For two years, the wonderful Arlee Barr wrote a monthly post on the site, exploring art techniques, theory and practice. In three of her posts she interviewed textile artists and explored their work:

• Jude Hill
• Grace Willard
• Samantha Fahy

These are all fascinating interviews with artists that you might not normally come across. Definitely worth a read!

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For two years, the wonderful Arlee Barr wrote a monthly post on the site, exploring art techniques, theory and practice. They were fascinating articles and we’d like to share a list of some of her earlier posts for you to peruse:

For two years, the wonderful Arlee Barr wrote a monthly post on the site, exploring art techniques, theory and practice. They were fascinating articles and we’d like to share a list of some of her earlier posts for you to peruse:

• Arteries – Embroideries of the World: Kantha - Arlee explores ethnic embroidery.
• ARTeries: The Influences of Age - Using decomposition and aging effects in your work.
• ARTeries: Metal and Lace Music - Working with metal and lace.
• ARTeries: Personal Symbolism: Ceci n’est pas une pipe – Symbols and icons in stitch
• ARTEries: The Plastic Arts – Soft Sculpture
• ARTeries: Surface Tension – Exploring surface tension and its implications

Paper and stitch can be an artform in itself, or an excellent way to do studies and experiments for cloth work, or incorporated with fabric and other media. Recycle household ephemera (junk mail, tags, wrappings, bags etc), print your own artwork, use the kids scribbles, buy fancy art papers, or make your own paper.  If you’re a purist and want to start your own from scratch, it’s a lot of effort, but worth it.  (You’ll need an industrial strength blender, but check local colleges and printmakers.)

Is it that paper is more forgiving, that you can rip out the mistakes, or redo that area easily? Is it less intimidating than cutting into fabric? There’s still a vestige of the mentality that fabric should only be cut if you are certain what it’s for. Paper is a textile though! No matter how many times paper has been recycled, it’s still cellulose fibers.

Serenity Nichols Ibsen, simple but so evocative.

Lizzie Golden’s amazing scanned and stitched vest

“SojournQuilts” proves small can be effective with this stitched ACEO.

Paper and stitch can have volume as well, with sculptural and dimensional aspects, by “Casa de Dogpoop” (!!!!?)

Esther Cohen’s expressive abstracts, simple shapes and stitching.

Working with paper means a slightly different set of skills, whether by machine or hand. You can’t do french knots because they pop right through, the thread will cut the paper if you yard on it–a slow easy tension is best—and you better make sure that where you poke your needle is where you really want it, unless holes are part of the design :} When you are beading especially, the tension is critical; any knots or snarls or twisted threads can be quite frustrating when a hole happens! The thread also doesn’t “sink” or “hide” as when done on fabric, so be sure you either match your thread to the base or bead, or use the detail of visible threads as a detail. If you are using  “fabric paper”, the same applies, though not as rigorously, as the foundation is quite supportive, and stronger with the incorporation of  textiley bits. You also can’t scrunch the base to manipulate a needle around or it will crease, tear and just generally be a pain in the Bazotski.

There are of course synthetic “papers” now, just as much fun to work with, and opening up possibilities of heat distortion, more malleability, colour take up and strength. These are spun non woven reconstitutions of plastics. Look for Lutrador, Angelina (not strictly a paper, but a synthetic fiber with amazing applications) , Evolon and any of the fuseables or interfacings.

There are plenty of tutes online for working with paper. Check out Victoria Gertenbach’s tea bag pojagi, or Carol Wiebe how-to’s of making of her astonishing paper quilts. The inimitable Maggie Grey has loads of workshops and books available.

Paper artists: Benjamin Wieler  
Patti Pizzuto-Roberts
And a fascinating article from the now defunct FiberArts

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This is the last ARTeries column! Thanks To the Boss Jamie and The Bossette Bridget and all the readers!

So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, good night,
I hate to go and leave this pretty sight.
So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, adieu,
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.

