IT'S A NEW YEAR

IT'S A NEW YEAR!  2013 - THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

THE FIRST SUNRISE OF A NEW YEAR

GOOGLE ART PROJECT

Amazing!   How did I not know about this?  The Google Art Project initiative is my new favorite thing!  Explore  more than 30,000 works of art from 151 museums in 40 countries from around the world - all from the comfort of your own home!!!

Leonardo da Vinci's MONA LISA

Launched last year, the new update revealed by Google on Tuesday includes new tools and Google+ integration.  Users can explore and discover artwork by searching for period, artist or type.  Their My Gallery feature allows fans to select any of the artworks currently available to create and build a personalized gallery. 

Check it out!  I'm off to the Met........

IT'S A DATE! FIBRES @ THE HILL - NOVEMBER 2-28, 2011

The Vancouver Island Surface Design Association presents their third show Fibres @ The Hill from November 2 thru 28, 2011.  This Fibre Fine Art event will showcase the work of 18 chapter members in the new Art Gallery at the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre located in Victoria, B.C.  Open daily from 10am - 5pm with an artist in attendance.

WE'RE LOOKING AT..... ANTONIA REINER'S GHOST DRESSES

Haunting, ethereal, otherworldly beauty.  Just some of the adjectives used to describe this trio of pieces inspired by long lost heroines of ancient myths.  The installation titled Ghost Dresses is by Canadian fibre artist Antonia Reiner - a graduate of the Ottawa School of Art.  To learn more about Antonia and her enchanting work we invite you to visit her website or facebook page.

WE'RE LOOKING AT.....LAURA LEE BURCH

We're looking at the fabulous needle felted Hallowe'en masks by Laura Lee Burch.  Original, inspired and colourful!  What more could you ask for?  A tutorial perhaps?  Then we invite you to visit Laura's website and blog where she shares an abundance of pictures and tutorials for her delightful work.

Needle felted "Foxy Mask"

Needle felted Sheep Mask

"Let's Play"

IN CONVERSATION WITH WEN REDMOND

WEN REDMOND

"Thank you for this opportunity.  I find every time I do something along these lines, I learn more about my processes and inspirations- that is a gift". 

New England resident Wen Redmond is a mixed media fibre artist who enjoys pushing boundaries to see "what if ?".  Her works often include painting, dying, stamping, screen and mono printing.  She has embraced technology in her work, using her own photographs that have been digitally and artistically manipulated and printed on a variety of materials.  Wen has also created an innovative technique with printed photographs on silk organza that when mounted create a unique holographic image with a 3-D effect.  Her work is unique and we were honored to have her participate in our interview series.   


RUNNING WITH SCISSORS STUDIO:    Did you always envision a life as an artist? 

WEN REDMOND:  No, but I have always been making things, doll clothes, my own clothes as a teenager, a wall hanging in felt for art class and in the 60’s embroidered jeans and funky outfits. Always fiber.

THREE WEIRD SISTERS

                             

RWSS:    Do you have a dedicated studio space?  

WEN:  Yes, I have two spaces. I have a ‘dry’ studio at my home. This is where I do business stuff, computer design and printing, finish work and do photography. I have a studio in Salmon Falls Mill in Rollinsford NH. This is my public space and my sanctuary. I teach, do wet work, design, and have open studios here. Someday I will combine the two but for now they each serve a purpose and have an energy all their own.

RWSS:  Has the advancement of computers and technology impacted your work?  

WEN:  Oh yes, I love the digital world! I call my computer, ‘puter. It is a wonderful tool. I will design work, visit blogs and go to galleries from the comfort of my studio. I have always enjoyed taking photographs and when they went digital and I could incorporate images in my work, my work exploded.

CORMORANT'S PERCH

RWSS:    Why is it important for you to create all of your own fabrics? 
WEN:  I enjoy it. Making my fabrics is like painting on a canvas. These are my art pieces. A somewhat rebellious streak also prompts me to make it ‘mine’! Using the colors I create and the process itself is an aspect of self expression, a process- part of the whole.

RWSS:   Any indispensable tools or equipment?      

WEN:   An area where you can mess up is the best. My wet studio has the most colorful floor! Ease of equipment- being organized is helpful. There is nothing worst then being in the throes of creating and not being able to find what you need!

