Me and My Shadow

More Tri-X from the archives...

I seem to have an ongoing fascination with my shadow. 

Maybe it has something to do with being born on Ground Hog's Day.

Digitizing the Archives

Mollie in Alpha, Circa 1976

One of my all time favorite photographs. 

(Something about a monkey, a typewriter and Shakespeare comes to mind 

I bought Tri X in 100' rolls back then.)

Collaboration

A new concept has begun to emerge in my thinking, Artistic Collaboration. 

About three months ago I showed HB a photo in an old Handwoven Magazine of a stenciled rag rug. "We could do that." And we did. I wove a simple rug out of a high thread count bed sheet from Goodwill as the 'canvas'. HB bought a set of permanent fabric dye markers from Hobby Lobby and got out one of her favorite stencils. HB & Me have worked together professionally for most of our careers, but creating together is much more fun.

About three weeks ago I sent one of my recent photographs to a long lost, newly found friend, Robin - she liked it. 

Having experience collaborating with others, she asked if should could use my image in a collaboration. Who me? Duh, why sure, I'd be honored. 

My interesting, but rather monochromatic photo has been totally transformed and given new meaning . Visit Image and Spirit (June 29, 2009 - Breaking Locks) to see the finished collaborative work and other inspirational art and collaborations. Also check out Gramercy Digital Diary to see what Robin's been creating lately.  

Kid's Stuff

Rug mugs woven by kids in the ACA summer art camp last week.

Notice the symmetry on the ends. Nice touch.

Even one strip of the same fabric can be interesting. 

Done on a larger scale, this would be pretty impressive.

You can see these and more and maybe even meet some of the young artists at the end-of-camp show in August - watch the paper for details.

Next Rag Rug Workshop at ACHM

I hope you can join me on Saturday morning, July 11 (10 ~ 12) at the Aiken County Historical Museum for our third Tatter Party & Rag Rug Workshop. It's FREE, and in a very "cool" place to be for a few hours on a Saturday morning. Everyone is encouraged to bring any rag rugs you may have for show & tell. We'll talk a little about the history of rag rugs. (Do you know why few if any rugs were made from rags before the mid 1800's? Clue: the demand for paper. Curious? Come hear the whole story.) You could also bring along a colorful old bed sheet, if you have one, to tear into tatters. Everyone gets to help prepare rags and spend some time weaving on our old loom. 

For this workshop I'll be taking us beyond the classic "Hit & Miss" design approach where the length and color of the next strip to be woven is totally random. Hit & Miss does make for an interesting and colorful rug, but we're going to go beyond interesting - to fascinating! We'll be cutting uniform lengths of two fabrics (recycled cotton sheets) and looping them together in an alternating sequence. If all goes according to plan, we should see a series of criss cross diamond patterns that drift back and forth accross the rug, something like the little mug rug sample below. It will be fun to see how the pattern develops. 

Call the museum at 803 642 2015 to let them know you're interested and are planning on attending. It's still free.  

Gary Goes to Art Camp @ ACA

I spent most of the day yesterday at the Aiken Center for the Arts 

helping a super pro art teacher introduce weaving to her art camper kids. 

The kids had a good time learning to weave rag strips into mug rugs. 

I learned a lot about teaching kids - the pros make it look so easy. 

Seeing things the same way

Yesterday, UPS brought me new toys,

 I arranged them like this.

 

This afternoon a perfect zinnia stopped me cold. 

What a coincidence?