space & structure

Thinking of Spring on a snowy day

2012-01-21T17:30:00.000-05:00

It snowed last night (the first true snow of the season) and today I'm hibernating, drinking tea, making croissants from scratch, sewing white gauzy curtains for the windows, and weaving a test warp of springtime colors. Although it's still January, I'm dreaming of Spring- I already have a container gardening plan for the small deck and a seedling calendar for the beginning of March.
This test warp is an exploration of familiar structures with new colors and patterns. Hopefully this Spring will be a productive one.

Windsor's orange & gray waffle scarf

2011-12-05T17:57:00.000-05:00

I love this time of year. I've dug out warm scarves and coats, and have been baking bread and making pots and pots of tea. It has been really lovely to see autumn unfold a bit more visibly here compared to the last apartment. The trees out my windows had an amazing display of red and gold leaves, although they're gone now. Yesterday I happened upon boughs of blue spruce, tied them to the back of my bike and made wreaths with neighbors!

I've also been weaving up a storm, and the latest is a waffly pumpkin orange scarf that is perfect for containing heat! It is next in the series that draws inspiration from squares. I made this scarf with a traditional waffle weave in mind, but created a different type of cell structure. It is made of wool and mohair, with yarn from NY and Russia. I made one for myself because waffle is my favorite weave structure, and have been wearing it around town. It is so warm and soft. I've put it the other up for sale here.

New work and website at julialines.com

2011-12-01T23:01:00.001-05:00

I have been working on a website change for some time now, and it's finally presentable! I used Cargo Collective for the structure of the site, and it was liberating to be able to have a site that allows me to go beyond my basic html and web skills, but still allows me to fully edit and customize it. Take a look at some new work, and revisit some of the old!

Second Wind Farm and llama wool

2011-11-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

My friend Tim has created an October tradition called "Chubbs Farm" bringing together friends, pie, llamas, and his family dog, Chubbs. His parents moved to a farm in central New Jersey some years ago and they now have four llamas, six hens, two kittens and the aforementioned pug Chubbs. It's a pretty glorious day for all, especially the "trip to the country" feel about it. The llamas had been shorn in spring and I bought some second-cuts (the fiber cut from the second passing of the shears) from all four llamas. Tim's mom has the first cuts separated out by llama (including photos of each) and it was awesome to know who it came from and to see the color and fiber differences. If anyone is looking for beautiful raw llama wool in first or second cuts, let me know!

Eduardo is a cream color (look at that face!) and a Heavy Wool llama.

Carbon Footprint is a black llama with a white chest (a little tuxedo!). He is a Silkie llama.

Jim-E (Extra Extra Read All About It) is a multi colored fellow- white with a brown/black saddle. He is a Silkie llama.

Clemente is a reddish brown reverse appaloosa. He is a Heavy Wool llama.

I'm planning on felting tea cozies with this wool. (I'm also hoping this inspires me to start felting again.) The new apartment is much much colder than the last, and the tea cools down so fast! We've also gone through an enormous amount of tea already, and have found a favorite tea shop. Premium Steap at 111 North 18th Street in Philadelphia was recommended to us by some dear tea-loving friends, and the woman who runs it is really knowledgeable and helpful.

Map-Walks: Manhattan to Brooklyn

2011-11-11T08:15:00.001-05:00

I've continued the Map-Walk project I started in the summer of 2010, recording walking as mapmaking and creating accompanying maps through yarn, flipbooks, woven grasses (Weaving the Grasses of America), and video. I see now I only posted the other flipbooks on flickr, and that my website is horribly out of date! I have been working on a new one behind the scenes, but I'd like to be finished before I make it live. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it off for this weekend.

Tyler School of Art recently had a call for entries for a 30 second film festival (30 SFF), and I entered a fragmented sampling of map-walks across Brooklyn and Manhattan (including a piece over the Manhattan Bridge. The films were screened last night in Stella Elkins Tyler Gallery in Philadelphia. It was a truly helpful exercise in timing, rhythm and editing (a change from flipbook editing!). These 30 seconds are certainly more sketch than finished piece, but seeing it on a big screen allowed me to step back and evaluate what was and was not working, even down to the smallest details.

Philadelphia, although the fifth largest city in the country, has a decidedly different urban makeup and structure than New York. This may seem like I am stating the obvious, but I find it fascinating that something as simple as the kind and frequency of noises on the street, the sidewalk material, the pedestrian density noted through sound and speaking are all indicators of a certain urban personality. These small elements are a dirctly related part of the conversation surrounding architectural choices, urban planning, and transportation infrastructure within any given urban space.

flipbooks corresponding to their walks- from top to bottom:
Times Square to Herald Square

Penn Station to West 23rd Street

Union Square to East 19th Street

(flipbook showing the steps and accompanying sky)

Philadelphia First Friday

2011-10-28T00:48:00.001-04:00

One of my "new year's" resolutions (in this new life in a new city) has been seeing more art. Somehow despite my best efforts, I only inconsistently made it out to New York galleries during all the time that I lived there. But now that I've moved both getting out more and galleries to the top of my to-do list, we're getting somewhere. I've resolved to try to make it to most First Fridays in Philadelphia. For October's, I went first to Old City and wandered around and then went to 319 N. 11th Street which holds a number of galleries (including Vox Populi and Grizzly Grizzly) and studios. My favorite piece of the night was Katie Murken's Continua on the second floor. Seeing it first online did not do it justice. The tall dyed columns were beautiful in the details, and her specific color choices were better appreciated in person, as I suppose is to be expected. They were interesting on their own, but I absolutely loved the next room, filled with embossed and printed diagrams showing which hues were chosen for each dye lot and the ratios of each color based on the rolling of a die. I love seeing process and decision-making in the work itself, and I think she did a particularly good job of it- deliberate decisions shown subtly with consideration for process' place in the work. It completely made my night.

Soft Heathered Blanket

2011-10-25T08:00:00.000-04:00

After weaving a pair of double weave blankets a year ago for two weddings, I received a request for one more in custom colors. The customer wanted a mix of blues, purples and one green to be muted by greys, creating a soft heathered look. The warp is 100% mercerized cotton and the weft is charcoal cotton/wool fleece. The blanket measures 48 x 72". I loved the finished look to the cloth- muted, but still colorful (grey is one of my favorite colors!) I sent it off a few weeks ago, just as the seasons have turned. Although I am still having trouble with my sticking shaft, this blanket went much more smoothly than the first two, and I am thinking of making myself a blanket in 100% wool- perhaps in orange and cream. We'll see!

