What I’ve been working on in the Studio: new Spirit Nests and info posters
I’ve been busy with a number of projects in the past few months and sadly remiss in posting! I am getting things ready for the fall / winter season and shows, working with Kim on some new information posters for the Studios @ Chautauqua Lane, and trying out a new direction based on some ideas I got by pulling together resources for a new class in Wire Working.
The photo above is a new Spirit Nest that I did a few weeks ago for the first of the informational posters we are printing for the studio. It is lined with needle felted wool and curly locks. The stitches around the top edge are from recycled Sari silk that is spun in to yarn as part of a program to provide work for women in India. The nest currently holds driftwood pieces that I have brought back from the North Shore. A few of the pieces are wrapped with the fibers I used for the bowl itself to show off their beauty more fully than you see in the blended stitches of the bowl itself.
When I first began making these several years ago, I described them as follows:
Spirit Nests emerge in layers, with fibers sourced from artisan-producers located throughout the US and Canada, often collected in my business travels from very small and rare production shops. The base yarns and roving play off of one another in a dance of vibrant colors and textures as you cradle the vessel gently. Polymer clay, metal and yet more fibers have been added to provide more destinations for your eyes and hands as you breathe deeply and nestle into your center.
These Spirit Nests represent a place for your spirit to rest and to recover from the knocks and bangs of our everyday lives. We all build nests of many kinds; the best of them give shelter to our memories and nourishment to our hopes and dreams. There, they gain power to illuminate our lives in all their glory.
As part of the project, I needed to do some “action” shots for the poster. I discovered that it can be a lot harder than it seems to do a shot where your hand is in just the right spot AND you don’t get in the way of the piece you are trying to show off! My hat goes off to all of those tutorial developers who make it look so easy.
Finally, this is how the poster came out. I am deeply indebted to my designer, Ann Carlson, for all of her help!
Spirit Nest poster (pdf format)
