another new doll....

this one was made along with the other two, but it is in my exhibition in Bel Air, Maryland.  More information to come!

Installation....

I have never made a work specifically for a space, that lives only in that space and time.  For "Stitch and Rend" I created my first site specific installation.  

These are the same sewing pattern paper with eye closures attached.  As I was thinking about this piece, I hoped that the thread would be again sewn through the eyes and extend beyond it's borders to a needle in the wall.  I hoped the thread would pass through that needle and back to the paper.  As I got started I realized the needle did not have enough body to give me the tension I needed, and my old eyes and not so nimble fingers couldn't work through all those needle heads.  I went with #17 1 inch brads instead, and it worked great.  I pinned the squares to the wall, but hoped with enough tension and thread, the squares would float above the wall.  I really enjoyed working across the three.  I'm torn on the outcome.  I love the mass of thread in the 2-D pieces and really wanted to see that same amount of layering.  At the same time, it felt like these needed to be in the process of growing towards those other shapes and too much thread wouldn't allow for that.  But finally, there was only so much time and I still had other work to finish.  This piece is a real beginning for me, and I can't wait to see where it goes.  

The gallery director had not yet been through to adjust the lights appropriately.  I am looking forward to posting finished installation images when I get them.  

"Stitch and Rend"

opened at the Chesapeake Gallery at Harford Community College on June 5, 2014.  I was out in Bel Air the week before finishing up new work, installing the show and visiting with my dear friend Jeff Ball.  Jeff is the art historian at the college and curates one exhibition a year for the gallery.  This year he was kind enough to ask me.  The exhibition includes nine dolls and three new two-dimensional pieces.  I worked right up until the last minute, but it was worth it.  I'm really pleased with how it all came together.  Remember this?

This was a little study I was working on along with the new dolls.  There are  two new ones that I am beyond excited about.  

Each of these is approximately 18x27 inches.  

All three are made with vintage sewing pattern paper fused to interfacing.  In both of the larger works, I cut the original piece into parts and sewed it back together.  You can see the top stitching in red.  Then I sewed on groups of eye closures and worked stitches of varying lengths and color through the eyes and back again.  Finally, I played with the measuring tape motif, much like with the dolls.  I can't begin to describe how much fun these are to make, and all of the ideas they have inspired in future works.  They are unframed and hang from the wall with needles at their corners.  

new dolls...

I had hoped to have these done for the exhibition "Spring Gear," but I wasn't even close when it came time to ship the work.  I am holding onto them for my summer short exhibition at the Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis, MN.  

She has different sized sewing needles embedded in the paper clay of her belly.  Each of the needles has a portion of thread that hangs beneath her legs. 

She has three dowel portions embedded in her belly to hold the bobbins and thread spools.  When I was a little girl, my mom sewed everything from my day dresses to horse blankets.  Next to her machine she had this wooden thread organizer; it was large and square with rows of two inch posts, and it was filled entirely with spools.  I loved it.  Loved all the color and pattern and possibility.  This is for her.  

I've been busy...

I just returned from installing the second of three exhibitions I have this spring/summer.  The first exhibition is nearly over; unfortunately, I was unable to get out to see it in Seattle, WA.  I am so thankful to have been included in the Blindfold Gallery's roster.  "Spring Gear" includes the bronze sculptures of Mark Walker and mixed media paintings of Janet Loren Hill.  Please check out their work!

Cast bronze pig by Mark Walker

Repeated by Janet Loren Hill

New work....

I just finished a new piece and I am so excited about the possibilities for this.  

I've been ready to stitch, and have even readied some fabric, but been overwhelmed by the white of the muslin.  So I wondered what would happen if I prepared the pattern paper I use on my dolls in the same way I prepare fabric to embroider.  I backed the paper with fusible interfacing and layered more paper with Wonder Under.  (It is heat activated double sided tape basically, and so easy to use.) The patter paper was then much more fabric like, and I painted it like my dolls.  I started sewing tiny eyes (of hooks and eyes, the closures on garments) on in rows, thinking I might make larger numbers.  I didn't like the regularity of the rows, so I gave in and started to stitch them in randomly.  I knew I wanted long stitches to pull at they eyes, so that was my next step.  Then I played with layering color in the stitches.  I did not use anything to stretch the paper as I stitched, so it has pulls that make the outside edges irregular.  This is about 10x10 inches from edge to edge.  I'm not sure about installation just yet, but here I used long embroidery needles in the top corners and then pulled the piece away from the wall.  

And a detail.  I love how it's weirdly scabby.  The exhibition I have scheduled in June at Harford Community College is titled "Ligature" and I think developing more of these will work for that.  A friend suggested large panels that one could walk through....I've got five dolls going I need to finish and then I will be ready to start.  It has been a million years since I have done anything big!

and another....

the last of the series so far. 

I have a friend who is a doctor of Hematology and Oncology at the Mayo Clinic and she has asked that I make her a drawing of a blood vessel.  I'm not yet sure of the words to accompany it.  Thoughts?

got some work scanned...

and ready to list on Etsy.com.  This drawing is one of a series of three that I would like to sell as limited edition prints.  The paper is 8x10 inches and the drawing made with ball point pen.  I think ball point pen is my most favorite drawing tool ever.  It doesn't make the big, majestic charcoal figure drawings of my youth, but it makes the loveliest of lines.  It reminds me of a lithography crayon line, without all the levigating of stones.  Every year for Christmas I get two boxes of Bic black, fine ball point pens in my stocking.  Looks like it is time to start drawing.