A Mystical figure commission - almost completed..

 As I mentioned in my last blog, there has been a figure in my

studio  for a while, waiting patiently for finishing touches. The 

order was placed  at ACC Baltimore in February, with no specific

deadline for completion ...although  I had been aiming for the 

customer's birthday in late August.  He generously  told me not 

to compromise my grandparenting duties in  order to finish and

added:   "Time might just be a sales promotional thing for watchmakers." 

I do try to meet deadlines, but certainly appreciated the 

freedom this time around, especially for this type of figure. 

My notes on the order stated:  commission for  a "mystical" 

standing figure about 26 " tall, with a staff ,ceramic heads, hands, 

feet, lots of color. He had admired my figures for a long time,

and realized I was moving in new directors so if he wanted one,

he'd  better act soon.  He told me he liked lots of things, including

ships, but left the details to me.

It's been fun revisiting this type of work...and realizing how 

connected I still feel to it.  Circling back has been instructive.

 I realize what I have learned in recent years re armature (the

figures are more sturdy now) and made me think again about

story being at the core of  my art. 

In my last blog, I  promised some process photos.   The 

figures begin with sculpted fire and glaze clay parts, wire,

polyester, thread and muslin:   

 
After creating the basic figure, I started looking around the
studio to see what textiles and leathers I had to create a
mystical look.  The materials have a magical way of just
being there...waiting...The top of a heavily embroidered hat
seemed just right for vest embellishment:

An old quilted and embroidered piece was waiting to become

a mystical cape. It just needed some more beads, trim, story items

and a collar made from part of an old embroidered Japanese kimono.

The staff?  Hmm...I wandered in our yard looking for an 

appropriately twisted stick..found a dead branch on our curly

willow just the right size...and saw a bird skull that I had picked

up on the beach during a writing retreat sitting on the shelf at

my work table....It fit exactly on the top of the branch.  

At little carving of the wood, a little stain and paint..and it was

ready for addition of some silver medallions, beads, leather and

dangles:

Then, of course, no mystical figure should be without a 

book of spells...

or nice beaded sandals:

A leather mask seemed in order:

oops...can't forget that mention of ships. A little embroidery
on the back of the suede coat would be a nice surprise:

And so the mystical figure has emerged.. Folks will be able

to see the almost finished figure at Roxbury Open Studios

this weekend. (October 5-6) at my home studio.  I'll work on

his name and legend this weekend.

 

I'll undoubtedly add a few more details next week, then take
him out to be displayed in the special "Hocus Pocus" exhibit
at the Paradise City Arts Festival in Northampton next weekend.
I'll be in booth #805 at the festival with all my other work..
some inspired by this guy (including some miniature mystical
books.)  I hope to get a good photo of him at the festival. I'll share
that in my next post.

On return, I'll pack the figure up...and he will journey to his new
home and greet my very patient customer.

Here's hoping some of you are able to stop by my studio this
weekend or my booth next weekend in Northampton!

Adventure on!   Wendy

Summer "Nana art camp"

Family time is precious. With this in mind, I made the decision to
spend this  summer enjoying children, their spouses, and our 7
grandchildren rather than travelling to outdoor art shows.   One
daughter and her family live in Ecuador now, but came up for the
summer. We came together in New York, Virginia and
Massachusetts enjoying each other, including cuddling
two new grandbabies.

Here in Boston while our 8 year old grandson was at Taekwondo
camp, his 5 year old sister, Eliana, who tells everyone she is an
artist, requested "Nana art camp". Their parents were busy
launching a  new non-profit library and literacy project. (Stay
tuned for more of  that in future blog posts.)
Here are images and descriptions of some Nana art camp
activities.  We covered lots  of  media and took field trips
for extra inspiration.

Clay - experimenting with textures, balls, and making coil pots

After firing...we opted for painting with acrylics, rather than glazing:

One finished tall coil pot:

Mixed media sculpture - a walk around the neighborhood, and
search in my  studio resulted in this stone/wire/bead creature:

Two field trips to the Museum of Fine arts provided lots of
inspiration.  Eliana's brother joined us for the trip to see the
Samurai armor exhibit: http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/samurai
to see  incredible craftsmanship in leather, wood and bronze.
The dragon mask below was made to be  worn by a horse.