So long, farewell, Au’voir, auf wiedersehen,
I’d like to stay and taste my first champagne
So long, farewell, Auf wiedersehen, goodbye,
I leave and heave a sigh and say goodbye,
Good bye

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Arlee Barr is a Canadian artist, working primarily with textiles.  She describes herself as “curious, eccentric and just a little opinionated“.  Surrealist in thought, Fauvist at heart, Arlee likes the eclectic, explorative and absurd.  Sprinkled around the interwebs,  she can be found hanging around her fantastic blog and shop.

Science and math might seem unlikely subjects for the contemporary textile artist, but through history, artists in all media have played with perspective (Salvador Dali), geometry (M.C. Escher), and  detailed recordings of natural phenomena (Ernst Haeckel). Think of tesselated designs, trompe l’oeil and Islamic art that showcases mathematical and symbolic precision.

There are fractals everywhere now in our common society. Whether digitally produced or seen in nature, many artists are captivated by the visuals:

and the spirit of the fractal in unexpected places:

Jhane Barnes uses fractals or “computer algorithms” as she calls them in her weaving and textile designs, being one of the first textile artists to explore the possibilities. (See the DVD or catch on PBS “Hunting the Hidden Dimension” for a history and explanation of fractals and their place in modern mathematics and science.)

Rose Rushbrooke has focused for years on the beauty of fractals in her quilted masterpieces. Small but detailed, they present a fascinating hands on interpretation of a new art form.

Recently Rose has also started designing anamorphosis quilts: the one below is a catatropic anamorphic design, with a mirror showing the quilt as it normally would have been made.

To read more about this style, Rose has an interesting article also about the history and other artists uses–you may find yourself with a crick in your neck!

Some artists find parts of the body entrancing, whether on the microscopic level :

Neurons by "Voracious Brain"

or the obvious:

detail of "Raggedy Black Heart"/arlee barr

Current projects focused on creating textile art using math or science as inspiration are as diverse as Madeleine Shepherd and Julia Collins’ The Mathematician’s Shirts, the Open Source projects for the Digital Commons , with the Fractals project directed by our very own Jamie, The MrXStitch boss man himself, and the world famous Hyperbolic Crochet Reef.

The periodic elements table has been fodder for  Alyse Anderson:

With hand and machine embroidery, the Flickr group “Embroidery and Science” has many stunning examples.

For the truly math and science oriented machine embroiderer  math_craft_projects and  science_craft_projects or  fractal embroidery.

Dust off the high school and college textbooks, and scope out biology, botany, physics and calculus, algebra and elements for inspiration in your art! Geeks untite!

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Arlee Barr is a Canadian artist, working primarily with textiles.  She describes herself as “curious, eccentric and just a little opinionated“.  Surrealist in thought, Fauvist at heart, Arlee likes the eclectic, explorative and absurd.  Sprinkled around the interwebs,  she can be found hanging around her fantastic blog and shop.

Momma used to buy new clothespins every 2 months. The humidity of an Ontario summer rusted them out pretty fast and gawdz forbid there should be any clothes-pin rust marks on Daddy’s shirts, ghandis or hankies! Anything on that clothesline that dared stain was subjected to a vigorous scrubbing, usually provided by *this* daughter, with lemon juice, baking soda and a stiff brush, and copious amounts of under the breath cursing, then whipped back out on the line in the sun for it to do *its* bleaching part.

Too bad we didn’t know then, and Daddy didn’t appreciate, the artistry that can be created with a few choice pieces of rusted machinery! Adding deliberate rust encrusting to compost dyeing, natural dyeing and ecoprinting can create wonderfully “Complex Cloth”. Artists of all ilk have added this technique to their repertoire, producing intricate and unique designs on fabric, plastics, wood and sometimes incorporating the actual rusted object into the finished artwork.

