A Selfie in Tapestry?

Line #1
By Nicki Bair 2014

This is my entry to ATA's Unjuried Small Format Tapestry Exhibit for 2014 which will hang from July 8th to August 8th at the University of Rhode Island Feinstein Providence Campus Gallery. There is an opening reception July 17, 2014 5:00 – 9:00pm. If you are in Providence Rhode Island during the time of the exhibit do check it out. It has always been a wonderful exhibit in the past with a plethora of small tapestries. It is rare to see so many tapestries all in one place.

With what I can only assume is a tongue in cheek title of "Untitled/Unjuried" for the overall exhibit, our group submission was titled "What's My Line?" Our tapestry group created ten four by ten inch tapestries with the exciting titles of Line #1, Line #2 etc. up to Line #10.  The titles were assigned alphabetically hence my title Line #1. Our challenge for this exhibit was to design a piece with two sections; one very light and one very dark. The general concept was to take a 4 by 10 piece of dark paper and with one cut with a pair of scissors; one line, divide the paper into two pieces. Place one of the pieces of the dark paper on light paper and that was it - - the design for the tapestry.

I attended a tapestry workshop where we focused on how to weave lines in tapestries.  At that workshop I decided to practice on the design I had created with that quick swipe of my scissors.  One of the weavers, who was also a surgeon, corrected  'errors' in my design as to nipple placement and slope.  She also suggested making it larger.   It made for quite a humorous workshop and I learned a lot about anatomy. So with that feedback in mind, I adjusted my line and wove the final piece in silk dyed with just a hint of pink and a fuzzy novelty black appropriate for a sweater. 

The result makes me smile.

Seaside Spectrum at Convergence 2014

I just mailed off our Seaside Spectrum; where color meets fiber to the east coast for its showing in the A Lively Experiment-All Media 2014 Exhibit at Convergence in Providence Rhode Island.   Showing July 16-19th at the Phode Island Convention Center in Providence.

Seaside Spectrum- where color meets fiber is a collaborative piece created by the Seaside Weavers, an ecclectic group of textile artists on the Westside of LA.  We all competed by creating pieces in various colors to part of the final submission. Seaside’s entry is a collaborative entry conceived by me and Merna Strauch consisting of twelve pieces in the twelve colors of the color wheel done in a variety of fiber techniques.  Each 4 by 10” piece is framed in a silver frame. 

The Selection Process

The process started in May of 2013 with construction of the Seaside color wheel made of bits of paper from various magazines and paint chips. Each member was then challenged to create a piece in some fiber technique in the color to which they were assigned. Many members did multiple pieces. In the end there were over 45 pieces from which to select the twelve for our Seaside Spectrum entry. 

Then the fun really began.  All Seaside members got together and in true Seaside fashion - collaboratively chose the best twelve pieces representing its color wheel. In the end, there were many artistically beautiful and technically perfect pieces not chosen because they simply did not get along with their neighbors in the color wheel.   Like Chagall said, All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.  The selected twelve pieces for our entry were best friends with their neighbors.

I created four pieces; 2 yellow and 2 green.  Only one got selected to be part of the Seaside Spectrum; look for the green one below; green pencils wrapped with green silk along with a green pencil sharpener.  One of the "rejects" was picked up by Small Expressions so all was not lost!

Here’s a list of the winners by color along with their fiber technique.

Red                   Barbara Jones              Silk paper fusion

Red/Orange      Maureen Gilchrist         Crackle weave

Orange             Barbara Jones              Wet felted wool

Yellow/Orange  Marj Meadows              Bargello needlepoint

Yellow               Judi Freed                    Woven with crocheted embellishments

Yellow/Green    Helene Korn                 Tapestry with feather

Green               Nicki Bair                      Silk yarn wrapping

Blue/Green       Margie Fine                  Tapestry with mixed novelty yarns

Blue                  Carolyn Sell                  Ply split braiding single course oblique twining

Blue/Violet:       Karen Leckart               Woven twill checks

Violet                Debbie Shoenberger    Tapestry- eccentric weave in handspun yarn

Red/Violet:        Karen Leckart              Embellished plain weave

The Final 12

When you are at Convergence make sure to check out the A Lively Experiment exhibit and see the Seaside Spectrum: where color meets fiber.  It will be fun to see how the curators display these twelve pieces.  So many different ways

My Beetle in Small Expressions!

Ladybug
2013

I just mailed my Ladybug tapestry to the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton Ma.  It will be exhibited along with other small pieces in Small Expressions 2014 from July 15th through October 4, 2014.   It is always an honor to have a piece in this biennial exhibit.

This was one of two small pieces I completed during my 'green phase' last year. One of my art groups had a collaborative project where we were assigned colors and had to create a variety of fiber pieces in those colors to fit in a silver 4" by 10" frame.   I was assigned green and yellow.  This ladybug is one of my green pieces.  The other will be exhibited in A Lively Experiment exhibit at Convergence....but more on that at a later time.

