a good day to dye

 A very good day

One of my absolutely favorite movies is "Smoke Signals", with memorable lines, embraceable characters and reminds me of living out west. which hasn't happened for a really long time. The line about (paraphrased here.. i can't seem to find the movie now!) it is a good day to die, but a better day to have breakfast.

I get to choose my dye days more than i used to. I've got clusters of work that are projects that have some overlap, keeping me working in the art and fine craft world with a lot of menu choices. Its time to get out the colors, though. I have sketches for some new fabrics that I'm super excited about. Some are really textural, some with pattern, some with dye variations and some to be woven with other people. All good, all fun and looking forward makes me really excited.

Here we go

I am so appreciative of the support from local organizations and state arts council grants that help me fund projects- for weaving new work and taking weaving out to my local community. The Community Tapestry project is so very interactive, with color and stories and  people that i get to meet, working in rehab centers, working in schools and the other big hat, working at festivals and fairs. I’m excited to have a few grants going to share projects without having to rustle up cash for the materials and expenses.. more community inclusive. :)

Invest in community

Writing hasn't been on the top of my list lately, though the grant writing is always a way to share more

weaving, textiles and engaging artwork with more hands and bigger creative projects. I struggle with being creative and the idea of what i make generating funds to share with my community. One of my favorite recent phrases that found me is "when you invest, invest in your community" and that is my theme song lately. After being in our secluded time, being out and helping to make a creative difference seems  incredibly important now.

Classes and workshops!

Join me for some fibery dyecrazy fun! 

Creative Aging Center workshops in Greensboro

Mondays, beginning June 12, 26, July 10, 24 at the CAN campus. 

Sign up at https://can-nc.org

Join us for fun introductions with a Nature theme in each class of weaving, painting, baskets and printing. 

Classes are from 10-12.

Sawtooth School

The weaving studio looks great! I’ll be teaching some weaving workshops with a few focused on getting
the details of starting to weave- winding, threading, dyeing your own warps, plus an intro class and pattern class.

A few dye and fabric printing workshops.

Taste of Art on June 16, 6-8 (head over to the Art Crush on Trade Street afterwards!) We are using fabric paints, practicing a few printing techniques on fabrics and a tote! Easy, safe permanent paints.

A more detailed workshop begins on. July 11 for two Tuesdays

We are going to dye with indigo, fiber reactive dyes, wind threads, warp looms… its going to be fun. Check out the full schedule and email if you have questions!

Sign up at www.sawtooth.org

Join me when you can!

Yeah! Yeah!

Its been too long. We can meet, see stuff and most importantly, we can touch stuff

With Textiles that is a thing

I've been dyeing to share some new work with you all. I've done that with the website updates, new weaving, printin on fabrics and then meeting folks through galleries

here s the thing

I spend a lot of time making what I like. I love color, shape texture and structure.I don't think i'll ever bored with weaving, printing and painting. I've chosen to make this a life work. 

Residencies

I am always excited to share textile techniques so lmk if you have a group interested in a workshop. I love the grants through school programs that i work with, sharing what  i know and what I've learned is such a good feeling!! (hugger moment) 

Festivals

always try to attend. Artists are kind of struggling now. remember toe ou saw earlier at shows and try and connect with tem on line. we have had a lo of folks that are more interested in non ontact sales through events because of covid, to e safe. consider these wonderful folks as you make your holiday shopping decisions

meanwhile

, all about me....

check out my website, with links to social media. I usually don't sell on there, but def provide a link to my vits and pieces

Sunrise

 

Artist Support Grant

I recently received an Artist Support Grant through NC Arts Council and Yadkin Arts Council. 

 

 

I truly enjoyed having time to work through just the one thing, from drawings to watercolor to thread and dye and fabric upon structure.

The finished project is a short series of dyed and woven pieces that are based on a brilliant sunrise. The colors are mixed, as watercolor, and are bright against night sky then bright against a morning sky.  I liked to use a narrower fabric width that would wrap the sunrise colors side by side, showing the consistency and magic of ordinary days. I decided to line up the sunrise, loop the nights at top and bottom and frame the days with the brilliant colors centered as a celebration, as the birds sing to welcome the day. 

As my residency contracts were cancelled in March of 2020, I worked entirely from home. 

 I live in an urban setting and the connection of days in a grounded location away from packing and driving has given me enlightened perspectives for what I want to explore, breaking the previous routines that were, for the most part, wearing.

