Art Archives - Page 23 of 27 - Sherri Woodard Coffey

Category Archives: Art

Inspiration

The Fort Worth Weavers Guild biennial show is hanging now at the Fort Worth Community Center. For Fall Gallery Night, the crowds fill the halls and galleries, looking at the art and participating in the various food (and drink) offerings for opening receptions. There were many beautiful and interesting works to see, and I got a nice surprise. First, I should explain that in all the guild shows until the last one, there was no judge and/or critique. We started having a judge with the last show, with an emphasis on the critique part. No prizes. I had actually forgotten about the judging, and was very pleased to find that both of my pieces had wonderful handwoven ribbons hanging next to them. The theme for the show is In the Eye of the Beholder. Everyone was expected to turn in an inspiration photo when their work was delivered. Many times the pieces were made, and then there was a desperate search for “inspiration.” This time I was able to follow the directions exactly. Both of my pieces had inspiration.

For “The Zebra in My Head,” I used a really bad picture I took at the zoo. “Zebra” received the HGA award. The other piece, “Headin’ Home” was inspired by all the times I have seen birds either flying out in the morning or heading home to their roosting spot in the evening. By the way, this design is the result of an online class Working in a Series that I took with Lisa Call. I was thinking about the many variations of a line that might be possible, thinking dotted line, and so evolved this design. In fact, I don’t think I’m through with this idea. For the guild show, no work could be larger than 1440 sq in–an unusual parameter for me.

I think about inspiration a lot. Sometimes inspiration comes from a picture, or colors in a painting, a feeling, etc. For me, sometimes inspiration is as mundane as a desire to experiment with a technique. More on that later.

By the way, for a really beautiful tapestry with birds flying, look at the American Tapestry Alliance’s website. There’s a piece by Evelyn Campbell, who won the ATA Award for Excellence in Tapestry. Beautiful!

What’s your inspiration? Or an artist that you admire. What was the inspiration? How was it translated into art?

Lessons

You know that old rock and roll song, There’s a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On? Unlike Jerry Lee Lewis, I need more than one take to get it right. Around here, it’s been a whole lotta learning going on. By the way, the link above takes you to an NPR program, and a really clear recording of the song. Get your energy level up!

While weaving the last piece, my beating seemed to be a bit off, like maybe 1/4 inch from one side to the other. I looked at the notches where the beater hangs and all seemed fine and good, both sides in the seemed to be in the same notch. So, I got out some string and attached to pieces diagonally in the frame. I made sure to mark exactly in equal places on both strings. When I untaped them and compared, they were exactly alike. This was very puzzling, but then I looked at the notches for the beater bar from the side. This is what I found. You may be able to tell that the bar is not actually resting in a notch, but behind the notches. This is what it should look like.

In my ikat world, I am doing some cross shapes in varying shades of rust to be over-dyed. After making the cartoon, I remembered that I am measuring this in what will be 1/2 inches of weaving. Therefore, all the vertical elements of the design needed to be stretched. Added to the cartoon. Then I ran out of one of the rusts that I was going to use. I had some samples of rust that were exactly what I wanted. These are baby skeins that I had experimented with several years ago. This photo doesn’t do the colors justice. Anyway, I dyed some skeins in the same formula. Believe it or not, both photos are of the same yarns. You can see the tied part. Next to it is the skein that should match the left skein in the sample. So lots more dyeing had to be done. I think I’ve got it now, and have decided that I don’t care if I don’t. So there!

Who do you admire?

Who are the people you admire? What’s the first name that pops up?

I haven’t thought about this in a long time, but today I was listening to a recording about creative blocks. One suggestion, before getting to the actual blocks, was to be clear on what your idea of success is for you. Who are the people you admire? Used to be, that when I was asked that question, my immediate response was Margaret Mead. I’m not even sure how I knew of Mead, except that I have a vague adolescent remembrance of reading something about her or by her in a magazine. Later, I could even tell you what I admired about her, even though I didn’t actually know if it was true. I admired her independence, or what I perceived as her independence.

Back to the recording–I have now added Georgia O’Keeffe to my very short list, and again, I think it is because of her independence. And again, I’m really not sure how independent she really was. To me, living in New Mexico the way she did, away from everything, persuing her art, seems independent, even though we know she had relationships and people visiting her in the desert.

Fact of the matter is that I really know practically nothing about either of these women. Maybe it’s time to change that–read a biography, watch a movie. I’ve put on my wishlist a DVD from Amazon about Georgia.

