I have taken the summer off from my newsletter, tending to the garden, sewing new work, teaching a wonderful week-long workshop at Quilting by the Lake (nice sampler video from the Schweinfurth here) and traveling to see family and friends. Here is a quick look at a piece in the Her Armory series. The brigandines were included in the SDA member exhibit, Interplay, at the Dairy Barn, Athens, OH. The artist statement for the series follows:
Her Armory is a series of protective objects for women in an uncertain and troubling time. I have used reclaimed wool from sweaters, blankets and shawls to create a conceptual armor of resilience and strength in the face of a world turned on end.
Her Armory: Woolen Brigandines, 29 x 46 x 1, felted wool, embroidered and hand stitched
These were a lot of fun to make, needle felting wool rivets, creating layered woolen “plates”, and using some hand felted wool bats. There are more works in this series and I hope to have others on exhibit (and posted in the newsletter) soon. I will have three pieces from the Apron Strings series at the South Bend Museum of Art in Whip Stitch, opening at the end of September, and three pieces at the Blue Spiral Gallery, Asheville NC, in Common Thread, September 6 through October 23. Details to follow here and on Instagram.
Here are some titles I have been reading: In print, The Cemetery of Untold Stories, by Julia Alvarez; Piglet, by Lottie Hazell; The Road from Bellhaven, by Margaret Livesey; Hum, by Helen Phillips; and Burn, by Peter Heller. On audio, The Glassmaker, by Tracey Chevalier; The Tiger’s Wife, by Tea Obreht; Sandwich, by Catherine Newman, and James, by Percival Everett. Plus a whole bunch of lighter fare.