Take a look around...

You'll find information about what is in my shop, what exhibits are coming up and more on my pages above.  Please join my newsletter group (sign up at right) for updates AND follow me on Instagram and Facebook if you'd like to see more frequent photos of what I'm up to.
Enjoy!

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

The Shadow Knows

Satellites

Aluminum and Steel

My latest mobile is sans color, but the shadows make up for it.
 © Christie Minchew 2014

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.

All the fun colors and shapes, None of the sting!

 

Jelly No2 © Christie Minchew 2014

aluminum wire, hand dyed silk and synthetic cloth, mulberry paper, beads, waxed linen and polyester threads

I finished "Jelly" No2 just a while ago.  This one has silk that I dyed (blue) plus some really interesting synthetic cloth I dyed (green).  Those two are layered and stitched with salmon colored waxed linen thread and fuschia colored thread.  Hard to see all of that in the photos.... Guess you'll just have to come by :).

What's up in the studio

I started getting components ready for Flower Hat Jelly No2.  Sixty four 'stems' of wire... 

and 1,472 beads later!  The blue silk organza in the background was dyed this week, too.  My fingernails are finally looking a little more normal :).

Just the Beginning

Ta Daaaa....

 Flower Hat Jelly I © Christie Minchew 2014

wire, beads, mulberry paper, joomchi technique

I finished...and I'm on to the next!

And if you're in town, come see it at ArtBrake!, April 26 and 27.

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)

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: 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!