chopped

I have wrestled with a piece for over 8 months and this past weekend I decided that enough was enough. The piece was titled an apt name: Uncomfortable in her own skin. No matter what I did to this black and white landscape of the psyche the message was not coming across. I stitched and tore out stitches. Redrew and reassembled her, stitched and tore out more stitches. Added hand stitching... Tore out hand stitching. The fabric has so many stitching holes in it I thought maybe that was the message so I started to distress it further. She just didn't want to be born. So this weekend I used my handy dandy blade and chopped her into pieces. What a relief. This frees me to pursue other visions. And maybe in the future when I can forget the torturous journey this one took me on, I will try again. I once had an art instructor who said that within each unsuccessful painting there are numerous smaller pieces waiting to be born. So here they are. I think the head was the most successful. Don't you?

Uncomfortable in her own skin, deconstructed. 2012, Paula KovarikUncomfortable in her own skin, head. 2012, Paula Kovarik

my garden companions

These two newbies spend their time on our garden fence all day. Mom and Dad usually show up around dusk. I think they are doves. Very friendly, I can get within two feet of them. One is a bit more wary than the other as you can see in the pic.

@2012, Paula Kovarik

from centered to chaos

Here's a warm up exercise I did over the weekend on one of Leigh Ann's tangerine napkins. It is based on the previous post's doodle that was done at the SAQA conference. Starting in the center it was an interesting way to create a new texture. And fun to do too. one line moving toward chaos.

from center to chaos, Paula Kovarik, ©2012

On conferences

conference doodle, 2012, Paula Kovarik

Just returned from the SAQA conference in Philadelphia and came away with conflicting feelings.

First, I loved talking with everyone, seeing the artwork and traveling to Philadelphia. But, why oh why did they choose to isolate us out in the burbs with all that Fiber Art in the city? If you can get over 200 women with money to a show in the burbs of Philadelphia (or the backwaters of Ohio for that matter) think of what you could do by offering a fuller palette?

ArtQuilt Elements felt crowded to me, maybe because it was opening night. The work was hung very closely together, so there wasn't too much time to breathe between works. Many pieces were inspirational and some were not... The Wayne Art Center is a beautiful gallery hidden in the middle of a fine subdivision in Wayne PA (what is it about galleries that show Art Quilts being in off the beaten track locations?) The discussion by the Jurors was enlightening and the work lived up to their praise in general.

FiberArt Philadelphia was an impressive gathering of some of the finest fiber art in the country. I think there was something for everyone at these shows. The beautiful, the mysterious, the angry and the downright twisted...a full palette of extraordinary works. I tend to be transfixed by the dark and poignant pieces. It's odd to me, my own work tries to go there but gets tripped up by whimsy. Maybe I am moving toward a new genre: dark whimsy.

Standouts for me were:
At the Inside/Outside the Box show: Magali Rizzo, Rachel Udell and April Dauscha
At the Snyderman-Works Galleries: I am awestruck by anything by Dorothy Caldwell, also rans were Carol Eckert, and Warren Seelig. The night before the show I drew the sketch above. An odd doppleganger of Mr. Seelig's work. Not sure why it came out of my head BEFORE seeing his pieces.
At the Wexler Gallery: Flore Gardner, Erin Endicott and Orly Cogan nibbled at the edges of my subconscious.

I'm sorry I didn't get to see the Sense of Place exhibit. And I enjoyed the panel on Sunday with Lorraine Glessner, Dominie Nash and Emily Richardson. Need to look into Emily's work more.

I can't find the card for that woman on the third floor of the church near the Crane building who was creating a transparent prison of diaphanous fabric. Loved the space and came away feeling like she may howl in there at night.  I would like to follow her work in the future. Did you get her card? or name? She was Australian.

So here is what I came back with:

  • I will not find the answer for my own artwork by looking at others.
  • I wish that there was more diversity in our crowd.
  • I could become friends with any of the serious fiber artists in that crowd.
  • The sense of commonality is enriching. It can also be stifling.
  • There are some serious artists out there who grab meaning from their work, not from their popularity with the public. I want to be one of them.
  • I'm tired of the whining about not being accepted in the art world.
  • I will seriously pursue my work and a solo show.