Reorganizing To Make Life Easier

Freshly Organized Storage

Trying to keep track of your artwork can be a challenge.  The most basic part of that is how the work is stored and then being able to find a specific piece when you want it without taking apart everything you own!

Many artists who work with fabric store the work on a bed.  That's great as the work is flat however if the piece you want is under 6 other piece it isn't easy or fun or extract. I also don't have a spare bed to use for storage purposes.

Some people fold their fabric pieces to store by stacking the work on a shelf.  That works but I don't like the fold line or wrinkles that seem to develop in my work when it is folded.  Perhaps it's the intensity of the stitching or maybe the batting I use as I have been told that everyone doesn't get these flaws from folding.....but I do.

Ends of rolls.  Still looks complex but I now know which

shelf to check.

I have always rolled my  fabric work.  I use large (3 1/2 inch diameter) foam noodles that are sold as pool toys.  The brand is Khuna and they work great.  The Khuna noodles have a hole in the center and I put a pvc pipe through this so the roll is rigid.  The work is rolled face out around the noodle then wrapped with white muslin and slipped into a plastic sleeve.  The sleeves come from Uline and are boxed  as a roll.  The sleeves can be cut to any length you need.  I tie the ends shut and attach a photograph of the piece with the name underneath the picture for easy identification.  Without this there is no way I can find what I'm looking for.  I have a nice heavy duty metal shelf and the rolls are stored there. I often put the hanging rod inside the bag with the work as well.

Even with the tags it can be hard to find a specific piece so this weekend I took everything off the shelves, checked for proper labeling and rearranged everything.  I kept a list of which shelf the piece is on and I am adding that to my Excel Inventory.  As new work is added I will include the shelf number with all the other information in my inventory.

Most of what is stored here is fabric but I saved the bottom shelf for my new encaustic and cold wax and oil paintings.  I want to develop some order for this work as well so that it can be easily located.  This kind of operation is not something I love to do but I love the end results!

Even with the tags it can be hard to find a specific piece so this weekend I took everything off the shelves, checked for proper labeling and rearranged everything.  I kept a list of which shelf the piece is on and I am adding that to my Excel Inventory.  As new work is added I will include the shelf number with all the other information in my inventory.

Most of what is stored here is fabric but I saved the bottom shelf for my new encaustic and cold wax and oil paintings.  I want to develop some order for this work as well so that it can be easily located.  This kind of operation is not something I love to do but I love the end results!

Pattern - Free Quilts by Kathleen Loomis

I returned from visiting my family in California last week to find a new book in my mailbox by my friend Kathleen Loomis.  The book is titled:  Pattern-Free Quilts / Riffs on the Rail Fence Block.  Many of you know Kathy from her years of involvement in the quilt community, her blog: Art With A Needle or perhaps her food blog: Kathy's Soup Kitchen.

Kathy is best known for her very contemporary improvisational quilts and has many accolades to her credit. Like many artists working in fiber, her love affair with quilts began with traditional quilt patterns when she started quilting as a teenager. Kathy also loves to share her knowledge of sewing and sewing techniques.  It is this desire that led Kathy to write Pattern-Free Quilts. 

People often have excellent sewing skills but just don't know how to get started creating their own original work.  This book addresses that issue and shows very clearly how to use what you may be familiar with (a pattern) and develop what you know using design choices to take a pattern to a new personal image.  Once you begin to see all the options available in one simple block you likely will begin to spread your wings and become a "pattern-free" quilt maker.  The ideas she presents can in fact be applied to all patterns.

The book is laid out in a very straight forward format starting with a short history of how Kathy began her sewing life, an explanation of the traditional Rail Fence pattern and several chapters on how to work with this pattern.  The writing, diagrams, pictures and instructions are solid with information on how to construct many options of the Rail Fence as well as a chapter on Color Choices and ending with a gallery of ideas.

The book can be purchased HERE and would make a lovely gift to anyone who might want to expand their knowledge of pattern/idea development.

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Putting Down Roots

Tom is pictured putting finishing touches on my studio cabinets.

As you know Tom and I moved just before Thanksgiving.  We are still trying to get things fixed the way we want and need them to be but we are finding out that it takes time to do that.  We moved a number of times when we were first married but at that time we had few worldly possessions and 45 years less of art work!

