Scientific studies claim that art heals by changing one's physiology and attitude. The body's physiology changes from one of stress to one of relaxation, from one of anxieties and misgivings to one of creativity and inspiration. For many of us involved in the arts, we know this to be a fact for certain and many times our spirits and troubled minds have been lifted and eased as a result of an artistic encounter.
In early May, Virginia Spiegel once again featured her wonderful Fiberart for a Cause online charity auction"Collage Mania" benefitting the American Cancer Society and what fun it was! The pure joy of perusing all the prospective pieces took me away from a sadder time and place to a brief couple of days immersed in the exciting work of so many talented artists who gave their time and talents to the cause. The auction is now closed but Virginia has generously left the site up online for viewing and inspiration. You can view it here:
http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CM2009Collages1.html
During the frenzied action of the auction, I was fortunate enough to land four pieces of art by three artists and their work definitely uplifted my soul. I am most grateful to Laura J. Osbun, Jeanette Thompson and Jacquie Stone, not only for their contributions to Virginia's efforts but for also giving me permission to share their work with all of you on my blog. Over the next few days, I will be featuring each of the four pieces I acquired and connecting you with the artists , their comments on their work and their sites and blogs. So please stay tuned for some interesting posts.
Congratulations to Virginia and her associates for raising over $18,000. in just two days for the American Cancer Society. After an astounding four years of commitment and goodwill, I wish Virginia a well deserved break with much peace and contentment as she now returns to her studio to pursue her own art.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Back to the future
Nothing like a stark dose of reality to shake life up. The last seven months seem to have flown by, yet in some ways seem an eternity and alas my artistic pursuits and creative life have been on hold due to the serious illness of a beloved family member.
Although I have a few hurdles still ahead of me, I will be slowly returning to blogging, pursuing my artistic endeavors and in the not too distant future, teaching again. I have missed the joys of interacting with and actively participating in the needlearts community. At this time, I wish to express my sincere thanks to so many of you who have reached out to encourage and lift me through these difficult times. Your love and support have buoyed me through some dark days and I am most appreciative of your friendship.
In updating my blog, I have made it easier for people to add comments and I encourage you to partcipate in my future posts.
Friday, October 31, 2008
*Important * USA Orphan Works Bill
As you know my blog is primarily textile and stitch related and I try to keep political debate at a distinct minimum but there is an issue pending that I feel needs to be addressed and at the very least, other artists need to be made aware of it. I have long tried to emphasize to fellow artists and my students as to the importance of respecting copyright. I have often taken a shit kicking for it too but feel very strongly about this subject and will continue to foster that respect and attempt to educate others about the legal issues that can ensue.
The Orphan Works bill in the US is a most controversial and complicated act , if which passed, will have ramifications affecting artists worldwide. I encourage my fellow artists to educate yourself on this issue and act with your conscience accordingly.
On April 24, 2008, the Orphan Works Act was introduced into the U.S. House and Senate. Currently, copyright is granted the moment a work is created. The Orphan Act Legislation proposes a change in U.S. copyright that would require artists, illustrators, photographers, and any creative individual to actively maintain and defend their copyright by registering each and every work with privatized registrars. Failure to do so would leave everything you’ve ever created as an artist up for grabs by anyone who wanted to copy, reproduce, create derivative works of, or flat out steal your work since the act defines an “orphan work” as any work where the author is unidentifiable or unlocatable, and applies to both published and unpublished works, U.S. and foreign, regardless of age..Once your piece of work is placed onto an Internet site; it will become the full domain of any person who wishes to copy your originality. A large majority of people who see a design, photograph, etc. will not take the time to research its original ownership, or see how long along this work was published. This is where as an artist you should be concerned, and unfortunately the Legislation of the Orphan Act of 2008, does not protect you as an individual.