Rusted fabric/Jamie Kalvestran

Jamie Kalvestran

Rust can add intricately detailed or bold areas to cotton, synthetics and, with care, silk, of all kinds. A certain amount of control is possible, but in the end, the chemical reaction has its way and every piece will be distinctive. It colours the cloth, elaborates on weave and stitch, and leaves its own mark within mark. It can accent synthetic and synthetically dyed materials as well, though tests are always a good thing. A good ruster can even have his or her own style, a recognizable element that can’t be copied, due to the response of every artist’s environment to natural forces.

Pat Vivod experiments with combining rusting and ecoprinting, with stunning results in large scale pieces:

"Pearls of Wisdom"/Patricia Vivod

This piece above is actually 100 x45 inches! Dimunitive careful work can also be seen on her website/blog, “Sentimental Pentimento”.

"Where Is There Another Place"/Patricia Vivod

Kimberly Baxter Packwood is the natural dye science expert i turn to when i have a question about anything i need to know about dyeing in practically any form!

Kimberly also is the Boss at the Natural Surfaces Ning, a community oriented for natural dyers of all sorts.

Lois Jarvis of Rust-Tex fame can see the image in her rust work:

"Turtle Dreams" Lois Jarvis

And adds accenting metal itself:

detail "Coins #2" Lois Jarvis

Rio Wrenn has been rusting  fabric since 2001 and creates the most amazing wearable art.

And shobori rusted artwork:

"Order" Rio Wrenn

Penny Berens is one of my personal favourites. A sensitive hand with the needle, her hand stitched extravaganzas often include rusted fabrics.

detail "Rusty Gate" Penny Berens

detail "Sandbank" Penny Berens

My own work has featured rust also on occasion:

detail "Instinct" arlee barr

detail "Like Clockwork" arlee barr

As simple as wrapping an object, spritzing with water and loosely covering with plastic, preferably in the sun to hasten the heat and humidity, or as complex as layouts, “special” vinegar and water recipes and intricate foldings, rusting can create focal areas or enhance other surface design techniques. It can have clear images, muddy detail, distinct composition or a wabi-sabi aesthetic.

By chance, i found this insightful page about rust, methods, concept and development by Canadian artist Wendy Feldberg. There’s a wealth of images, techniques,  and how’to”s available online about rust and fabrics. Start your search with the above sites, particularly Kimberly and Lois, as they have books and CD’s available.

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Arlee Barr is a Canadian artist, working primarily with textiles. She describes herself as “curious, eccentric and just a little opinionated“.  Surrealist in thought, Fauvist at heart, Arlee likes the eclectic, explorative and absurd. Sprinkled around the interwebs, she can be found hanging around her fantastic blog and shop.

Fibristos and Fibristas, is your work feeling uncomfortably horizontal, rolled over and as limp as a soggy tea bag? None of us could imagine a  two dimensional world, where flat people slithered around like paper dolls on the pages of a book. None of us could survive without touch, a measured tension that is unique to each person. With our fingers and our eyes we seek relief, intaglio and texture to give us clues to the shape, size and use of a thing. Technically, surface tension is the property of a liquid to be attracted to another liquid without being absorbed into one entity; artistically, it is dimension, contrast, light and shadow.

Surface tension in textile art can be as simple as using contrasting colour or shape, adding a lump in the form of a found object or as complex as origami and stumpwork. The fabric itself can create the surface tension: it’s not just about embellishment. Changing the form of a textile can give more surface to work on, more chiaroscuro, more room to move the cloth into other dimensions, conceptual forms, and directions.

Above, Candace Kling is famous for her pleated and folded avante garde head gear, but has also written a book about the softer side of this sport,  “The Artful Ribbon”.

For instant gratification with scrumptious eyecandy, check out work by Thailand’s Srinakharinwirot University fashion grads!

Add it to your clothes, your soft furnishings, your art, your accessories.

Above, Giorgia Fonyodi, spectacular applications on art to wear.

