Art Cloth Network

2012 News from Barbara

2012-01-23T08:44:00.000-05:00

It has been a busy month! I have an exhibit coming up at The Anderson Arts Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin that starts on January 29. I will have 10 art quilts in a room of their own - my part of the exhibit is called Water Colors and it displays both art quilts and art cloth based on water reflections. It is part of a 5 person exhibit called Quilts In Color. At the same time the Women's Journeys in Fiber group that I am part of will have the Aprons: Myth, Memories and Fantasy going in the same venue. I will post some photos after next Sunday's opening.
http://www.andersonartscenter.com/

I have also been working on the ACN catalog, postcard and banner for our upcoming exhibit in Philadelphia. I think the items came out well and will enhance our exhibit and raise more awareness for the ACN. Here is a photo of the banner laying on the floor.

And in the studio I am working on 3 art quilts that I hope to submit for Visions (due mid February!!!!) and a very large piece for submission to the SAQA A Sense of Scale exhibition. That piece is made up of individual leaves (about 100 at last count) that I have been scanning, enlarging, printing, backing, stitching , cutting and stiffening. I envision the whole piece to look like a forest floor in autumn.

I have been following a blog that might be of interest to others called Slow Muse. Here is a link to it. I like the thoughtful writing about a variety of subjects.

http://slowmuse.wordpress.com/

That's it for now. More photos coming after Janaury 29!

Art Cloth in the Making

2012-01-13T11:00:00.000-05:00

Art cloth is all about layering. Any given piece of cloth has 10-20 layers of dyeing, printing, color removal, stitching, applique, etc. I love the richness that layering lends to the cloth. Each layer may not be apparent to viewers, yet they all work together to create depth and texture. I like to think of it as similar to a symphony. One may not hear each individual instrument, yet each instrument contributes to the composition. Likewise, each layer of dye, resist, paint and stitch complete the cloth. Leave out one layer and it just wouldn't be the same.

The following narrative walks through the steps I used to transform a piece of white cotton into art cloth. (Action photos are courtesy of Lynn Luukinen and were taken during a demonstration I gave at the Hill Country Arts Foundation. Please excuse the blurs on some of the photos - I moved too much for Lynn to get a clear shot!) Below is a photo of the finished cloth.

Photo of finished cloth

I use a lot of resists in my work, and they are often the very first step. I like to begin by creating background texture. There are lots of options for this - most of the paste resists work well (flour, oats, grits, potato dextrin, mashed potatoes). I chose flour paste for this cloth. I mixed equal parts of flour and water (this version used bread flour since that was all I had on hand) and spread it over the entire cloth, then let it dry. Once the flour was dry, I scrunched the fabric to crack the paste, then applied dye thickened with sodium alginate.

Painting over the flour paste with thickened dye

The finished first layer

Before adding background color, I created a layer of my chosen image - a stylized leaf. I applied the image using a hand-cut stencil with red and yellow-orange thickened dye.

Adding a stenciled image with thickened dye

The completed second layer

Before adding background color, I reserved some of the white space with another resist. I didn't want a stark white, so I chose Elmer's Gel Glue. It is a water-soluble resist that leaves a soft, ghost-like image.

Screen printing with Elmer's gel glue resist

The next step was to add the background color. I chose to apply olive green, blue green and golden brown thickened dyes with a scraper (aka an old credit card).

Adding background color with a scraper and thickened dyes

The finished fourth layer - note the "drip" pattern created by the glue resist

The piece needed more value contrast, so the next step was to remove color with diluted bleach. I wanted to add texture rather than creating an additional image, so I flicked the bleach on with a brush to create spots.

After completion of the fifth layer

At this point it was time to put away the dyes and add a few additional touches with textile paint. I started by adding more of the leaf imagery in an opaque yellow orange.

Adding more leaf imagery with textile paint - layer six

Then I added more value contrast by stippling on dark brown paint with a stencil brush.

Stippling on brown paint - layer seven

At this point, it needed a little something to brighten it up, so I used copper metallic paint. I wanted just a hint of gleam, so I rubbed it on lightly with my finger.

Applying copper paint with a finger - layer eight

Knowing when to stop is always the difficult part. At this point, I felt I was finished with paint and moved on to the final details. I added some hand-dyed fibers with needle felting and a touch of copper leaf.

Needle felting with hand-dyed fibers - layer nine

Applying metal leaf with acrylic medium - layer ten

Isn't the transformation exciting?