RWSS:   My greatest source of inspiration is……

WEN:  Basically nature. I love being outdoors. When I’m immersed in air, and beauty my mind becomes free. After a while, thoughts and ideas will bubble up from my unconscious. It is my source, my well. But other artists too. They turn me on. I look at artists outside of the field and I wonder- how could I do that in fiber?

ROAD HOME

RWSS:  Favorite quote?  
WEN:  Oh, I have lots of these. I will cut them out of magazines; type them up from wherever I find them. Sometimes I write my own bits. You read a quote and you stop rushing for a minute and think aha! I get that. I will remember that when I am out of sorts or racing around. I’ll see one I’ve stuck somewhere and it stops me. I breathe again. “An evolution. I make the art and then the art makes me”. (Mine) Or “Art is making the imagination real”. or  “Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come”. Chinese Proverb

RWSS:   When do you do your best creative thinking?  Can you elaborate on “being in the flow”?
WEN:  My inspirations generally come from being outside- that’s when I get in touch with the inside. I think best alone without distractions. So late at night I will wander on the web, or delve into my journal. I’ll take walks, go to the ocean. Every so often I will take myself away for a retreat. No art, just to reconnect with my inner core.

Being in the Flow is a phrase I borrowed or coined years ago. It is the name of one of my workshops on curved piecing and the foundation for my art making. It is a place where you lose yourself in making the art. There is no ego. You respond to the art as it unfolds. When I’m in the flow I feel as if I a connected to a higher source. Someone once told me, ‘When I look at your art, I know it will come with me and affect me later”.  Those moments in the forest, return with me, that meditative quality comes though when I’m in the flow.

This is my very first artist statement-“Making art always puts me into a certain space, a meditation. I call this ‘being in the flow”. It allows thoughts and feelings to bubble up from the unconscious. I can put that energy into my art. Later, viewing the piece, I can revisit that feeling. It is like reading a poem or hearing a familiar story. It brings you back. It gives pleasure. That’s my hope for anyone viewing my pieces”.

SHADOW

RWSS:    Your thoughts on keeping a creative journal?  
WEN:  I do keep a journal. I started with a scrapbook on dogs with black noses as a child and have kept a journal ever since. I love books and now make copic bound artbooks. I highly recommend these. Making a book is like making art. You make the paste paper covers and can even paint into the pages. The texture and touch is so similar to fiber works. I do a little exercise. At night, before bed, I will thumb though old magazines and tear out anything that I stop to look at for more than 10 seconds. These go into a pile and later I paste them into one of my journals. I write my ideas there too. If I ever run out of ideas I can turn to them. They teach me.  

RWSS:    Your look is very distinctive and innovative – who or what (if anything) has influenced your style?
WEN: I have my favorites- I love the abstract expressionists, Jane Frank, Paul Klee, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Jules Olitski- the classics. Georgia O’Keefe- I have always admired strong independent women. I like the serenity of Andrew Wyatt’s work. The trees of Wolf Kahn. The photography of Alfred Stieglitz, Ansell Adams, and the innovative work of Mike and Doug Starn. The fiber revolutionary work of Joan Schultz, Nancy Crow, and Yvonne Porcella. Jane Dunnawold, Jean Ray Laury, Erika Carter, Maggie Grey, Jan Beanny. The digital guru’s Karine Schminke, Dorothy Simpson Krause and Bonny Pierce Lhotka, and Mary Taylor. I could go on. I love artists!

                      
                                            
RWSS:   How do you know when to “stop” – when do you consider a piece actually finished?
WEN:  I usually just stop. Often though, even after it’s quilted I’ll go back in and add a detail there or a touch here. 

RWSS:   What do you enjoy most about your work?  
WEN:  Everything! I am a process person. I enjoy the inspiration, thinking up new ideas, the painting, photography, everything. I do it 24/7. The thing I’ve noticed is the more you practice something, the better you get. Being an artist, you develop an ‘eye’. Now, I sometimes see the most exquisite things in the most common places. Your eye becomes very sensitive and gives you the most wonderful visions!

RWSS:   Best advice you’ve ever received?
WEN:  Be yourself. Only you can do what you must do. Come from the very best place in yourself. Honor that. It takes so much energy to try to be like someone else.

RWSS:   Do you think the Modern Art Quilt & Textile Movement is moving closer to being recognized by the “art world”? 

