A mistake and a lesson learned

I learned a very important lesson regarding the Art world - basically if it is presented as Art, then it must be Art.

I have mastered the necessity of presentation to try and give me an edge over the competition - to send a resume or note in a classy envelope. To send a package wrapped to make an impression - tissue paper, ribbon, eye catching box. And when I send an item, it is understood to be what it is - noting more and nothing less.

As my previous post discusses, I packaged my submission for PRIMARY RED in a pizza box. I dropped it off at the Hui, leaving it in the box, ASSUMING that the box and tissue were understood to be wrappings - protective material for the submission.

I was wrong -- I should have unpacked the submission and taken the box with me. Obviously from the point of view when perceiving art - my piece was not removed from the box, the packaging considered to be a part of the work.

No one had to tell me this -- I knew it immediately upon entering the room the retrieve my piece, as it was not selected for the exhibit. It sat on a table, nestle in the box, the tissue obviously untouched and my mistake was glaringly obvious to me at that moment.

I have learned a valuable lesson: if IT is presented as such or if I as the artist say IT is so, then whatever IT is must be considered art. It is a very powerful concept - I can place dog crap on a plate and call it art and it will be recognized and respected as art. If I take the same plate with dog crap on it and now call it food - no one in their right mind would accept it.

Interesting how a word can blur peoples' perception.... I shall have to ponder this further...

Neptune's Garden - the studio version...

A first glimpse of my garden under the sea...

So, in its realized form, this is the quilt that started the whole theme that transmuted into two other pieces: Neptune's Garden II and Dancing with the Stars - Tango Red.

This quilt will be on display in the Blank Quilting booth in Houston, Oct. 10 - 12. I'll take more pictures from onsite and post them so you can see it hanging in the trade show environment -

I played with the exposure and sharpness of the images to make the details really pop, and even without doing so, the shine of the Rock Candy is wonderfully apparent.

All of the techniques used, although not new, are mine... and I am hoping to generate some interest in my work, and in the possibility of exploring these methods further in the development of a book.

We shall see...

September 25th deadlines met

Yesterday I confirmed with the online USPS tracking that my entry for the Simplicity Wrights challenge was delivered.

Today I packed up and delivered the piece for PRIMARY RED at the Hui.

I figured I should pack the piece in a box for transportation. Luckily I am lazy and hadn't taken any of the corrugated cardboard to the recycle center, so I had a few boxes to chose from. It came down to a choice between a used USPS shipping box, or a clean pizza box.

Naturally the pizza box was an appropriate size for my needs.

When I arrived at the Hui to register my submission, there was a lot of attention as I walked in like a pizza delivery guy. There was confusion... had anyone ordered a pizza? Of course I was questioned if that was a pizza or my submission. My reply was, "Whole wheat crust, no red sauce." I obtained a chorus of chuckles.

So another delivery is done.

I am finishing up the quilt for market and will preview that in the next few days.

Aloha!

Dancing with the Stars - Tango Red

2009 Community Art Making Challenge - PRIMARILY RED - at the Hou No'eau Visual Arts Center, Maui.

The parameters of the challenge were simple: "This themed juried exhibition in which artists are asked to create works based on the word "red". Artists are asked to interpret red literally, figuratively, financially, emotionally, spiritually, chromatically, politically and socially, etc. in all its various forms and create work based on that interpretation."

Here is my submission: Dancing with the Stars - Tango Red, due date tomorrow. It is an original fiber arts piece and measures approximately 14" x 18". The background (Alice Toile - from my Wonderland collection) is quilted, with hand-knit coral branches, chopped fabric-and-thread "sand", and seed bead encrusted dimensional starfish. They are asking that the piece be put up for sale, a fifty/fifty split the arts center/artist. The going rate for a quilt is $100.00/square foot. My asking price is $225.00.

Any takers?

If the piece is chosen, it will be one of 60 on display from Oct. 04 - Nov. 14. If not, I'll have it back in my hot little hands on Monday.

Simplicity Wrights Designer Challenge

Aloha!

In my last post I showed the piece I am submitting to the Simplicity Wrights Designer Challenge. Well, it is all packed up -- pinned to a Styrofoam base, snuggled in its box between layers of bubble wrap and corrugated, recycled-paper packing material -- and on its way to the Big Apple, ironically to 2 Park Avenue, which is about 15 minutes by foot from where I used to live on 8th Street in Manhattan.

Naturally I had to create a piece of odd size for which I could not find a standard box of appropriate size that would be accepted by the USPS -- so I had to create one of my own. At least I know the custom made box suits the contents perfectly and I can be rest assured there will be no shifting or juggling of the contents.