Great News... details to follow

2011-12-09T15:22:00.001-05:00

YAY! Art Cloth Network will be represented in FiberPhiladelphia. We will be showing "Beyond the Line" and 24"x80" at the Crane Old School in the White Space. We will be joining over 30 other shows in what is turning out to be a truly massive festival. Exact dates will follow but we will be up for all of March. So make plans to come visit Philadelphia this March.

Also follow along at FiberPhiladelphia.org. Our show will be listed on the site within the week.

I am thinking of this as an early holiday present.

Dianne

What is Your Approach?

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

I spent last weekend facilitating a workshop focused on mixing dyes from primary colors. It's a class that I love to teach and I learn something each time I do. The objective was to give artists a good understanding of color mixing with dyes, the effect of using cool vs warm primaries and to train their eyes to really see the undertones in a color.

I am a strong advocate for using pure primaries to mix dye colors. When I first started dyeing, I did so mainly for financial reasons. Buying all those pre-mixed colors can get expensive! I started with 7 colors - a set of warm primaries, a set of cool primaries and black. And though I feel that mixed colors do have their place, I still work mostly with primaries. My palette has changed, though. Now I use one set of primaries. After a lot of experimentation, I've found that I can get most of the colors I want by using Sun Yellow (Yellow MX-8G), Mixing Red (Red MX-5B) and Basic Blue (Blue MX-R). (All names are the ProChemical version.) I also use Turquoise when I want a really vibrant green or violet.

Why do I like to mix my own? I learned so much about color in those first few years by mixing the primaries. I believe that early foundation has been instrumental in my understanding of color. It also allows me to develop my own personal color palette. There are a lot of olive greens out there, but none exactly like mine.

I know that not everyone uses this approach. Mixed colors are convenient. And they can be faster and easier than mixing from scratch. And some mixed colors separate out in beautiful and unexpected ways. Each of us has a palette to which we are drawn and a one-size-fits-all approach just doesn't cut it.

The workshop reminded me how much I love to experiment with color. It has inspired me to do some more color studies on my own. I do feel this is a life-long journey. I don't think we ever know all there is to know about color.

What is your approach? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

What Inspires You?

2011-11-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

I know there are many sources of inspiration for the artist. Still, each of us has a set of particular things that we love to look at for inspiration. I'm inspired by the forces of pressure on a variety of things, as well as surface tension. I find that these preferences are often reflected in the type of marks I make on cloth and paper. I challenge you to think about some particular things you are visually drawn to. Here are a few of my favorites:

Small World

2011-11-26T18:23:00.001-05:00

folded in half, dyed red, over-dyed next day with olive

I had a delightful time reconnecting with 3 Art Cloth Network members at Jan Myers-Newbury's Pole wrapping workshop Nov. 19 and 20th at the Newark Museum. There were thirteen students and many of the others I have met at Quilting by the Lake. It was a great workshop and you can see images if you check out my blog at Notes from 207, but here is one sample. I do hope Rayna, Russ and Judy will post some images too. Jan will be teaching there again this spring.

The Lure of the Resist

2011-11-22T12:16:00.001-05:00

I've been experimenting with resists on cloth for the past six years. I think I am drawn to them because they are so enchanting. You apply the resist and let it dry. Then you add paint or dye. At that point, the cloth usually looks very ugly. But when you wash the cloth, the pattern and texture from the resist appear like magic.

There are so many resists to choose from. There are a number of commercially available products - waxes, water based resist, washable gel glue. But my favorites are those made from ingredients in your kitchen - oatmeal, flour, sugar, corn syrup, tapioca and grits.

Working with resists requires an ability to let go of your control impulse. They can be unpredictable and small changes in the process can have a big impact on the end result. Below are a few photos of cloth created with a grits resist. If you would like to try this for yourself, download the grits resist tutorial.


Grits, painted with dye when dry


Grits, painted with dye while still damp

Grits applied with a silkscreen

XXI: An exhibit of cloth by Carla Veliz

2011-11-16T08:00:00.000-05:00

Artcloth is not only that which we make "pretty". Sometimes we use destructive processes to make a statement or create meaning on the cloth. A powerful example of this is an installation by artist Carla Veliz, titled XXI: Who We Are and Who We Could Become. The exhibit was shown at Gallery Nord in San Antonio this past September. In an effort to represent the abuse humans have inflicted on the planet, each other and themselves over the past 21 centuries, Veliz spent 21 days ripping, burning, burying, cutting and destroying a 16-foot long piece of silk. Then she spent 21 days repairing the damage.

She documented this process in a 21 minute video. Watching the video is an emotional experience - seeing the cloth tattered and damaged and then lovingly cared for and mended. The exhibit included still photos from the video and several assemblages created from the tools she used on her journey with the cloth.

Read more about Veliz on her website.

