Category: Art

Last fall, when Catherine Moore did a weekend retreat of classes for The Altered Workshop, we decided we wanted to do a colors round robin in the new year.  I haven’t had a chance to post the scans of my book yet, but it’s a dreary, sore-throat kind of morning here, so I’m going to take advantage of the down time to show my book to you.

I started with a small, slender volume: a travel guide to London, written in French, and long since discarded by its original owner.  The pages are so thin that I found I had to glue several together to get a good substrate to make art on.  My "colors" are robin’s egg blue and vintage paper.

This is the front cover.

And the interior of the front cover, which is very simple, here:

I did only one spread, called Introduction Generale.  I wanted to make sure there were plenty of pages for the other artists.

Finally, the sign in.  I wanted to do something really different, so I created a niche in the back of the book and left in empty, so that each of the artists could contribute something to it and then sign their names around the edge of the page.

That’s pretty much it.  The Fragments Book, in robin’s egg blue and vintage paper.  I’ll try to link you to everyone else’s blogs as the book makes its way from artist to artist, so that you can see everyone else’s work in it, too.

Look what just showed up on my doorstep!

It’s fabric.  Oh My God! (I get to say that.  I am, after all, a vintage valley girl, for those of you old enough to know what a valley girl is).

I have a confession to make here.  I am a fabric whore.  I rarely sew recognizable things.  My sewing machine, a much-abused Bernina, is far more likely to be used for adhering transparency acetate to plywood for one of my collage projects than it is to be used for sewing actual pieces of wearable clothing.  I never seem to have the time for that kind of sewing.  But, I love fabric.  I collect it, sort of like some women collect Hummel figurines or little spoons from different cities.  I use occasional bits in collage, and sometimes make pillows or blankets for my children, but I have come to accept that it is primarily a collectible for me and I even made myself a cool collaged bookshelf so it can stay on display in my studio.

There is an online store, Nuno Plus.  I stumbled across them on the web about a month ago and placed a small order.  There was some sort of delay with Paypal translating currencies, and I emailed them to inquire about the order.  They were exceedingly gracious, even though the hold up was not on their end.  And the fabric pictured above?  That showed up in the mail today as a gift from them.  Wow.

So run, do not walk, over to visit these lovely people with their beautiful fabrics and amazing customer service.  You had better run, or I will beat you to all the good stuff, as they’ve just restocked.

My wonderful artist friend Kathy McElroy has an online group for mail art, and it is one of my favorite groups to participate in.  I love working on a collaborative envelope and seeing how all the stamps and splotches the Post Office adds in become part of the artwork.

We’ve had a Valentines round robin going for several months now, with the oversized enveloped circulating from artist to artist (there is nothing inside, it’s all about the envelope) and mine came home this morning.  I love the eclectic mix of styles — it results in a feeling of Victoriana in my mind.

This is the front of the envelope.

and here is the back.

Isn’t it wonderful?  Thank you so much to all the artists who contributed!

This simple little collage is for my dear friend Carla.  Her book in our pock-et-ful round robin is really a treat — a little jewel full of sweet little children in brightly colored collages.  I really love it.

My piece for the book is sort of an anomaly, but, it does have a story.  A while ago, I stumbled across a fellow in Austria who was selling out cabinet cards.  They aren’t the kind usually seen over here that are 4×6" or bigger.  These are tiny — more like 2 1/2" x 4" — and a lot of them are communion pictures.  They are very sweet and I had been happily buying them up until I stumbled across the girl pictured here.  The photo is dated from the early part of the century.  She looks like me.  She looks like all of my cousins. She looks like my daughter.  I wonder if she is a relative?  It seems unlikely as my family is from Russia, but I could put this picture next to the one on my mantel of my grandmother and her siblings and it would fit right in.

At some point, I’m going to have to see if I can do some research and figure out who she is.  For now, I’m imagining her story.  I hope she got out of Austria during World War II.  I’m sure she felt like she wanted to fly away when all the ugliness started.

It’s taken me a while to get back to the Birmingham Public Library, where I have a small show in the fourth floor atrium gallery, so I could take some pictures to show y’all.  Since the show opened, I’ve spent a week in St. Louis, a few days in Atlanta, nursed a pre-schooler with strep throat, and gone to hear Barak Obama speak (Ellie and I got to shake his hand!)  But finally, today, I had a few free moments, and went back, camera in hand.

It was a little bit strange to go and see it and look around with other people there looking and talking on their lunch hours.  The review in the newspaper was kind: "whimsical collage pieces that speak to memory" and "bits and pieces…combine to create nostalgic moments that evoke a world of charming recall."  (Thank you James R. Nelson).

It was hard to get good photos in the funky lighting, but here are a few of my favorite pieces.

Some of the pieces are older, so it turned out to be almost retrospective.

And of course, there was this, which made me feel sort of queasy and happy all at the same time.

It was sort of funny to see someone else’s summary assessment of my art.  So right in many way — rejectamenta is my biggest love in collage art, but so strangely  absent — no mention of mom, or  wife, or any of the other things that seem so integral to what  I do .

I hope you all enjoy this little mini-visit to the show.  I wish you could have been there with me in person!