Two new images

New working images for X-Voto, "Fire Eater" series. 

Please do not re-post. Thank You. 

For my Valentine. 

Do I know what I'm doing here?
I draw, well.
I have a good sense of narrative, my composition skills are strong enough to withstand a certain meandering during the creative process.
I can sew.
Can I work large?
Can I transform a photo collage, germ of an idea, into something rich and strange? Textile art? Can I do it?

El Anatsui

El Anatsui: A Million Pieces of Home

Click the link for a fine NYT story about this AMAZING artist! Breathtaking large-scale fiber-like works made from culturally-loaded recycled materials...LOVE.

Here's a link to his biography, which I must read...

Treat yourself to a Google Image Search of his work!

Solo-show misadventures begin...

Well. Stopped by the Nomad to see the exhibit space last night and was disappointed to find it really is just a bar with some track lighting. The walls are not ideally situated for intimate viewing, being set above a chair rail between deep-set windows in a high-ceilinged space. "Cavernous" is one way to describe it. "Poorly-lit" is another, in that the track lights are also lighting the room; and during the day, bright light from the windows could make art on the adjacent walls difficult to view. At least in Minneapolis I don't have to be concerned about smoke in the bar, but... One of my fellows on the solo exhibition schedule looked around, likewise for the first time, and asked me "Aren't you a textile artist? How ARE you going to show in here??"

It is an interesting problem. To date my work has been very intimate in scale. No bigger than 24x20 inches, and quite detailed. The only way this space can work for me is if I create pieces that are at least 24x36 and easier to view clearly from a distance. Otherwise the work will be lost in this room. Fortunately, the direction I'd started in is based on the "X-Voto" images, which can I think be enlarged to suitable scale. Which won't be cheap. What will it mean then, what messages will be amplified? It's really going to take some thought.

I'll be covering the windows, for one thing. Sigh.

This just in:

My solo show happens in July 2013, at the Nomad exhibition space! Map and details to follow...