Progress on a new felt figurative sculpture....

I am excited to share that I am making a new piece for a new gallery in Minneapolis for their inaugural exhibition about motherhood. There is not a lot else I can share about the gallery at this time, but I do have some progress pics! It is so nice to have a big open space again to make things instead of trying to squeeze one in amongst the others! Here is how they start:

with conduit pipe and the anchors.

draping the felt

I figure at this point I have 20-25 hours still of stitching felt, and then I would like to add hooks and eyes. I am thinking the hardware will go from the ground up on the legs and neck. Or maybe the belly. Stay tuned!

"Chthonic" at the Minneapolis Institute of Art

So it has been over a year since my last blog post…and a pandemic, online teaching, an election and two exhibitions. The last post the acceptance or my (how many?) proposal for the Minnesota Artist Exhibition Program at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. There was so much in between, but that is where I am starting now. From that day on I put my head down and got to work. It was the most fulfilling creative endeavor of my career. I am just so thankful for all of it. By the end, I could hardly get around my own studio, and I had moved two figures into another friends studio when I ran out of room. We needed a 26’ truck to deliver the work and it had to spend a week in the deep freeze after arriving at Mia; felt can have larvae and it had to be frozen before going into the museum proper. Then I had the best help for two weeks of install. We got it finished right as Governor Walz shut down entertainment and hospitality venues for Covid. But it opened this last Thursday, and I am thrilled that people are getting a chance to see it! I will post more about the making, installation and exhibition in the coming weeks!

Title text and door way into second gallery space…

Supine, Sway and Lumber

Twine, Sway, Supine, Lumber and Settle

Trunk and Nourish

Just finished a new mixed media artwork...

That I am so excited about! I can already see making a dozen at least. This started out as a square, about 12x12 inches. It was going to be flat to the wall, but the square was just wrong as well as the 2-dimensionality of the felt with the little polyp like things coming off. So I cut a chunk out of the felt as a dart, sewed the seam together and had a bit of a curve. And then I did it some more. And then I cut the corners off. It hit an ugly duckling stage where I was sure I had overworked it, so I just let it hang out on the wall. I then decided to add more felt and really push the depth more. It is about 15x20 inches and maybe 6 inches deep. I’m still not sure if it is a wall ore pedestal piece, but it doesn’t have to go anywhere yet, and I can see what it does with the new ones I will make. It hits the creepy cool mark that I love so much.

The hooks are almost like marching ants. I enjoyed watching the Amazon series Hanna while I stitched. I think I will start Killing Eve Season 1 with my next piece.