I heart the Artful Home

“Boy with Bird” by Ed Byers

When shopping for Holiday items, you need look no further than the spectacular selection of artisan gifts featured on the Artful Home.

I have worked with this wonderful organization for more than a year and can attest to the outstanding experience one has with shopping with them.  Not only do they offer catalogues which feature exceptional items, it’s simply the best of the best in what is available in the world of contemporary crafts and exquisite wearable items such as jewelry and accessories.  Their extensive website is perhaps the best selection of artisan crafts on the web and their eye for unique and quality items is unsurpassed.  Over time, I have really grown to appreciate the humor and joie de vivre behind the selection.

Their customer service is tops: tremendously friendly and able to assist in all aspects of finding the perfect item.  I have always found it a joy to interact with them over the telephone, making the whole experience heart-warming and special.

If you do not already receive their catalogue, you are missing out on one of the best things out there!  Sign up here.

Or browse the extensive galleries online here.  You will be glad that you did!

We feature many of our most exceptional pieces exclusively on their site, which you can visit here.

“Fiery Denim Rose Scarf” exclusively at The Artful Home

Dream Classes

Lisa Klakulak teaching in her studio

I am a self-taught feltmaker, meaning that I spent years in the trenches making terrible felt and then crawled up on the dry land of real feltmaking.  There is something to be said for learning something from scratch on your own: you learn how to teach yourself and how to learn from direct experience, you gain a unique insight into a medium maybe picking up on certain things that become “eureka moments,”  you learn self-reliance and are constantly on the look out for evolving your craft without the influence of strong personalities like teachers often have.  In this way, I feel like an explorer of new lands, able to find new personal worlds and a unique voice/vision.

That being said, teaching yourself can be a very slooooow process and there are times that I dreamed of how much fun it would be to hit the fast lane and pick up the tricks of the trade in a felting class from professionals!  There are 2 people in particular at the top of my dream list of taking classes: Lisa Klakulak and Chad Alice Hagen.

Lisa Klakulak offers a tremendous range of feltmaking classes through the Cloth Fiber Studios in her hometown of Asheville, NC.  She might even be traveling to a city near you since she teaches all over the country.  I really appreciate her investigation into specific feltmaking techniques and the clarity of the classes that she offers: each course tailored to a specific aspect of the craft ranging anywhere from felting with 2D and 3D forms to natural dying techniques.  You can read from the full menu of exciting classes here.

Chad Alice Hagen v. Felted Wiener Dog

I think I would definitely qualify as a Chad Alice Hagen fan, willing to camp outside her classroom for tickets to the show!  Not only has she written some fabulous must-have books on feltmaking, she also teaches classes around the country and in her hometown of Asheville, NC.  Her sparkling wit and intelligence will not doubt leave you with a life-long sense of the magic of the medium.

So….after years of doing it the hard way, these would be my dream classes and dream teachers.  Funnily enough, both hale from Asheville, which makes me wonder if there might be a new Pilchuck School brewing there?  Something to do for feltmaking what Chihuley and Pilchuck did for glass?  If there is, my bags are packed!!

Feather Scarves

Our new Feather Scarves seen here in a tropical color assortment!

I love these new pieces…they have such great movement and are so playful!!

Art vs. Design

Olafur Eliasson One-Way Colour Tunnel, 2007

I found this really interesting article on art vs design, pointing out how they overlap and differ.

Here is an excerpt:

Perhaps the most fundamental difference between art and design that we can all agree on is their purposes.

Typically, the process of creating a work of art starts with nothing, a blank canvas. A work of art stems from a view or opinion or feeling that the artist holds within him or herself.

They create the art to share that feeling with others, to allow the viewers to relate to it, learn from it or be inspired by it.

The most renowned (and successful) works of art today are those that establish the strongest emotional bond between the artist and their audience.

By contrast, when a designer sets out to create a new piece, they almost always have a fixed starting point, whether a message, an image, an idea or an action.

The designer’s job isn’t to invent something new, but to communicate something that already exists, for a purpose.

