Show to See: Cameron Crawford and John Almanza/New Capital

This show, which closes tomorrow night, January 29th, features paintings by John Almanza and sculpture by Cameron Crawford. The sculptural work makes use of various materials and techniques in the service of an elaborately specific vision. There are cast concrete and plastic elements, fresh flowers, and 2 large nets or curtains, one of which is constructed by crocheting hundreds of feet of monofilament. This exemplifies a textile technique used to serve unexpected ends and how such techniques can function as part of a larger technical and material vocabulary.--There are also terry cloth towels and some talk of men's briefs . . .

Review: Cameron Crawford and John Almanza/New Capital

The Next Illinois chapter meeting of the Surface Design Association

Hi!

I just wanted to put in a quick note that the next meeting of the Illinois chapter of the Surface Design Association will be held on Saturday January 29th, 2011 from 10:00am to about 12:00pm at The Fine Line in St. Charles. Bring some of your work for show and tell. Those of us that go will mostly likely all go out to lunch after the meeting to get to know each other a better. Lynn, Caldwell, Executive Director of the Fine Line, will give a tour of The Fine Line to those that are interested. The info is as follows:
The Fine Line,
6N158 Crane Road,
St. Charles, IL 60174,
1-630-584-9443.
Here's the link: http://www.finelineca.org/

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Shibori class is fun!

SHIBORI with Natural Fabric class is doing really well. I feel a lot of creative energy. These images are from the first day of the class. Shibori is a way of resist to make a visual design on fabric. We used a pair of plexi glass with rubber bands, chop sticks, wood blocks. Then put them in to dye solution. Resisted areas are not colored. As we folded, the patterns are geometric. We will explore other resist techniques.

OPEN STUDIO ON SUNDAYS!

Hello everyone,

We have added a Sunday open studio section in the print room from 10am - 1pm.  (Check out the current schedule on the right side of this page.) 

The weekly monitors are going to rotate the shift.  Kate will be there tomorrow morning.  Happy Printing!!!

Camille

Anne Wilson:Rewinds

I recently saw, and would recommend, Chicago based artist Anne Wilson's show at Rhona Hoffman Gallery. "Employing found materials such as table linen, human hair, and lace, Wilson explores themes of time, loss, and private and social rituals." Although, in this new show, Wilson uses glass, inspired by a 2005 residency at Pilchuck Glass School: "There, she became interested in the relationship between textile processes and glass fabrication: fibrous and flexible when molten, glass bends, spins, winds, and wraps. By translating fiber bobbin-winding and rewinding into glass, Wilson exploits aesthetic analogies between two distinct materials and modes of production."

The show runs through 2-18-11.

Buying A New Sewing Machine



It is so exciting to begin working in the word of sewing!!! Many of my students ask me what I recommend when buying a sewing machine. There are different things that I recommend when you are buying your first sewing machine: 



1. Try different sewing machines. If you go to Hancock, Joann Fabrics or a sewing machine stores like Singer Factory Distributor you will have the opportunity to try different sewing machines and compare them. You will notice which one feels the best to you based on noise and comfort level. Some are very user friendly and are easy to pick out after giving them all a try. All of these little details will help you in making a decision. In addition to feel, compare prices and brands. Ask questions, talk with the customer service people in the store. These are generally knowledgeable and will try to point you in the right direction. Getting to know the staff will also help you decide if you want to do business with their company. If you have to take your sewing machine back to be repaired you want to deal with a knowledgeable and friendly staff.

2. Do research online. Search Google for the top 10 sewing machines or best rated sewing machines. There will be some that you have tried at the store, so this time check the reviews and compare prices. There will be a Brother CS-6000i Sew Advance Computerized Sewing Machine. I have worked with this one and it is nice. One of my students said that it was cheaper at Walmart. So you may want to check their website as well. If you are not going to work 8 or more hours per day on the sewing machine, this is a good option because is affordable, and it is easy and friendly to use. However, Singer is a good option because it is easy to find Singer parts, bobbins and technical support. I also have to say that we use the Confidence 7463 at Lillstreet and they seem very strong. If you are student at Lillstreet and have worked with this model, it is a good option because you already know how to use it! Remember, these are only suggestions; the best sewing machine for you is the one that you try and feel the most comfortable with..

