July 29, 2011 Tiny details

The aluminum project I’ve been working on is almost done.  Attempting to join the layers without visible hardware did not work but I wanted the hardware to be as invisible as possible.  So, I first painted the hardware with a direct-to-metal paint which then allows acrylic paints and media to be applied.  When that was dry, I color-matched the hardware to the colors on the piece with acrylic ink and then set them to dry in the brush slots of my brush tub.  The white hardware in the photo shows the direct-to-metal paint prior to applying acrylic ink.  I used acrylic ink rather than paint to achieve as flat a finish as possible.

July 23, 2013 Jean Herman's Opening

Last Friday evening I attended Jean Herman’s opening at aBuzz Gallery in Denver.  Jean is a wizard with fabrics.  She uses very small pieces of commercial and other fabrics, gluing and stitching them together to form vibrant “paintings” of people and landscapes.

7/16/13 Documenting Your Work

A couple of years ago at the Denver conference of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc.), I attended a presentation given by Nancy Bavor from the SAQA Board of Directors about reasons for documenting your work.  She talked about a record you could refer to yourself to refresh your memory about processes you’d done and also as a resource for museum curators.

I had already started keeping some rough notes about the computer part of my work as there were so many steps involved, I wanted, if necessary,  to be able to duplicate what I’d done.  Her talk made so much sense to me that I began to amplify my note-taking.  About a year ago, I was approached by Dana Jones, SAQA JOurnal Editor,about doing an article about how I was documenting.  That article, Using documentation to enhance art-making techniques, is in the current issue of the SAQA  Journal, Vol. 23, No.3, Summer 2013.  Dana did a great job of reporting on the process and capturing the spirit of what I do.

July 11, 2013 Cherry Creek Arts Festival

This past weekend I wandered through this year’s version of Denver’s annual Cherry Creek Arts Festival.  As usual, a wide gamut of work from soup to nuts and many repeat exhibitors from past years.  Two of my favorite artists from this year's show were Michel Delgado of Key West, Florida:

and the work of Oluf Nielsen of Washington State:

July 5, 2013 Work Accepted

 I’m very happy that my work, First Moment, has been accepted into Art Quilts 2013 at Infinity Art Gallery online at http://www.infinityartgallery.com/art-quilts-2013/gallery/ from July 4-October 12, 2013.

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome to my blog!  I’ll be writing about my own work in digital textiles and also about other art that I see in galleries and museums.  Right now I’m working on two pieces, one a digital textile triptych for my solo show at aBuzz Gallery in Denver in November, and the other a digital printed aluminum piece for a show called Radical Elements back East opening April, 2014.  No photos of the work allowed until the shows open but here’s a picture of me in my home-made Hazmat suit varnishing the aluminum piece.

Last week I was at the Denver Art Museum to see their all museum show called SPUN.  Each department has selected pieces from its collection in all areas of the textile arts, from deeply colored red, white and black Navajo ponchos to delicate designs for commercial prints for home decor.  

The most exciting part of the whole show is an exhibit by Nick Cave.  You walk into a room with black walls completely covered floor to ceiling in buttons and find a row of mannequins dressed in eye-popping costumes made of buttons, sequins, beads, pieces of reclaimed sweaters and Granny squares, metal sand pails, noisemakers.  Brilliant colors and designs and boundless imagination and design.  No photography allowed, however.  

But, I also attended the Nick Cave performance last Friday night where some of his Soundsuits were worn in dance sets by members of Denver dance troupes.  The music, also provided by local bands, was loud and the dance at times frenetic.  Bodies were vibrating and not just the dancers!