quahog memorial at easton's beach

Two weekends ago I went to my hometown in the littlest state and my favorite, lil' rhody. It was wonderful: sunshine everywhere, ocean every day, the first icy ocean dip, and a Providence reunion. On my last visit to the beach, we walked Cliff Walk in Newport and ended at 1st beach, which is officially Easton's Beach. There had been recent storms, and the beach was littered with quahog shells. I started covering a rock with the shells. My company joined in, and soon we were methodically creating quahog shell patterns on the rocks.


We were creating order out of chaos, creating a quahog memorial. It was a really great reminder that art does not have to be so serious. that it should be fun. A reminder that I should be more lighthearted in my approach to my work.

Pics to Picks : inspiration photos

Here is my inspiration from Amanda Ho who sent me photographs for Pics to Picks. I saw these and wished I had sent photos of my own to Esmae, my addressee for this project. Amanda's photos have such beautiful subtle colors- green moss, grey cement, blue-green-grey shadows... and the repetition of pattern! abstracted, striped, curved. There is so much to work with here! I am off to visit my seaside hometown this weekend, so I hope to sketch a bit out by the beach with its similarly muted shades and salty air.

a good day for mail

Thursday was a spectacular day for mail! I received a new Fiber Arts magazine and I can't wait to sit down and read it. I also received a bunch of color cards from Halcyon Yarn so I can start planning my spring shawl line. Then there was a box of yarn from Webs- 3 cones of rayon: yellow, white, eggplant- two cones that look like baker's twine in melon/natural and navy/natural- and one large cone of aqua unmercerized cotton. These were mill ends and closeouts, and I was unsure of the quality of yarn, but most seem fine. The rayons are a little hairy but the sheen is irresistible. I love the color and strength of the aqua. The baker's twine is incredibly beautiful but also incredibly weak. Wish I had a ball winder and a swift so that i could wind them into 2 or 3 fake plies to build up the strength a bit. Might just try warping it as groups of 2 or 3, but that will double or triple my winding time.

The last surprise was a letter from Amanda Ho in Australia! I am participating in "Pics to Picks," hosted by Meg Nakagawa- it is an exchange of photos and images among weavers, ending in either weaving projects inspired by these images or sketches and plans. I will write more it in a separate post, but what joy! I used to collect stamps, and it is such a joy to receive mail with stamps from all parts of the world. The internet connects us so well, but what an intangible idea! To think of one person physically writing a letter, the path to the mailbox, the post office sorting, the letter's trip on a boat or plane- flying over the sea to reach the other city, being sorted again and stuck in a mail bag for delivery- inch by inch, mile by mile. The physical yet invisible maps of paths of mail, paths of planes, paths of footsteps.

Creating Cloth: twills

swatch for jacket-weight cloth

handwritten draft

Here is an 11 shaft fancy twill draft: my notes and the WeaveDesign file- I really prefer to use the "Mary Atwater" style drawdown of a top-down drawing because in my head I see it as an above view of the loom, treadles and cloth, but WeaveDesign uses bottom-up. I have had to readjust my thought process and I am still working out the kinks. This can be seen in a comparison of the handwritten and computer written drafts. The twill is going in the opposite direction- which is probably the fault of the treadling, as I keep translating parts of the patterns inversely, instead of just rotating them. I also left out the variation in yarn thickness- there are very thin tabby threads stabilizing the cloth- this does come from a swatch for jackets after all. And I also didn't mark the color variations- this is a black and white warp with blue weft. Despite all these inconsistencies, I like the draft that came out of all of this. It would create an entirely different look, but I think it could be very nice.

face of cloth

back of cloth

Elana Herzog : textiles, staples, paper

As my last post was about Dieu Donné's Kentridge show, I wanted to share another artist's work that I saw at the gallery: Elana Herzog. I previously knew her work in this vein:


Untitled 1, 2002
Chenille bedspread, metal staples, drywall, plywood, paint
96 x 104 x 2 inches

Detail:
She staples rugs, blankets, bedspreads to the wall and disintegrates the rest. I love the attention to the pattern, following the way a textile might actually disintegrate. This process fixes in time what is usually a slow, continual process. It's as if the staples act as a preservationist's tool: these delicate fibers have become stronger because of their sheetrock backing.

Her work at Dieu Donné was, of course, paper. However she maintained a traditional textile structure sensibility with these pieces, weaving the paper strands as warp and weft. The first is bonded onto carpet as well, giving the paper a plush feel. I imagine my feet crushing the paper as I walk across a carpet- that dry crisp crinkled sound, the uncomfortable wrinkles that ruin a perfectly good sheet of blank paper.
Untitled 2009
handmade pigmented cotton and linen paper, textile
36.5 x 24 inches


Untitled 2009
handmade pigmented cotton and linen paper
31.5 x 24 inches

William Kentridge at Dieu Donné

The garment district/midtown is a bit of a desert for galleries, but I am 2 avenue blocks from Dieu Donné, and since finding it, I try to visit each show they offer. From their website: "Founded in 1976, Dieu Donné Papermill is a non-profit artist workspace dedicated to the creation, promotion, and preservation of contemporary art in the hand papermaking process. In support of this mission, Dieu Donné collaborates with artists and partners with the professional visual arts community."


The first time I went, I was lucky enough to be in the gallery with a very talkative visitor- she spoke with the gallery attendant so long that she finally asked if the woman wanted a tour of the place. I tagged along. She showed us all of its huge screens for pulling paper, their hollander beater, the drying racks, and the studio spaces. There was an artist in residence working and we were able to watch for a moment.

William Kentridge: Sheets of Evidence is open until March 27th. It is beautifully presented- the gallery is small but they use their space well. The long wall held a line of watermarked paper in front of light panels on a wooden ledge. The short wall had two framed light panels with work inside along with a light table that held four watermarked works. The woman I spoke with there told me that Kentridge had made sketches and then Dieu Donné had sent them off to be made into latex laser cutouts that were then attached to the screened deckles. The best part was that they had a deckle there with one of his latex sketches- I love seeing process! The tools to make something can be just as interesting as the work itself.
Click here to see more of the works.

I suspect that this show was smartly timed to coincide with the MoMa's exhibition of William Kentridge: Five Themes. That show is on my list- it is up until May 17th, so there is a bit of time. There is so much to see in this city- one of my New Year's resolutions was to see as much art as possible, so I keep chugging along, writing gallery guides for myself every month: two others on the list are Kiki Smith at the Brooklyn Museum (closes 9/12) and El Anatsui at Jack Shainman Gallery (closes 3/13).

Spare Room Gallery

Spare Room Gallery (location #1)

sweet/unsweet jars

sprinkles/sugar, iron/sugar, bouillon/salt

salt/iron
(all photos by Alison Shanik)

Spare Room Gallery was brainstormed in another gallery, CANADA, in order to create an ever-changing place to show new work. The first show, "Sweet/Unsweet," was shown in Bed-Stuy in a spare room. The show took place in December and it was wonderful. Nine artists showed, and we had a brunch at the opening! Soon, we will be showing again, in Gowanus. It has been lovely to have a place to show and really great people to work with. It feels like I'm constructing an existence, not simply waiting around for the world to come to me.