Eliana and I checked out the Hippie Chic exhibit:

.http://www.mfa.org/exhibitions/hippie-chic Eliana
imagined her Nana wearing some of the outfits. (Somehow
some of the  outfits  didn't seem too far off today's garb.)
Though I have to admit I never felt quite as stylish in
the 60's as the models looked and didn't have white hair.

Eliana spent a long time looking at shapes and sketching

dress designs, and choosing her favorites. She finished

the design below back at home:

Looks like one I might have worn...or might now.

We stitched up a new "work" dress for her doll.

Every artist needs a place to store things. A painted plastic box
was perfect to keep a few items found in my studio to take back
to Ecuador to continue to working there.

Learning about promotion is important for aspiring  artists
so I encouraged  Eliana to design and decorate her own
business cards:

Then she decided she needed a  leather card holder.

 Well...yes it did look like the ones I make. She saw me working
and asked me to show her hot to make them.As you can  see in the
photo above with the cards..she added her own style and color to
the finished holder. I was sorry this skillful apprentice couldn't
stay around to help with my inventory this Fall.

Another field trip to a neighborhood site  which was filled with
large paintings and sculpture this summer offered further
 inspiration:  http://bartlettevents.org/  You never know what
awesome art might be just around the corner!


We pulled in Grandpa and brother, Joaquin, for some of the fun there:

Back in the studio...creatures roamed

and emerged . "Alice, the dragon" came to life

with Alice's story, of course:

It was a wonderful summer....

Now back to a usual Fall schedule...and catching up on some

of my overdue business orders....including the creation of

a standing mystical storyteller....Next post I'll share some

process photos of him.  He's been patient this summer...

evolving slowly, but ready to be finished now...

Then Roxbury Open Studios, Paradise City Northampton,

and the American Fine Craft Show NYC...all in October!!

I hope you all had wonderful summers....

Adventure on.  Wendy

New sculptures and books emerging in the studio

October - Open Studios and Fall shows. 

I've been having fun working on new creatures and new book designs,

including the one above who facebook friends have so far identified as

a unicorn, a fire breathing deer, and dragon. We'll see what folks think

during Roxbury Open Studios this weekend. Studios are open 11-6 both

Saturday, Oct. 6 and Sunday, Oct 7.  Map and complete info for 

Roxbury Open Studios at: Discovery Roxbury.org

Besides lots of finished work, people who visit my studio

will see new creatures in various stages of

completion. Including this dragon rearing on its hind legs.  

And these figures....which started as dancing wire armatures...
Next the wire was wrapped with polyester and that covered
with muslin..and beaks added. Leather, beads and wings
will follow.

One last "before" photo for you. This shows what
is beneath the leather of the cover at the top of this
post. Pieces of bark and wood are glued down as I
begin to visualize the final design. But until the leather
is on, I never know exactly what the final  piece will look
like.  I enjoy being surprise.  Who would ever guess it
might be a fire breathing deer!

Hopefully many of the new creatures will be finished for my next show
American Craft Show NYC Oct. 19-21.  Next post I'll share the
final appearance of at least some. Definitely a couple new
species in the works, so I'm hoping they'll tell me their stories.

Happy Fall  - Please drop by my studio or the NYC show if you're
in the area!

Adventure on! Wendy

Movement, Motion and Meaning in Boston Area Exhibits

 

 So if I need a wheelchair someday, I'll have David Lang design one like
this for me. Title: Deadelus on the other Hand.  It's part of his and
 Virginia Fitzgerald's exhibit  "Upon Further consideration: What tells a
Story" at the Carney gallery of Regis College  now until October 27. I've
been aware of both of their work for some time, but this was the first
time I had the fun of seeing so much gathered together and playing of
each other...which they do beautifully.....

As the show title indicates, this is a show filled with story and meaning.