Adjust the tension you normally use and magically fabric can draw up. If it’s a loose weave, you can create holes and ridges. Layer the resulting holed pieces. By hand or machine, pulling tighter will increase dimension, hoop or not. Try elastic thread, couching heavier threads on with a zigzag then pulling, ruching the cloth or folding and twisting then stitching to hold. Build your own shapes using darts and pinches. Hang it off a frame of any sort! Take advantage of mistakes by setting no definite end result, just play with a needle and thread and let the cloth dictate what it will: soft silk, crisp taffeta, velvet, felt, synthetics and utilitarian fabrics like burlap or even plastic are all malleable with the right touch. Then embellish the —-  out of it with more stitchery, applique, crochet, whatever turns your crank, simple or complex, abstract, pictorial or conceptual.

Above, tension combined with thread and needle size can affect appearance and texture as well. Build another hole in the holes!

Above, Michele Griffiths: shibori and manipulated fabrics. Objects can be left under layers and bound, stuffed or poked through.

Above: Calamity Kim’s gorgeous fabric roses. What if they were beaded and embroidered too? Or stiffened? Stuffed? And below, the more structured version, also on the same site.

Below, Issey Miyake, famous for making clothes that are truly art and architecturally tensioned.

Below, as simple as a skirt with an embellished bottom band! From one of the talented sewists at BurdaStyle.

Janet Edmonds has used surface tension in her art for years, encompassing boxes to bodices, vessels and hangings.
Look what her students learn!!!!!

Tine de Ruysser proves it doesn’t have to be all “natural” fabrics. In fact, polyesters and other synthetics can hold pleats and folds better with
heat setting (IF you don’t melt them, but that’s an interesting technique also….).

Several excellent books about manipulating fabric are available: a classic in the field is Colette Wolff’s “The Art of Manipulating Fabric”, any “Pattern Magic” book by Tomoko Nakamichi, Kumiko Sudo’s “Fabled Flowers”, “Three Dimensional Embroidery” by Janet Edmonds and a brand new book (for the really dedicated and dextrous) “ShadowFolds” by Jeffrey Rutzky and Chris Palmer. Have a look at Julian Roberts’ “Subtraction Cutting” fashions as well. For true design concept, try Principles of Three-Dimensional Design: Objects, Space and Meaning.

Make paper airplanes! There are websites for Kanzashi, Origami (click on the SIDE links, not any underlined words on this site), Furoshiki, cathedral windows, smocking, pleating, stumpwork and other forms of raised stitch.  Shibori and Arashi can contribute to dimension if the fabric is not pressed out flat. Check through the archives on this site! Make more paper airplanes!

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Arlee Barr is a Canadian artist, working primarily with textiles. She describes herself as “curious, eccentric and just a little opinionated“.  Surrealist in thought, Fauvist at heart, Arlee likes the eclectic, explorative and absurd. Sprinkled around the interwebs, she can be found hanging around her fantastic blog and shop.

Fibrostos and Fibristas, text and textiles are more part of our art than we realize. We weave a tale, spin a yarn, lose the thread, hope our bones knit when broken, embroider the truth, tie up loose ends, get stitches for wounds, or in our sides from laughing and hope with every fibre of our being.  And every time we talk or write about what we do, we are involving text, implicit or explicit.

Text: late Middle English from Old Northern French texte from Latin textus ‘tissue, literary style’ (in medieval Latin, ‘Gospel’), from text- ‘woven’, from the verb texere (Oxford Dictionary)
Text, texture and textile all come from the verb texere which means ‘to weave’.

Lisa Porch explores ways in which contemporary stitch can be used to enhance surface decoration .

Lisa Porch: "Repetition of image and text, particularly in the form of scriptural promises reflects the pattern and process of grieving and the transition from suffering and despair to hope."

Narrative can be poetry, prose or pictorial.   We illustrate some of our personal experiences in paper and fabric collage (most often) including words, or embroider to emphasize popular sayings, commemorate historical or familial events and personal views. Text and textiles have a long history in combination with propaganda, chronicle and lineage.

