Chicago road trip: Lillstreet Art Center + SOFA

Here's an introduction to the textiles studios at Lillstreet Art Center, which is now located on Ravenswood Avenue in a former 3-story "gear shop." It's a lot like a re-purposed 1930s junior high school space. Lillstreet started out about thirty years ago, strictly as a ceramics facility on Lill Street, featuring teaching space and studios for ceramists. The move to Ravenswood coincided with an expansion to a facility with metalsmithing, lampworked glass, printmaking, painting, textiles and kids' art classes. Ceramics is still the main focus. The facility also includes a sales and exhibition area, plus First Slice, a great cafe with great food and profits going to support homeless youth meals.  I have been eagerly following Lillstreet Blog for some time, enamored with its focus on screen printing. Here you'll find pictures of this facility, introduced by head of textile area Camille Canales.

SOFA is the Sculptural Objects Fine Art Exposition, this year paired with INTUIT, the outsider art museum plus galleries. Major collector galleries exhibit at SOFA, and one has the opportunity to look at work commonly found in American Craft and other magazines. I hadn't been in several years, and the level of creativity is always astonishing. I also sat at the Surface Design Association information table, which was located in front of the Corning Glassblowing Demo booth, very informative, very impressive and great theater.

Below: the sewing workshop at Lillstreet- Camille is my guide.  

 

Camille is using pins to secure a runner to a table, in preparation for later screenprinting. I encouraged her to work as she answered questions- this was a time free of students in the dye and print studio.

Screenprinted curtains (above) and clothing (below)

 

It's rare to have a workshop with so many fabric screens. I was in heaven!

Below, Camille's screenprinted embroidery sampler, upon which students then practice certain embroidery stitches

above: pattern pieces. 

below: menu at the Cafe Slice. It's time now to order pies for Thanksgiving! I purchased various pieces of pie plus their squash soup to take to my overnight host and good friend, and everything was super tasty.

Above: re-arranging jewelry displays in the Lillstreet Studio gallery. 

Below: I followed the many bike routes on my way back to Oak Park, through Wrigleyville.

Historic stained glass from Chicago producers, stunning examples of old and new, inside the corridor on Navy Pier. Very worth seeing.

Above: I had seen so much art at SOFA, that when I stepped outside, I was struck by the materials, color and textural contrast of this light post base. 

Below: SDA Area Representatives Linda and Darcy

Above: SDA President Candy and friend and fellow volunteer Ann attending tothe SDA informational table at SOFA, with the swatch collection

Above: a fantastic grouping of photos of Utah plus oversized ceramic sculpture by fellow Iowa City resident Gerry Eskin.  Below: stepping out towards my car, surface design is everywhere...

Diem Chau: Sojourn

Two days ago, I received an email from the Friends of Fiber Art pointing out the exhibit of Diem Chau's embroidered objects in the Packer Schopf Gallery in Chicago. I am completely taken by this work- the surprise of it, the well-drawn embroideries, the considered placement, the mix of ordinary objects and narrative moments. It made me stop and take note. You really need to see the range of work shown on the Gallery's website to have the full effect.

Diem Chau and her family came to the United States as refugees from Viet Nam in 1986. She received her BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and has exhibited her work in New York, Chicago, Miami, Seattle and Los Angeles. Her website and blog show that she lives in Seattle, does the things that many emerging artists do: make "plushies" for her Etsy shop, do commission and exhibition pieces and run a new gelato shop. Take a peek and see for yourself.

If you'd like to attend the show, it's on view through March 27. Packer Schopf Gallery is located at 942 W. Lake St in Chicago. Telephone: 312-226-8984. Gallery hours are 11am-5:30pm.

HEN: Needle Magazine & more

I could just be inspired to try my hand at contemporary embroidery (read: hand stitching) after finding this interesting website. HEN is the Hand Embroidery Network, founded in the UK by Sarah Whittle. The network is an example of the way digital media affect a total concept; HEN started online and is only now flirting with print media. The HEN network includes online exhibits, online store, online book shop, online teaching resources. Members number around 750. Check out the HEN Blog. HEN has just published its first online magazine, Needle, and the HEN facebook discussion today asked about what price subscribers would be inclined to pay for a print version. The initial magazine is available as a PDF download.

