Kimono Workshop : Part I

I just finished my first of three weekends at The Workshop Residence in a Kimono Workshop handstitching a summer yukata. I've written about The Workshop Residence over at Handful of Salt, here. Our hosts are master kimono maker Tsuyo Onodera and her daughter Maki Aizawa. Here was our tool set below. Beautiful, no? The needles are handmade with the tiniest eye holes I've ever encountered and incredibly sharp. Quite a few people broke needles the first day trying to sew. We each had our thimble finger measured and handmade leather thimbles made for us before the class began. I eventually switched back to my old standby which I bought in Japan, it's hard to break a habit!

I knew I would be in for a treat as I'd peeked in on the previous kimono workshop that took place earlier this year. And I knew I would be learning some new techniques but I had no idea how different those techniques would be. It's a whole other way of sewing and approaching pattern making. Below, Tsuyo demonstrates how you measure out the panels for each individual yukata. We worked on four pasic panels this weekend: two front and two back. There were the tiniest measurement variations in all of them to fit our bodies perfectly. A lot of it didn't make sense at first but once the panels started to come together, we had a lot of 'ah ha' moments among us.

Since there are only nineteen hours in the workshop, we're just making a simple yukata which is what you would wear if you stayed in a ryokan or are visiting an onsen. It's a more casual kind of kimono. The colorful summer patterns were designed by Maki and printed by Zoo, Inc. who prints a of lot of fabric for The Workshop Residence. It was hard to choose a colorwave! One of the more exciting discoveries for me was the use of a tiny iron to make markings in the fabric. No tailor's chalk, no fading ink, just lines pressed with a sharp, hot iron point. I have to find one of these! The lines last for days and go through four layers of fabric. All measurements are in metric so we had to brush off our school brains and remember how much easier it is then the imperial system. The fabric in the foreground below is my colorwave choice, yellow and grey.

Day one of the workshop had us sewing the four main panels together, along with the okumi that attach to the front panels. A lot of us had a little homework that night to catch up. Tsuyo demonstrated her sewing technique to us before we started and I was completely floored. Just watch this video and you'll see what I mean. I can't even come close to mastering this.

Day two consisted of Tsuyo checking our work, including finishing off our main panels and okumi before moving onto sewing the sleeves. It was quiet at times while we furiously sewed but the mood was casual and fun. Some students had never sewed before and some had some experience. We were all on the same level in this class, learning such a new technique.

At the end of the second day, we started in on the sleeves. The basic sleeves are below and what looked like a simple sewing job was a challenge at first. All of the lengths of stitching is done with a single piece of thread, no knots and start overs halfway through so you had to make sure you had enough thread before you started. The sleeves had a single thread that turned 90 degrees with backstitching halfway so you had to remember to push your fabric to the end to avoid bunching before you backstitched or you had to start over.

There was a lot of millimeter and centermeter measurements that made sense once we started. Tyuyo demonstrates the final stitching below for a sleeve: at 21 cm from the top of the sleeve, 3 backstitches at 8mm, 3 backstitches at 9mm and then three backstitches at 1 cm to secure the sleeve opening. Such detail!

We sewed all of the hidden stitches for the first two days to give us some practice for what was to come next: the top stitching to be done at home during the week, eek! I snapped a few photos of the finished yukata example to help me figure it all out!

This is where you can really be creative, choosing a topstitch thread color. Look at those stitches, perfect! I know I can make a pretty top stitch when I'm working from the top but on some of these stitches, we'll be working from the back, in reverse, so I better up the quality on the backside of my stitches fast or this is going to look bad!

I choose a dark blue/turqoise thread as a top stitch, very high contrast with the white, grey and yellow. Wish me luck! Next weekend we will attach the sleeves, add more top stitching, finish the waistband or obi and make a collar. A lot more to do! In the meantime, if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, stop by Thursday night, November 14th from 6 to 7:30 at The Workshop Residence to hear Tsuyo speak about her experience as a kimono teacher for the past fifty years in Sendai. Yes, that's right, Sendai. Go here for more information. Learn more about The Senninbari Project that Maki started with her mother here. It is a sewing collective of women in Tohoku, Japan who lost their homes and livelihoods to the tsunami of 2011.