WEN:  Of course! It is the next ART movement. How can so many people around the world make so many pieces of wonderful art and NOT be recognized! We are a revolution. What we do with our fiber art is the new way of making art. It is not left to those just in the art world anymore, anyone can try. It is becoming more inclusive. Art is embracing us because they can‘t ignore such a wave. I read in American Arts magazine sometime back, that fiber art is becoming very collectable because it is new and more affordable. Rock it on fiber artists!

      RWSS:   Is it important for us to be recognized by the art world and if so, how can we help affect    that change? 

WEN:  It’s only important if you want it. To be recognized by the ‘art’ world legitimizes our work and this is important because it mainlines it, exposes it to more people. I try to get my work into non-fiber venues, be it galleries, shows and exhibits. Very often though, I am told by the art world my work borders on crafts and in the craft world, I am told it belongs in the art world. We are on the cusp.

RWSS:   Best part of your day? 

WEN:  Morning! A brand new day to write on the slate of my life!

BREAKING THE SURFACE

RWSS:   Who would you most like to meet and how would you spend the day?    

WEN:  I wish I had tried to meet Katherine Hepburn. She lived in Connecticut and a long time ago my husband said to write her a letter. I never did. Years after she died, I read a book about a woman who did just that and they became friends. What a woman!

RWSS:   What is the one thing that people would be surprised to find out about you?
WEN:  Perhaps that I am introspective and used to be shy. But I am over 50 now and found my voice. I guess for women it takes that long to realize you have to validate yourself, that your inner process is the best and coming from that gives you tremendous strength of courage.

THREE FEATHERS

RWSS:   What is on the horizon for Wen Redmond?
WEN:  I have so many ideas and so little time. I would like to write a book. I have submitted, a couple years ago. But  now that is on hold-perhaps later, after I work up some more pieces. I am so lucky to be a fiber artist. We have so many kindred spirits who are mad like me!

RWSS:   Any words of wisdom?
WEN:  In the words of the 1960’s radical, Jerry Rubin, Just DO it!

To learn more about this fascinating artist please visit Wen's website  or her blog Fibre Art Goddess.

Thank you Wen!

IN CONVERSATION WITH ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG

Melbourne Australia artist Elizabeth Armstrong says that "color is her driving force".  A full time feltmaker and textile artist, she also teaches workshops and spends a great deal of time as an "artist-in-residence" in primary and secondary schools. Elizabeth uses pure wool Australian yarns, silk sourced from Italy and Japan as well as Soylux - a soy silk product.   She currently divides her artwork amongst whimsical dolls, beautiful wraps, intricate scarves, bold wall hangings and cushions. 

ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS STUDIO:   Did you always envision a life as an artist?

ELIZABETH ARMSTRONG:  As a young person I thought that being an artist was such a wonderful romantic thing to do.  I never knew you could actually earn a living from it! I had planned a life in classical music. Circumstances changed and I am so glad - I still play but my life is firmly rooted in being a textile and mixed media artist now.

FELT PANEL DETAIL

RWSS:   What was your first experience with felt making? 
ELIZABETH:  My first experience was looking at a chapter in an old book from the
1970's and just having a go. The results were pretty appalling now that I think about them, but it
didn't discourage me.

RWSS:  Do you have a dedicated studio?
ELIZABETH:  Yes - I couldn't bear to be without it. It is every artist's dream to
have their own place to work  -  and I believe they are entitled to one.

ELIZABETH'S STUDIO

RWSS:   Can you describe a typical day for us?
ELIZABETH:  My studio practice is based on breaking up the different activities I
have on the drawing board. So each day I do a little of each part of the process - lay out a new piece, felt another one, work out some new colorways write up notes or illustrate in the journal and do some hand and machine embroidery in the evening. In this way there are always several works on the go and I don't get bogged down in the middle of any one project.  I also photograph my work as it grows as well as recording the end result.  I never work for longer than 2 hours at a time because I think you
need to stay fresh in your approach. Going away for an hour and coming back has great benefits  - you can reflect on what you are doing or simply forget about it for a while.  These interim times are spent gardening and doing domestic tasks. 