  Often, I am weaving for festivals, shows and retail project that are functional and wearable. I sometimes don’t have the time it takes to develop something that I’ve started from an idea, a drawing, a complete draft of a project that I can exhibit and I feel that I miss out on a lot of participation because I am using my art and fine craft for personal business income. 

The ASG and the time I had to invest due to quarantine situations has been an opportunity for me to follow through on the idea of days that loop into nights into days, as color can transition from warm and bright to dark and subtle. When I first began weaving, non-functional art was my inspiration. These materials and time have given me a body of work with story, color, structure and an opportunity to exhibit non-functional work. 

I look forward to exhibiting this work. And I still have a few ideas on how to continue the project, too.

Meanwhile, there is more coming as far as exhibits, as workshops and other fun and yarny things. 

Art Camps at the Arts Center in Carrboro, June through August (specific times through these dates)

New work in City Gallery, Galax, VA (and in time for Fiddlers Convention!)

Story Cloth exhibit at Art in the Garden, August-September

Creative Sewing workshops with Art in the Garden, Reidsville, NC

Adult Art Camp at Reynolds Homestead, Critz, VA

 

and-- back to the outside world!

 Put on pants, meet the world

Actually, I've had on pants. But the idea of getting out to meet folks in workshops, at festivals and exhibits is a bit mixed. Its great to have conversations, hear what everyone has been up to and just take off outside without always suiting up. I am looking forward to all of that!

I am one of those who always has something going on- a project, trying a new technique, so i am pretty self entertaining. I've learned a LOT of new things and my studio is full of samples, a few finished pieces and a box of ideas. 

so, as we trek out into our vaccinated world, i'll look forward to seeing everyone!

and I'll still be on the trails sketching and photographing wildflowers

and I'll
be working through the projects started!

Upcoming:

Block Printing on Fabric at Blue Ridge Fiber Fest, June 5

Art Camps at the Arts Center in Carrboro, June through August (specific times through these dates)

New work in City Gallery, Galax, VA (and in time for Fiddlers Convention!)

Story Cloth exhibit at Art in the Garden, August-September

Creative Sewing workshops with Art in the Garden, Reidsville, NC

Mud dyeing

 I suppose, with all of this rain, the time has come to sing the virtues of mud.

Mud has some serious mineral content that brings out warm earthy variations, permanent stains and interesting textures. The colors are regional and can have a wide range of variations.

One of  my favorite painting classes involves making paint. Basic paint is color and vehicle. Something slightly adhesive, whether permanent or not, needs to be in the vehicle to move the paint and secure it to the surface. That is the root of why we have such a selection of paints.

Water will flake with most pigments, though watercolor is one of my favorite paint mediums. The particles are so small and the paper used "toothy" enough to grab those bits of pigment. Milk is a good base, as it has sugar, starch and liquid- casein paints. As we now have a variety of milks, soy milk is a choice along with dairy. And egg tempera gives the pigments a real glow, depending on the layering, the ground and the part of egg used. 

Oil and Acrylics have firmer bases that capture the pigments in solid layers that can be less fluid, though pushing the oils to a wash in layers gives depth and texture. Acrylic paints were developed for permanence and washes can particulate, if thinned too much without some additives. 

There it is! the paint story!

I use watercolor a lot when designing warps as it mimics the way dye works very well. I've made paints from natural dyestuffs, painting in journals and using everything from laundry starch to potato starch, paste for bookmaking, and soy milk. 

The soy milk is interesting as it is a mordant (keeps the color longer, sometimes permanently) and can make an interesting paste of thick dyestuff, such as (wait for it.....) MUD. Mud paint is often scrubbed into the fabric, can be stenciled on, is affected by after baths and is very textural. I've mostly played with paints from mud, adding color and scraped out textures, layered and very often didn't wash off the mineral content. I framed it, kept the sample book and used in sculptures for thick paints that show the brush bristle trails, allow for scraping and thickness.

And, the rains and mud will help to produce beautiful spring flowers, sweet garden peas and lettuces and show where the deer have been loitering in my garden beds :)

Happy Almost Spring to all y'all!

New Ordinary Days

 The Magic of Ordinary Days

Books and Colors

"The Magic of Ordinary Days" is the title of a lovely romance by Ann Howard, also a TV movie of 2005.  I saw the movie years ago; I don't always gravitate toward romance movies, but I am a fan of historical fiction, lately. The title is a tether to the characters' story lines. Most of the plot involves people trying to find their comfort and rhythm for the lives they have found themselves unexpectedly living. This theme sounds very familiar to the new rhythms from the past year..