Here's David with his piece: "If shoes could talk":

And talk they do thanks to speakers in the piece.   Most of David's other
pieces tell their stories through motion..activated as you approach the
pieces.Such as this piece, titled: "When the Castinetti Sisters First
Learned to Fly" :

 The materials Virginia makes her pieces from tell a good part of their
 stories, enhanced by form.  Below: "Dress of Etiquette" - made from a
shredded copy of Emily Post which Virginia said she received as a
wedding present and thoroughly enjoying tearing up.

 

The piece below called "Treacherous"  is made of wooden skewers,
wire, masking tape and broken mirrors. -Made from  "the feeling you
are overwhelmed with  responsibilities and are just keeping things
together - a dangerous game":

I recommend trying to get out to experience the exhibit as well as
checking out David and Virginia's website and their  blogs to learn
about them and their journeys.   You can see the movement of David's
pieces on his website, but in person is always better..  Both artisst keep
very busy with exhibits around the area.  There is a collaborative
installation called Birds of Poetry by Virginia flying in the atrium of
the Attleboro public library.

   Finally, I want to lift up one other exhibit - the Os Gemeos exhibit at
Boston's  Institute of Contemporary Art.  I went a few weeks past and
the images from the work are definitely still present for me...awake and
in my dreams.   The exhibit is there until Nov. 25th.  I could go on and
on about the work of the Brazilian urban artists, Otavio and Gustavo
Pandolfo, but will leave you just with this one image and story it
brings forth. Title of this piece is: " No Fundo de Mar E Respirar Mas
Facil" (In the Depth of the Ocean, it's Easier to Breathe")

and encourage you to see the exhibit if you possibly can.

Now back to my studio to work on sculptures for Roxbury 
Open Studios Oct. 6-7 and for the Oct. 19-21 American Craft
Show NYC. 


Adventure on!   Wendy

Open Studios - Andy Moerlein and Donna Dodson

Fall in Boston is all about open studios events. Almost every
weekendyou can wander and relish the amazing art community
in our midst. Last weekend studios were open and tents appeared
in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Since I was blitzing for
Roxbury Open Studios, I couldn't wander too much, but did
manage to get over to see a few friends and finally meet sculptors
Donna Dodson and her partner Andy Moerlein. I've been on
Donna's email list for a while, but our schedules never connected.
Andy came down from New Hampshire for the weekend, so I
had the opportunity to talk to both and see some of their work
and to hear a bit more about their residency in Verbier,
Switzerland creating monumental on a mountain top! The
project is written up in Andy's blog: http://andymoerlein.blogspot.com/
and Donna's:http://www.donnadodsonartist.blogspot.com/
The image above (taken on my phone) is a close up of the base
of one of Andy's large pieces displayed outside. I'm drawn in by
the mythic core of their work, and strong bird imagery in Andy's.
I look forward to staying connected.

This weekend is Roxbury's turn - my neighborhood. Complete
info at: http://www.discoverroxbury.org/roxbury-open-studios
Discover Roxbury has used my eye journal image to connect
with their phrase "All Eyes are on Roxbury Open Studios."

Four days of events begin with tonight's showing of
"Waste Land": http://www.wastelandmovie.com/ at the School
of Art and Design - The film documents the journey of artist
Vik Muniz from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil
where he involves workers at the world's largest garbage dump,
Jardim Gramacho, just outside Rio to create art. If you haven't
see this film, I definitely recommend it. It's a testimony to the
transformative nature of art.

Tomorrow we have our festive opening/reception at the
National Center for African American Art : http://www.ncaaa.org/
and Saturday and Sunday studios and venues will be open from
11-6. A dragon will greet you as you enter my home studio
and other creatures and books welcome you in, including this
guy who just showed up, asking " Will I see You?" I hope so!



Some new storytellers also appeared this week...images of
them in my next blog. After Open Studios, I'll pack up
everything to go to Northampton next weekend for
the Paradise City Arts Festival: http://paradisecityarts.com/
Hope to see some of you here in Roxbury or in Northampton!

Adventure on! Wendy