Groceries

Yep, you read right, groceries. Another of my passions besides textiles is food, and not only because it is utterly sublime in taste. When I eat, all of my senses are excited, heightened and awakened by what's in front of me. How the food looks is of equal importance to me as how it smells and tastes, how it feels in the mouth, is it crunchy, smooth, cool, hot. Of course, then you won't be surprised when I tell you that one of my favorite things to do is go to the grocery store, particularly the produce section (don't tell any of the other departments of my favoritism, please). Just take a gander at these delectable, luscious, potently rich papaya and tell me that you aren't inspired to rush off and create something beautiful.
I wish I could tell you the name of this mysterious creation of nature. The color and shape piqued my interest, so I bought one. Imagine my overwhelming surprise when after slicing it open I stumbled on this incredible iceberry magenta. And what texture, that spiky edge of pale green around the edge and the fresh summer green of the skin. I seem to remember it reminded me a wee bit of a radish when I finally stopped drooling over it's beauty and actually tried a bite.
Okay, who can resist a handful of asian aubergine? Sleek and slender, shiny and rich. To top off that splendid frock is a hat of rich grass green, could anyone have planned a better color combination? I think not!
An undulating bike load of coconuts - an amazing pattern formed by the artful arrangement of trying to tie the most fruit to the frame. Such a smooth exterior hard as a skull shell surrounding that delightful wiry cocoa brown beauty we are so familiar with, opening to that warm ivory deliciousness to both the tongue and eyes.
Ah, the faithful summer refreshment beloved by all. Frosty deep rich pinkish red, cheerfully enveloped in a bright and deep green erratic striped rind. Oh . . . sorry, I got lost in the trance of the fruit for a bit, transfixed by the way it's all so perfectly put together.

What inspires you to create? What makes your lips curl into a smile and your eyes shine, makes you rush to pick up your sketchbook, dyes, inks, pencils, paints? Keep those things close at hand . . .

eak

Creation and Co-Existence

(click on picture to see larger image)

Hi!
Last Wednesday I had the pleasure of going to the opening reception of "Creation and Co-Existence: The Respectful Interdependence Of All That Is" at the Mary-Frances and Bill Veeck Gallery in Hyde Park. The two artists exhibiting in this show are our own Akemi Nakano Cohn and Lindsay Obermeyer (who has also taught at LillStreet in the past). I highly recommend seeing this exhibit. Akemi's wall hangings are powerful in their visual and symbolic impact but up close very intricate. Lindsay's beaded prairie flowers are exquisite in their detail and impressive when seen all together. Best yet, you can really see how their work relates to the exhibit's titled theme. The show is running until September 14th. Below are some pictures I took at the reception. More detailed information on the gallery hours and the show can be seen in the above postcard (just click on the photo above to see a larger image).


Above is Akemi (on the left) and Lindsay (on the right) standing in front of one of Akemi's wall hangings.


"Broken Circle" by Akemi Nakano Cohn.


Partial shot of "Glass Prarie" by Lindsay Obermeyer.

Rebecca Ringquist's Show - Last Chance!

Hi everyone!! Just a quick reminder that, Rebecca Ringquist's (former Lillstreet textile department head) amazing Red Sky at Night show, will be on display at the Packer Schofp Gallery until tomorrow, Saturday, June 25th. Don't miss out on the chance to see her beautiful and complex work in person!! 

The Packer Schofp Gallery is open on Saturdays from 11am-5:30pm 

and is located at 942 W. Lake St. Chicago, IL 60607.

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Ringquist's work tells love stories and creates veiled, fractured narratives full of double entendre. She is inspired of late by the fictional relocation story of the Swiss Family Robinson as well as her own cross-country move to Brooklyn. She alternates between hand embroidery and machine stitching, and the harsh difference between the rates of speed with which she works conveys a complicated message. Although the machine stitching is in itself very labor intensive, it also carries with it a sense of violence and aggression, reflecting the tangled messy nature of relationships. On a large wall piece, the thick orange flames, which lick up at the bed suggestively, are quite different from the sweet daisy imagery that lies beneath. Ringquist's work is at times careful, contrasted with moments of fast machine-stitched frenzy, expressing implicit and explicit intensities, and alternating between innocence and recklessness.

