The Green Show: Extremely High Thread Count

So, I know I promised photos of the Closer to Fine opening, and I will!  I promise!  But I didn't get a chance to take too many photos during the amazingly successful event! so I'm waiting to collect some from other people.  Thanks to everyone who came by!  Anyway, I have another show tomorrow, so here's some stuff about that:

As previously mentioned, I'm a little OCD.  I've been a seamstress for about a year now... but since the very beginning I have been collecting the little bits of "waste" that accumulated through the repetitive sewing process.  You've already seen the crazy (CRAZY) amounts of fabric I've taken home.  But here is the sincerely obsessive thread collection:

But c'mon!  Who could resist collecting this when it's such a magnificent material!!

I had a bunch of ideas of what I wanted to do with the mass of thread:  crazy lace, spin it into yarn, hair-spray sculptures...  so when I got a call-for-entries from the cafe next to work for a Green Show focusing on recycled materials, I was excited to start playing around.  I decided to try to make something lace-oriented.

I ordered a whole bunch of water-soluble stablizer and went to town!  I sandwiched the thread between two layers of stablizer, playing with different colors and patterns and structures, and then used my sewing machine to sew a grid pattern through all of the layers.  The grid provided enough structure for the material to stay together!  Success!

After a few weeks of samples, I decided that I wanted to make a sexy lace neglige out of this new-found crazy-lace material.  Any functional object would call into light the amount of waste created in industrial processes, but the neglige specifically, I hoped, would comment on the conditions that many seamstresses around the world have to endure.  I read an article once about how Mexican seamstresses in the Victoria's Secret factory make so little money sewing that they also have to work as prostitutes in order to live.  The terrible irony was that because they were so poor, they had to make their own sexy lingerie out of the scrap material from the Victoria's Secret production.  (Unfortunately, I couldn't find the article, or I'd place a link to it.)  I didn't design this piece with any intention of specifically referencing that phenomenon, but I thought a lot about it while I was making it, and maybe some of that thought will come through.

Anyway, so I started working with sexy lace patterns:

And I bought a neglige to pattern and used ALLL of the black thread that I had collected since I started working at Viv Pickle!  (And all the black thread that the other seamstresses had been collecting for me since I started this piece!  See?  OCD is totally contagious.) 

It was soo hairy!I hadn't really been prepared for that (which was silly, in hindsight.)  I had thought that I would be making something chaotic but functional, and potentially even sexy.  But the thread was bodily, and barely controllable.  But it worked: and once I had all the pieces sewn, I serged the edges...

Et Voila!  

I then soaked it in luke warm water for, like, half an hour to remove the stablizer and let it dry.  It's fantastic!  Which is good, because I have to drop it off at the cafe this afternoon.  Ha!  Talk about cutting it close!  Anyway, I would have also included a photo of the finished, dried neglige but my camera DIED! this morning!  Right when I was sitting down to write this!  Gah!!  

OH WELL!!  Cause you can go see it yourself!  The Opening is Tuesday night!

The Green Show

Cafe Estelle

441 N. 4th St, Philly

Opening Event: Tuesday, Sept 4th, 6-9pm

I will definitely put up photos of the opening and the piece in situ, but you all should definitely come and see it yourself!   

Coming Soon: Closer To Fine and the downfall of my sanity

Ok, despite the fact that I have been CLEARLY watching too much Dawson's Creek since getting home from camp (I know, I know!  Dawson's Creek, you ask?  It's totally out of left field... but my roommates kind of got me into it)  I have gotten some work done.  I have:  started unpacking, realized some of my boxes ended up a bit moldy in the basement and subsequently reduced my crazy-big fabric stash, bought some fabric and made some curtains (what?!  I had to throw out a whole box of moldy fabric!  I deserved more!), read some stuff, messed up my never-ending knitting, gone through a number of (cough* Dawson's Creek instigated) identity crisis revolving around the applying to grad school vs. running away to Alaska debate, and spent much too much time worrying about my cat's poop.  (Having multiple cats is hard, ok?!)

AND!  I managed to get myself into 3 art shows all coming up in the next 4 weeks!  

