Artist : Mel Robson

Based in Brisbane, Australia, Mel Robson's ceramics combine art and craft in a way that you rarely see. How often do you see conceptual ceramics out there?

Keep Calm and Carry On (coat of arms), 2008, slipcast porcelain, 20cm x 34cm

Every year Mel's work is more powerful than the next. I found her work via Pinterest, via Jealous Curator. I can't believe I remembered that. These days it's so hard to track the endless paths one takes on the internet.

Fortitude, 2006, slipcast porcelain with decals, 10cm x 5cm

I was first drawn in by her maps, you know me. I love the image transfer but what makes it such a powerful piece is the translucency with the map in reverse shining through on the outside. Beautiful. Her ceramics are well crafted, thoughtfully detailed and very clever. Her series Keep Calm and Carry On addresses stories she heard from the women in her family who experienced war time. It addresses what it must have been like for them while they went on with their daily lives while the men were off at war.

Weeping Willow (Keep Calm and Carry On series), 2008, found ceramic plates (water jet cut),
8cm x 10cm each 

A very successful series and beautifully made. Water jet cut, eh? Hmmm, the ideas are flowing!

Shot Gun, 2008, ceramic plate (water jet cut), 95cm x 60cm

Where to stop? I can't! The Absence of Objects installation was inspired by the heritage collections one finds in libraries. So many stories that have been forgotten are saved here. Mel calls them "little doorways into the past". Individually, the pieces are powerful in their own right.

Spoon Works, 2007, slipcast porcelain 4cm x 11cm each

But seen as a whole, they make a powerful statement.

The Absence of Objects (detail), 2006, slipcast porcelain with decals 

Fight and flight (detail), 2007, slipcast porcelain with decals, 11cm x 11cm (set) 

See her blog Feffakookan (named after a german biscuit her nana used to make) to see lots more of Mel's work. Enjoy!

Work table : Land Grabbing Series

The land grabbing series is underway (there's got to be a better name). In the meantime, all of my Foreclosure quilts are now shipped off to new homes or are in upcoming shows. I started my clay class last week and have learned a tremendous amount already. Last night we experimented with slab construction. I handed over my first pieces for firing so we'll see if they turn out. In the meantime, there is a lot of experimenting going on in my studio as well. Here's a peek.

Above are pieces my daughter and I made on our first day in the 'clay' studio. Of course, there will be textiles as part of this series as well.

Ceramics will be a quick learning curve for me as I tend to throw myself into my work 200% once I have an idea. I already have a lot of clay tools in my studio including some of my mom's from thirty plus years ago.

Both of my parents were artists and made pottery. Here's one of my favorite pictures of my dad hard at work. I love the pipe hanging out of his mouth while he works.

In between clay building, I'm developing the series and honing down on the subject matter with lots of sketches, studies and writing.

I love this moment in the process, when the idea is there but it needs refining and direction. It gives me the chance to study the idea in different scales from the tiny ...

Oil Palm Seed. Image by Rhett A. Butler.

To the global scale ...

Oil Palm clear cutting in the Ketipang district of Indonesia's West
Kalimantan province, July 5, 2010. Image courtesy of REUTERS/Craig Palinggi

It will all come together in the end as an intimate yet powerful statement about industrial agriculture and land grabbing. I hope to share some writing about the work with you next week but in the meantime, there are lots of other ceramicists to share with you so stay tuned.

Artist : Paula Greif

What better way to kick off a ceramics binge on my blog than my featuring Paula Greif's work. It was Greif's story behind her ceramics that instantly drew me into her work.

Photo by Anita Calero and Gemma Comas.

She was simply inspired to make everything she uses in her home by hand after reading a book about Alexander Calder, who did the same. Why not?

Pottery Paula made for her home in 2011. Photo by Paula Greif.

And that's exactly what she set out to do. Nothing like a mission to light a fire under your pants. That's kind of how I'm feeling these days so I can really relate to that kind of passion.

Paula's pottery on her kitchen shelves. 
Photo by Anita Calero and Gemma Comas.

Lots and lots of making, producing, experimenting, trying things out, messing around and having fun. Art should be all that, right? Paula's got it in spades.

Photo by Paula Greif.

I love these rows of spoons. So many ideas being developed here. I love the looseness and confidence in exploring.

Photo by Paula Greif.

And it all ends up on the table. I'm obsessed lately with table settings as I work on formulating this new series on industrial agriculture. How to present the work? So many directions to follow. The answer will become clearer with time and my own exploration.

Photo by Anita Calero and Gemma Comas.

