Photography and Fragments

I had the pleasure of a studio visit by my talented photographer friend, Leslie Sophia Lindell. She came to my studio, I tidied up, and then she lent her amazing eye at styling and capturing my compact creative space. Her photos inspired me to take a few of my own, to consider what's "just outside the frame", and to embrace my process for just what it is--a process! You can see the corners of my studio filled with many of the projects I've recently posted here. (These are not Leslie's photos, just FYI. These are the photos I took after she left.)

I was working with a choreographer this afternoon, remounting the yarn wall I designed last spring for Hope Mohr Dance. As we carefully snipped and tied and untangled she asked me about my experience in motherhood. The conversation quickly turned to time management and the quest for a balance between family, friends, work, and art. Then she quoted her poet friend, Brenda Hillman, who said, "In motherhood the fragment becomes the whole". So beautifully put.

I keep mulling this phrase over and over in my thinking. It resonates on so many levels. In my poetry, the fragment becomes the whole. But in my current studio life the fragment becomes the whole. And in the blog world so often the fragment becomes the whole. But also in our relationships. And our artwork. And our dreams. And memories. And conversations. I like this thinking very much. In graduate school I believed that showing the fragment was more authentic than trying to show the whole. But I prefer this thinking, that the fragment actually becomes the whole. Yes, yes it does.

xoxo,
k.

Softie Monsters and Motherhood

I think I just finished making my first homemade toy. I say, "think" because it's likely I'm forgetting a project that I might have created many moons ago. But this feels like the first toy so I'm going to say that it is the first toy. So it's the first! I've wanted to make a softie/ monster for a long time but I just decided to cut up that torn cashmere sweater and start monster-making. Yes.

I keep thinking about how motherhood has changed my art practice. In the obvious sense that I find myself making mobiles, soft sculpture, and creating softie monsters but also that I'm working smaller because I only have small amounts of time. And that I see whimsy and humor and playfulness entering my work in a new way. I see color and texture and scale shifting. And now I have to organize my studio time with greater efficiency than I ever imagined. I wonder how these changes would be reflected in tackling something much larger like another installation or public art collaboration. Hmm.

Somehow, this reminds me of Michael McConnell's sculptures that I recently saw in Marion & Rose's Workshop. He's altering stuffed animals onto taxidermy forms often turning the toys inside out and resewing them. They're beautiful. And playful. And endearing. And surprising. And magical, really. I think motherhood has changed me in the same ways--it's turned me inside out and sculpted me to a new form but somehow highlighted the playful, beautiful, and endearing around me. And it's exhausting, yes, but so much more magical than I imagined. And I want these things to be reflected in my new work.

And so... a yellow sweater, brown corduroys, a pink heart on the back pocket, a square turquoise face, and round fuchsia shoes to mark the changes. And mostly tenderness, my friends. And small things. And soft things. And bright colors too.

xoxo,
k

Soft Sculpture with Lotta Jansdotter Fabric

I love Lotta Jansdotter's work. Like many of you, I am endlessly inspired by her books, fabric designs, prints, and overall design aesthetic . I love her combination of nature and abstraction, organic shape and repeat pattern, stark white space contrasted with bright colors, and so the list goes on. It's been fun to see her featured on DesignSponge and in the fall issue of Anthology magazine too. (And if you haven't yet purchased an issue of Anthology magazine then you must! It's quickly become my favorite--full of beautiful interiors, gorgeous photos, travel highlights, and overall charm.)

I was lucky enough to visit Lotta's online shop and grab a bag of fabric scraps before they sold out. She's also opened a brick and mortar shop in Brooklyn that I can't wait to visit the next time I'm in New York. Ironically, it's just a few blocks from my old apartment (oh, Brooklyn!) though now I live some 3,000 miles away. Given that I've been musing about soft sculptures lately it seemed only fitting that I make a mobile using her fabrics and hang it in my own studio.

Just this evening before putting my son to bed, I carried him into the studio and we stood underneath the new mobile until his restless little arms and legs settled gently by his sides and his wide eyes fixated on the twirling triangles and circles. I think that might be my favorite part about this latest soft sculpture--the effect it has on my tiny son. Sigh.

Happy week, dear friends.

xoxo,
k.

Studio Snapshots

This post wanted to be a list. And who doesn't love a good list? A list of favorite artists. A list of favorite materials. A wish list for your birthday or the holidays or your New Year's resolutions. This list is a simple glimpse into the corners of my studio (as seen in the photos above). Something like this:

1. Thrifted sweaters have been felted, measured, cut and wait patiently to be made into several strands of garland. So polite of them to be patient, right?
2. I've made another small embroidery piece to hang in the studio. This one honors my husband's brilliant performance of George Michael's "Faith". I was having a bad day and he intercepted by singing the entire song complete with dramatic dance moves and wooden spoon as microphone. It deserved to be commemorated.
   
