White: A Work in Progress

     I have been wanting to sing up for an online workshop with Jude Hill for quite a while now. I have been a huge fan of hers for even longer. Well, I finally treated myself to "What If Diaries 1". This month we are exploring white.
     This piece was born from consideration of all the hands that lovingly stitched pieces that I now treasure. Many of the stitchers are with me only in spirit--Aunt Virgie, Mammaw Inscoe, Mama Williams. Some of the pieces have faded, developed spots, grown threadbare and worn. But they are still precious. And they will be precious to my children. And their children as well. And so, this piece, "A Work in Progress" is a tribute to them. To the legacy they have left me--a love of pieces stitched together by loving hands.
    

(Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. Still no internet at home, but it is coming soon. And, in case you wonder, the maple is still there; we just went with another provider thus the dish will be in a different location.)    : D
 

Indigo Dragon

a piece from the indigo vat

folded and tied

gives birth to

indigo dragon

talons flexed

wings spread

another piece yields

misty swirls

indigo smoke and steam

the edges are softened

ready for stitching

blues to blend

indigo dragon

and his snowy world

thinking about

who & what will coexist with him?

Year of the Dragon

year of the dragon

has me thinking about

section of mural I painted on hallway wall outside my classroom

detail of mural outside my classroom

mythical winged creatures

roaming the countryside

(or the hallways and filing cabinets)

have they all disappeared

 or did they leave progeny

wings and talons

breathing fire and smoke

villainous marauders

or benevolent protectors

this fellow has been living on my filing cabinet for several years

he was brought to life

in marker and gel pen

 on a napkin

when the napkin is opened

you can see ghost images

emerging in the remaining corners

I'm thinking it may be time

for a transformation

maybe from paper to fabric

perhaps as a ghost of himself

with only traces of his original color

 emerging from the fibers...

Here & Now

spontaneous

serendipitous

ephemeral

creativity

Art II

fun

with collage

The Woman Who Called Quail

The subject of this piece is my great aunt, Virgie Crisp (now deceased). It is based on one of the few photos I have of her. She was what we call here in the mountains "a real character". Growing up, I spent almost every weekend (and as many weekdays as I could manage) with her and my Uncle Bart. They had no children, and I had no grandparents nearby, so we became surrogate grandchild/grandparents. She was very old fashioned and extremely interesting to be around. A day with them was filled with ballads, pranks, tom-foolery, riddles, laughter, and just plain fun. She had a wonderful singing voice and could mimic all sorts of sounds. On one occassion, she, Uncle Bart, and I were sitting on her front porch when Uncle Bart heard a quail call on the mountain in front of the house. When he remarked that he would love to have some quail for supper, she began whistling quail calls. Uncle Bart went inside and came out with his gun and waited as the answering calls got closer and closer. After a bit, here came a quail sneaking out of the underbrush in the fence row in front of the house. Without any gross details, he had quail for supper. I thought it was really interesting at the time, but thinking back, I realize this must not have been the first time this had happened. I have TONS of "Virgie and Bart" stories, as do my children. My daughter and I have both begun writing them down because they are just too precious to lose.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

revisiting old work-carolina box turtle

Carolina Box Turtle 

 created as an assignment 

Ceramics I  class in college

made life size

using photos

and shells found in the woods around home

 glazes  mixed to match

 colors of the shell and body
he was displayed in a ceramic vise
drawing attention to
pressure from human encroachment into his environment
the ceramic vise was later broken accidentally
the pressure it symbolize unfortunately remains

one of my favorite creatures
slow, persistent, self protective
disappearing at an alarming rate
threatened by human encroachment
roads, logging, cars
not nearly as many as just a few years ago