In the meantime, I started my clay class this week and had a great time. I learned a tremendous amount from the teacher (who is Japanese, love that) and was surrounded by a lot of talented students. Soon, I'll have something of my own work to show you! In the meantime, enjoy more of Paula's work on her website, her tumbler page which has lots of images of her work and a feature on Remodelista.

C L A R I T Y : a new series on the way

A beautiful word, C L A R I T Y. We artists plod along year after year searching for clarity in our work: the meaning behind it and what defines our art in particular. We all have to go through that soul searching process, which is never fun but a necessary part of our job. 

Not sure if who's studio this is (anyone know?) but just look
at all the exploration going on here! UPDATE: The studio is Ree Morton's. Thanks SID!

Stumbling upon the idea for the foreclosure quilts was so wonderful for me. In the back of my head though, I was always thinking ... what's next? How on earth can I do another series that will live up to the meaning and poignancy I managed to create with those quilts? And what about that medium? Am I a fiber artist or a conceptual artist? If I'm a conceptual artist, it frees me up to pick and chose any medium that the work dictates it should be. After much deliberation I can say now that I'm a conceptual artist and I am free to use whatever medium is right for the work. Whew! It was hard to come around to that.

Saved Shreds, 2011.

So what kind of conceptual artist am I? I know that land use and economics are crucial factors in my work. And I know that global land grabbing and industrial agriculture is where all of my passion is focused right now.

Limbang Borneo Oil Palm plantation. Yes, that's right, that's
forest clear cutting. All of the beige in the photo is terraced farmland.

The problem I had was how to bring these issues to light in my work using a medium that would grab you like the quilts did. I tried using fiber, I really did. But it just never clicked. And then I had an aha moment (don't you love those!). I had just told my mind to be open in influence and listen and wait and listen and wait. It took six months which seems like a blip now but certainly didn't when I was becoming frustrated waiting. You know how you look back on your work and see the solution was staring at you right in the face but you couldn't connect the dots? Seriously.

Connect the dots clay series, 2009.

And remember this post? Well, I'm ready for it now. Clay. Clay. Clay. What better way to hit people square in the face with food issues than at the table? I have grand dreams: installations, dinner parties, entire lines of table settings. It can't hurt to dream! I start my clay class next week and I'll keep you posted with all the messy and crazy progress. It will be a fun ride. And think of all those amazing artisans I have yet to feature in the medium. Keep your napkins on your lap!

Foreclosure Quilt : Southern Chase

I finished a new foreclosure quilt last week, this one is located in Concord, North Carolina in the Southern Chase neighborhood. I was commissioned to make the piece for a journalist, Binyamin Appelbaum, who co-wrote a series of articles in the Charlotte Observer on the unusually high rate of foreclosures seen among one particular builder, Beazer Homes.

Southern Chase Foreclosure Quilt, 2012. 23" x 30"
Linen, cotton, cotton voile, string and embroidery thread.

Beazer created the Southern Chase neighborhood to specifically provide low cost homes to low income families. One out of every five homes ended up in foreclosure. There were numerous red flags with their practices but one alarming one was that they arranged mortgage loans for  two-third's of the buyers. The idea that builders can arrange mortgage loans just seems like a bad idea to me.

Southern Chase Foreclosure Quilt detail, 2012. 23" x 30"
Linen, cotton, cotton voile, string and embroidery thread.

Beazer Homes was accused of violating federal lending laws in 2009, and reached a settlement which you can read about here.

Southern Chase Foreclosure Quilt detail, 2012. 23" x 30"
Linen, cotton, cotton voile, string and embroidery thread.

The list is long of investigations, one of them was worth $50,000,000 for Mortgage and Accounting Fraud with United States. Needless to say, Beazer is still busy building homes throughout the US. Please view the entire series of articles via this link written by Binyamin Appelbaum, Lisa Hammersly Munn and Ted Mellnik. I wonder what would have happened with Beazer Homes had these journalists not written the articles. We need more people like them!

Artist : Lady Saphire

I came across these images the other day and had to share. Stunning, absolutely stunning, don't you agree?

Every morning a grapefruit, 2012 by Lady Saphire.

There's just something so compelling about them. The idea of using a tradiational frame to confine such a beautiful chaos.

Most Grateful to Tom L. Too, 2012 by Lady Saphire.

It gives new meaning to the word 'framework'.

Many Years in the Making, 2012 by Lady Saphire. 

The artist's statement reads:

"Materials. From everywhere – on the street, broken, loved, unloved - the excitement of a torn piece of paper, a candy wrapper, scraps of fabric, plastic. So many beautiful objects, life is incredible."