Nick Cave's Soundsuits

2011-10-22T13:57:00.000-04:00

(at Mary Boone)

Nick Cave, the sculptor and Alvin-Ailey trained dancer, is one of my favorite artists. I first saw his work in Pittsburgh in 2006 at the Mattress Factory. The space was low-lit and full of artifacts relating to masculinity and the history of slavery. It was very quiet and thoughtful, but articulate and insistent. This piece immediately placed him among my favorites, as I kept returning to this room and later, kept thinking about the feeling in the space. Later, I discovered the Soundsuits and I must admit, these I was slower to appreciate. I saw them at Jack Shainman Gallery in Chelsea in 2009, and loved the way they took up space and the use of materials in a fiber tradition, but had trouble imagining the pieces in motion. This fall, he had a two-part show at Jack Shainman (Ever After) and Mary Boone Gallery (For Now). There were four rooms of Soundsuits and one of video, which I now believe should always accompany his work. Seeing the pieces in motion, over time with repetition and rhythm, brought it all together for me.

(at Jack Shainman)

I took photos of both exhibitions, but as my camera is broken, only used an ipod, which is really a shame as I wanted to capture the detail better. Each button was sewn on in such a purposeful manner that even the underside of the cloth (here fulled wool) is beautiful. The button pieces at Jack Shainman used mostly a poly-looking jacquard as basecloth.

(at Jack Shainman)

I loved the draping on these pieces, as well as the white and yellow shift below.

(at Jack Shainman)

At Mary Boone, all the pieces were on a raised oval pedestal, showing an entire selection of Soundsuits. I love the found object ones and the sequin appliques, but am partial to the stick/basket/drapey fur. I really think you should check out one of his videos on Mary Boone's site.

(and the feet!)

new studio

2011-09-02T22:46:00.003-04:00

Back at the loom. It's been a long couple of months of packing up, commuting to NYC and then getting a new job in Philadelphia. I'm back in the fashion industry for now in the only company I would return to the industry for. On the more important side of things, the new studio is coming together, and it has natural light! Photography will be such a relief instead of a hassle. It just needs a bit more storage and organization.

In the meantime, I have work to do. I'm weaving another set of folded doubleweave blankets- the first was requested with custom colors- the second will be a gift. There are a whole bunch more projects on the to-do list. It's going to be an amazing fall.

summer studio

2011-07-04T10:01:00.004-04:00

(a painting at CANADA gallery, the new apartment, sari wedding dress)

It seems like the new year just started. How is it that it's already July?
With a new job, much better than the last, the months have flown by. A lot has changed, and a lot is about to change. I'm switching cities too- after 8 years in New York state, I'm off to Pennsylvania. Packing has started, especially the studio. My sewing machines and loom are the only things remaining. I'm currently working on a friend's wedding dress (for July 31!) and a multi-colored warp and gray weft cotton/wool blanket. The new place will have windows! natural light! space for visitors! although I will miss my current studio's spacious ceilings, loft storage, artist neighbors, and Lowe's hardware store next-door. The new space will also promote focus. I have a tendency to want to do everything at once, and this will be a good reminder to focus. Depth, not breadth. At least for now.

More thoughts to come, especially since this month is a good one for mid-year resolutions. Getting things done: mending & tailoring clothes, building a lamp, sewing curtains, a California wedding, and sleeping with Sequoias.

Woven Constructions

2011-03-20T21:59:00.008-04:00

These Woven Constructions are a series of mock-ups for a larger project in the making. They are based on house framing techniques, made of stained spruce and cotton carpet warp. Their ultimate purpose will be to define previously unmarked space. For me, weaving is pure structure: miniature architectures playing with scale. I am working on getting these out of the 2D, into a more successful 3D existence. It will take a lot more thinking, sketching, reading, researching. (I have a long list of books requested at the library!)

This last image is a shot of all the elements together- still too 2-dimensional for me, but getting there. I love the overlapping threads and wooden shapes, and how it breaks out of the house framing standards. It's certainly food for thought.

Time Tapestries

2011-02-24T23:27:00.004-05:00

Here is what became of the small tapestry frames I was making- four infographic time tapestries, each representing four different spans of days. Each color represents a different activity, with certain colors being threaded throughout the series. The yellow-gold, for instance, represents eating. And the darker purple/navy represent sleep. The warp was calculated for it's full capacity of yarn and then divided into hours based on how many days I would try to fit into each frame. One hour was about 1.5" of yarn. So each activity was recorded, measured, and woven into each frame.

October 13-18: The first was done over a wedding weekend in Bucks County, PA. The turquoise here represents socializing, the cream hygiene like brushing teeth, showering, etc, and the orange dancing, or exercise. So the third day from the top is the wedding day, made obvious by the gigantic amount of time getting ready and then hours of eating followed by dancing.

October 27-November 1: The second tapestry was made during another wedding weekend in Newport, Rhode Island, only two weeks after the first. I enjoyed changing the palette each time, seeing the different relationships between colors and the random patterns made with each quantity of time.

November 9-16: The third tapestry was made during a hum-drum week in New York, with the gray representing the workday, a splash of ocre for meals, and the last two days filled with turquoise socializing and brick television/movie watching. Must have been a cold weekend!

November 23-28: The last tapestry so far in this series was done over Thanksgiving weekend while visiting my grandparents in Yorktown, Virginia. Full days of turquoise socializing peppered with navy naps (in the second and fifth days) and a whole lot of food (yellow). My favorite holiday!

I believe I'll continue this series- the frames were really satisfying to make, and weaving on the subway is a lot of fun. And I still have a lot of yarn left over!

Woolen City : Wearable Architecture

2011-02-22T22:21:00.003-05:00

The last weeks of 2010 were a whirlwind of working. I've been meaning to post all the works bit by bit, and here's the first. This is one I've been working on for quite some time, and I greatly underestimated how much work it would be. It's a Woolen City: wearable wire wrapped in grey wool yarn. After constructing the armature, I built up pyramids, domes, towers, skyscrapers, caves and arches. Each bit of wire was then wrapped in grey wool yarn, creating a slightly fuzzy line drawing of architecture. It's a wearable urban structure that has just a bit of coziness from the yarn, and the citizen wearing it can feel the scale of a city/citizen relationship shift.

Architecturally Woven Scarves

2011-02-14T00:18:00.006-05:00

After a hectic end of the year, I am finally ready to get back to daily life- seeing friends, cooking, eating good food, and setting up shop. I have opened one here with architecturally handwoven scarves made of wool, merino, cotton and tencel. It has been a long time in the making, but they are now ready!

It is amazing to see them all together, ready to be wrapped around necks! Winter in the northern hemisphere, of course, is about halfway over, but cool days are still ahead! The wine & dark heather gray scarf is a sleeker, shorter scarf, while the grape & heather gray scarf is ready to wrap multiple times around your neck. The cerulean and gray scarf is reversible and the widest of the bunch.

