Awesome Images of the Random Acts of Queerness Quilted Map

i know, i said that i was only going to post about the map one more time, but i think i lied. i still want to post more about my process, but i also want to share the AMAZING photos that belle ancell photography took of it, and that's really too much for one post!


first, one of my photos. it's not nearly as good as belle's, but i wanted to show you the full deal. on the left of the map, i hung a roll of paper with hanging pens, and invited viewers to share their random acts of queerness. to me, this wasn't a major part of the finished piece, more an interactive aspect of the installation, so i didn't ask belle to photograph it, and i probably haven't mentioned it before. i tucked the roll away with everything else when i brought the piece home, but i'm really looking forward to spending some time poring over it!


i'm also pretty proud of myself for hanging the rods and everything, they worked exactly like i wanted them to, and they were super cheap, overall. thanks ikea!

(if you haven't already, you might want to check out my previous post about this project, with people in the photos to show scale, and my artist's statement to tell you what it's all about)



now that you have the whole idea, check out the incredible photos. belle made my work look so AWESOME!


do you see how much BETTER belle's photos are? compare this one to the one above. omg! i didn't realize mine were that bad...

belle was also super fabulous to work with. i often feel like i need a basic "how to be an artist" class, because there are so many things that i have no idea about. one of those things is having my piece professionally photographed - who, what, where?


UBC/west side

she made it easy, and she didn't make me feel ridiculous not knowing what i wanted. as it turned out, the best day for her to take the photos was a day that i'd already committed to going out to the valley to hang out with Cynthia, Lysa, Carol and Kalin, and Kalin was counting on me to drive her, so i couldn't be there when belle took them. she was awesome about removing the instruction sheet (cause all the pins were used by then anyway) and putting it back after the photos.


Stanley Park. so awesome! "public" sex turned out to be quite a reoccurring theme with this piece, though it was spread out a lot more in other parts of the city.

i've thought about having my work photographed before, and the lovely Sonja took some photos for me when i submitted a few quilts to the IQF, but that's as far as i've gotten with that idea. a dear friend gently persuaded me that i HAD to start archiving my work, this piece in particular.


downtown

belle was already photographing other aspects of the Queer Arts Festival (including opening night), and i knew her work was fabulous because she took awesome shots of my bingo quilt last year, so it worked out perfectly to have her take these photos.


Beach Avenue. you can tell where the Pride Parade route goes, can't you?


more of a closeup of downtown


Seymour and Davie St


the Granville Bridge


i was actually picturing the pins pushed in the whole way, but i'm glad folks didn't, it looks so cool with them all sticking out!


east van, oh how i miss you.


didn't she do an amazing job? i'm so happy to have such wonderful images of such a labour intensive project!


(belle also does incredibly lovely portraits - if that's something you're interested in, i'd highly recommend you check out the gallery on her website!)

Finally! Finished Encaustics UFOs!

the theme for this week's Iron Craft challenge was UFOs*. and let me tell you, i have sooooo many UFOs!!


i have several quilty projects that i was hoping to get done, but i got my days mixed up and completely forgot that i'd signed up for an encaustics open studio day at The Upstart Crow today - i was sure that it was friday!


so instead of binding a quilt, i found myself pulling out all of my encaustics supplies from last fall when i took a 3 day class with Patricia Baldwin Seggebruch. it was a really amazing class - though looking back now, i realize that i never got around to blogging about it! Trish is a wonderful teacher, and i'd been enamoured with encaustics for so long, so i was really excited to take the class, and it definitely didn't disapoint. after the class, i worked on a few pieces and finished up the piece that i made my mom for her birthday, which i blogged about for the iron craft challenge that was "home" themed.