View the following links to read more about the exhibit:

http://utsa.edu/today/2011/09/artistsofmo.html

http://glasstire.com/2011/09/09/gallery-nord-21-abusive-centuries-earthly-bodies/

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/visual_arts/article/Tortured-silk-nudes-in-nature-on-exhibit-2161531.php#photo-1594072

Monoprinting on the new Gelli Plates at the Houston Quilt Festival

2011-11-13T20:13:00.000-05:00

I was recently introduced to Gelli Arts reusable gelatin plates, which are used to replace a "gelatin plate" made in a similar fashion to "Knox Blox", an ideal surface to perform monoprints on both cloth and paper.
These reusable plates are ideal for me when teaching in a place that is difficult to make gelatin plates from scratch. Plus, these do not require refrigeration! The plates come in two sizes: 6 inches by 6 inches, and 8 inches by 10 inches.
The idea is to spread a thin layer of paint over the surface with a brayer, brush, or other spreading tool. The paint can then be manipulated by a variety of stamps or other tools and the pattern can be "picked up" from the surface with cloth or paper.
Here are a few images taken during the Sketchbook Challenge workshop by Sue Bleiweiss and myself of the round robin workshop in Make-It-University during the quilt festival. Among the four technique stations featured, I taught gelatin monoprinting. I gave each student two types of paper and two types of cloth to experiment with:

Things are still pretty "neat" at this point!

paint is applied across the gelatin plate surface

students selected among the large variety of texture tools to create marks

left foreground: student places her paper onto the gelatin plate to "pick up" the paint

After use, the plates can simply be wiped off with a damp paper towel and stored for future use. Any type of acrylic paint can be used, and each print can be "layered" repeatedly by this method.

All Packed and Ready to Go . . .

2011-10-31T16:32:00.000-04:00

I'm heading out to the Quilt Festival in Houston, Texas this Thursday. Since I'm teaching three classes and a demo, I have a lot of "stuff". If you have never been, the Quilt Festival is amazing, overwhelming, inspiring, exhausting, and well worth attending! Even if you don't quilt, there are numerous workshops on a variety of surface design topics, a vendor exhibit with unlimited temptations, and some of the most beautiful and creative quilts in the world. Two other members of the Artcloth Network are teaching there this year, Leslie Tucker Jenison and Maggie Weiss. Maybe we will see you there!

Some recently dyed yardage

2011-10-27T20:44:00.004-04:00

They are both soy wax resisted and painted with thickened dyes.

24 x 80 Exhibit - Connie Tiegel

2011-10-27T16:38:00.000-04:00

Connie Tiegel River Sunset

24 x 80 Exhibit - Susie Monday and Katherine Sylvan

2011-10-27T16:37:00.001-04:00

Susie Monday Hummers

Katherine Sylvan Diptych: Stripes and Dots

24 x 80 Exhibit - Mary Ellen Latino and Russ Little

2011-10-27T16:34:00.000-04:00

Mary Ellen Latino Urban Jungle Dialog #1

Russ LIttle Nature

24 x 80 Exhibit - Judy Langille

2011-10-27T16:31:00.000-04:00

Judy Langille Scroll I

Judy Langille Scroll II

24 x 80 Exhibit - Diane Koppisch Hricko

2011-10-27T16:28:00.000-04:00

Diane Koppisch Hricko Bebop

Diane Koppisch Hricko Second Shift

24 x 80 Exhibit - Sue Jones and Lisa Kerpoe

2011-10-27T16:24:00.000-04:00

Sue Jones Garden

Lisa Kerpoe This Moment

24 x 80 Exhibit

2011-10-27T16:05:00.000-04:00

Janet Hadingham 1920 Square Inches

24 x 80 Exhibit

2011-10-24T23:00:00.001-04:00

In 2010 the members of the Art Cloth Network created the exhibit "24 x 80". The final, curated exhibit showcases the work of 12 artists. The unifying concept of the exhibition was defined by the size of the pieces to be shown. Entries were created using any textile material that began with white or natural in color and then were manipulated embellished, and transformed using surface design techniques including but not limited to; dye, screen printing, stamping, lamination, discharge, stain, stitch, beads, folds, paint, slashed, etc.

Els van Baarle, internationally known art cloth and batik artist was the juror for the exhibition.

The first piece shown is Fission by Laura Beehler.

Art Cloth Inspiration

2011-10-17T10:58:00.001-04:00

Posted by Susie Monday

Anything, as we saw at our annual Art Cloth Network meeting, can be an artist's inspiration. After the meeting I took a "vacation day" and headed for the beach. I'm already thinking about how this sunset could inform a series of dyed and printed art cloth. What do you think?
I'm planning to start with soy wax batik over a pale blue textured background, resisted with a tied shibori pattern.

p.s. These were all taken within about the span of an hour.