I wish I could keep them all, but they must go out into the world to keep others warm! For more photos, visit my flickr at www.flickr.com/spaceandstructure.

holiday crafting at Anthropologie

2010-12-23T11:06:00.002-05:00

I was called into Anthropologie to help the visual team for two days in November, right before Thanksgiving. If I had an unlimited amount of money and no qualms about spending it on clothing, I'd probably buy all my clothes there- I love the attention to detail and the fabric choices. The store is on 5th Ave near Union Square. The first day I made tweed and felt pine cones for 8 hours! It was an amazing feeling to be hired to work with my hands. On the second day I went down to the SoHo store to work on the banner for the construction staging outside. I cut all the drop cloths to size and they were sewn together to the correct dimensions. We then stenciled the trees onto the cloth as well as the letters. I had to catch my flight to my Thanksgiving with my grandparents at this point, and when I walked by later to take photos, I saw that they had added the snow and crocheted garland.

It was a great way to see how the store windows get created each season, and I'd love to help out again. If I had the patience and extra time, I'd also make some tweed pine cones for myself!

More photos of the windows and a closeup of the banner:

the evolution of a work ethic

2010-11-08T22:30:00.007-05:00

I have been trying to build up my portfolio ever since coming to New York as a way to get myself out of my day job (which has thus far proven unsuccessful, but fingers crossed!) and now, as a way to get myself into grad school and on a new path in the working to live/living to work battle. Each year has become more and more productive and in the past month, it's reached a fever pitch.

My first year here, I snagged an industrial sewing machine from the Upper West Side on Freecycle and started sewing a carpet bag project I had started in undergrad in my tiny living room. But I was traveling across Brooklyn multiple times a week, and I could never get into a rhythm. The next year, I had a railroad apartment and turned the windowless hybrid room/hallway into a studio to better results, although it was hard trying to work in the apartment when there was a couch to sit on instead of the floor of the studio hallway and this couch faced the television. Blaming my living room layout is the easy way out. I had trouble separating life and work and it affected my focus and work ethic. The next year, I moved into a two room apartment and rented a studio about 10 minutes away by walking, 5 by bike. I also became the proud owner of my very own loom which has made me the happiest kid in Brooklyn.

This separation of life and work has been the best solution for me. Almost every evening after the day job, I get on the subway to studio and put in an hour or three. Then I walk or ride home and do a bit of apartment related activities and a bit of computer work. Then tea, and bed. The weekends are up early, off to studio for 10-12 hours, home, eating and bed. The past week has been the most hectic of all and it won't be over until the new year. This is all in preparation for the grad portfolio. It's exhausting. But this is my escape plan, and going at it halfheartedly is just not an option.

Above is a project I've been working on since the hallway/room studio days, and I've finally been able to make decent progress on it. I can't wait to post the finished piece! Patience, patience, and motivation will get me there.

cerulean & grey double weave blanket

2010-11-01T00:25:00.009-04:00

As the weekend of October 23rd wrapped up the last of the two big weddings I attended this month, I can finally show what I have been working on lately. This is one of two blankets I made as gifts for each of the couples. They were woven folded in half on my Baby Wolf, much as you see above. I used the full 24" of my loom to make these 48x72" blankets. The warp is cerulean and charcoal mercerized cotton with an 80% cotton 20% wool fleece from Brown Sheep as weft in charcoal and black.

It had been a long time since I had woven any variety of double cloth, so I did a bit of research about 8-shaft double weave at the library and online. It was incredible how many resources I found for cloth with blocks of separate top and bottom warps interacting. I also found many resources on folded double cloth that used only 4-shafts with a plainweave structure, although often using color and weave theory to create pattern. I was very interested in creating my own pattern on a folded double cloth that would best exercise my 8 shafts. The best resource I found for understanding folded double cloth pattern structure was Rosemarie Dion's writing on Double Width Double Weave. Using her methods for translating 4 shaft drafts into combined top and bottom reversed drafts, I used a pointed twill draft.

The cotton/wool fleece was lovely to work with, and gave the blankets such a heavy, plush hand, but its thickness kept me from being able to wind bobbins with a lot of yarn, so I had many ends that needed sewing in afterward. It was slow going, as the Baby Wolf doesn't have the largest shed, but completely worth it to finally take the blankets off and see them as pure yardage! I would love to make blankets again, but I think I will wait until I have a wider loom, as the sheer hours it took to weave these made them luxury items!

Building Tapestry Frames

2010-10-26T16:34:00.004-04:00

In all the time that I went without a floor loom (a sort of two-year creative desert for other reasons) I very often thought and dreamed about weaving. But somehow I was holding myself back, restricting my thoughts on what I could and could not do in regard to weaving and so I focused on other projects. Since the Baby Wolf floor loom arrived, it has seldom sat vacant. It also seems that I have been weaving just as much off-loom, from my P2P piece, Weaving the Grasses of America series, and now a still unnamed series in progress. I am weaving more than ever!

Another revelation has been tapestry. It snuck up on me- I have dabbled with it from time to time, but it hadn't stolen my heart until recently. Portable weaving! To start this next series, I built four frames from 1/2x2"s using a mitre box, drill, clamps, brads, wood glue and my weaving stool as a workbench. It is time for me to start using the woodshop down the hall! The first two frames above were for working out the kinks- a bit of uneven drilling went away with practice. I'd love to use a drill press for the following frames. After assembling the pieces, I stained them with the same stain I used for the Weaving the Grasses of America tapestry loom I built and then warped the frames with cotton carpet warp.

I'd like to keep the project under wraps for now, but the last picture shows the yarn I will be using, sent to me by my lovely aunt Beth- she has been so generous with yarn!

the weaving stool acts as my work bench for now

the frames in progress

deliciously colored tapestry wool

Creating Cloth: white & silver boucle squares

2010-10-11T17:06:00.003-04:00

This fabric is a poly rayon cotton with silver lurex and shots of cream bouclé. This particular swatch is jacket-weight, and it is about 45epi. I would love to see it scaled up, with a thicker bouclé yarn for a bit more drama. Below is the reverse of the fabric, and you may be able to see vertical floats- every time I see floats, I think wool! shrinkage! texture! If I did scale this up, I would certainly add wool. I have a bunch of this weaving analysis ready to go, just need to find them!

the reverse

The Work Office

2010-10-01T11:10:00.016-04:00

The weekend before last (September 24-26) I took part in a group show with The Work Office, a pair of artists (Naomi Miller and Katarina Jerinic) who hired 33 artists for a week to make work. It was an echoing of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which was the largest New Deal agency in the 1930's, hiring people to do civic work like build bridges, repair roads and parks, make artwork, and more in an effort to get the American people working again.

