still playful...

Check out this awesome article on the Textile Arts Center and Play here.

The exhibit is only up for one more week so come see it!!!

PLAY CATALOG.

Magali Rizzo on the cover.

Finally the catalog is finished, gorgeous, and available for YOU to purchase.
It truly turned out wonderfully and features an essay on the curation of the show, installation shots, and one page per artist which includes an image of their work, their contact info, and a brief statement on play.
It is a must have for fiber and textile art lovers everywhere.

Mira Gelley's page

Magali's work looks amazing on the cover and with the imagewrap version of the book you can literally see and feel the textures of her fabric.

Kathy Halper

Order one NOW. You will be happy that you did.
You can also preview it here.

What a playful day!!

The workshop this Sunday were a huge success and we had an incredible crowd turn out. Yeah!!!
It seemed to me like all the artists were busy teaching away and that all the students were soaking in the knowledge and fun!!

knitting on some huge custom made needles with Katya Usvitsky

Needle Felting with PlushPlay was SO much fun.

Candice Thompson teaching techniques of crochet.

Playful plastics with Carol Sogard.

Students had the opportunity to learn how to turn plastic bags into fabric, sculptural crochet, embroider, needle felt, and knit with crazy stuff. So fun!!!

Thank you to all the artists for sharing their skills and talent!!

Artist Talk and Workshops this WEEK.

Play
curated by Joetta Maue
May 13-June 24, 2011

Artist workshops and Artist Talk details Below

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Artist Talk: Monday, June 13, 7pm RSVP

Join Ricki Dwyer, Julia Elsas, EunKyung Lee, Joetta Maue, Candice Thompson, Vadis Turner, and Katya Usvitsky to discuss their work in PLAY and what it means to them.

Playing with Fiber
4 week workshop with Joetta Maue
Wed 6:30-9:30PM, June 8 - June 29

Celebrate fiber and all of its wonderful facets through this 4-session class where instead of focusing on an end product we focus on how taking risks and giving ourselves the freedom to "just play" opens up possibilities in our creative practice.

Each week we will focus on something a little different including:

-Needle point stitches and learning about how far we can push them or how we can combine them to make unique and fun textures or apply them to unexpected objects- these textures can become a signature look or a canvas to build with. - Applique and how we can use found fabrics and objects to create dimensional collages through the most basic technique of attachment. Learn to take risks and do the unexpected. And how we can make anything work with fiber. - Yarn and its many uses through crochet and knitting sculpturally - Liquid- Play with painting fiber, watering it down, using stains like coffee and tea and combining this with other techniques to create truly layered pieces of art. Allow the natural tendency of the fabric to bleed to be a gift instead of a burden. This class is all about having fun, pushing technique, and letting yourself think outside of the box. Students are strongly encouraged to bring materials to class such as found object, found fabrics, text, small items, buttons, whatever inspire you!

Register here or

For more info or to sign up contact the center at info@textileartscenter or (718) 369- 0222.

4 hour Play workshop with 6 visiting artists:

Day of Fiber Workshops:

June 12, 1-5PM REGISTER

The Day of Fiber Workshops will consist of the following programs. The cost of entrance will be $20 to participate in as many or few workshops as you'd like!

Introduction to Sculptural Crochet -- led by Candice Thompson

Crochet is the process of using a hook to pull loops through other loops to create fabric. Each stitch can be conceived of as a pixel or building block; the variation of size and number of stitches lending a distinct three-dimensional form. Only one stitch is dealt with at a time, making it easy to adjust along the way and experiment without a formal pattern.

In this workshop you will learn to use the basic building blocks of crochet-- chaining, single crochet, and double crochet-- to create various three-dimensional shapes and sculptures of

your choosing. No experience with crochet is necessary and all levels are welcome. Come with a project in mind or simply a desire to play and improvise.