Who do you admire? I don’t know what it means that the first names that pop into my head are dead, but so it is.

Links:

A series of unfortunate events

The colors of the piece that needs its finish work finished. 😉

Friday did not go as planned. Nor did Saturday. The plan had been to finish the finish work, take a picture, and plan for September. Instead, events went differently than planned, starting on Friday, and ending (I hope) Saturday afternoon.

My car is a 2006 Prius, which I love. There have been absolutely no problems (knock on wood!), even though it’s got somewhere around 130,000 miles. It’s been to NM several times, and lots of other places. And now for the saga….

Friday, after leaving a yoga class, the car showed an unusual display, but I thought that I had not done my usual whatever-it-is-that-I-do before starting the car. Move forward to afternoon…I take my mother to the doctor, we go back to her house, I work on her computer issues for a while, go outside to leave, and I can’t get into the car. I thought it was just my key fob needing a battery, so I called the Toyota folks, they directed me to remove the emergency key and unlock the door with it. When I started the car, I got that same strange message from the morning, so I called the service department again. They told me that the message sometimes comes on when the battery goes out and that I should get a jump charge. Jump start? That is the first time I had heard of a second battery! A starting battery! After the jump, I was able to drive home. I backed the car into my carport, you know, just in case. Yep, next morning it was even deader than the day before. My driveway is almost invisible from the street, a kind of country narrow gravel kind of thing, with trees on both sides. Two service tow trunks later, my car was jumped and on the truck to get its new battery. An expensive weekend, but if you amortize the expense over the 7 years of life the battery gave me, not very expensive at all.

Sunday was then devoted to the finishing, steaming, photographing, planning for the next week, and NOT going to the movie at the Modern Art Museum. Oh, and laundry, the usual housework, etc. I am already behind for September, but hey, I am taking yoga again!

Textiles, textiles

Being a little obsessed about it, I went back to the Wari exhibit on Friday, this time getting the recorded tour that goes with the exhibit. Every weaver would enjoy seeing the tapestries in this exhibit, although there are many artifacts to amaze you. For instance, the picture on the cover of the catalogue is actually of a bag of soft leather. You can see the whole bag here. The face is of a stiffer leather that has been molded to the shape of a three-dimensional face. And the little statuette that is kind of THE artifact used most often to publicize the exhibit, is only a few inches tall. The colors of his tunic, face, etc. is made of stones and shells. Truly amazing.

I’ve mentioned before that the weaving is so fine that it is almost impossible to see the joins. The recording said that the warp is horizontal and weft is vertical. Frankly, I’m having a bit of a hard time picturing this since they used backstrap-type looms. The weft is alpaca and is spun very fine, and according to the recording, one centimeter has 100 vertical inches. The colors are still very vibrant. I’m hoping that when I finally get around to studying the catalogue, things will become clearer.

For one more textile related tidbit, the WSJ magazine had an article about a design library with more than seven million textile designs. Although it would be interesting to see, I also think it would be overwhelming. Where to start? Take a look at the slide show for a better idea of what’s there.

In the weaving part of my life, I have made the cartoons for the next ikat piece. In fact, the colors for this piece seem a little Wari-like.

Getting ready

The guild biennial show is coming up soon. The gallery reception will be September 7, Gallery Night. The theme of the show this year is In the Eye of the Beholder. Each item in the show is to include a photo of the inspiration for the weaving. Should be interesting. I love seeing inspiration and process.

When I decided to take these pictures and, I really didn’t realize that they would appear almost identical. They are very different though. Trust me! On the left is the plywood that was being used as my ikat table. After the last measuring/wrapping session of days, I decided something has to change. On the right is the drafting table that has finally been assembled. It’s tall enough that I can stand and work or sit. The top slants to make it easier to reach the back sections more comfortably. This is the desk from World Market–the one the directions said two adults are needed for assembly. I hate that, not being able to do things by myself.

The next batch of yarns are out and ready to be measured in a palette much different than my usual. No bright colors, some shades of beige, rust, and black.

Busy, busy

Blue ikat unwrapped

This week has been crazy busy–lots of finish work, steaming, completing a weaving, making hanging boards–and the house is a wreck. Unwrapping the ikat doesn’t help with the house. That ikat tape clings to everything, so it gets walked to other parts quite easily. And then there’s the party this weekend. And regular stuff, you know, housework, laundry, normal stuff.