1.  Closer to Fine (August 29-31 @ the Padlock Gallery- see below!)

2.  Estelle's Recycled Art Show (September @ Cafe Estelle's)

3.  Paper Jam (September 19 @ My House Gallery)

I'll be filling in the details about each show as I get around to, uhm, making the work for it, but today is very exciting because we've finally gotten all of the submissions sorted and I've finally finished getting all the advertising stuff done for the Closer to Fine show!  So, today, I'm officially sending out my first press release!  Here it is:

Closer to Fine 

Organized by Melanie Frazza and Nora Renick Rinehart

Queer and Feminist histories are crucial because they provide a context for our lives as feminists and/or queers in society today.  Discussing histories help highlight the struggles that people have fought and dies for over the years, and how these struggles continue today.  Also queer and feminist histories are connected, they are also divergent and recognizing their differences is vital.  However, they are linked because their resistance to patriarchal oppression is based on one's sex, gender and/or sexuality.

Closer to Fine features 15 artists including Michael Bukowsky, Kristy Road and Brad Strong, with works inspired by the histories of Feminist and LGBTQ subcultures, individuals, indentities, political ideologies and movements, communities, and issues that these communities have faced.

Closer to Fine

August 29th-31, 2008

Opening Event!  Friday August 29th 7-11pm

@ the Padlock Gallery

1409 Ellsworth St, Phila

www.padlockgallery.com

Just letting you all know that anyone in the tri-state area and beyond is going to be required to attend the opening.  So... y'know... clear your calendars now in preparation, 'cause it's gonna rule.  And don't worry:  I won't let you forget about it in the next few weeks!

Snow Farm Summer '08

So I've been home from Massachusetts for a couple of days now, and I've really just begun to process the past two weeks I've spent at the Snow Farm Summer Art Program.  Gah!  I think maybe i'll just start putting photos up and maybe some good description will follow?

The 4th of July was amazing!  I spent it sitting on top of the camp van with the rest of the doubly-amazing staff lighting sparklers, watching (somewhat disappointing) fireworks over Amherst, and making fun of the chubby trailer trash children who were running around the parking lot drinking their 4th coca-cola of the evening.  Did I say amazing?!

(The view from the porch of the Textiles studio!  Pretty!)

And then camp started in full.  The summer is broken up into 2 2-week sessions with classes in Metals, Photography, Ceramics, Drawing/Painting, Flameworking, Glass Blowing, Textiles (the first week only) and Welding (the second week only.)  The day is broken up into 4 3hr studios: a morning class, an afternoon class, and then 2 open studios.  The students (and us!) spend up to 10 hrs a day in the studio!  But they LOVE it!!  And so do I!

(I dyed a million and a half t-shirts.  This is clearly an example of the "capilary action" present when you wet fabric and soak it in dye activator.  A diagram, I say!)

So... let me say to begin that my classes last year were PACKED.  Both my morning and my afternoon class had 12 students each, so during any given open studio there were up to 24 zealous, loud, creative students vying for my attention.  But this year?  Five students total!  Two in my morning class and two in the afternoon!  I've NEVER taught a class for that few students... and I can't deny that the difference threw off my game.  The students had far far less enthusiasm and motivation and I only ever got one day ahead of my shifting syllabus.  (I tried to over-compensate for the number of students and bit off a bit more than I could chew...  it 

was stressful, let me tell you.)

Somehow, I still managed to get through my planned course; the class starts at the surface design level and goes all the way through garment construction.   I started the class out with fabric dyeing and shibori and then moved on to silkscreening repeat patterns.  Once the fabric was prepared we took the class to the Salvation Army to find garments to pattern.

(My morning class at the Salvation Army.  Can't you smell the enthusiasm?)

Then with the patterning, and the sewing and...  Voila!

(I swear I tried absolutely everything I could think of to make this photo right-side up.  I am... it seems... technologically illiterate.  But the dress is gorgeous, right?)

Ok, so those were the classes.  Awesome, but.... not quite as energizing and bolstering as last year's class.  The staff on the other hand was SO AMAZING it TOTALLY made up for it!

(Left to Right: Adam, Susan, Abigail, Stan, Me, Jenna, Genevieve, Nick, Sophia, Jess, Christine, Shawn, Mike, Susannah, Eliza, Maggie.)

