Honorable Mention!

Twist and Shout received an Honorable Mention (Janet Rhyne Andrews Award*) at the Alamance Artisans Guild's exhibit at the University of North Carolina's William and Ira Friday Center for Continuing Education.  What a great surprise :)!

(and so much better than a dishonorable mention...)

* The Janet Rhyne Andrews Award for Creativity and Excellence was established by the Alamance Artisans Guild in 2010 to honor Janet Rhyne Andrews for her work in support of the arts in Alamance County, as Program Director for the Alamance County Arts Council for many years and, since 2010, as Curator of the Wooten Exhibits, funded by the Wooten Family Endowment

The Backstory

A little bit about what is behind my creating...

Al McCanless, fellow ArtBrake! artist, made this video recently - thanks Al!

Glorious!

This Jelly went to a great home last December...

Jelly No5 

wire, hand dyed silk and cloth, beads

and it now swims over a bathtub with a heating vent across the room from it to make it whirl.
I recently received an email from its new Enjoyer and he said, "It's Glorious!".  

 Detail, Jelly No5

I couldn't ask for a better "gush" than that.  I'm so glad.... :)

© Christie Minchew 2014

Wired for the Holidays!

Wire and hand dyed fiber Wreath

 Just finished this wire wreath.  

Aluminum and copper wire with hand dyed silk and synthetic fiber and twisted and curled and ready to celebrate :)!

Wire and hand dyed fiber Wreath 

Right now there is just one but hopefully more will be ready before the Chatham Studio Tour, December 6th and 7th, 13th and 14th (two weekends) from 10am-5pm each day. Head for Stop #12 to see what I've been having fun with lately.  

But first, Happy Thanksgiving!

 © Christie Minchew 2014

My Latest: Papilio Series

 Papilio jubilee © Christie Minchew 2014

6"x 6"

I decided to do some needle felting and do a butterfly (Papilio) series.  There are five 6"x6" shadow box framed butterflies. They were fun to do...especially the antennae ...and the tutu (see bottom) :)

Papilio polkadotus © Christie Minchew 2014

6"x 6"

Papilio graffitius © Christie Minchew 2014

6"x 6"

Papilio winter wood © Christie Minchew 2014

6"x 6"

Papilio ballerinus 'Degas' © Christie Minchew 2014

6"x 6"

They are $50 each and you can see them at the Alamance Studio Tour this weekend - Stop 10.  There are 5 other artists at Jill Troutman's home and the place looks fantastic!

In my studio...purses!

Santa Fe © Christie Minchew 2014

wool, ribbon, wet-felting

I took the advice of a fellow artist and made some purses this week.  I dusted off my wet-felting skills, and we had the perfect weather for playing in water!

Peacock © Christie Minchew 2014

wool, ribbon, wet-felting

Glasses not included :)

Come see them (and me) at the Alamance Studio Tour, October 11 and 12.

Dog Kisses and Sweet Words

 

Dog Kisses © Christie Minchew 2014

fiber rush, bamboo skewers, cardboard, paper, tuille and joomchi (mulberry paper)

I had a get together with my college roommate and her daughter a couple of weeks ago and made these prototypes for them.

Dog Kisses © Christie Minchew 2014

I wanted to experiment with a couple of things: odd shapes, variations of height on the sides and adding a bit of a surprise when you looked into the basket.

Sweet Words © Christie Minchew 2014

fiber rush, bamboo skewers, cardboard, paper, and joomchi (mulberry paper)

I learned a lot from these little experiments.

Sweet Words © Christie Minchew 2014

And Kim and Suzy were willing guinea pigs :).

Penland School of Crafts - How I spent...

My first attempt at coiling - oh the possibilities! © Christie Minchew 2014

How I spent my summer vacation?

At least 2 weeks of it was at the Penland School of Crafts and it was fabulous!  I took Sculptural Weaving with Nathalie Miebach and my head is still spinning with all the new techniques and materials I now have to draw from.

© Christie Minchew 2014

I spent countless hours with my fellow classmates in the Lily Loom House (above)

burning the midnight oil (ok, I only lasted until 10pm on a good night!)

My Final Project: My Penland Experience (unfnished) with a curvy, roller coastery road leading to a random-weave world of Penland © Christie Minchew 2014

and making very odd objects that both frustrated and exhilarated me.

Nathalie Miebach was a wonderful teacher of the unconventional (using conventional basket weaving techniques), and my classmates were the greatest group of artists to learn from as well.

Top that off with a filled-to-capacity campus of like-minded artists to chat with, yummy (and plentiful) food and 3 wonderful roommates and I hated to say goodbye.  But alas...

T'was the week before ArtBrake!

© Christie Minchew 2014

T'was the week before ArtBrake! and all through the house

Everyone is working, even the mouse!

The "Jellies" are all hung by the woodwork with care

In hopes that art lovers soon will be there.

The "gallery" is almost finished, Chuck is working on four drop-dead gorgeous cutting boards and final touches are being applied all around. The area around Frosty's is reverberating with the sound of creativity (and maybe a little bit of panic)!

We hope to see you next weekend - April 26 and 27.  What a great way to spend a spring day!

