yarn n. 1: a continuous often plied strand composed of natural or man made fibers 2: a narrative of adventures
Chelsea, NYC - walking from work to the subway
Artist Miki Lee at Lyons Wier Ortt Gallery
Spring leaves amidst urban concrete
Fire escapes and water towers
Looking into a window shop
Classic straight New Yorker talk to the dog owners
My wonderful, talented, creative girlfriend has opened her new Etsy shop! Please take a visit and check her out on -
Right now she has her hand-knitted scarves/hats on display but soon she will have other items, like her amazing pottery (I admit to being an owner of several of her pieces.) I am so proud of her for doing this - she is an inspiration to me.
Last Sunday I went to see Tapestry in the Baroque: Threads of Splendor
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The fiber-artist in me felt it was an obligatory pilgrimage. The tapestries are massive. I am amazed at the craftsmanship and time that went into each piece. When I looked closely at a tapestry, my mind was staggered at the level detail and complexity of the design. This is a show that deserves a second visit.
What stands out the most for me is the history connected to the art. I only thought of creativity and craft with the tapestries but there was much, much more: war, upset economies, intrigue, royalty, religion and the art market. Knowing all that background information only makes the art work more interesting.
Another show that’s worth the trip is the Luxury exhibit at FIT. Hurry because it is closing November 10th. After making your way through Luxury, go downstairs to see Chicago Chic. These are my two favorites from Luxury - Chanel and Rodarte. Why are beautiful clothes so satisfying?
The Sheila Hicks show, Weaving As Metaphor, was closing this weekend so I made it a point to hike up to the upper west side so as not to miss it.
This collection of her small works displays her weaving knowledge and experience over time. For me, I focused on her weaving structures. I wanted to learn how she created a specific shape or texture. I was also fascinated by the tools and materials she used. Stand-outs in my mind were the synthetic monofilament, stainless steel, and handmade paper she incorporated into her weaving. I was very drawn to the monofilament because I have tried experimenting with it, and I am pleased to see the possibilities of the materials via another artist.
The size of these weavings prompted me to think about small works in art. (Most of my work I consider to be small. Part of my size constraints come from not having a studio and from living in a space-challenged, Brooklyn apartment. I simple do not have the space to go any larger.) From my perspective, smallness is overlooked. We live in a very BIG art culture (i.e. big art=serious or authentic) - wall-sized paintings, site-specific installations, land art encompassing acres - and in what I would call our pop culture - big box stores, McMansions, SUV’s. Sheila Hicks work, while small in size, is large in content. It takes time to investigate the details and time to synthesize that information. Does an instant-gratification culture only want large sized art? Are we lazy art-consumers who don’t want to think past the obvious? Or will people take the time to appreciate the intimacy of the conversation between a small artwork and the viewer?
LOL - small art works prompt big art ideas.
Afterwards, inspired by the show, I took these photos.
The world is made up of warp and weft. (That’s a whole other post - duality in structure - like knit and purl.)
This long weekend has been glorious - perfect early fall days in New York City.
Sunday was my museum day - Ectopia at the ICP. My two cents: The work ran the gamut - intelligent, humorous, disturbing, confusing, obvious, mysterious, technical. I feel I have not seen a group show in a long time (granted, I did not make it to the bienniel this year) that was visually stimulating and thought-provoking. I hope this is a good omen for the NYC fall art scene.
Afterwards, I am always hungry after looking at art so I recommend buying a snack in Bryant Park, and sit in a sunny spot so you can knit after eating your grilled chedar cheese, ham, and pear on cranberry bread sandwich. I am thinking Bryant Park would be an ideal place to have an outdoors, knitting get-together. You can bring your own food or buy food, there are enough chair and tables, and the atmosphere is pure Big Apple. Someone else has had the same idea - as I was walking by the Bryant Park Grill I saw a sign: Knit New York has free knitting lessons from 3:00 to 4:30 across from the BP Grill until October 16th.
Monday morning started with me flipping the channels. I lucked out and caught Martha interviewing Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark about their new book. Did anyone else catch it? Sometimes I don’t understand Martha. The interview started a little rocky. Martha would ask Tracey weird questions, like, “Why are there two photos of this skirt pattern in the book?” right out the blue when Tracey was talking about something else. After the commercial, things seemed better. Tracey started doing her accents and funny jokes while Martha complained about knitting on circular needles yet she raved about the knitted tea cozy. Then they had a tea party. While I did learn how to properly prepare a cup of tea (did not know milk goes in first), I would have liked to have seen more about the book and the projects. They only showed four projects! I know, I know, can’t show it all, buy the book, but why didn’t Martha do some knitting tips or some type of fiber topic? A tea party? Martha, will our love / hate relationship ever improve?
No matter, I got over it by having lunch at the South Street Seaport with a friend and then walking over the Brooklyn Bridge. I was pretty tired but I came home to find this in the mail!
I decided to buy the Blue Sky Alpacas Cropped Cardigan pattern from KPixie. And now that it is October, I can use my coupon at The Point to buy the yarn. Whoop!
I just learned from an artist friend about a call for artwork for an upcoming show at the Coney Island Msueum. See below for the specs. There is a form that needs to be filled out but when I went to the website, I could not locate it. If you are interested, e-mail me and I will forward the form.
CONEY ISLAND DIVAS
The Coney Island Museum Café Gallery will present an exhibition of women artists living and working in the old Coney Island District from Oct. 21, 2006 to March 2007. Looking for Divas, artists working in any media from traditional oil to found object sculpture.
Guest Curator: Ms Meridith McNeal, Artist and Director of Education at Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.
If you live or work from Nortons Point (Seagate) to Gerritesen Beach, Nostrand Ave to Bath Beach to Newkirk Ave you invited to submit up to three (3) images for consideration.
Digital submissions are preferred; email to coneyislanddivas@gmail.com
You may send slides or photographs through the mail to:
Coney Island Divas
Coney Island Museum, 1208 Surf Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11224
Deadline for submission of images: September 15th, 2006