Make a Bird of Poetry

Found poems and art started our class last night at Arlington Center for the Arts. That reminded me of an installation I'd read about, poetry re-imagined as a flock of birds. Tonight I tracked it down: Virginia Fitzgerald:  

You too can make a Bird of Poetry

 

The idea of words taking wing: would that work with my Elder students, I wonder? I shall sit down and try some prototypes. Just as soon as the studio is cleared of scarves, cards, and small art, all ready to launch for the holidays.

Fiber Art Cards for Spring

I've been working on new cards for spring.

Be Yourself Biker

 They will be for sale this Saturday, noon-5, at the Loading Dock Gallery and in Lowell Fiber Studio, #512 on the fifth floor.

Begin Anywhere birds

As always, each one is unique, made by hand, by  me.

a favorite quote from antiquity

If you haven't been to Open Studios for a while, you are in for a stunning day. There are so many new artists in the building. Paintings, stained glass, soap, upcycled furniture, knitting, weaving, quilts, clay, even model boats: you'll find it all at 122 Western Avenue.

For the graduate, perhaps

 Find something wonderful for mother's day, graduation, or just for you this Saturday.

My favorite for today

Western Avenue Open Studios

122 Western Avenue

Lowell, MA

Noon to 5

Looking some more

Two days left to our stay-cation. Yesterday the weather was so bitter cold yesterday we stayed inside: gorged ourselves on chicken club sandwiches, home-made cookies, plus an orgy of movies: The Bourne Identity, The Science of Sleep, Oceans Twelve. My head was spinning.

Today we made it to the Harvard Museum of Natural History to see the exhibit of photos by Rosamond Purcell, from her new book, Egg & Nest. Beautiful. Next door was an exhibit about animals and color. Blue frogs, red birds and all colors of butterflies. Here's the promotional photo. It's a chameleon's tail:The museum is filled with the most bizarre collections: rocks, fossils, taxidermy. Reminds me of the Nature Lab at RISD, a wonderful library of THINGS. You could take out bones, butterflies, whatever. So I resolved to come draw, and joined the museum, hoping - the same way you do with a gym - that laying my money down will remind me of my promise to go.

We browsed bookstores, indulged in ice cream, and finally ducked inside a MDF, a high-end art/craft store, just to get out of the cold. The work was exquisite - much of it I could understand technically, but o the execution. The owner came up to talk, and, even tho we assured him we could only look, he was glad to have an appreciative audience (don't I know that feeling). So together we admired creativity and beauty. A lovely day.

WIP ideas

Noodling with the computer. Here is one version:
I could be at this all day, especially if I can figure out how to rotate a fragment once I "cut" it on the computer. I like the more vertical orientation, and the dark green works an diagonal to offset the one made by the trees. Just a thought.

wip

Piles of paperwork to do. But I'm thinking about the Next Piece, which has been in the queue since the fall: I'm wondering whether to cut and rearrange it, or just stitch it up as is. I took photos so I can cut and paste on my computer first.

Drove up past the mountains of snow to Lowell for the weekly gathering of Lowell Fiber Studio. Even with the holidays at hand, half of us made it. Lots of ideas about next year and beyond. Lovely to pull in the harness together towards new goals.

More birds

Another set of images mounted AND photographed.

Sunlight (sold)

I am trying to become better friends with my camera. I'm also interested what happens when I use fabrics from different print runs. They inform and enrich each other:

Departure (sold)

These birds are for sale as individual prints, but I hope the photos prove good enough to use for cards.

Moments (sold)

The sky is full of potential snow. The light is almost pink. This piece has a lot of pink in it, but I have my doubts about all those sharp angles.


Wonderful poem by Anne Sexton about snow on Writer's Almanac today, in which "every branch wears the sock of God."

collage in miniature

I have been collaging scraps of fabric into cards.

Little exercises in composition, and a chance to let the bits too small or fragile for real sewing still sing. I love buying artist's cards. I admire all the work, then bring cards home.

Cultural aside: Go see Lars and the Real Girl. It is quirky, surprising, lovely. No guns or car chases, just a good story well-told. The artists who made this movie deserve our support.

Printing

I have so much fun printing I think I should be arrested.

The idea this weekend was to use commercial fabric to feature hand-printed ones. The collages became pockets on large tote bags.

Sold

When I brought them to our group crit, the others saw that printing on the bag itself would integrate the two layers.

So I spent the whole day yesterday at the studio. Fabric everywhere. Even on the floor. I worked on a dozen bags plus yards of fabric. Special thanks to the person who recommended using lumiere inks to print on black.
You can find some of the large totes on ETSY. Also collages framed and ready to hang.


Two whole-cloth works are drying in Lowell. O yes. This is what the world looked like this morning, before the rain: