Outside/Inside the Box

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

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

Sharing Techniques

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!

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

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?

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?

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

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

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

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.