I'm still buzzing from my amazing experiences in Los Angeles at the Stitch Fetish 4 show opening. Hell, yeah!
In front of my Epic Lips, 2015, opening night, The Hive Gallery. (Photo by Rebecca Levi)
Sometimes it's hard to convey the bifurcated reality of my life as a working artist. I have a full time corporate job. I hustle like a mofo when I'm in my beige cubicle. It's fine. The work is dull to me but I take is seriously. It allows me to support myself. It's nothing fancy, but I'm out here alone in the world. I'm not a spring chicken and I'm terrified of being broke, which is always looming as a possibility. I don't have a net.
Gallery wall, including work by Julie Sarloutte, Pete Seazle and others.
So yes, I'm grateful for the work, but damn, it's so isolating. Lonely.
Annette, Heully, me, Michelle Kingdom and Rebecca Levi at brunch at The Waffle on Sunset Blvd.
The opposite of my time in LA with the other textile artists!
I was blown away by The Ramble by Matthew Monthei.
The gallery wall of my dreams! My work along side Erika Hagberg's kisses and Meghan Willis' fruit.
The Stitch Fetish curator,the indomnible LA-based artist, Ellen Schinderman, collected erotic stitched art from around the world and several artists themselves from around the country to opening at the Hive Gallery. And I got to be one of them!
Curator/artist Ellen Schinderman in front of her work at the opening.
What a joy it was! What wonderful conversations I had with my fellow thread artists... about process, creativity, craft, ideas. In person!
Brunch fun times, with Emma Rose Laughlin, Rebecca Levi and Matthew Monthei.
I talked stitching into photographic paper with Matthew Monthei. Transfer techniques with Rebecca Levi and Ellen Schinderman. Fabric with the amazing Michelle Kingdom. And I got to talk to and see the stunning work of Emma Rose Laughlin, who (along with Michelle Kingdom) I've interviewed for my Inspired to Stitch column for Mr X Stitch.
Clockwise: work by Bascom Hogue, Mark Bieraugel, Katharine Lawrie and Spike Dennis.
I heard Annette Heully talk about her border-pushing lace work. And I got to see, close up, needlework of the highest quality, by Bascom Hogue, Mark Bieraugel, Spike Dennis, Meghan Willis, Julie Sarloutte, Jess de Wahls, Sally Hewett and Erika Hagberg, among so many others.
A meta moment. A viewer snapping a pic of my lips while I sneak a pic of her snapping it.
Making art is something that requires lots of time alone. I'm energized from the weekend connecting with these artists. Creatively, personally, artistically.
A highlight of the weekend: Meeting the lovely Brooklyn artist Rebecca Levi, in front of her gorgeous stitched men.
I have 10,000 ideas for new work, new projects, new columns, new making adventures. I'm so grateful to Ellen for creating that wonderful emotional space for us to all connect. And to my friends, Frank and Jody, for sharing the experience with me.
With the gang of fellow artists at The Waffle. Yay!
More art, more travel, more connection. Yes, please!
(Stitch Fetish 4 is on view at the Hive Gallery until Feb 27, 2014. The artwork is on sale in their online shop.)