A family story goes that my maternal grandfather from Rhode Island signed up for this program when he heard he could go build and repair roads almost 2,000 miles across the United States to Wyoming. He was excited to travel and see the country. But this project was in Wyoming, Rhode Island, which is a tiny village 30 miles from his hometown on Aquidneck Island. So he took a ferry to the mainland, but didn't even get out of the state (which, I might add for non-Americans, is the smallest state in the country, at 1,214 square miles- Wyoming, on the other hand, is the 10th largest state in the Union at 97,818 sqm.)

The Work Office show took place, fittingly, in an empty office building. Above is the entrance to the show after the Payday Party. A key component of the show was that we were hired for a week- our proposed projects had to be started and completed within a week's time-and we would be paid $23.50 for our work. This is what the pay rate was for a week's work as an artist hired by the WPA. The projects were varied, from a video of an artist paying people 50 cents for a joke, to documented conversations on the subways, embroidered flags, videos of repairs, and drawings of WPA supported art turned into postcards.

This is my piece above, Weaving the Grasses of America: part 1 Gowanus. I have been dreaming of weaving grasses from specific locations as a physical representation or map of a space for a long while now, and this is the first piece in the series! Gowanus is an industrial neighborhood in Brooklyn, home to both my studio and the Gowanus Canal, a Superfund site. In this atmosphere of warehouses and the toxic canal, it is surprising to see just how much vegetation can grow- there seemed to be grasses and weeds coming up from every crack in the sidewalk this summer. Each section of the grass weft is marked by a flipbook of my feet walking the sidewalk that the grasses came from. In this way, the walking feet mark out the path and the grasses were woven in order of collection. Each moment in the weaving represents an actual physical space (and time) that exists in the neighborhood- thus, a spatial and temporal map of Gowanus.

Here are the grasses laid out on the floor of my studio, separated by street.

This section is the first two streets woven in- I wish there were a way that I could keep the grasses alive. This is my next hurdle to cross- preservation. If anyone out there has any words of wisdom or experience drying and preserving grasses, I'd love to hear them. The last three streets dried much better than the first two, as they were more stalks than true grass. This is something I will keep in mind for later pieces.

This is one of the flipbooks along with the fourth street seen behind it. I enjoy the flipbooks immensely- they are becoming a favorite way of dealing with movement and technology. They are handheld, tactile, and entirely self propelled ways of looking at video. This is just my kind of technology.

the art street journal

2010-09-01T11:51:00.003-04:00

The other day I received the art street journal- a newspaper sent from Carmichael Gallery in Culver City, (Los Angeles) CA to anywhere in the world for free. This issue looks like one of the best so far, with better quality paper and color photos inside. In my learning-all-I-can-about-the-ART-world pursuits, here in one of the capital cities of art, it has been easy to overlook the rest of the world's differences in style and trends. The art street journal, paired with reading more blogs based on the west coast, like Arrested Motion, have given me a larger sense of the US's art world, and have reminded me that some of the elite gallery owners/museum curators/art stars (certainly not all, but a few) in New York are not the end all be all. LA and New York seem to have such differences in attitude- LA appears to be so much more accepting of street art, graffiti and untrained artists than I've seen in New York. That's not to say it doesn't exist in New York, but- (and here I feel myself slipping into a jumbled thought process about it all; I'm not a trained critic/writer, and can certainly use MUCH more never-ending education about everything) the aura about the "established" art world here seems much more traditional, while the "established" art world in LA seems more than happy to allow non-traditional artists into its folds. Basically what I'm saying to you is, subscribe. It is lovely to read a true newspaper on the subway that is not the AmNY or Metro. Ai.

cover photo by Boogie

Loom Work

2010-08-30T12:33:00.006-04:00

I have a piece that has been brewing for over a year now, and I'm finally ready to get started on it. It requires a tapestry loom, so I bought some 1x2s and got started building. It is a very simple, rudimentary design, but it will be functional, and is as much as I could accomplish as the wood shop in my studio isn't accessible at the moment. I drilled the boards together so it will be able to be dismantled when moving. Another project I am working on will be stained, so I used the tapestry loom to do a test of the stain color. The color will work for the other project, so I have a bit of wood protection and test staining done in one go! I warped the loom in two sections so that I can do some tests, but I still need to get the shed stick and heddle bars set up and then twine the warp ends to set the spacing. This has been on my list of things to do for some time now and it feels amazing to have this physical loom after all of this planning!

Another item on my to-do list was unsticking the 8th shaft on my Baby Wolf. When the loom arrived, the 8th shaft would raise and then stick halfway when the treadle was released. My guess was that either the shaft or the metal track was a bit warped. As I can do nothing for the metal track, I sanded down the top left side of the shaft and was able to fix the stickiness! What a relief, as it made for very messy sheds and my needing to manually push the shaft back down into place. Now onto the rest of my never ending to-do list!

sanding on the top left edge

You can see extra space around each of the shafts, except the 8th shaft (furthest to the left).

Happy Friday: fiber in life

2010-08-20T10:25:00.004-04:00

Here are a few photos of recent life, taken by Lydia. Although my life has a few separate categories, I try to live cohesively. Everything I do is related to everything else- my life informs my work and vice versa.

Edy exploring the wilds of a Brooklyn fire escape garden. Five basil, one strawberry, sage, zinnia, marigold, dieffenbachia. Love that cement wall.

Hand rolled/cut pasta as pattern, fiber, mark-making.

Frozen eggs for the pasta. I have never seen anything like this- due to a fridge on the fritz: spoils milk, freezes eggs.

Art for the Public

2010-08-17T15:19:00.004-04:00

Recently I have been seeing a lot more graffiti around my neighborhood, and while I think tags are generally an aesthetic waste, I do love street art, stencils and graffiti murals. I'm planning on visiting this Os Gemeos and Futura mural on a public school- PS.11 on 21st St in Manhattan- what a lucky school!

On my morning walk to the subway, I happened upon this paste-up on an empty warehouse building, surrounded by new tags.

It made me really happy that someone is out there, thinking, pasting, communicating, provoking. It is nice to know that we are together in creating, even though we don't know each other; an invisible community of sorts. Community has been on my mind lately. I have been trying to meet and talk to more people, as I seem to be a bit of a recluse in my post-school days. I suspect it is my job and this city, but I am trying to make the most of it. It is just such an important part of making work for me- I love working around others: separate, but simultaneously. I need to feel the momentum around me so that I can let myself get caught up in the current. Trying to reconnect with hardworking friends from my past lately, as well as new ones.