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Location:13th Ave S,St Petersburg,United States

Test post

2011-10-15T09:20:00.000-04:00

We are learning about this.http://www.katherinesylvan.com/

xxxxx

St. Pete Inspires

2011-10-15T07:51:00.002-04:00

Art Cloth Network has record attendance here for our annual meeting -- members from across the known (U.S. anyway) universe have landed for talk, sharing our work, food, laughter, more food.

While we wrestle with a few procedural items, the majority of the time for we 22 is spent in sharing approaches, themes, techniques, and work. and with that comes inspiration for more, and not one person left the room yesterday without some version of, " gee,I need to get back home and get to work."

A few gems of info:
Katherine Sylvan shared the Medieval view on strips and spots-- banned and shunned because of (stripes) association with evil, and (spots) illness and pistules.
Ecco felt (JoAnn's poly felt) is a good backing to fuse to art cloth when you want a heavier, flatter hang for a piece.
Altering cloth through adding and subtracting spans a very broad range of techniques, approaches, attitudes, materials and ways of working. Scarves to yardage, all by hand, digital with additions, stitched, fused, glues, painted and printed. Go for it.

Outside/Inside the Box

2011-03-28T11:54:00.000-04:00

Here is a great show to enter and become part of FiberPhiladelphia 2012. Just follow the links embedded in this document. I look forward to seeing all your exciting work at the Crane. An amazing building that houses my studio.

Dianne
dkoppisch.com
notes from 207

OUTSIDE/INSIDE THE BOX, Call for entries. www .outsideinsideentry .com. Apply Online May 1 - October 31, 2011. Seeking innovative fiber/textile art that transcends disciplines; combines traditional with cutting edge technology and/or historic concepts with contemporary perspectives. Artists working in any medium with a fiber/textile reference are encouraged to apply. Size, scope, materials and subject matter are open. Submissions may include surface design, 2D and 3D structures, quilts, stitching, body art, etc. Jurors: Elisabeth Agro, Associate Curator of American Modern and Contemporary Crafts and Decorative Arts, Philadelphia Museum of Art; Bruce Hoffman, Independent Curator; Judith Weisman, Designer and Curator, Acquisitions Chair of the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery Support Group. Outside/Inside the Box will take place March 2 –April 14, 2012 at the ICE Box Project Space, Crane Arts Building www .cranearts .com which will be the hub of FiberPhiladelphia 2012, www .fiberphiladelphia .org

operator error

2011-01-24T16:00:00.001-05:00

Sorry I typed the wrong title for my blog it is Notes from 207

Sharing Techniques

2011-01-24T15:45:00.005-05:00

I am much more comfortable with ways to apply dyes than I am about how to use blogger but I have attempted to explain some of my techniques on my blog Notes from Studio 207... so have a look if you are interested.

This piece was done on stonewashed silk using fiber reactive dyes. I begin with a deconstructed silk screen layer and then rolled stripes of dye using a foam roller. I also used a foam brush on the edge and drew on it with an extruder.

The rolled edge in finished on a baby lock.

This is a close up of the other scarf... the first layer on this one was also deconstructed silk screen. Next I over printed several times using a screen that I painted with soy wax to make the grass like marks.

All silks are steamed and then washed in the washer and dried in the dryer prior to being serged to finish the edges.

Art Cloth Network Call for Members!

2011-01-22T20:00:00.003-05:00

Art Cloth Network is open for a few new members. If you'd like information about the group, see our website at http://www.artclothnetwork.com.

Those of us who are members find that the opportunities for community, conversation, sharing of techniques, inspiration and resources benefit our art and creativity. We have recently increased our membership limits to 30 members in good standing, including those on formal leave. When the number falls below 30, we accept new member applications. We currently have openings for up to six new members.

While some of us also make art quilts or mixed media work, the group is focused on art cloth and its specific surface design techniques and approaches. This includes making lengths of cloth, rather than small samples or fat quarters. Please read the information about art cloth on our website and look at examples, to make sure that you are interested in this field. Only those artists who submit examples of art cloth that meet this description will be considered for membership.

We meet as a group every 9 to 10 months in different regions of the United States, usually between August and October. Since these meetings are critical to our growth and vitality, we require attendance at 2 out of 5 consecutive meetings. Membership begins with the first meeting attended. Members bring and discuss their work at these meetings, and we share other professional concerns and opportunities. Previous meetings have been in Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Florida, California, Georgia, Arizona, and New Jersey. The 2011 meeting will be in Florida.

