serendipity

The Red Thread Project® St. Louis - a few pics

"The art of a people is a true mirror to their minds." -- Jawaharlal Nehru

St. Louis.  440 handmade hats of which over half were made by children.  442 yards of red "thread" = 1/4 of a mile.  Scores of volunteers.  72 participants in the "Dance of Hats."  One incredible installation.  Smile.

Sewing on the hats.

The piles build up.

The "Dance of Hats" complete with music from Samba Bom.

And the installation....

artprize 2009 / grand rapids

"Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced."  --  Leo Tolstoy

While I work in St. Louis, a whole other amazing enterprise is occurring in Grand Rapids - Artprize 2009. If you don't know about Artprize, take a look at the website.  It is being compared to "This American Idol" as the public has the final say on which artist(s) receives first prize, a mere pittance of $250,000.  Can you believe it?!  But more to the point, there is a ton of amazing artwork currently on display in Grand Rapids.  I don't know how I am going to fit another thing into my jam packed schedule, but somehow I must find a way to get there.

The images are from the exhibit curated by Adrienne Outlaw titled "Take Care: The Art, Science and Bioethics of Motherhood."  The blue and red beaded silhouettes are my work.  If you want to participate, registration to vote is now open.  Go to the link I've listed, register and then of course, VOTE FOR THIS EXHIBIT.  My shameless promotion is now concluded.  

home sweet home

" I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself."  -- Maya Angelou

This is my first return to St. Louis since January when I left my mother's home for the last time.  She died last October.  My brother and I had to sell her house.  We are fortunate as it sold after just 4 months on the market, but I have to admit to feeling a bit adrift.  That was home, the center of my universe for over 30 years.  I have my own home these days in Chicago, but somehow it's not the same.  It isn't filled with the marks I made charting my growth or filled with the little secret hiding places I enjoyed as a child.  I especially miss the giant magnolia tree in the backyard.  

I am in St. Louis for The Red Thread Project®.  The "Dance of Hats" performance is occurring September 27th at 1pm at the St. Louis Artists' Guild in conjunction with the Innovations in Textiles 2009 conference.  I'm now in the process of collecting the hats and stitching them on to the nearly 1/2 mile long I-cord I've knitted.  It's a bit crazy especially as my current place of residence is in the actual gallery where it will be installed after the performance.

This is the tidy version before the hats began to arrive.  And yes, that "installation" on the stage is where I'm sleeping.  I even brought my own crocheted blanket for an extra homey look.  Pull the curtains and I'm in my 'dorm room.'

The folks at the St. Louis Artists' Guild have been very welcoming.  They know I've been nervous about returning without Mom's home as a place to stay.  I could stay with my brother, but he has Tucker, a gorgeous cat (that thinks it is a dog) to which I am very allergic.  Actually just about everyone I know in St. Louis has a cat, so rather than spend money on a hotel I am living on a stage in a gallery within an old mansion set within a park.  How many folks can claim that?!  I even have a goodie box filled with coffee, tea, chocolate and other essentials like soap and Q-tips.  It's all rather mad and fun and makes what could have been sad tme turn into an adventure.  Thank goodness though that I haven't seen the resident ghost.  Every mansion has a ghost, didn't you know!

Here's the messier version of my room and this is after a sweeping!  Slowly it takes shape.

Exhibition Schedule fall 2009

"What art offers is space - a certain breathing room for the spirit."  -- John Updike

The flags are flying at Lillstreet!

Fall is here!  May the art season begin!  

OPENING TONIGHT, September 11th  

Needles & Pins 

9/11 - 10/9

Riverside Art Center

32 E Quincy St
Riverside, IL 60546-2129

Curated by Anni Holm, this exhibition features two newer works from my Woman's Work series.  

Singing the Body Electric

9//11 - 10/11

St. Louis Regional Arts Commission Gallery

6128 Delmar Blvd.

St. Louis, MO  63112

Curated by Sarah Colby, this exhibition features the bead embroidered cell pieces from my Chirurgi series.

MORE EXHIBITIONS THIS FALL!

