Building Strands for "Net-Work" for the MODAtl Show
I created pieces for the upcoming exhibit "Threads of Change" at MODAtl, collaborating with artist Adrian Baker's participating work “Net-Work,” opening on February 8 - May 25, 2025. “Net-Work” by Adrian Baker – symbolizes the underground mycorrhizal networks that help trees communicate. I prepared strands from repurposed textiles, collected from old clothes, bedding, table linens, and window coverings, which I have tied, braided, and hung together.
These are my personal photos of the project, since I didn’t have time to get them professionally done.
I made several pieces before I left for the drive to Knoxville, through the Smoky Mountains, and continued making pieces while in hotels during my residency in my South Porch Artist Residency in Summerville, SC, right up until I sent them to the museum in Atlanta on January 25.
This is my third piece for this artist; the first was in Berlin in 2021, the second in Ottawa, Canada, in 2024, and now in Atlanta at the Museum of Design Atlanta, opening on February 6, 2025.
More about Net-Work:
Net-Work will be part of an exhibition called “Threads of Change” at MODA (Museum of Design Atlanta) in Atlanta, Georgia, from February - May 2025.
The ‘Net-Work’ installation was on display at the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, Almonte, ON, from April 27 to July 6, 2024. www.mvtm.ca
During this time, a ceremony was held to open a micro-library - part of the Canadian Library project honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women and children.
Shortlisted for the SOCIAL ARTS AWARD , Berlin, Germany, 2021 - and included in the ‘Social Arts Award’ publication - a PDF version available here: NEW GREENING
The ECOART ONLINE SHOWCASE 2021
ECUAD NEWS (Vancouver) article about Net-Work project: ADRIAN BAKER USES TEXTILES…..
As the list of participants continues to grow, this collaborative creation symbolizing the underground bond between trees also speaks of our own inexorable connection to nature and to each other, the underlying message in much of Adrian’s artwork. If you are interested in participating in the Net-Work project, please contact the artist.
SELF LOVE
Last winter I began thinking about how important SELF LOVE is in our emotional well-being. It is being strong enough to make + keep healthy boundaries. I believe I am perfectly imperfect which means I can see things differently than you but will respect your opinion providing it won’t harm anyone else.
I created the “Self Love” textile collages as a reminder to believe each of us is very important and deserves to be treated with self-respect and yes, LOVE.
Each is on an 8x8” canvas or board. I use textile remnants from my collection of textiles I upcycle. Each has a small heart-shaped mirror. In the future, I plan to keep making more and in larger sizes. I have been traveling but will be home again Oct 2, 2024.
New Project: Essential Worker Angels
I am truly grateful for those out there risking their health to keep this country going during the pandemic. So I created mixed media angels in their honor. I’m also developing a new series. Email me if you want me to make you your very own angel!
Greetings to my artist friends, family, collectors and friends!
Been slowly bringing together a new collection I call Essential Worker Angels. I am truly grateful for those out there risking their health to keep this country going during the pandemic. So I created mixed media angels in their honor. I’m also developing a new series. Email me if you want me to make you your very own angel!
These are 4” x 6” and of course very colorful, made from upcycled fabrics glued onto posterboard. Each one unique and special. Right now I’m giving them away to the essential workers in my life, but soon will be selling these sizes as well as larger sizes like the one in the works below.
24” x 30” Essential Worker Angel in the works!
In other news…
“Changing Hands, Stitching Stories (Black + White)” was shown at the Chicago conference for the Women’s Art Caucus —
Occupy the Moment: Embracing Our History, Enhancing Our Impact
Details on their website:
nationalwca.org/conference
About “Changing Hands, Stitching Stories (Black + White)”
An original piece of art I created in 2019. I was on a road trip in 2013 and came across two small pieces of old barn red picket fence for sale. The found fence mount symbolizes what divides us. The meaning of the fences is KEEP OUT, STAY AWAY, + NOT WELCOME. I decided to explore the concept of bringing BLACK + WHITE people together on one of the fences and explore what divides us? I upcycled an old drop cloth and other pieces of linen to make numerous 60" strips. I then pulled together different black and white fabric to make a series of mini textile collages on each strip.
While doing so I would think of the many Black, White and Brown hands that touched these textiles before I came across them. Many hands have touched these in the form of clothing, linens, or bedding and no one said STAY AWAY, NOT WELCOME.
I want to help take down the walls, fences and borders for all Americans. That is what this work represents.
Natasha hits New York City!
This mixed media piece from the Every Day People Series “Natasha” is in New York City, featured in the upcoming exhibit HerStory: All that Women Are at Viridian Artists Gallery in Chelsea.
Natasha’s Story:
I upcycle my materials to use in my creative process and when I saw the striped pillow case I knew I wanted to use it for someone special. I also used a piece of yellow fabric from a IIDA sample book. I created a woman who is biracial and began writing down HER STORY. Her Mother was white, her Father African American and they lived in South Carolina in the late 60’s. I usually don’t name my EVERYDAY PEOPLE but I will call her Natasha. People were very prejudiced because she was from a mixed race family.
She learned that when people made comments about her looks not to respond but smiled to herself. She was proud of her family who were very close and hardworking. It wasn’t easy but she made a couple of friends in grade school who remained her friends thru high school. She loved to sew so she made some great dresses under her Mother’s watchful eye. She saw other girls admiring her dresses sometimes but never saying a word.
Natasha moved to Washington DC after high school where the city had more diversity in the 70’s, so she was able to get a job and eventually go to college. She joined the Peace Corps and was sent to live and work in Botswana to help women there set up a small craft business where they kept their own money. This opened up a whole new world for her.
