Happy Year of the Dragon!!!!!!!

Yes! The year of the Dragon! One of my favorites. I do a whole series of tapestries based on Feng Shui 

   
( let me know if you want to special order one, all sizes welcome for commission),          


                        and the dragon is one of  the most used "cures". Here are a few of mine.

Accomplishments for 2011 were many, 3 pieces accepted for a public Art competition, 2 solo shows, 2first prize awards, over a dozen new tapestries created and over 20 sold.

Of course there were many setbacks and problems, a studio flood, a home burglary, a husband falling off a roof ( he survived with only 3 broken ribs, lucky) 

and my poor website person was diagnosed with leukemia which has delayed our plans for revamping my website, which we are finally back to. The domain is now registered to me and we are switching to a Wordpress site so I can add and edit at will.

But since I haven't posted to the blog since november I better get back to it if i want to keep up  to date.

I'll announce it when it's all ready

                                                                                       Back to the new year,I prefer this Lunar New Year to the Solar one , which is just too close to all that Christmas etc stuff and the end of the year. Speaking of christmas here are some pics of our tree this year,we bought a tree cutting permit at the Jemez Cultural Center ,drove up through the beautiful snowiness, then hiked in to pick and cut the tree.   

 Since the middle of December  I have completed 3 large tapestries, 2 medium sized ones and 4 10"square "smalls" here are the smalls and mediums in progress . I think I was too busy weaving away to document the large ones

 These are from a new show i am putting together  called "NEW MATH" where i am revisiting m "Universal Language Series, doing some previous designs in different colors as well as exploring some early female geometers and new fractal patterns. Sick at home today, so instead of my usual, "Back to the Loom" It's, back to finishing the little straightline spirals (left0, take a nap, work on website, take a nap, post on TAFA http://www.tafalist.com/, take a nap.

On Being Busy!

Yes , being busy is a good thing but there is that saying. "Too much of a good thing" I've finally finished with most things, work and Life. Shutting down the pool and the garden which was extremely productive. I became a mini farmers market to friends , ate fresh salad everyday , April to November 2cd. I picked the cute little pie pumpkin and it's waiting for my daughter, the baker of the house, to make it into Thanksgiving pie. The zucchini really got away from me with giants hiding under huge leaves. Ate lots of zucchini bread.Yesterday I roasted the huge tomatillos and picked fresh celantro that hadn't frozen and made some yummy ,all from the garden , salsa. 
Then I packed up two boxes of these green tomatoes to ripen throughout the winter.

 I had to reinstall one of my Public Art pieces as the state changed their guidelines. And the installer for the St Vincent Hospital put it up upside down and had to redo it.Here it is right side up. Oh the trials and tribulations! Which continued as the state government was bogged down and it took 2 months to get paid.
But I soldiered on , weaving another big piece in my Fracture Square Series. Here are some pic's of it  in progress. I took these photos partly to keep track of those pesky beginnings that get all rolled up . It's 77" long so a lot of rolling happened. A little warp was left after this piece so I quickly made 2 little pieces for the Weems Artfest.

Here is Ida, who helped last year, helping me hang the pieces. Sold most of the little pieces but this year no one took home a big tapestry . One year at this show I sold nothing at the show itself but actually had my best show because of the large number of orders. So now I wait. But I was awarded one of the 10 BEST of SHOW blue ribbons for this Red Fractured Square so that was very nice, especially when you think of the 220 other artists,showing paintings and sculptures as well as clothing and pottery etc, and that they pick just 10 pieces of art.And here is a cool picture my husband took with his new I phone. He scanned the booth taking almost a video and then it compressed them all. I had about 5 different facial expressions. I want my picture to be taken like this always!

Now I must put on a new 10 yard warp that should last 3 months or so. I made the two chains and now must tie knots to the dummy warp and beam on. Gallery sales have been good this year and they are running out of my long skinnies ( running out of runners so to speak) So I'd better get going on those as well as getting started on a possible show of new math pieces ( to be entitled "NEW MATH") and I'm teaching a Tapestry Class at the Village Wools here in Albuquerque in December- January, so I will soon be too busy again.

and so back to the loom!

Dog Days of Summer ( I mean really!)