Lady Saphire

Most Grateful to Tom L., 2012 by Lady Saphire.

See more images here with detailed photos. I can't wait to see what comes next.

Lisa Solomon : Migratory Patterns

My friend Lisa Solomon currently has an incredible solo show at Walter Maciel Gallery in LA called Migratory Patterns. I paid a little visit to Lisa's studio a few months ago and was able to see the work in progress. Amazing.

danne san [husband], 2012 by Lisa Solomon
graphite, acrylic, colored pencil, felt, pins, machine stitching on paper and duralar
20 ½ x 28 ¼ inches framed

Like me, Lisa thinks every element through. Every string, every stitch must have a purpose in her work. Seeing all the pieces together in these photos makes it even more compelling than just the beautiful snippits I saw on her studio wall.

All of these works relate to each other and this is the first time she says she has been able to combine the personal with the political in her work. The pieces describe her family's migration from Japan and throughout the US. But they also show Fukishima radiation's migratory patterns. The timing and the personal connection to the crisis makes perfect sense that it should turn up in her work. We had a great conversation about Fukishima. I had wanted to address it somehow in my own work but couldn't find a way to make it successful in what I was doing at the time. She's succeeded here.

Installlation view at Walter Maciel Gallery.

Head over to Lisa's incredibly thought provoking blog to see Part I of the photos of her show. Details of the show can be found at Walter Maciel Gallery. The show runs through May 26th. If you're near, be sure to check it out!

Foreclosure Quilt : Riverside, CA

I finished another foreclosure quilt last month and am finally sharing it with you! I have to say things have been quite busy for me the past month but it's all been good. I have numerous projects under way in the studio that I'll share soon enough. But I've also been busy in the garden. I'm trying to grow most of our own food this year, which ties into my concerns about global farming and the land grab. But back to the foreclosures ... Riverside, CA.

Riverside Foreclosure Quilt, 2012. 34" x 46"
Tea stained voile, cotton, linen, yarn and embroidery thread.

Southern California has been hit as hard as other areas in the US. As many of you know, SoCal is a very large swath of housing that just seems to go on and on. Zooming in on a particular area was quite a challenge.

Riverside Foreclosure Quilt detail, 2012. 34" x 46"
Tea stained voile, cotton, linen, yarn and embroidery thread.

I chose Riverside because it seemed there was no neighborhood in the city that was immune to foreclosures. I wish I could wander around the city to appreciate it more. One thing that was apparent is a lot of these homes that were foreclosed on in the past couple of years have been fixed up and flipped. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or bad? On the one hand, it's great that they are being spruced up and helping improve the neighborhood. But, who is behind the fixing up and flipping? A reputable company or someone out to make some quick money?

Riverside Foreclosure Quilt detail, 2012. 34" x 46"
Tea stained voile, cotton, linen, yarn and embroidery thread.

I heard an story today on NPR about companies that are buying up the foreclosures, fixing them up and renting them out. It works if it's a small business who is managing a few properties. But are companies biting off more than they can chew? It sounds like even renters need to do their due diligence before the sign a contract these days. Here we go ... into the next phase of the messy 'clean up'. Who knows where this will lead?

Work It: Artists Address Labor and Unemployment at Rochester Contemporary

Four of my Foreclosure Quilts will be part of a group exhibition entitled Work It: Artists Address Labor and Unemployment. The show opens tonight at Rochester Contemporary in Rochester, NY. The reception is tonight from 6-10pm. The other participating artists are Clarke Conde, Morgan Craig and Jonathan Stewart. From what I've seen of their work, it will be an excellent show.

There will be an artist's talk on April 8th at 1 PM and on April 21st at 1 PM there will be a poetry reading entitled The Rise and Fall of the Middle Class. The reading will be with BOA author Christopher Kennedy as part of CITY Newspaper's Culture Crawl 2012. 

Albuquerque Foreclosure Quilt, 2011. 35" x 47"

The exhibition runs through May 13th. See here for more info. I wish I could make it to the show, but if you stop by, let me know what you think! Thanks for your support!

Article in The Atlantic Cities : How Quilting Can Explain the Foreclosure Crisis

An interview about my foreclosure quilts came out this week in The Atlantic Cities. Let's just say I was quite surprised and amazed when Sarah DeWeerdt contacted me last week. I was already familiar with Sarah's writing so it was quite a treat to talk to her in person.

It was one of the first interviews that really delved into the planning and economic issues that I address in my work. She asked some wonderful questions. Head over to The Atlantic to read the article.