GARDEN GIRLS

RWSS:   Would you consider felt making to be more about the process than the outcome? ELIZABETH:   Felt making is very process orientated - the joy in making something progress from a pile of fluff to a piece of art is very exhilarating. If the outcome is successful then it follows a cyclic nature. You can't wait to go back to the beginning to start the fun all over again.

RWSS:   Do you agree that a small element of uncertainty about the finished look is what makes the process of creating handmade felt so enticing?
ELIZABETH:  It is this most singular element to the process that has kept me intrigued - no matter how much sketching and planning takes place there is always something  - perhaps a colour or shape that just takes you by surprise and gives you a good shake!

SCARF WORKSHOP

RWSS:  Any indispensable tools or equipment?
ELIZABETH:  I would say the studio - the peace in working uninterrupted cannot be overrated. Top quality wool and a table at waist height.

RWSS:   Do you work strictly in nuno felt or do you apply both nuno and needle felting techniques to create your handmade felt?
ELIZABETH:  I use several different techniques to do my handmade felt. I am a wet felter and nuno is one of the techniques that I use. I do use the Babylock Embellisher to secure pieces together before wet felting them again.

STITCHING DETAIL

RWSS:  Do your pieces start with a planned course of action or are they more spontaneous?
ELIZABETH:  I would say that all my commission work is quite planned - with drawings, lists of colours and samples. This is mainly for the client who cannot get inside my head and needs more reassurance that I know where I am headed! I generally sketch for days on a particular theme and then just put it aside. A week or so later I will tackle the subject but without looking back at the journal. If I have anything worthy  in my head then hopefully it will develop naturally. Drawing is a great tool for clearing the head.

RWSS:  How do you know when to "stop" - when do you consider a piece actually finished?
ELIZABETH:   For the longest time my Mum has said " Now don't gild the lily".  The other one I like is " Just because you've got it doesn't mean you have to use it!" I think that more than ever I feel I am in tune with what I am doing and there comes a point when I know. When I feel I am struggling to move ahead then it is time to stop.  The other indicator is when I am hunting for "something" to add.  Clearly it is time to stop!

STITCHING DETAIL

RWSS:   Some of your time is spent as an Artist in Residence at primary and secondary levels.  Your thoughts about the importance of introducing art to students in grade school?

ELIZABETH:  Absolutely imperative!  If children don't get exposed to artistic experiences then their opportunity to excel at such a subject is completely overlooked. How many artists have slipped through the system because there was a lack of opportunity? How many children have ended up participating in negative behavior because their form of expression has been shut down at an early age?

STUDENT WORK

RWSS:   My greatest source of inspiration is....
ELIZABETH:  Color - how it makes me feel and inspires reactions in others.

FELT CUSHIONS

RWSS: Favorite quote?
ELIZABETH:  "Who, being loved, is poor?" Oscar Wilde

RWSS:   When do you do your best creative thinking?
ELIZABETH:  No particular time - mostly at night, listening to Bach or Handel and
just drawing.

TWILIGHT ROOSTING

RWSS:  What do you enjoy most about your work?
ELIZABETH:  The fact that I am lucky enough to do it.

RWSS:  Best advice you've ever received?
ELIZABETH:  Go and be an artist.

HANDMADE FELTED BAG

RWSS:  Best part of your day?
ELIZABETH:  Early morning and a cup of tea.

RWSS:  Who would you most like to meet and how would you spend the day?
ELIZABETH:  GOLLY! There are so many! I would like a blogmeet where everyone I
have made close friends with online comes over to my studio and we just make art all day!
There would, of course, be great food and super coffee!

TWILIGHT DOLLS

RWSS:   What is the one thing that people would be surprised to find out
about you?
 ELIZABETH:  My dream is to build a straw bale home.

TREE & FELT DOLL

RWSS:   Any words of wisdom?
ELIZABETH:  If you want to be a full time artist - don't go cold turkey and quit work tomorrow.  Plan for it and save for it. The first months are hard without a little behind you. Have a web presence and make it look professional. Start a blog straight away so that by the time you are working full time at what you love, people will know you.  Learn as many techniques in your field as you can. Avoid copying at all costs. Find your own voice - if you love it then someone else will as well.  DON'T BE AFRAID AND HANG IN THERE!

To view more of this talented artist's work, we invite you to visit Elizabeth's website Frost Fair or her delightful blog Studiofelter.

All photos are courtesy of Elizabeth Armstrong.