( With special thanks and credit to Pamela Baker)
For a reasonably simple explanation of the bill, click the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_work
For my American friends to seek more information and how to contact your members of Congress to express your concern and/or protest the bill :
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
There is a page for international parties to send their thoughts and register their protests also and I urge my Canadian and European friends to participate if at all possible. Although at the moment, this legislation is US based, believe me in time this will have a powerful affect on all of us and our work and we will feel the trickle down effect worldwide! Click this link for international responses:
http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00267
A word from Sara of Sara's Texture Crafts, with credit to Sara, on how to go about protecting oneself:
"I do feel the most important thing we can do as on-line sellers of arts and crafts (as well as opposing, or seeking more preferable amendments to such bills/laws as 'Orphan Works), is to start adding copyright 'watermarks' to our product/artwork images (completed or otherwise) before we post them to forums, social networks and shopping sites. That way it is clear where the design came from and the year it was created. Should you then wish to follow through on any unlawful copyright infringement, you the 'originator' will at least have some power to authenticate your claim. At the moment I see far too many photos of works that are unmarked by the artists... these could all easily be 'borrowed' for someone else's gain. Remember even if the text accompanying the photo in question contains details of the author/origin of the work. The photo itself can be downloaded separately from any blog, social network, forum, search engine and some websites... in these cases if a photo is unmarked it could easily be reused in another way without any credit to it's origin, becoming an 'Orphan Work'."
The Orphan Works bill in the US is a most controversial and complicated act , if which passed, will have ramifications affecting artists worldwide. I encourage my fellow artists to educate yourself on this issue and act with your conscience accordingly.
On April 24, 2008, the Orphan Works Act was introduced into the U.S. House and Senate. Currently, copyright is granted the moment a work is created. The Orphan Act Legislation proposes a change in U.S. copyright that would require artists, illustrators, photographers, and any creative individual to actively maintain and defend their copyright by registering each and every work with privatized registrars. Failure to do so would leave everything you’ve ever created as an artist up for grabs by anyone who wanted to copy, reproduce, create derivative works of, or flat out steal your work since the act defines an “orphan work” as any work where the author is unidentifiable or unlocatable, and applies to both published and unpublished works, U.S. and foreign, regardless of age..Once your piece of work is placed onto an Internet site; it will become the full domain of any person who wishes to copy your originality. A large majority of people who see a design, photograph, etc. will not take the time to research its original ownership, or see how long along this work was published. This is where as an artist you should be concerned, and unfortunately the Legislation of the Orphan Act of 2008, does not protect you as an individual.
( With special thanks and credit to Pamela Baker)
For a reasonably simple explanation of the bill, click the link below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_work
For my American friends to seek more information and how to contact your members of Congress to express your concern and/or protest the bill :
http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/home/
There is a page for international parties to send their thoughts and register their protests also and I urge my Canadian and European friends to participate if at all possible. Although at the moment, this legislation is US based, believe me in time this will have a powerful affect on all of us and our work and we will feel the trickle down effect worldwide! Click this link for international responses:
http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00267
A word from Sara of Sara's Texture Crafts, with credit to Sara, on how to go about protecting oneself:
"I do feel the most important thing we can do as on-line sellers of arts and crafts (as well as opposing, or seeking more preferable amendments to such bills/laws as 'Orphan Works), is to start adding copyright 'watermarks' to our product/artwork images (completed or otherwise) before we post them to forums, social networks and shopping sites. That way it is clear where the design came from and the year it was created. Should you then wish to follow through on any unlawful copyright infringement, you the 'originator' will at least have some power to authenticate your claim. At the moment I see far too many photos of works that are unmarked by the artists... these could all easily be 'borrowed' for someone else's gain. Remember even if the text accompanying the photo in question contains details of the author/origin of the work. The photo itself can be downloaded separately from any blog, social network, forum, search engine and some websites... in these cases if a photo is unmarked it could easily be reused in another way without any credit to it's origin, becoming an 'Orphan Work'."
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
We are not amused!
On occasion Mother Nature can be a bitch and last night she lashed out and dumped an early vicious winter storm on us causing much tree and plant damage. It's rarely we get a snow storm of this intensity before Halloween! London is known as The Forest City and we are fortunate to have so many beautiful trees and reforestation programs here. The tree damage was unbelievable as you can see here:
Frozen sweet peas early a.m. and evacuated to safety by afternoon along with lavender and a yellow rose
Wild crab apples iced over at the Westminster Ponds
Fir tree bent to the ground by the heavy iceAnd , you might ask, how is this textile related?
Well of course, I have taken some storm related pics to transfer to fabric for the ongoing tryptich! So I might forgive Mother Nature just a tiche, in spite of her tantrum, for giving me this golden opportunity!
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Art Bra mania this month.......
Photos - Girls Just Wanna Have FunCopyright - Léonie Hartley-Hoover
Being October and Breast Cancer Awareness month, there has been a resurgence of interest in and publicity about the Art Bra movement so I am going to share some blogs and sites with my readers so they can find out more about it and view the spectacular work of the artists involved.
Although 2007 saw the last calendar published, the travelling exhibit is still touring the country.