Size Matters: Playing with Knitting Scale -- led by Katya Usvitsky

A workshop that explores both alternative materials and scale in knitting, to get students thinking about knitting as an art process, not just a utilitarian one. While still using traditional techniques, students will be challenged to create with handmade knitting tools. As a starting point, I will supply giant (upwards of 1.5” wide) knitting needles and non-traditional ‘yarn’. The exploration of all the possibilities contained within the basic stitch will be the most exciting part, and the class will not necessarily be focused on creating a final or functional product.

Students will be encouraged to bring materials they are interested in experimenting with, but are not required to bring anything.

Playing with Plastics -- led by Carol Sogard

Workshop participants will learn about:

The environmental impacts of plastics and the limitations involved with recycling plastics.
Ideas for reuse of plastics and other materials with an environmental impact.
How to heat fuse plastic through the use of an iron and then utilizing this new durable material to create a variety of products: pillows, toys, bags etc...


One-Shot Screen Printing -- led by Mira Gelley

Create a patterned screen printed piece of fabric using one shot screens: Create quick screens using tape and/or freezer paper and print a loose pattern onto a piece of fabric. Build up the pattern by altering your original screen (pulling off tape, adding tape) and printing on top of or next to other forms. This is not meant to be a precise or planned pattern. Rather, forms are created quickly and new forms are made to interact with existing ones.


Needle Felting -- led by Mariangela Tan & Justin Alan Volpe

All the basics of needle felting, showing how you can make characters to play with!


Telephone, the Exquisite Corpse and Free-Style Embroidery -- led by Jan Johnson

Telephone is a game where a sentence is whispered into one player's ear, and then that player whispers again what was heard into the next player's ear, and so forth the sentence continues around to all the players until the last player receives the message. The last player then states aloud what was heard. The result can be quite different from what was really said and often quite funny and strange. This game and the Surrealist drawing technique of the exquisite corpse are similar and brought together here in a workshop that teaches free-style embroidery stitches and carbon-transfer patterning. Each participant will work on the same "sampler" drawing, each unaware of what the others have drawn in thread except for a line or two that is left visible for the next player to attach the second part to the first part. This process will continue until all the players have finished a drawing made with an embroidery stitch or a combination of stitches. After the last player has completed their part, the "drawing" will then be unmasked to reveal the composite sampler.


Wet and Wild Felting -- led by Ricki Dwyer

Felting workshop with a wide variety of weird materials to felt into and with. Different colored wool, straight off the animal as well as carded roving, wire, yarn, industrial felt, wire mesh, fabric, coins, beads, etc. Participants will be taught how to wet felt as an interactive process, getting their hands and feet wet to agitate the material. Will be conducive to all ages. They will produce a piece of felt by the end of the day, but the emphasis would be on experimenting with different materials, and a variety of forms to felt on top of to shape their piece if they choose to do so.

For more info or to sign up contact the center at info@textileartscenter or (718) 369- 0222.

Exhibiting artists:
Bren Ahearn, Paula do Prado, Ricki Dwyer, Di Ellis, Julia Elsas, Mallory Feltz, Linda Frost, Mira Gelley, Kathy Halper, Maggy Rozycki Hiltner, Jan Johnson, Eunkyung Lee, Tyler Mackie, Mary March, Joetta Maue, Amanda McCavour, Sophia Narrett, Robert Reed, Lydia Reinhold, Magali Rizzo, Julie Roch-Cuerrier, Daniaelle Simonsen, Carol Sogard, Kathryn Greenwood Swanson, Mariangela Tan & Justin Alan Volpe, Candice Thompson, Vadis Turner, Katya ­­­­Usvitsky, Kathy Weaver.

CATALOGUE AVAILABLE SOON.

Textile Arts Center is located at 505 Carroll St, Brooklyn, NY 11215.
http://www.textileartscenter.com/
Gallery hours are
Mon - Friday: 10AM - 6PM
Sat - Sun : 11AM - 5PM

Future Heirlooms

Check out my interview with Play artist Daniaelle Simonsen over at Mr. X Stitch.
Read it here.

Play- Part 3

You can see my little contribution in the background and a new original felted work by plushPlay- Justin Alan Volp & Mariangela Tan.

