I have a friend who has been urging me to apply for the Sun Valley Arts and Crafts Festival. Applying for this event requires that one goes through all the machinations requirements of Zapplication, which means formatting your photographs, etc. After looking at the list of artists (who wouldn’t like to be in the company of this group of artists?), I applied. One of the nicest rejection letters ever arrived in my inbox. I’m not just “not invited,” I have been “selected as an alternate.” For the CraftTexas show I had to use a different entry process through CaFE. Wish these guys would reach some sort of agreement on formatting photos!

CraftTexas 2010

Purple Haze

September 25-January 9, 2011                                    

Ancient Symbol

I entered three pieces into two different shows, after making sure there would be no overlap. It’s always interesting what gets accepted and what does not. The following two pieces were accepted into the CraftTexas 2010 exhibit. I had entered a piece into this show before with no luck. They require a résumé in addition to the usual artist statement. I have to admit, that I didn’t do much with either of those items that first time, and yet I was still disappointed when I was rejected! Imagine that! Above are the two pieces that were accepted this year.

Fiber Celebration 2010

Journey

Entering the following show was a comedy of errors. The week that the entry had to be submitted was the week that we had our record-breaking snow here in Texas. Snow of any kind is rare, but we had inches and inches at that time. I went to the photographer in the morning when the streets were fine, but by the time I got back to my neighborhood, I got stuck in the snow. With some guidance, I was able to make a wide circle and come down my street from another direction, and park in front of the house. I prepared the CD for mailing, but could not get out to mail it. Thankfully, on the deadline day, I was able to very slowly drive to the post office and mail the CD. For this show, Ancient Symbol and Journey were accepted.

Fiber Celebration 2010

Tointon Gallery for the Visual Arts
Union Colony Civic Center
651 10th Avenue
Greeley, CO 80631
June 4 through July 11, 2010

I love this time of year when the redbuds peak out—from hidden areas along the side of the road and from the woods. As I write, I am listening to the winds blow at about 27 mph. The forecast for tomorrow is rain. The piece above was cut off the loom Wednesday, and I took this picture without consideration of how it will hang. The lime or purple sections will be top and bottom-or bottom and top—don’t know yet. So, turn your head to the side and help me decide which way it should hang. Here it is with lint, warps needing weaving, and hemming to be done.

I think I’m kind of in a funk weaving-wise. Can’t really focus on what I want to do next, so I think it’s break time. Time to tackle other things that are on the list. Maybe repetitive tasks like mowing, pruning, and—gasp!—cleaning will give my mind time to wander and THE idea will pop into my head. But, boy, do I hate to not be weaving!

Here’s the current work as of March 24. I wanted to get a picture before the green went around the bend, so to speak. In the enlarged version, you may be able to discern a row of knots in the green section. Since this piece is fairly small (30 inches), I decided to hem it. The knots mark the line for turning up the hem. Below the real picture is the computer-generated drawing of what the design should look like. As you can see, I am working from top to bottom this time. You may also realize that I decided against doing these in weft-faced ikat. I wanted to get to work weaving right away, not wrap ikat first.  Below is a picture I saw that appealed to me—totally gratuitous—just like the picture.

Path to the Sun, Wall Gallery

This should have been finished at least two weeks ago, but here it is, warts and all. I’m going to tie the warp back on so that I can be ready for the next project, whatever it might be.

Ancient Symbols II, wool tapestry, 22″ x 3752.5″

Ancient Symbols, wool tapestry, 22″ x 46.5″

I’m thinking ikat, at the moment, the same approximate size as this one. I’m continuing with the crosses from the previous pieces, except with weft-faced ikat.

Later, I have some zigzag designs and/or some designs incorporating squares. Zigzags will probably win out.

I’ve decided to play with design elements until the well runs dry—either permanently or temporarily.

David Wharton, my photographer, called and said he had made it to his studio, so I went in earlier than planned. It was exhilarating to not only have these pieces finished, but to have their pictures ready!

As I left, the snow was coming down harder, so I made only one other stop, and headed home. The streets in my little neighborhood had not been traveled, so the going was tough. In front of my house the street is fairly flat, but then starts a hill going down. My driveway is close to the bottom of that hill. I misjudged everything (remember, this is Texas; we’re not used to driving on snow), and couldn’t slow down enough for the turn into the driveway. So, I turned the corner and couldn’t get up the next hill. I backed down, but was afraid that I’d end up in a ditch. While in the process of calling a tow truck, a kind lady stopped and guided me in backing up so that I could make a wide circle around a couple of blocks, then park in front of my house. This kind person used to drive a truck and was very helpful.

This snow-driving kind of put a damper on my exhilaration, but it’s still nice to have all that work over with and the pictures made.

Now for another hard part—thinking of titles. But at least that is something that sits in the mind while sitting at the loom.

Now this is certainly not a great picture, but I’m excited to have these off the loom! They are still joined together, and, as usual, the colors aren’t true in the picture. My time will be spent doing finish work for a while—I’ve got five pieces now that need steaming, and either hemming or needle weaving. I am going to tie the warp back on the loom in the next day or two for the next piece (to be decided). Since I did several designs of about the same sizes, I can tie on and then make the decision of what to weave. And, hey, maybe I should sweep around the loom! I’ve really got to get the finishing done because there are a couple of shows here in Texas that have entries due soon.

Reading (Listening) I’ve finished listening the audio book The Swan Thieves. The book is 565 pages long, and the audio version is 18 hours. It’s a little slow in the beginning and never moves through the plot quickly, but it is interesting. It is about art through a psychiatric patient, his doctor, and the women in the patient’s life. I keep thinking about how I still don’t know how I feel about this book, but the fact that I keep thinking about it tells me something. Have you ever seen a movie that you keep thinking about even though you didn’t like it much? To me, that means the movie was good in the sense that it was thought-provoking.

Now, for a little fun, take a look at these here and here. They are the work of Elaine Bradford—taxidermy and crochet—at the Houston Craft Center.  They’re infectious.  Love the images.