Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition

I'm a bit slow getting things on the blog. This gives you a glimpse of the Left Turn Lane at the Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition Veteran's Day weekend in Chicago, Illinois. The pipe and drape are on ten foot lengths. The series was hung in numerical sequence. I watched off and on for most of one day. It was very interesting to see people being drawn in.

Dumping my camera was very disappointing. I am not steady handed. The camera has an image stabilization feature but even that can not make up for my errors. There were about a dozen quilts that I was very taken with. Only the following two are images that will not be an insult to the artist.

Unfinished Business © by Cheryl Comfort of New Zealand was part of the World Quilt Exhibition. Her artist statement says this "explores the layers of hate and misunderstanding that builds up over generations in conflicts all around the world. The wire represents the fences we build between ourselves and other humans we perceive to be different. 42.5" high x 49" wide







Slow Decay II
© Eva Aagesen, Norway
"The beauty of wear and tear fascinates me and inspired me to work on making something aesthetic based on 'the ravage of time'. Close-up pictures of an old, painted barn wall were digitally manipulated and transferred to fabrics using glue. These transfers cover the whole front of the quilt. Traditional, medieval, Norwegian wood carving motifs inspired the screen printing. Machine embroidery underlines the shapes and the lines in the underlying surface made by photo transfer."
48"high x 60" wide

Mel Bochner

All images and text quotations are copyright by the Art Institute of Chicago. They are provided here under the fair use exception of the copyright laws for educational purposes.

For some reason the image of the Portrait of Eva Hesse, 1966, although showing in the html is not appearing on my screen. It is available on the Google Images link below.

For those of us who work with textiles, exploring text within our art is a fairly recent occurrence. Mel Bochner began his investigation of art, words, and semantics in the early 1960s. "he expressed 'interest in formal and semantic reversals, . . ' as well as "trying to make objects function as language in another discourse."

Sadly, the work that had the greatest impact on me, Language Is Not Transparent, 1970, is not shown. It "provides perhaps the most lucid example of this Written in chalk over a section of black paint that Bochner allowed to drip, the work vacillates between an expressionisticlly painted field and a cold declaration of fact. The Phrase 'Language Is Not Transparent' signified that words are never a simple representation of thought - they are always colored by the subjective and undisclosed ideologies of the speaker."

"Bochner used language to explore the ambiguity of spatial terms, revealing the often self-contradictory relationship between description and reality.

I've provided some hotlinks for exploration. Many thanks to the Art Institute of Chicago for an interesting and thought provoking exhibition.

Google Images

Barbara Krakow Gallery

ArtNet.com

TheArtists.org

The monograph, by Mark Pascale, Associate Curator of Prints and Drawings, ends with Bochner's statement, NO THOUGHT EXISTS WITHOUT A SUSTAINING SUPPORT.

Left Turn Lane CDs

There are available nine LeftTurnLane.thelmasmith CDs. One may obtain one by sending a mailing label and 83¢ in US postage to me at
thelmasmith
188 east el membrillo
green valley, arizona 85614

The reason these CD series - portfolios are up for grabs is that I forgot to put this information in the file before burning it:

Free QuickTime download for Windows

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html

Free QuickTime download for Macintosh

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/mac.html

Free QuickTime download for Windows

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html

Free QuickTime download for Macintosh

http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/mac.html

More From Morvan

Sylvie Wlotkowski kindly gave permission to take these photographs. Again, any errors in the image are mine. She has a tiny gallery in under a building just down the street from the eleventh century church of Saint Père.

La Poterie de Saint-Père can be found at 2, ruelle de l'église, 89450 Saint-Père.

Judith Wolfe - Gallerie Lempereur - Vezelay, France

All images are copyright Judith Wolfe.


I was told that she is an American artist.
Though I searched Google and emailed the one artist I found I received no reply. All errors of photography are mine. The uneven lighting comes from a lovely gallery in an ancient stone building.

Galerie Lempereur
and the Maison Théodore de Bèze can be found at 47, rue Sainte -Étienne
89450 Vezelay.

