My other Me

Recently, I started another blog devoted to the fiber artist in me.  www.ChristieMinchew.com will be a place where I have photos of my wet-felting, weaving, cloth wall hangings, and all things related.  www.SweetbriarStudio.blogspot.com will continue to have posts about sewing ideas and tips, new patterns I've designed, announcements regarding my etsy shop, www.SweetbriarStudio.com and showing you what others have done with my patterns.

So, come on over and see what My other Me is all about!

Unforgotten in cloth, felt and stitches

For a while now, I've been wanting to combine the various media and techniques I've learned into one piece. I challenged myself to do just that in this piece entitled "Unforgotten".  Inspired by the poem by Robert Service, I wet-felted the background and then added details in fabric and stitches to render the written into the visual. The images can be enlarged by clicking on them.

"Unforgotten"

I know a garden where the lilies gleam,

And one who lingers in the sunshine there;

She is than white-stoled lily far more fair,

And oh, her eyes are heaven-lit with dream!

I know a garret, cold and dark and drear,

And one who toils and toils with tireless pen,

Until his brave, sad eyes grow weary – then

He seeks the stars, pale, silent as a seer.

And ah, it’s strange; for, desolate and dim,

Between these two there rolls an ocean wide;

Yet he is in the garden by her side

And she is in the garret there with him.

Poem by Robert Service

merino and corriedale wool roving, cotton, linen, embroidery thread, beads, cord, hand wet felted, machine and hand stitching

Xylem : Stitched

The life of a wall-hanging: 

From inspiration...

From "Heaven and Earth", published by Phaidon

to cutting and swirling and piecing and stitching...

to finished hanging...

to its debut at the "Come Out and Play" art show...

to sending it off to a new home :).

.

Adios Amiga!

Discovering an Inspiration

I'm excited!  I love it when I come across something and, all of a sudden, my brain starts going bananas with inspiration.  What a fun feeling.
I've been going through a book I bought recently: Collage Sourcebook.  Many artists are featured including their techniques.  But one kept catching my eye.  And then I read an essay by her on her creative process.  I could identify with so many things she said...or I aspire to become that kind of free artist, an artist whose creations are the outpouring of my heart and my soul through my hands.   The artist is Deborah Putnoi.  And her website has so many encouraging and inspiring words and works...even for those of us who "can't draw".  I especially enjoyed her Journal pages.

I'm ripe for the picking on this, too, as I am starting to do more collage or assemblage with fiber-related materials. Yea for inspiration! :)

Both images are from Deborah Putnoi's site.

Geometry is my friend

The last class that I took from Peg Gignoux was called "Finding Your Personal Geometry" and here is the result: my first all-but-finished wall hanging. I had so much fun 'working' on it, too.  The only thing left to do is to put the finishing touches on the sides and back.  

The best part of this class was discovering that I absolutely loved the design process and the meditative cutting and arranging and hand-stitching.  I am newly encouraged to find my inner artist :). 

cotton, linen, taffeta, organza, silk, pearl rayon cording, multiple colors of thread

Jelly Belly Button: revisited

I wrote about this piece last August as I described the felting process. But before I could take a good "The End" photo, I made the mistake of taking it up to my girlfriend's (for show-and-tell) and she convinced me that it had found its perfect home.

You see, she has a turquoise wall in her home that was the perfect compliment to my "Jelly Belly Button". And so it is.

[Why I didn't think to take a straight-on shot of it is a mystery (errr). Guess I'll just have to go back for a visit:).]

For those itty bitty fabric scraps...

One of my very favorite friends, and her very favorite man, just happened to mention that they were going to get married...that weekend! (They were flying to Vegas for a business conference.) You see, she didn't want any fanfare, no big deal made of it. Well, we showed her! Three of us took her out for a quickie shower :). You know, manicure, pedicure - all four of us lined up and chattering away. One brought flowers, one brought wine (do you know they didn't let us bring it into the salon - dang!), and one brought chocolate (of course). And I had a great time stitching up this card out of little bits and pieces of my can't-throw-the-minisculest-bit-away-fabric.
Two hearts. Intertwined. Just as it should be. Just as I hope they are for many, many, many years.

Bringing the art out of people and putting people into art!

I had the privilege (and fun) of helping out a wee bit with Peg Gignoux' latest collaboration. This time it is with Newcomers School in Greensboro, North Carolina.

(Click to enlarge and photo)

Peg (at right in the photo above) is working with art teacher Victoria Wreden Sadeq (left) and her students to create a textile work that reflects the students' amazing diversity and what it is to be a newcomer to this country. Fifty-two countries are represented by the students who worked on this piece! Peg worked with the students to dye organza to create a myriad of beautiful, translucent colors. Then the students wrote down words about what the colors of that cloth meant to them. There were some powerful words that reflected the kids' rural (and in some cases, textile) backgrounds in their home countries. The students then translated those words into their native languages, made stencils and cut the words out of their hand-dyed cloth. They incorporated (and sewed and fused) canvas, world maps and their words to make a very colorful collage. But that's not where it stopped. They cut it all up! They mixed it up!!

Because of Spring Break, Peg has been hand-stitching these pieces together herself. But, once the students return from their break, they will help finish the two sections. The work under construction is being made in two sections that, once mounted, will measure 264 " wide by 56 " high.

The Community Cloth project is designed to fit into the Newcomers School library but, before its installation there, it will be included in an exhibition at Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art (who sponsored the project) in Greensboro from April 9- May 1, 2010.

