I’m excited by this soon to happen panel at St Catherine’s University  next week.  Karen Searle is textile maven, knitter extraordinaire who has published me several times in her writings on contemporary art knitters.  Erica Spitzer Rasmessen  is one of my all time favorite artists.  And I’ve seen only a bit of Jessica Larson’s artwork over the years but have been very drawn to her use of materials.  I mentioned her, and her Women Troubles  in my first blog.

Maybe I’ll see you there!

This is the information sent out by the Women’s Art Institute.

The Women’s Art Institute cordially invites you to a panel presentation:
Fiber Arts:
Women’s Work and/or Feminist Statement?

Three prominent Minnesota artists will present their work and consider the question.

Karen Searle
Erica Spitzer Rasmussen
Jessica Larson
Moderator: Patricia Olson

Since the invention of textiles in antiquity, the fiber arts have been considered women’s work, and have
therefore been designated as a minor art in western culture. Lately, they have shed their aura of domesticity
and have been embraced both by the feminist art movement and post-modern sensibilities.

Free and open to the public.

Wednesday, November 5, 7:00 pm
Lecture Hall, Visual Arts Building, St. Catherine University
2004 Randolph Avenue, St. Paul

Reception to meet the artists follows presentation.For more information: 651-690-6636  |  www2.stkate.edu/studio-art/wai
​

In 2010 I headed to Johnson Vermont for my exhilarating, challenging, and terrifying artist residency at the Vermont Studio.  The terror  came from traveling a year after having  broken two wrists, with two fifty pound suitcases,  and from the scariness of being thrown together with 50 “real” artists,  and from a psychic telling me it would be a terrible place for me, and from thinking I could get there and be too frozen in fear to create.  But I strapped on my wrist splints, managed the 100 pounds of art supplies, and ironically ended up being the  person who helped a co-resident wrangle her 75 pound chest of books into the airport shuttle van.  She was coming as a writer resident, and had contracted a degenerative, debilitating disease that destroyed her muscles.

The art residency experience there was amazing.  I woke up each morning wondering how I could possibly be so lucky as to have this experience that mandated one to do nothing but make art all day long.  I continued to be scared silly when I had to share my art, but I faithfully kept my commitment to myself to take advantage of every risk to share and connect around art.  Consequently, I met a number of amazing people, including Nari Ward who was the 3D visiting artist. (http://www.nariwardstudio.com/)

One of the interesting characters I met is the cartoonist turned abstract artist Howard Sherman.  And it is via him that I got to the art of Linnea Glatt.  In a recent art mailing of Howard’s, his art features on the cover of  a newly released book of abstract artists who live in Texas.  In my curiosity of who else was in the book, I discovered Linnea Glatt, an artist who draws by stitching on mulberry paper with a sewing machine.

What I love about this discovery is that Linnea Glatt is tucked in with the abstract painters, with no fan fare announcing unique materials or fiber artist connection.  She is simply an an abstract artist who uses fiberly materials and technique and is in mainstream art culture.

She previously made large iron sculptures with her husband, such as  Harrow, shown below.

She works in her studio at a long table, sewing.

More work

and detail of French knots.

In situ shot.

I never tire of discovering new work, especially when it effectively utilizes tactile materials with textile reference, in a marvelous rendition of line and form.  Thanks Howard for indirectly introducing me to Linnea.

In 2009, I packed up a borrowed van with My Father’s Religion and headed to Grand Rapids Michigan to participate the the first year of Art Prize, an event designed to open the world of art to any artist and to bring this world to the populus, by having viewers vote for their favorite art work.  Highly controversial in concept and noted for awarding enormous amounts of money in prizes,it has grown in popularity and respect. The year I participated, I selected my venue by on line descriptions, thus not seeing the space until arriving.  It ended up being difficult to access via a back of the building freight elevator, and otherwise off the beaten track, so I wondered if anyone even saw it, let alone voted for me.  I was however very pleasantly surprised when buying a vest on the way home in Saugatuck, MI, to discover  that the clerk in the snappy boutique had gone to Art Prize and had actually both seen and liked my work.

Below is a photo of me installing the work.  (If you look very closely at my left arm you can see the hardware of the “external fixator” holding my broken wrist in place. I removed the splint from my right arm because it kept catching on the wire.  I had broken both of my wrists two and a half months earlier, and my beloved Jessica knit many of the trees for me to complete the installation.  Thayer helped extensively too, specializing in branches.)

Since that first year, Art Prize has garnered much attention and has grown in attendance, and has become increasingly competitive.  Last week the very prestigious Juried Grand Prize, awarded not by votes but selected by distinguished jurors, was won by Sonya Clark.  The $200,000 purse was split with her co-winner, Anila Quayyum Agha, who had the extraordinary experience of not only tying with Sonya Clark, but also winning the popular vote, leaving her with $300,000.  Her piece Intersections, looks stunning and likely creates a transformative experience.  Kudos to them both.

But I am so very excited that Sonya Clark, chair of Department of Craft/Material Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, won this award for her Hair Project, which examines gender, race,culture, and society.

She has been a favorite artist of mine, and a stunning example of what’s happening and being taught in the field of contemporary fiber arts.

In 2012, she was part of a show at Carlton College, A Complex Weave.  That show was an exciting collection of artists exploring feminist issues via fiber and materiality.

Check out more about Sonya Clark here: http://sonyaclark.com/bio/biography/

and ArtPrize here: http://www.artprize.org/

My first cycle as a WARM Mentor is coming to a close with the culminating opus, The Warm Mentor Exhibition, running from Oct 3-31 at the Grain Belt Bottling Bldg.

79 13th Avenue NE  Minneapolis, MN 55413

Opening reception is Saturday Oct 18 from 6-9.  I will also be gallery sitting that day, from noon-2.

more info at:  http://www.thewarm.org

I’m delighted with the work by my protege Mary Laurel True.  She made the decision a number of years ago to only wear used clothing, and to create a daily garment for herself that reflected her day.  Much of her work for the program was planning documentation of the daily clothing.  She made a video of that, as well as of a “30 Minute Challenge” to dress two models at a favorite used clothing store.  The projector screen is surrounded by some of her daily wardrobe choices. Additionally, she created a little shop for the opening of “True Finds”.  A garment made from her checks to the used clothing stores “Check It Out” is on the mannequin.  This is Mary Laurel True speaking at last night’s artist talk.  Go Mary Laurel!

I’m excited to have two pieces hanging at the Barnes & Thornburg Law office building in downtown Minneapolis.  The wonderful Lars Mason negotiated this MCAD affiliated gallery and curates the collection.

This is Lars with “A Kind of Diary of 2011”.  He told me that several of the law office staff paged through the book (the embroidered  used dryer sheet book next to Lars) to match up each item and had several questions for me!

Kimono for Amaratsu (Sun Goddess Kimono) was the other piece selected.

Thank you Lars and if you get a chance to visit this law office on the top floor of the Capella Building , check it out.  Rad design and great artwork.

Think this is gorgeous?  I do too! This is  Janice Arnold’s  felt “yurt” that she installed in 2009 at the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, New York City.  You have a chance to hear Janice Arnold give a workshop on Saturday and a free lecture at the Red Wing Anderson Art Center this Sunday, October 12th at 1pm . “How Visions become Reality: FELT as aFunctional and Decorative Art .”  Followed by a reception for Janice at 2:30pm.