(wondering what encaustics is? according to the website encausticartist.com, "From the greek enkaustikos which means “to heat” or “to burn”. Encaustic is the name for both, a medium of pigmented wax, and the process involving heat, by which the medium is applied and secured" i described it in the post with my mom's piece as "an art technique that uses wax, oil colours, collage, image transfers, and so much more, all in multiple layers to create an image with an incredible depth to it.")


after that, i put all of the encaustics away, because i needed the space for other projects. i kept intending to pull it back out, but never found the time, so i signed up for this open studio day to get myself back into it.

and i actually finished something! (maybe) because encaustics works with wax and heat, there's a lot of cooling time in between layers, and since i can never work on one thing at a time, i had soooo many in progress pieces - or UFOs! i got further along on a number of pieces, but these were the ones that i actually finished today.




i still need to clean up the edges of the wood blocks, trim a bit, that sort of thing, but i'm still really happy with how they turned out.




i LOVE how this piece turned out! it's soo soo many layers, and in person you can really see the depth. i think the base had a shellac burn or a white glue burn, but that's been completely covered by the later layers. i inscribed straight lines, circles, and typewriter letters in the wax while it was warm, then rubbed black oil colour into the impressions and kept layering and layering. i did an image transfer in the corner, using an image that i photocopied about 9 years ago, of the pattern in one of my favourite scarves.




oh, i love this one. masking tape was laid down across the board, and plaster was applied, and then the tape was removed. once the plaster dried, i burned the board, creating the black lines with the white plaster. i didn't do as many layers on this one, because i wanted the wood to show through. i inscribed some dots and lines, used a violet oil stick to highlight them, and added another layer. i incised two sizes of circles, and used the black oil stick to bring up the contrast.




i don't know if this one is actually finished or not! i had a whole different base started, but i decided that i hated it and used some coloured wax to start up a new base. i love the bright green. i did an image transfer using one of the images from the pre-released bonus files for issue 8 of Craphound - remember, i blogged about Craphound last week? i'm thinking of inscribing a row of circles on the left side and highlighting them in black.....




i might add to this one too... the texture from the topmost layer of wax is really awesome, so i might highlight them a bit with some oil. in deep red maybe? we'll see. the base is plaster again, but much thicker than the circles piece. the strips of tape were used again, which created an indent to hold the pieces of fabric measuring tape. i don't think i'm going to trim the edges, i like the overhang.


i've signed up for another open studio in september, and i'm excited! Trish is coming back to teach classes again this fall, but i don't think they're in my budget. maybe i can manage one of the days... i hope!!





*unfinished objects

Are You Someone Who? Queer East Van Bingo Quilt

the flowers from opening night are pretty much dead, so i should probably get around to blogging about my bingo quilt. i posted last week about folks helping me finish it and stuff, and i had intended to blog about the quilt really soon after that, but every time i sit down at the computer i get sucked into reading more and more previous posts of thebloggess.com. (i'm at page 105 now and i can't stop! the way she writes is exactly how my head works, it's like she's in my brain!)

i explained in the previous post that this quilt was a piece for the Queer Arts Festival Curated Visual Arts Exhibition. this year's theme was Games People Play, which was an awesome theme, and some really amazing pieces were created based on it.

i'm going to copy and paste my artist's statement here, which is a lot longer than i thought it was, so feel free to skim it if you'd like.

or, if you're one of the people who vehemently hate my lack of capitalization on this blog, you might want to read it over and over again, cause in a rare fit of appropriateness, i actually capitalized letters in it.

artist bio
Amy Dame combines art and craft to create pieces that illustrate their experiences as a queer and genderqueer person with disabilities, the beliefs and political views that guide their life, and the experiences of people around them. Primarily fibre based, Amy’s work regularly incorporates hand and machine embroidery, machine piecing, quilting and appliqué. Amy is inspired by words and imagery not generally expressed in traditional fibre work, and believes that the act of illustrating our stories in time consuming mediums such as embroidery or quilting reflects and respects the true value of the experiences of our community.

artist's statement
Are You Someone Who? East Van Bingo combines the time honoured tradition of signature quilts with the ubiquitous Bingo icebreaker to create a modern form of an art quilt.

Signature or album quilts were historically made as gifts when respected leaders, such as teachers or ministers, moved on to a new posting. Blocks of the quilt were signed by church or community members, and reflected the time the recipient spent in their community. This quilt illustrates a specific time period of East Van community, with an emphasis on the experiences of the artist’s generation.

The other aspect of the piece is a variation of the Bingo game that we have all played at meeting after meeting. Usually tailored towards the theme of the gathering, statements printed in the squares reflect experiences of the participants, and attendees are asked to find people who fit each statement and then have them sign their name on the block as a way to break the ice and encourage familiarity.