Peg also teaches various workshops (one I posted about previously - so great!) and works with other community groups to develop wonderful pieces of art. Stayed tuned to hear about her workshops in France!

Felting is not for wimps!

This week is officially "Felting Week" for me. I finally figured out that, although I can multitask, I cannot multi-focus. So I set all fabric and sewing aside and set about learning a new technique with fiber. "Not too exciting", you say? Oh, I beg to differ! It's all a matter of perspective.
And lest you think this looks pretty easy to do, let me just say this was one of the tougher workouts I've had in a very long time. Hello Hamstrings! Yep, I used my hands, my arms, my back, AND my feet and legs to beat this jelly roll into submission. But I do like the results :).

BYOCd (Bring Your Own Casserole dish)

I have the good fortune of living in an area loaded with talented, artsy people. And a bigger blessing is that many are my friends. Last weekend, one friend provided her ample studio with sink and microwave and covered tables at the ready. She and another friend bought and brought many silk scarves that were white as snow. A friend of one of those friends brought her dyes, iron and ironing board. And off we went! Jane set to twisting, spiraling and eye-dropping, above....

Alison ironed a beautifully patterned creation ...at the food table! (I think the food tasted better for it, too. )

And I went home with these and more - my first attempt at scarf, or any kind of, dying. It was very fun, indeed.

Ta Daaaaa!

Well, here is the last project I worked on in my "Memory Cloth" class with Peg Gignoux. During the six weeks, we had played with different techniques including stamping on fabric, sewing pieces together, then cutting those and reassembling in a different way, embellishing...and a bunch of other stuff.

The last class, we made a book (our final technique to play with). I was ambivalent. But, of course, after mine was finished, I loved making a book. I want to do more! So many fun things to do, so little time....

On some of the inside pages I sewed other pieces of paper to the plain paper pages. It made a neat treatment for both sides.

Most all of the paper that I added (that has color, etc), was from something I had done years ago and still had. I chopped it to pieces and loved adding it to the book. And so, here is my very own memory of the class and the wonderful women that were a part of it. Beam :)!

I Found My Thrill!

Click to enlarge photos

I've had two of six classes so far in Peg Gignoux's "Memory Cloth" class. Unfortunately this cloth doesn't provide better memory (ohh, how I wish). Creating a piece of cloth that is in memory of someone or that is a memory or celebration of a particular event (wedding, anniversary, etc) is really the idea here. I didn't pay very close attention to the theme of the class when I signed up. It was the skills that caught my attention. And I am LOVING it so far!

Peg is an artist who has created wonderful (and I do mean wonderful) pieces and she is such a talented teacher as well. For this class, she asked us to stick with neutrals and to bring in fabric, laces, and any odds and ends that could be used to create a bit of cloth. She brought in fabrics and laces, too. And we were invited to share hers as well as use our own.
The piece above was done in about 45 minutes and was one of the most freeing projects I've done. I'm usually too concerned with what the other person is doing or what they think of what I'm doing. I end up getting creativity-paralysis and do something very uncreative. But this was so much fun to just experiment with putting different materials together and not worry about what it was going to be (yet), or whether I could sell it, or whether the teacher would approve (I am stuck in my teenage years wayyyy too often). I used Peg's toffee colored dupioni silk, her pretty geometric lace, and my cheapy muslin and cotton and came up this.
I had so much fun and got so many ideas .... The second class was printmaking which opened up even more ideas. Did I mention I love this class?

More Botanical Garden fun

This is a follow-on post to my previous post on the sculpture show at the North Carolina Botanical Garden. There are so many great sculptures on display, it is like an Easter egg hunt trying to find them all. (click on the photos to enlarge) Happy metal man greets all who come through the main entrance. The gates are some of my favorites.

"Silent Wings" was so fun to watch move in the breeze. Very peaceful. It was inspired by an owl who flew past the artist one day and never made a sound.

"Happy Gardeners" is a permanent fixture at the Garden. I can't help but smile when I go by.

And last, for this post anyway, is this cute puppy. There were several puppies, but I chose him. Wag :).

Art: "Going Around in Circles" by John E. Michael is the happy metal man. Unfortunately, I neglected to get the other names. Anyone out there know the ones I missed?

Come Out and Play! and look, and eat, and enjoy!!

For the last eight years, my neighbors and friends, Debbie Meyer and Eric Brantley, have held an art show starting the last Saturday in August and then every Saturday through the end of September (that's right, there is only one Saturday left!).

They, and their daughter Beckett (about the cutest 4 year old in the world),open up part of their 17-acre farm for "Come Out and Play" and very generously provide food and drinks to any and all who come (all for free!).

The Sweetbriar Studio tent is filled with my fabric and felt creations and my husband, Chuck's, wood works. My (84 years not-so-old) mother even joined in with her paintings recently. Here is a photo of Chuck's "Sunbursts" displayed on Debbie and Eric's home.

Their front yard is sprinkled with sculptures and art that goes all the way around their pond and into their back yard.

Everyone, really EVERY one, has a great time looking at art, socializing, eating, looking at more art, and maybe buying (:)).

What started as a sculpture show to honor the victims of 9/11 has grown into a rather large event that now includes other types of arts and crafts.

This is such a gift that Debbie and Eric (and Debbie's parents Ginger and Jim) graciously offer to the artists as well as all who attend. So, to them, Thank You (times infinity!). (If anyone wants more information, just contact me.)

Art: glass and metal sculpture/Teddy Devereux and Ken Maynor ,red sculpture/Ed White, mosaic planter legs/Pam Isner, Typewriter Totem/Brian Mergenthaler