Turns out that turnabout is fair play, and she has been e-mailing me on a regular basis to ask if I have seen “Work of Art” on Bravo yet. I kept promising to watch but honestly, I kept forgetting and then the children kept clogging up the DVR with all their junk TV (an appalling peak into their souls – the things they would be watching all week if they were allowed….).  Finally, I was home alone today with amazing intentions and far less motivation, when the reminder from Alice in.  “Have you watched it yet?” So I set up the DVR then and there, then decided maybe I should watch the first episode just to get the whole gestalt of the series. I should have known better.  I was instantly addicted.

Here’s what I love about all three of these shows (Project Runway, Drag Race, and Work of Art): we get a peek at creative decision making and the artistic process.  More importantly, even though they are set up as competitions and someone has to leave every week, we see the great ideas that don’t pan out, and the idea fragments that turn into visual glory.  So that’s my artsy endorsement. I’m inspired by all three of them in different ways, and though I get annoyed when the producers and editors over-emphasize the middle school personality dramas, I think any one of these are time well spent for anyone who wants to make better use of those creative brain cells.

Notes:

1/ Yeah, I know I should link all these TV references, but I have to figure out how to do that first, and I just don’t feel like taking the time right now.  I’m guessing everyone knows how to search for any one of these shows and record it.  Even I can do that, when I can manage to find the remote.

2/
Difference between non-fiction and reality TV, as far as I can tell:  non-fiction is shot and edited in more documentary style, and it’s not about the competition or who gets eliminated.  Husband is regularly asked to dig out actual conversations shot in the middle of the Bering Sea with on cameras with a boom mic attached – no ADR, no pristeen sound stages, no sound guys with big mics attached. (Deadliest Catch, anyone? If you can hear what’s going on, you have my husband to thank. He gets amazing video footage backed mostly by the sound of  huge waves and big wind, and he delivers the sound of life on a crab boat. Shameless plug? You betcha.  But he deserves it, and the show deserves it.)

I’ve devoted the last several months to finishing a hand-spun tallit (prayer shawl) and kipah for my son’s bar mitzvah on June 19 – and planning all the details of a weekend-long series of synagogue services (the backbone of the occasion) and celebrations with family and friends.  Just before the weekend, we went to the American Jewish University campus, which is one of the few places in the area with a non-Orthodox community Mikveh for a ritual that marks the change of status – in this case, from Jewish boy to Jewish man.  While there, we stumbled upon this remarkable exhibit, Uncommon Threads, which takes the concept of fiber arts way beyond fabric and yarn.

A crock of wool.

Last weekend, I finally had time for some new work of my with fiber when the LA Spinning Guild held its annual Dyefest.  I attended last year, was inspired enough to come home and order some of my own dyes, then stuck them in a drawer until I could learn more from my friends at the guild and lots of books. I didn’t dye as much as I had hoped while at the Dyefest, but I learned some new techniques, including a new way of using the crock-pot for some gorgeous water-color results.  I have also finally figured out that dye is more similar to watercolor than other kinds of paint, but it’s not exactly the same.  It’s transparent, but it also forms a chemical bond with the wool, and the outcome is affected by the size and structure of the different color molecules and how quickly they bond with the fiber.  Mixing red and yellow won’t necessarily get a nice even orange like it does with paint, because once it all goes into the dyepot, if the red molecules attach faster than the yellow (which tend to be slower), it’s not just a matter of waiting for the yellow to catch up.  The reds might use up all the available molecular “partners” leaving few or none for the yellow to bond with.  It’s completely different color theory than anything I’ve done using paint.  The really great thing is the magic of the dyepot:  what starts as a nearly opaque, simmering pot of color eventually turns back into clear (or almost clear) water as the dye “exhausts” – not because it’s tired, but because the color molecules have exhausted out of the water and onto the fiber.  Acid dyes (so called because they need an acid p.H. balance in the water to work with protein fibers – which is provided by vinegar or citric acid) need to be processed with heat – steam, a simmering dye pot, or crock pot. Some people get very technical with measurements, and I started with good intentions of geekiness, but in the end I used some loose proportions to calculate how much dye to use, and just played around to see what happened.  Next I’ll try to replicate results over several batches, which means taking notes and measuring.  I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with any of this fiber; at this point, it’s pure color play and eye candy.