I got the idea for this tapestry from a photo my husband took at the UCLA Botanical Gardens.   Of course, in his photo the ladybugs were red and much smaller but with a touch of Photoshop I was able to create a cartoon to my liking in about thirty minutes.  The yarn is all 'stash yarn' and all dyed by me at some point in my life. I was surprised by the amount of green silk I had in my boxes of yarn,    I wove with singles at a 14 e.p.i.  

For fun and to accentuate the realism, I stuffed the tapestry a bit behind the beetle and behind a few of the leaves for a slight three dimensional effect.

This is one of my favorite pieces.

Refinishing Loom Update

The name of my loom
appears...

I have spent the last month refinishing my Mother's old loom.

This is the same loom that sat in our kitchen when I was a kid.  Others have breakfast tables in their kitchens...we had an old counterbalance loom.   My Mother painted it black when she got it and used it a lot to weave tapestries until she got an upright loom.  When she gave this loom to me way back when, I too had it touched up with black paint.

So far, I have finished stripping off what was there, sanding, staining, dyeing and finishing with three coats of clear coat.   I had discovered when removing all the old crud that the name of the loom was branded into the wood.  It is made by Hammett of Cambridge Mass.  It's model number is 401.  

Originally I had wanted to stain the wood a very dark black, but I decided to go a bit lighter to retain the name of the loom on the sides.  I went with an ebony stain which showed off the grain in many places and was light enough to make the writing remain faintly visible.  It took awhile to convince myself I did not want it all pure black...all my life I have seen this loom as pure black...so it never looked quite dark enough....never quite right.  But now, I am moving forward with a deep blackish brown.  I can't wait to see it put all together!

The new look...

Most interestingly, I also discovered why I think Mom painted it black.  A number of the pieces took the stain differently.  Some of the pieces were different woods which would explain the different colors.  Plus, I am sure there were some places that I did to get everything off I should have.  

I had pieces in a multitude of shades of brownish blacks after a couple of ebony stain coats.  These were obvious differences.  Every treadle was different!  Plus, the beaters and back beams had a tinge of yellow which would be obvious even in the poor light of my studio.   Fortunately, a friend's spouse turned me on to black leather dye which allowed me to darken some of the pieces to match the others.

I must admit that dyeing the wood was scary but quite fun; clearly the most artistic part of this project. I was never sure how much dye to use nor whether the liquid I used to dilute it would work.  But once I darkened one piece there always seemed to be another to darken.  Just yesterday, I added some dye to the clear finish in order to darken a few treadles just a tad more.   Finally, I like the shades of all 40 pieces.

Parts inventory

Now that the finished pieces are migrating back to my studio from the garage it's time to tackle the rusty hardware...and there is a lot of it!  

More later.  

Rita Returns to Long Beach

The Long Beach Library - Main Library is a wonderful spot to exhibit Rita's Excellent Adventure.   The opportunity to exhibit came up quickly.  We checked out the venue on one day and the very next we were installing it!

The exhibit is right at the entrance to the children's section so there will be lots of traffic. The blue panels brighten the entrance and make the children's section an even happier place.  The librarians will be selecting a variety of books to place on the benches below to entice viewers to explore the topics illustrated in the story illustrated with out tapestries. 

If you recall, Rita's Excellent Adventure is a whimsical tale of a sand crab named RIta that loves purple plankton.  Her adventures in search of the best plankton in Santa Monica Bay are told in verse and illustrated with 20 tapestries.  It was completed in June 2012 and its initial showing was at the Society Gallery on Pine Ave during Convergence 2012 - Long Beach.  It has just returned from Eureka, CA where it was exhibited at the Morris Graves Museum of Art and will now be exhibited at the Long Beach Museum through the end of 2013. 


·       Whether the story is read out loud or silently, one can only smile while learning of the habits, predators, habitats and adventures of this small sand crab named Rita.

·     For the art lover, there is the discovery of how six artists with different styles can come together and create 20 tapestries, which coalesce into one look for the story.   It is also fun for the viewer to guess which artists wove which pieces.   

·       And for the child within each of us, there is the occasional discovery of two eyes peeking back at us from a tapestry here and there.  


Once upon a time, I dreamed up RIta - a nickel sized sand crab who had great adventures in searching for the  best purple plankton in Santa Monica Bay.  With the help of Merna Strauch, Karen Leckart, Judi Freed, Margie Fine and Carollee Howes, we illustrated the story with tapestries.  Each of us incorporated our own unique style while using a common palette of yarns and some basic parameters.  One of my favorite things to study are all the different frames we created...it is amazing how 20 frames can be woven so differently. 

It's fun being part of the Seaside tapestry group.  We have a long rich history in tapestry starting in the early 80’s. Our members include both award winning artists who exhibit nationwide and some who only exhibit as part of a collaborative Seaside project. The group has a reputation for creating challenging, often whimsical collaborative projects. Rita’s Excellent Adventure is such a project.  

The Rita's Excellent Adventure, the book,  is available for borrowing from the Long Beach library and can be purchased through Amazon or at www.nickibair.com.