Open Studio Preparation

Sing

The week before any event one's mind begins to run: do more work? finish stuff? clean the studio? send more email? This results is hours spent, during the dead of night, listening to crickets and wondering if keeping that file clerk job wouldn't have been more peaceful. Which just shows you how long it's been since I was a file clerk, that I can get sentimental about that job.

Today Lowell Fiber Studio meets. So many people express amazement that seven women share a space and work side by side, but why this surprise? They are colleagues, friends, a support system and an inspiration. They help me get things done. I love them.

Lost in the Garden

These photos are from my latest photo shoot with Joe Offria.

Unfolded Time (detail)

My studio is waist-high in small production ideas - scarves, purses, small art work. I hope the humidity drops soon.

Cast off the bow lines

 An artist of great talent, Ann Brauer posts today asking "how do you rage against the night?


Before my cancer diagnosis, I focused on production work. The disorientation of disease knocked a hole in that plan. 

Angry Quilt Linda Dunn

This piece came when I finally responded with my hands and my eyes to what was happening.  A journal page of sorts, for anyone to see.

The piece was a turning point. I still make work to sell, but I welcome the ones that are more personal, too. This quilt was made in response to my father's Alzheimer's disease:

Trying to Remember Linda Dunn

Most recently, I have been pondering change and age. My daughter is about to fledge.

Notes to My Daughter Linda Dunn

My mother's sister died in childbirth. My mom is nearing death. This painting is from a photo of my mother's sister, as a toddler. She died in childbirth when I was three.

Lost in the Garden Linda Dunn

Our lives are ephemeral and yet we are so intensely here. Memory is fluid, mutable, but it drives so who we are. It's all a mystery.

So is making art. I am never so here-but-not-here as when the paints fall on fabric.

Printing away

I'm taking advantage of these perfect fall days to play with discharge, paints, and printing.

This afternoon, after teaching, I'll work on black velvet.

The first results are on sale at Stebbins Gallery in Harvard Square, on Church Street. It's open regularly now, and full of work by local artists.  Check it out: Thursday and Friday 6-8, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons til 6.