Modesto Foreclosure Quilt, 2011.

Within an hour, one of my former coworkers at Calthorpe Associates had just happened to open the site at work and was shocked to see a picture of me there. I thought my days in the planning world were far gone but I guess I just can't stay away!

work table : Landgrabbing series

I spent much of last week finalizing a foreclosure quilt (pics soon!) and experimenting with ideas for the landgrabbing series. My studio is about to become a temporary hotel for family so I'm trying to get as much work done as possible before next Wednesday.

I've been thinking about how to best depict global landgrabbing, which is when other nations and corporations purchase or lease vast hectaires of land inside other countries to grow food for their own people. There are so many things that are wrong with this scenario that's rapidly unfolding.

This new evolution of massive food production is estimated to cause up to 50% of global emissions. The small farmers are being forcibly removed from their land to allow the better soil to go to the large farming corporations. The vast majority of these farming projects are a monoculture, which depletes the soil as well as the surrounding natural resources. There are so many other global impacts this is causing which I delve deeper into as the story unfolds.

At the moment, I'm exploring an idea to use national flags to depict the countries where landgrabbing is occuring. This could be the new Australian flag. As land is sold off to other countries, the flag will evolve to incorporate those new land owners.

Australia has twenty-two large scale farming investments from other countries. I've integrated their flags onto a land map of Australia which will be appliqued on top of Australia's national flag. My next step is to piece all of these random flag bits together (I can't tell you how many pins are up there!) and reveal the land map.

I listened to this program while I worked and just realized I need to just start making, even if this isn't the solution to the series. It also doesn't hurt to get some good feedback from another artist, who said "Just start cutting!" So I did. At least I'm taking a step forward. Who knows if this will be the ultimate solution. In the meantime, look here and here to learn more about global landgrabbing.

Artist : Richard Tuttle

He's at it again, Richard Tuttle. If you all must know, he's right on up there at the top of my list of favorite artists. And of course, I left him out of this list (and Eva Hesse! what was I thinking?!) I've been an admirer of Tuttle's work for years. He says in an interview, "about 1 in 10 people get my work". But, if you give yourself over to it, you'll be hooked. Watch this clip from Art21 about his practice. You can see the entire episode here.

Now here's the catch. He has new work that I would LOVE to share with you but those NY galleries have some express rights to sharing Tuttle's images. I'm wary to get myself into trouble as it doesn't look like anyone else has shared these images with the public but ... head over to Joni Moisant Weyl to check out his latest tile pieces. Here's something that seemed 'safe' to share.

W-Shaped Yellow Canvas, 1967 by Richard Tuttle. Collection of SFMOMA

There's a certain whimsy to Tuttle's work yet he is so serious about what he does. He lives that life that I aspire to live. He's grounded about his practice and just gets on with it.

If you have the chance, you must get hold of a copy of the video about him. It's on Netflix or just buy the darn thing so you can watch it countless times, like myself.

Artist : Altoon Sultan

Ah, life has been busy my friends! It's always like this when I'm developing a new series, I have to focus my mind on the matter at hand, which means my blog has been neglected lately! But no more! I couldn't wait to share this artist's work with you. Altoon Sultan. What a beautiful name and what beautiful work.

Triangles and Bar, 2011 by Altoon Sultan. 10" x 10"

My friend, artist Bernadette Frank, a gifted artist in her own right, mentioned that I should acquant myself with her friend's textiles.

 Three of the Empty Center series, by Altoon Sultan.

Altoon lives in Vermont which happens to be my favorite state in the US. An artist who lives in Vermont has a certain aura about them, I think. An appreciation for beauty and nature yet a toughness to survive those harsh and isolating winters.

Nestled in Snow, 2012 by Altoon Sultan.

After a few moments of pouring through her textiles, paintings and photographs, I realized that Altoon has this appreciation in spades.

Black and White, 2012 by Altoon Sultan. 6 1/4" x 6 1/4" egg tempura

I first fell in love with her textiles but then I began to read her blog and discovered she was creative in so many ways. Her egg tempera paintings remind me of Charles Sheeler's work but with a softer, more elegant approach.

Six spider lines, window 2012 by Altoon Sultan.

She is one of those people who can see the beauty in the ordinary. Many people have this ability but there are far fewer who can capture it for the less inclined.

Resting, 2010 by Altoon Sultan. 10" x 15"

Hooked Rug 02 by Altoon Sultan.

Altoon has made many works, please go and marvel through her website and her blog. You won't be disappointed!