Keeping with the “Reinvention” theme of the Conference and Workshops, the Sunday Artists Studio Tour was a nice outing and a great way to get a fresh outlook.
I wanted to see other studio spaces and artist’s work and compare it with my own. What inspires each of us? Does the studio contain an “idea wall? A few did, but I consider it vital! What about good natural lighting? Could I work in this space? What are the surroundings and “feel” of the place – comfortable, practical or challenging?
One of my favorite stops was to see Robin Cowley, a mixed media textile artist who creates art quilts in Oakland. Tidy, with wonderful fabrics organized by color, it was comfortably similar to mine. Her studio looks out on a nice garden setting, complete with a large ceramic obelisk by Jun Kaneko – a favorite artist whose “Dangos” and “Heads” I discovered recently in a gallery setting in Santa Fe, NM.
Seeing Jun’s work in its new home helped me imagine my own art once it ends up in a private collection. Different from the “arranged” environment of a gallery, I saw the pieces’ geometric shapes, surface textures and imagined them all in motion. From various angles and at different times of day, changing light provides whole new insights. Relationships with other artwork also added personal context and a whole new dimension.
One artist on the tour featured Japanese art textiles and clothing using the Shibori technique, another did photo transfers to handmade paper, while a third created digitally printed textiles stitched into quilts. A fellow textile dyer provides material for boutique fashions. It was fun to compare techniques and materials with my own dye process for felted wool – a completely different application.
The most unusual work came from an artist who took Victorian-era ribbon embellishment techniques and used them in new ways. A stunning example was a box of fancy chocolates fashioned from 3-dimensional folded ribbon! All of this gave me an array of inspiration and a platform to spring from as my art evolves.
I’ll be back in the studio soon, eager to continue playing with incorporating LED’s into my felted Network TapestryTM. I have lots of ideas for this year and look forward to sharing them with you! - PJ
I wanted to see other studio spaces and artist’s work and compare it with my own. What inspires each of us? Does the studio contain an “idea wall? A few did, but I consider it vital! What about good natural lighting? Could I work in this space? What are the surroundings and “feel” of the place – comfortable, practical or challenging?
One of my favorite stops was to see Robin Cowley, a mixed media textile artist who creates art quilts in Oakland. Tidy, with wonderful fabrics organized by color, it was comfortably similar to mine. Her studio looks out on a nice garden setting, complete with a large ceramic obelisk by Jun Kaneko – a favorite artist whose “Dangos” and “Heads” I discovered recently in a gallery setting in Santa Fe, NM.
Seeing Jun’s work in its new home helped me imagine my own art once it ends up in a private collection. Different from the “arranged” environment of a gallery, I saw the pieces’ geometric shapes, surface textures and imagined them all in motion. From various angles and at different times of day, changing light provides whole new insights. Relationships with other artwork also added personal context and a whole new dimension.
One artist on the tour featured Japanese art textiles and clothing using the Shibori technique, another did photo transfers to handmade paper, while a third created digitally printed textiles stitched into quilts. A fellow textile dyer provides material for boutique fashions. It was fun to compare techniques and materials with my own dye process for felted wool – a completely different application.
The most unusual work came from an artist who took Victorian-era ribbon embellishment techniques and used them in new ways. A stunning example was a box of fancy chocolates fashioned from 3-dimensional folded ribbon! All of this gave me an array of inspiration and a platform to spring from as my art evolves.
I’ll be back in the studio soon, eager to continue playing with incorporating LED’s into my felted Network TapestryTM. I have lots of ideas for this year and look forward to sharing them with you! - PJ
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