_____________________

Tour of Chicago Silk Screen

Yesterday, the employees of Chicago Silk Screen were nice enough to give some Lill St students a tour of their facilities. One of the oldest screen printing business in the city, Chicago Silk Screen is downright fascinating. Did you know that practically everything is silk screened? Plastic buckets, glass bottles, and a lot of those giant vinyl banners! And each of these objects requires it's own special screen.

Alan Shust, CSS production manager and our wonderful tour guide, took us through their process.

This is a room-sized camera englarger used to create the films needed to burn the screen. Before digital printing became popular, this is how all films were created. CSS has two of these devices which can make films 4' x 6' and larger!

Stretching a giant aluminum screen! That little device is a "tense-ometer" so that they know that the screen is stretched properly.

The team at CSS coats their screens a little differently than we do at Lill St: because they are preparing screens that will be used to make thousands and thousands of prints, the screens need extra emulsion. It was fun to talk shop with the pros! Here, Fransisco is coating screens used to print styrofoam coffee cups!

The screens are then burns on this beautiful Vacuum UV light table! (Swoooon...)

And rinsed in the washout station (we should BE so lucky!)

CSS also has a department that takes the used mesh out of old screens restretches them.

Stretching wood screen must be SOO much easier with that pneumatic staple gun!

The basement... where silk screens go to be reborn!

All in all the tour was FASCINATING. Thanks so much for the employees of Chicago Silk Screen for being so hospitable and thanks again to Alan Shust for being such a fantastic tour guide! If you have any printing needs, we highly recommend these guys!

(Check out more photos from the tour at my flickr!)

-Nora

2121- Textile Discount Outlet coupon!

Today there is a Groupon for one of my favorite fabric stores, Textile Discount Outlet.  I call it "2121" because their address is 2121 W. 21st Street.  "2121" has a vast selection of every kind of fabric you can think of.  Be sure to set aside a few hours when planning a trip- this large warehouse can overwhelm your senses if you are a collector of fabrics.  (You can also purchase sequined appliques by the pound!)

Here is the link for the Groupon: http://www.groupon.com/deals/textile-discount-outlet
For $20 you get $40 worth of fabric.  I wish you could buy more than one for yourself.

Gyun Hur in Chicago

Yes we are very lucky to ha piece of Hur in Chicago. Don;t miss it :)

“I Dreamed Your Utopia” an installation by Gyun Hur

Location

Hotel Florence

11111 S. Forrestville Avenue

I Dreamed Your Utopia...

Narratives of memory, place, and labor are vital elements in Gyun Hur's construction of a visual and psychological space. Through the menial and laborious process of making, selective collections of silk flowers transform into a poignant residuum of the past and the present. In this project, I Dreamed Your Utopia, Hur continues her series of intricate re-appropriated silk flower installations. Collected silk flowers are disassembled and hand-shredded by the artist and a community of people around her. The pattern produced by a labor-intensive installation references the artist's mother's wedding blanket. The artist's methodical destruction and reassembly of the silk flowers create an introspective site, transforming the space into a place where internal memories and fascination lie. Hur carefully responds to the place Pullman where people have lived, worked, and dreamed of their utopia. With an affirmation of the labor, I Dreamed Your Utopia searches for impermanent, yet resilient residue of the lost history.

Bio:

Gyun Hur received her MFA in Sculpture from the Savannah College of Art and Design and BFA in Painting from the University of Georgia. The artist has performed and exhibited in Atlanta, New York City, Chicago, Seattle, and Vermont. Gyun completed New York City residency through Elizabeth's Foundation for the Arts in Spring 2009. She received Joan Mitchell Foundation Scholarship for Ox-Bow Artist-in-Residence program and attended an artist residency at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Amherst, Virginia in 2010. She exhibited her work at SCAD Hong Kong in April 2011. She is the finalist for the Hudgens Prize. Later this year, she will have solo exhibitions with Jacueline Casey Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth.

More info:

Mosnart, The Historic Pullman Garden Club, The State Historic Site and the Pullman Community are privileged to host artist Gyun Hur (Atlanta, GA) and her installation titled: "I Dreamed Your Utopia" at Pullman's famed Hotel Florence.

