and stitched them together on the machine into a good luck garland. It hangs above the altered photos of Winooski folks from the past, wishing them luck in their new incarnation. I ate a few of the fortune cookies, but saved the rest for some yet to be determined project. Pulverize them into some kind of sculpture medium? Mix them with matte medium to create a texture for collage? I welcome suggestions.

I was visiting downtown Winooski in the drizzle the other morning and happened to spot a group of folks planting flowers in the island near the roundabout. I had a nice chat with Zack, who works for the city of Winooski, who informed me the flowers are donated by various local establishments, as well as some from Claussens’ Greenhouse, are planted by volunteers, and watered and maintained by the city. When I explained about my project and my desire for a red petunia blossom or two, I was gifted with two entire petunia plants, one in red, and one in magenta. I can hardly wait to get out the rubber mallet and have a go at them. I have a nice soft well-worn cotton sheet from the Winooski church thrift shop that should do nicely for my canvas.

The first night at my studio in residence Thursday was swell. I received a few visitors, worked away on some projects, and listened in to the poetry reading by Mark Awodey, and John Dooley. A most enjoyable evening.

I found some unusual and fun materials to explore and although they did not all come from Winooski, in the spirit of the project I will combine them with other items and fulfill my mission. Did you know that you can crochet with cassette tape, and stamp with button and cork stampers on inkjet printer ribbon cartridges to make multiple mysterious markings? Stay tuned for more on these creations.