May studio updates: Unexpectedly, art shows!
A big part of May was taken up with travel, but I still was able to finish a few weaving projects, sew a shirt, and tend to my garden (yes, it survived!). And art shows make a surprise appearance, too.
For weaving, I finished my damask sampler. I feel a lot more confident in setting up the half-heddle sticks and making designs. This is a great step forward for future projects. (LOL at these ironing board pictures! Photographing long textiles is not easy...)
I also wove my sampler from the Maiwa Print and Paint workshop. Each stripe corresponds to one module in the course. As I worked through the exercises on fabric, I also printed/painted a 4" warp using the techniques and color palette within each module. Quite a labor of love and patience.
My garment for this month is a follow up to the one I sewed in March: another button-down shirt. I got some tips from a fit expert in my sewing group and made another version which fits better – hurrah! I got this fabric at FabMo and thought it perfect for kitchen curtains... but our kitchen doesn't have windows. Instead of saving them for a future house, I figured a shirt mockup is the next best thing. Use what you have!
And my garden – WOW! Remember those four tiny plants from my April update? The sunflowers are HUGE and I have two garden beds full of cosmos and marigolds, a nice standing bed of indigo, additional sunflowers spread out around the yard wherever P could find room, and madder and coreopsis almost ready to plant. Ack, can't believe it's June already! Luckily the California growing season is long.
And finally, art shows made a surprise appearance in May. My ikat piece, Catikat, was juried into an exhibition at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto. We went to the opening reception last night and brought along the only printed photo of Mo we could find (😆). It was SO COOL seeing it hung up in a gallery: a textile piece surrounded by paintings and drawings.
I also responded to a call for entry from Works/San José for their "All for Ray, Ray for All!" show. Still very much a WIP...
And last, I'm trying to get all my work photographed and mounted so I can continue applying for more shows. It's been interesting to put my work out there and see what happens. I made a page to document upcoming exhibitions (and hopefully I didn't just jinx it and there are more to come!).
I'm looking forward to the next two months in the studio. I still have several classes queued up, but no travel planned, so hopefully I can get lots of stuff done.
Year of Stories recent listen: Haptic and Hue & Haptic and Hue Friends podcasts