Work Table : The Dress ... for lack of a better name for now

Over the past month I've been processing all of the sewing I did over the summer into a new piece. I'm working on a dress, but not an ordinary dress. This one is made up of sixty four pieces of clothing. These sixty four castoffs (from my and my friend's closests) represent the amount of clothing that the average American purchases every year. I learned this little fact from reading Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion by Elizabeth Cline.  Ponder this for a moment. That's over one new article of clothing a week. Really? It's hard to visualize, no? Hopefully, this dress will help us see it for what it is.

The images show only twelve pieces of clothing at this stage, a far cry from sixty four. And yes, that will be some train coming off the back.

Most of us are guilty of buying a lot clothes these days, myself included. It took me an entire year to figure out why I wasn't wearing half the clothes in my closet. It's because after one wash, they never look as good as they did on the rack. In fact, they look terrible. Oh yeah, it's because they're cheaply made! So the clothing languishes in my closet, unworn.

This dress also won't be worn, unless I want to break my back wearing it. But, hopefully, it will make a statement about how much we're wasting with the 'fast fashion' movement. We will be able to see it with our own eyes.

And now I need to come up with a name for the dress or, perhaps the project, if it turns into one. I ponder that as I sew it together. Yes, I'm handsewing it. With a visible, bright red thread, of course.

Exhibition schedule and catching up

I've been so busy the last few weeks I didn't even remember the last time I posted here. At least I left the blog with some lovely eye candy. I'm also behind in updating my current exhibition schedule so here we go. Currently, the Foreclosure Quilts are spread across the U.S. Here's a little info on each show:

Unbound: Quilters and Artists Redefine Quilts, September 11 through November 5. Hollister Gallery, Babson College, Babson Park, Massachusetts. For all of you east coasters, this should be a wonderful show, especially if you're interested in quilts. Be sure to check it out before it closes. I was only able to spare one quilt for the duration of the show but it's my latest one, Miami. My, have I even shared Miami with you yet?? Once I have it back, I'll take some better photos and repost them.

Miami Foreclosure Quilt, 2013.

Material Witness, September 26 through November 15th. Dalton Gallery at Agnes Scott College, Atlanta, Georgia. I have a great story to go with this gallery. My late aunt, Louisa McIntosh, owned the McIntosh Gallery in Atlanta. (Yes, I'm a Southerner and yes, my maiden name was McIntosh - why did I give that up!) When I was thirteen, I had such a memorable experience visiting the gallery for the first time. Something I had been studying in art class at school was expressed in a painting on her gallery walls. There was a click that went off in my head that said "You need to be an artist when you grow up." I even made my dad take a picture of the moment. She attended Agnes Scott College so it is like full circle to exhibit my work here. I have two quilts in the show: Albuquerque and Riverside.

Albuquerque Foreclosure Quilt, 2011.

SPRAWL, October 4 through January 5, 2014. Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, Texas. This looks like such an exciting show and I'm thrilled that when you hit HCCC's main website, you're hit with a picture of the Chicago quilt. I have three quilts in this exhibition: Chicago, Detroit and Cape Coral.

Detail of the Chicago Foreclosure Quilt, 2013.

And there's more coming soon! I can't believe how these quilts have taken on a life of their own. One of the quilts will be in an exhibtion in St. Louis in February and for all you Bay Area people, I will finally have a solo show in Santa Cruz in February. More details on these coming soon. In the meantime, you'll see what I've been up to in the next few posts. All good, just not enough time to sit down and type these days! Happy Friday!

Artist : Daniela Gregis

Perhaps Daniela Gregis is more of a fashion designer than an artist but as you can see, her clothing designs are pure A R T!