I am off to Chicago on the 8th. I'm trying to lay up some images for you to enjoy. Although I work in textiles I find that I'm more interested in galleries and
bookshops when I travel.

I find that Blogger has arranged my uploaded images in what looks like a higgledy piggledy fashion. I won't know how crazy it is until I see it set on the web. The publishing will be done from my laptop.

One of the places I expect to visit in Chicago is my old favorite, The Art Institute. I have a nice folder with research on probably a dozen or more galleries.

I have printed out a lovely weather report. It says fifties in the day time and in the thirties at night. I'm wondering if I have sufficient clothing for four days in winter. Being from Sonora, I'm not much on winter.

Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition

The Mancuso firm is premiering their:

Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition
11/9/2006 - 11/12/2006
Schaumburg, Illinois

If you scroll about a third of the way down that page you will see that The Left Turn Lane will be one of the special exhibitions.

I will be in Chicago from the 9th through the 11th. I will be in and out of the exposition and hard to catch. I must say I am greatly honored to have been asked to provide these works. This is seven years of my life and all twenty two works.

I thought you might like to see the artist's statement.

THE LEFT TURN LANE

Thoughts, Looking Back

Artists rarely actively consider the impact of their daily art on the workings of their own psyche. We don’t publicly consider how art works on the maker. However as artist, Martha Marques, says “I make the work and the work makes me.” I cannot say it any more clearly.

What began as a fluke became a personal journey became a commentary on the ills and mores of society. I speak of disillusion, isolation, alienation, and loneliness; poverty, panhandling, and the working poor who are always with us. They cope with disinterest, aggression, avarice, and greed. They live in an environment that victimizes the victim. We try not to see them.

These works, however, convey the power of honor and dignity in the face of difficulties. They show us the powerful force of the human condition. Freedom and autonomy are basic, internalized values. There is a remarkable beauty in what we often consider un-lovely.

This is perhaps the most important passage from my earlier writings about this work:“Though the work is of my hands and wells up from speaking my mind and speaking my soul, with all the passion that encompasses, it is somehow something separate and apart from me. It is me and yet not me. For me, the maker’s hand is central to the power of the work. The fabric is the tangible intermediary that takes, holds, and carries that power outward in time. The unseen is made apparent, but not necessarily visible. The textile is imbued with the unseen energy of the maker’s hand.”

I had spoken to a friend several years ago, talking about how the cloth was the surrogate for the healing of my son who lives on the streets. It felt, emotionally, akin to the old fashioned “laying on of hands.” I understood imperfectly at the time. I understand more clearly now. I wish I could find the words that would convey that knowledge. For now, the works will have to speak for themselves and for me.

©2004, thelmasmith

The Tucson Art Museum & Raphael Collazo

The first Sunday of every month is free day at the Tucson Art Museum. The banner exhibition was about one hundred and thirty years of the Grand Canyon. Quite impressive, particularly the silver and albumin prints made from what were, probably, glass plate negatives, from the late 1880s. There was also an etching and two woodcuts that were very different; each had innumerable color ways.

When the museum expanded, I don't know how many years ago, the architect chose to go down rather than up to show respect to the adobe structures of the original pueblo. So you wind your way down concrete ramps that surround a square, open, center. It gives you the ability to view the art is a lot of varying focal lengths.

As you get towards the bottom you get glimpses of the exhibitions at the very bottom of the museum.







I got a glimpse of All Soul's Day, © 1988, by Raphael Collazo. Mixed media on panel, it was 96" x 108." I am placing it here, respectfully, under the fair use for educational purposes doctrine of the copyright law.







This is one of the images from a series called A Healing Garden. For the Good of Us All, 1987, Mixed media on panel, 96 x 108

History, Cleaning, Making Room for Art

I'm making room to get back in the work on my art mode. Years ago I did a lot of hand dye work. When I was pressing hundreds of fat quarters the ironer made sense. Since my work mode has changed my workroom needs to change.This ironer was built in the mid 1950s. It is in sound working condition. The roller has been completely rebuilt with new padding and a new muslin cover.

If you are interested I have available all the photos that document the scuff marks on the white enamel. It should be quite easy to have an auto shop paint it any wild color you might like.