2020 has been a great year for slowing down, finding a contemplative routine that is personal, even if not as financially profitable, with a good stack of books, projects, personal health and reconsideration of ordinary days. One might say, this was all forced upon the greater population and while that is true, many other situations have that kind of thrust upon-ness.

I've been more of a solo act for most of my life. This year, I've taken time to walk, run, yoga and meditate. In preparation for online workshops and classes, I've explored the prototypes for classes in much more depth than I had been able to apply in previous years. I've got some inspired work!  I had taken my car in for regular servicing, and the tires really didn't need rotation as I haven't really driven like the crazy person of 2019 and before. Most of my jobs are an hour away, when they are not remote. I am fine driving less, drawing more, watching the day begin and end.

I have taken time to read books from the stacks; historical fiction, some biographies, some art and color theory. The latter has been something I truly need. I don't think my best work happens when my colors are stagnant. I have taken up some painting challenges (not unlike painting without yellow (story there but another time)) I tried new mixes, combinations and color triads.  

I'm really excited about my upcoming projects. I'm super thrilled to have received a few grants for projects- one is a dye documentation of sunrise and sunset with color change and structure pieces, funded by the Artist Support Grant (ASG), a NC Arts Council Grant (facilitated through Yadkin Arts, thanks, again!) . Another is tentatively titled "A Banner Year", with a series of images that are printed on fabric using sketches I've journal-ed through the year.  If all goes as planned, by the time autumn is here, I'll have two exhibits to share in galleries. Joining more exhibits is been on my production agenda, as I present less residencies, choose specific workshops to share instead of regular classroom teaching and invest in more community art.

Here's to a productive, bright and colorful 2021! May all the insights and thoughtful rabbit holes we have been popping in and out of be put to the best use for our next year with a healthy population, a new perspective on our neighborhoods, a clear path to happiness and an economic upturn! Huzzah!! and Cheers!

Please follow me on Facebook, Instagram and visit the shops on Etsy, Square- all listed on my website, http://www.dyecrazy.com. Virtual Festivals are a THING for winter and Spring!!! Thanks for supporting local art

Its Really Happening!

 The Year is Moving Ahead and Taking Us Too!

The earth is turning, sun is up, moon is up, stars are up, rain comes down and leaves flutter to the ground. 

Meanwhile, the colors are spectacular.

I love trails. Where I live, there are some wonderful paths and a few have great maintenance, not disturbing nature or dropping chemicals, but just making enough space to connect with trees, wildflowers, the masked walkers and their unmasked but leashed pups. 

I tend to take a few leaves and acorns home to sketch. My phone captures these incredible clouds and sunrises and sunsets so they are always close by to inspire colors in my weaving. I love autumn. it is almost cool enough for the bloodsucking mosquitoes and terrorist wasps to keep away. 

Nature is an eternal inspiration with textures, colors, patterns and lines that change every day. Taking myself out for a walk or run is a luxury, and also important to my health. Working as an artist often means concentrated work and less people engaging in my day- the trail is full of calm, friendly hellos and fresh air.

The Festivals are Different

This year, artists are posting our work online, presenting live studio tours and virtual exhibits. I don't usually have a lot of workshops this time of year because of shows and festivals and traveling with the holiday stock. But I've become a lot more comfortable with online classes. I think they are a good choice- some folks thrive in a new work environment. Not everyone does, though, and the quieter folks are really more comfortable working on projects in their own space. My kitties get to creep by and say hello, too. 

Holiday Fundraisers

I sorted through this one a while back. I am always glad when my artwork is appreciated. Most of us are grateful for sales, compliments and returning customers. I am a fan of volunteering in community work. I set an annual amount of artwork to donate, but when there is an event that serves my work and the organization better, I donate some cash. It is tough to watch a piece of artwork sold for a fraction of the cost; its better to remove that part and just donate like everyone else does. 

Holiday Group sales are a great chance to support fellow artists. So far there are three that I'll be participating with.  I don't have the exact dates but I expect a good time will be had by all!

Online Sales are a THING!

I've got a few things in different places, have a few galleries that are open to the public in safe ways, and am participating in online festivals, too. The prices are the same in all places, shipping is available as is rendezvous drop off :)  Find my stuff through links on the website www.dyecrazy.com, on Facebook.com/kgtextiles, on KG Textiles on Square  Have a wonderful Autumn!