We also produce a new exhibit annually, with a call for entries each year. Since opportunities for showing art cloth are limited, this is an important membership benefit. Members are required to enter two of five calls for entry in order to maintain their membership status.

Only applicants who can and will attend the next meeting will be accepted into the Art Cloth Network during this membership call period. That meeting will be in or around St. Petersburg, Florida on either October 13-16 or November 10-13, 2011. Full details about the conference and this financial commitment will be mailed to those extended a membership invitation.

The current deadline for membership applications is March 15, 2011, and you can send in your application materials at any time prior to the deadline. You will be notified by April 15, 2011 whether your application has been approved.

Send a request to susiemonday@gmail.com in order to receive the POSTEROUS application site address.

It is all about the process

2010-10-16T18:03:00.003-04:00

These images were supposed to have the following text in the previous entry. As you might guess I am new to blogger!

The discussion was about scarves as Art Cloth.

With the scarves it is much more about color and texture... I am not fretting about placement, balance etc. Each time the wearer puts it on the composition changes. I really like this interactive aspect to wearable work.

Sorry to have my learning curve impact everyone.

Scarves as Art Cloth?

2010-10-16T17:36:00.002-04:00

Are scarves Art Cloth?

Many of my scarf customers tell me that they think of them as art and hang them where they can see them when they are not wearing them. As an artist I find this flattering... but why? Is a scarf less valuable then wall work? Is it just the market value that determines this? Interesting questions.

When I am working on creating the cloth I have already determined if it is for the wall or the body. I definitely spend more energy on how I compose for the wall. It will not have the advantage of being wrapped around a body to alter the composition. Even in my more all over print wall works I am wrestling with composition.

Can scarves be considered art cloth?

2010-10-15T20:50:00.000-04:00

My art crit group seems to think so! I'm the only textile artist in a group with a couple of painters, a photographer, a glass and ceramic artist, printmakers, a collagist, and mixed media artists. Last night, I brought my silk scarves to our meeting, just to show what I have been doing.

This one sold (although I was not planning on selling it till Open Studios in November) but more important was the fact that the artist who bought it and is curating an exhibit of our work, held up several of my silk scarves as art cloth and thought they should be exhibited,perhaps hung from fishing line, the way the Art Cloth Network exhibits our work.

While it won't happen this time because the gallery has the Walker Hanging System, which won't work with art cloth - I was thrilled that the other (non-fiber) artists even came up with the idea. Motto: if it's ART, the medium doesn't matter.

Thanks, guys!

deColourant discharge

2010-10-14T11:59:00.005-04:00

I recently received some free samples of the new discharge product, deColourant. Here are some pictures and a few of my thoughts on the product.

These are my two samples. The first, with the dragonflies, was done with silkscreening. The second was stamping using a cool silicone trivet I found at Target. The fabric was a silk broadcloth I'd dyed and overdyed a few weeks ago.

I used the color remover as well as the color replacer, mustard. You can see in the closeup below where the mustard color removed the color underneath and then applied color on top, all in one step. It looks distressed and imperfect because I didn't wait 24 hours to wash out after iron setting (using steam), so I lost color (still, a cool effect). The second sample lost no color as I waited a few days to wash out after setting.

I like this product a lot. It has much less of a smell than another brand's discharge paste, and though I was slightly irritated while setting the second piece (it had more product on it) because I am sensitive (asthma), it was far less than with other discharge pastes. I did use cross ventilation of windows and doors and overhead fan, but next time I will use a respirator.

I did not notice a lingering smell or any irritation after I left the room and then returned. In the past I have been able to notice the other discharge paste's lingering smell/irritation long after leaving the room, so for me this is a plus.

I will do more experimenting with application tools and amounts as well as trying some steaming in my steamer. I have a bit left from my experiments with this first bottle, but I did just order some from Dharma as they also have the paints, in stock as of today. I'm excited to try the metallics!

---Mandi

San Jose Grid

2010-10-07T21:13:00.000-04:00

I took the following picture when strolling in downtown San Jose, CA. I was there to attend the annual meeting of Art Cloth Network.

When I got home, I used Photoshop Elements to create this image, which I now can make into a thermofax silk screen.

Using Art Cloth

2010-09-27T13:03:00.005-04:00

Here's a quilt I made recently called Santa Anas, part of my Hot Winds series, which uses a lot of fabrics I printed, dyed and otherwise worked.

Pictures from St. Pete

2000-12-31T19:00:00.000-05:00

wouldn't this make a good thermofax image?

-

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Location:Beach Dr NE,St Petersburg,United States