Carolina Wren--coming to life

last night I spent some time with the wren

working in long and short staggered stitches

filling in color

brush strokes interpetted in thread

enjoying the meditation of quiet work

after a long day

with busy teens

on a full moon

I really need this right now

Stitching Again--One for Me

over the weekend I started a new piece of stitching

feather tree backdrop

for one of my favorite visitors

carolina wren

barred russet tail

cocked in the air

this time right side up

though he usually creeps other way around

chittering and churring

making a general fuss

- iPad photos, Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

School, in Natural Color

Again this year I am mentoring a student's Senior Exit Project. Jordan, the young lady I am working with, is studying Natural Dyes. The week before school started we met in the classroom with a friend and fellow crafter, Cassie Dixon, to begin working on the physical product component of her project. Using hot plates and camping stoves, we did several dye pots, including cochineal, brazilwood, logwood, marigold, walnut, broom sedge, turmeric, annetto, osage orange, and indigo. She treated wool yarn samples from our homespun with various mordants before dyeing to see the effects they produced on color. Vinegar and ammonia after baths were also investigated. Jordan also dyed cotton, linen and silk in one of the dye baths to see the difference in how the fibers take the dye.

At the end of the first two days she had a nice collection of dye samples to include in her product. Jordan was excited with the results she got, and Cassie and I had a fun day working with a student who was both enthusiastic and eager to learn. I think we learned as well.

This week, Jordan helped me teach indigo dyeing to her classmates in my Appalachian Arts & Crafts class. Working in the courtyard that adjoins the room so we didn't ruin the newly waxed floors, we worked most of two class periods. Some students brought in cotton t-shirts to dye and others used cotton muslin I had on hand in the classroom. They used traditional tie dyeing techniques to create resist areas in their fabric. 

"Cool" and "Awesome" reactions to the magic of indigo oxidizing from green to blue were such fun. Jordan did a good job explaining the process to the remainder of the class; peer teaching is wonderful! 

Everything dried overnight, and the kids were really proud of their results (one student was absent for the photo).

This week Jordan is continuing to experiment with dyestuffs. She currently has coreopsis and goldenrod pots ready for fibers. On Friday we also put in some more walnuts brought in from another students trees, and on Monday we will be making a bloodroot dyebath as well. These will be used to dye reed for baskets.

Needless to say this is my favorite class.

I get to teach and learn alongside my kids.

School just doesn't get much better than this.

Tidy Tiny Treasure

Preface: First, let me apologize for the quality of these photos. I am trying to master Photoshop Elements, and trust me, it is not the same as CS4. I think I am will be doing my photo editing at the desktop rather than on my laptop from now on, just so I can use CS4.

This tidy tiny little treasure was gifted to me

 by my daughter and son-in-law.

 Both Amber and David are talented craftspersons.

After I had admired a small wooden box he had made for Amber,

 they created one for me.

At a diminutive 4.5 x 2.5 x 1.25 inches it boasts

 a walnut base joined at mitered corners and an inlaid bottom with a sliding maple lid.

The entire box is finished to a fine handrubbed luster with David's own wax formula.

The lid opens to reveal a well appointed traveling sewing kit...

complete with tape measure,

 tiny stork embroidery scissors and

a handmade wool needle book crafted by Amber

 featuring vintage buttons from her collection...

 an assortment of the most commonly used needles...

and of course a handy dandy needle threader...

because everyone knows that after a certain age

 one simply cannot see eyes,

 in needles that is.

The entire thing fits neatly in a purse or totebag.

It surely came in handy during my graduate studies

when I was working on this and this.

David and Amber have an Etsy shop with a varying inventory of his hand crafted fiber tools.

 At the moment they have a nice selection of nostepinnes. He also takes custom orders.

 I have a nice collection of crochet hooks, drop spindles and a nostepinne.

You can look for a review of each of these on this site in the near future.

Check out my new site!

I have just gotten a new site up for the work I am doing as part of the Cumulative Project requirement in my MA Ed in Art Education at East Carolina University. This site will include the images, stories, lessons and process journal components of the project, which deals with local history retold through digital and mixed media art works. The url for the new site is http://perceptionsbwilliams.weebly.com/ Check it out and leave me a comment in the journal section!

