Art Making in the 'Hood

On the heels of a neighborhood Crazy Dave’s Pumpkin Ale and pumpkin-carving-fire-pit party last night (complete with bales of hay, de-lish homemade soups by Lee and fresh Fire Island Bakery breads), I invited several neighborhood kids over to the studio for a day of art making and sewing. Sitting around the fire under the starry night, my neighbor shared how she was teaching several of the kids to sew and they were making pillow cases.  I thought that was such a cool idea and that if they wanted, I had enough room for everyone in my studio if they’d like to get together for an art day. Thankfully, we didn’t start our post-pumpkin crafting until well after noon because all of the adults had way too much PUMPKIN last night –and I don’t mean pie! The kids carted two extra sewing machines over to my house and we had three sewing machines whirring at once with ironing, cutting and piecing with the studio abuzz. What a sight to see all these kids with their busy hands and creative minds at work! My neighbor came as well, thankfully providing instruction and encouragement for the young artists. The kids were elementary age and eager to learn, to sew and just “make,” –their enthusiasm was inspiring. The boys made cool drawstring bags and all made creative garden flags using images of fast cars, goldfish, sea turtles and dolphins. We used digital images as well as hand-drawn images that we transferred onto fabric for their very own garden flags. 

After the craft-fest and renewed energy, I finished getting all my pieces hung for the show. Below are my latest pieces for my upcoming show that opens Friday, November 2nd at 2 Friends Gallery.

Needing to provide a finish to the Art Cloth for my upcoming show, I found these handy clips to hang the cloth from branches. The gallery already has some birch branches they are using as display props so I thought using branches would compliment  the 2 Friends Gallery branches while solving my finishing/framing issue. The cloth is designed to be used in another fiber piece, like an art quit but this way the art cloth can be purchased and hug as-is and I didn't have to spend a fortune buying custom frames.