Image from www.firstVIEW.com

A love of natural fabrics, linens and such and a love of color and pattern play drew me in immediately when I came across her work on Pinterest.

Image from www.fasionising.com

For the Spring/Summer 2013 collection, Daniela Gregis writes this. Perfectly written.

Simply mint and lemon ... or the opposite, many times together ... as a meadow

under the sun where you look around,dreams , and you get lost,

look down and start counting: primrose, buttercup, poppy, rosemary, forget-me, sage, ...

Once I started to delve deeper into her work, I discovered just how conceptual the clothing can be. In an interview I came across online, Gregis said "My deepest desire was to recover the lost arts as crochet or embroidery. I dreamed of reviving them in a modern way, mixing ancient tradition to contemporary shapes and patterns."

Image from www.firstVIEW.com

Often, the clothing can be transformed into something like a tablecloth. She mentions how she saves every scrap of cloth from previous cuttings. "Even a square centimeter can be the starting point of a new dress."

Needless to say her clothing has inspired me like crazy this summer. It reminds me to play and have some fun with fabric. I mean it's only fabric, right?!

Image from www.firstVIEW.com

Be sure to browse Daniela Gregis's website. And Kristina Bergman has two amazing Pinterest boards here and here about the clothing. And see my little Pinterest inspiration board here.  Enjoy!

A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home by Laura Gottesdiener

Something magical happened this year. I met an amazing author named Laura Gottesdiener. Many months ago, she contacted me to tell me she was writing a book about the Foreclosure crisis and had happened upon my Foreclosure Quilts. She wanted to find some way to include my artwork in the book she was writing entitled A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home. I was beyond flattered and so happy to hear that there was someone out there writing the words to what I was showing visually with my quilts.  This is a story that needs to be heard and I couldn't imagine a better person to write it.

Image from www.wagingnonviolence.org

A few weeks ago, Laura let me know that the book is now available in print through Zuccotti Park Press here. It's even on Amazon where there are numerous impressive editorial reviews. The editors at Zuccotti were going to use just one quilt image at first, but eventually they decided to intersperse several of them throughout the book (I don't have my copy in hand yet but it's on its' way!)

And now you can hear Laura speak about her work, and a sweet mention about the quilts on Democracy Now! What a compelling interview. I feel so incredibly honored to have my work alongside Laura's writing. And better yet, let's hope this book really makes an impact on spreading the hidden stories behind the foreclosure crisis. Share this post and please spread the word about this book. We need more writers like Laura!

Artist : Batia Sofer

It has been SO long since I featured an artist on my blog so it's time to rectify that! I'm sharing the work of Batia Sofer today, an artist who lives in Motza Illit near Jerusalem.

Cloak. Acrylic, Gold Leaf, Gauze Pad on greenhouse netting 
Embroidery Thread. 155x130 cm, 2013

Incredible, beautiful work, isn't it? She utilizes natural materials that have a wonderful texture and earthiness to them. Found pieces come together to tell a myriad of stories.

Three Figures. Acrylic, Mineral Plaster, Masking Tape
, Gold Leaf on Jute
Embroidery Thread. 104x184 cm, 2012

These pieces are from her Ancient Dreams series which she has been making since 2009.

Cactus - Bird. Acrylic
, Masking Tape
, Gold Leaf on greenhouse netting,Embroidery Thread. 88x128 cm, 2013

Her artist statement about the series:

"For as long as I can remember, I have always been attracted to primitive tribe culture, the significance of the tribal ceremonies and their visual expression. 

These cultures are characterized with special colors, various textures, with strong elements, and simple unsophisticated techniques. In my initial works in the studio I sought out material whose texture was grainy and coarse; material which resembled earth and reverberated the materials which were used by the ancient tribal cultures."

