Two New Prints (and Other Things).

New Print: Underwater Thinking

(Detail: Cyanoprint, stitches, found poem.)

(Detail: New linocut. Hello whale friend.)

(Detail: shapes, color, stitching.)

Another new print: Love Me Not.

(Detail: Collage and stitches.)

(Detail: songbird linocut.)

(Detail: Stitched collage.)

Hello, lovely friends. I've added two new prints to my Etsy Shop. I decided to take the inspiration from the DomestiCity show and make a few smaller prints, unframed, easier to ship possibly to your lovely homes to add to your affordable art collection. There was something very satisfying about making such simple prints with such a clear vision. Sometimes I see something very clearly in my mind and I do my best to make that image appear in my prints, books, or objects. And sometimes I just see a hint of something and keep working and working until I see the thing more fully realized in a physical form. Is it a similar process for you?

Lately, I'm all about staying true to that initial vision, regardless of how realized it is or isn't. I find myself going back to my basics in my weekly studio practice. The basics for me are poetry and sewing. They are the space I first remember opening up into the art world when I was just a teenager. I first considered myself an artist through my writing and my stitches and I want to honor this identity in my current work (and in preparing for the upcoming Dresses/ Objects show). But thinking of myself as a poet and stitcher who makes prints and photos and objects, that makes sense to me in this moment. So I'm sticking to it.

I was at another amazing workshop for artists this weekend and a rather accomplished choreographer said, "I think being an artist has been my dirty little secret" and that really struck something for me. Why is it that so many of us keep the artist hidden away? Relegated to "hobbies" and "passions" and "dirty little secrets" instead of being fully recognized parts of our professions? I know, that's a million dollar question... something about confidence and society and risk-taking and identity and finances. Anyway, a few new prints in my shop today, take a look if you like. xoxo, k.

The Dresses/ Objects Project: Phase Three

(The Dresses/ Objects Project: my dress.)

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(My dress: front view.)

(My dress: back view.)

(Letterpress fabric print: up close.)

(Another print: up close.)

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Hello friends. I have some very good news to share with you today. The Dresses/ Objects Project will be exhibited at Z Space at Theater Artaud from June 25- July 18, 2010!!! As some of you know, I have been working on this project since 2007 when I letterpress printed poems from Gertrude Stein's Tender Buttons on to recycled fabric then sent the fabric prints to various artists to craft into dresses and wearable objects.

And now, I'm going to create an installation at Z Space complete with dresses, photographs, poems, and various dressmaking objects. During the opening weekend receptions on June 25 & 26, there will be live performances choreographed by Erin Mei Ling Stuart of EmSpace Dance and five lovely dancers. And, during the closing reception on July 18 there will be a poetry reading with local poets inspired by Stein's work. I've also decided I'm going to be present during all Saturday gallery hours to make one final dress as part of the installation. I couldn't be more excited about this big, huge, lovely, amazing, humbling, inspiring project! Each artist along the way has totally knocked my socks off.

I have had the amazing honor of collaborating with over 30 women artists spanning the visual, performing, and literary arts ranging from printmakers to fashion designers, furniture makers, jewelry makers, painters, illustrators, photographers, fiber artists, poets, and dancers too. I feel so incredibly fortunate to have been able to work with such amazing artists and I feel so incredibly lucky to be installing this project with my friends over at Z Space. Such exciting news!

Apple Blossoms & A Spring List of Things

(one.)

(two. three.)

(four.)

(five.)

(six. seven.)

(eight.)

I'm currently intoxicated by the cherry and apple blossoms all over Oakland. The weather has been temperamental the past few weeks--sunny & blue & gorgeous one minute, then rainy & cold & full of wind the next. One afternoon when it was particularly blue and balmy, I climbed to the spot in the yard where the apple tree is sounding its petals like one thousand tiny trumpets. From there, I crept under the branches and took these photos of the petals & buds & dotted boughs. The blossoms are like a swirl of pink and white skirts, all movement & flutter & frill; or they are like that band of tiny trumpets & trombones & tubas sounding their music all at once. They are so intoxicating with color & shape & ruffle that if I stare at them too long, I think I might fall over drunk.

Because of the season, I'm making a long list of spring things:

1. Love: Sunday was our first wedding anniversary! After ten years together, we were married in the height of cherry blossom season last spring. So sweet.
   
2. Prints: I have a handful of prints in-progress. A table full of thread, linoleum blocks, one-line poems, drawings, and stitches too.
   
3. Dreams: I am hunting for a new studio space. I would like a better ventilated studio, more natural light, and a few like-minded artists to share it. Yes, please.
   
4. Baking: Strawberry rhubarb pie is 100% spring! We made a pie last night and it is simply delicious!
   
5. Design: I'm pouring through interior decorating books once again, it's time for a spring cleaning and purging too.
   
6. Gardening: Our garden is a beautiful mess of blooming vegetables and gigantic weeds: sweet peas, lettuce, fava beans, garlic, onions, chard, chamomile, calendula, and rosemary grow & thrive regardless of our weeds.
   
7. Inspirations: I'm collecting images of gray wool, natural linen, tan cottons, and brown kraft paper too. I want to combine these neutral things with big bold bohemian prints, swirls, & blooms in surprisingly bright colors.
   
8. Words: I'm slowing working on a new collection of poems about water.
   
9. Stitches: I just purchased a few yards of African fabric at a local shop. I'm going to make myself a simple summer dress.
   
10. Before I go: I just love this quote about spring: Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. ~Rainer Maria Rilke.
    

Alameda Flea Market Finds

(Wood type: letterpress lovelies.)

(Weathered bottles, the perfect shades of blue.)

(Beautiful old burlap feed sacks.)

(Vintage finds, and fashionable shoppers looking.)

(Statues, tarnished & true.)

(A metal bin of beauties.)

(Heavy linen, how I love you so.)

(Seagulls, fighting through the wind & weather.)

(We had to fight the weather too,
raindrops on my mister and on the car windows.)

This Sunday I made a trip to the monthly Alameda Flea Market. It's like a treasure trove of all things beloved and vintage! There were so many things to swoon over, but I was particularly taken by the burlap feed sacks, the pale blue bottles, the letterpress wood type, a handful of vintage butterfly prints, and a collection of old wire baskets. Sigh.

If only it didn't start raining so hard we had to run for our truck along with the masses of shoppers also running to take cover. Next month, I'll go again and make a deal with the weather to allow more time for browsing and dreaming through my camera lens. The shoppers & buyers were so beautiful dressed in layered vintage garments that I wanted to take a million photos! If only I were a little bit braver. In time, I will take more portraits of beautiful strangers, particularly those wearing gorgeous vintage garments and/or carrying armfuls of flowers. (Uh-ho, I think I just made a public promise.)

I hadn't made a trip to the local flea market in quite a few months and it was delightful to wander around the stalls and booths and tables lined with baubles and beloved objects. This market draws sellers and buyers from miles up and down the coast and some from even farther. Like so many things in the SF Bay Area, I take its proximity to my house just a little bit for granted.

The first weekend of the month is quite a lively time in the East Bay with the Oakland Art Murmur on the first Fridays and the Alameda Flea Market on the first Sundays. Magically, I managed to get to both events this weekend and I even made it to a dance performance in San Francisco on Saturday evening. It was a lovely little weekend amidst the dreary fits of rain. And now, somehow, it is already (happily) April!