We are turning the double car garage into a shared studio and Tom is doing the work.  Thank you love.  Besides all the rooms in houses we have used as studio space, Tom has build us 2 studios and is now repurposing the garage as a studio.  In addition to this space we each have small areas inside the house for studio.  All of this is going to be very nice when completed and we are double ready for it to be done.

Tom's cabinets are just in view behind all the still to be stored studio necessities.

While the general process of learning to live in a new home has been moving along nicely we still haven't hung any art and that's getting old.  I'm accustomed to being surrounded by art and this house has some very large walls that need attention.  There is a long hallway with great wall space as well as large walls in the living room.  There are many smaller spots calling for art also....we have our work along with the work of many other artists to select from so it will be a treat to curate this "show".

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New Textile Constructions - Part II

 Untitled - Terry Jarrard-Dimond

13" x 13" - Fabric - Cording - Monoprinted - Painted and Stitched

Last week I showed 3 new small works made from a variety of fabrics I had around my studio.  This week I continued to work and completed 3 additional pieces and I still have more materials for the future.

Untitled - Terry Jarrard-Dimond

13" x 13" - Fabric - Cording - Monoprinted - Painted and Stitched

One of the things I'm enjoying about this work is what I perceive as the perspective that seems to be present.  Some of the work looks like ariel views, some landscapes while one makes me think of water and water plants.  This is one of the aspects I've always enjoyed about non-objective work, you see what you see.  Your imagination and your experience with the world come together and something special happens.

Untitled - Terry Jarrard-Dimond

13" x 13" - Fabric - Cording - Monoprinted - Painted and Stitched

The upcoming week will not be a studio week as we have guests coming in from the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state.  I'm looking forward to good conversation, music, food and friends.  Can't beat that.

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New Textile Constructions

Untitled #1 - Terry Jarrard-Dimond

13" x 13" - Fabric - Cording - Monoprinted - Painted and Stitched

My week began with an idea for a new large work.  I pulled my materials together but the materials did not live up to my idea.  As I sat in my studio pondering how to get started I became aware of a small unfinished work which had been floating around my studio for some time.  I decided to work on this small piece while thinking over the "big" work.  The result of that small effort is pictured as Untitled #1. (I will give this work and the others in this series titles a little later as I don't like the use of "untitled".) 

I put the phrase small effort in italics because while the sewing together of this construction was quick, the development of the component parts took a good deal of work.  Some of the fabric was monoprinted with dye while some was created with charcoal, pencil and textile medium.  Much of the fabric has cording stitched across the surface and then painted with acrylic paint.

Untitled #2 - Terry Jarrard-Dimond

13" x 13" - Fabric - Cording - Monoprinted - Painted and Stitched

After completing Untitled #1 I thought of a large piece of fabric I had which had been developed in a very similar way and was languishing in a storage closet.  I retrieved that fabric along with a small stash of remnants of manipulated fabric and began to create a series of new small works.

Untitled #3 - Terry Jarrard-Dimond

13" x 13" - Fabric - Cording - Monoprinted - Painted and Stitched

I've written recently about remounting some of my older pieces in a new manner but I've decided that these works will be mounted flat with a mat and put under glass.  The pieces are very organic but they are not precious.  They "want" to be flat.  I haven't made a decision at this point what type of frame will work best.

I have more of these materials I plan to continue with this series.

***

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Updates and Announcements: Studio, Friends' Shows and Harold Krisel

The first weeks for 2014 have found me a little distracted as I began to try and sort out what I needed to be doing to get off the "vacation train" and back to life as usual.  I had a wonderful Christmas and a quiet New Years but I have a busy year ahead and need to get working.

In July I will be showing work at the Alamance County Arts Council gallery in Graham, North Carolina.  I will be showing some of my older work and as part of the preparation for that show I decided to remount some of the work to make the presentation more uniform.  This means taking about 7-9 pieces out of frames, covering the backing mats with linen and sewing the fabric pieces to this linen cover before reframing.  I wrote about this process late last year and you can find the directions HERE. The process isn't difficult but it does take some time and I want to get the job done so I can go back to the studio with a peaceful mind.  For a full description of how to mount your fabric work to a panel, go HERE.

