"BLUE ROAD" IN FINAL STAGES, LEE KRASNER BOOK, JOURNAL ACTIVITY

"Blue Road", 18 X 18, Lori LaBerge  2012

I have been jumping around working on various pieces.  Some, already in progress, were put aside in order to have time to create a few more works for the PAF Gallery showing March 15th and 16th.  The past week included some of the finishing work on "Blue Road". 

The metal and wood parts were placed and I created two tassels.  When researching nomadic clothing and bags, I noticed an extensive use of tassels.  I could not find any information on the meaning these may have had and will continue to try to find out more about them.  Their addition completed the piece and added to its story.  All that is left now is the final labeling, framing and wiring. 

After a day of work, I love to read at night.  With the snow falling outside, I decided to curl up in bed with a hot chocolate and a good book.  This was my choice:

 "Lee Krasner: A Biography by Gail Levin

The book interested me as Lee Krasner was an artist in her own right, painting abstract work before she met Jackson Pollock.  I've only read the first chapter and am glued to the pages.  My favorite part of artist biographies is learning the artist's approach to work and thoughts about that approach.  I find it unfortunate that when I minored in Art History in college there were very few women artists whom we studied.

The journal activity for the week was a different take on brain-storming.  I wanted to take some time to discover how I thought about fiber art and what words I associated with it.  I decided to rip two pages out of a book (any book will do).  I happened to find an old history book from high school.  I then took colored pencils and x'd out words that I felt were not associated with textiles or fiber.  I chose the x as it resembles stitching.

    

The words left after marking others out were then written around the page.  It was interesting that while working with the first page I only filled half a page of background while I filled the whole of the second page of the journal.  I went back after finishing the second and looked for words on the first page I may have missed. Through this process I completed the first journal page.  

Close-up of page

Some of the words I found were: strong, lofty, custom, fringed, cloak, adorned, native, arts, curiosity and time.  The more I worked the process, the more I stretched how words could be associated with textile and fiber work.  When returning to the first page, I found I had missed words such as wander, forward, irregular, becomes and reunite. Why did I now accept these words?  I began to think in a new way:  one can use fiber in a wandering motion, want the fiber arts to move forward, see the uniqueness of irregularities, make plain fabric become beautiful and tear fabric apart to reunite it in a new way.

Look at the words you read in a new way, relate them to your art, hobby, or life and have a great day.

Note--No news on the studio update, weather is really holding things up.

START ON NEW NOMADIC WORK

This week I started on a new piece in the nomadic series. This series explores nomadic travels and nomadic textile patterns. The finishing work on last week's piece will be completed at the same time I finish this piece.  That way I only have to get out the tools to cut and drill the metal being used once.

In progress, as yet untitled,  Lori LaBerge, 2012

Yarn was used around the center medallion to add texture. If you are interested in hooking with yarn, you can check out "The Joy of Hooking with Yarn" by Judy Taylor.

In progress, close-up of yarn combined with wool hooking

The shape for the work came from viewing various textiles nomads have created or used in the past, specifically an Anatolian medallion.

Photo above from book "Tribal and Village Rugs" published by Thames and Hudson. My favorite book for reference on motifs.  Common in these designs is a central motif surrounded by four other motifs. I used the two designs to the left for ideas.  In my design I have used the idea of four full-size diamonds up front and center, but used one of the four as the main focus, thus varying from the basics of the Anatolian design.  A flat-edge bottom with the point only at the top were placed into the design.

Gold at upper left dyed this week with extras from scrap box added for variety.  The bottom left colors are more rose than show up in this photo.  I like to add one color that is a little mismatched when I combine various shades.  The same idea is done with the blues below.

Colors based on, but not the same as the palette of Anatolian village rugs were used. I dyed a gold veering toward orange, a bright blue (dark blue would be more typically used) and the light blue seen in the first photo on this post (more pastel than would be used by Anatolian rug makers). My work tends to use quite a lot of bright colors and I did not want to veer away from that.

On the other end of things, studio construction is coming along nicely. The gravel was poured this week, drainage put in and outer cement blocks placed for the base of the building. Lower walls are due in next week, then framing can begin!

This coming weekend seems to be the time for Christmas and holiday parties and we will be heading to the coast to visit with some dear friends, thus the early posting.  I hope you all enjoy your time with friends and family and have a great day.