These next images were taken at 266 West 37th St in the Garment District in Manhattan. This piece is called "Have A Nice Day" from Johannah Herr. This exhibition is part of chashama, an organization that turns "temporarily vacant properties into spaces where art can flourish." I had been hearing about them recently on blogs and websites devoted to the NYC arts, but I hadn't yet happened upon any of them. It was a fantastic surprise to find this piece tucked away in a tiny storefront, under construction scaffolding, across from a fabric store I was in. The garment district is certainly not known for its beauty, so such a find does not go unappreciated!

Cerulean Tea Towel Updates

2010-08-13T00:08:00.004-04:00

Tonight I finished the 10 yards of cerulean and white towels. It feels a bit like victory! Now, onto washing and sewing. Onward and upward, continually moving. Hoping to have these listed by the beginning of the week.

Tomorrow I'll be planning and purchasing some much needed supplies for some upcoming work and then celebrating the weekend! (Before getting back to work for the weekend! Oh the joys of essentially working two jobs, although this one, I love.)

Creating Cloth: plain weave variation

2010-08-12T15:27:00.005-04:00

Here's a simple draft analyzed from a 100% cotton swatch. I love how simple yet full of visual interest this one is. It is essentially a 2 shaft draft, but I laid it out on 4 for more even distribution of heddles. The warp is striped white/black which creates the check pattern.

Hot August, Ready For Fall

2010-08-06T12:42:00.004-04:00

Something about getting things done makes getting even more done very tempting. I've been weaving as much as one can with a full-time job, wishing there were more hours in the day or weekend. I've been preparing to buy all my fall/winter yarn very soon, and I remembered a skein of brown and cream alpaca that I had bought about 5 years ago in Schenectady. I thought, I'm making all these things for work and business and profit, and I haven't made anything for fun in such a long time. So I went looking for this skein, to no avail. I made a major move about a year ago, and a lot is still in storage in two different states. I found this cream skein instead- something I picked up in school- by its cool, sleek hand, I believe it's alpaca. It already had been knit about 2" of a pattern from Mon Tricot Knitting Dictionary. I had stopped because of what seemed to be an error in the pattern- a lack of decrease to make a zigzag- it just kept adding stitches... so I decided to start again with this yarn- I liked the first section of the zigzag so much, I decided to continue it through the entire scarf. It is a raised and isolated rib- very lightweight and very plush. It is going to be such a delicious scarf, although probably won't be very long. Alas. I'll be happy to be knitting on the subway from now until fall- with circular needles being of the utmost importance! (straight needles take up too much space, and are a bit of a safety hazard during rush hour!) One more project to add to an already very long list. I'll just keep chugging along- momentum is key.

Creating Cloth: grey/white basketweave

2010-08-01T23:31:00.004-04:00

I'm back in the swing of transcribing weaving drafts from commercial fabrics. This next one is a swatch that the company I work for can't afford to use, as it's from Italy. Basically, we'll see vendors who sell fabric from Europe so that we're up on the trends- then we take swatches and send it out for sourcing, to China if it's a basic or novelty woven, Korea if it's a novelty knit or woven, and Mexico and Guatemala if it's a basic or jacquard knit. The cheaper production price prevails always for a vast majority of the fashion world, always looking for trade agreement discounts (NAFTA, CAFTA) or fabric finishing tax breaks. Here is a two year old article on the garment industry. Based on what I know and have learned about the industry, it appears to be pretty accurate, even today.

This swatch is 60% wool 40% poly. It's gloriously soft in a wooly way, with such thin threads. I wish I had yardage to make a scarf or, if I had better tailoring skills, a jacket. This construction is a basket weave variation, the draft below:
6 shafts, 6 treadles, 12 thread repeat.

Summer Tea Towels for sale!

2010-07-28T16:20:00.004-04:00

I have just set up my coral/white tea towels for sale in my shop!

The handwoven pieces are 100% cotton, and the embroidered pieces are 100% linen. Sold in sets of two- one handwoven, one embroidered.

It's so lovely to be creating again. On a roll, onwards and upwards!

Cerulean & White Tea Towels and Slummer Nights

2010-07-27T21:12:00.007-04:00

I am working on cerulean and white tea towels with sharp diagonal lines. Clean, crisp, contemporary colors. The exciting thing about this construction is that on the loom, the cloth is very flat, and the pattern is not very defined. But take it off the loom, and the threads respond by creating a slightly puffed, very defined diagonal pattern. I love letting the yarn personally create the characteristics of a cloth. They lend the shape, the hand, the finish, the construction. They are tools in creating cloth, not just the subject or object of this work.

I've been trying to get into the studio as much as possible, but I've been juggling various life responsibilities and getting my act together. Tomorrow evening, I'll be headed to my cousin's gallery on the edge of Chinatown- CANADA gallery at 55 Chrystie Street, for an evening of 30 short artist videos that will be kicking off Slummer Nights, better explained by their press release:

WEDNESDAY July 28th
9:00pm Cleopatra's presents: 30 short artist videos with live score by Hex Message
Projection is a program compiled by Cleopatra’s, featuring 33 emerging artists and filmmakers. The screening consists of 3-minute, black-and-white silent videos produced in response to the phrase Future Tense. Contributing artists are: Benedetti/Brown, Ed Brown, Jay Buim, Mary Helena Clark, Liam Everett, Loretta Fahrenholz, Petrova Giberson, Rebecca Gilbert, Kate Gilmore, Ethan Hayes-Chute, Jane Hsu, Scott Hug, Craig Kalpakjian, Ellie Krakow, Tobias Kaspar, Summer Kemick, Kyle Knodell, Josh Kolbo, Andres Laracuente, Kylie Lockwood, Zeljko McMullen, Robert Melee, Miss Joan Marie Moossy, JJ Peet, Sean Raspet, Birgit Rathsmann, Chris Rice, Mariah Robertson, Davina Semo, Brad and Vaughn Taormina, TIME STEREO, James Woodward, Olivia Wyatt

If you're in the city, come on down! It is sure to be spectacular.

Julia Lines: new website

2010-07-17T21:13:00.004-04:00

A new site!
It has been a long time coming, but it's finally done. The site name has changed from pastafajulia.com to julialines.com. It links to a new shop as well, where I'll be selling woven goodies. Checking this off my to-do list in my quest to be professional and organized and all that. Here's to progress and moving forward and finishing the things I've promised myself to finish.
cheers!