Susan Lenz often incorporates text into her art, from the Decision Portraits and the Grave Rubbings series to new works such as the “I Do/I Don’t” installation:

Susan Lenz: "Memory" miniature grave rubbing artquilt

Susan Lenz/ wedding veils in process

Jessica Rankin combines the word with sheer materials:  “The text assumes an abstract quality, executed in capital letters that call to mind the embroidered works of Alighiero Boetti. Taking the form of random thought patterns, these strings of words slip into phrases that avoid narrative structure from one to the other” (quote from White Cube)

Jessica Rankin: "Nocturne"

Jessica uses text as imagery, rather than as  pure text: movement and focus are emphasized.

Jessica Rankin

Rosalind Wyatt uses text extensively in her work, with much passion and clarity:

Rosalind Wyatt: "Tuke"

For the fascinating story and concept behind “Tuke” on her website.

Rosalind Wyatt: "Tuke" detail"

Using text in your textile art doesn’t mean it always has to be legible or even a recognized language. Your lexicon could include personal symbols, invented writing or altered fonts. It doesn’t have to be directly related to the subject, can be sub text or clarification depending on the concept and intent.

"ghost writing" style

Use your own poetry and stories:

legible original poetry

You might find you are able to articulate ideas and then translate into cloth and thread as well. Pick a favourite poem, though i recommend you try originality because of copyright issues. Try mirror imaging text, distortion, different stitches to emphasize each letter, word or mood they convey to you.

"Tongue and Soul are One"

You can free hand it, write it first on the fabric: tip make the writing slightly larger than normal, at least in spacing, or letters may become too squished to be legible–which can work too! Use preprogrammed or free motion on the machine, applique it, discharge it–no technique can’t be used for text *and* imagery. Put it on paper, plastic, fabric and metal. Cut it up, destroy it, add it. No one will ever be able to duplicate it!

(Last 3 images are details of my own work.)

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Arlee Barr is a Canadian artist, working primarily with textiles. She describes herself as “curious, eccentric and just a little opinionated“.  Surrealist in thought, Fauvist at heart, Arlee likes the eclectic, explorative and absurd. Sprinkled around the interwebs, she can be found hanging around her fantastic blog.

Plastic?  Fibristos and Fibristas, this is not about bags or pop bottles! Soft sculpture is one of the “plastic” arts–forms that are persistent rather than permanent, the arts of shaping, modeling, manipulation and creating volume in materials other than stone, glass, metal or wood. Often metaphorical, or with metaphysical meaning, these larger than life creations can point up the absurdity of a subject, or transcend its daily meaning and function. These malleable materials reference the ’70′s when the revival of interest in craft traditions became both more experimental  and more mainstream as Art mediums.

From Claes Oldenberg’s giant vinyl foods and Meret Oppenheim’s fur covered tea cup and saucer with hairy spoon, to Camilla Taylor’s oddly disturbing but appealing life forms and Danny Mansmith’s revisitation of the ordinary object, soft sculpture is more than felt plushies, nylon needle sculpted doll faces and oddly shaped cushions.

We often forget the other meanings of “plastic”: in the hands of the skilled and visionary, materials as diverse as paper, textiles, hair and plant material and the most ubiquitous of all, actual plastic,  are able to be manipulated, influenced and shaped. The intrinsic qualities of the medium can be exploited or it can be made to do or appear as if it were another material.

Claes Oldenburg

Claes Oldenburg

Meret Oppenheim

Meret Oppenheim

Elizabeth Ingraham/from the "Skins" series

Elizabeth Ingraham

Karen Elizabeth Reese/"Garibaldi"

No info available–sorry!

