Learn to See: Ruah by Judy Tuwaletstiwa
On the latest 2015 pilgrimage to the Corning Museum of Glass, this piece by Judy Tuwaletstiwa was new. I read the tag with interest:
Judy Tuwaletstiwa began her career as a weaver and a painter and first worked with glass in 1998. In her painting ruah. to spit, small fused-glass elements were used like brushstrokes. To create them, she mixed her own specially colored glass powders and spooned them onto the shelves of a kiln, fusing them into long, oval shapes that she glued onto a painted canvas. The granular texture of the glass elements gives her painting a three-dimensional quality.
The way Tuwaletstiwa moves among mediums, from weaving to painting, to clay to glass and yet her vision unifies them, and finds the commonalities. Textiles, especially quilts, are what excite my own glass art, and when I look at this piece, I see the influence of fabric, and yet, not a rote copying of another medium, but being informed by it.
In an article on the National Geographic site, she describes thinking like an artist:
Learn to see. Really see. Notice the smallest blade ofgrass. How the light reflects off of it, how it grows. Notice what is around you. Turn off the television. Sit in silence. Listen. Each day notice something new. Educate yourself. Do not let a day pass by without noticing something you didn’t see the day before. When you look at a photograph, study it. Learn about this large world in which we live.
Also check out her exercise in thinking with your hands by modeling clay:
A Commission to Create a Colorful Gazing Ball
Ombre Orange in the Studio for a Colorful House Number
Kindred Spirits in orange-love requested an ombre background to their 3901 house number. Stratoz was telling me about studies of how the brain edits the world for us, filling in the gaps, making senses synchronous. Seeing is an action. I have gotten better at imagining how a mosaic will look once grouted, how the colors will flow. When I first started grouting the uncertainty was intense. What will happen once I slather the glass with grout? Will the design emerge or will it be fragmented? Ombre reminds me of Impressionist painting, where the artists let the eye blend the dots and strokes of color.
Commission your house number.
Joyful Rainbow Log Cabin Quilt by Dorothy Fravel
Another pleasure at the Keystone Quilters 2015 Show was coming across a Rainbow Log Cabin made by Dorothy Fravel. For my kindred spirits in Log Cabin Love, I just finished a Rainbow version of my own the week before, and look forward to sharing it with you.
Starting the Day with Peaceful Blue Green: Coffee in a Favorite Mug and a Mat to Rest it On
Bright Star Quilt by Jamee Pemberton
Driving to the Keystone Quilters Guild 2015 Quilt Show, Stratoz and I got a bit turned around, but the leaves were gorgeous and snuck in when we weren’t looking. This Bright Star quilt by Jamee Pemberton caught my eye, with its autumn orange, those little sawteeth along the border. She made it for her nephew Shaun.
Here is a beautiful piece by pianist Catherine Marie Charlton called Stars Awaken from her Riversong album. I imagine an awakening star to look something like Jamee Pemberton’s Bright Star.
Miriam Schapiro (1923-2015) Reclaiming Decoration and Pattern for Art
From our vacation this summer at the Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University.
Read more about Miriam Schapiro’s boldness in reclaiming traditional women’s handiwork in her art in the 1970’s when the term “decorative” was a slur ~ via quilt historian Barbara Brackman’s blog Material Culture.
Leap Stained Glass: Commission for a Minister and Spiritual Creative Woman
She arrived with print-outs from our website, and a bag of Scrabble tiles. She wanted the word “leap” in flowing bright colors: red, orange, yellow, and the tiles spelling out “and the net will appear.” She wanted the light to shine through all that color, so the project went to Stratoz. We’ve known this client for a long time, along her path to becoming a minister, with all manner of hurdles, and yet discerning her call, attending Community College, Seminary classes, finding a church and her ordination. It was an honor to know she looked at our work when she needed an infusion of inspiration and joy and that she chose to commission original art as her birthday gift ~ rather than, as she put it, getting another piece of jewelry that she never wears.
What word speaks to you? Talk to us about commissions.