There are about a million nuanced relationships and crazy adventures that I would LOVE to get into... but this seems not the time, nor the place.  Buy me a beer sometime and I'll tell you everything:  

about the great art shows at MassMOCA, 

blowing out two tires on an unmaintained road with Nick and Shawn, 

going to an ani difranco concert by myself, 

a fantastical donkey pinata that blew my mind (well, it used to be a pinata)... 

I can never seem to be able to tell people enough about summer camp.  I never have.  But it was great... I wished it would go on forever.  But, alas, at the end of the two weeks I boarded a train home to Philly and here I am.  I'm moved all my stuff (minus the garden... still gotta grab that) and I'm trying to get settled.  I've sort of hit the ground running with all the upcoming art stuff... so... at this point I'm just trying to catch my breath.  (And catch up on Dawson's Creek... my roommates finished season 3 without me!  Gah!)  All right... more to come.  :0)

Up and Coming Up!

Well, I'm in Massachusetts and as soon as I get my shit together, I'll be driving on down the road towards Snow Farm!  The Snow Farm summer arts program (www.snowfarm.org) is an amazing arts-driven summer camp for high-schoolers.  The campers get to take 2 studios (ceramics, photography, glass blowing, flame-working, metals, drawing/painting, or fibers) throughout the session.  They have both classes everyday and the afternoons/evenings are devoted to open studio work.  I was lucky enough to teach the fibers program last year as well and I was AMAZED at the brilliant work that my students could produce in only two weeks!  I'm sure I will be updating my blog with stuff that they've done often over the next two weeks....  

Anyway, I also wanted to to remind everyone to submit art work to the show that Melanie Frazza and I are setting up!  It's a show about Queer and Feminist History.... and we need more work!  Now's you're chance!  Pad your resume!  Come hang out with the cool kids!  Just send us anything:  an idea, a proposal, an image of work you've already completed... ANYTHING!

To see the poster larger and in it's own window, go to:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/ns_dreads/CloserToFineSubmissionCallProtest.jpg

Now!!  

The Accidental Catharine St Container Farm

So, I have kind of a lot to do at the moment what with moving and getting ready for camp and... pie... and... more moving...  Anyway.  Can you say STRESSS?!?!  'Cause I can.  One thing that is keeping my chi a little better balanced is my garden!  Remember those seeds that sprouted a couple of months ago?  Well:

An accidental container farm! 

Almost all of my seeds sprouted a bajillion years ago and I'm so sorry for not posting pictures sooner!  We've even had to weed out many many seedlings in order to make room for the really strong ones.  In the above photos you can see carrots, squash, tomatoes, musk mellon, 3 types of basil, some mint, and some unidentified flowers that haven't bloomed yet.  I love going out and visiting the garden as often as I can... which isn't very often.  (So thank goodness for Jimmy who is amazing enough to make sure the plants get watered every day!)

Free compost!

A couple of mornings ago Jimmy and I finally got around to doing what we've been talking about for months:  we took advantage of having my parents car and drove out to the Fairmount Park Recycling Center (at the ass-crack of dawn) and got ourselves a bucket of free compost each.  The compost gets mixed with commercial soil and then the plants will have all the food the need to grow big and strong and healthy.

Squash Blossoms!

The Lazarus Lemon Balm!  

This whole plant grew in the course of 4 weeks.  No joke.

Lando Calrissian guards the onions.  Stay back, onion theves!

Summer Cuddlebug

I'm moving this weeks!  And in the interest of "finishing projects so that I don't have to move knitting on the needles"  (aka... not wanting to pack)  I've finished the gauntlets that I started a small eon ago!

hiya!

This was a really fun pattern that I a co-worker passed on to me sometime in November.  I tried to find the link in the back-logs of my myspace inbox but, no luck.. sorry!  let me know if you're interested in knitting it and I'll look harder.  

Anyway- they're great!  The pattern is designed to make the gauntlets come all the way past the elbow and allows for the knitter to decide how far up on the hand it covers.  I made mine go just to where the fingers start, thinking that would give me the greatest dexterity, say, on my bicycle.  The thumb hole, which is knit on different sides for each hand, is nice and wide, making it possible to wear a pair of those cheap, stretchy gloves underneath for warmth.  (Too bad it's, like 90 degrees out right now....  But one can only hope winter will come again!)  The back is ribbed and cozy!