Barbara Schulman/"Lace Maker's Daughter"

Barbara Schulman

Hans Belmer/"½ Poupee"

Hans Belmer

Rachel Bernstein

Rachel Bernstein

Dorothee Van Biesen/Microscopic Inspirations

Dorothee Van Biesen/Brode&Roll

Camilla Taylor

Camilla Taylor

Danny Mansmith

Danny Mansmith

And for fun, try out this (downloadable PDF) with either the Picasso inspiration, or your own favourite artist, or your own art!

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Arlee Barr is a Canadian artist, working primarily with textiles. She describes herself as “curious, eccentric and just a little opinionated“.  Surrealist in thought, Fauvist at heart, Arlee likes the eclectic, explorative and absurd. Sprinkled around the interwebs, she can be found hanging around her fantastic blog.

]]> http://www.mrxstitch.com/2011/03/25/arteries-the-plastic-arts/feed/ 2 http://www.mrxstitch.com/2011/02/25/arteries-art-in-your-genes-er-jeans/ http://www.mrxstitch.com/2011/02/25/arteries-art-in-your-genes-er-jeans/#comments Fri, 25 Feb 2011 22:31:55 +0000 Arlee http://www.mrxstitch.com/?p=19576

Fibristas and Fibristos, who doesn’t love denim? In all its permutations and connotations, it’s a constant in our lives now, no longer just for the working slob, but the haute couture designer, the artiste and the Artist. On one hand, it’s utility, conformity and cost effectiveness, on the other, it’s history, comfort and individuality. As jeans, no matter the placement of a pocket, a waistline, a leg flare or not, everyone has them. We deliberately rip, stain and fray, cut and scribble on them, use them to rub out the ashes of our illicit smokes, and can place timelines in movies by the cut. (Guys in the 70’s may look silly with all that hair and the pointy collar shirts, but OH those jeans….)

Denim is a rugged cotton twill textile…in American usage since the late 18th century.The word comes from the name of a sturdy fabric called serge, originally made in Nîmes, France, by the André family. Originally called serge de Nîmes, the name was soon shortened to denim. Denim was traditionally colored blue with indigo dye to make blue “jeans”, though “jean” then denoted a different, lighter cotton textile; the contemporary use of jean comes from the French word for Genoa, Italy (Gênes), where the first denim trousers were made.

Ol’ Serge is a popular companion in many studios. Thrift stores abound in racks of jeans, dresses, jackets and shirts that are fodder for many imaginations and treatments. The fabric is supple, homey yet modern, easy to manipulate, takes stitch treatments like nobody’s business and is perfectly acceptable as re-purposed clothing or cut, torn and transformed into new clothing or accessories, and innovative art.

A car? Why not? From Jason and Jill.

For the home, Sylvia Windhurst’s fly pillow:

Buzz over to my couch!!!

Checkout Sylvia’s Etsy too for some more amazing denim awesomeness.

Denim Devil by Page of Bats:

Sexy!

Rolled art wall piece by Ludingirra:

Yarn from Velma’s World–sorry, no downloading or hotlinking with her work.

Skirt from GEOLOGY urban fossil:

Incredible evening gown by Renaissance Brighton:

And traditional Japanese clothing remade in denim by Rina Karibe:

Sorry, no online info about Ms Karibe.

Denim can be dyed, discharged, stitched on by hand or machine, be clean and fresh looking, grungy and old, sexy or demure, shibori’ed or painted.

Dress from Angels Never Die:

Shibori from the elements by Michelle Griffiths, an ongoing project in co-operation with nature:

For fun:

As sculptural art:

(Sorry, i lost my note about the source of this photoabove—if you know please tell!)

Above: WOWZERS, that’s a LOT of old jeans re-purposed!

And a tutorial to make a sweet tree:

Art is in your Jeans, Genes, Genes/Jeans both applicable, Jean Jeanie!

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Arlee Barr is a Canadian artist, working primarily with textiles. She describes herself as “curious, eccentric and just a little opinionated“.  Surrealist in thought, Fauvist at heart, Arlee likes the eclectic, explorative and absurd. Sprinkled around the interwebs, she can be found hanging around her fantastic blog.