A little fix of Habu - NYC

I did a quick trip to New York this week end to look for various supplies and my favorite stop was Habu Textiles. If, like me, you have a weak spot for yarn and thread,

netting,

natural fibers,

and stitching

then Habu is the place..

Family Road Trip 1958

One of my uncle found these old pictures of a roadtrip my Vietnamese grandmother took with her 6 children (!) to Italy in 1958. I love how they reflect a whole era, and really show what happy times those must have been.

I'm fondly remebering my dad today, who would have turned 74:

I think I got the travel bug from him.

Stitch + Connect.. (oh oh, look what I got..)

I had a little weakness today.. I can't remember how I landed on Zakka Nouveau blog but it didn't take me long to buy this cute tote:

Now I could spend time justifying why I needed another bag or tote, but most of you wouldn't believe me. However, what I'm sure you will approve of is that

1) it's all handmade by Satsuki in L.A.
2) it's part of her inspiring "stitch + connect" project, where, until the end of the month, she makes one item a day which sales proceeds will go to an Aid organization in Japan (you chose which one);
3) there's no better way to spend money...

Oh, and last but not least, it looks faabulous...

So there.. And watch out, if you want one, we're less than 2 weeks til the end of April so don't wait!  Visit her blog here everyday for her latest project.

Thanks Satsuki!

Art For Japan Fundraiser - Boston

I am organizing this art fundraiser and it's gradually picking up speed... I am totally amazed by all the artists who are contributing some artwork, the quality of their work, and their generosity.  We're over 40 artists so far, and I expect we'll reach 50 in no time.. Proceeds of the sales will go to various relief organizations who do work in Japan.

Please join us on Facebook here and feel free to pass the word. I'm trying to post images of the artwork as they become available, so check back often. If I knew how to put the Facebook "Like" button here, I would...but somehow my brain is not getting it... So will you please go there and "like" us?

And of course, if you are around, please come to the event on

Friday May 6, 2011

6-9 pm

Gallery 535

535 Albany Street

Boston, South End

I'm in the process of researching the best aid organizations to contribute to and welcome any input. I know a lot of you out there are involved one way or another. 

Stay tuned for more info as we get closer to the event and please support aid to Japan in any way you can.

I'll also do another post very shortly about some fun ways to help that I found here and there.

Have a great week.

New Project: Community Art Garden for Figment 2011?

I just applied with my friend Silvia to create a Community Art Garden during Figment Boston this June.

I had been wanting to create some type of installation in a public space using reclaimed clothing but never quite got my acts together. Figment seemed like the perfect opportunity, as "an explosion of creative energy. It’s a free, annual celebration of participatory art and culture where everything is possible. For two days this summer, it will transform the Rose Kennedy Greenway into a large-scale collaborative artwork, and then it’s gone."

So this week I figured out to make these big flowers with used sweaters, in less than 10 minutes each so that everyone could easily participate.  The idea is that all visitors can create their own flower and plant it in the park.. to look like this:

At the end of the event, we'll just pick them up and hopefully install them somewhere else. It's a great way to

involve the community while raising awareness on clothing waste.

I'm really getting into it, so much more so than Oops, who for some reason seemed highly skeptical:

Doesn't he look like his frowning? Maybe he's just wondering "what the heck is she thinking???" Because it is true that now we have  to go find dozens (hundreds??)  of used sweaters... Oh boy..

Anybody local to the Boston area going through their wardrobe right now? I'll take anything!

Mireille Vautier Embroidery Work

You must check out French artist Mireille Vautier's work:



all images (c) Mireille Vautier - found via Emily Barletta's ever inspiring blog


These images don't give justice to the breadth of her work. See more here, including some old books and agendas that she's embroidered.

Sunday Night Feel Good Song

Ok, some of you out there (you know who you are..) have had a pretty rough week, to say the least, so here's a little happy-feel-good song for you:

via the Cover Song Archive

This week will be a better week. 

