Around Town

NYSID: Jack Lenor Larsen

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Last month New York School of Interior Design had an exhibition on Jack Lenor Larsen who was a prolific textile designer who started his career in the 50's. Here are just a few shots of the panels they had on display. Unfortunately my photos don't do them justice. This a gorgeous batik that references waves:

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I could stare at this one for hours and I'm not entirely sure why:

I love the diagonal lines formed on this one. It got me wondering how I could create something like that on my own loom:

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And this last one features a hand painted warp. Lovely!

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Craftland!

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So as many of you know, I've been telling you that I'm applying to craft fairs and the like, but the reality is I've chickened out a little. It just seems so... intimidating. I mean, you need so much stuff - tables, chairs, canopies, and a way to transport all of it from A to B. Just thinking about it makes me anxious and my head starts to hurt.But I've heard from other artists and crafters that it's a must for growing one's business. So I branched out in August and applied to a place called Craftland! Why this one? Baby steps, people. Bear with me. It's a consignment craft fair in Providence. I send them stuff, they sell it for me, and for their troubles they get a portion of the profits. What a glorious thing.The application process was relatively easy and luckily I got in! I was super thrilled when I heard. Since it's so big (160 crafters) they asked for specific items and in this case my e-readers. So I streamlined what I would offer (which was a headache in itself) and sent them off last week. Even if I don't sell any, I figure it's great exposure! The show opens November 23rd, 2012 and if you're in the Providence area, check it out!

New Studio... unpacked!

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Last month, I packed up my home studio into a bunch of boxes and got ready to move into the new space. It was a bitter sweet moment - on one hand I was leaving the safety of my home and sinking a small chunk of change into something that I hoped would jump start my creative endeavor and on the other I was embarking on a new adventure! Exciting! Scary! Many emotions all at once! I packed up everything on a Tuesday in hopes to move on Thursday. I am an extremely efficient packer and mover - no, really, just ask my friends. We joke that if this doesn't work out for me, I could always start my own moving company. As I finished packing each box in the bedroom, I would pile it in the living room with everything else. By the time I was done I had a whopping nine Soap.com boxes full of stuff, plus more miscellaneous items (stools, garbage can, broken down shelves, etc) not to mention my loom. When Tim got home, he looked at the pile and with an extremely worried look on his face and soft tone in his voice asked, "Are you moving out??"

Once I reassured him that no, I was not leaving him and that I was only moving my art stuff out, he relaxed a little, looked around and said, "That's all you own. The only items left in this apartment will be my stuff and your clothes!" How true he was.

The next day I started to plan out the move for the next day. And then Murphy's Law reared its ugly head: I pulled a back muscle. I was so upset, not to mention disappointed in myself. It was bad too - it was hard to move and all I could do was lie on the couch periodically heating, icing and gentle stretching it for two days. The entire time I moaned and wailed and felt sorry for myself. All I wanted was to get this move done and get to working! Instead I healed up for three days, rented a Uhaul that Saturday and Tim helped me move it all in one trip:

Yep, I own way too much stuff. If anything happens to me, feel free to donate to the nearest art center (Textile Arts Center, mayhaps?).

And since then, this studio has been the best thing to happen for my work. I come here every day and stay for at least 8-9 hours with the ability to create and work in private. Adding a daily commute to Queens and the ability to get out of the house has been wonderful. The ability to leave things out without the worrying if the cat will sink her claws into it and ruin it is no longer an issue. Being able to photograph things at any time without having to set up and tear down the space in a short amount of time is invaluable. Each day I look forward to coming here and reflect on how lucky I am to have this opportunity.

 

I'm back (again)!

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Hi all! I know I've been a little MIA as of late, but never fear - I'm back! The BF and I were in Maine for three weeks and it's been crazy since we've gotten back. Very exciting things happening over here, and I'll be updating the blog with some back stories. In the meantime, this is what's been happening! -I just got the new website up and running. Very excited about having all the flexibility I could ever want or desire in something like this. And let me tell you, I learned way more than I ever thought I'd know about HTML and CSS. Good times. Tell me what you think!

-New products that will soon be uploaded to etsy!

-Exciting-life-changing news (involving the BF and myself) - we're gettin' hitched!

So stay tuned for any or all of the updates....!

Botanical Garden

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We discovered the New York Botanical Garden a couple of weeks ago. The boyf's mother came into town for his birthday and she inquired about seeing the Monet Garden exhibit. Neither of us had been there, and it sounded intriguing, so we set out for the Bronx. 

It's hard to express the beauty of it, as cheesy as that sounds. I'm not interested in showing sweeping pictures of the entire exhibit, because that feels wrong somehow. Go see it, if you're in town; it's open until October 21. The greenhouse is amazing. And to have all the flowers in bloom and at the same time inside the greenhouse, well I can only imagine what sort of biological-greenhouse-feat it took to do that. If you go in October, tell me if all those flowers are still magically in bloom!

I fell in love with the crepe-like texture of this Clematis. And I was strangely entranced by the reflecting pools they had.  

Look at the striping on these beauties.

Technically this one isn't part of the exhibit, but I just had to show it. I'm think it's a staghorn fern and it grows from the ceiling (or attached to other plants) in tropical climates. Holy crap. It is so alien. I LOVE IT!

I'm back!

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I know. Radio silence. I'm not really sure what happened, to be totally honest. I'm going to blame it on my bobbin winder breaking. But it's back! And now I'm back! I'm able to weave again. So get ready for it. Whatever "it" is....

Brimfield!

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 I went to the Brimfield show last Friday and picked up a boat load of doilies and a darling green glass juicer. I've been looking for a glass juicer for a while. It's hard to find nice green glass, especially with a sharp reamer, so I snatched it up quickly!