3. In my opinion, the best brands are: Janome, Elna, Bernina and Juki. They are a little pricy, but they contain more metal parts than plastic. However, I believe that you shouldn't have to invest $500 in a sewing machine if you can buy one for 200 or 250. We all love to sew, but unless you are going to be working 8 hours a day, a model that cost 250.00 will do just fine. (If you do work 8 or more hours, check out industrial sewing machines)

4. There are two types of sewing machines, one is a front loading machine with a bobbin case and the other is top load sewing machine without a bobbin case (this is the one that has a cover plate). I my opinion the second option (Top loading without a bobbin case ) is best for beginners. It is also quiet, so if you need to work at night you wont wake everyone up. However, I have friends that have told me that this option doesn’t minting good tension. So just try them first to be sure.




5. If you buy online, check the warranty, the shipping price and if they cover shipping in the case that the machine needs reparations.




6. The difference in buying at a local sewing machine store is that they offer classes on how to use your sewing machine and if something happens you can take your sewing machine directly to them for repairs.

7. Some sewing machines have too many functions. They are computers with sewing machines. In these sewing machines you can upload a picture using a memory card and the sewing machine it will sew over the fabric of your choice. (off course, it is bit a more complex than what I just described). I am going to be honest if you are learning to use a sewing machine and you are interested in sewing projects that don’t require embroidery and a large amount of decorative stitches then a standard sewing machine will work fine. The stitches that are you going to use the most are: strait and zigzag stitches (blindhem stitch probably). This doesn’t mean that you wont use the other stitches because some of them are very useful for stretchy fabric and specific projects. However, Most of the other stitches are for decoration.

For more suggestion visit:

http://sewing.about.com/od/sewingmachineindex/bb/buymachine.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_8908_buy-sewing-machine.html

Repeats Take Off!

Greetings All!! What better way to ring in the New Year than by sharing with you some fantastic work by the Repeats Patterns class. It's only the beginning of the session, and I'm already excited about what these folks have conceived and produced. You will be too, so take a look . . .

I'm eager to find out to see what's next! Stay tuned for more amazing work to come.

Upcoming Class: Sew Your Own Hooded Sweatshirt!

Hi, Lill St Textiles Buddies! It's cold, wet and blustery out there today; and all I want to do is curl up in a cozy sweatshirt and drink tea. And guess what? In just a few weeks I'll be teaching a class all about sewing hooded sweatshirts! It's going to be a super awesome class that covers some basic patterning/construction techniques while also allowing you to get creative with design and structure. Here are a range of design ideas to get your brain working...

Super simple hoods with marsupial pockets! No need to get crazy if you're feeling intimidated by the sewing: a hand-made hoodie is creative enough!
(Also- can we talk about those awesome pants for a second?!)

Check out that neck variation! It looks pretty comfy...

Applique, lapels, and cowls: oh my!
(Joodito Designs.)

OMG Buttons!

(Little House Clothing on Etsy!)

And even though we won't be doing any screen-printing in the class, my nerdy self couldn't let THIS discovery go without sharing it with you all. Clever, clever!

You can still register for this class over at the Lill St website or by calling the front desk at (773)769-4226. Hope to see you all in class!

-Nora Renick Rinehart

www.fiberistanora.com
www.fiberistanora.etsy.com
http://fiberistanora.blogspot.com
http://theburrowstudio.blogspot.com

WINTER OPEN STUDIO HOURS START JAN 17

Textiles Open Studio Schedule
WINTER 2010  January 17th-March 20

***Please note: Open studio is for currently enrolled Textile students.  Please sign in with a monitor every time.***


Mon     10-6pm          Ruby (print room)
            10-1:30pm     Ruby (sewing room)
      

Tues     10-6pm         Kate (print and sewing room)
               

Wed     10-6pm          Amanda (print room)
            10-1:30pm     Amanda (sewing room)
  

Thurs    2-615pm       Frances (print and sewing rooms)
       


Fri        10-6pm         Gabriella (print and sewing rooms)   
                  
Sat        1:30-6pm      Heather   (print room)         (See below for scheduled workshops.)