Take Care: The Art, Science and Bioethics of Motherhood

9/23 - 10/10

Artprize

Kendall College of Art & Design

17 Fountain St. NW

Grand Rapids, MI 49503

Curated by Adrienne Outlaw, this international exhibition features my bead embroidered pieces "Red Hot" and "Blues."

Make sure you VOTE FOR TAKE CARE!  The $250,000 first prize is determined by the public.  Yes, you read that correctly - one quarter of a million dollars.    

Red Thread Project Installation

9/29 - 11/6

St. Louis Artists Guild

Two Oak Knoll Park

St. Louis, MO 63105

If you donated a hat to the project it will be on display here with hundreds of other gorgeous hats prior to being donated to St. Louis charities.

Synesthetic Plan of Chicago

through 10/8 at the Chicago Cultural Center and then moves for October to

Little Black Pearl Art and Design 

1060 East 47th Street 
Chicago, Illinois 60653

Somatic

opening November 22

Noyes Cultural Center: First Floor Gallery

927 Noyes St.

Evanston, IL  

Curated by Chie Curley and Barbara Goldsmith, I will be showing work from Chirurgi series and new work created while at my Ragdale residency in October.

Public Art

Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet

My globe "Adjust the Thermostadt" and fondly nicknamed Big Blue will be on exhibit with 19 other globes at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark this December!  Can you tell that I'm just a wee bit excited?

Bigger than Life

9/01 - 9/30

Lillstreet Art Center

4401 N. Ravenswood Ave.

Chicago, IL 60640

The flags are flying!  See image at the top.

PERFORMANCE ART

Red Thread Project : St. Louis

Sunday, 9/27 at 1pm - rain or shine

St. Louis Artists Guild

Two Oak Knoll Park

St. Louis, MO  63105

Music is being provided Brazilian percussionist Moacyr Marchini, a teaching artist with Springboard to Learning.

Hat donations are being accepted until September 25th.  Make one now!

Gift of Connection

10/9

Art Makes Place

Dance Performance 

Fall of the Arts Festival

The Commons

Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN

BOOKS

My knit work is featured in this book.  It is a must read for anyone who loves knitting and the textile arts.

Culture of Knitting

by Joanne Turney

Berg Publishers

Joy of Sox

I have two sock designs featured in this absolutely fabulous book.  Given that it has been out less than a month and there are already 16 projects from it posted on Ravelry, I am guessing that I am not the only one to love this book.  The sexual innuendos are silly fun, but it's the designs that take center stage.   Want a pattern knit from the toes up?  No problem.  What about a heel turned using short rows?  It's there.  Ankle socks.  Knee socks.  Lace socks.  Socks done with intarsia.  There is even a sock designed to keep your foot warm while you paint your toe nails!  

Fleur Play and Two to Tango were inspired by images taken while on vacation.  I have this odd phobia about taking photos of people, so my journals are filled with photos and drawings of architecture, gardens, markets, etc.  I love the scrolling iron work featured on many of the Parisian buildings.  There was one I sketched that looked like a heart.  What a lovely detail!  I understand the architectural dictum of form follows function, but give me Louis Sullivan or Hector Guimard any day, all curves and flourishes.     

Two to Tango comes from a vacation to the Caribbean.  I couldn't replicate that lovely feeling of sand squishing between my toes while the waves lapped at my feet, so I considered the rich tropical colors.  I had never seen a sea so blue!  Folks speak of blue oceans, but in my opinion they usually look more green than blue.  And the fish!  So many gorgeous fish.  My dad is a master scuba diver.  I'm not so brave, so I did the next best thing.  I paid my $50 bucks and took a submarine ride.  Wow!  The quiet was surreal and the colors other worldly.  At one point a school of small fish flashed by the sub.  And now they can race around your ankle!  (Sorry no pic at this moment.  My camera's battery just died.  Don't you hate that?!)   

At the moment I don't have any time to knit for myself, but when I do I will be turning to this book.  I am rather enamored with Snow Bunny, knee socks with hearts working their way up the calf.  Perfect with a pair dapper brogues and a swishy skirt.

smile!

South of Eden II is now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston!  Pinch. Pinch.  Yep, it's real.