BACK TO GEOMETRICS, GREEN MOUNTAIN RUG SCHOOL CLASS

Section 1 of "Directions" unfinished,  10" x 10"   Lori LaBerge  2016

It feels great to get back to my geometric work.  Though I love the landscapes and sculptures I've been working on, my heart belongs to geometrics.  Shape, color and line are my main interests.  

While working on this piece, it suddenly hit me where the design derived from.  It has been a stressful time lately.  Funerals, my mother's Alzheimers, exhibits to ready for, and learning new technology among other things life throws at us.  The piece really signifies not just the physical directions of roadways, but the various directions life pulls us in.

Section 2 of "Directions" unfinished,  10" x 10"  Lori LaBerge  2016

Two of the sections have completed the hooking phase and still need metal added along with edges finished.  The final work will be a quadriptych (four pieces placed together to form one artwork).

One of the last two sections in progress

I am also working on putting a class together for Green Mountain Rug School.  The class will be "The Art of Plein Air" held from June 17-20, 2017.

In class, we will discuss how working outdoors through sketching, note taking and photography can help improve our studio work.  Color, lighting and composition will be looked at through exercises.  We will also learn how to translate what we see outdoors into realistic, abstract and surreal works.  Experimentation will be encouraged.  All styles are welcome. 

 "Surrealism" put out by Phaidon books

Since the term Plein Air was brought to us by the French, we will experience wine, Perrier and French cookies while we begin creating our own works.  I can hardly wait!

I would love to have you join me at this wonderful venue.  You can register for class here.

I also took a ride over to Little Switzerland and stopped at Charlies Quilts and Sew Much More shop.  A warm welcoming atmosphere and great baskets from Ghana.  I loved the bright contemporary colors. Here's mine:

Art exercise:

Search the web for artwork made up of separate pieces (dyptychs, triptychs, quadriptychs, etc) and think about how you might create your own.

WORK ON NEW TEXTILE ART, PLEIN AIR EXHIBIT AND CLASS AT SAUDER

Two sections of "Bridging the Gap" in progress,  Lori LaBerge  2015

I'm finally back in the studio.  Work continued on "Bridging the Gap".  Art boards had to be created in studio as they are not standard size.  Whipping was finished, work was labelled and stitched to a wool backing then attached to the art boards.

Metal bars were painted along with the screws that will be used to attached the bars between the two sections of artwork.  The work should be completed early next week.

Last Friday was spent at Sauder Village Rug Hooking Week.  Our plein air group had a special exhibit of our work.  This was our first exhibit since the formation of the group last year.  There was quite a bit of interest in the methods we use and I gave a short talk on the exhibit to the class I taught.

Above are some students working and discussing during the class, "A Creative Approach to Creating a Series".  I really enjoyed teaching this group.  Everyone had great questions, worked hard and I was really proud of the ideas for series people came up with.  

Subjects discussed were nature sites while hiking, bees and their nests, music, medical experiences, factories, rabbits and trees, and stripes.  I saw great possibilities for building a series of work from all of these choices.  

The discussion was my favorite part.  It seems like we don't always get the chance to do this and it is great for expanding creativity, motivation and camaraderie among artists.  I look forward to seeing future work from all in this group.

We discussed taking photos of subjects that interest us and keeping a journal of color, texture, subject and other artistic interests that can be referred to for ideas.

Composition used by the masters of painting was discussed with attention to line and shape as the basics of good composition.

Get together with artist friends ( in person or over the internet), discuss or study various aspects of art and have a great day.

WORK WITH COLOR VALUE, SAUDER VILLAGE CLASS

There was quite a bit of activity in the studio this week.

"Missing Glass" in progress,  Lori LaBerge  2015  

Monday:  

A while back I had found a small swatch of green on the shelves that I wanted to use to replace the teal green in "Missing Glass".  The teal green is too close in value to the blue. The swatch was not enough to replace it so I decided to dye some extra this week.  The darker shade, shown above, will provide a better contrast against the blue and give a better overall balance to the piece.

Tuesday:

I decided on a tentative color plan for another design.  You can see the colors above being used in the design below.

"Detour", Lori LaBerge  2015

Wednesday and Thursday morning:

Hand therapy is going well and I can now use a traditional hook for short periods.  I decided to start on a piece I have not yet titled.  It was originally based on orange barrels on the roads, but I did not want to be so literal and changed the barrels to a lilac color. The upper lilac against the light gray will in all likelihood need to be darkened a bit. The bottom half of the piece will be a mix of dark grays. Metal will be added later.

I noticed the use of hit and miss in the last design "Mountain Reflections" did not seem to fit in with the "Road Series" work.  It seemed separated from the other work due to the mix of wool colors.  This has led to a new series called "Parkway". These pieces will all have a hit and miss use of wool in them.  This is a good example of how one thing leads to another and is basically a series within a series.

Thursday afternoon:

A color plan was developed for another "Parkway" work.  The black and white photo shows the variety of mediums, lights and darks chosen.  I'm finding the "Parkway" series pieces more difficult than the "Road" series as I am placing lights on the top and darks on the bottom leading to problems with other colors showing up on both of these. This is leading to a new focus on using various values of the same color on either the light or dark background areas.  I'm interested in seeing where this takes me.