Sheila Hicks at ICA in Philadelphia

I was lucky enough to be able to see Sheila Hicks' work a couple of months ago at the Addison, where her "50 Years" retrospective opened before traveling to Philadelphia. At the time, I was exploring some mini weavings and her work somehow felt  too close to home to be able to enjoy the exhibition.  I think I was afraid it would stop me in my tracks... which it did! I stopped weaving.. Now the show is opening in Philly, a couple of articles came out, one in the New York Times on Monday and one in Art in America online so I got to look at her work again and got re-inspired...  

I love how she seems to be constantly exploring new ways to work. One of the articles talks about how she always have this small homemade loom handy at her studio which sounds a bit like mine. Both articles touch the (obsolete?) subject of separation between art and craft which she seems to have avoided by blending the two in a very personal way.

My favorite part in the Art in America article is this:

" I asked the artist about the in-between character of her work—the straddling of binaries such as male/female, art/craft, monumental/intimate, Western/non-Western—which makes it so difficult to categorize. She was firm in her response: "Do you want me to de-mystify my own work? I don't know how."
Take that.. I never understand the need to categorize anyways. As for all work that inspires me, it leaves me with the recurring belief that I/we just need to keep working..

About having two left feet..

This reminds me of  when I tried to  learn Flamenco a few years ago, or to rollerblade.. same feeling.

Paul Edmunds Linocut in MOMA "Impressions from South Africa" Exhibition

That print alone is going to make a trip down to MOMA worthwhile:

The same, but different. Linocut
Found via Pinterest 

"A single line travels from the top of this piece to its bottom, tracing a path which starts out relatively uniform, subsequently becomes chaotic and then slowly returns to its more linear state."

I also found this amazing piece on his website, made of discarded styrofoam cups in which he handcut arrows:

Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now. March 23-August 14, 2011 at MOMA. More info here.

Japan

My heart goes out to the people in Japan right now, and I hope that the next few days unveil better news.
Another devastating reminder not to sweat the small stuff,  but appreciate & respect what we have, really..

Please consider a donation to one of these organizations if you haven't donated already.

Sonia Delaunay (Russia 1885, France 1979) at the Cooper Hewitt

One more good reason to visit NYC this spring; the Cooper Hewitt is opening "Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Saunia Delaunay". According to their website, "this exhibition will focus on fashion designs from her own Atelier Simultané in Paris during the 1920s, as well as textiles designed for the Metz & Co. department store in Amsterdam in the 1930s. On view will be examples of designs, textiles, garments and photographs from the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Musée de la Mode de la Ville de Paris, the Musée de l'Impression sur Etoffes in Mulhouse, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France and private collections around Europe and the United States." 

There's no other image on their website yet but here's a few I could find online that are fashion or textile related:

I like her bold style and the way she uses gouache.

And I think I'd be dazzling in one of those...

At the Cooper Hewitt from March 18 through June 5, 2011.

Ipad Drawings

Ok, this is NOT the day when I should be talking about the iPad since they JUST released a new version  today while mine is just a month old... BUT I received the last NewYorker yesterday and it had - again, an iPad painting by David Hockney:

As I sat down to read the magazine, I decided to first do my own version, with my snow boots (yes, we do still wear those around here, in a brisk 19 degrees weather):

Voila! Could clearly work more on the textures but not bad for a first, no? It took 5 minutes with the Sketchbook Pro App.  I am thinking of using it to losen up a bit because it's somehow much easier than on paper; you feel less committed to the marks, can add layers up and down, etc. To be continued..

El Anatsui (b. 1944 in Ghana)

For some reason I had the urge to look at his always amazing work today, so there it is:



Sacred Moon, 2007 Aluminum and copper wire 103 x 141 inches



Untitled, 2007 Aluminum and copper wire 144 x 192 inches

Afor, 2010 aluminum liquor bottle caps and copper wire 111 x 117 inches hanging straight

Three Continents, 2009 Found aluminum and copper wire 8 x 16 Feet
el anatsui
All photos courtesy of Jack Sheinman Gallery

The pictures really don't do the works justice but check out this small video by Susan Vogel on Vimeo to get a better idea of texture and the size of the works... Amazing!

Paper Dress at Anthropologie

Love that dress made out of paper towels dipped in ink/pigment/dye.. It should have made the Oscars.  In the Anthropologie store on Boylston street in Boston.