More kind press for "Dress Code", the three person show at the Fort Collins MOCA.

Pretty Lady has a great, though not too cheery, post today. I immediately recalled Randy Newman's "It's Money That Matters".

Tyler Green's interview with Rose Art Museum Director Michael Rush.

I believe there is a sit-in at Brandeis this morning. As I commented in Ed Winkleman's blog today, this situation seems to be yet another symptom of academia's adaptation of The Corporate Model. I can't tell you how many things have changed in academia during the ten years I spent at FIU. when you read the Chronicle of higher Education, you see that the essential mission of so many universities has completely reversed itself. Aside from this highly publicized situation which is getting a strong response, I wonder sometimes if the students are even aware of the changes that are taking place. They are, after all, the consumers in this corporate model.

The Supercraft Revolution

A few weeks back, I posted on a few articles in recent European magazines that spoke of the emerging trend of craft in contemporary art. My friend Orly called my attention to this Noah Sudarsky article in the NYPress entitled "Taking a Craft... Supercraft: The New Insider Folk Art". It is a great article where he coins the new phrase "Supercraft" to describe many of the shows I have been participating in as of late, specifically mentioning the current exhibition "Narrative Thread" at Lyons Wier Ortt.... I especially appreciate his observation on the importance of the hand made object: "Outsourcing cannot be an essential component of Supercraft, which, like crafting itself, suggests an eminently personal investment in the production process. Providing instructions, à la Donald Judd, and then letting someone else do the actual labor, using robotics and computer-aided manufacturing techniques, is not Supercraft: It’s industrial art."

Opening today..... "Raised in Craftivity", a group exhibition at the Wignall Museum, outside of LA. My recent work, "Heart Center", is included in the show:


The exhibition was curated by Maria Elena Buszek, who is also working on a book, "Extra/Ordinary: Craft in Contemporary Art", to be published by Duke University Press.

Back home, exhausted. My husband and I got in the car and drove 12 hours in each direction to pick up some of my oversized work that I have not seen in a while. My magnanimous husband did almost all of the driving: my job was to shift my 29-weeks-pregnant body around in a futile attempt to find a comfortable position while doing some brain embroidery, reading and computer work.

It is always comforting to have work return home.... especially work from the past few years that I never got to live with, because I have been sending pieces away as soon as the paint dries.

Spent Saturday working in my studio... my assistant Libby came, and helped me stretch a large canvas on the wall, then she gessoed it. As I cannot really prepare a nursery because of our imminent move, I am doing a large work on canvas that will hang in the baby's room, one that I might add to and exhibit, or simply move to hang above our own bed when The Peanut develops tastes of her own. It will not be unrelated to some of the work I have been doing in the studio lately with Guardian Angels that don't come through: I am planning a large Pre-Raphaelite angel hovering over the crib, throwing stars into it. The room will be sky blue with clouds, getting darker towards the ceiling & around the crib, and above the crib, an image with a similar feel to Edward Robert Hughes' "Night with Her Train of Stars",
.....the image will be not quite so ominous, I might choose a different angel, or lighten up the wings a bit, perhaps give her a vermillion gown, and she might drop stars instead of poppies.

The big news is that we have finally received word that we will be moving to the Washington, D.C. area this Spring. Back to civilization at last... dinner parties! art openings! Indie movies! I could not be more thrilled... I have so many old friends in DC. We will be a short train ride to New York, closer to most of my family, and what better time to be in Washington?...... I'm sure the good vibes are palpable.

I am off on a top secret art-related 3 day commando road trip..... IF it does not get usurped by a winter snow storm. Been embroidering a brain that I will be taking with me on the trip.

"Blessed Art Thou" is one of two full page color plates in this recently published book, "The Wisdom of Generosity: A Reader in American Philanthropy", written by William J. Jackson, PhD, and published by Baylor Press. William Jackson (Ph.D. Harvard University) is Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis.

Opening tonight......
"Dress Code", a three person show at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art!
It should be a fantastic show.... send your friends in Fort Collins!

The opening "Narrative Thread" at Lyons Wier Ortt went well, despite the fact that I arrived 45 minutes late... the F train was stuck in Brooklyn due to a medical emergency. There were some amazing pieces in the show, including a few glove/clothing pieces by Paul Villinski, some truly incredible embroidered portraits by Cayce Zavaglia , and embroideries by Darrel Morris, whose work I have been following for a long time.

