Posts filed under 'Art'
Initially I wondered how I’d know when the figures were done. I kept tinkering with the details over and over. Then one day I looked at them and thought “it’s time”.
First I took scissors and cut the mother figure open.
Then I added the “blood”. I felt heavy but calm.
The blood was too concentrated so I spread it out and fluffed it up some.
As I was ready to join the figures a wave of nausea started rising up. But then the thought “you can do this” came into my head. I realized yes I can do this and began needle felting them together.
When my mother disowned me she said that “she was no longer my mother but was the womb that gave me life”. The figures represent this.
In a sense she killed her mother role. The mother figure here dies in the act of releasing the daughter figure.
Often people ask what happens when I call my parents. My mother almost always answers the phone. She sneers a hello, probably because she sees my number on caller ID. I identify myself and ask to speak with my dad. Silence answers. She stays silent long enough to be awkward but not long enough for me to ask if she’s still there. Then she either tells me to hold on as she gets my dad or she’ll tell me he’s not there. If he’s not there she’ll often hang up after telling me. Occasionally I’ll have time to ask when he’ll be around. She’ll tell me and then hang up.
She tries to act like she doesn’t realize I’m her daughter but the hatred in her voice tells me otherwise. She sounds angry and resentful of me. Holding such a grudge for sixteen years seems unhealthy to me. But she’s stubborn-I get my stubbornness from her-so I’m not surprised she hasn’t let go. I’ve really worked on letting go of my anger and resentment. I’ve been pouring those emotions into the piece.
Prana has been a constant help on this piece. While I worked on the figures he sat on the womb in the spot where they’ll go.
He was determined to sit there too. If I wanted to put the figures in that spot to see how they’d look I’d have to pick Prana up and sit him on my lap. If I didn’t he’d just go right back and sit there. He just radiates love when I’m working. He’s helping quite a bit.
March 13th, 2010
I’ve made more leaves for the Green Man. This is some wool I bought at that sweet yarn sale I went to last year.
I’m planning on felting these.
In other knitting news, I’ve started a scarf for my friend Helen. I’m going to make her a version of my scarf hoodie.
I’m using my handspun three ply and the Mountain Colors yarn I bought in Seattle.
March 5th, 2010
I’ve been sewing, sewing, sewing leaves onto the Green Man. Prana has been helping:
I’ve been working on a new leaf. I found this pattern via Crafty Galore’s blog. This is acrylic boucle so I took Prana’s cat brush to fluff up the leaves.
Speaking of Prana, he wanted to help with the photoshoot:
This is one of my favorite photos of him. I call it “Prana in the wooly jungle”
February 25th, 2010
I finally started the central figure of my mother art piece.
I had put it off because I hate dolls. They just seem like brainwashing to make girls think they should have babies. Abbey told me to think of it as a figure. That worked for me. Here’s the figure on the womb for scale:
Then came time to open the figure’s womb. As I sat on my bed and cut the stomach open with scissors, I felt movement in my entire body. It was like a weight moving down my face, arms, stomach and thighs. It was intense.
I’ve also been researching images of Endometriosis. Not pretty. But it does translate well to fiber art:
The woven universe piece needs to hibernate for awhile so the Mother piece is going to be in this year’s Beyond The Fringe.
February 20th, 2010
The Green Man is going along great. The Woven Universe…not so much. Here’s some embroidery I later frogged:
It was supposed to be symmetrical then just wasn’t. I tried to accept that but couldn’t let it go.
This spiral of creation is nice though:
And this little star and purple bit of space both worked out well:
My vision for this piece just isn’t matching the reality. SO frustrating! Artist angst…blah blah blah.
February 14th, 2010
I’ve been working on more leaves for the Green Man. These are my Pinon branches:
I knit I-cord and then threaded bits of green yarn randomly through them. It took awhile but I’m pretty happy with the results.
The next batch are rain forest leaves.
Like I’ve mentioned before Prana loves the Green Man project. He insisted on being in this photot shoot. Apparently he thinks the leaves need more felting:
February 10th, 2010
I sewed some leaves onto the Green Man canvas.
Prana loves the Green Man. He acts like it’s half cat bad/half cat toy. He just noms on the leaves so I let him get away with it. I figure he’s helping me to felt the fleece down when he makes biscuits on it.
Oh man, I need to make a bunch more leaves! I have about forty more to add today.
A close up:
But it’s turning out like my vision so that’s good.
January 30th, 2010
I added flames around the womb for my Mother piece. These are dyed mohair locks that I got at last year’s Wool Fest.
You know those flaming hearts that are sometimes in religious paintings? I find them both repulsive and fascinating. Those paintings inspired my flaming womb.
There is so much anger and resentment between my mother and I. I’ve also had anger and resentment toward my own womb. My periods have always been painful. This piece is part of my healing. I want to release the anger and the resentment and the pain so I’m pouring it into this art.
I’ve also added scars. The meaning is twofold. The scars represent my relationship to my mother-we are both emotionally scarred from it. While researching Endometriosis I learned that the womb can develop scar tissue. I don’t know if I have scar tissue but I probably do. My mother certainly does because she had a hysterectomy. The scars are black because the wounds are toxic. The stitches over the scars are blood because the blood heals the wound.
December’s period was the worst I’ve ever had-fourteen days total of bleeding. The second half was spotting but still-it freaked me out. I took it as a wake up call and changed my diet. I’m on a low fat, low dairy, low sugar, low caffeine, high fiber diet. Cutting back on coffee is by far the hardest sacrifice.
But this month’s period was way better. Five days of normal period, four days of spotting. I felt relieved at my improvement. After more research I suspected I had a Progesterone deficiency. I started taking wild yam pills and cream. So far I haven’t noticed much difference. But my hands are now warm which is new; I’ve always had cold hands.
The mother piece hasn’t been worked on this year. The Beyond The Fringe artists can only have two pieces of art in this year’s show. I need to make time to work on it again soon. It just feels like I should.
January 24th, 2010
I finished my woven canvas and took it off the loom.
Most of the yarn is my handspun. The bright blue variegated yarn is leftover yarn from my Water goddess.
It’s six feet long and fourteen inches wide. I can’t believe it’s taken me since September just to weave the canvas. The show is in March-I’m feeling the deadline!
This piece is tentatively called Spinning Into Creation. The Goddess stretches her arms and galaxies, planets, moons and stars form.
I’m going to have parts of it coming off the canvas. I think that’s a cool effect.
January 7th, 2010
Beyond The Fringe
A fine fiber art exhibition
Venue
The Stables Gallery
133 Paseo del Pueblo Norte
Taos, NM 87571
(575)758-2052
March 26, 2010 through April 1, 2010
Opening Reception: March 26, 2010, 5-8pm
Pictures, interviews and coverage of the event can be found under the category Beyond The Fringe. Pictures of the artwork can be seen here.
There will be workshops happening during the week.
Beyond the Fringe Workshops
Concept
Invited artists have been asked to create pieces for the exhibit “Beyond the Fringe”. Work submitted is to be fine fiber artwork that is non-functional, non-wearable, weaving, felt, knit, crochet, cloth, embroidery,and quilt in a two or three dimensional form.
Contact curator Merce Mitchell at mercemitchellathotmaildotcom for more information.
Artists
Violette Alby
Linda Berger
Linda Michel-Cassidy
Connie Fernandez
Lois Fernandez
Kimberly Hamill
Carolyn Hinske
Jana Greiner
Twilight Kallisti
Mary K. Lyon
Merce Mitchell
Nina Silfverberg
Faith Welsh
Karen Wittwer
Abigail Z
January 5th, 2010
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