The piece and the challenge are now out of my hands... I'll let you know the outcome of the judging as soon as I can. Wish me luck!

Neptune's Garden II

Many of you are wondering where I have retreated to recently. Well, for the past 8 weeks I have been preparing for the International Quilt Market in Houston in a few weeks, as well as working on a piece for a juried show at the local visual arts center.

Blank Quilting, the company for which I design and rep the fabric line , is doing a garden theme in their booth this show. And as always, I cannot just do a normal floral garden... so I decided to do an underwater garden.

The piece below, Neptune's Garden II, is a smaller version of the quilt I am making for the booth. This mini quilt is for a challenge for Simplicity/Wrights, the pattern, notions and sewing tools company. They have recently introduced two new products into the market, machines that will cut fabric into strips, and also fold them into single-fold bias tape. The requirements of the challenge are to use the machines in the creation of a small quilt block.

Here is my entry (the only other limitations were the block could not be bigger than 24"x24" square or 96" in total if another shape.)

Everything in the quilt is made from fabric from my Rock Candy line (the waves are an ombre synthetic organza) and thread, batting and stuffing, with the exception of the glass beads on the starfish.

I'll keep you posted (no pun intended) on the other two pieces -- the quilt and art piece -- as they are completed.

Mark's First DYI (Drive Yourself Insane) Project

Living in a small 450-square-foot studio apartment in Manhattan, I acquired very little in the way of furniture. My queen-size sofa  was too big, bulky and costly to ship, rests disassembled and in pieces in a storage unit in New Jersey. So there were very few pieces to ship to Maui.

After getting settled into the house I am renting in Pukalani, I obviously needed furniture. The house is almost 4-1/2 times as big (okay... including the garage) and I had decided that although I wanted to keep with the island style, I didn't want it screaming Polynesian tiki bar. I did want a piece - preferably a chair - made out of elephant bamboo, and as luck would have it I found what I was looking for quite by accident.

My yellow lab (my VW beetle convertible, license plate LAB 838) needed servicing, and I took it to the auto center. Once there, I discovered it was going to take 6 - 8 hours repair, and without alternate transportation, I was obviously going to make a day of it. Luckily the shop was located in an industrial area, and the nearest town, Wailuku, about half a mile away.

So my wanderings to wile away the hours began. 

I found myself on a street that was a loop, and I started at one end and anticipated ending where I began, at the repair shop.

The first few buildings were of no importance to me -- storage units, an animal clinic, post office -- but then I saw one building with the sign BAMBOO MAUI. I knew as luck would have it, I was on to something.

The showroom was mainly bamboo flooring and bamboo used for commercial purposes, counter tops and wall coverings mostly; a surfboard, and a few pieces of furniture. The sales rep, who had entered as I was meandering around, told me the furniture was reduced half price as they were eliminating using this space as a showroom, and going forward would be used strictly for warehousing stock (their store in Kahului would have the furniture in the future). I knew I was looking for such a piece as was displayed in front of me, and to end this quickly, I  bought the chair and had it delivered.

As it is, I find, with most pieces of furniture, little attention had been given to the cushion covers. I had been amassing heavy-weight fabrics - denim, khaki, linen and ramie remnants  which were the bottoms of pant legs cut off to repurpose old trousers into shorts -- and home dec fabrics for such a purpose. I wanted to sew a patchwork of fabric into usable yardage and then make cushion covers from the pieced cloth.

After measuring and calculating the number of triangles -- I had chosen to patch triangles together -- I started cutting. I found that my collected stash was insufficient for the number of triangles needed. So I bought some new fabric.

I then laid a few pieces out and realized I had miscalculated the number of triangles I need by less than half... I had cut approximately 150 pieces, and my reupholstery endeavors required that I have at least 320.

I scrounged... an old bandana backed with interfacing for stability. The sleeves of a shirt -- almost any little useable scrap I could find... and another trip to the fabric store. 

Finally I had cut enough triangles. All in all I gathered 29 different patterns of fabric, some of which numbered as many as 21 pieces of a design and as few as 2.

I then laid out the pieces on the floor: top cushion 54 pieces each front and back; bottom cushion 80 pieces front and back with the bottom sides at 14 pieces times 2 and the back at 12 pieces. The piping was made from scrap, pieced together.

So, single triangles were coupled into pairs. 

Pairs became strips.

Two strips were sewn together to make a set of 2.

Depending upon the layout -- 1, 2, 6 or 8 strips became a panel. And the panels are pinned to the design board awaiting the next segment in the process of making the cushion covers.

To be continued...