Eclectic, Experiments and Seconds

The problem with experimenting is that I get carried away, go off the deep end.  While I get excited about the results, I'm not always sure they are as great as I think they are.  Nonetheless, I share them with enthusiasm and wait for recall.  First comment, too short, so I made some longer.  Another said more lacy, another said less lacy. ( Hmmmmm.  This is starting to remind me of Writing Practice.) My latest is using every last remnant to create art.  I figure if it's fabric I shibori dyed it shall not be wasted.  Using a water soluble stabilizer I lay it out, sew it up and rinse.

 Seeking Passion
My friend asked me why I do it, shibori dye fabric over and over again.  Good question.  I think the answer might be what defines an artist.  I'm addicted to the question "What if?" I told her.   What if I add this color, what if I design this dress, what if I sew it this way instead?  I can't stop.  I listed to Larry play his new Cordoba guitar.   He can't stop.   He plays the same pieces over and over.  My newest "what if" is using the Vinyl Sulphon dyes to dye alpaca and merino roving.  I'm excited to see the results after it is made into bats and felted on the FeltLOOM and I create a "what if" piece of wearable art.  From the looks of this photo, I may be onto to something with this new process as the newly dyed roving in copper and rust and blues dries in sun.

In writing, Rose was seeking passion, the passion that gets you excited and keeps you awake at night. Rose was always passionate; there was no getting around it. She wasn’t ever going to give it up. To be able to create passion, that’s what freedom is, that’s what life is; just keep on writing because what else is there?  

excerpt from my memoir, The Garden Girls Letters and Journal

The First Bird Sings at 5:54 am

I open the windows.  It's chilly outside.  I make a fire in the wood stove.  There is still lots of scraps of wood to burn that was part of the old siding that had to be removed because of rot.  Hence, implementation of a Living a Layered Life rule for sure. Make Art Now.  Never let lack of money or materials keep you from making art.  Use what's at hand.

This dress was made from two remnants of 1 1/2 yard pieces of jacquard silk.  Usually all my art is made from at least 72 -80" pieces.   I shibori dyed it in copper and rust colors and copied a dress that I love and has gotten worn out from frequent wear.   The shawl is a prototype for a new design.  This one has flaws, however.  That means I get to wear it!  I will make more now that I have the idea in place and technique down. I don't know about the dress.  It is more size specific.  I prefer to create things that fit many. The photo doesn't show the true brilliance of color that I get from using the vinyl sulphon dyes.

  

I started thinking that maybe Rose and Clove could open a floor-covering store. You know, sell carpet and linoleum and hire local guys to install it. Then they could take off and go to women’s music festivals and sell artwork they made from carpet remnants and linoleum scraps.

excerpt from my memoir, "The Garden Girl Letters and Journal"

The Excitement of Color

Much better.  After over dyeing this silk charmeuse using the Shibori pole wrap I like the copper color.  More intense.  There is excitement watching the rust and copper glisten as I serge.  The first time, with the fold and clamp, I just couldn't get enough dye to penetrate so that the colors I formulated were able to "shine" to their full potential.  I guess that's the pleasure in making art.  Finding the excitement.  Whether it's when writing poetry, performing, visual or musical.

http://www.lavernez.com/

   I remember the dinner, the wineglasses, the red and the white. I didn’t want to go home early. I wanted to laugh all night and I wondered what made it different, what caused the excitement? Was it Clove’s voice, the way she spoke when an idea came and it took her several minutes, it seemed, to speak. You had to sit real still to catch every word so you could understand and you so much wanted to understand.                             excerpt from "The Garden Girls Letters and Memoir"

Wrap, throw or yardage

While voices are often found in conversations with friends, my new stories are found in fiber.  The softness of alpaca and merino, the shimmer of silk.  Each palette a new story.  My son had a friend who was dyeing.  He asked me to create something soft for her to wrap around and keep her warm.  Something earthy he said.  I never knew her.  I think of her however, every time I use these colors.  I think of him and his sensitivity.

Available at the Kentucky Craft Market, $275

.25 Alpaca and merino felted on silk dyed shibori dye, pole wrapped. 

Save Everything

 No Waste

 

My art is in the color, texture and depth.  It's where I ask what if.  Thus everywhere there is color there is art. Everywhere there is texture there is depth.  No waste means using everything I create.  These Shibori dyed pieces were the edges cut off a larger piece of hand felted merino, alpaca and silk.  They are the perfect length for wearable art.  I serged one edge and added my label.  Great to wear several at a time, or hang from a bamboo pole as a mobile. 

Since I always place at least three colors, or shades of one color of dye on the cloth.  This there is movement and depth.  The real pleasure attained using the Shibori technique is when you open each steamed package and discover the results!  The rules for making art are the same rules I apply to writing.

1. Make rules
2. Choose a palette/voice and stick with it
3. Ask “What if?”
4. Don't second guess

The secret to beautiful texture and blend of color is to not use too much dye by learning to read the flow of the dye in the same way a kayaker reads the river before descending over a 40 foot water fall.  The only way to repeat what you discover is to measure and make notes. (Sorta.  You can never really repeat with shibori. )

 

--> “My dear,” she said, “perhaps it is time for you to gather your authority and begin your journey living the layered life of an artist.  --from The Garden Girls Letters and Journal

Snow On The Way

Anticipating Spring

While these purple flowers are from the end of last summer, 

their spring like color is fuel for inspiration.

  

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Should I be surprised colors are such a large part of my process?  As I look back at another body of work, my memoir, The Garden Girls Letters and Journal, I rediscover that even my writing was laced with color.

Lavender in purple braids is empty handed, of course; she’s the philosopher.

 I carry him downstairs, his head resting on my shoulder, and fall into my old purple velvet overstuffed chair. With the towel cradling him I reach behind the chair for a book from the bookshelf and pull out "The Great Me and The Little Me." 

The porch is blue, the pansies are blue purple and the fuchsia is red purple. I had visions that we would sit on this porch and converse. They would be slow casual conversations somewhat meaningless, perhaps, because we would be relaxing. 

We would not be driven towards some kind of completion

Shibori Prayer Book

First there was writing.  

"Tell your own story," 

Adrienne Rich said.  

So I wrote.  

Then there was publish.  

"To publish is to make public," the dicitonary said.  

I began to read my work fearlessly.  

"You should take a silk dyeing class," a friend suggested.

"Then you can cover your poems with silk and your art will be come performative."  

I signed up.  

Two weeks after enrolling, 

my son had a paralyzing accident.  

"You should quit school," I said to myself.  

Myself answered, "No.  We will both learn to adapt."  

I became obsessed.  Everything became an opporturnity to make art.  

As I waited in the intensive care waiting room, 

I covered muy journal with sequins.  

I learned Shibori silk dyeing.   

Shibori is manipulating fabric, placig dye upon it and surrendering.

I surrendered.  

When I visited the capel at the hospital, 

I wrote in my journal.  

It became a prayer book, 

covered with silk.

POETRY SKIRT DETAIL WITH MOVEMENT

First I wrote about art to move through raising teenagers when I was up late, into the wee hours of the morning.  Next I wrote about making art to move through menopause.  Now I make art to move.