Thursday night a clothing-based show opened at Black & White Gallery, and Friday "Narrative Thread" opened. Right before I left, my work was featured in the Spanish Design magazine, Pasajes Diseno, in an article about fiber-based contemporary art. Loosely translated, the article asks the question "Will the Next Picasso Work in Crochet?" (click to enlarge)









Orly Cogan's embroidery work was featured on the cover of the bilingual France-based ArtPress magazine, with an article on the same subject. After all these years, so nice to finally feel, at least momentarily, like I am in the right place at the right time.

Friday night, I went to bed at midnight, woke at 4 a.m., caught a car to JFK, flew to Charlotte, attended a workshop from 9-5, then drove the 2 hours back on Saturday night. I ended the trip as I began it: exhausted. It took two days to really recover: did my taxes while recouperating.

Tomorrow, I hope to wrap up the taxes and get back in the studio.

Some advance press for "Dress Code", the three person exhibition I am participating in at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art. The show opens this Friday.

OPENING TONIGHT!

Tonight, the group show "Narrative Thread" opens at Lyons Wier Ortt Gallery in Chelsea from 6-9. I am thrilled to be included in the show, and can't wait to see it!

Last night, checked out "ImMaterial" at the Black & White Gallery. The use of clothing in contemporary art is something I have done extensive research on for my own work, and this was a provocative show.

Derick Melander's work was cleverly incorporated into the architecture of the space, and each piece in the show was given a respectful and necessary amount of room, making for a more museum-like installation, something this viewer truly appreciates.

Orly Cogan had a fantastic installation that incorporated some of the embroidered found textiles she is known for, but her vision has expanded and explodes across the walls with thread drawings connecting found textile bits and newly created elements... the effect is whimsical, as the viewer finds delightful surprises while following threads across the walls.

I was also blown away by Tamara Kostianovsky's work, particularly her large piece, a carcass constructed of found clothing hanging from a meat hook. The color selection, as precise as any painter, and the tortured quality of the ripped, stretched, stuffed clothing and coarse stitching creates a powerful presence, and an ironic read on the term "stuffed animal".

I have always liked Jean Shin's clothing pieces (we will both be in the Re-Addressing Identities show at the Katonah Museum this summer), but had never seen the shoes pieces, which have an uncanny quality of being simultaneously familiar and unrecognizable.

A long-overdue fantastic, articulate letter to The Whitney from Pretty Lady....

Something new & exciting always happens to me when I come to New York. Just got word that The Defense Mechanism Coat will be in an exhibition called "Re-Addressing Identities: Clothing as Sculpture" at the Katonah Museum of Art this summer. There are some artists that I really respect in the show, I am thrilled to be included....

Yinka Shonibare
Louise Bourgeois

Mella Jaarsma

Rashid Johnson

E.V. Day

Guerra de la Paz

Joseph Havel

Maria fernanda Cordoso

Fernando Brizio

Nick Cave

Cat Chow

Bingyi

Barbara Bloom

Ray Beldner

Kate Kretz

Yael Mer

Fahmid Moshiri

Cheryl Yun

Freddie Robbins

Beverly Semmes

Jean Shin

Mimi Smith

Ji Wing

The exhibition was curated by Barbara J. Bloemink. This afternoon, have a conference call with the Fort Collins Museum of Art to talk them through the hanging of the Defense Mechanism Coat. This is the first time that it will be hung without me, and I am bit nervous... maybe I should make an installation video.

Looking forward to the ImMaterial exhibition at the Black & White Gallery this evening. The group show I am in, "Narrative Thread", opens tomorrow night, at Lyons Wier Ortt Gallery.

"Deep, Far", 2009, 9 x 12" oval, human hair embroidery and human eyelashes on found doily, convex glass, frame.


The last 48 hours have been grueling. Finished & framed my piece, got one hour's sleep, drove to Charlotte (2hours in the rain/dark trying to stay awake), flew to NY, checked in @my brother's in Brooklyn, and went into the city to deliver the piece. Picked up my niece, went for pizza dinner & played before crashing.

Tired. Busy. The last of my guests left on Wednesday. I immediately started working on my new hair embroidery. Had to break today to carefully pack up "Heart Center" and ship it to the Wignall Museum for the "Raised in Craftivity" show that opens in a few weeks. Just booked my flight to NYC for next week, where I will be in the group show "Narrative Thread", opening at Lyons Weir • Ortt Gallery in Chelsea.