Art in the Loo

Amos' Woven Basket/Bowls on Urinal

In 1917, French Dadaist Marcel Duchamp entered a urinal in an exhibition to challenge the preconception about what art can be. The Craft(s) Gallery, 572 S. 4th St., is taking the concept a step further by hosting an actual art show in the gallery’s bathroom. “Art in the Loo” is an exhibition of new work by artists Suzanne Edds and Michelle Amos. The gallery will host an artists’ reception during the First Friday Gallery Hop on April 4 from 6pm to 10pm.

Suzanne Edds' Body Part Mandula Pieces above Urinal  

Edds, co-owner of Liberty Art & Tattoo, will drape the Craft(s) Gallery bathroom walls with a series of sensual images that have been printed on skin-like canvas and mounted on wood. Edds says the pieces were inspired by body parts, but she has focused so closely on specific shapes that the images have become abstract. Amos’ contributions are more utilitarian. She plans to fill the space with functional items like hand-stitched bowls filled with face scrubbies, ring dishes in spring colors, robes, and bed jackets.

Amos' Bath robe

Amos' dish with face scrubbies

Amos says the show came about because she and Edds both thought the colorful decorations and art hanging in the Craft(s) Gallery bathroom made it feel like an extension of the exhibition space. “We both love the bathroom at the gallery,” she explains. “We hope this show encourages people to look at the space, and maybe their own bathrooms, in a different way.”

All work will be available for purchase starting Friday, April 4 through April 30 at Crafts Gallery Only. 

Amos' decorative bathroom fabric piece with two nesting bowls and hand woven re-usable cotton balls

Craft(s) Gallery is a contemporary and traditional art gallery created by Karen Welch and David McGuire in the summer of 2013. Craft(s) features fine artisan craft by local and national artists.

Craft(s) Gallery is housed in the historic Guthrie Coke building at 572 South Fourth Street at the corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets in downtown Louisville, Kentucky.In the emerging neighborhood of SOFO, South Fourth Street, Craft(s) is positioned between the renowned Brown Hotel and the iconic Seelbach Hilton Hotel. Another historic neighbor of note is The Palace Theater.Hours:Monday–Friday: 10am–6pm; Saturday: 12-6pm;Closed Sunday
502.584.7636 (SOFO)

Working with Metallic Fiber Acrylic Wash

Like my artist friend, Schvetty Betty, I occasionally like things to be sparkly, shiny. Because I work with mostly natural, earthy materials, I don't make too many sparkly, shiny things. I often feel changing a natural material too much can "cheapen" it's appearance. I have, however, found the need to add some sort of mystic, other-worldly look when creating a certain atmosphere, and a little metallic, fiber acrylic, mixed with water (wash: 20% paint to 80% water) works in an interesting way. For example my pieces from the "Haunt Installation".

Many of the individual pieces, and some of the strips woven into the wall, had a light wash applied. Covert Huh? I'm taking this concept further this time and being obvious with a much thicker wash for some of my upcoming spring work.


I've started with white cotton core, and white cotton cord.

Then I've mixed a fiber acrylic wash, something like 60% acrylic with 40% water. The wash is better than straight acrylic, because it seeps into the fiber to create a permanent dye. If you were to paint a straight acrylic, it would sit on top of the cotton, and make a stiff painted surface. I think this would defeat the purpose of weaving with a natural material. I want the color to soak in and maintain the integrity of the woven surface.

I use Jacquard Lumiere, because they work! I've been using Jacquard products for 18 years and the company knows what they are doing when it comes to fiber art supplies. There is no fading or rubbing off. Just a perfect long-term set color.

It's Cold Here!

High of 3 degrees yesterday, (2 degrees higher than projected), and a projected 12 degrees today. Ug! I know other areas have it much worse, but in this part of the country, even the schools have closed the past couple days because they feel it's too cold! I suppose the school districts feel our community is not conditioned to keep our children from getting frost bite on the way to school, because there is no ice or snow on the ground to create hazardous road conditions. So I'm dreaming of Valentine's Day and Spring to keep me warm. I stopped everything else I was working on to work on Spring Designs, it really helps the fantasy with the sun shining in the window.

Louisville, Lord of the Rings, and Buttons

 

The buttons are a result of using the entire tree. I have gotten to the point where if I am, or someone else is, pruning a tree, I will look at the end of the branch. If it looks interesting, I take it home. And again, with the faces. When the tree spirits are happy, the Dryads smile.

Your sewing thread becomes the pupil of the eye. -Lindsay E. Frost

While I was at a show this past weekend, wondering around before the crowd, I was drawn to some beautifully hand crafted buttons. The Artist was not at her booth, she must have been wondering around too. I grabbed a card and began daydreaming about her buttons.

I believe we understand each other in a visual language often times better and deeper than other forms of communication, and finding this Artist's buttons is an example of that, and my other belief Louisville is a city that acts as a small town. I had the opportunity to talk to the artist after the show and purchase buttons for my work.

hand woven hemp with acorn/lichen button from Lindsay Frost

I told her upfront what I wanted to do, and showed her one of my hemp bracelets. I also told her I wanted to email her later and get a statement from her for my blog. Deciding I better find out more about this artist before I email her, I visited her website http://www.uniqueandunusualwoodcarvings.com

In her "about" section she says she returned to Louisville to appease her parents, (I returned to appease my ex-husband). She then goes on to talk about her logo and how it relates to using the whole tree. This is my philosophy on many things, for example, when cooking a squash for dinner, I will also save and roast the seeds to go on salads later. In fact I save the seeds from my garden for replanting, and use the dead plants for compost.  Even when weaving I save the scraps of my raffia to weave even smaller pieces, or how I use the card board boxes our food comes in to card my work.