Here's a photo of the temperature selection dial. You can see where the electric cable cover has scuffed the inside of the lid. This has all been checked out and gone over by an electrician.

Here's one that is about fifty years newer. It is built by Miele.

Frankly, that one is a little beyond my economic comfort zone. You can buy this one for $250US. Freight will be something you make your own arrangements for. I'm told by family that they are shipping motorcycles nationwide for about $200 through Mayflower. If you spend your winter in the Arizona sun, you may want to just take this home with you.

All Hallow's Eve - All Saints Day - All Souls Day - and - La Dia de los Muertos

I've been a bit busy. Traipsing here an there. Getting this and that done. I seem to be a bit late; I think that's a day late and a dollar short. At least that was the saying when I was a child. So, I'll give you Isabel's Pumpkins.



I also decided that you needed a nice shot of mummy wrappings. These are both for All Hallow's Eve and for La Dia de los Muertos. Actually, they are the freshly washed wrappings for all twenty-two quilts of the Left Turn Lane.





I won't link you to my website as the gallery pages are giving us fits since we changed servers. I've been AWOL for too many days. I am hoping to spend the weekend taking care of business and getting all the website email addresses back in action. The Spider is busily spinning a new spider web of gallery pages. He and I will be adding several new galleries between now and year's end.

Let's go back to the mummy wrappings. I had to unwrap each piece from the Left Turn Lane and re-roll and rewrap the series. It is in Chicago by now. It will be a special exhibition at the premier of the Greater Chicago Quilt Exposition at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention Center. That sort of invitation is a once in a life time honor. That exposition is the 9th through the 12th of November in Schaumburg, Illinois. I would be delighted to meet any of you who happen through. I'll be in and out. Let me know by email if you want to talk with me. I'll be easier to find that way.

I will be in Chicago from the ninth through the eleventh. I'm sneaking out of the airport on Sunday since Monday makes it a long, holiday weekend. I have put out portfolios and CD slideshow/portfolios to many Chicago galleries. I am hopeful that one or two will take the opportunity to see the work in the cloth. The net photos only give you one percent of reality.




Now, with these images from Saint Martin's Lutheran Church in Strasbourg, France, let's look and think about All Saints and All Souls. I am a very long way from doctrine and dogma. I'm in the classification RCR, Roman Catholic Retired. I have strong beliefs and systems of ethics and itegrity. However all those things are between me and the universe. That does not erase my own history or culture.











I find it very interesting that Saint Martin's becoming Lutheran at some point in remote history avoided the vandalism of the Hugenot. Another day we will explore the eleventh century churches in Burgundy. They show the wrath of the Reformation. But the Lutheran mindset as revealed in stone is quite interested in skeletons and sculls. My history is weak. Does this mean that one focus of the Reformation was the notion of hell, damnation, and punishment?

The third part of this holiday trilogy is all souls day dedicated to all those who have gone before us. In Mexico and here in the Sonoran Desert that is more Mexico than United States, La Dia de los Muertos is not the least macabre. Oh, yes, you see sculls made of sugar, skeletons, entire pantheons of the dead in their fiesta regalia. Groupings of mariachi and groupings of family and friends at wakes. These trinkets in both hand carved wood and paint and ceramic and glaze are collected over much of the Spanish speaking region. Many artists are known; people search for their signatures.




These images are an honorable reminder that we are all one. Each that has gone before is still a part of us. It is a way to remember and celebrate the lives of those we miss. It is a grand fiesta in the campo santo. Sadly, I have no local photos today. One day when I am walking in Mexico I will go through the shops, I particularly like La Rana Harugana, for their high quality folk art.

I can probably shoot up one whole memory card and one battery. The Oaxacan works stand out, as do the works from each region. Oaxaca, right now is in dire straits. The teachers have been demonstrating peacefully for decent pay. The government has decided to up the ante. I have great concern for the state and a population that is probably 90% artists.

I have decided that this situation is serious enough to give you several links.
October fourth.
October thirtieth.
November second.
Department of Citizen Alice.
Independent Media.