That purpose is almost always to motivate the audience to do something: buy a product, use a service, visit a location, learn certain information. The most successful designs are those that most effectively communicate their message and motivate their consumers to carry out a task.

Here is the full text.

Also found this cool blog of contemporary art in Portland which I think makes a good little brain walk.

Overturning Patent on the Breast Cancer Gene

Remember Dr. Jonas Salk, who discovered the polio vaccine?  He could have gone on to make a fortune from patenting his discovery, but he refused to do so,

allowing the vaccine to be freely used.   His sense of humanity and social responsibility saved the lives of countless people.

When asked why he refused to patent the vaccine, he responded “There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?”

Today, I find out that there is a company who has patented the Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer gene, “cornering the market” as it were on its diagnosis and research.My mother went through the horror of fighting breast cancer last year, which shook our family to the core and I cannot imagine the greed involved in privatizing such a horrific disease for personal profit.

The ACLU is mounting a suit to contest the company’s ability to patent a gene and to thereby restrict and control the research necessary to understand a disease that affects so many women in our country.

Take a moment to read more about it at the following links:

ACLU v. The Gene Patents

excerpt: On May 12, 2009, the ACLU and the Public Patent Office submitted a brief to the Southern District Court of New York. The legal action involved twenty plaintiffs, including organizations like the Association for Molecular Pathology along with medical doctors and private individuals. They all had one goal in mind — to invalidate the claim of a Utah-based company over genes that affect the fate of every woman in America.

ACLU Challenges Patents on Breast Cancer Genes

excerpt: The lawsuit was filed on behalf of four scientific organizations representing more than 150,000 geneticists, pathologists, and laboratory professionals, as well as individual researchers, breast cancer and women’s health groups, genetic counselors and individual women. Individuals with certain mutations along these two genes, known as BRCA1 and BRCA2, are at a significantly higher risk for developing hereditary breast and ovarian cancers.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) has granted thousands of patents on human genes – in fact, about 20 percent of our genes are patented. A gene patent holder has the right to prevent anyone from studying, testing or even looking at a gene. As a result, scientific research and genetic testing has been delayed, limited or even shut down due to concerns about gene patents.

I wish that there was a petition to sign, but you can send a letter of support to the plaintiffs here:

https://secure.aclu.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=Nat_BRCA_Support_Statement

In this way, you can stay “abreast” of developments in the case.

High Fiber Under Five

that’s us the header with the sun/moon piece….

Don’t Miss High Fiber Under Five, the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles‘ invitational benefit art sale, November 3-8.

View more of the fabulous artworks available at High Fiber Under Five on our online gallery.

By popular demand — High Fiber Under Five will be underway for 6 days this year:

November 3-8, 10am to 5pm daily

Also late on Friday, November 6 from 8-11pm.

Admission is free throughout the benefit sale.

Increase your fiber intake with fine works of fiber art at High Fiber Under Five! Don’t miss this opportunity to collect fine fiber art for less than $500. The second annual invitational art sale features works by emerging as well as nationally- and internationally-known artists, and includes wall pieces, sculpture, wearable art, jewelry, basketry and mixed media pieces where fiber plays a prominent role.

Proceeds above artists’ commissions benefit the exhibitions and programs of the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles.

La Vie en Rose

I just got the most heart-warming email!  A lovely lady who purchased one of my Rose Scarves last year sent me these pictures wearing her piece.  How romantic!  And how sweet to share them…

photo: Silent K

model: Delysia LaFosse

I recently watched the movie La Vie en Rose about the life of Edith Piaf and these images bring me right there: a intimate club in Paris with a torch song pulling at your heart-strings…..

New from Purebred Productions

Here is a new image from Purebred Productions: so mesmerizing!  The hair is done by the very talented team of Andreas and Markus...you can check out there site here…  and i can’t believe she’s wearing one of my nihilist scarves….i love the interplay and depth of the imagery

some words of wisdom for all the crafters out there…

New image by Purebred Productions

just got a glimpse of the new images done by the lovely folks at Purebred Productions!  Magnificent-n’est pas?!?