inspiration

I follow a blog written by Barbara Mazzoleni in Milan, Italy. It is Patternprintsjournal.com . She posts the most incredible photos of high fashion, patterns, textures and colors I have found. If you register via email on the blog you will get a wonderful set of inspirational photos every day. Some of it is wacky, some of it is thought provoking, all of it opens your mind to other possibilities. People are doing incredible things with fabric. You can submit your work for her consideration too.

Decorative arts, fashion and design extend our vision with a patina that shines, an aesthetic that billows with promise.  No suffering, no guns, no turmoil. A joyous spot in my day.

cigar box # 2 finished

cigar box invitational exhibit, Paula Kovarik, 2014

Here is the final result of the cigar box piece I have been working on. This one uses a stitched, folded and tied cover for the box (see flat version of the fabric piece here). The box is quite beautiful in it's own right so I didn't want to disturb it too much. The only thing I added to it was a sheet of painted paper with cutouts for the thumb and the two characters: XO on the top.

love letters

The concept behind this one started with those two characters, representative of love and the way we use cigar boxes to store precious memories. Inside the box I added a series of copied love letters from my mom and dad's correspondence in the 1950s. She was studying to be a nurse, he had enlisted in the army. They were terribly in love, young, hopeful and had no idea what life and love would bring them. The wrap that I created is an old stained dinner napkin, the stitching is chaotic and wild, representative of their ride through life.

I've lost both of my parents in recent years. Their strength, determination and love sustained our family. Reading these hopeful ecstatic letters reminded me of that.

cigar box invitational exhibit, Paula Kovarik, 2014

persistance

We grew beets in our front yard this year. They grew vigorously, provided great meals and were delicious. We had two large harvests, leaving the rest in the ground for later meals.

That's when the rabbits found them. One day I was out watering and found all of the tops nibbled to the ground. The beets were still there so I piled up a little mulch around them and hoped for a resurgence.

And lo and behold! little green leaves poked up above the hay...a veritable miracle.

So, I'm gonna take this as inspiration. When projects go dead, my head gets nibbled away with doubt and worry. I will press on.

Wish I had said that

The curators for the Design Museum Holon in Israel have mounted a grand exhibition devoted to Craft called GATHERING - From Domestic Craft to Contemporary Process.

Listen to this:

"We are an unstitched society suffering from a lasting socio-economic crisis that has made us ferociously protective and egocentric. It is time for mending and gathering, thus restoring the fabric of society: picking up the pieces and bringing them together in a patchwork of possibilities; a quilt of substance, able to absorb shock and fear." - Lidewij Edelkoort

If, in my efforts to create art, I can touch this nerve, this truth, I will have accomplished my goal.

Edelkoort explains the show’s context: “We are an unstitched society suffering from a lasting socio-economic crisis that has made us ferociously protective and egocentric. It is time for mending and gathering, thus restoring the fabric of society: picking up the pieces and bringing them together in a patchwork of possibilities; a quilt of substance, able to absorb shock and fear.

More Information:

http://artdaily.com/news/71480/Design-Museum-Holon-opens-new-exhibition--Gathering--From-Domestic-Craft-to-Contemporary-Process--#.U9kYh6i7nIq[/url]

I totally get it.

Kathleen Loomis, she of great quilt art, recently posted an article on her blog about animated embroidery. I have to say I was a bit skeptical. However, after watching this bad%ss video called Tharsis Sleeps, in which each frame is directed and created by the artist on an embroidery machine, I had to gasp in wonderment. I particularly love his quote that was posted on the Junkculture blog:

“I completely ruined any kind of social life,” Livesey says of the creation process. “I haven’t spoken to anyone in the past few months. This is the most ridiculously stupid idea.” - Nicos Livesey

See the video here: Tharsis Sleeps