Sticking It To The Man...Or Something.

This Saturday, please join me for a workshop at MoMA (yes, that MoMA!).  I will be collaborating with my fellow Battle Pass artists as we bring revolution to the corridors of this bastion of modernism.  Space is very limited so please sign up today if you are interested!  There is a fee to attend (hey - it's MoMA...they want your money).

Investigate the ambiguity and complexity of the subject of war through the Battle Pass project. Drawing parallels between past and present, you’ll work with a number of Proteus Gowanus artists and performers as you participate in the process that led to the creation of Battle Pass, based on the 1776 Revolutionary War battle at Gowanus Creek in Brooklyn. This workshop includes a discussion of historic tide mills that once existed throughout the New York area; a Battle Pass performance; hands-on activities, including boat-making; and the creation of cockades, the hallmark of an American Revolutionary. 

Exploration, by artists and non-artists alike, is at the heart of Proteus Gowanus’s way of thinking and working. PG is an interdisciplinary collaborative located near Brooklyn’s Gowanus Canal, but it also takes its name from Proteus, the Greek god of the sea, who could readily change his form.

I will be presenting some information about cockades (still the busiest cockade maker in Queens!) and then invite participants to make their own rebellious, black cockcade while we together pen a Rebel's Manifesto that will become part of the performance led by artist, Paul Benney.

It is good that I am so incredibly busy with the two upcoming exhibitions or I might be nervous about this!

Deja Vu All Over Again

Paradise for felines.

One time I gave an artist talk at Lion Brand Yarn Studio.  I noticed that, as I described the process of making my work, many of the images I showed included shots of my living room filled with yarn.  At the end, someone came up to me and said, you need a studio!

I actually have a studio but it is in a building that has spent most of its life as a factory and the floors are perpetually dirty (believe me, I have tried....and tried...to clean them).  It is a wonderful workspace for many things but not for things that are large and fabric and need to stay relatively clean.

So, once again, my living room is packed to the gills with yarn (and other stuff).  This goes to Brooklyn, this goes to South Dakota - the piles are everywhere!

Only the cats are happy about this.

Work Practice

Last week I lived at the Temple in Brooklyn.  We were not following a retreat schedule but just the ordinary work schedule.  I set up a little studio in my room and spent the six hours/day that are dedicated to work practice preparing for my two upcoming exhibitions.  Although six hours/day isn't much time, I found it to be very productive.  The deliberate nature of marking the time and setting the intention to work, sometimes in silence, really was effective.  Less tempted to wander into the worldwide, time-wasting web, I actually did a lot of relatively tedious, but necessary, sewing along with simply making some important decisions about what exactly is going where in both gallery spaces.   Plus, there was something pretty wonderful about working intently in my room by myself only to emerge and join people for meals (not to mention not having to prepare most of those meals myself!).  The combination of silence and talk, solitude and togetherness, felt like a beautiful balance.  It felt like, well, the way it is supposed to be.

Or maybe not.

Returning home to the clutter and chaos...

...butut also additional time and materials to get things done...

New soap for the version of the Utopia Tent that will be part of the Fun House of Vulnerability

The soon-to-be-motorized crochet piece...yes, you read that right!  Crochet...now with motors!

This, also, is how it is supposed to be.

Everyone

Everyone

loves

a pile of

knitting.