Long post! TL:dr… I’m going to France for an art residency next year. At this place, Chateau d’ Orquevaux. Yep. I’m doing this. I applied on a semi-whim in December 2023, knowing that odds of being accepted were somewhere between 20% and never. I make a habit of applying every couple of years to *big*…
Read More Art Residency 2025: Chateau d’Orquevaux, part 1After the suspiciously-fast progress of ‘Sun Bird’, I started thinking about more book art sculptures with carved-wood bird spines. Lo, I found the Second Bird! Hailing from Bisbee AZ but made who-knows-where, of two-toned mesquite or another desert wood, and very woodpecker-like…this 11″ long sculpture has a flat back that will be ideal to support…
Read More The Second and Third Birds…Are nearly done. Two days before I have to drop them off, nearly a year since I volunteered to do them, and at least six months after I intended to finish them. Life in a pandemic, eh? You’d think it would give us more time to finish things. But my job never locked down, and…
Read More Panels for The Violet Protest Project…Backstory: there’s a virtual gallery opening today that I’d wanted to attend, at a specific time. I have artwork in this show, I’m proud of the work, and I love the gallery. I also am lucky enough in the midst of a pandemic to *have a FT job with benefits*. It’s nearing the end of…
Read More Artists explaining themselvesFor my ongoing theme of ‘Taking Back Red’, here’s an old fiber art project that is calling for a reboot, possibly as a book art sculpture: 1994’s ‘Southron Sampler’, a small 14×9″ (ish) fiber art wall hanging donated to an Arizona science fiction convention charity auction to benefit a local literacy group. If this piece…
Read More Old projects revisited: Southron SamplerFrom here I cannot see two oceans. Standing astride this ridge, one foot Touching sunset The other, night. On each side, cool winds taste the same. From here I see no difference between Factory or farm, trailer or mansion, No hint of hand or ideology behind The lights that in distant valleys bloom. Thrumming…
Read More Continental DivideI’m looking back on old art pieces that stalled out, got trunked, went into limbo…whatever we call it, most artists have some. Why they stalled? All reasons are valid: ‘I made it for someone, we lost touch, I’m embarrassed by them now, they’re embarrassed by me, I’m not finishing this!’ ‘I bit off way more…
Read More Making, Unmaking, RemakingHi, everyone! I’ve had an absolutely shitty day that reinforced my basic cynicism toward seven-tenths of humanity. I won’t go into the details, it would just bore you. So I came home, ate a piece of very fine chocolate, took a new picture of a beaded tapestry wall hanging, and entered it into an art…
Read More Revenge queries and art show entriesOn an amble through an Arizona art cooperative, I found an emerging artist’s gallery offering hand-embroidered clothing. ‘Cool!’ I thought, stepping close enough to see details. I am a sucker for embroidered clothes. ‘Awww, dammit,’ I thought next. The stitches were large and roughly spaced, an effect probably meant to be charming and rustic to…
Read More Economics and Hand-embroideryTrying another sales portal, this time on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CraneHanaDesigns I’m conflicted about Etsy. They’re the best game in town for many crafters. They’ve made some colossal blunders in the past, and I feel terrible for them that the only way they can save the company now is at the cost of their allegedly benevolent company ethos.…
Read More CraneHanaDesigns now on EtsyIn 2004, in the midst of a fairly divisive American Presidential election, I made this fiber art book. This is one set of pages, embroidered in red and blue cotton thread on cotton and linen ground, with fore-edges tasseled in cotton thread and glass beads. This is the original poem I wrote and embroidered into…
Read More Continental Divide: 12 years laterSay hello to part of a new fiber art book, which I may actually finish this year: As I mentioned in this post last year, back in 2009 I was insane enough to decide that, yes, I could make a pop-up book out of fabric. Most artists make pop-up or fold-out books out of paper,…
Read More Night Flight: neighborhood