If your gallery, guild or show should be interested in displaying the exhibit, please contact Vickie at victoria@ribbonsmyth.com
Nefertiti - August 2007 Copyright - Léonie Hartley-Hoover
The Art Bra quilts are still an ongoing project. To see all of these beauties and the invidual blocks:
And Finally - Thanks to the original Little Miss Dynamite - Take a bow Vickie!
Photo credit - Mike Brown
On a roll with Little Miss D....
Rolling is the operative word here as making the little dynamite sticks took considerable patience and dexterity! First I had to find the perfect wick or cord for it. My husband was fascinated with the process as he was a mining technician in his younger days and knew what dynamite should look like! I had about 8 different strings and cords to try out and my husband and I sat at the kitchen table with a teflon cover placed on it - barbeque lighter in hand, like a couple of pyromaniacs lighting them all to see what kind of residue they left and if they burned to our satisfaction. They did NOT!! So, off I went in search of the perfect " wick". I finally came back with four more cords. The ultimate winner was nylon and polyester and it burned to perfection.
The string of firecrackers on the left cup was a little demon to make as there was a curved seam on the outside of the bra cup which formed a " dip" and the bugles would not lay as flat as I wanted them. It was an exercise to turn a purist's hair grey and I can't begin to tell you how many repetitions of silamide are securing them. I couched down two layers of nylon/poly cord one on top of the other, between the two rows of bugles and then " lit" the top of the crackers for effect.
I had a quarter of a metre of the most beautiful reddest red ultrasuede I could find and after a lot of measuring and balancing size against the female figure ( found in a bin at a charity shop a couple of years ago) I drew some sketches of different size strips I thought might work. I did a couple of dummy runs on felt and then with the rotary cutter , cut two different size strips from the suede. I cut more than I needed as I knew I would no doubt ruin a few and then came the tedious part, rolling the sticks as tight as I could....they had to be really secure. I proceeded to seal the edges cleanly with E6000 as those sides would not show. I had quite a production line going by now. I cut a series of 16 inch nylon/poly cords and lined them all up. Using a large eyed needle, I threaded a single cord into the eye . Then I carefully lit the farthest end with the barby lighter until it was molten, then blew on it just when it was at a certain stage of gooeyiness ( therein lay the trick - it had to be just the right amount of gooey !!) and then I put the needle through the dynamite stick and pulled slightly so the gooey knot caught inside the stick, without mucking up the ultrasuede outside but thereby gluing itself to the inside of the stick. A tricky feat I can assure you! Each one had to have a little tug on them to see they were secure enough. Next,I had to estimate how much wick to leave at the top as I had to burn that end to a perfect little knob to look realistic enough. That was a "suicide mission" because if the fire caught too quickly I was left with a sad looking stub not a nice shaped wick. If that happened, the dynamite stick was ruined as the other end was already secured inside. I only destroyed two of them so that wasn't too bad in light of things ( no pun intended). It was a fun experience but took a lot more time ( and patience) than I bargained for.
The string of firecrackers on the left cup was a little demon to make as there was a curved seam on the outside of the bra cup which formed a " dip" and the bugles would not lay as flat as I wanted them. It was an exercise to turn a purist's hair grey and I can't begin to tell you how many repetitions of silamide are securing them. I couched down two layers of nylon/poly cord one on top of the other, between the two rows of bugles and then " lit" the top of the crackers for effect.
The " explosion" on the right cup was three layers of ultrasuede, which when stitched over the outer fabric, foam underlining and back lining made for six layers of fabric to stitch through. No mean feat!
The word " Danger" was colored in orange on the safety ribbon so I had to very carefully paint over it in diluted red acrylic and then seal it.
The stars and the shooting stars are made from angelina and then bonded onto handpainted yellow ultrasuede. I also painted the HOT insignia and then I made her a little firecracker necklace out of bugles and swarovskis.
The beaded flame on the left hand side is ready to light the wick on the dynamite.
I put on the little glass chili peppers saluting Vickie's hot Texan culinary tastes and if you zoom in on the overall pic, you will see LMD is holding a pomegranite margarita in her left hand. I can tell you I was ready for one myself after this process!
The beaded flame on the left hand side is ready to light the wick on the dynamite.
I put on the little glass chili peppers saluting Vickie's hot Texan culinary tastes and if you zoom in on the overall pic, you will see LMD is holding a pomegranite margarita in her left hand. I can tell you I was ready for one myself after this process!
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