All You Can Eat

 

On Monday I started to sample Lola Brook's spring concentration class, All You Can Eat. In the morning everyone shared images of their work and inspirations. In the afternoon we shared our most prized possessions and talked about why we chose them. Lola asked us to write an essay before class about our object and gave us a list of questions to consider. (How did we acquire it? What does it mean to us? What does it mean to posses something? Etc.) I chose a locket that once belonged to my grandmother. I enjoyed this exercise and was especially excited about it because I've been so curious about the meaning of objects. (see Evocative Objects.) It was fascinating to listen to the other students talk about their objects as everyone brought something different to table. Then we drew numbers from a hat and took turns selecting from a pile of wrapped packages. Once we had unwrapped and then swapped back and forth a bit, we were instructed to make something wearable with our object. I got a package of plastic strawberry paper clips which I altered and clustered on a safety pin.

More pictures on Flickr.

Thanks for reading.

enameling part 10, finale

for my last post on enameling i thought i would share some images from a walk i went on with helen carnac. i took her to spruce pine to explore one saturday morning and we just wandered, talked, and took pictures.

now two weeks after the end of the class, i'm working on other things, but i think about what i learned a lot. i'm curious to see what happens when i try out some of the marks and layering i did in enamel on my spray painted pieces, i'm wondering about the orientation of my marks--almost always along one side, and i'm thinking about why i love white or the lack of color so much. hmm...(it was such a great class!)

more images on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 9

i really liked the limited color palate of the liquid enamels but felt i should at least make a few color samples using the powered enamel. i stuck with greens and blues mostly, sifting them over stencils and also sprinkling directly onto the surface (which i then manipulated with a tiny pizza cutter-like serrated tool). both of these samples have a 80's feel to me, a little nod to my childhood.

more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 8

one of the treasures found at the scrapyard was the door of an old dryer. it was covered with a layer of white enamel and pretty beat-up, scratched and dented. the surface can be manipulated with a variety of tools, drawn on with pencil, and/or more enamel can be added and then the piece can then be refired. adam whitney, the penland metals coordinator, cut the door up into pieces using an angle grinder and everyone who wanted to experiment with it could grab a piece. i scratched the surface with mine with a stone and then scribbled allover it with graphite. next i rubbed the graphite in and washed some of it away to create a subtle "stained" effect. next i drew the outlines of some favorite shapes and refired it. once the piece had cooled i scratched the surface some more. this was such a fun and exciting process. i loved it! the enamel refires beautifully--it melts like butter and so evenly--and now the graphite is a permanent part of the surface.

i like this technique so much i wanted to do some more of it, so i also played around with one of the pre-enameled steel plates given to us. the effect is the same except the color is black which gives the overall look a different feel.

more images on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 7

at one point during the session several students took a trip to the local scrap yard to find discarded, but usable steel scraps and objects to enamel. they brought back several buckets just full of treasures and everyone got to pick and choose some pieces to experiment with. after enameling just a few of my pieces, i got really excited: this was serious instant gratification for me. i then enameled some more and after enameling all of them, went to my own studio to grab a couple rusty objects from my collection. i tried powered enamel instead of the liquid as i thought they would be the perfect vehicles to try out color. the plan was to work in layers, starting with a pale, nearly white shade of blue. i thought i would add bits of color to each piece in a second round of firing, but after seeing how lovely they were as is, i couldn't bring myself to go further. these pieces will become jewelry, too, at some point in the future. i'm thinking i will add color with some kind of fiber...



more details of the individual objects on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 6

after enameling lots of steel panels, i decided to chop up a few into my favorite abstract geometric shapes. i wanted to see what these kinds shapes would look like with enamel and marks versus a panel. i also made a small series in copper which i plan to stitch on, most likely with colonial knots. i like the results on both metals, but still have a bit of work to do on several of the steel pieces--more stoning to reveal the layers and drawing underneath. i would like to turn all of these pieces, copper and steel, into jewelry.


more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 5

in addition to making marks on enameled surfaces with tools, we also learned how to make marks with appliqued wire, metal, and steel screen. i tried scraps of copper flashing, thin strips of fine steel screen, and handmade steel staples (i have a thing for staples these days). i especially like the "ghosting" that occurred on the copper pieces. you can see where i had originally placed each piece and then how they all jumped during firing.


more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 4

here are some images of a few of my favorite enameled plates. i like them because they are simple and subtle. there are more images on flickr including some process shots.


