Philadelphia Museum Show #2

 

Here is a second batch of images form the Philly SHow.  In the top one you can see how the booth was set up.  It was a bit rough and tumble, but we got everything there on our flight from SF.  Now that they charge for extra bags (we paid $80 each way to check in 3 large duffles and a rolling suitcase), you can check up to 10 bags per person for a fee.  After the 2nd, it goes up to $100 per bag, but I suppose you can weigh that against shipping and see how it works out for you (speaking of-people in the past have sworn by Fedex, but I haven’t tried it yet).  At least we don’t make glass/ceramics!  What a nightmare the shipping must be!!  (Hug your local ceramicist/glassmaker today for the extra effort they go to to get there)

 

Here is an image form the side.  We suspended square wood poles from the basic 10×10 which was crazy wonky (ordered from onsite services).  A bit pirate-style with all the rope, but the square poles really grabbed the felt pieces so that I could have most of the piece showing without it slipping off.  Lighting was a catastrophe: the lights we ordered from the show services were very hot and located in the front of the booth, making the back a bit cavernous and blinding people if they turned around.  It made the whole thing look a lot like a stage and many people asked when the puppet show would start!  Ah-life as art and art as life….

 

Learning really peal out with the aperture settings on the camera (finally!)-here is a spooky image of City Hall at night.  Yellow is such an weird choice for the the clockface!

Side image of City Hall in all its spookiness.

From the back of the cabana.

Ready to chat with anyone that wants to talk about felt, fashion, art, modern art, wearable art, wool, san francisco, puppet shows or all of the above.

We waited very long to book our hotel room, so Priceline still came through for us, getting us a hotel in the city center, so as to  be close to the convention center.  It was a bit pricier than I would have liked, but half priced ain’t so bad, so we had a room at the shi-shi Westin.  All was great except for the bed that was like sleeping on a sack of bricks.  Here is the view from out window of a mysterious dome.  Upon reflection, I think it might have been the hotel’s gym-something I should probably get a little more familiar with….  

The hotel was in a fab location: far enough from the hotel that we got to explore the city from “HQ.”  Sansome street was full of shops/delis/restaurants and coffee shops, so it didn’t take going far to find what we needed.   We found many amazing restaurants around the corner on 20th street-you had to walk a bit to get off the beaten path, but there were some restaurants that were just gems down the road.  I don’t remember the name of the places that we ate at, but here is my best recollection: if you walk as far down as possible, there are Christmas lights over the sidewalk and across the road is another place with a rabbit with a pig’s tail.  This little spot is run by a chef-the food was spectacular and very affordable, considering (most entrées around $20).  Up the road there was a spectacular Italian restaurant.  From outside, you could look up into the place and it had a sweet Italian name like Far Dolce or La Bella Vita…..again, one chef and if we could have eaten the plates, we would have!  Many restaurants in Philly are BYOB, so you can (and should) bring your own bottle of wine, if you want to have it at dinner.  We also went to Mama Palma’s off 23rd, which had worked up quite a reputation on yelp for controversy and pizza.  Good pizza-get there before the dinner rush!  I love feretting out great grub and we got really lucky in Philly!! 

 

So cool- air blades hand blowdryers in the hotel lobby bathroom!

Perhaps next post I can take a look at some of the other great felt artists who were at the show! Stay tuned for Philly #3….

New from Studio Clement

Some new super-fun felt pictures from Michele Clement of Studio Clement.  Check out her other work at http://www.studioclement.com!

And be sure to check out all the other new stuff on out online portfolio at http://harlequinfeltworks.blogspot.com!

Joan Jeanrenaud: Aria at Yerba Beuna

There are some details that will be missing until I get to the other side and scan some stuff, but I just can’t wait to post pictures of Jean’s performance piece a couple of weeks ago at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, here in SF.  It was a collaborative piece where she played her cello live with an pre-recorded composition of sounds, sitting at the center of 4 screens of images which had a sort of collage of images, all related to the theme air.  Speaking of rotating: she sat on a podium that took one hour to rotate a full time (very cool and subtle!).  She played 2 Saturdays in a row and during the week between, her cello was suspended and one could play it with the use of a whistle-like device-didn’t see this part, but such a fascinating cycle.  All of this was part of a contemporary Bay Area artist event happening that night.  Very artsy-another highlight was the 2 dudes outside dressed in pink and playing tennis.

Some backstory on Joan:  Joan is a founding member of the Kronos Quartet, a cellist and a composer.  Her work is very contemporary, pushing sound and music into new territory like such artists as John Cage and Philip Glass.  She has toured the world and played with the best!  And she is the sweetest person you could ever meet.

So, last minute, they didn’t have any particular outfit in mind for the performance and my friend Michele thought that something of the wooly felted kind might do the trick.  I had a cute little dress that I had been holding onto for years, just waiting for some reinvention, and it fit Joan like a glove.  Best yet: it provided a nice base to sew on some aria-inspired materials.  Michele suggested “clouds” and I had a more abstract white felt piece that was very sculptural and abstract-this got sewn onto the skirt to create a strangely prongy skirt.  I tried discharging the top to create a painted pattern of cloud splotches, but the discharge did not take and so I sponged dye onto some silk noil and made little clouds (some silver gutta on the center of alternating ones).  Add a feathery scarf to it for wear-about-ability and it was a darn sharp looking little outfit!  

I love a challenge!

Nick Cave-Fiber Artist Extraordinaire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite singers….nonono-we’re talking about my favorite visual artist: Nick Cave!

 

                          

I went to a lecture today at the De Young Museum made possible by the Artwear in the Gallery event that we did back in November.  The speaker was Gerhardt Knodel who directed Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan from 1970 to 1995.  He presided over Cranbrook during its transformation into a Fiber Art “Hot House.” The slide presentation was such a feast for the eyes!  Meanwhile, I can daydream of graduate school….

Nick Cave’s work has been popping up on my radar and setting bells off all over the place and it turns out that he is a Cranbrook graduate.  His collaged wearable art is so sumptuous in its color and forms.  How brilliant!

Links:

Biography of Nick Cave

and HERE