In addition to the scapular, my petite friend brought a deacon stole (she's also a deacon) which was quite a bit too long for her. Fortunately there was an easy way to shorten it at the shoulder seam without interfering with the design. It only took about an hour and I'll be able to return it to her on Sunday. Altogether a very satisfying day.
Today I met with a new friend to discuss creating a scapular for her. She is choir director and organist in a Methodist church, where she wears an alb under a narrow, straight tabard-like scapular--about a foot wide, has an opening for the head, goes over the shoulders and hangs straight with no cincture. When she sits at the organ it hangs straight down in back, very simple and stately. She was kind enough to bring me her red scapular as an example, exceedingly helpful for measurements. So we get to collaborate on a new, white scapular, giving me an excuse to--you guessed it--visit the fabric store in Houston. Yippee! tomorrow I will pick up my granddaughter Catherine, take her to lunch and fabric grazing; maybe I can talk her into coming to Eagle Lake overnight, which would be really fun.
In addition to the scapular, my petite friend brought a deacon stole (she's also a deacon) which was quite a bit too long for her. Fortunately there was an easy way to shorten it at the shoulder seam without interfering with the design. It only took about an hour and I'll be able to return it to her on Sunday. Altogether a very satisfying day.
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I have a collection of photos of this intriguing lady. I met her many years ago when she was quite elderly and not very well. She died shortly after. There was no family. Such a look, though. It feels as though she deserves to be remembered. I'm sure she would want to be. So, in a couple of weeks I'm going to meet with some creative people to talk about her story, to see what insights we can glean, and perhaps to devise some kind of fiber art piece as a memorial. I've never done anything like this with a group before (mostly I'm a hermit)--but I've had these photos in the back of my mind for a long time and they won't go away. When I first went to see her, I was told, "She's very vain." I'm hoping we can come up with better things to say about her. Well, when I said I was finished with the Van Gogh piece, I was slightly mistaken. My next job was to work out a way to hang it up on the wall and get used to it as a decorative piece rather than a project in process. Moved some furniture around and created a display space, installed a couple of good sized screw hooks to put a dowel on, and hung the piece. And immediately discovered that it was unsatisfying. Not sure what was wrong.
So I got out that wonderful shibori purple fabric and made a tunic and slacks to wear at a couple of coming artsy events. I'll get someone to take a picture when I get it on. That gave me time to consider the piece on the wall, and in a day or so I figured it out. It needed lots more holes cut in it. I have been going at the poor thing with scissors for the last several days, and it's much improved. My camera isn't cooperating right now, so I will get a partial photo of this up in a day or two. Think I need to buy a new storage chip. Next: some dyeing, and I think I'll start something small with the shibori remnants. Stay tuned. OK, finished the Van Gogh piece late last night. Label sewn on, hanging sleeve in place, and I think I have snipped off all the thread ends. It's going to be submitted for an exhibit, so I won't post photos yet. But what to start next? Choices: I'm very tempted by the shibori fabrics I bought last Friday--clothing, I think, with a wall hanging from the leftovers. I haven't had anything new for a long time.
Then, I have this large stack of yellow fabrics, both hand dyed and commercial, and I'd like to fool around with them in some sort of wall quilt. I keep going back to a famous painting at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston called "The Yellow Scale" by Frantisek Kupka, a self-portrait done all in yellows, truly a tour de force, and thinking, "What could I do with that idea?" Yellow is such a drama queen (she wrote, sitting in a gold-painted studio next to a gold and red kitchen . . . .) Mark Rothko did a wonderful canvas in yellows with orange and red--don't know the title, but it's at MOMA in NYC and I have a clipping torn out of some magazine that calls me back. It's a lot more compelling to me than his big, dark paintings at the Rothko Chapel. So that idea is noodling. I'll probably make some more yellows later this summer at a dyeing day with friend Pam. Because of course, I need more. Then there are the projects lurking in the stash closet--not even UFOs yet, just ideas I haven't dealt with. One is titled "In Praise of Home Cooking" and so far consists of an old frying pan and an embroidered apron. And I'm committed for a jacket for a family member. And I have a lot of prepared artist canvas left; I'm toying with the idea of learning to paint Yesterday and today were driving days as I visited nearby fiber art exhibitions. Understand that "nearby" is a relative term--nothing is very close to Eagle Lake--so the nearest was in Stafford TX, about 50 miles east of here. Stafford is a suburb of Houston, and the show, "Gone to Pieces" was presented by the Quilt Guild of Greater Houston, a really large guild with many local "bees". I drove over because the show included some hangings from the Tentmakers of Cairo and I wanted to see these up close. (I've written about them in earlier posts, and there's a website about them as well.) It was a fairly predictable quilt show, nicely presented with the usual black drape and pipe arrangement. Most of the quilts were lovely bed-size works, many created for family and friends. You could tell that there had been local workshops on French Braid quilts, and several quilters cited authors or teachers or classes that were the basis for their work. Kaffe Fassett fabrics and designs were popular, as were themes of patriotism, cats, dogs, Christmas, Texas (cowboys, horses, boots, etc.), and flowers. There were only eleven art quilts, sort of off in a corner by themselves, quite interesting but not attracting a lot of attention. The Tentmakers works were in an area with vendors, and they were magnificent. I had no idea the stitching was so fine; graphically they were outstanding. Unfortunately the person who had arranged to show them, Nasreen Saeedi, had many other responsibilities during the show and wasn't able to spend a lot of time in the Tentmakers exhibit. She had several of her own wonderful works on display, won several ribbons, and is very active in the guild. They did have a very good market; once I discovered HMorehead Fabric Design I was lost. Mr. Morehead is a marvelous shibori dyer with very reasonable prices. I had not intended to buy anything (heaven knows, I have enough fabric!) but ended up with two pairs of socks, a tie-dyed bandana, and two large shibori pieces in purple, pink, red, bits of blue and white. Naturally, once I had bought the fabric, I had to visit an excellent batik booth and purchase some prints to go with the stripes. The darker striped piece is silk, and the lighter one is either rayon or cotton, I'm not sure. Not clear what I'll make with these, but it will happen soon. Don'cha love the socks?
OK, that wore me out and so today I drove about 120 miles to College Station to attend two fiber exhibits with seven artists from San Antonio, Austin, and the Hill Country. The first was a local show from the Art Council of the Brazos Valley, "All Things Fiber," which included weaving, rugs, various types of embroidery, knitting, felting, clothing, and paper. Lots of innovation and some truly exquisite needlepoint. Then we had lunch and pressed on toward the Texas A&M campus, where the international exhibit "Beyond Comfort" was displayed in the Stark Gallery. This was sponsored by SAQA, an invitational show where the artists were challenged to stretch beyond their comfort zones. The works were fascinating, utilizing materials like steel plates, CDs, wire, police tape, melted plastic as well as fabric, string and thread. Until you've seen it, you can't imagine what these artists can do to/with fiber. We pretty much had the gallery to ourselves, so we could wander around wondering "how the heck did she do that?", peering up close and trying to figure out the construction methods. This is one of the great things about hanging out with colleagues--you can do more than admire, and nobody says, "That doesn't look like a quilt to me!" |
AuthorBobbe Shapiro Nolan, Fiber Artist in Eagle Lake, TX. Trying to learn to call the sewing room my studio, and myself an artist. I retired after 15 years in hospice nursing--so now I have the time!. Archives
July 2021
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