Thursday, January 09, 2014

conserve length oxygenate



The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. 
- George Bernard Shaw


Well the overwhelming (OK, a vote of one-  thanks, Susan  make that TWO!) mandate is that I start my 'SHUT-UP-YOU-ARE-TOO-AN-ARTIST' rant here-  it will help use up my talking space and I can still send out images of art that interests me.  I'll start sometime soon, have to gather my thoughts and stolen ideas and reorganize them a bit after all the time since I last ranted.  Today is jammed up with physical therapy, then a bocce match, and then...

I am heading down to Palm Beach to check out the Mancuso show.  I've been out of the mainline quilty world a long time and it's good to see what's happening and hit a few vendors (Here I come, Button Lady!)  Last time I did this a couple of years ago every piece of fabric was 
brown.

Lots of repro stuff, every shade of brown.  Stuff was soooo boring.  And every vendor had some honkin' long arm machine or seven on display rather than anything new and different.  Lord knows I don't need anything in the tool line, I am completely out of fabric space, so I was just looking at silly stuff and looking for people I know.  Hope that somebody is like Jane Davila (because I know she doesn't come down to this show or I'd be feeding her dinner in her off time), anyway, I hope there is somebody selling stuff like she has.  Loved her little booth and wanted everything in it when I finally met her in person, I think in NH?  We were too busy gabbing after I made her guess who I was-  a long time on-line friend, now a flesh-friend.  Anyway, that's what I'm looking for:  stuff to fall in love with.  I bought a jelly-plate from her and it's still going strong (yes, I took it out of the package.)   

UPDATE after returning:  there were some interesting pieces, my two favorites coming from Australia.  Again, everything was so heavily densely obsessively stitched that it really didn't matter what was underneath it.  My other complaint was that just about every quilt had deep fold marks that really took away from the look.  I know the show has to work with what gets sent, but PLEASE roll the quilts around a pool noodle and send them in a tube!  If they are floppy, send along a second stick and put a sleeve at the bottom.  And finally, pick off the threads, clip them carefully, roll over the surface with some tape and make them clean!  Give them a chance to be fabulous.  Picky me.

So I bought a set of buttons, two vintage damask fabric chunks from the 40's or 50's, a huge African basket and it's tiny cousin, half off.  

At some point I have to get to the studio to print my boarding pass, pick up a bit, and grab the current piece to work on in the evenings.  Seems our cable has been shut off for non-payment and we figured out why-  they reverted to sending the bills to the address where the cable is, not the address where WE are with the checkbook and pen.  We got it straightened out AGAIN (third time this has happened), but I don't know when it will get turned on again and I'll be needing something to do in the evenings-  embroidery stitches fill the bill and I can watch movies on my little computer screen.  I'll be spending my daytimes kid-wrangling and baby wiping and will need something to do when I get back home.  

Looks like a new restaurant has opened very near me, a short walk over the Turnpike, so I'll be sitting at the bar there at night with my book, so I don't have to shop and cook or even eat the Thanksgiving dinner that's frozen solid in the freezer.  I'm all set. 

OK, so for some interesting stuff-  first of all I found some more ICE-art-




Using ice as a sculptural medium, environmental artist Nicole Dextras creates outdoor art installations featuring garments frozen in blocks of ice. The series titled "Castaways" invites the viewer to construct their own narrative. The artist explains, "Like an isolated silent film still, the exist only for a moment and then the movie continues on."
 Find out more about Nicole Dextras' work here.





 There’s a curiosity where miniature bas relief sculptures are carved into coins, an artform that’s broadly referred to as hobo nickel art. Further research is on Hobonickelart.com where Paolo Curcio (aka “mrthe”)  appears to have taken the process of carving coins to an entirely new level. Using a variety of different coins the Barcelona-based artist creates etched homages to pop culture, illustrations of figures from literature, and most commonly: macabre portraits of skulls and death, probably the most prevalent theme in hobo nickel art.  One aspect of Curcio’s process that’s really amazing is his ability to use coins made from multiple layers of metal (referred to as clad coins) which he then strategically reveals to create colored flourishes and background patterns. You can see much more of his work over on his website, and keep an eye on his Ebay page for occasional coin listings.  Isn’t it amazing when we stumble on an entirely new form that we never knew existed before?  

You remember how I had lists of things I DON'T want for Christmas?  Well I also have a few things I want, starting with this calendar:
Simple and fascinating, a heavy metal calendar finished to look like concrete. Numbered acrylic-domed magnets mark the dates and are moved as the month changes; month is framed by a rectangular magnet. Two substantial sawtooth hangers on back make this easy to hang on any wall.  $30

Also, I found many different ceramic squirrels-  I'll take any of them but I first like this little guy holding his nut because the top comes off the acorn revealing maybe frankenscence!  Anyway, 'special' stuff inside.  I like his stylized tail too.



Notes on the upcoming RANT   er, CLASS I am thinking about.  Since I am leaving for parts unknown tomorrow morning and I don't have room for the ten notebooks of stuff to haul along, I'll have to wait a bit to start our little communication about being an artist.  I'll do some research and get started over this next week, but will announce the start date next week when I get back and see how much I need to do.  Remember the images I showed in sync were slides and I haven't converted all of them to digital so I need to find substitutions or do some major scanning. We'll see. You don't need to know the issues to get this going, but I'll probably talk about air anyway.  Who knows, maybe once I get all this information onto the blog I will start hauling my computer around again like a tinker or knife sharpener...Anyway, stay tuned.  And once it starts I will rely on YOU, my bunnies to send people to look it over, download and print it all up so you too can teach it somewhere.  Passing it on (or passing the buck?  passing the baton?  However you want to see it.  

I just looked at the calendar and I think February 1 is a good time to lean into a new project, don't you?  I'll remind you twelve times before that, don't worry.  
FEBRUARY 1, 2014
back to school day
(first lesson is that I really, REALLY like orange.)
this CLASS will cost you nothing, there are no grades, no credits,no diploma
but when asked you have to fess up that your found it on a blog, 
which in turn makes it all null and void
and frankly makes you look kind of dumb for believing it.
Fair warning.


3 comments :

Max said...

Wahoo! Back to Sandy school on February 1st!

Max said...

Oh and Sandy . . . go paperless with comcast . . . then you can stop the payment waltz!

Mary Beth Frezon said...

OOOOOOOOOOH! Beam me up! I mean, sign me up, woman! I wanna rock and roll and shout!

And I love the squirrel!

I tried to work up a bit of a blog rant today but I think it was too long a week so I'll have to try again.