Follow the Blimp - Mixed Media

Mark Flowers

Legacy - Mixed Media

Mark Flowers

For those of you who live in the area I want to alert you to an exhibition at The Upstairs Gallery in Tryon, North Carolina.  Paintings by Mark Flowers and prints by Andrew Blanchard will be on exhibit from Jan. 31st to Feb. 14.  There will be a gallery talk on Saturday Feb. 1st at 4 followed by a reception.

Painting from Sere series.

Janet S. Dreskin.

Another fine exhibition is currently on view at Lee Gallery, Clemson University featuring the work of Greenville artist Jeanet S. Dreskin.   Ms. Dreskin was the first MFA graduate from Clemson University and the show covers 7 decades of her work.  She is 92 years old and still keeps a rigorous schedule in her studio working 4-5 hours everyday.

Summer 3 - 1959

Harold Krisel

Lastly I want to alert you to a new website featuring the work of Harold Krisel.  My sister, Elizabeth Jarrard and I presented a series of articles on Mr. Krisel which you can find HERE.  Now there is a site which tells his story and presents some of his gorgeous prints.

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Residue - What is left behind

Residue - Terry Jarrard-Dimond

Fabric, Charcoal, Medium, Paint and Stitching

20.5"h x 22.5"w

I completed the construction of Residue a couple of weeks ago.  I titled the piece Residue as it is made primarily from the "left-overs" from a couple of other pieces.  The only new elements are the three pieces with the white shapes which were screened on with paint and added to the composition.

I thought about this title for a bit and then looked up the meaning of "residue" to make sure I was correct in the usage.  The meaning in my dictionary was: a small amount of something that remains after the main part has gone or been taken or used. Perfect.

detail - Residue - Terry Jarrard-Dimond

I have often worked this way or at least always found that the pieces of fabric I cut that don't work for one piece often find their way into other pieces just as they were left.  This happens because I have an established art vocabulary and while I hope it will always be growing and changing, there are certain elements which will remain constant.

detail - Residue - Terry Jarrard-Dimond

I'm at a point now where I need to go into the studio and make a large amount of new fabric.  This is the same as a painter who makes her own paints and has a very personal color palette.  You just can't run to the store and pick up what you need.  In the meantime I'll just keep sorting and looking at my scraps to see what else may be waiting to be used.

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Rust On Fabric

Rusty bucket and "rust dyed" fabric

For several weeks I have spent most of my time working on lesson plans for 2014 workshops.  On Friday I completed that planning and was excited to get back into my studio.  I began by making some new fabric using a variety of processes.  By the end of the day on Saturday I had used all but two cuts of the fabric I had prepared.

My friend Christine Mauersberger has been writing about her rust explorations recently so I decided this would be the perfect time to try this interesting process.  

detail of fabric

I had been aware of a very rusted paint can in our shed so it was an easy decision to use that as the source of rust.  I had the general idea of what to do so I grabbed some vinegar from the kitchen, some cotton string and my fabric and headed outside to work.

This details shows a larger area of the full fabric.

I had read somewhere to use white vinegar but since I didn't have that I used some brown apple vinegar to soak the bleached muslin fabric.  I wrapped the fabric around the paint can and tied with a string.  This was left outside overnight to process.

In this detail you can see the bits of rust on the fabric.

The fabric dried overnight and I loved the look of the rust particles and the wrinkles when the work is first removed from the paint can.  Of course you can't leave the fabric in this condition as the rust will quickly rust through and destroy the fabric.  I have read somewhere to either soak the fabric in a salt solution or a solution made with water and baking soda.  I choose the baking soda and made a mix of approximately 1 rounded tablespoon of the baking soda in one gallon of water.  I rinsed the fabric in plain water first, soaked the fabric in the soda solution for an hour and then washed the fabric with soap until the water was clear.  My understanding is that even with this "deactivation" process the rust process never really stops so the resulting fabric is not archival.

detail of two pieces of fabric

I liked the first piece so much I repeated the process on a second piece of fabric both which are pictured side by side in the above photo.  My photos do not show the richness of the background or many of the very subtle markings.  The color is rich and natural.  I don't have any specific plans for this fabric but I loved the immediateness of the technique and the always exciting element of chance.

***

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the warm weather to work outside!