The picture on the left has nothing to do with anything, I just liked it. I ran in to get a couple of art things and saw stencils. This one called my name. All the stencils are 6-inch squares and come in everything from swirly whatevers to geometric designs. Have no idea what to do with this one. Guess it might make a cute Día de los muertos card. That would be in my spare time.

Socializing

One of my current goals is to get out and socialize more. Frankly, I really don't want to do that, but the logical part of my brain tells me that I should. As weavers/artists, we work alone. And I like that. The Wari workshop that I went to was a great day for socializing. One of the participants was a friend who was in tap dance classes with me years ago. It was fun catching up with her and meeting her other friends. We had a great table for socializing!***

My sisters and I are giving a party for our niece soon, so there’s the prep for that, but after the party, I am going to make myself get out on a Friday and join a docent tour of the Wari exhibit.

The Kimbell has been showing films about Peru in conjunction with the Wari exhibit. Sunday there were films about weaving and music which were very interesting. Of course I wanted the weaving film to be longer! The weavers in the film use a warp dominant weave structure on their backstrap looms, which involves pick up to make the pattern. One of the weavers used a discontinuous warp method, using a center bar to wrap the warp. One half of the warp is wound onto the front bar to the center. Then the weavers move to the other side and wind the warp from what might be the back bar to the center bar, inserting the new warp ends into the previously wound warp. This warp is a different color than the first warp. Here is a You Tube video of the pick up weaving, but not with the discontinuous warp. You can see a project on Weavolution here that illustrates the discontinuous warp technique very well and another more detailed explanation is here. The weavers in the film are a group that still utilizes the ancient methods and designs from centuries ago. They live in a very isolated part of Peru close to the coast, taking their alpacas into the mountains daily.

***I have no idea what happened with the text here, but I’m not going to puzzle over solving it any longer. :))

Wari

My book

Wari and pre-Columbian designs from what is now Peru have long been an interest of mine, so the Friday workshop at the Kimbell was greatly anticipated.

A few of the tables set up for work.

Here is a quote about the workshop:

Up-close examinations of intricate Wari textiles and other luxury goods from ancient Peru will direct our hands-on exploration of color, repetition, and alternation in symbolic patterns. Offered in conjunction with the exhibition Wari: Lords of the Andes. (The highlighting is mine.)

That is exactly what we did. After a brief introduction of the program, the docents led groups of “students” to particular items, with an emphasis on textiles. I wish I could post pictures about the exhibit, but I will have to post links instead and pictures of my book. (I’ll explain why no pictures at a later date.)

What I wish is that everyone could see how fine the tapestries are. The yarns used must be absolutely tiny! And of course, they were spun with a drop spindle. The other observation about the weaving is how the pattern bands line up perfectly, even though they must have been woven at different times and probably by different weavers. I have trouble with that when the weaving must be symmetrical. The colors are still beautiful even though natural dyes such as cochineal are used.

Here is a link to the Kimbell page about the exhibit. At the top of the page there is a slide show of a few of the pieces. Of interest to us fiber people are the two right and left stationary pictures. That brightly colored piece is really quite large in the exhibit, It is woven in about 6 inch squares, then tie-dyed. Yes, tie-dyed! After the dyeing, it is put back together to form the whole. Here is a picture from my catalog.

From my book

In order to understand more about the patterns and color repetition, I am going to have to read the catalogue, in which there are drawings to help explain more about the symbols and patterns.

A tale of two blues…

The next piece has been decided, yarns chosen, and warp tied. In fact the first couple of inches have been woven. After the first section, will be two broad (9-inch) stripes of some sort of blues. I finally decided that they are in the turquoise category and planned what to dye. One of the stripes will be a darker, turquoise-y color as in the top left in the picture. I want the other color to be lighter. On the bottom left is a color that appears lighter, but also may be too blue to suit me. It’s dyed with a 50/50 combination of turquoise and blue, so I decided to up the turquoise and dye a 60/40 combination. The darker turquoise has a bit of black in it, so I’ve got another pot going with that combination of colors in the same proportions, but instead of a 1% dye, I’m going with 1/2 of that. In decimal land, a place where I pretty much remain a stranger in a strange land, that would be 0.005 instead of 0.01–I think. At least it will be easy to over dye the experiment if needed. Oh, and that other ball of yarn on the lower right–it was dyed just like the top left one, but in a different pot. That’s what they mean when “they” say make sure you get enough yarn in the same dye lot.