More thoughts

So I straightened the bodice and turned off the studio lights. The bodice w ill be stuffed somehow. But the question is, can this piece operate as the center piece for a show I am calling Burnt Memories? I would need to distress the materials to make them "match."

A little bit of light shed on the subject

So, as I have been awaiting time to go to the Amtrak station to pick up my son for Christmas, I have been playing with lights and props. I up ended a clear tub in the middle, placed a glass block on top. over that I draped a net of lights. Covered that w/ silk organza and then stacked in the anemones. A single rope light dangles. No decisions yet...but I am thinking that extensions of the muslin tails and lots more anemones to nearly fill the room. Probably more lights...not enough glow through the anemones. Perhaps they will need to be infiltrated. Hmmm.

What do you think?

A sabbatical nears its end...

At the core of COLOR OF CONFLICT, at the heart, at the start:

COLOR OF CONFLICT

a collaboration between Susan Hensel and John Hensel

In this year of sabbatical, as I have wandered seemingly aimlessly at times, old themes emerged as they always do. Themes of nostalgia and aging as seen in the series of assemblages with the antique clothing et al. And now, the anti-war themes emerge as well, carried by yarn.

COLOR OF CONFLICT, now on exhibit at Susan Hensel Gallery

reception: DECEMBER 17, 7-10pm.

Red diatoms among the Jellies? The collar/jellyfish return

I meant to put these photos up yesterday...but sleep called much too strongly! The red collar piece is almost complete...need to draw more tendrils and fix/affix the yarn. The media are acrylic paint, pastel, graphite, dyed textiles, handspun yarn on paper.This one is clearly just begun! I am excited by it, but must leave for a spinning workshop soon. Maybe I'll manage to assemble the first bit before I go so I can come home and get real dirty! (Pastel and graphite!!! under the fingernails and ground into the whorls of the fingerprints!)

Christchurch, New Zealand

Our first stop in Christchurch, under slept & desperate for caffeine, was the Antarctic Center. I have to admit that I could not focus well, I was barely functional after getting up at 3:45am! But, one of the key events at the center was the storm room where you put on a parka and expose yourself to a simulated spring storm in Antarctica. It was sort of like a blustery winter day in Minnesota...no big deal to me...but the southerners were quite impressed! They have a penguin feature where they care for injured and disabled little penguins. So cute! I believe that that is the blind Lothario of the rookery being fed. He is the most popular male with the larges harem.

The center of Christchurch is the cathedral and the cathedral square. As you can see, the weather was pretty gloomy when we were there! It rained quite a lot. I had a 2 day cold, runny nose et al, while running around in the rain.

One of the first things I did was go buy some fine merino shirts at end of the season prices to help me stay warm. I also found heavy wool tights! A delight!

Christchurch is a real art town. They have a wonderful contemporary art museum and many galleries...most of which I went to. I saw marvelous things. The old college (name escapes me) has been turned into an art center with galleries, studios and restaurants. Sadly, it was severely damaged in the earthquake that hit several weeks after we were there.

There were several peak experiences in Christchurch. Don James and I attended evensong at the cathedral and heard the boys choir. Just beautiful! Another surprising highlight was Eyris Blue Pearl Gallery. I am not particularly big on jewelry, but their presentation on the blue pearl was great and I did buy a Maori pendant of carved bone. But of special fun was their daughter , Magda?, who had lived in Taiwan for sometime. We shared stories of Taiwan and the devotion to family that she experienced there.

Another highlight was the rainbow that seemed to follow us around on our big bus tour day! It was persistently bright over Littleton Harbor, which I painted from a brief overlook. The hills were like green velvet in the mist and water almost Mediterranean blue.

Another peak experience was our home stay. Susan, Robin, Don and I stayed with the Hannefin's. What gracious hosts. They live not far from the shore, just out of Christ church, under the Red Cliffs. Their house was somewhat damaged in the earthquake, some cracks, a dry stone wall around their property demolished and some boulders off the pictured cliff, presumably onto their drive. They got off lightly. Their daughter's home sounded like it was totally destroyed.

Sea-collar?

While I may be adjusting the blacks a bit, I think it is done. The addition of a lightweight handspun mohair took it where it needed to go. The sea creature aspect continues...these seem to be "jelly-fish of memory"? Who knows, it is still a mystery to me. I do think of the threads as memory, connections to the past, to shared histories...

In the flow

This one is not finished yet. The blacks will be darkened, some whites will be added. This one is called Broken Memory. I'm not thrilled with it, although I like it better in jpg form. This one, completed last night,I am happy with. With this one I am beginning to get a glimmer of the content I am working with. I always work instinctively, driven by materials and some small object or mark to begin. I never see the finished artwork in my mind's eye. I simply begin. But When or Where to begin is always mysterious. It began yesterday afternoon when Zach and I were working on a CSS template together for the gallery. Suddenly I knew I had to begin. I hung large paper and made a yarn-like mark on it and got back to work on the CSS (I learned a lot, by the way.) After dinner the real work began. My hands are gritty, with compressed charcoal ground into the cuticles. I am happy. Several days ago I was wondering if this flow would ever return. Artmaking is so mysterious, a difficult task master/mistress.

So, what am I working with? It seems to me that the issues of memory, aging, nostalgia remain key. All the drawings refer to yarn in some way. Indeed, I am surrounded by it in the studio. As I draw, I think of the deep history of yarn making as functional, needed, mostly women's work. In the New England colonies, households were taxed according to the spinners therein. But here, in the 21st century, I explore handspun yarn as art with a history. In the drawings, it is as though the yarn elements are fragments and arteries of the deep unconscious, of the deep memories we are born with.

Can Yarn Function as Sculpture?

This yarn, COMBAT CHAOS, begins to achieve what I set out to do. Combining specially chosen colors and fibers to express the emotional turmoil of the battlefield, little army guys are pinioned in beehives, cocoons of black wool, felted camouflage felt flags, mounds of netting and desert camo. Both sides of the conflict climb around and shoot in the confusion. Small flashes of light, tiny sequins, reflect the flash of the guns or the twinkle in a mute night sky.

Fleece installation

I have been playing with fiber today.

I like the relationships that are developing among the parts, although it is still too linear, simply curated objects rather than a full 3-d experience. I think the placenta dress needs to hang in space rather like the stuffed dress at the left.But with the wool market arriving in a couple of days, I will leave it as is for now.