Dog Days of Summer ( I mean really!) 
What does the dog days mean? I immediately think of way too hot and way too tired! And I "ve come to the conclusion that 2 solo exhibits and one Art Fair weekend may be my limit. I am too tired and too hot!
We are over 4" behind in rainfall here and we are in the high desert so that is a lot to be this far behind. So it's me out there in the garden watering morning and night. The lettuce only just bolted and there are still peas on the vines, feels a bit miraculous. The tomatoes are ripening and the squashes are coming on a bit too strong so it's time for the annual garden gifting to begin. I managed to save some carrots from my grand daughter who just left from  a surprise week long visit, ( I thought she was coming the next week). She delighted in the surprise of  not knowing how big they might be, some were small but they did need some thinning. She also finished her shawl that she wove start to finish on a Easy Weaver that I found at the Thrift Store for 10 bucks, 
( it came with 10 stick shuttles so a true bargain!) Here's a pic of her wearing it.(right)
She even learned the finishing technique quickly  and finished it herself. She was very proud and I am too as you can tell.
  








 Here are some pics of my show at the Jonathan Abrams Gallery at the UNM Hospital.And you can see a pic of the reception in the news article below them.As you can see it is an interesting venue , being in essence a long hallway. You rarely get to see your own work this way  and I was happy for the opportunity.
 Exploring a new venue means reaching a whole new group of people and in this instance it means potential clients who usually are too busy for artfairs and galleries.I've already had contact with a few Doctors and Nurses, some who are interested in particular pieces and some who just wish to express their appreciation for the beauty my work has brought to their workplace. This venue is especially gratifying in that patients are constantly going through the space everyday and I,ve received several thank you's from them for having raised their spirits.
Here are some links to some press the show received as well as an article from their in house press.
http://hsc.unm.edu/som/medicine/recognition.shtml
http://www.local-iq.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2064&Itemid=55

  Remember that the Taos Wool Festival is coming up so If you know someone or are someone who wants to explore an easy to learn style of tapestry, ( that can be done on a Baby Wolf type Loom for heavens sake)
using a floor loom and exploring a less is more style of design please recommend my workshop at the end of September. It's a great deal for a 5 day class, it's always lots of fun and Taos is breathtaking at this time of year!Follow this link to learn all about it and register online, it's easy!
http://www.taoswoolfestival.org/2011-weaving-workshops/
And also do check out the TAFA group, a great international group of fiber artists, of which I am a member. A great group to support and easy to join.Here is their link
http://www.tafalist.com/p/membership.html
and check my previous 2 blogs where I'm offering great deal to help them out a bit.

Here is a new piece from my UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE SERIES "Simple Oscillating Structure- Lattice 1"Hopefully for a solo show next March with a whole new show of Math pieces. I am already booked for 2012 and have a possible solo exhibition with teaching gig possible, out of state for 2013. We'll see if i can shrug off this exhaustion.But since all my galleries are clamoring for new work , I'm going to try and finish this piece today soooooo it's Back to the Loom!!!

More Tapestries for sale!

Yes, again especially for those coming from the TAFA site, but also for anyone interested this piece is from my UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE Series. All about math and math concepts. You can read a bit more about it on my website. This is my interpretation of the ROOT TWO SPIRAL  54"x40 " It usually sells for $4,200  Special sale  price 3,800 and again 10% goes to TAFA , ( see their link in the last post)

Tapestries for sale!

Especially for TAFA a new sale of some of my older pieces that I would love to move to make room for the new. If you don't know about TAFA here is their link    TAFA  and they are a great textile group from all over the world , check them out.

The piece below is from my "Architectonic" series and was originally $3,200 but now , through TAFA I want to move it at a reduced price of $2,800 and I will donate 10% of the sale to TAFA. Go to my website to find out about the details of my tapestries.

"WINDOW LEDGE"   62"x40" Hand dyed wool tapestry, fully finished on both sides , suitable for free hanging, all pieces have finely finished fringe which is looped to fit clear acrylic poles, ( provided) for hanging.

June is almost over! ( and still no rain!)

   Yes it's the end of June, I almost missed a post, yikes . And we have had no rain in recent memory it seems.The fires are flaming and the wilderness burns,WE NEED RAIN! I went to get my vacuum to clean up the ash and there was ash ON the vacuum, I had to clean the cleaning machine!!!!!
But my pond is flourishing and the lilies look happy. In the garden I have to wash the plants off constantly and I have been eating garden salad all month and corn is growing taller.

