Twisted Textiles

All dressed up with lots of places to go!! Our family ventured over to Ohio for the Ren Fest a few weekends ago, so I just had to share a few pics of the costume that I whipped up for the occasion.

Our family hadn’t been to the festival before, so I didn’t know what to expect…but I was very excited to see that lots of other people were all decked out, too!

Since I didn’t have time to get all historically accurate with my attire, I had to settle for making the “vest” part of my dress from a pirate costume pattern.The fabrics I used are from a new shipment straight from my mom’s attic—because isn’t that always the best place to find cool stuff anyway?! The lace trim was a spool that I had bought years ago on clearance. The cream ruffled dress that I’m wearing with it was my Aunt’s (it required quite a bit of hemming) and the over-skirt probably belonged to my other Aunt. Since I already had the pattern, the fabrics, the D-rings and the ribbon…the only thing I spent to make this costume was TIME!

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Novi, Michigan (Sept. 28-30, 2007)
I came, I saw…I didn’t exactly conquer, but I learned a lot and had some great experiences. A Gazillion (approximately) Midwestern women can’t be wrong, right?!

Photos:

• A shot of my quilt on display (with a winner right above it).
• My favorite entry from the competition, by Cindy Cillick Geist.
• Me messing around with paints in the Faux Batik class, instructed by Ginny Eckley.
• A cute plastic apron from an exhibit about antique aprons (private collection).
• New felting supplies…dyed alpaca wools and my “starter project” in progress.

Overall, I was happy with the balance of topics covered at the expo. As this was my first year, my mother and I attended all three days, Fri. Sat. and Sun. (there were additional all-day, pre-show workshops on Thursday that we decided to skip this time). We took a lot of classes, so we had to find time for the “vendor floor” in-between, but I think we got to see everything we needed in the amount of time that we had.

Some of the instructors were top-notch…excellent speakers, very knowledgeable, and sometimes entertaining (like the people from Simplicity, and also Kaye Wood) but others were downright unprofessional. I was very pleased with most of my classes, and even if I wasn’t impressed by all of the instructors, I at least left each class having learned one thing.

I would like to have seen more focus on high-quality arts (not just crafts), and maybe just a few more vendors with really great things for sale. There were also some organizational problems with class registration, but next year I’ll know how to plan around it! I also didn’t get into any of the shibori classes that I wanted (even though we pre-registered online!)—but despite the few frustrations, I think I’ll give it another shot next year.

We didn’t have time to see any of the fashion shows, but that’s okay. I went in with very high expectations for the fashion/clothing sections of the expo, and didn’t see much in that area that either caught my eye or made me think. But we ARE talking about Michigan here folks, not Paris, France! (Not that I’ve ever actually been to Paris, but you get my drift.) I will definitely have to enter more contests next year. In fact, I’m putting it on my calender this very moment!

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Recycling is great, but recycling with art is better!

The Recycled Matter(s) exhibit at the Lexington Art League is drawing to a close, which means that the “4th Friday” Gallery Hop in Lexington tomorrow (Friday, Aug. 24th) is one of the last chances to see it in full swing! It runs through Sept 2nd, so if you’re in the area, you know what to do! The exhibit opening reception was last month on July 27th. (Whew—and what a really great time we had!)

Among the fabulous selection of recycling-themed works by locals artists is my “Plastic Ball Gown”–a women’s size 5 historical gown, made from sheets of recycled blue plastic and displayed with a corset made from 225 mustard packets. Please visit the Lexington Art League’s website for more info about the show, or visit my Blog post to read more about the actual artwork that I’ve contributed to this exhibit.

As I said, the opening was a blast, with lots of music, general silliness, and a great crowd. Everyone had a different favorite artwork…for instance, our youngest loved a very large (think “filling up half of your living room” large) hanging mobile. Each section had a natural wooden weight paired with a metal weight, and they were placed so that they perfectly balanced each other. The woods used were beautiful. I believe the artist was Russell Deedes Lloyd. And did I mention that it was ginormous?

My brother-in-law raved over Paula Whitaker’s The Alien Meets the Mermaid, a creative mixed-media/found object diorama with great narrative potential.

On October 13th ‘07, the Lexington Art League will host “Art Fever” which includes a reverse raffle of the artworks on display. I’ll be donating a work of art to this exhibit, so stay tuned for more details about this event!

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This past weekend was the Francisco’s Farm Arts Festival at Midway College (in Midway, KY). I spent Sat. & Sun. afternoon painting “en plein aire” out in front of the Damselfly Gallery…there was lots of sun and company on both days. Saturday’s painting was in oils, and Sunday’s was watercolor—when the oils are dry in a few days, I’ll provide better pictures, which you’ll be able to see in the Gallery here.

After I was done painting on Sunday, we gathered up the family and took a stroll over to campus, where we visited the many other artists booths. Of course there was lively music and some fantastic weather, not to mention an incredible diversity of artwork! We watched Jennifer Zingg give a demo of her gourd-working techniques. I also was intrigued by the collage works by Kathleen O’Brien, and spoke to her to learn a bit about her materials.

(Here’s our youngest checkin’ out some prints, and there’s me admiring the work of Dan Neil Barnes.)

Me? Well, I’ve never done a “show” before, and it still seems a bit intimidating. But I bet I would have fun doing one…provided I ever got to the point where I had enough work to fill a whole booth by myself!

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