Existential See-Saw Ride

Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger
Uster (ZH) /Switzerland

Falling Garden

San Staë church on the Canale Grande
50th Biennial of Venice, 2003

Components: Plastic berries (India), cow pads (Jura), waste paper (Venice), baobab seeds (Australia), beech, elder and magnolia branches (Uster), thorns (Almeria), nylon blossoms (one-dollar-shop), pigs’ teeth (Indonesia), seaweed (Seoul), orange peel (Migros shop), fertilizer crystals (home grown), pigeons’ bones (San Staë), silk buds (Stockholm), cattail (Ettiswil), cats’ tails (China), celery roots (Montreal), virility rind (Caribbean), wild bore quills (zoo), banana leaves (Murten), rubber snakes (Cincinnati)...

Brainforest
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art

 Kanazawa (Japan), 2004

all photos via 

Gerda Steiner

 and Jörg Lenzlinger 

I have been intrigued with this work for several years. 

Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger have collaborated since 1997. 

I like Steve Peralta's description of  what they do. 

"Gerda Steiner's and Jörg Lenzlinger's work deals with an adaptation of nature through synthesis. The Swiss artists' currency is a Hegelian dialectic that gets an empirical flip sideways with the use of objects such as taxidermied animals and insects, glistening ponds of motor oil, dead trees and plants, and flowing streams of chemicals. 

Their work deals frankly with the unity of opposites such as life and death, good and evil, and hope and despair. It's an existential see-saw ride that lends beauty to almost anything." - Steve Peralta 

See more of his interview with the couple here.

See 

Gerda Steiner and Jörg Lenzlinger's website here.

link to Amazon to find books about them here.

4000 Books

Anouk Kruithof
Dutch artist. Lives and works in Berlin, the Netherlands and abroad

Installation out of approximately 4000 books, 4.10 mtr by 2.30 mtr

exhibition overview soloshow Becoming Blue in Kunstelerhaus Bethanien Berlin february 2009

documentation photograph by David Brandt

all images © Anouk Kruithof

Anouk is a prolific photographer and most recently, has become interested in installation art. 
See more of her work here.

Not To Be Missed If You're in Cleveland on Friday, July 23, 2010

ZeroLandfill™ Cleveland has an incredible amount of fabric this year!  

Everything from memo samples (8" x 8") to bolt ends. 

This year there is an abundance of fabric books and boxes of samples.   

This fabric is donated from local interior designers as expired samples and is available on Fridays beginning July 23 - August 6, noon - 3 pm.  

These materials are available at no cost - artists, educators and crafters welcome. 

Also found 3 boxes of patterns and a few miscellaneous boxes of remnants.

Special treat tomorrow: Rogue Bakery will be in the parking lot selling cookies.

3631 Perkins Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio
side entrance, green awning - look for ZeroLandfill™ banner
Each event date is from noon - 3 pm

Exploring Lost Identity

Yu JinYoung
Born in Korea, 1977. Lives and works in Seoul.

A Family in Disguise, 2008

Pvc, mixed media

Images via Union Gallery

Yu JinYoung has been able to capture hidden subtext by using transparency in her work. 

I find these life-size sculptures to be haunting. 

They evoke an unexpected depth of emotion, so much so, that I find them difficult to look at for any length of time, yet I am curious. So I look.

Clever.

I found a nice interview on Arrested Motion where she describes the process of making these sculptures. 

It is laborious and ingenious. 

Stitched Nostalgia

Lauren DiCioccio

Lauren DiCioccio  has created at least a dozen series of works you can view on her website. 

I've seen her embroidery on organza bags but have not seen these works.

Enjoy!

1FEB10 (lady gaga)

2010

17JAN10 (reggie bush)
2010

13MAR10 (Richard Fuld), detail
2010

From her 'sewnews' series. Ms. DiCioccio  encases  entire issues of The New York Times in muslin, 

selects a photo from the paper; and embroider the image onto the fabric.

Pair

2010

All images copyright Lauren DiCioccio 

From '35mm sewnslides' Lauren collects 35mm slides and re-creates them as small embroidered works. 

She hopes the view is provoked with a pang of nostalgia for the familiar physicality of these objects. 

I am and I hope you spend a bit of wistful time on her site.

Study Hall with my friend and some thrift store finds

Spending time in study, contemplation and stitching. 
Deconstructing silk blouses and other thrift store goods.

I found this lovely red linen blouse and decided to make some stitched marks on the back.