In this case, audience members are invited to sign their name to any and all squares that they identify with. They are free to sign as many or as few blocks as they wish, and to use whichever names they are most comfortable signing with.

It will be interesting to see which blocks attract the most signatures, and which blocks the audience members are most comfortable identifying with. Though the majority of the blocks invoke familiarity, nostalgia and laughter, some of them may be viewed as embarrassing or shameful. It is important to include these aspects of our community, even some that may be considered negative, to ensure that our history is portrayed honestly and respectfully.





the specifics - all the fabric on the front is Kona cotton in white and black. the bingo letters are reverse appliqued using wonderunder, and all of the writing on the blocks was digitized and then machine embroidered. the embroidery was done with standard sewing polyester thread, because i didn't want the sheen of embroidery thread. the centre square, which took me forever to design and digitize, is based on this vancouver public art piece, which is actually based on an old gang symbol that has been in use in east van dating back to the 1940s/50s. the quilt is backed in black and white polka dot cotton voile, with a bit of black and white striped voile along one side. it currently isn't quilted - after the show is over, i'm going to undo the basting stitches and sandwich it properly so that it can be quilted. i was originally going to quilt it before the show, but i needed it to be a flat, smooth surface for people to write on, so i changed my mind.





the quilt has 24 blocks with statements written on them, and a smaller companion piece that reads
"Are You Someone Who..."
"grab a pen and . sign as many
or as few of the squares that
describe you. use your real
name, a fake name, your
drag name or your alter ego’s
name, just sign."
the companion piece doesn't hang the way i wanted it to.. which is irritating. but i'll fix it later.




the 24 blocks are:
B
- went to rock for choice at the cultch
- remembers when Tegan and Sara were Sara and Tegan, cute little baby dykes with acoustic guitars (it still trips me out when non-vancouverites/non-albertans know who tegan and sara are. weird!)
- has been part of a collective or consensus based group
- is poly or is consciously monogamous
- owns a pair of skinny jeans

I
- voted for Libby Davies
- moved to Montreal or Toronto for a “change of pace”
- has hosted a potluck
- has thought seriously about your gender identity
- owns a full set of leathers

N
- is vegan or vegetarian
- has an account on superdyke, plentyoffish or okcupid
- east van cross!
- has filled a stamp card at womyns’ ware (local sex store - link NSFW!)
- knows the best friend of the ex girlfriend of the casual partner of the last person you slept with

G
- knows how to repair your own bicycle
- has met a lover, one night stand, john, friend with benefits or future partner via craigslist
- has lived in a communal house with its own name
- has made their own sex toys
- wears a hanky and actually knows what you’re flagging (basic hanky code, an updated version than i love)

O
- has lived in more than 5 apartments or houses in east van
- protested during the Olympics
- has gone weeks without leaving East Van
- has been to a dance party in a completely inaccessible space like the Anza, the Legion or the Secret Location and thought nothing of it
- has been to Michfest or Camp Trans (michfest is an annual event called michigan womyn's music festival that only allows cisgendered women to attend, and camp trans is an annual event that protests MWMF's transphobia and creates a welcoming community near the MWMF site)

it was really really hard to narrow down to 24! a few of my others were: feels as comfy at the Wise Hall as you do in your own home, has dated/slept with/played with/etc a librarian, has performed drag, and has marched in the dyke march, but honestly, i could've made 3 quilts and still have more statements to use.





the quilt was a big hit on opening night, and the opening night Art Party was a big hit on it's own. this year Pride in Art organized two art shows for the Queer Art Show, the curated show that I was in, and the non-themed community art show, so the Art Party was HUGE! i've been going on opening night for many years now, and there's never been that many people. someone said something about 300 people, and i'd totally believe it. it was really overwhelming! i went back on a later night to actually check out the other pieces, because there was no way that i could actually concentrate with that many people around me. my family came, including my totally sleep deprived dad who'd just arrived home that morning, my mom and her best friend, my sister, and my also sleep deprived little brother, who'd also arrived home that morning, his girlfriend, and some of my dearest chosen family members, including my friend J, who i've posted about before, and my best friend K and his partner. both my parents and my little sister got me flowers, and my mom wrote me a super sweet note from her and my dad, and i was so so happy that i was finally able to introduce J to my family. it was a really good night.

