Sherri Woodard Coffey

I imported all the posts from Blogger, I think successfully. There’s about a kazillion categories, so some editing will be done. Next year….

This picture looked familiar, and so it was. I wrote about Edward Curtis before, but the NYTimes has a review of a new book about him, including a slide show of photographs. Sometimes I think it’s better to not know much about people. Art is much easier to appreciate then. Not true, really, but the knowledge of the person behind the work does influence the emotion that a work can invoke. Or maybe not…what about you?

Moving on to another segment of our history…I love quilts and own some very old ones. I also have quilts made by my grandmother, using scraps from clothing, not only from my dresses, but also from my sisters. However, I don’t think of quilts as a story telling venue.

Back in June (yes, I know, that was months ago), there was a review for an exhibit at the American Textile Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. This exhibit is about textiles from the Civil War era. A quote from the review:

To cut off the Confederate Army from access to new uniforms, tents and bedding, the Union troops even kidnapped female knitters, weavers and seamstresses and deported them northward. “You don’t just let them stay there so they can move a hundred miles south and work in another mill,” said Madelyn Shaw, a curator of the exhibition “Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts & Context in the Civil War,” opening Saturday at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Mass.

Check out the review, because books and another exhibit are mentioned.

Well, I’m going to try out that new blog for a while, see if I can get used to it. WordPress takes a little practice. I can always move back “home” if I need to. Here’s the address: http://sherriwoodardcoffey.com/

This picture looked familiar, and so it was. I wrote about Edward Curtis before, but the NYTimes has a review of a new book about him, including a slide show of photographs. Sometimes I think it’s better to not know much about people. Art is much easier to appreciate then. Not true, really, but the knowledge of the person behind the work does influence the emotion that a work can invoke. Or maybe not…what about you?

Moving on to another segment of our history…I love quilts and own some very old ones. I also have quilts made by my grandmother, using scraps from clothing, not only from my dresses, but also from my sisters. However, I don’t think of quilts as a story telling venue.

Back in June (yes, I know, that was months ago), there was a review for an exhibit at the American Textile Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. This exhibit is about textiles from the Civil War era. A quote from the review:

To cut off the Confederate Army from access to new uniforms, tents and bedding, the Union troops even kidnapped female knitters, weavers and seamstresses and deported them northward. “You don’t just let them stay there so they can move a hundred miles south and work in another mill,” said Madelyn Shaw, a curator of the exhibition “Homefront & Battlefield: Quilts & Context in the Civil War,” opening Saturday at the American Textile History Museum in Lowell, Mass.

Check out the review, because books and another exhibit are mentioned.

Several months ago, I heard about this upcoming exhibition, which did not enthuse me at all. What I was really thinking about was—silly me—how would Frida feel about her belongings on display. Clothing is so personal. I really don’t know why that occurred to me, after all celebrities bare all everyday. And maybe that’s it. Frida was an artist and many artists only want to bare all in their work. But I have to admit, I find these costumes fascinating. And take a look at the boot below, or rather artificial limb. Just that little tidbit means that I’m going to have to read about Frida. Why does she have an artificial limb?

Regional Tehuana dresses used by Mexican painter Frida Khalo are exhibited at her museum in Mexico City. Kahlo’s unique style has long-inspired designers, now 300 items from her wardrobe will make up a new exhibition. Source

An artificial limb with a boot used by Mexican painter Frida Khalo. Kahlo’s unique style has long-inspired designers, now 300 items from her wardrobe will make up a new exhibition in Mexico City.

Google Art Project: http://www.googleartproject.com/artist/frida-kahlo/4130074/ where you can see 22 of her artworks.

Other interesting links:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2213525/Frida-Kahlo-fashion-icon-new-exhibit-reveals-stiff-corsets-skirts-concealed-failing-health.html

http://www.artinfo.com/photo-galleries/slideshow-appearances-can-be-deceiving-the-dresses-of-frida/?image=8

http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/831406/enduring-fashion-frida-kahlos-influential-wardrobe-to-go-on

Detail: The Sources 2, Weaving: combination of warp painting and weft painting hand plied yarn of cotton, silk, linen, and rayon, fiber reactive dyes

Janet Austin posted on Facebook about Fuyuko Matsubara, which led to an hour of perusing not only Matsubara, but other fiber artists as well. All of these are on the World of Threads Festival website. Here’s what Matsubara says about her process:

My weaving process is quite elaborate. I entitle my technique “A combination of warp painting and weft painting.” I weave four white cloths first with my own plied yarn with different fibres. Then I paint with dyes. After washing, I take them apart and put them into one weaving. The images and colours are woven in, rather than on the cloth. It is a complex and time-consuming process and requires a detailed plan. Before I start weaving, I work on drawing and painting in order to develop my imagery.

All I can say is, “Wow!”

Looking through these interviews, I came across Jenine Shereos. Another Wow! is in order here. There are several images of leaf skeletons, which I love. Then I read the materials used. Human hair!

Leaf Series, human hair, 2011 (Photo: Robert Diamante)

The intricacies of a leaf’s veining are recreated by wrapping and knotting together human hair. This complex network of lines mimics the organic patterns found in nature and speaks to the natural system of growth and decay. Allusions to the vascular tissue of plants and the vascular system of the human body exist simultaneously with references to traditional lace-making techniques, Victorian hair jewelry, and the cultural memory of lace.

Notice that she has a leaf series. More about working in a series later.

Since education is on my mind, thought I’d mention a couple more. I mentioned the Khan Academy before. They have an Introduction to Art History section. Even though the topics look really interesting, they are videos. I would much rather read than watch a video on my computer. But I may force myself to watch one called The Skill of Describing. I really don’t know, but I’m hoping that it’s a “talking about art” video. Which brings me to another topic.

Structures #98
©2008
29″ x 30″
$2800
Available at Bluestone Fine Art Gallery

I have recently been taking a class from Lisa Call about Working in a Series. You can see what is included in the eight week workshop by following the link. Lisa provided lots of information about various artists and their works in a series. We were also given assignments based on design principles and some questions about the process and the design we ended up with. Through this process, I have ended up with several designs I like and the possibility of doing a series. And this brings me full circle back to the first paragraph: I learned that I don’t know how to talk about art, how to analyze and critique, not just my art, but other art as well. Now, generally, I find artspeak silly, but some standard vocabulary would be helpful. Something to work on.