Ribbed for my pleasure.

I decided to knit them in an "I'll match everything" slate gray merino-silk dk weight yarn by Valley Yarns:  a yarn company local to the area my parents live in.  I bought the yarn at Webs (where else!)  and they are soo soft and comfy.  The other nice thing about the pattern is that it uses almost exactly 2 50gm skeins, so there's no just-enough-to-sit-in-my-stash-forever pieces leftover!

Summer Cuddlebug.

As you can see, the gauntlets have a panel of dragon scales traveling the length of the arm on the front side.  The pattern called for a "create stitch" along that middle row and at the sides... but partially because I couldn't find a nice, indiscreet create stitch to use and partially because I've recently been really into lace work, I decided to replace the "create stitch" with a "yarn over."  Ooooh, sexy.

One project down.... damn.  I suppose I have to pack now.

In Other News!

I decided to get myself a birthday haircut.  Which is just another example of me trying to convince myself that what makes other people excited and/or satisfied DOESN'T make me so!  Gah!  I asked the hair-dresser for something a little shorter, evened out and shaped...  but when I put my glasses on at the end it was like that scene in Beauty and the Beast where they're getting Beast ready for that dance/dinner/date with Belle and they spin him around to look in the mirror and he looks RIDICULOUS!!  There were curls radiating from my head like a product-induced aura... an atmosphere of perfumed hetero-femininity.  It was terrible.  It's settled down a little since I washed out all the smelly goo... but, damn.  I just don't know why I did that.  I really liked my long hair!  I think I really just didn't expect her to cut it this short...  But I always end up feeling like bad hair cuts are MY fault because I seem completely incapable of communicating what I want to someone else...  I think this is why I'm also completely incapable of even beginning a relationship.  Gah!  (Also, I spent about 7 hours in the car over-thinking things today, can you tell?)  

Le sigh.  Happy Birthday to me!  What's Next?

Queers and Feminists: please report to the front desk

(The Oldest Lesbians in the books...  this is literally the first picture on nytimes.com tonight.  Yes!)

On this, the first night of legal Gay Marriage licenses in the grand state of California...  I propose a way to interact with similar history in a manner that doesn't require you to move to CA and get married or even spend a lot of money on cake like the BBC thinks that all gay Californians are now doing.  (Although, cake can be included... I am never one to stifle creativity.)

Melanie Frazza and I have finally gotten our stuff together enough to finish the Call for Entries for our upcoming Art Exhibition focusing on Queer and Feminist History that we have decided to call (what else)  CLOSER TO FINE!  

(To see a decently sized image of this poster, go to:  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/ns_dreads/CloserToFineCallHistoricL.jpg )

All right- I know perfectly well you can't read any of that.  But basically, we are looking for "works inspired by events in or aspects of Feminist and LGBT/Queer histories.  This includes but is not limited to the histories of Feminist and LGBTQ subcultures, individuals, communities, and issues that these communities have faced."  

(The Stonewall Riot... you know you've heard of it somewhere...)

Now, c'mon folks, I know perfectly well that some of you people already have work that fits this criteria and that you would LOVE to send us a submission, right??!?  (See, I knew it!)  In order to submit work please send the following information via email to:  mjfrazza@hotmail.com (or to me at nora.renickrinehart@gmail.com):

1.  Name of person or groups, address, email address and phone number.

2  Title, media, and size of an already completed work. -OR- A short description of a work that will be completed.  (Any sketches or drawings would be helpful.)

3.  A short description of the work, the historical aspect it involves and why that part of queer or feminist history is important to you.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS JULY 7TH!! 

The show is going to be held at the Philadelphia Padlock Gallery (www.padlockgallery.com) August 29-31.  The event for the show (which is going to rule) will be held on either that friday or saturday.

Please please please send any questions or comments my way!  We are really trying to make this a great event, but in order for it to go swimmingly we need help from YOU!  The Community!  Hope to hear from you all!