omg, people rock.

i don't, i kind of suck because i meant to post this a week ago, but i have to tell you, THE PEOPLE IN MY QUILT GUILD FUCKING ROCK. seriously.


remember last year when i finally got the nerve up to submit some pieces to the Queer Arts Festival? two of my pieces were accepted, the Beth Ditto porn diptych, and the mixed media embroidery piece, Queer Health. (the Beth Ditto porn diptych is TOTALLY NSFW, but that's kinda obvious given the name, and the Queer Health piece is SFW, unless your work has an issues with speculums)


this year the show was curated, so instead of submitting pieces, i was ASKED to do a piece, which was so hella exciting! except for the fact that since i didn't have to submit by a deadline, i didn't have to get it done by an earlier deadline either. and despite my promise last year that i'd learned my lesson about procrastinating, i totally hadn't.


i had a pretty good start on this year's piece, but then i went on a roadtrip, and because my family is completely absurb, managed to get exactly nothing done while i was out there. (unless you count thrifting. i did lots and LOTS of thrifting. but that didn't help me get my piece done)

i had it all planned out, i was going to come home, have plenty of time to work on it, etc. but that totally didn't happen. by the time i got home, days later than planned, it was 3 days before the piece had to be done. and then i had a bunch of personal drama stuff that came up and totally interfered with my plans to get things accomplished as well.

i basically got home wednesday night, slept, and then got up thursday morning and started sewing. by thursday night, i had the main portion pieced, and i took it to our July VMQG meeting for show and tell. i had originally been kind of nervous about taking it to the guild, because i'm already the freaky one who says innapropriate things all the time, but i was so overtired, i totally forgot to be nervous.


(picture credit to the fabulous Holly - i have no idea how she always catches me making the weirdest faces!)

and the guild was awesome. SO MANY people said such amazing things, were so complimentary and positive, it was wonderful.


so then i went back home and kept working, but the aforementioned personal drama came up, and the next thing i knew it was Sunday, the day the piece had to completed and dropped off, and i'd slept in four later than planned. (i have 3 alarm clocks, 2 of which beep for 2 hours before turning off. i slept through ALL of them!)


we had a sew-in scheduled, so my plan had been to take the piece with me right when the sew-in started at 10, finish it up, and drop it off around 12 or 1. instead, i didn't get to the sew-in until 2, and i had to drop the piece off by 4, so i was scrambling! luckily, MY QUILT GUILD ROCKS, and i had 3 people (Terry, Sue and Paul) helping me, and Louise nagging me to hurry (in a totally loving, understanding way).

i made it to the drop off by 4:10, thank goodness, and after discussing hanging, etc, dropped it off. there is no possible way that i would have made it without the help, and once again, i have to say, MY GUILD ROCKS.




and then i went home and slept.


(i'll post about the piece itself asap, i'm sorry heidi!)

Calendars!!

i've discovered a few really awesome calendar things lately. it's getting to be that time of year, as scary as that is! as proof - i bought my 2011 slingshot the other day, and folks are out and about selling PIVOT's annual Hope and Shadows photography calendar, though i haven't picked mine up yet.

if you're familiar with spoonflower (a website that digitally prints custom fabric, very cool!), you're probably familiar with their ongoing themed contests. their current contest is tea towel calendars, like the vintage tea towels that you find stashed away in your grandma's drawer, but in much better colours than that 70s harvest gold!

Cynthia, who is one of the founding members of the new Fraser Valley Modern Quilt Guild, and whose art i've been a huge fan of for almost 10 years now, has a super cute design in the contest, and i'm crossing my fingers that she wins, and it'll be available for purchase!



super cute, right? i'm so impatient, i want to know which shades of kona the colours match so that i can start piecing a border for it - i'm that determined to buy it!

there were a few others that i really liked. i tried to only vote for ones that i could see myself actually buying - it can be overwhelming, with 10 pages of designs to vote for, and so many of them are so darn cute! but i resisted, and only voted for three over all.

the other two were this awesome beards and whiskers calendar, which i think would make the perfect gift for some folks i know,



and this gorgeous 2011-1938 calendar. the image of a double wedding ring quilt made up of 30s inspired reproduction prints is amazing - brilliant idea, and a very modern looking quilt (yet more proof that the modern quilt movement is a throwback!)