Another round of the fabulous exhibit PLAY. Today we focus on some nice long shots as well as some individual pieces...

some nice long views with Katya Usvitsky bike in the center.

a "Robot " named Shaky by Kathy Weaver & a heart that asks to be hugged by Tyler Mackie.

Sophia Narrett's piece, which I love.

Bren Ahearn

a quilt by Linda Frost and a felted gun by Ricki Dwyer.

a nice long shot of the gray curving wall in the gallery.

2 works by Kathy Halper, made from found Facebook images & text and some " bullet proof" onsies by Australian artist Di Ellis.

the knitted work by Candice Thompson.

Some more details and some features come tomorrow. Hope you are liking the tour.

Play- Part 2

Today, I will feature the 3 more "site specific" installations in Play.


Kathryn Greenwood Swanson's bird piece was recreated and scaled down in order to be included in the exhibit. Kathryn could not be there to install the work and I was beyond nervous about the time and effort of installing such a piece- but she made it beyond easy. Truth be told what should have been the hardest piece to install was actually one of the easiest. Thank you Kathryn.

It also is definitely a star in the exhibit taking up the space by the window just beautifully...




2nd is the work Primary Colors by Mary March who came in a week before the show, all the way from San Francisco, to install this new work. She designed the work specifically with the Textile Arts Center in mind - taking advantage of its gorgeous windows and its emphasis on weaving.

These shots were taken before the opening so do not display how it filled up with stories over the evening. Mary created hundreds of hand drawn images on canvas to be woven into the piece so that the viewer could add their personal story to the piece. Tomorrow I will be heading to the gallery and will be sure to take some pictures of the now activated piece.

As you can see Mary's piece looks gorgeous in the window with sunlight streaming in. The last site specific work that was done was an idea of my making of combining the work of Maggy Rozycki Hiltner and Mallory Feltz.

Mallory who did the work of the stuffed animals in plexi boxes was in my last exhibit at the Textile Center and Maggy is someone who's work I have admired for quite awhile now and... when I saw the 2 pieces I wanted to include them both but Maggy's Shop for America was sooo long it took most of the wall and since the ceilings are so high seemed like it would not feel as lively as I would like. So with the permission of both artists I installed them together to make what I think is a fun and exciting collaboration.

More images and details of all this coming your way.

Play. Part 1.

The fabulous Coat of Many Colors by Kathryn Greenwood Swanson.

The only 2 black and white pieces in the exhibit; Au Diapason by Magali Rizzo and a 2 panel work by Julia Elsas.

A wall grouping of some incredible works. From left to right; Lydia Reinhold, Jan Johnson, Daniaelle Simonsen, & Amanda McCavour.

A side view that shows the dimensionality of Amanda McCavour's work.

Many more images to come over the next few days.

Play-opening

Look at this awesome crowd of art lovers.

The opening this past Friday was a huge success. The crowd was well a crowd, always a good thing. The gallery was full, the artists flew in from all over the U.S., the art looked great, the wine was drunk, and the night was grand.

Check out these folks catching their fist glimpse of the fabulous...

Robert Reed performing Amber Alert: Who stole the Baby Jesus from the manger?


and some folks watching near Candice Thompson's piece.

some folks weaving a story on Mary March's interactive piece.

It was truly wonderful that so many of the artists came in for the opening and it was such an honor to meet all of them that did.

some more fabulous crowd, including the extremely talented Maggy Rozycki Hiltner

Katya Usvitsky in a yellow dress near her awesome yellow knitted bicycle.

I look forward to the artist's talk and the workshops that are part of the exhibit. Hope to see you then. Until then remember to PLAY!

a little peek...

I know you are all so excited to see PLAY at its opening tonight...
and you should be - it is such a dynamic, fun, and yes playful exhibit.

There is work from all over the globe, literally, and it is all GOOD.


So please, oh please stop by and join us TONIGHT:

Play
curated by Joetta Maue

Opening Tonight: 7-9 p.m.

Textile Arts Center
505 Carroll St, btwn 4th and 3rd.
Brooklyn

So this is just a little tiny peek of what there is to see....





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