Wish You Were Here : postcard show

2010-06-28T12:12:00.007-04:00

This is the latest piece I've been working on. It was made for A.I.R. Gallery's Wish You Were Here show, which opened on June 23. A show of postcards- this one was made thinking about getting lost in maps of housing developments, cul de sacs, mazes. The loneliness that can come with outstretched communities of solid residential zoning- suburbia. These places can isolate just on the nature of their expansive separateness. That's not to say that cities cannot isolate. Living in the largest city in the country has its loneliness. I am surrounded by people, but there is not much connection. We are isolated pockets of communities, existing one on top of the other. The lives of those people just living on my block are all so very different the one from the other. It's really amazing to think of all of these separate lives existing in the same square feet. And when we speak to each other, it can be inspiration and invigorating. It's just finding that opening. Making the human connection. Finding the people who can grow into valued, trusted and dependable friends. The ones that last a lifetime.

The process of making this piece was delicious. I used annealed steel wire and methodically created the shapes. It was like meditation- like knitting, like weaving: the repeating structures over and over, building up the whole. I then used bits of the wire to "staple" the piece onto the paper. The created shadows are making me very happy. It was nice to work with such a restrained size- especially after my over-ambitiously sized P2P piece. A lesson in scale for sure. Things to remember, to store in my mind for later.

Pics to Picks: A lesson in work ethic

2010-06-05T11:49:00.003-04:00

Deadlines. I have always had a shaky relationship with them. Throughout my schooling, I would procrastinate until the night before, then try to pull everything off in a matter of hours, with no regard for sleep. As I've gotten older, I've pushed myself to start earlier and earlier, but somehow I am continually guilty of procrastination. I am also guilty of overachieving. "As I've brainstormed and sketched for quite some time now, using up a bit of time that I should have been working, should I tone down my idea, make it smaller? How about postcard size? No, that would be too easy. Let's go for a hearty 17x24" (43x61cm) needle woven piece. Only have two weeks? No problem! I can do that!" Sadly, usually time will win. Part of the project was to do as much as we can, or to go as far as we wanted to. If I weren't so guilty of procrastination in my day to day life, I think I could have gotten away with it. But I have to come clean. I would have loved to finish. But the deadline has passed! Must move forward, post what I have to show for myself!

After sketching ideas for each image sent, I decided to use this one as a starting point. I didn't want to just copy it in weaving form, but I loved the diagonal lines. I thought of tapestry, huge chunky twills, then of kente cloth. If I wove strips of cloth, only to sew it into a sort of twill? Then I dreamed of ikat details, to mimic the light in this photo. An ikat kente cloth of greys. As I worked to get my tea towels off my loom, I realized I would not have enough time to get another warp on the loom. A change of plan. I could make a frame out of wire and weave onto it. A sort of needle weaving. This would also be a great way to test out this idea, as I have a neckpiece in the wings needing finishing, and I have been thinking of weaving onto it. I did my work to a marathon of Murder She Wrote and at lunch during work, carrying it on the subway. Another lesson in space- the smaller the better on the subway. So here it is, in all its unfinished glory.

Using wire as a shaft

Spare Room Gallery: Together/Apart

2010-05-12T21:02:00.005-04:00

We had our 2nd Spare Room Gallery show on May 1st at our studio in Gowanus. The theme was Together/Apart. Photos from the show can be viewed on flickr and on the blog! It was a wonderful time- lovely people, a mini feast and great art! It was fantastic to see how each person interpreted the theme.

Here's my video piece- I also made a corresponding flip book. The song is Le Tigre's After Dark. It was my first foray into video... I still have a lot to learn, and would like to tweak a few transitions, but it was tons of fun!

Maps Delineating Movement (2010)

flyer designed by tim vienckowski
photo by lydia nichols

Pics to Picks final sketches

2010-05-10T09:45:00.003-04:00

After a bit of a working lull, recovering from the Spare Room Gallery show last Saturday night, I thought I would post my sketches for the Pics to Picks Challenge. I've done a bunch of sketching, but I was having quite a bit of difficulty in choosing which photo to use for inspiration. The mossy bark is really beautiful, but my sketches could probably only be achieved by a 24 shaft or jacquard loom, despite my best efforts to fit them into my 8 shaft constraints... I love the linear nature of the stone stairs and the angled column shadows. The stone stairs could be packed tapestry-like warp with floating warps. The shadowed columns could be kente cloth inspired strips sewn in angled patterns. I'm still debating which to do, if not both. After my tea towels are off the loom (they've been stalled because of shuttle and threading issues) I'll start on these. I am running a bit behind- always rushing I am! But there's nothing like a tight deadline for motivation!

tea towels on the loom

2010-04-25T17:09:00.006-04:00

tea towels can appear to be scarves, for a moment

I have been dreaming of a spring line of wovens. Scarves were my first choice, but as I wove tests, towels seemed like the best place to start for spring weaving. There is nothing like a good tea or hand towel in the kitchen- drying dishes, wrapping up freshly made bread, brightening up the front of a stove. For this line, I've chosen salmon and white for one set and turquoise and white for another. Spring for me is all about crisp, clean, bright colors.

The first salmon/white warp has been warped and wound onto the loom. Structurally, it is a basket weave with a plainweave ground; simple yet elegant.

this is the test warp- what the industry calls a handloom

half of the warp on the warping board

winding the warp- even tension throughout!

more winding

homemade shuttle

As I am building my collection of weaving tools, I currently only have one boat shuttle. Of course I chose some patterns that need two colors, so I have a second boat shuttle on order. Until it arrives, I decided to make my own very rudimentary shuttle. On one hand, I'm almost embarrassed to show this, as "professional" it's not. But on the other hand, I'm a fan of making do with what you have, and trying to solve the issues that occur.

test warp and plainweave/basketweave structure

Syracuse University visit

2010-04-13T17:22:00.017-04:00

On Friday I was invited to speak with Fiber/Textile/Fashion students as an alumna from the Fibers program. It had been almost three years since I left Syracuse and returning was like coming home. It even flurried- the day after an 80 degree day, which I took as a kind traditional welcome! It was so lovely to see my weaving teacher, Sarah, again and to meet the other professors, Janet and Olivia, and two of the majors. The program seems to be flourishing with a joined vision of fine art fibers, craft, and textile industry practices. The number of majors has more than tripled to 10 since I left, which I imagine gives everyone even more discussion and collaboration opportunities!

While I was nervous to speak, (I am always working on my fears of public speaking) it went very well. I hope I was able to articulate my current circumstances and experiences in a way that would be helpful to current students looking toward the “real world,” for showing similarities, contrast and comparison. I feel that I am straddling much of the fiber/textile world, as I am working in a garment company in the fashion industry, creating a line of scarves for sale on the retail/craft side of things, and working on a body of art work that will hopefully allow me to show in galleries and gain entry into a graduate program. While it is a lot of work, I love to have my hands in just about everything. There is so much to learn in this world: I have a renaissance (wo)man dream.