Frost then goes on to pose the question, "Am I a ‘tree hugger’? Most definitely. I love the Ents in the Lord of the Rings. Especially when they picked up their roots and started walking. Just think what trees have been witness to.....so much history and the tales they could tell. They most likely know the real story." I had to share this part of artist's website with my husband because he often makes fun of either my tree hugging or Lord of the Rings trivia knowledge (read the trilogy twice, saw the movies over 20 times each). And yes I'm an Ent lover too.

hand spun wool from the Smoky Mountain Spinnery with hand crafted button from Lindsay Frost.

After reading over Lindsay Frost's website and taking a few pictures of how I had combined her buttons with my weaving, I sent her an email asking to give me a specific statement about her buttons. I told her the images I sent were all pieces going to Crafts Gallery that day. She responded by telling me her work was already there, and she, like me, loves the owners David McGuire and Karen Welch.

Blue cotton coiled with hand crafted wood button from Lindsay Frost.

You can find Lindsay E. Frost's work, my work, and the pieces I created with both our effort at Crafts Gallery: a contemporary and traditional art gallery created by Karen Welch and David McGuire in the summer of 2013. Craft(s) features fine artisan craft by local and national artists. Craft(s) Gallery is housed in the historic Guthrie Coke building at 572 South Fourth Street at the corner of Fourth and Chestnut Streets in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. In the emerging neighborhood of SOFO, South Fourth Street, Craft(s) is positioned between the renowned Brown Hotel and the iconic Seelbach Hilton Hotel. Another historic neighbor of note is The Palace Theater.

Hours
Monday–Saturday: 10am–6pm
Closed Sunday
502.584.7636 (SOFO)

Why I love Hand Spun Wool!

I Love Hand Spun Wool! I love hand spun wool for its imperfections, for it's texture, because it comes from nature and a natural process; and most of all I love hand spun wool for it's stories. For example, The wool pictured below came from a young guy I met last weekend at a show in New Albany, IN.

 

He was 21-years-old, attending a local college, getting ready to transfer to an art school, to study fiber art. He had found an old spinning wheel at a yard sale, in desperate need of repair. He decided he could buy it, fix it, and learn to spin; which he did all based on YouTube videos. (This seems to be the way the next generation is learning, according to several young adults I've met lately.) He had several different types of hand spun wool, including those he had practiced using natural dyes. I ultimately chose this chocolate brown.

 

This ball of hand spun wool has a different story.

 



I had never been to Gatlinburg, but wanted to go because I had heard so much about it. After hanging around Pigeon Forge, hiking Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountains, we made a day trip to Gatlinburg. Fortunately we started on a side street in town, not realizing there was a whole commercial strip of shops. We first encountered The Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum. If you haven't been, it is definitely worth the trip and $2 admission. It was leaving the Museum that I spotted the Smoky Mountain Spinnery.  After wondering around the shop gazing at their beautiful selection, I asked the woman running the shop to show me specifically the locally spun wool. So that is where this ball of wool came from, which half of has already been turned into "sweater weather" accessories.

I love working with these kinds of materials, because I'm reminded as I work of the fun vacation we had with our five children, the joy of finding the Smoky Mountain Spinnery, and wondering around the shop talking fiber.

And on that note, my favorite place to talk fiber is The Clay Pearl in Nashville, IN. -Not that they spin their own wool, though they have plenty of hand crafted yarns, they love to talk fiber all day, are super helpful, and have many great stories to share of the yarn they carry. Just had to give them a plug here.

The Scarves relate to my Sculptural Woven Work

The scarves relating to my sculptural woven vessels and installations...

are now available at Craft(s) Gallery in Louisville, KY.

To create the scarves, I start with striping down yards of cotton muslin. Then dye them with coffee and fiber acrylic wash and dry them in the sun. I then rewash the strips to make sure the dye is set and there will be no shrinkage.



I give the strips a light pressing with the iron.

I make sure I have plenty of thread color choices.

Then I stitch the strips together, one at a time.

And in the end, the whole process creates a scarf with a unique raw quality. Super Fun to wear! Great Fashion Statement -wear art!

All scarves are slightly different in length, color choice of thread, and color choice of dyed strips combination. Sorry I'm not taking custom orders on these unless it is in bulk. Contact Crafts Gallery if your interested:
Craft(s) Gallery 572 South Fourth Street
Louisville, Kentucky  40202
502.584.7636 (SOFO)
http://craftslouisville.com/cms/

How Teaching has renewed my interest in Functional Basketry





Student Weaving

I've been teaching basketry and fiber art as an Artist-in-Residence for six years; 

Blackacre Conservatory, 2007

and for most of those years I had been focused on sculptural work and installation art. Although my interest has remained constant in creating exceptionally well crafted pieces -with great attention to detail. I've had a conversion of sorts.

Student Work, Spot 5 Art Studio, 2010


I want to say it started with the amazing work my students have produced. -And I've been pretty infatuated with the materials, especially when they come in a big box full.



But I really think it came from working directly with the students, problem solving to create pieces they were interested in.

 

Most of my residencies are based in Public Schools, which involve requests for historical and/or cultural connections to our work; and most of the historical/cultural references to basketry are as functional art. Although I often introduce the concept of using basketry methods to create art object sculptures -with no functionality intended- the students often want them to have some sort of functional use. By the beginning of this year, I was becoming frustrated. I wanted to be one of the students in my class creating my own interesting, artistically designed, functional piece.

 

But one piece was not enough for me. I've started working on a whole series of funtional pieces. First it started small:

Just a few mini baskets. Then I started thinking bigger:

And then in functional multiples (nesting bowls):

Not quite sure what's next.