3. I've succumbed to the whims of washi tape. Not sure what all the hype was about I now understand the desire to tape everything to the studio walls with washi. It doesn't make a hole like a nail and, well, it's pretty. Sigh.
4. I found a vintage floral needlework piece in my fabric stash. (I think my mother made this one.) The color scheme mimics my current mood for turquoise, hot pink, and red on linen. Funny how we circle around to our initial inspirations and environments.
   
5. I know it is Tuesday and I usually post on Mondays but this Monday suddenly became Tuesday before I knew it. Eep! I will continue to post early in the week.
   

Happy March to you, friends! (And don't forget to enter my eco-art challenge by March 15.)

xoxo,
k

Giveaway: Eco-Friendly Art Challenge

(photos from sunday's trip to the farmer's market.)

I've been thinking about sustainable living and my modest attempts to keep an environmentally-friendly art practice and to support other folks making similar choices. I want to celebrate what we do to make strides towards sustainable and creative lives. (Yes me and you and you.) I want to know what other folks are doing to marry creativity and sustainability in their own lives.

I want to celebrate these marriages. I want to celebrate all the artists, designers, crafters, makers, creatives, and any folks making choices to "green" their studios, homes, and/ or lifestyles. Do you use "up-cycled" materials? Do you source non-toxic goods? Do you recycle like it's your day job? Do you garden, jam, can, bake, or otherwise "make" with your own two hands?

To celebrate this thinking I'm hosting a giveaway. All you have to do is leave a comment stating one thing you do to embrace eco-friendly creativity. (Artists and non-artists equally encouraged to comment.) Maybe you fixed a hole in your favorite socks instead of buying a new pair. Maybe you made a quilt out of fabric scraps. Maybe you made 20 jars of jam last summer and gave them as holiday gifts. Or maybe you make homemade cards from magazine cutouts. I want to know!

I'll accept comments until March 15. Then I'll choose one winner and create a custom-made soft sculpture entirely from fabric scraps (see post below). The winner will pick from a handful of themes and colors and I'll craft a custom hanging mobile just for her/ him. I hope you'll join me in this thinking. I'd really love your insights.

xoxo,
k

PS--For more eco-creativity inspiration, check out these amazing folks: Taproot Magazine, Dottie Angel's Challenge, Suzanne Husky, Tend, and EcoPoetics Journal.

New Work: Soft Sculpture

Finished! I've finished the small soft sculptures I've been crafting in my studio. (These were inspired by the similar landscape mobile I made for my son's nursery in October.) Lately, the majority of my stitches have been made by hand instead of by my trusty sewing machine. The whir of the machine wakes the little one during his short naps but hand stitching is perfectly silent. (And three cheers for "perfectly silent" if it means more minutes in the studio.)

I taught myself the blanket stitch to finish the edges and I've become rather smitten with that stitch, I admit. These are nature-inspired small sculptures: birds, raindrops, clouds, trees, and rain-turned-triangles that all fall into view as I peer out the studio window. Rooftops and squirrels and cats just might be next? Or, maybe, bicycles and buses will follow?

I like looking up from a project and noticing the regular neighborhood characters passing by my window at their regularly appointed times--the man with the furrowed brow crossing the street from his garage to his pick-up and back again; the squirrels racing over the roof from the tree limbs in front to the tree limbs in back; the young athletic mother with the toddler on his tricycle always speeding ahead; the old blond lab with the limp and his patient gray-haired owner.

We are certainly creatures of habit--the squirrels, the dogs, and the human types too.

Happy Monday, friends.

xoxo,
k.

Sprucing up the Studio

I am tidying up my work space with miniature-sized inspirations. It all started when I realized that my sewing machine needed a new dust cover. So I folded a tea towel in half, tucked the sides up like I was wrapping a present, pinned the folds into place and stitched the 2-dimensional fabric into a 3-dimensional cover. Voila! My work table was transformed. I stitched, "sew, sew" into a corner of the new dust cover and then one thing just led to another.

A gold sweater was transformed into a soft cozy for covering my camera lens. A few scraps of yarn were knit together to slip over the canning jar that holds my pencils and scissors. And, of course, fresh flowers were added for a bit of summer yearning. Now, when I sit at my desk I feel little creations cheering me on from every corner.

In other sprucing up, I've turned my gaze to my Flickr account. I let it dry up in 2011 but I've decided to reinvest in 2012. I'm poking around to find new groups and gatherings and I'm liking From Where I Stand and the tried & true Bench Monday. I was also inspired by the Shutter Sisters call for one word for 2012.

I decided my word is "reach". I like how it implies reaching inside to places that seem deep and hushed and undiscovered while also reaching upwards to clouds and birds and airplanes and other things passing overhead. I stitched the word into a piece of linen and pinned it to my inspiration line. I've declared it my mascot for 2012.

Teeny bits of time, I tell you.

xoxo,
k.