  May and June were teaching times
with a class at Village Wools, our local yarn shop, with three lovely ladies who requested a class.
Here they are in progress and finished. One student, April,(Top left)
 had some scheduling problems which were fixed by a class
 here at the studio. Here is her first circle attempt.
  There was much discussion recently about where does an artist look for validation? In Guilds, Master programs, the public , our peers? I have had a lot of problems with the so called BIG groups, such as HGA,( a venue I was closely involved with, on advisory board and initiator of their weaving pillar in their exhibit schedule( which no longer exists) was literally stolen during Convergence. Another group enlisted a weaver to teach at one of my galleries and this weaver had just delivered the "cease and desisted" document to my lawyer about a "blatant " ( Lawyer's words) copyright infringement. This same group copied me on a scathing email about my work after I inquired about getting someone from the group to review my Solo Show for their newsletter.
What do you do? The best thing is just to take what is useful to you and leave the rest.Look for professional behavior, act professionally and leave the rest. The hot wind continues to blow here in NM and I keep remembering pruning. The weak limbs fall, the strong persevere. I am lucky enough to have fantastic galleries who appreciate me and marvelous and loyal clients who collect my work.
   And I love my work, the product and especially the process.
Installing the Art is as much of the process as the creation of the tapestry. Here is my wonderful installer, my husband Devendra installing  the tapestry  " Reds, Blacks & Golds, Fractured Square Series" at the Zimmerman library on the UNM campus in Albuquerque.Below is all done ( took us 3 hours whew ! but it's done Yay!)
It was a very busy month and a half since my last post and June was my birthday month ( My Fibonacci Year as I turned 53 in 2011, ..........0,1,1,2,3,5    , any one else with a Fibonacci birthday? If you are my age you did, let me know in the comments box below)  I tried to give my self mini vacations on several afternoons to swim and lounge by the pool. Designed several pieces in the pool! So  was it work?.
But all that lounging has set me back some from getting ready for my next Solo Exhibit at UNM Hospital's

Jon Abrams Gallery July 22cd- September 9th with a reception on July 28th. Designing the card, getting it made, putting my mailing list together all steps in the process and done! YAY!Her are some "littles" for the show and next post I'll show some bigger ones.

And the pieces all need to be delivered on Monday the 18th!?!  Sooo it's Back to the Loom!
 

Finally!!! It's raining in NM and I'm posting a new blog entry!!!

   After more than 100 days with no rain it rained all night and still is though the sun is trying hard to come out. Nothing more dramatic than the light during an intermittent storm at these high elevations. Beautiful!
And I've finally figured out how to post ( with pictures )on this laptop so here goes.
   I have been inordinately busy and of course that led to some kind of bronchitis that I'm just getting over.

I finished weaving all the work for my solo exhibit in Taos NM at the Weaving Southwest gallery on Saturday, finishing,steaming and photography on Sunday and Monday,delivered it  on Tuesday and attended the opening on Saturday. When I got there I was a bit worried as the Gallery Owner, Theresa Loveless, ( Rachel Brown's Granddaughter) was the first gallery owner to take on the challenge of free hanging my tapestries , as I finish the back of all my work. As I walked in I was bowled away by the impact of it as well as the clever use of space she made. Each piece was hung on angle so that each could be viewed on it's own and all were staggered in space to give a beautiful flow.You almost felt as if you were walking past invisible walls, a lovely and natural maze like feeling. All the other artists represented by the gallery were on the wall, artfully arranged in color ways that lent a beautiful background to mine in the center of the room. Here is a link to a you tube video of a portion of the opening .   http://youtu.be/XWY0e_wPAK8      You really feel as if you are there, but no food and the food was wonderful!

(And the fellow

in the traditional long Indian shirt is my husband Devendra, who you will see more of in the next blog or two as we install the pieces that I sold through the NM Public Art Program.)

We had a really successful opening and sold the largest piece in the show! (The one closest to the food table, far right in picture on right).

And since the opening I have been trying to put a new warp on and get ready for my next show (FULL SPECTRUM) which begins July 22cd and will have an assortment of tapestries from my various series with an emphasis on my Feng Shui Series , especially the GREEN WOOD to augment health.
Also I was asked to teach another Beginning Tapestry Class at our local yarn shop, Village Wools so that has been taking my weekends and I have had another new student in the studio. So much work, so little time!
When I went to put on the new warp I saw there was just enough warp left to eke out 4 little 10" square pieces ( I'll try and get some pictures of these for the next post) so I hope to finish those today and get that pesky new warp on soooo BACK TO THE LOOM!