thanks for reading.

enameling part 2

on tuesday we went for another walk and collected more objects and pictures. this time around, i definitely collected more visuals than objects. these walks have given me a chance to take pictures of many of the things i love seeing every day at penland. when we got back to the studio we laid all of our collected bits on a table including what we had found the day before. helen asked us to make 10-20 mark making tools in the two hours before lunch. then she made a beautiful arrangement of all the tools on a big sheet of butcher paper. next we shared the tools and made marks with them on another giant sheet of butcher paper using black paint. the remainder of the afternoon was ours to experiment with the tools in our sketchbooks. the top image is a detail of some marks i made in my sketchbook using bamboo.

i really enjoyed the first two days of class. i got to do some things i normally wouldn't take the time to do like taking long walks, taking pictures, and experimental drawing. it was good to be out of my element--drawing and mark making can be awkward for me. i felt pretty relaxed in class, though, so it was more fun than anything else.

more on flickr.

thanks for reading.

enameling part 1

i've been "away" for two weeks...i thought i would blog during my class with helen carnac, but i was too immersed and only wanted to work. now i have some catching up to do so over the next week or so i will post about what i learned and made.

on the first day we went for a walk and collected objects and images. then we shared our findings with each other. we talked about how we keep track of and sort information--sketching, photos, cutting pictures out of magazines, collecting objects, writing, and so on. here are two images of some of the things i found while walking and a picture of one of many rusty/peeling paint images i took along the way. all my images can be seen on flickr.


thanks for reading.

enameling with helen carnac

for the next two weeks i will be taking an enameling class with helen carnac. the class is titled "mark making in enamel." here's the course description:

"The world is full of marks. They may be left accidentally or made with a purpose. We might see them or they might go unnoticed. Through photography, drawings, or found objects, we will collect a range of marks found in the Penland landscape. These will be used as the basis for an exploration of nontraditional enameling processes. Through a series of demonstrations and studio work, we will explore a range of techniques including mark making, drawing, sgrafitto, collage, and the appropriation of found materials."

i am, of course, excited to learn more about enameling, a technique i tried briefly last year when elizabeth turrell was teaching here. but, what i am most excited about is the mark making part - i am so curious about marking marks and drawing. i've been doing a little on my new work, namely my regal graffiti series, and i am also interested in just plain old drawing. being in a class is one the of the best ways for me to try something new. the structure of the class environment and the fact that i am out of my element really gets me to do stuff. plus, i really like helen's work...

thanks for reading.

stitched maps: a recap

"23 times in 17 years" - my final map - this map shows my many moves around new york state, across the country to seattle, down to portland and back, from my childhood home to asheville, and finally to penland

my "embroidery: stitched maps" class ended on friday. it was an amazing class! i loved learning all the stitches and making my pieces. it felt great to get out of my element and try something new. i thought i would think about jewelry a lot as i stitched, but i really didn't. instead i just focused on the basics and the projects. i worked very differently in this class - narratively, which i never do.

i also loved the instructor, melinda barta, and my classmates, virgina hungate-hawk (print making), martha park (painting), and vicki essig (weaving). what a great bunch! we had so much fun together! i feel very fortunate to have been in there with them and to have learned so much great stuff about embroidery from melinda. it was a sad parting for sure...

here are images of my finished pieces. i will post more shots, details, etc. on my flickr page shortly.

"mykonos" - this map outlines the tiny greek island of mykonos complete with the roads i traveled on and the beaches and other places i visited.

"you will be here" - stitched fabric and paper collage (i haven't finished the framing yet...) this map uses an actual north carolina map. this map hung on my studio wall as i prepared to leave seattle for my new home. the cardinal is the nc state bird and represents a vivid dream i had before i left.

stitched pins with cotton fabric and felt - just for fun

thanks for reading.

stitched maps

i started an embroidery class called stitched maps today. the instructor is melinda barta. we learned about materials, tools, and basic stitching and i made this little sampler. it starts with back stitching and ends with french and colonial knots. my favorites, besides the knots which i could make endlessly, are the satin stitch (the little green pod) and couching (the blue spiral). it was incredibly fun and i am totally hooked!

we will be stitching actual maps over the next two weeks...tomorrow i will start my first which i am pretty sure is going to be the island of mykonos in greece.

i am also very excited to organize my needles since i now know there are so many different kinds.

thanks for reading.