go vote for your favourites! (one of which will hopefully be cynthia's... no pressure!)



i've also fallen in love with Nikki McClure's 2011 calendar. her papercuts are so incredibly gorgeous, it would make me so happy to look at them every day.



all of the months are amazing, but you know i love spider webs, so i'm particularly enthralled with october.





and then i came across this free calendar that you print yourself, with over 30 super cute owl pictures to choose from. i can't pick just 12, it's just not possible. i'll have to make 2 calendars, obviously!

i really like how there's such a variety of art styles. these are a few of my favourites -







go make your own!




so all of this begs the question - how many calendars does one person really need? i think 3 would be okay - one by the computer, one in the kitchen, and one by the sewing machine. right? anything more than that might getting excessive....

so beautiful!

so speaking of Andrea Zuill/Bad Bird.....

have you seen her new pattern?



i am SO in love! i NEED to stitch this! i think she's so beautiful.

go get the pattern at her etsy shop!

the Art of Brenna Maag: Doilies and Science

i went to the Richmond Art Gallery sunday afternoon specifically to the see the current exhibits Navigating the Uncertainty Principle and Observation of Wonder, since sunday was the last day. the exhibits showed the work of two artists, Brenna Maag and Ingrid Koenig, but it was Brenna Maag's Observation of Wonder that i was determined to see.

she uses DOILIES! if you've been around long enough to see some of of my past doily projects, you'll know about my love of doilies! there was the pink doily purse, which was the first one, and totally started the obsession, as well as multiple doily skirts (oddly enough, very similar ones appeared in Crochet Today after i made my first few!). i have several large doily projects planned, and i've been collecting them for it. i love them for a multitude of reasons, but the main one is the amount of work and love that went into the creation of each one. it makes me so sad to see doilies in the thrift store being sold for $1, when i think of the huge amount of time it took to make it.

it was really really cool to see someone else using them in such an interesting way.

she intertwined art and science in a really fascinating way, categorizing doilies into "families" based on their design, much how scientists categorize plant life into "families" using the principle of "taxonomy".

to continue with the scientific theme, she made cyanotype prints of the doilies, a technique used to illustrate plant life by an early scientist, Anna Atkins.


(photo from http://www.brennamaag.ca)

cyanotype is a super fascinating, yet also super easy, technique, something i've wanted to play with for quite some time. i've also seen cyanotype quilts, which are SO amazing, and super inspiring! (there's a great tutorial on instructables for making cyanotype prints using negatives as well)


(photo from http://www.brennamaag.ca)

after categorizing the doilies, she made the prints of them, including the names that she had given them, based on latin, and then categorized them into species and families. (check out her website for pictures of her process)


(photo from http://www.brennamaag.ca)

isn't that amazing? what a fabulous combination of science, art, and traditional doilies!

that alone would have been worth the trip, but there was more! in addition to the cyanotypes, she also created a 9ft tall dome of doilies.


(photo from http://www.brennamaag.ca)


(photo from http://www.brennamaag.ca)

it was amazing to walk inside it and be surrounded by doilies on all sides.


(photo from http://www.brennamaag.ca)

the doilies are all adhered to white cotton on the inside of the dome, creating a really neat texture on the outside of the dome as well.

she uses only white and cream doilies, unlike my brightly coloured ones, and they create a very tranquil space.


(photo from http://www.brennamaag.ca)

it reminded me so much of watching the northern lights when i was in the Yukon years ago. Northern lights are very very rare here, but i remember them vividly from my childhood on the prairies, spreading across the sky. in the Yukon, because you are so far north, the northern lights seem to be in a dome around you, like a cathedral. it's incredibly beautiful, and almost spiritual.



the Richmond Art Gallery has a ATC trading group that meets once a month. they have monthly themes that relate to the art gallery's current exhibitions, though they are not required. the theme for may is patterns, and the last few days i've been playing with some fabric ATCs that show patterns. tonight is the trading session for May, and i'm going to go and take my pattern ATCs. i'm excited, actually, i've never traded ATCs in person before!



(note that all photos are from http://www.brennamaag.ca they wouldn't allow me to take pictures in the gallery itself.)