New Work for a New Year (sort of)

Here is a hearty "HAPPY NEW YEAR" to everyone. If all went as you pleased this past year, then I wish you continued smooth sailing and better. If life has been rocky (I include myself in this category), then let us work for situations that are more the way we would prefer. Let's dip ourselves in a vat of hope and action. I like to imagine that is what comes out of the faucets everyday.

Now, on to the business of my split-second December. I completed these pieces at the bitter end of the month, some on Christmas and some New Year's Eve. Prior to that, I quickly finished the piece in the above post for the exhibition at the D.C. Historical Society. There was also a fast and fabulous trip to Baltimore for a private collector party, to sell work (very cool indeed). And I still had to go to the day job. Needless to say, the days of the past month seemed to run together like all the crap swirling down a toilet bowl...that sounds bad doesn't it? Well, things weren't that yucky. How about, uh...well, I can't come up with a better description. And really, crap swirling down a commode isn't a bad thing. It should swirl down. If it didn't...well, that would be yucky. Hence, my analogy is appropriate (ish). I will move on...I must, otherwise my digression will become ridiculous (if it hasn't already).

I'm out of the habit of blogging, taking appropriate images to chat about, staying on message (not that I ever actually stayed on message), so please bear with me. The pieces here are 3 of my six included in the Anderson Art Center exhibit "QUILTS: ANOTHER DIMENSION", opening January 25, 2009 and on view through March 29, 2009. I will blog and "photog" the opening (as long as I'm able to get off from work...I just put my request in yesterday, a bit late because I forgot...oops).

Here is one of the new Stilt House pieces, under construction. I hadn't intended to cut this one in half, but as I like to say "it needed to breathe" and what a glorious feeling to cut it in two, with my beloved heavy duty shears. That painted canvas fused to Peltex with another layer of painted muslin on the back proved to be a tough cut. As I recall it to you now, I am reliving the satisfaction. Like eating saag paneer. YUM. FYI...I love saag paneer, so anything really good will always be compared to some form of Indian food.
In my architecturally based pieces, ovals/ellipses/circles usually symbolize nature. So, I suppose that you might consider this row of shapes "landscaping" around the "front porch".

"STILT HOUSE IV", measures 52"H x 30"W x 2"D And this is the back of it. I am still fixated on how the back of my work looks. I don't plan it, but I try to make it as tidy as I am able. I don't care if there are knots or snags. I'm just fixated, with no particular focus.

I used to be insane about the back not showing anything...no stitching, no knots, just one big smooth back of painted fabric. Of course, that isn't possible anymore, since I chop everything up and have all this positive/negative stuff going on. But, I do my best to remain slightly crazed and fixated on the backs so that they have a life of their own. O.K. How did that commentary compare to the crap analogy? Hmmm.

"STILT HOUSE V", measures 50"H x 30"W x 6"D. It has to be my absolute favorite piece of all the ones I have ever made. Yes, that I have ever made. You may now visit the "Works" page of my website for comparison and judgement.

Here is my rationale...I just LOVE it. Why, you say to me. WHY DO YOU LOVE IT?

I love it because it is extremely pieced from scraps. The bigger canvas it came from was something that I considered leaving as a painting on the stretchers, but didn't. The body of the work isn't sandwiched like a quilt at all. It is simply that canvas sewn together in strips, stiff and structured.

The ellipses, spirals, circles and top structure are sandwiched with Peltex and finished impeccably. Everything I embrace as a painter and sewer is included in this piece. It serves as an ode to it all...grommets, scratching, embroidery, stitching, bundling, fusing, painting, dying, grids, structures, movement, color, achromatic-gone-astray, past-present-future, fear-hope, sound and smell. All of it is embodied here, for me.

This is a detail of the back side of the previous detail. They are intertwined and can't escape one another. It justifies my obsession with the back.

And here is "RAMSHACKLE". It measures about 60"H x 65"W x 4"D. I worked on this piece for over a year. The easy description of it is to base it on the construction...so many small pieces seemingly unrelated flowing together. I actually came up with the idea for this one when I was listening to a curator speak about an exhibit of environments created by folk artists that was on display at the Kohler Art Center. The curator never said the word "ramshackle", but I recall wanting her to say it. It seemed like she was avoiding saying it because it would devalue the work. So, this was an homage to those environments, sort of. An homage to the word. Perhaps an excuse for me to be even a bit more wacko with my construction than usual. It makes me happy, though.

And here is a view of the obsessive backside.

Front detail and back of the area.

I'm done. I'm exhausted. Babbled out. Surely, I will be mute for some time now. Thank you for sticking with me. And once again...HAPPY NEW YEAR TO US ALL!