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.

 

Rainy Ravens

 A very stormy and rainy weekend allowed me to be happily in the studio -instead of having to do the winterizing chores. I put off cleaning out the garden and Daddy-O put all of the summer furniture, hoses, BBQ and even the boats up before the freezing temps arrive -they're just around the corner. 

These Raven pieces of Art Cloth are for my upcoming show at 2 Friends Gallery. 

Each piece of 100% cotton Batik fabric is about 14" x 14" and were my favorite pieces from this weekend of art making. I've been enjoying working in a series of themes, even turning some pieces into small at quilts and wall hangings. 

Not every piece turns out as I envision it and I'm rarely able to replicate some of my favorite pieces, which can be frustrating. 

On these pieces I used various fabric paints, Mod Podge with tissue art papers and digital images printed on Artist TAP paper. I tried to work in layers of color and texture -but this required a LOT of patience waiting for the cloth to dry between layers. I'm not a very PATIENT artist but my perseverance made up for it! 

Art Cloth + Art Quilts 

by 

CINDY SHAKE

2 Friends Gallery

November 2-30, 2012 -Anchorage, AK

 

341 E. Benson Blvd Anchorage, AK 99503 

(907) 277-0404

2friendsgallery@gmail.com

Born To Be In The Wild

Kenai River, Alaska

In 2009 I thought for sure we were going to have the big “Princesses and Banditos Part Deux” blowout birthday party like we had for my 40th. I even blogged about it in "Born to Be Wild."  As it turned out I just wasn’t up for the cleanup, set up or post throw up hang-over. I chose to spend my big FIVE-OH day with my family on the river FISHING! That's not to say I didn't celebrate and my sweet Daddy-O didn't keep my little red drink cup filled! It was the perfect way to spend the Labor Day birthday weekend –including waking up to fresh, French Press Kaladi Brothers Coffee and a Fire Island Bakery birthday cake that my sweetie surprised me with on the dock for breakfast –all while my line was in the water!! What a good way to roll into 50. 

 My fishing boys. Thanks for a GREAT birthday, family! 

xox

Olive Dog wasn't too happy to have to be tethered to the cleaning table... whenever we had a fish on or there was a SPLASHING COMMOTION she wanted to DIVE into the river and bring the fish out herself!

HOW ABOUT SOME ART MAKING TIME!

 For my latest Art Cloth pieces I’ve been experimenting with using different art papers and various types of glues, transfers and fiber paints. Each of these pieces of cloth are 14” x 14”.  The fabric is 100% cotton batiks from The Quilted Raven and The Quilt Tree. The higher the quality of fabric the better results I have. These fabrics are beautiful to work with.

 For this blue fabric piece I hand tore the white art paper and painted Mod Podge on top of the paper directly to the fabric and let it air dry. I'll sew it into a mini-art quilt wall piece.

 This piece has several layers of art papers. The first layer of the woven art paper I actually used a zig zag stitch and stitched it to the fabric. The birds are artist transfer paper and then hand colored with acrylic fabric paints and colored pencils.