Archive for November, 2015

going places…

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

Defining Moments 7: Fleeing the City

I received great news today that one of the pieces from my ongoing collaboration with Marion Coleman was juried into Stories of Migration: Contemporary Artists Interpret Diaspora at the newly renovated Textile Museum in Washington, DC from April 15-September 4, 2016.

The jurors Rebecca A.T. Stevens and Lee Talbot, chose my work “Fleeing the City”; one of 39 pieces chosen from 292 entries. Beyond the thrill of the venue and the prestigious jurors who understood what I was communicating with this piece, is the joy of this being my afterthought entry. This is not the first time my ‘afterthought’ entry was accepted for an exhibit. It has happened twice before. There is obviously a lesson in that.

I was able to submit three pieces so the first two were Defining Moments 1 about my maternal great-grandparents and their emigration from Russia in 1899 for religious freedom. The second piece I entered was Defining Moments 2 about my paternal grandparents’ predecessors emigrating from Wales and Ireland to farm in the Midwest.

And then I thought that this piece Fleeing the City is about a different kind of migration. A mid-20th century migration of whites ‘fleeing the city’ for the suburbs so their children could go to school with their same kind. The piece was based on a direct quote from my father ten years ago before he was struck with dementia. I had asked him what motivated the move to the East Bay suburbs from San Francisco and his response was ‘so you kids would not have to go to school with colored children.” I was so shocked by his answer that it seemed an important piece for this collaborative series.

The text at the bottom of the piece is comprised of my elementary school photos where all faces were white. The word COLORED is comprised of Marion’s elementary school photos.

This acceptance has renewed my inspiration to continue on making work that says something and makes an impact. Undoubtedly there are some who’d prefer I would just zip it while I find narrative work really meaty, challenging and timeless. I do love making beautiful abstract work but so often anymore I question how many pretty quilts can a girl make?!

Posted in exhibitions, new work, wisdom | No Comments »

…on documentation and dawgs

Tuesday, November 10th, 2015

hand-dyes from Soderlund class

A few years ago I added an important form of documentation to the categorization of my work. I put together a 3″ thick binder, in chronological order, of all the work I have made since 1998. Initially resistant to the idea as I already have a website and hardcopy portfolio; the reasoning behind this was posterity. So when archaeologists are digging through my house in 2500 they will know why I made this work and what it entailed. Yea, I know, a big stretch. All the same it is good information to have especially laid out in chronological order.

So I was a tad astonished today, while looking at my documentation binder to find a small work finished since 2013 to enter in the local arts center member show, that I only had two pieces that qualified and one of them I showed there last year. The remaining piece is the other half of the diptych and even though looks slightly different I am certain there would be outrage that I showed the ‘same work’ there two years in a row!

I was also surprised that in 2015 I have completed just four large pieces of work. Throwback to 2009 when I made over 60 pieces in one year. It seems I have slowed down a bit in the past 6 years! Of course I have all kinds of reasonable excuses; both knees replaced, my father’s death, and a year plus of chronic debilitation, so that is understandable. I also have been engrossed in the 3 year collaboration, so the four pieces I made this year were for that. And there are all big ones!

It really is somewhat of a personal accomplishment that I have slowed down production so much. I’d been so prolific in the past in comparison. Maybe just maybe I am living life more presently and making art differently as well. Before my work was fairly spontaneous whereas now it requires a lot of research and introspection before even drafting the design.

Mizu in dog friendly, fancy hotel dining room

And then there are the additional procrastination modes: the aforementioned rescue pooch who is both delight and terror barks at anything that stands still, or in hubs’ case exhales. My days are full of interruptions to calm the dog, to work towards ending her fear aggression. It is exhausting and yet somehow I get the message that maybe this is the point. The point is to get me to stop, breathe, stay in the moment, and chill.

And by default I am the tech guru in the family. So a new modem-router threw everything connected to it out of whack. I have managed to reconfigure a few things but still have daily technology reconfiguration headaches. I’d much prefer to sit back with my crazy pooch and toss bonbons than try to reprogram the solar panel connector or the Netflix device that won’t allow me to sign in.

In a perfect world someone would come in with a magic wand, make everything work and calm the dog in their wake. Yea…and I believe in the tooth fairy too.

Posted in documentation, Mizu, procrastination, travel | No Comments »