Today I'm taking off my knitwear designer hat for a moment and putting on my artist hat. I wanted to let you know about a show opening tomorrow that I've got an artwork in.
The piece you see here will be shown along with work by 36 other artists in the 5th Annual Juried Show at Gallery A3 in Amherst, Massachusetts, June 7-30. There's an opening reception on Thursday, June 7, 5-8 pm. On Saturday, June 9, juror Emma Chubb, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Smith College Museum of Art, will give an informal talk starting at 3 pm, followed by a reception with the artists until 6 pm.
Gallery A3 is located at 28 Amity Street in downtown Amherst. Look for either Amherst Cinema or Amherst Coffee - it's right between them. Here's a link to the Facebook event page.
"Presence/Absence: Broken Bark" is part of an ongoing project in which I make both detailed drawings and negative space embroideries of found objects. The drawing is a record of the object and where I found it (the "presence" part of the piece). The embroidery begins with a literal tracing of the object on linen (the "absence"), which then serves as a springboard for improvised, additive stitching.
Other subjects in this series have been a rusty washer that I picked up from the gravel at the farm where my mother grew up, broken stitch markers found in the parking lot outside Atkins Country Market in Amherst, a Paris Metro ticket found on the floor at the Thirsty Mind coffeeshop in South Hadley, poetry magnets scattered on the pavement near the Dumpster at my condo, and a bright pink baby's teething ring found at the Goodnough Dike at the Quabbin Reservoir in Ware.
Each drawing is done the same way, in pencil, with stenciled notes about where and when I found the object. Every embroidery, on the other hand, is different, with the colors and stitches chosen depending on the object's particular qualities, associations it brings to mind, or its use in its "previous life."
I share the process of creating each piece in my Patreon feed. Patrons get to see these and other artworks develop, for as little as $1 per month. There are higher levels of support with rewards such as embroidery postcards and original artworks. I post to my Patreon page 3-4 times a week, about works in progress, techniques, influences, inspirations — basically, it's an inside, "behind the scenes" look at my life as an artist and how my artwork comes into being.
Here are a few images that I posted to Patreon as I was creating "Presence/Absence: Broken Bark."
If you're in western Massachusetts, I hope you can make it to the show or one of the receptions. I'll be at both events, probably more toward the beginning than the end. Hope to see you!