Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth

Finally got a chance to visit Nick Cave's Soundsuits at the UCLA Fowler Museum this past weekend. These suits are full body collages of mostly from the fiber arts world which includes crocheted hats and doilies, colorful gap sweaters, and all the glory of sequenced applique. The most famous are the performing Soundsuit Invasions some of which are made with real dyed human hair. They are bold and exhilarating as they tower over you and then at the same time so innocent, playful and free spirited, strands flowing, as they jump around and dance in the videos.


Nick Cave's Soundsuit Invasion No. 1 in LA, courtesy Fowler Museum at UCLA from Fowler Museum on Vimeo.

"With this exhibition, I hope to provide a place for dreaming - a public incubator. I hope that people walking into the gallery will be transported into another world where they can find hope, inspiration, and empowerment. I hope they will find themselves in another universe and also find a few moments to imagine, reflect and feel nourished. I see the work - especially at this particular time - as a catalyst for change and I hope the people who see it will be fueled by their experience with it."

Cave did his Masters in Fiber Art at Cranbrook where he met Gerhardt Knodel, who he says "gave him the courage and ability to be fearless."

I hope to catch one of these invasions at the museum in May.

:: photo by James Prinz/UCLA

Collections A Day

There is something about seeing things in a group. I absolutely love Lisa Congdon's new year long blog Collections a Day Project documenting her collections. These are her vintage price tags. Photo by Lisa Congdon.

"Bruise"

"Bruise" by Mike Mills. Available here.

drywall

two tone drywall, wood, concrete, tar paper, yellow electrical wire, symmetry, and lightness and dark.

Room Loom Opening Night

The finished Room Loom by Julia Sherman. Amazing community effort. Check out everyone's contributions here. The Room Loom concept is quickly spreading. Sounds like Julia plans to eventually have all the Room Looms show together.

Evelyn Ackerman wallhangings

My favorite Evelyn Ackerman wallhangings at the Mingei. More here.

Room Loom

This is Julia Sherman's second installation of the Room Loom. I missed the first one, but I was able to contribute to this one. I added the pretty light aqua blue color. The material was scrap fabric screen printed with black and white test prints. I love how the black and white got scrunched (or beat down in weaving terms) as the weft. The grey furry material to the right is dog hair. Julia's friend has 2 sheep dogs that just got shaved for the summer. She tried spinning it, but in the end, decided to just weave them in whole. The yellow and orange bunches, so brilliantly open up two sheds that we could weave into.
The installation is at at a great space called Workspace 2601 in Lincoln Heights.

Earth Day Art Project

This morning I was Ms. Emilyn to a room full of first graders. Today is Earth Day so I stopped by my sister-in-law's classroom to help make sculptures using recycled materials brought in by the students. These sculptures will adorn their organic garden for the week.My group of 6 assembled a brilliant tree house complete with ladder and slide. The bottle and basket on the side there are part of the rollercoaster, so fun!

Another group built a robot and another below is a sea garden. I forgot to photograph the fourth one that included solar panels that one little boy was so precisely able to explain as the sun making energy.

I was so impressed, mainly because these kids have serious imaginations! We could have kept building past the one hour time frame. The lesson - creative reuse, because we don't always need new things :)

Ranjani Shettar at SFMOMA

Ranjani Shettar's beautiful sculptural installation at the SFMOMA.

Tomory Dodge

So lucky we were able to catch the Tomory Dodge show at ACME before it closed on Saturday. So wonderfully patterned and ephemeral, but also like someone's somewhat voided, but clear viewpoint of a floating landscape. In scale, up close, in a gallery setting took it to a whole different level. Can't forget the glossy and blended strokes, random, but not really. This is a shot of my favorite piece, Debris Field. Also loved the title of another which summed up the show for me - After Forever.

Art in Seattle

The amazing Alexander Calder sculpture at the Olympic Scupture Garden; an insane installation of maybe a dozen supended Ford Tauruses in the lobby of the Seattle Art Museum; and again, the Geoff McFetridge "In the Mind" installation at the Paccar Pavilion.

Sister Corita Kent

An exhibit of Sister Corita Kent's silk screened work opens at CSUN tomorrow - Valentines Day! I remember my old friend Maxine had several prints throughout her house. Her daughter went to Immaculate Heart and she herself had taken Corita's classes. She also told me there was a time when she couldn't believe that she would find Corita's prints at thrift shops. Now they are collector's items. I am a fan of how freely Sister Corita worked at the same time being certain and focused on a message. I am also a fan her 10 Rules of the Classroom. A converation with her here.

Art Textiles of the World - Scandinavia

Just ordered this book. You can find an overview of the artists here. A few of my favorites are Gunvor Nervold Antonsen, Hildur Bjarnadottir, Annika Ekdahl, Aino Kajaniemi, and Anna Lindal. Art Textiles of the World is a great series. Also noticed several volumes at my public library.

David Weidman at Happy

David Wiedman has come out with a book of his silk screened prints from the 50's-60's and will be at Happy, a newish little shop in Los Feliz, Feb 6th.

Ryan Callis at Taylor de Cordoba

Layers, levels, symmetry, asmmetry, geometry, all the trees, jk, and a little bit of skin - excellent. This is Ryan Callis's work at Taylor de Cordoba. Here are some pictures from the website. Best of all, he has a great sense of color and uses loads of it. A must see in person.

Art LA

Some photos I snuck from Art LA last Thursday night. We haven't been out to see art in a while so it was nice to see lots of galleries in one place. Love this plastic bag installation from Ooga Booga.

This is an amazing quilt by Anissa Mack repped by Small A Projects. This is a straight on view.
These next two are by Tim Hawkinson at the Ace Gallery booth. In the first piece, printing rollers were made from a latex impression of the artist's skin. The second piece is weaving from found cloth and other objects.

We found Carlee's piece on back of an art journal called X-tra.

homemade sale sign

Before going to the Julie Vogel Sale in South Pasadena, we grabbed some breakfast on Mission and happen to see all the wonderful handmade signs for the sale up and down the street. Visually, they remind me of colorful granny quilts with touch of the typographical elements (not the heavy message!) in Tracy Emin's work. This one was at the metro stop.

Pie Raiser

We inhaled Edith Abeyta's homemade apple pie for dessert tonight. She's "baking for art." I especially love her ceramic pieces. This is one of a pair of plates I bought from her Pie-Raiser booth at the holiday sale.

Sumi Ink Club

Fabulous Smockshop and Sumi Ink Club collaboration.

Kyle Field

Kyle Field at Taylor de Cordoba.