It’s Wensleydale, Gromit!

Even the clean-up paper towel looks pretty!

Locks with dye applied, before squishing and steam setting.

Turquoise dyepot.

Dye stocks mixed and ready for action - the yellow took some time to dissolve.

On display for the month of March, the show includes collage, assemblage, handmade paper and books.  As I mentioned in a previous post, the work is entirely constructed from — or inspired by — discarded cards from the old library card catalog.  Some of the cards are used for their content in pieces about civil rights, women’s rights and freedom of speech.  Others are used as inspiration for prints and origami.  A few hundred cards were shredded and used for pulp, which I made into paper and then books.

Ex Libris is available to libraries free of charge. If you know a library that may be interested, please contact me through this website or at exlibris.walsh@gmail.com.

I will wear my gorgeous art scarf (thanks Debra!) while I wait…!!!!

Debra was here!     It’s always great to see her — we’ve been friends since 1984, after all.   But this time we actually WORKED together…on my show!   It was fantastic to work side-by-side.  We often work side-by-side in spirit, but from opposite coasts.  This time we literally sat across from each other at a table for many days.   It was both fun and productive.   She is helping me with the publicity material for my show, as well as with many of the displays that will be included in the show.  More about those in later posts.
 
So…what about the show?    It will be at Mahopac Public Library and the work is entirely constructed from — or inspired by — discarded cards from the old library card catalog.  It’s called “Ex Libris: Found Art From a Public Library.”  And it’s next month.
 
NEXT MONTH!  Eek!
 
March 2010 seemed like it was such a very long way away when I was offered it for my first ever solo show.   I had the luxury of more than a year to think, and plan, and make art.

I thought, yes.  I planned, yes.  But I did not make art.  Well certainly not enough art for a solo show.  So now I panic.  I cannot change the show dates to buy myself more time.  (Yes, I tried that.)  So now I am working nonstop, every single day.

I rented a studio.  This helped.  Especially since my studio is shared with a brilliant artist named Susan Zoon.   My artist friends tell me it’s good energy to work in the same space with another artist.  I have found this to be true.  (Also, I can call into the other room….”Susan?!  Can you give me a quick opinion on this before I glue it?!”  Having a fabulously talented artist reassuring me is definitely good energy too.)

Also, having a place that is away from home, where I normally work, is enormously helpful.   The choreographer Twyla Tharp wrote a fantastic book called “The Creative Habit: Learn it and Use it For Life,”  which describes how to develop work habits that lead to creative success.  For me, the most important habit is to schedule time to go to the studio.   Scheduling time to work away from home also works well for my sister, the oh-so-talented watercolor artist Carol King (not the singer)!   She takes a painting class weekly and has an impressive body of work as a result.  

In my next posts, I will share some photos from “Ex Libris!”

Before the conference starts, Alice and I will spend quality time in her studio, where she is preparing her one-woman show.  I am there as slave labor, working on the contextual and educational displays, maybe some additional marketing pieces for her.  And of course we will indulge our theatre addiction!

Here’s my inspiration of the month, the sentence that has helped me get the inner critic off my back, shut my door, and get to work.  It’s from Stephen King’s On Writing. “…write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” The first draft of anything, he points out, is for yourself.  The next iteration is for everyone else.

Maybe that’s why I like art that requires more than looking. When I’m working with fiber in deep, saturated colors, it’s as much about what I feel as what I see. I just returned from SOAR (the Spin-Off Annual Retreat – aka fiber heaven), where the phrase, “Oh, I love your (fill in the blank with the garment or object of your choice)” was universally accompanied by an automatic – almost involuntary – reach for the object in question.  Complete appreciation started with sight, ended with touch.