Sun       ----

PLEASE NOTE:
-NO OPEN STUDIO DURING SCHEDULED WORKSHOPS: 
    Feb 19- Crash Course in Burning/Stripping Screens
    Mar 5- Printing T-shirts
    Mar 12- Dye Printed Dishtowels

new book on vera neumann

vera: the art and life of an icon

for those of you who stumbled on her beautiful scarves in thrift stores and then searched her out online, this book is for you (i hope jackie is reading!). they finally created a picture book to catalogue all of vera neumann's designs. i have not seen it yet but i bet it's chocked full of inspiring images.

Traditional Quilting

I have spent some time in the studio now and have started to make new work, functional quilts as gifts. I have a background in making functional quilted pieces and often consider how this kind of work, which is more commercial, craft oriented, and less concept driven than the rest of my work, compares to my more personal work, or how I imagine it as an integrated part of my practice.

On a conceptual level, I think there is much to say about quilting. First, there are the labor intensive and process oriented aspects of quilting. Second, the historical, social, and traditionally feminine aspects of the form provide reasonable claim to conceptual ground. Third, making functional things, and by extension the way we value and interact with these things, creates both philosophical and political /economic connections. My interest lies in the labor-intensive processes and also a philosophical relationship to objects.

What I find most important, however, in my relationship to traditional quilting, is the capacity of any work to generate ideas and more work. In this case, especially rule-based or formal work with a given structure or parameters. In the words of Richard Serra "work comes out of work." Or, another way to think about it, is as a kind of machine for inspiration.

So now, in the studio, I am making several gift quilts. Two of my oldest and dearest friends are due to give birth to their first children this winter and spring (both boys!). Other friends have recently gotten married. I am making quilts in traditional patterns as gifts. I am using the Amish Log Cabin pattern, which is the first quilt pattern I ever used and has remained my favorite. It can be simple or complex with infinite options in terms of fabric and arrangement. In addition to serving as a kind of meditation on the people for which I’m making them, the creation of these pieces forms a critical part of my practice. I liken it to sketching for a painter or sculptor. It engages pattern, piecing, and color in a very rule-based way. I think of any creative activity as a kind of freedom enabled by certain limitation, and the apparent confines of a rule-based making practice generates so many ideas for permutations and variations, essentially new questions, as well as providing a kind of training and sense for technical and aesthetic issues.

Creating functional quilts as gifts, using traditional patterns, is a generative part of my process. As I piece together these various new quilts I will hang them in the textiles (sewing) classroom.

Resident Artist Studio Hours

I am looking forward to meeting everyone over the next few weeks and hopefully visiting some classes to do so. I am also posting here, and outside of the textiles classrooms, my schedule for the upcoming weeks. I welcome and urge frequent visitors. Please bring your own work to share or just stop by to say hello.

Schedule:

Wednesday: 1pm – 5 pm

Thursday: 10 am – 5 pm

Friday: 10 am – 6 pm

There may be exceptions to the regular schedule; I will post those to the blog.

I will not be in on Wednesday and Thursday, February 9^th-10^th. I will be in Bangor, Maine for a previously scheduled Maine Arts Commission meeting. I have been serving on the committee to select and/or commission public art for the new, under-construction Hamden Academy through the Percent for Art program. This process began several months ago, but this upcoming meeting is perhaps one of the most important. It will require a day-long, collaborative review of all materials, proposals, and applications by prospective artists in order to make a preliminary selection.

It fascinates me to see how and what artists propose, as well as the reaction and decision-making process of the selection committee. This committee is comprised of people from different backgrounds and with differing areas of expertise. Artists applying for public art commissions have a particular task, different from the more personal work that I make, or even the kinds of work I normally view in gallery or museum settings. The objectives and processes for this kind of work are more collaborative. This happens thematically--in terms of the aesthetics of the space and the ideology or mission of the project, in this case a school. It also happens technically. The artist must be prepared to work closely with the building architects, school administration, engineers, and contractors.

It is important to me to invest time supporting art and artists in my Maine community. I’d like to see the best possible work exist to engage and enrich the experience of both the students at Hampden Academy, and also the community at large as they interact and participate in events through the new facility.

