Input-Output - Anne Buchal

I have been a member of the Torpedo Factory Artists Association for longer than I care to remember. One of the Staff members has been there longer than I. The Factory has been his life as he has always been the first there to open the doors and the last to leave after we close for the day. Last year he underwent cataract surgery but appeared the day after, sitting in his usual place. I asked why he had not stayed home. The answer was, “No input.”

I thought about this remark the other day when I noticed that there were several sockets on the back of my bedside radio. Each had a label: “IN”, OUT, AUX” and “VARIABLE”. Perhaps this could be a mantra to use now that I have given up my studio at the Factory. I need input. Life at home offers little inspiration .I have to depend on what is available in the house : radio, TV books and the computer. When I leave the house, there are groups, errands to run and such. And sometimes, the best thing to do is work on something and input may occur as the work progresses. A teacher was fond of saying, “Even if you get up in the morning and don’t feel like painting, go to your studio and start to work”. Just starting may provide the impetus you need to accomplish something. Maybe it would not be your best work, but it may lead on to better work.

The term, “auxiliary” might refer to the tools you use to create what the input has suggested. Each medium has its own tools to that are needed for the process and here is where “variable” comes in. Working on different project leads to experimentation. A needle and thread are traditional tools for sewing fiber, but they are used in bookmaking or even in sewing plastic and dyes and paints can be used on many surfaces other than fabric and paper. The list goes on and on. I’ll have to see if the mantra works.

More Stripes - Ann Liddle

I've finished all my black and white striped pieces - 9 in all.  I will use one for a a group project that my studio at the Workhouse Arts Center is doing.  Eight will be in my featured artist show that starts on Aug 7.  I've called it Stripes: On the Wall and on the Body."  By which I mean that I made some clothing too.  Here are some more pictures.  Remember that they all started with a 12" x 12" square.

Number 5

Number 3

Number 4

The clothing is all my original designs.  I made them in black silk noil with natural silk noil stripes.  They are loose fitting.  

Pattern 91, Top

Pattern 92, Tunic

I think they look better in person and on the body than in these photos!

I'm already thinking about my next series.  I had wanted to work with sheer fabric for this show but it just wasn't coming together.  I think I've thought of a better way to work with the sheer fabric so I'm excited to get started.  But some travel and other things will intervene before I can really concentrate again.  At least I got these done before I left for the beach - I have to hang my show the day after I return.

Jessica Beels: Beaded Circles

While most of my recent work has been with paper shrunk over wire, I still make the occasional piece of beaded jewelry.  I used to make a very wide range of forms, many of them inspired by flowers and leaves, but recently, I mostly make groups of circles.  They are very satisfying, and by limiting myself somewhat to the repetitive shapes, I have a lot of fun exploring different formations and relationships. 

 

Varying the rate of decrease of the number of beads within each round can create a flat or a domed element.  By playing with the bead colors, you can subdivide circles into sections to emphasize their own form and/or draw attention to elements of the overall form.  Also, depending on how many points of contact you make between elements, the final shape can be flat, cupped, or encompass a full sphere or other enclosed form.  

Here are some examples:

I like the rhythm of sewing concentric circles or ovals of beads.  Simple connected circles with a concentric pattern make a dramatic collar necklace.

By emphasizing lines between connections, the effect is one of pie slices and the eye doesn’t see the distinct circles as much. Regularly interconnected, same-sized domed circles form this pin – connecting the circles at six even points makes the form stay flat. 

If the circles are all connected at five evenly spaced points, instead of six, the form curves in on itself and you can build a sphere – in this case twelve even circles form a dodecahedron that can be worn as a pendant if you put the neckwire through the central holes.

If you start to build the framework of a regular dodecahedral sphere, but then vary the rates of decrease or leave some circles as tubes instead of closed domes, you can get some elegant variations on the theme. This beaded bead started with the same 12 circles as the sphere above, but turned into a flatter, ruffled, trifolate shape.

Finally, often, I just want to make a freeform piece and see where the distorted circular forms end up as they squeeze past each other, as in this pin.  

I keep adding to these pins until I am happy with the composition.  Sometimes they turn into necklaces.