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Keeping and Eye On Things

Framed

I'm up in Auburn, New York for a few days teaching a new class titled Line As Language and participating in the opening events for Quilts=Art=Quilts at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center so I thought I'd just share a photo I took last weekend.  Tom installed a beautiful new wall of shelving in the studio.  You can see him sanding outside looking in through the window.  I look forward to filling them with all the things that collect in a workspace: books, small tools, stacks of paper, jars of pencils, boxes of markers, packing supplies, cloth, brushes, did I say books? etc.

See you next week!

***I made it home Sunday evening and the flights were all jammed with people trying to get
out of the path of SANDY.

I am thinking of all my friends in the Northeast who will be dealing with this huge storm.
Stay safe. 

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Getting "Into" Your Studio

Wet Studio Ready for Action

What does it take for you to get into your studio. Of course what I'm talking about is the process you develop for settling your mind and focusing on your work. After many years of working in the studio most artist do find that they have certain things they do either consciously or unconsciously which allows them to push the clutter of day-to-day life aside and begin their work.

Creativity is a tricky thing. Good ideas often seem to just pop into your head but I believe they "pop in" because you are never mentally far away from your work. However, sometimes the ideas just aren't flowing or you have some issue in a piece that you are having a problem with so you can't just head to the studio and start work. This is a time you may require what Twyla Tharp calls the creative habit. Tharp applies this phrase to many parts of creative endeavor but here I'm just talking about what you need to do to release the outside world and get to the work at hand.

For myself, I find I have to have some sort of order in my studio. I am a casual housekeeper. I don't run around picking things up and dusting and doing whatever good housekeepers do but there is a certain level of order I require for living and for working in my studio. I have to have some clear table space. I have to be able to walk around the room freely without tripping over a pile of fabric. I have to be able to believe I can find a pair of scissors without much effort. When I start to realize things are getting too far out of control, then I stop and take the time to put things back in order.

Quilting Room Nice and Orderly

What else do I do? I check my email. I sometimes have a cup of tea and sit in the space and look at whatever I have on my design wall, be it a piece in process or some scrap of paper I have put there that interest me. I may flip through a book, a magazine or an old sketchbook. I might do some thumbnail sketches or sort fabric. Recently I have started playing a lot of music which has been a joy. For years I have worked in silence and I do enjoy silence, but music has entered my head and it has become an element in finding that blessed zone where I can work on my art.

Sometimes, toward the end of a piece when I can see that it is coming together, I can't take time to straighten things up. I keep working until the piece is finished. But before something new can begin I have to clear the decks.

If you have never considered what you do to get your creativity in gear, I encourage you to observe yourself and practice building habits which will strengthen your studio experience and the resulting work.

Thank you for spending time with me and your comments are always welcome.

Work In Progress

This morning I am doing the quilt work on a new piece. I use a Hinterberg Weekender machine which has a 10" arm and I also use a Hinterberg standard frame. It is a relatively inexpensive setup and works nicely. You can see my birds in the background. They give free advice.

Studio 225

My husband and I live in a small college community in a wonderful old cottage style house. Our house number is 225. The main floor has high ceilings and generous sized rooms. The most difficult part of the style is that there are very few walls without large windows, doors or fireplaces. We both make art and even though we each have studio space in this house we needed a different type of space for certain processes. Tom, my husband, found wonderful plans for a garage which just fit into the space behind our house and the service street which runs behind us. Because it is a garage, the types of oversight that was required was less strict and it has a wonderful garage door for moving large objects in and out. Tom , with very little help, built the structure over about 10 months and it is wonderful. No more pots of dye everywhere in the kitchen or the splatters and stains that go with that. I have a place to do all sorts of wet work and even enough room to have another person work along with me. Tom can build stretcher strips and frames without getting rained on. Amazing.

Work Table Magic

Having the right furniture, equipment and tools for a working studio is "Magic". I work in three separate studio spaces, two of which are in my home and one is in a studio building which my husband who is also an artist, build for us about a year ago. We are still in that mode of getting settled and comfortable and yesterday we added a wonderful new 4' x 8' work table so that I can better work on a series of wall pieces which are all roughly 7+ feet square. Prior to this I would have been trying to square up my finished work on a 6' x 30" table which is very difficult at best. I use one of my spaces for my mid-arm sewing machine and frame and the other space is where I cut, piece and construct my textile pieces. I spend a great deal of time in one studio space or another and if I am not there you can be sure I am thinking of my studio and what I will be doing there soon.