"I Dreamed Your Utopia" coincides with the 17th Annual Pullman Garden Walk on Saturday June 18th, 2011, 10 am - 4 pm (The installation is FREE and open to the public. The Pullman Garden Walk requires tickets - $12 advance/$15 at the door, advance tickets are available by calling 773-568-2441. Proceeds from the garden walk ticket sales support many ongoing projects in the Pullman Community. The HPGC is a 501(c)3 NFP.

The Hotel Florence is located at 11111 S. Forrestville Avenue, Chicago, IL 60628 Tel: 773.660.2341 in the Pullman Historic District on the far south side of Chicago. Free street parking or take the metra electric train.

Links:

Gyun Hur (artist website): http://gyunhur.com/

Mosnart: http://tallskinny.com/mosnart

Historic Pullman Garden Club: http://www.hpgc.org/gardenwalk.html

The Pullman State Historic site: http://www.pullman-museum.org/

Pullman Community site: http://tallskinny.com/pullman

Creation and Co-Existence- Work on display by faculty Akemi Cohn

 

Hello everyone,

 

One of our instructors, Akemi Cohn, will have an exhibition at The Mary-Frances and Bill Veeck Gallery (Catholic Theological Union) in Hyde Park.  Opening is June 22nd.  5:30-7:30 pm.  (artist talk at 6:30)  

 

She will have12 large pieces on display.  

 

The address is 5416 S. Cornell in Hyde Park. If you take Lake Shore Drive south, get off at the 53rd St. exit. Go 2 blocks west to Cornell and turn south (left). The Catholic Theological Union is about 2 blocks south on the right side of the street.  Hope you can come! 

For more info click here!

Akemi Cohn

www.akemistudio.com

www.akeminakanocohn.blogspot.com

Even Teach Take Classes (and are STOKED about them!)

In just under a month I will be headed to Maine to take another class at Haystack Mountain School of Craft! This is the second class I have been lucky enough to take at Haystack; the first was a totally amazing knitting class with Janet Morten. Haystack is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen- practically hanging off Maine's coast, the weathered wooden classrooms and dormitories create an artistic haven that fosters community, creativity and inventiveness. I am SOOOO excited to be going back! The class I will be taking this summer is a Screen Printed Wallpaper class taught by artist Jennifer Angus.

Screen printing wallpaper is an idea that I have toyed around with for a number of years. Note: I said an idea. Although I've wanted to try it for a while, I've never managed to make it happen. I feel like wallpaper and textiles are very much related to one another. Both are decorative emblems of domesticity. Historically and contemporarily, wall paper and textiles have helped shape the individuals relationship to the home. I think that textiles and walls are both able to create a certain sense of coziness- you wrap or enclose yourself in them, you embellish them, you make them part of yourself.


It is these feelings of comfort that Jennifer Angus challenges.
"In her work, bugs are pinned directly to museum and gallery walls in patterns that reference both textiles and wallpapers. A common theme runs through this work: the interplay of the feelings of comfort experienced when viewing familiar patterns and the realization on closer inspection that the comforting familiar is actually made up of insects, something most people feel apprehension for. " (FiberArts Magazine)


Through her many installations, Angus explored themes ranging from the odd sensation of Victorian bug collecting, to colorful Kimono fabrics, to oriental carpets: all with the aim of creating conflict between beauty and uncomfort while also drawing the viewers attention to social and ecological truths.


Swooooon.

I have already started brainstorming what kinds of wallpaper I'd like to print while I'm in Maine. Have I already said I'm excited?? I AM SO EXCITED. (Click on the links for more information about Jennifer Angus!)

-Nora

Happy Weekend-Art Festivals

Happy weekend everyone!! Here are a few art festivals in the area that I may be checking out in the upcoming weeks:

Artist of the Wall Festival-Rogers Park (June 18-19)

Randolph Street Market Festival  (June 25-26)

Gold Coast Art Fair (July 9-10)

Chicago Botanical Garden Art Festival (July 1-3)

July flags in the works... Chris Wildrick

I hope everyone has looked up these days at Lillstreet's current flag installation by Kevin Curry.  I love driving down Ravenswood and seeing them wave to and fro. 


I know it's a bit early, but I thought I would give a sneak peak at next month's flag installation by Chris Wildrick.  Here are some images that will be digitally printed onto July's flags. 