Friday:

I worked on plans for the class "A Creative Approach to Working in a Series" that I will be teaching at Sauder Village in August.  There will be lots of activities and discussion to enhance the understanding of series work. You can find information on the class here.  I encourage everyone to think about joining us or taking another of the many classes that will be offered at Sauder this year.

As mentioned, I am facing the dilemma of values with both a light and dark being used as a background. Think about the dilemmas you face in your art, welcome the challenge of working with them and have a great day.

EXHIBIT AND CLASS AT PAF GALLERY

It was a busy week getting ready for both an exhibit and class.  Artwork was finished and packed in boxes while supplies for class were placed in order.  The car was loaded up and my husband and I were off to PAF Gallery at the N.C. Arts Incubator in Siler City.  

I had my first studio, outside of the home, at the Incubator and it was wonderful to drive up to the old studio doors and be greeted by artists I had spent so much time with. 

Set-up  completed.  The exhibit consists of mixed-media works.

A view from the other direction.

Across the room.

Discussing a piece at the Friday night opening.

A fun and art savvy group headed to the gallery.  Everyone who came had great questions about the works and the creative process.

Class on Saturday morning.  

A focused group hard at work.

Everyone worked with the same design, yet each student made the piece their own.  In the above piece the center square is being split into two sections by a random diagonal line.

 Beautiful greens and purples with squares within squares.

Reds and oranges using triangles.  You can see other color strips that will soon join this grouping.

Who can resist an orange and blue combination?  Yarn adds texture to the center square.

 A soft brown surrounds bright orange-reds with a well-formed center circle.

 Sea-shells will be the focal point of this piece using seaside colors.

Random center shapes add interest to the happy colors in this work.

Bright blue and greens of various color surround an off-center circle.

I was so proud of these students.  They had wonderful ideas and were a very creative group.  They were all a joy to work with.  

Take time to enroll in a class or make up a class for yourself at home and have a great day.

PREPARING FOR CLASS, PLAYING WITH SCRAPS

I have been invited to teach a workshop at the PAF Gallery in Siler City, NC on March 16.  It will be on beginning hooking and we will work on a geometric design. Below is a sample hooking of one version of the design we will work with.

"Split Path"  5 X 7 Lori LaBerge  2013 

The reason I stated "one version" above is because I rarely have rules with a design. There is a simple square on top and I added the wavy diagonal line during the hooking process.  I would like those attending class to feel free to vary this design to their liking.  Experimentation and creativity will be encouraged.  Various colors of dyed wool will be available along with yarns and metal hardware parts. There are a multitude of ways to add to or vary a simple design and I am looking forward to the ideas people come up with.

There will also be an exhibit of my works from March 15 thru April 5.  This week has been busy as I have been ordering supplies for the class, deciding which pieces to display, and preparing packing materials.  

While cleaning out the studio, I realized how many excess pieces of linen in all shapes and sizes were thrown in a drawer.  Throwing out leftover scraps doesn't come easy for me and the linen scraps were beginning to pile up.  I decided to give myself 10 minutes to grab whatever items I could and create something from those items.  I grabbed a ton of linen scraps, an old art canvas, a pencil, spray paint, thread, a needle and a pair of scissors.  An hour later, here is the result:

Journal study in neutrals using scraps, Lori LaBerge  2013

Since the spray paints happened to be neutral colors, this exercise forced me to work in colors I do not usually use.  I love bright colors and had to hold myself back from cheating and using other colors.  After a while there seemed to be a real sense of calm as I worked with the neutral palette.  Perhaps I will try using it in a larger hooked work at some point.  

The exercises in the last few posts have really taught me to work quickly as I like to set a specific time limit for each one. 

  

Here is a close-up view of the rectangles I cut from the linen and then placed on top of each other.  I love the raw edges showing the texture of the piece.

Bring some colors you would not normally use into your life this week and have a great day.

Studio Update:

It is actually starting to look like a building now.  The roof rafters are on and the plywood is on the exterior walls.

A view of the interior so far.  I so wish I had all this space for the studio, but a garage area is needed.

ASHEVILLE GALLERY SHOW AND PENLAND CLASS

This past week included a drive to Asheville to deliver two pieces juried into the show "The Cutting Edge: The Language of Textiles and Fiber Art" at the Desert Moon Design Gallery. Upon entering the gallery my husband and I were greeted by the gallery director, Julie Spalla, who could not have made us feel more welcome. The show will run from April 4-May 5. It was a pleasant surprise to see one of my pieces pictured in the advertisement for the show.

My piece is on the lower right.  Love the use of complimentary blue and orange in the ad.  I hope you will get the chance to go view the contemporary fiber works in the show and meet Julie, who can share her love of the arts with you.

This coming week will be a busy one as I will be taking a class at Penland. Penland is known as a national center at which one can experience immersion in their choice of craft courses. The course on my agenda for the week is "Chromalicious: Color Liberation" with Alicia Keshishian.

Just like back to school shopping!

Besides absolutely loving the name of this class, it appealed to me due to Alicia's experience in rug design. I have been keeping a digital sketchbook full of larger rug design ideas , but with the time-consuming nature of rug hooking I will be lucky if I ever complete a quarter of them.

I find myself both excited and nervous about this class, excited to have a full week to play with color, nervous as I do not view myself as having the best of painting skills and paints and painting paper are on the materials list. I have no idea what is in store for me, but will let you know all about it, with plenty of photos, next week.

Enjoy whatever is in store for you this week and have a great day.