Batia Sofer 

Two Headed Animal. Acrylic, Mineral Plaster
, Masking Tape, Gold Leaf and

Palm Fronds on Jute, Embroidery Thread. 103x120 cm, 2012

See more of her work on her website. Be sure to look through her earlier series entitled Childhood Landscape that reflects her life growing up on a kibbutz. Fascinating images.

A week in the studio

Uh oh, I think I like my summer studio better than my San Francisco studio. Even though it's probably half the size, the new space is brighter and definitely warmer! After being in the same studio in San Francisco for fifteen years, my usual studio is clearly in need of a deep clean. One thing that will be moving back with me is my new sewing machine!

After hearing numerous snickers about my old machines and having a particularly frustrating day that involved two types of screwdrivers being used multiple times within two hours, I gave up on my old machines. I was digging around for an old one on Craigslist but came up empty. Then I started thinking about how every place I'd been recently had a Juki. Little did I realize they made home machines as well. I didn't need anything as fancy as a Bernina (nor could I fork over the money) so I thought I'd give this one a shot. Not too expensive but does everything I've been wanting for years. Feed dogs that lower, reverse stitch that works, I can even put through more than three layers of fabric without the needle getting stuck. Yes, I had it bad before which may explain why I hand-sewed all of those quilts!

And now I'm eager to tackle the indigo fabric I made recently. Not sure what I'll do with it but Louise Bourgeois has one amazing piece that I've fallen hard for.

Louise Bourgeois: 'Untitled' (2005). Fabric © Louise Bourgeois Trust.
Courtesy Hauser & Wirth Photo: Christopher Burke (via Louise Bourgeois: The Fabric Works)

Lots of ideas flowing. I promised myself that I would just play a bit this summer and not focus in on anything in particular ... yet. First, there's the book. Everyone at the indigo weekend fell for it, hard. It's worth every penny. I've also been spending too much time on Pinterest. Check out my summer smock inspiration board. I've also been making smocks, dresses and playing with a lot of color.

This dress came from a pattern I made from an existing dress. And that hot pink? I ordered some remnant wool felt from Filzfelt to play with. Yes, I'm thinking about a new series but I'm not committing yet.

We'll see what the next few weeks in the summer studio bring. In the meantime, there's a whole lot of produce to harvest and process just outside the studio door.

You won't see any of that growing in San Francisco!

A weekend of indigo dyeing

I just had the highlight of my summer in Sonoma last weekend. My talented friends Myrna, Katrina, Sonya, Patty, Shelly, ReCheng and Neiley drove up to the wine country to spend the weekend with me indigo dyeing fabric, paper and even a few ceramics.

Last summer I took a five week indigo dyeing class with Barbara Shapiro. I left the class with a wonderful recipe for a Greener Indigo formula. The best part of the vat is that it is ecologically sensitive and has no fumes. It's also really easy to start and to manage. We left the class with several useful handouts and a lot of dyed fabric. Take Barbara's class or workshop and you'll have access to her recipe which is derived from Michel Garcia's indigo formula. Starting the vat was WAY easier than I imagined. Well, at least once I learned how to read a ph test strip accurately!

On Saturday morning, seven lovely ladies arrived with piles of fabric to experiment with.

We spent the morning clamping, tying and bundling and dropped our fabric into a Synthropol solution (another bonus, no pre-mordanting!) to soak while we enjoyed a potluck lunch with some of my Southern iced tea.

After lunch we got to dyeing!

We pulled our fabric from soaking (there was a lot of awesome fabric in the mix).

Let me tell you this vat was potent which was good because we dyed a lot of fabric! Everyone's personality came through, some people with very controlled results.

And some with looser styles.

Meanwhile all of our kids ran amuk in the yard, picking ripe grapes and green beans to their hearts content.

After two days of many, many dippings the vat seemed exhausted until my friend Shelly told me to test the ph and just add more indigo to it. I did and the next day it was going again, like magic! 

What a weekend! I plan to do it again and likely before summer ends as the vat does best at 82 degrees. The temperature on Saturday was exactly 82 degrees! How perfect was that?!