 

Check out www.chriswildrick.com for more info on the artist. 

Fiberarts: Emerging Artists Showcase

Unfortunately, the current, summer issue of Fiberarts Magazine will be the final one. Check out the issue which will feature International Art Quilts as well as emerging artists, including some of my work which is hanging in the third floor hallway at Lillstreet, in the magazine and on their website.

Teppachi Dish

Japan is a small country, and live many people. Everything is packed and condence. Walkman (do young people know what it is?), newest cell phones, and capsull hotels have been developed. I found this dish is one of them. It called "TEPPACHI" dish. Served at Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. All small lacquer ware nicely arranged and served. After finishing this meal, all dishes are fit into one after another, and became just one. How compact! (The photo is out of order; the layers of containers together should be the last.) Akemi Cohn

Flags needed for July

 

There are still several slots left for this year's flag installation space, including July.  See our pages section (click here) for more info.  Cash awards will be announced at the end of the year.  Contact camille@lillstreet.com with any questions or submissions.

i saw this on martha

this picnic carrier is a simple way to show off the beautiful dish towels you designed and printed. not only are they useful for toting your summertime meal to the beach or park, but they would also be an extra special way to wrap a two bottles of champagne!

don't forget that we sell a bunch of blanks for you to print on, including dish towels of course!

ICFF - NYC

Last month the International Contemporary Furniture Fair was in full swing at the enormous Javits Center in NYC. I had the opportunity to walk the show to get a glimpse of some of the innovative designs and awesome pieces that take the function of furniture and transform it into useable art. Being in that exhibition space with creativity heavy in the air was inspiration itself, then to be able to touch and feel so much of the amazing design was overwhelming and sublime! Here are just a few . . .

Two amazing chairs by Aqua

Perm Chair by RISD student Eun Sung Ernie Lee

Rubber Band chair by Preston Moeller - made with 66,000 of them!

More photos to come, so check out the blog during the week.

eak

Patternmaking: Skirts Preview

I'm getting ready for this Saturday's first Skirt Patterning Class. If you've ever thought about making your own patterns, this would be a great introduction! We'll start by making a skirt block similar to this one, and move on quickly to more exciting variations. For example, the circle skirt:
This Rodarte design is a basic circle skirt, which you can create by cutting and spreading a skirt block. Actually, because its only fitted at the waist, you can draft this pattern with nothing more than a waist measurement and a ruler.
These are circle skirts too (from an old Hussein Chalayan collection), but they've been made much fuller by adding more circles into the pattern (petticoats are probably involved as well, and some ties around the waist to control the increasing fullness). You can add as many circles as you want!

A single circle pattern looks something like this:
If you divide your waist measurement by two, you can fit in two circles, and you end up with side seams instead of a center back seam:
Continue to split your waist measurement and add circles as needed!
In class we'll also be looking at draping a skirt like this on a dress form. That technique allows you to control exactly where the fullness falls- instead of a perfectly even circle, you can create a skirt that looks almost straight from the front, with all of folds falling at the back, or at one side, or whatever suits you. Its a great example of how a very simple pattern draft can still be an entirely unique and beautiful design.
See you in class!
-A

Open Studio starts tomorrow... Partial schedule posted

Hello everyone,

June classes begin tomorrow, and with that comes the first day of open studio!   Some classes are still up in the air, so the final schedule is not complete.  I thought I would post Monday and Tuesday's schedule for now, as some of you may want to get right to work.  I will post the remaining schedule as soon as I know the status of all the classes.

Monday: 
print: 2-9pm w. Kathleen Z.    
sew:  2-6pm w. Amanda

Tuesday:
print: 2-6 w. Gabriella
sew:  2-6 w. Gabriella

Any questions should be directed to camille@lillstreet.com.

Happy printing and sewing!

Kim Eichler-Messmer - Hand Dyed Quilts

Recently, I discovered a quilter out of Kansas City named Kim Eichler-Messmer who takes dye testing to a whole new level. Check out more of Kim's work at her etsy store.

Spring Craft Sale & Party!!!!!!!

Friday | June 3 | 6:30-10:00pm
Saturday | June 4 | 2:00-6:00pm

Infrastructure: An Interview with Anne Wilson

May 31st, 2011

by Caroline Picard