Sarah writes on her website, "the idea for the Hand Embroidery Network came about one day, not long after having my second child Pippa Louise. I was feeling isolated and alone and thought how great it would be to connect with other people who did embroidery like me. I decided to start a local embroidery group but after posting leaflets here and there the idea fell flat as there didn't seem to be any embroiderers living near by. I re-joined the Embroiderers' Guild but there was no local branch I could easily get to with a 3 month old baby. So I had an idea why not create an online community and use the Internet skills that had paid my way through university. So I set up the HEN never dreaming that ten months later there would be over a 1,000 members."

She continues, " With the help of my husband Andrew, a talented graphic and website designer I have been able to turn the HEN into a Hub for hand embroidery. The HEN is a place where everyone whose passion is to stitch whether traditional or contemporary can come together and share this addiction. With this in mind and to cut a long story short, Andrew turned to me and said 'wouldn't it be great if we could create a magazine, a free magazine for everyone' and I said wow lets do it and the idea for NEEDLE was born! I truly hope that you enjoy reading this magazine as lots of blood, sweat and tears and a very understanding six year old boy called Oscar have gone into it and that you take it in the spirit it is offered, as a way for us all to share something in a world where disease, war and the credit crunch casts such a dark shadow on all our lives."

Well, we'll see if I actually do any embroidery (I'm more likely to tackle drawing) but I've certainly bookmarked this website.

Exhibit Day at the Surface Design Conference

Exhibitions at the Belger
A wonderful warehouse space in itself, complete with old fashioned freight elevator and loading dock for trucks. Here's a list of all the shows I attended.

Stitches in Time: The Art of Ray Materson: narrative embroideries that reveal a poignant story of renewal through creative work. A fifteen year sentence for drug related armed robberies, unraveling socks for embroidery on new boxer short fabric, minute stitching. Creative work became a source of power within a prison community. Importance of support for prison art programs.

• Surface Matters: SDA Members' Show featured 18" square format pieces by 200 members. This show included a wide array of member styles, competencies and techniques and allowed all members an opportunity to participate in a conference exhibition. (image at left and below. Shown: Stone Silence by Luanne Rimel, cotton flour sack cloth dishtowels; digitally printed, collaged, layered, stitched.)
  

El Anatsui, Three Pieces, 2009. This Ghanaian artist and teacher at the University of Nigeria, is now world known for large scale installation pieces using aluminum (from cans, etc) and wire. These are powerful, awe-inspiring pieces.





Jennifer Angus, Small Wonder, Secrets of a Collector, Nova Scota native now teaching at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, installations using dead insects from around the world, choosing those only in abundant supply. These mirror the beetle art of 19th century.

Alice Kettle, A Pause in the Rhythm of Time, from the UK: large-scale figurative machine embroideries, dyed backgrounds. Also collaged fabric portraits, very cubist, embroidered. Astonishing work.

Elsewhere in Kansas City:

Teresa Cole, Full Circle, another strong show at the Blue Gallery, relief & screen print on hand-dyed tarleton, BFK Rives paper. Trained as a fiber artist, now a professor of printmaking.

Teresa Cole's Full Circle, -she trained as a fiber artist and now teaches printmaking. Printed tarleton, below.

Also notable:

• Jerry Bleem shows that provocative sculptural forms can involve materials of humble origins, such as the staple. Bleem gave a stunning performance in a lecture later in the conference.
• Daniella Woolf, Away with Words, featured encaustic mixed media works of great interest to surface designers with more of a mixed media bent.
  
• Memory Cloth, Leslee Nelson's embroidered vintage household linens, Lynda Barry-style.
• Regina Benson, On the Curve, Dimensional Works from Nature's Studio, rusted and discharged fabric in sculptural format. (Byron C Cohen Gallery)
• Landscape with Floating Biology, mixed media installation by weaver Wendy Weiss, & Jay Kramer, Cocoon Gallery at the Arts Incubator.
• Evidently, the Dolphin Gallery's show of Anne Lindberg, Asiatica and others drew gasps of praise- I was unable to see it.
  
• I would have liked to see the International Student Show, Points of Departure, at Pi Gallery but didn't make it.
• Likewise, HEather Allen-Swarttouw's Transition in the Community Christian Church chose several themes executed in different media (fiber, clay, etc) and was said to be a strong show. When I tried to attend, the Church was closed.
  
• In the trunk show later that evening, Mary Hark's indigo and walnut dyed papers.

my view from my piece of pie: can't escape the spool of thread!