A lunch, a poetry reading and seeing my art at Marion & Rose's Workshop

I had an amazing Wednesday last week. I escaped Sonoma to head back into San Francisco for a very creative day. First, I popped down to the Mission for an awesome lunch at the Slow Club to celebrate Eireann Lorsung, poet, artist and co-owner of MIEL publications in Belgium (you might remember that name from here). Eireann is traveling the US on a giant book tour and it was so wonderful to finally meet her in person. It was a truly creative gathering, including Sonya, Katrina, Lisa, Mati, Rori and Jen. When we got up to leave we were all admiring each other's shoes so we snapped some pics.

Next, I popped over to Oakland to visit Marion & Rose's Workshop to see two of my Idiom pieces that are a part of a group show curated by Andrea Voinot of Kala Art Institute. Read more about the show here in an interview with Andrea.

I loved shopping the store, so many things I wanted to buy, including the art! I walked away with a red cedar pepper grinder, the latest copy of Kinfolk (all about Japan!), and a sweet little horseshoe charm for my daughter.

The trip to the East Bay was double-fold. I was to meet my friend ReCheng Tsang at Marion & Rose's to lend her a piece I'd recently given as a gift to my husband for our 24th wedding anniversary. No, I'm not that old, just married very young! The piece is similar to this one below. Lovely, no?

Study for Ovals, glazed and unglazed porcelain on aluminum panel, 10" x 10", 2012
by Recheng Tsang.  Image by Muffy Kibbey.

I wrote about ReCheng's work last year and am still blown away by it. She's inspired me in so many ways. She has some new ideas up her sleeve that will be amazing.

Image via Daily Candy.

Then it was back to San Francisco to Little Paper Planes to hear Eireann's poetry reading. It  was incredible. I'm not much of a poetry reader. Well, except e.e. cummings, love his work. Her reading was funny, witty, calming, insightful and inspiring. Her new book, Her Book, includes fifteen poems inspired by Kiki Smith's artwork. I was so immersed in the visual poetry of the shop during the reading, they seemed to go together along with the colorful people walking through the Mission district.

And then back to Sonoma that night so I could be sure to enjoy some early morning jam making. We've been on a blackberry hunt every evening after dinner this week. Quite a contrast from San Francisco!

In the new studio

Having a new studio has been a bit liberating, giving me the freedom to play a bit. 

Somehow I always end up starting with quilt blocks. But this time, the
blocks inspired a completely new series that is not a quilt.

The freedom has brought new ideas, including what I think(hope!) will be a good series. Yes, it's fiber. I'm so in love with the medium.

It started with the desire to make a few pieces of clothing that I actually liked this summer, just a little breather from the deeply conceptual work I've been making over the past two years. Anyone else disgusted with the cheap clothing available in stores? And when I do find clothes I love, they cost a fortune, in the $300+ range. Which makes sense, since they're all handmade. So why couldn't I just make my own? I know how to sew. It also doesn't hurt to have a friend, Sonya Philip, who practices this mantra every day.

I started with the most simple pattern there is. Perfect for the hot summer days we've been having in Sonoma.

Once I hung the clothes on the wall, they no longer looked like clothing but more like soft sculpture. Hmmm, the ideas started flowing. In the interim, more peach preserving happening here, I think a total harvest of 70 pounds this year!

Summer happens

Summer. This summer I've been so busy but in a good way, I haven't even had time to post on the blog! And then I realized, I could just post photos, don't worry about text. This summer is my self imposed residency at our cottage in Sonoma. And so, without further ado, I will start posting again but without much text.

Some ideas I've been playing with. I've been wanting to work with
bright colors.

Just some glimpses into my studio where I'm 'playing' with ideas and into my garden adjacent to my studio, where I'm spending a lot of time.

Harvesting about six pounds a day of peaches! I think I might end up with
three dozen jars of peach jam.

What are you up to this summer? Any exciting projects? I'd love to hear!