During the presentation, I talked about the things I wish I knew- what I would have liked to know before graduating (and some that are still on my list of things to learn). I kept it simple and left out useless regret, focusing on classes and computer programs I think would be helpful in job searching and keeping on top of today’s technology. I was asked what I felt was the most useful in my learning at SU. I answered weaving and explained how it supports my knowledge in my current job and my dreams of self employment, but coming back to this question in my head, ALL of my education was helpful, and will continue to be helpful in my life. There is nothing that I would leave behind. If it is not in use now, it will be filed away in my head for another time and place. All knowledge informs and inspires all parts of life, even seemingly unrelated aspects.

Syracuse is a particular city: populous with 147,000 people, but the city center is struggling to act as a weighted downtown. It has its class and race issues, like any city, but the city infrastructure and geography, like the building of 81 in the 1950's and Syracuse University (also the city's largest employer) being on top of a hill apart from the rest of the city has not helped matters. Despite these issues, it is the heart of Central New York: a city in the midst of countryside, host of the New York State Fair. The former Salt City, grown through the prosperous times of the Erie Canal, a prominent spot on the Underground Railroad. What I miss most are the hills around the city and the food. Roji Tea Lounge, Doc's Little Gem Diner, Erawan and the cannoli places on S. Salina's Little Italy. There are art, music and food festivals in the summertime and the winters make any place with less snow seem like nature's not even trying.

Even though there are great things about the city and area, most of the students that are educated at Syracuse University do not settle in the area. Many use it as a way to get closer to New York City, others are off to large cities like LA, Chicago, Boston, Philly, or return to their own communities. I was one of them. It seems that almost 75% of my friends and Syracuse community are now living in Brooklyn. It's wonderful to have the community of SU alumni throughout NYC, but it leaves me wondering about our relationship to the city that educated us (and very well I might add). What can we do to give back besides money? What can we do to connect our current communities to our former? How can those of us living outside of Syracuse create a meaningful relationship - to not leave it behind as a sort of "education factory of graduates." I've been thinking of this for some time, especially after my return to Brooklyn. Brainstorming abounds.

quahog memorial at easton's beach

2010-03-27T15:58:00.007-04:00

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

2010-03-16T22:46:00.004-04:00

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

2010-03-14T00:12:00.006-05:00

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

2010-03-12T12:20:00.009-05:00

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

2010-03-10T09:55:00.004-05:00

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

2010-03-04T15:26:00.010-05:00

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

2010-03-04T13:31:00.009-05:00

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.

Creating Cloth

2010-02-26T11:01:00.011-05:00

One of my favorite things about weaving is the drafting process- analyzing cloth and figuring out its construction. There are infinite variations of interlacements possible. Working in the fashion industry has a few perks- I work in the fabric department, so all day long I am looking at hundreds of swatches and sample yardage cuts- it's a fabric lovers dream in that regard, even if the fabrics themselves can be a bit... moderate and, dare i say, tacky? (I make my case with image 1A. Yes, that is a leopard's face on a leopard print- and it did not scan well, but they really took it to another level with a good hearty layer of silver foil.) And as I am one for beating my point into the ground, I bring you image 1B, a velour basecloth with animal printed foil in an animal pattern. Gorgeous! With this legging craze still going around and getting more and more outrageous by the moment (printed and solid sequins, back for another round of printed velvet), I would not be surprised to see this velour/foil made up in leggings in the near future.

1A: leopard face 1B: velour & animal foil

Ok, so back to the woven swatches with their intriguing constructions! In my pre-loom days, dreaming of weaving, I started collecting tiny swatches of fabrics so that I could keep my head in the construction of cloth- weaving on grid paper for a lack of a loom. I now have a box full of swatches, some drawn out, some still waiting. I am interested in them primarily for construction, usually not color or fiber. I love the possibilities of masking and enhancing structure by color layout or creating contractions and texture through adding wool or high twist yarns.
Here are two of my more recent ones:

I was happy to find that I could recreate this first one! It is such a simple draft, but the colors and plaid layout really make it nice. (please forgive the pen mistakes! this is why having a good pencil around is key)

This one is also just in my shaft range! I start out with graph paper so that I can draw these out on the go- the subway ride to work, or at lunch in Herald Square, but then I move to the computer for ease of catching mistakes and a clearer read when threading. I haven't had much luck finding Mac compatible software that is affordable and user friendly- and no, running Windows on my Mac is not an option. But I keep looking- and the joy of figuring it out pick by pick is well worth it.

More to come- how about Friday constructions?

friday at MoMa

2010-02-21T22:47:00.000-05:00

On Friday at lunch, I rode up to the MoMa to walk around the galleries. I try to do something useful on my lunches so that my day feels worthwhile. Attempting to visit MoMa on Friday afternoons is always a precarious choice- throngs of visitors coming in on the cusp of Free Fridays can really crowd the galleries. Free art in any permutation is a Good Idea, but it can be a bit hard to concentrate on the objects in the galleries when it seems that every other person is either posing with Marilyn or viewing the artwork with solely a camera lens. What has happened to experience? Time. Thoughtfulness. Associating. Respect. Documenting has a time and place, but much of it seems to be more of a visual consumerism or collecting. Of course, after thinking all of this, I took some photos, contradicting my own words, thinking that this would be the best time for a secret camera embedded in my glasses. Oh what a childhood dream I still wish to come true.

I visit my favorite pieces every time I come, one of them being Jean Dubuffet's "Soul of the Underground" from "Matériologies." It's oil and aluminum on composition board. What deliciousness. I love the subtle color changes, textures, size, and framing.

"Wall with Inscriptions" Jean Dubuffet 1945

"Joë Bousquet in Bed" Jean Dubuffet 1947 (avec les Gauloises et tout!)

llot llov light love

2010-02-16T22:26:00.004-05:00

I came across these lights in researching wire and wool for a work in progress, and had to share them. They are from llot llov - a collaboration with la la berlin. Wire can be such a beautiful sketching tool, and of course I am partial to the knitting and wrapped wool. Such a delicious mix of hard and soft, light and grey, sweet and distressed.

