They’re done! They’re delivered! The Tempe Festival of the Arts begins this Friday, March 23. Check it out if you are in the Tempe AZ area.
This show’s Featured Artist is Tucson sculptor Adam Homan, who does edgy and elegant things with metal.
This ribbon gig has lots of fun stages, beginning with how to translate the Featured Artist’s signature look into twenty-some-odd fiber art ribbons. With Adam’s work, we knew we wanted the colors of steel, bronze, silver, copper, and gold, as metallic as possible without verging into total cheesiness.
We picked ‘wings’ as a starting motif. From there, I found or already had bronze silk and pewter satin, some denim with a blued-steel look, and lots of metal steampunk embellishments and glass beads. A narrow vertical ribbon of appliqued sky blue adds brighter color.
The wings themselves are leather from a fabric-by-the-pound place, painted with metallic acrylic paint, sealed with a flexible varnish, and machine-sewn over the background appliques.
Every ribbon series has a narrative for me, generally evolving by the time they are done.
“Inside a vast, dim workshop, strange machines lurk dormant under old cloth drapes, or hang suspended from steel chains and huge hoists. A metallic rumble shakes the chains. A side door begins to open, letting in a glimpse of blue sky outside. The wind pushes inside, blowing back clouds of dust and age-browned muslin, setting the chains clanging. The machines wake, and unfold into the shapes of huge steel and bronze wings…”
A special shout-out to the Young Artist winners: we’re proud of you!