For a map and information on the eleven (yes, 11!) Artists, go to www.ArtBrake.net.

Frilly-Funk necklace - the 1st!

© Christie Minchew 2014

I'm having fun with all of the silk I've dyed plus all of the miscellaneous bits I've been saving for just the right project.  A few beads for a little spark...it's coming.

I hope to have a few of these made in different color combinations for ArtBrake!, April 26,27 from 10-5.  Hope you can come.

Mobiles and Jelly fish

Working on a new mobile inspired by a photo I have of a "Flower Hat Jelly" fish...

©Christie Minchew 2014

I'm having fun...stay tuned.

By the way, the Third Annual ArtBrake! is coming April 26 and 27 - yippee!

Unforgotten II - ready for prime time!

My latest mobile is now hung and ready for the Chatham Studio Tour. 

Unforgotten II

©Christie Minchew 2013

approx 36" x 36"x 18"

wire, mulberry and rice papers, beads, Joomchi

The poem that was the inspiration for this piece:

Unforgotten

I know a garden where the lilies gleam,

And one who lingers in the sunshine there;

She is than white-stoled lily far more fair,

And oh, her eyes are heaven-lit with dream!

I know a garret, cold and dark and drear,

And one who toils and toils with tireless pen,

Until his brave, sad eyes grow weary – then

He seeks the stars, pale, silent as a seer.

And ah, it’s strange; for, desolate and dim,

Between these two there rolls an ocean wide;

Yet he is in the garden by her side

And she is in the garret there with him.

                                                                                Robert Service (1874-1958)

Meanwhile, back at the easel...

Impression of an Impression IV (a diptych) is coming along...

The green strip going through the middle is just the surface I'm working on.  Chuck's working on the frames and I'm hoping to finish the two panels...soon! 

(The Chatham Studio Tour is only 2 weeks away - AAACCCKKK!!!)

The Garden: during...

Believe it or not,

 this will be The Garden in Unforgotten.

Trust me...it will come together in the end :)

The Ocean: after

After all of that 'wet' work, here's what The Ocean looks like...wet.

Then I tore it and scrunched it and laid it out to dry.

Et Voila, two waves up close! 

 The texture and color is all in the paper.  The top wave shows one side with the darker blue paper on top, and the lower one is basically flipped with the turquoise paper on top.  But the other papers show through.

The Ocean: before, during...

The Ocean

For "Unforgotten II" I'm using a technique called Joomchi for the elements.  Joomchi is a Korean technique using layers of mulberry paper, water and hand agitation to make the layers bind, or felt, together.  

The papers in the photo, above, are layered and wet down, below.

Then I gather up the wet stack carefully

 and begin agitating it by squeezing and rolling the paper in my hands.

Stay tuned for the "after".

The Process: Unforgotten II

For a long while, I've been wanting to develop some ideas for mobiles.  I've been brainstorming on themes, forms, techniques, ways to hang...

A couple of years ago, I made a cloth and felted triptych of the poem by Robert Service titled Unforgotten. I love that poem enough to do a second telling of the story in my next mobile.

Here's the poem...

Unforgotten

I know a garden where the lilies gleam,

And one who lingers in the sunshine there;

She is than white-stoled lily far more fair,

And oh, her eyes are heaven-lit with dream!

I know a garret, cold and dark and drear,

And one who toils and toils with tireless pen,

Until his brave, sad eyes grow weary – then

He seeks the stars, pale, silent as a seer.

And ah, it’s strange; for, desolate and dim,

Between these two there rolls an ocean wide;

Yet he is in the garden by her side

And she is in the garret there with him.

                                                                                    Robert Service (1874-1958)

In the Studio...

A huge thank you to all of you who visited me on the Alamance Studio Tour.  It was a great weekend (minus the weather) with so many visitors making the trek to Pam Watts' beautiful farm.

And now, on to getting ready for the Chatham Studio Tour (first two weekends of December).  I'm experimenting with a technique called Joomchi using mulberry paper.

It may look a little like a mess in the photo, but I promise it will come together.  The technique is very much like wet felting and the white paper above even has some orange wool fibers and green silk pieces along with threads in between the layers.  I'll be using this to create elements for a new idea for a series of wire mobiles that I'm working on.  ...and did I mention I'm also working on two more pieces for my "Impression of an Impression" series?  Yikes!

AAACCCKKK! Oh, it's just Halloween

Thought, in addition to Christmas ornaments at the Alamance Studio Tour this weekend, I would include some Halloween ornaments....

©Christie Minchew 2013

approx 5"-7"

wool, wire, hand felting

I'm getting it...

(yogurt cup with 24 and 28 gauge steel wire)

It may not be pretty, but I'm getting it!  In my effort to really expand my three-dimensional and more sculptural objects, I am experimenting with crocheting wire.  While at the Surface Design Association conference earlier this month, I had the extreme pleasure of seeing an exhibit of, and talking to, Naomi Wanjiku.  That conversation got me all fired up to try this technique again, but for a 3-D effect.  Once I get the wire crocheting/knitting thing downpat, I'm hoping to incorporate felt and cloth...and whatever else strikes me.  Yea for experimenting!