On The Road Part II, Alice Kettle and El Anatsui

The greatest part about being at a conference like this is getting to see work that I otherwise only see in books.   Yesterday at the Belger Arts Center I saw four great shows- including El Anatsui and Alice Kettle, two of my favorite artists.  Alice Kettle, a British artist, had many of her new works on display, including a few made on a shiffli machine, something I've been researching.  The majority of her work is stitched by machine using a home sewing machine on heavy canvas.  This was the first time that I had seen any of it in person and I had not realized how huge they are- a few feet taller than me!

I have seen a lot of El Anatsui's work lately (in New York  in San Francisco) but the magnificent scale of his work is overwhelming each time.   The huge "cloths" are constructed from discarded liquor bottle caps and other debris.  The glittering mass of metal looks breathtakingly lightweight and beautiful.   I linked above to a NY Times article about his work, but you have got to google image search his work.

I'm here at the conference all week and will try to post images from the workshops that are of relevance to Lillstreet- and I'll be back for June classes posting images from the homebase. Stay tuned!