-Gabriella

New Classes all Week!

All new Textile classes start this week... Check out Abby's apron project!

Almost there...

Winter session classes start tomorrow! 

More photos of the renovations...

New ironing station which can double as a pattern station.

 With construction nearly done, I thought I would pass along some photos of the progress.  

A moveable demo/ironing/patterning station w/lockable wheels.

Custom sewing stations with shelves for notions.  No more searching for extra bobbins, seam rippers etc!

Sturdy wooden tables for sewing w/ removable padded table tops for drafting patterns.

An extra print table, with a lower height to make it easy on your back!  There are lockable wheels so the table will not shift mid-printing.  The 2 shorter tables can be pushed together to make one really long table for printing yardage. 

NOW:  cleanup!!!  It's time to put the space back together before Monday!!  Monitors and instructors will be working hard this weekend preparing the studios for classes.  Make sure to register...Classes are almost full.

Greetings & Introductions

I’m so pleased to be joining the Lillstreet community as the Resident Artist in Textiles. While the programs and community at Lillstreet dovetail with my experiences and work so far, the opportunity to work here promises to provide opportunities to grow and expand my practice and engagement. I’ve just moved to Chicago from Maine, and am looking forward to settling in, enjoying the city, meeting everyone, and getting into the studio!

Over the past several years, my work has ranged from the functional to the more conceptual, and while engaged in a variety of materials and forms, I’ve always had a strong and foundational use (and love!) of fiber, especially quilting. I have worked as a professional costume designer, co-founded and continue to operate a small fiber arts business, selling functional works from quilts and pillows to tote bags in both retail and wholesale markets. I have created and taught fiber workshops including summer programs for children, high-school programs for students and faculty, and workshops, such as for the Maine Crafts Association at Haystack for beginners and professionals. While an active member in Maine’s varied and long-standing crafts community, I also regularly show in art exhibitions and galleries in fiber-based shows such as the Quilt National ’09 Biennial, to solo shows, for example “Elaborate Hegemonies” in coastal Maine where I exhibited fiber works alongside drawings, paintings, books, and photographs, and finally to collaborative exhibitions such as “An Ordinall of Alchimy” for Cabinet Magazine in Brooklyn and Opus Magnum: Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum & The Philosophick Childe, a 2009 residency project at Mildred’s Lane in Beach Lake, PA. Last but not least, I'm currently finishing an MFA in Intermedia from The University of Maine.

Although diverse, all of this work is characterized by a materials-focused, philosophically-driven engagement with process, an engagement situated somewhere between a self-conscious art-making practice and everyday life.

I come to Lillstreet with my usual lists of ideas and projects, various books and sources of inspiration, but am also prepared to let them go so that I can be open to the chance and opportunity that meeting new people and being in a new place offers. I am looking forward to experimenting.

To a great season! -Gabriella

Images: White Finery, 60" x 60" (full and detail); ivory cotton sateen, cotton batting, thread, embroidery floss; machine pieced, hand quilted, hand embroidered. note: this work will be on exhibit February 3rd-27th Aarhus Gallery, Belfast, ME

Buster, Gabriella, and Pony.

GOING, GOING, GONE

I thought I would share with you photos of the studio during demolition today.  We are upgrading the print and sewing studios for the January sessions.  The print room is getting a face lift with more open room and one extra printing table.  

 

The sewing room will have custom wooden tables for the space, making it more comfortable for sewing, as well as leaving an open space for sewing circles.   Stay posted for an update on an open house unveiling of the new studios. 

Classes are filling up fast!  Click here to register.  More photos tomorrow.   Got any ideas on what classes you would like to take this spring?  Drop a comment on the blog... We would love to know what you would be into.

Open Studio resumes Jan 17th

PARDON OUR DUST AS WE ARE PREPARING FOR THE WINTER SESSION....

Winter Session Open Studio resumes on Monday, January 17th- one week after class starts.  The open studio schedule will be posted on the blog during the first week of class.  Contact camille@lillstreet.com if you have any questions. 

Check back for photos from the studio renovations.  Happy New Year!

There is still time to register!  Click here for more info!