Spring Cleaning

Boston was quite the trip!  15 years ago, when I was fresh out of high school, I briefly went to the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.  Our recent trip was the first time back and, as is always true of big cities, Boston had changed in some ways and in some ways not at all.  It is still a remarkably fast-moving city and so similar in style to San Francisco (I just wish our subways moved as fast as the Boston T!).  In retrospect, the week we spent in Boston was a whirlwind tour full of sights, family and new experiences.  When the weather went from 80 degrees one day to 30 degrees with a blistering windchill 2 days later, we got a small taste of the variability that Spring on the East Coast is capable of.   I enjoyed my experience at CraftBoston, which is indeed a high-caliber arts & crafts event where I was delighted to meet some extraordinary people and reconnect with artists from previous events.

Since we got back from Boston, we’ve had just a few days to pet the cat, remember what our house smells like, see the tulips flowering in the garden and now we are off again to visit family in Texas, where the bluebonnets will still be blooming if we are lucky.  I look forward to seeing my family & playing with my nieces (3 & 6 years old).  I am bringing some fun books and lots of crepe paper and fuzzy-ties for us to play with!  We also need to get there in time to help my mother make gumbo for the Easter family gathering (Houston is close to Louisiana and shares many cultural & tasty traditions of this part of the South).

Please pardon the repeat of images from earlier years.  I am trying to freshen up the blog by pruning through the past posts going back to 2006 (or 5?! it is a blur), so it has been a great opportunity to revisit past photo projects.  Spring is all about making new room, shedding old skin, and new growth of the personal, spiritual or physical kind.  Wishing you all a regenerative & creative Spring!

Editing Images

HARLEQUIN FELTWORKS: Model: Amber Wrap: Harlequin Feltworks Makeup & Hair: Kenya Aissa for Ruby Envy Photo: Moja Ma’at

This, my latest wrap, is the culprit behind my pulled pectoral muscle.

It is important to stretch out before large projects and I am guilty of carrying more than a reasonable amount of stress lately getting ready for upcoming events.  This pulled muscle has grounded me for today, so that I can recuperate.  If it were not for Advil and hot baths, I would be in much worse shape.

Felting is a full-body activity and one should approach the physicality of the medium with care.  This injury has definitely taught me to pace myself and I hope I will have the full use of my left arm again if I can be careful to not over-exert it in the future.

Still, today was a good day for catching up editing the images from the last shoot.  It is a good feeling to have current images of recent work, especially when working with such a talented team!

Flower Fascination

HARLEQUIN FELTWORKS: Model: Amber Flower Head Piece: Harlequin Feltworks Makeup & Hair: Kenya Aissa for Ruby Envy Photo: Moja Ma’at

After sorting through many wonderful images, I am rewarding the hard work with this finished image of the harlequin mask shot which shows the felt fascinator at a better angle.  I believe a fascinator usually has an elastic band, so this might be more of a barrette as there are 2 baby hair clips that are doing the work of holding the piece to the hair.  One of many nice things about felt is that it is so light-weight.

Well….enough of this dry & dreamy computer work!  Time to get down to the studio and get sudsy.

Artisans in Art

Oat Tendril Scarf 2010

Good article on Craft in the Arts in NYTimes/Int’l Herald Tribune:

A Return to the Artisan in the Art World

By ALICE PFEIFFER; Published: December 2, 2011

PARIS — “Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons; there is nothing more depressing for a young artist,” said Bianca Argimon, a student at the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris who favors traditional techniques when working with ceramics, engravings and pyrography over what she views as ultraconceptual, increasingly dematerialized art. “Most of us can’t afford — nor approve of — having an entire factory of workers.”

Artisanal techniques, once deemed the opposite of cool, are making their way back into art fairs and galleries, particularly in Europe. Dedicated spaces and university programs are contributing to the renewed recognition of these trades — albeit with modern twists and messages — while also providing young artists with marketable skills. As a result, the line between gallerists and craftsmen, once so clearly delineated, is increasingly being blurred.

Read the full article at this link

Decisions, Decisions

Rose Flamenco Sleeve 2010

I am working on my upcoming article for FilzFun Magazine.  Though it has been a difficult process of choosing images, the bright side is that I have gotten the chance to revisit some of the original disks of photoshoots from the past few years.  There I discovered many lovely images that I had originally passed over.

This shoot was a particularly amazing one: the model was spectacular and we really had an all-star team, all of which shows in the final quality of the images.  These photos depict garments made of my Rose Scarves.  It was the hairstylist (who is a multi-talented and dimensional artist), Mil U Ranon, who suggested that we go in this direction.  I used just about every safety pin I had on hand to layer the scarves to create these stunning ensembles.  Moja Ma’at took these images and Tamara Marie did the make-up.

Alas, these do not fit into the body of images I will use for the article, but at least I can post them here where we can enjoy them.

Rose Dress 2010

The Mona Scarf

The Mona Scarf pictured in Hyacinth by artist, Jenne Giles

Now available in 4 colorways at the Artful Home

The Mona Scarf in Merlot, Autumn & Juniper