(Ann Klein brand red linen blouse $2.24)

I throw a few stitches in each day and then...

My favorite BRRG and I are spending these hot summer days making 

jewelry using only materials we find at thrift stores. 

All the chains and baubles and bits are sourced from clothing, shoes, purses and whatnot. 

This pink crocheted flower came from a more elaborate crocheted 

 pillow case edging.

It's now a necklace.

Old clip-on earrings, a shoe buckle and bits of material wrapped and bundled suspended by a chain. Some of that chain used to be a purse handle, while other bits are from the jewelry counter all thrift store!

Shiney silver mesh belt ($.50 cents). Cut into pieces, a recycled crocheted flower (from a doily $.49 cents), 

a button and voila...cuffs or ???

Eco-dyed silk cuff I dyed last week should I attach some of that flashy silver mesh?

Not sure. 

but sure am having fun.

I rather like these objects as an installation in my studio. 

How do you draw time?

I'm fascinated by what I've read about this book.
Graphic representations of time. 
Wow.

Cartographies of Time is the first comprehensive history of graphic representations of time in Europe and the United States from 1450 to the present. 


According to Amazon.com today, the book is temporarily out of stock!
Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline
I want this book, don't you?

FiberArt International and Food

Pittsburgh, PA, USA


Opps, that's not a picture of FiberArt International!
I can't really show pictures because I don't know whether that would be OK on my blog. I think I should get approval from the artists before posting pictures....


Therefore, I proceed to our lunch today in Pittsburgh.


This is Dozen Bake Shop

When visiting Pittsburgh, one must visit Dozen Bake Shop. 

image via http://www.dozenbakeshop.com/html/gallery.html

This is one of the owners, James.

We met him in 2007 and highly suggested to him that Cleveland, Ohio needs his shop.

Maybe within the next few years, he says.

My good friend and fellow artist, Christy Gray.

We split a roasted red pepper and goodness quiche with watermelonaide. yum

then washed it down with chocolate ice cream from Jeni's (made in Ohio) and a vanilla/vanilla cupcake.

While I'm sharing Food pictures 
Feast your eyes on my very own 
Zucchini Ricotta Galette. 

Yes, that's mine!

The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen

The secret to this divine pie was using cold cold cold flour and butter, a bit of sour cream and lemon juice in the crust gives it croissant-like flakiness

Best Crust and savory pie 
I've ever made. Period.

FiberArt International was exciting. 
I liked most of the art and disliked a few. 
Wondered why a few pieces were in the show. (I'm not sayin' which) 
Overall here are my grades:
Grade A on the show on a scale of A through F
Grade B on the catalog. 


I want more information about the artists process. 
The labels for the artworks did not give enough information. 


Exhibition information
 2 venues while in Pittsburgh, you must go to both to see the entire show.

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

and Society for Contemporary Craft
the show will be in Pittsburgh until August 22, 2010 when it goes on tour:

Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester
Rochester, New York
April 30 - July 3, 2011

San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design
San Francisco, California
October 13, 2011 - January 15, 2012

Upcycled Art with a twist

Catherine McEver
Oakland, CA, USA


The woman who drives this car

1978 Chevy Nova

Makes art out of rubble and bits and pieces, odds and ends, dumpster dives to find treasures and makes happiness happen.

Who doesn't want a lettuce baby shoe?

Perhaps as an art print? It can be yours here!

or 

Embroidered Wonder Bread 

Duck Sampler Art Print

 A print of this image is also available on her Etsy shop here!

Catherine has an engaging blog.

A few of the many images of her art she shares there . 

One can spend a pleasant cup of tea browsing through her creations and never tire. The tea might go cold for you'll be curious to see what lies next on her older blog posts.

Catherine writes: 

"Find a stone, hang it up, thwart gravity. 

Fashioned from stones, found rubble, and knitted steel."

Catherine writes: 

"Go to a meeting, get another plastic name tag, 

throw it away, and fill the world with yet more garbage? I don't think so!"

I say Amen Sista!

Gravity Makes No Sense

One of a series of heavily embroidered kitchen aprons, each examining a different science topic in depth. 

Catherine writes of herself...   

I make my own clothes, and some days realize I’ve made everything I have

on including my pocketbook (fashioned out a recycled truck tire inner tube) except my underwear.

If you're feeling blue or yellow or red or green, please click over to her blog. 

It's called: Stuff You Can't Have. 

I want it all.