She still lives in DC and is married with her own family. She dreams of a day when racism doesn’t exist. She is a very well respected member of the community and is grateful her parents encouraged her to be confident despite everything.
New Project: Everyday People Collages
I needed to play with acrylics and gouache after dabbling with my textiles for months, so I have completed 4 mixed media EVERYDAY PEOPLE collages. I travel around the city on the bus and I see people from all parts of the world. I confess that I LOVE many of their clothes, so I dedicate this to the people I see everyday in Seattle.
Greetings to my artist friends, family, collectors and friends!
I needed to play with acrylics and gouache after dabbling with my textiles for months, so I have completed 4 mixed media EVERYDAY PEOPLE collages.
They are only 8 x 8” and very colorful. There will be 10-12 in the complete series. One day in the near future I plan to make much larger collages and offer archival prints of the smaller ones. The original collages are for sale in my shop now. New collages in the series will become available as they’re produced.
I travel around the city on the bus and I see people from all parts of Africa, Asia, US, Hawaii and Latin America. I confess that I LOVE many of their clothes, so I dedicate this to the people I see everyday in Seattle.
I am very grateful that I am able to still do some embroidery and hand sewing projects because of the RA in my wrists and hands. I think varying what mediums I focus my craft on helps my hands actually. I have had to slow down because of the RA but I am still not allowing it to own me!
The Making of Changing Hands, Stitching Stories
I made a New Year’s Resolution in Jan. 2019 to use up a major portion of the larger materials I have up-cycled for my art.
Greetings to my artist friends, family, collectors and friends:
I am finally writing my blog/newsletter and hope you don’t object to receiving a copy!
2019 has been a busy year for me personally and creatively, so I want to share a few highlights and bring you up to date on the direction I am heading now and into 2020. I am now going to share a story of how my design process works. There isn’t a formula per se but experimenting rather like a scientist to see if it fits in my creative world.
I made a New Year’s Resolution in Jan. 2019 to use up a major portion of the larger materials I have up-cycled for my art. Last Jan. 2019 I pulled out the two pieces of old picket fencing I found in Indiana in 2013 and have moved around the country with me. I bought them for $3.00 each at an antique farm store off the Interstate between Davenport, Iowa and Cincinnati, Ohio.
I brought one to the January 2019 Surface Design Seattle meeting for suggestions since I didn’t know much about weaving. Several members said I would have to add boards in order to weave and two suggested I paint it red since the traces of barn red were fading. I actually went to Home Depot and had some boards cut to fit and red paint made, though painting them didn’t feel right to me.
I still wasn’t sure about how to start til a friend stopped over who asked about the board on my wall. I shared I was going to paint them and add boards and he said “You know you bought them because you liked the way they looked, so you don’t have to alter them at all.” I felt good about his comments and let go of suggestions to paint and add new wood. Lesson in this was for me to follow my own creative instincts vs other artists whose style is way different from mine.
When I first saw the 2 pieces of fence I wondered who had used them as a borders and boundaries?
How did I start to figure out how I can use them? I hung one on the wall of my home studio and let the design process start. I decided to hang 8 different colors for the little slots on the fence. What colors and fabrics to use? I chose my colors—yellows, purples, blues, blue greens, reds, oranges, blacks and whites. I wasn’t sure if I should use a long strip of one piece of fabric and stitch on it or what, so I walked away from the fence for a day or two to think about it.
I caught a cold in late Feb, 2019 and when I finally went to the doctor in late March he told me I had pneumonia. I got delayed but eventually began working on little pieces at a time. It actually was a good diversion.
As most of you know, I repurpose, recycle, and up-cycle nearly 95% of the materials I use, sourcing them at recycle outlets like Goodwill and donations from friends and designers. I often wonder where the fabric originated? Who made it and how many hands have touched it? I will never know when and where the fabric was made, how it got made into a pillow sham, skirt, etc, so I decided to tell my own stories using many pieces of fabric. I created mini collages on each 30 inch strip. I sewed on the machine and did hand embroidery. I named it CHANGING HANDS, STITCHING STORIES.
In May I brought it to Doug, my 2+3D photographer and he said “I never have any idea what you are going to turn up with!”
I had selected several juried art shows that I wanted to enter the piece in and I did. I entered it into a juried show in NYC at Viridian Artists in Chelsea and I was SO HAPPY when I received the acceptance email. I have paused my art career because of moving and rheumatoid arthritis in my hands and wrists. I showed in the Frank J Miele Contemporary Folk Art Gallery in NYC but it closed after the market crashed in 2007, so returning to NYC felt really great.
Upcoming Show: Changing Hands, Stitching Stories in Montclair, NJ
I am excited to share that my news that CHANGING HANDS, STITCHING STORES was accepted into the juried show EVERYDAY OBJECTS in Studio Montclair Gallery in Montclair, NJ. November 1 - December 6, 2019.
Many friends, collectors and interested people have suggested I start a blog, so here goes…
I am excited to share that my news that CHANGING HANDS, STITCHING STORES was accepted into the juried show EVERYDAY OBJECTS in Studio Montclair Gallery in Montclair, NJ. November 1 - December 6, 2019. Studio MONTCLAIR GALLERY 127 Bloomfield Ave, Montclair, NJ.
I spotted two old picket fences in Indiana on a road trip. I saw them as examples of everyday borders & neighbors in our lives. While I stitched upcycled textiles and embroidery thread into collages, I thought of how many hands had touched the fabric and their owner’s stories.
This piece has also been featured in the Viridian Artists 30th Annual Int’l Juried Show in Chelsea, New York in July-August 2019.