What is on the progress list for me currently is wire and wool- it has been slow going since summer 09, but i have a deadline of 4 weeks from today, so I have hit a stride. However, after wrapping all the wire to make the connections between pieces, it occurred to me that a soldering iron might make my life much easier, not to mention quicken my pace significantly. So, it's off to soldering research for me! I love adding tools to my collection. The more tools and skills that are mastered, the more precise an idea can be executed... must keep learning! there is so much to learn.

wire, rope, cement and growth

2010-02-10T12:57:00.002-05:00

I'm currently working on a proposal for a 16x30' sculpture on the side of a building. Tonight I'll construct the moquette with wire and rope. The joy of writing proposals is that everything must be true and correct, but the work does not have to be actually done yet and you don't have to worry so much quite yet about where you're going to get the money to weld together a 16x30 foot sculpture on the side of a concrete wall with wire and rope and plantings.

triangle summer & winter weave : dukagang

2010-02-04T00:40:00.007-05:00

Here are some sketches on summer and winter weaving using Weave Draft:

I have always been partial to dukagang structure, as it creates clean blocks of color on a plainweave ground. Summer and Winter is really spectacular for its ability to construct shapes with "blocks"- threading groups- it feels like magic to draft your own patterns. I am so overjoyed to be weaving again! If I could do this all day for the rest of my life, I would consider myself a very lucky person.

edy helps twist fringes

2010-02-01T23:10:00.006-05:00

pardon the "look at my cat" picture- she loves helping.

finished shawl on the mannequin at work- what else is the fire escape for?

now onto prepping a line of neckware for fall/winter 2010- wool, silk, cotton, linen it will be. colors to come. sketching with summer and winter: dukagang - will post sketches soon!

twill shawl off the loom

2010-01-26T22:24:00.006-05:00

The shawl is finished! Wove it off in one night- maybe 3 hours? Not bad for weaving with a sticky shaft 8 that I had to manually push back down to keep a clean shed. It is a loose weave, but washing should full it out. Going to send it unannounced to my aunt, because unannounced packages are really the best ones.
I took photos today on my lunch break at Bryant park while on the way to the library for more weaving books- I am so lucky to work so close to the main branch. Oh look at those London Plane Trees! So beautiful. Can't wait for springtime.

oh, also a flat to see the strong twill line! I tried my best to blend the colors, but a few of the yarn blotches got the best of me.

Art Milk

2010-01-20T12:22:00.004-05:00

I am feeling so lucky today: to have been featured on Art Milk! It is a sister site to Design Milk and they feature some wonderful art, so I am honored to be a part of it!
The piece is Memory, a journal of my year in Sarreguemines, France typed onto wax paper including all drawings I did at the time... I then invited visitors at the show to take incense and burn patterned holes into the paper, erasing pieces of words. Making this piece five years after my stay -basically rewriting the journal word for word- brought back all the tiny details and unwritten memories that lay beneath the surface of the written "things I did today" lists and events.

Premiere Vision 2011

2010-01-13T09:41:00.003-05:00

January 12/13th was the Premiere Vision Preview show for fabric in NYC. I went yesterday as my work requires, to see what the Spring/Summer '11 should look like. The first time I went, I could have stayed for hours, looking through all the fabric selections. This year, it was really all over the place. Even the color chart was a mix of incongruous neutrals and pops of fluorescent color. There was your generic floral spot, mix of "ethnic" elements, and a nautical theme. Haven't we seen this all before? I absolutely adore fabric, and a good piece of fashion can make my heart skip. But the fashion industry has a scarily similar "projecting" aspect to it that reminds me of the stock exchange. We in the fashion industry go to these "forcasting" shows for inspiration and to know what will be "next" in the waves of fashion trends. It's all about one trend idea and fitting it to your particular customer/marketing base. Going with the flow. What if they didn't listen? What if it was all left up to chance? Ha. Then no one would make the massive amounts of money they wanted. (although this is no longer true for most) It's best, for them, to be seen as one powerhouse of retail trending. Alas.

push and pull sequins

2010-01-08T13:03:00.008-05:00

(a few quick patterns)

SEQUINS. You may be seeing a lot of them around- currently they seem to be everywhere. And they are probably not going away anytime soon, based on the amount of sequins we've been sampling at work. Solid, metallic, matte, printed, embroidered, embedded in faux fur... and that's only for our specific target market. oh boy! Today, what I might call my favorite sequins so far in the assortment came in. I suppose technically they are paillettes, since the hole is off-center. These are two different colors on each side and are able to be flipped by dragging your fingers across them. I can't help but be intrigued by the construction. Like finger drawing patterns in a plush rug or couch. Vacuuming carpet. The rows of cut grass left after mowing a baseball field.

It reminds me of the other "design-it-yourself" clothing coming from artists and fashion designers lately. Such as the "renewable clothing" from Fernando Brizio. Although I am skeptical as to its renewable properties, functionality and practicality, I love the concept. Here's another approach based on the rug idea: Giles Miller 'Miranda' Surface Tiles via dornob.

shawl test warp

2010-01-05T13:46:00.008-05:00

First weaving done! It's good to be back! Time flew while weaving- only took about an hour to weave off 1.5 yds... Note to self: buy a threading hook. I have a brass reed hook that came with the loom, but failed to remember that I would also need a heddle threading hook. Luckily there were only 30 ends that I hand threaded like needles. However, I would love one before I have to thread the 208 ends for the actual shawl.

I used WeaveDesign on my work PC to create five treadlings based on a straight draw and 1-8-1 draw. (looking into mac weaving software... quite a difficult decision, as I only have experience with Fiberworks PCW, which I love, but is only available in PC format)

I started with some leftover golden wool from Halcyon, woven tightly. It was lovely. I wish I could have made a blanket this way. I'll have to file that idea away for the future. After weaving, I washed it with woolite and let it dry. There was not much shrinkage, maybe 2%. I've decided on a threading and treadling pattern, and now just need to construct a rattle! The yarn's age (and probably dye saturation) have made parts of it VERY fragile- I had three yarns break during weaving- not from tension.. the construction of the yarn must be so compromised that the fibers just pulled apart. Common sense tells me to take a hint and use other yarn, but I insist on being stubborn and trying to make it through with a back to front warping and careful attention.

maiden warp on the baby wolf

2009-12-31T11:29:00.006-05:00

After a two and a half year hiatus on weaving, a soul-sucking job in the fashion industry, a long adjustment to city life and several apartments later, I find myself with a studio and an 8 shaft Schacht baby wolf. When one of my aunts found out that a loom was in the works, she came to our July family reunion armed with a two-pound cone of blue/green/turq yarn and a request for a shawl. After a lot of life organization, the test warp is on the loom!

I am happy to start with this shawl, as I need to start out simply and slowly so as not to throw myself into an insanely complicated project (which is quite typical) that will only end in frustration and multiple starts. The yarn is unmarked, but it seems to be a mohair blend: it is a three-color space dyed yarn. It has a great hand and weight, but I am not sold on the space dye. I am afraid of ending up with one of those striated patterns dictated by the color sequence, so I will try to use structure to evenly break up any chunks of color pattern that will result from the yarn. Thus, the test warp for choosing a construction: I will probably go with a straight draw twill or herringbone twill, but will keep experimenting to get to know the yarn in case I end up with leftovers.