Fathers' Day #1

As Fathers' Day (it is plural in my book!) approaches I would like to honor some of the Dad's who are/have been special in my own life and in those I love. As I write, my father-in-law, Pappaw Jack to my children and just Pappaw to my grandchildren, toils alongside the wonderful son,dad, big brother,father-in-law,pappa he brought into the world. Jack has always been special to me; from day one he welcomed me, making me one of his own. After my own dad died he became even more of a treasure as I realized treasure can be lost. He is one of the most caring and giving men I have ever known, forever expending his abundant love and energy to those around him. One of his greatest pleasures in life is to help others. When he comes home to the mountains he usually brings a mental list of chores he want to help Harold accomplish before he returns to his less rural daily routine. Having grown up on the farm, this pruning of trees, repairing of outbuildings, vaccination of animals, refurbishing of equipment...are just fun to him, taking him back to past times when he made his life from the land. Today, by the sweat of their brows and the strength of their backs, Jack and Harold are building pasture fence, extending the pasture to the other side of the creek, not because we need more pasture, but because the other side of the creek needs to be groomed by the goats.
The image above is a digital collage containing images of Jack, Mamma and Pappa Williams (his parents), Grandma May Roberts (Mamma's mother), Uncle Weaver and Aunt Ruth (brother and sister to Jack). The background image is a closeup photo of rusty peeling paint of the fender on an old farm trailer he made from a pickup truck bed.

Completed Ten o'Clock Scholar + Story

Ten o'Clock Scholar has been finished for a while, but I have been so limited in time I have not had a chance to post the final image--or the story behind it. The young boys in the image are Willie Williams, aka Papa, my husband's paternal grandfather and his brother Milt. The photo was taken when Papa was around seven or eight. Somewhere around this age he left school and never returned. The story goes that the one room school he attended was divided into younger and older classrooms by a curtain. One day during class Papa, who was seated near the curtain, was stuck with a hat pin by an older boy on the other side of the curtain. When Papa yelled out he was punished for disturbing class while the culprit with the pin "got off scot-free". Papa told his parents what had happened and that he didn't want to go back to school--and so he didn't. Despite his lack of "schooling" he was an extremely intelligent man and frequently outwitted his "more educated" peers! Notice that he has a bruise on his forehead; this was the result of getting hit in the head with a rock thrown by one of his siblings while the family was hoeing corn.

The substrate for this piece is a couple of pages from an old reader published in 1899, and would likely have been in use about the time of the hat pin incident. The handwritten nursery rhymes feature Papa's name and are somewhat relevant to his personality. The hat pin, now that you know the story, has obvious connections. This image includes photo transfers, painting, and drawing. Media include ephemera, acrylic paint, pencil, gel pen, and photo transfer.

New Virgie Image-New Transfer Technique

new image of Aunt Virgie...working at school today experimenting with color laser prints...i had forgotten my solvent at home...tried brush conditioner...no go...tried hairspray with no better success...hand sanitizer didn't work either...last ditch effort...krylon clear spray...gave nice watercolor effect to transfers...image is much more subtle and soft-edged than scanned image shows...more experimentation with this technique to come...size 5 x 7 inches on bristol board

Photoshop Planning/Pondering

new image in the planning, pondering stage...old pages...old images...old story...more to follow

Latta House

This is the latest image from my grad school class. The substrate is some muslin fabric that I rust dyed. I began the image by doing solvent transfers of the crow and a photo of some bare tree tops. This phase of the image stood in my dining room for a couple of weeks trying to decide what it wanted to become. I downloaded a 1920 census document from my Ancestry.com account (the family featured are my husband's great grandparents; his grandmother is 11 months old at this time) and flipped it horizontally so it would read correctly when transferred. After printing I went to the photocopier and fiddled with the sizing and then did a solvent transfer of the copy. I love the name of the township--Tally Ho.
The house image is from a photo of one of the tenant farms (also in Granville Co) that my mother-in-law, daughter of the Annie in the census record, lived on when she was a child. At the time the photo was taken the house had been vacant for many years. The old oak tree was cropped in the original photo, so I reconstructed a top for it in Photoshop. I also eliminated some of the extraneous farm stuff around the house to simplify the image. This image was printed on my inkjet and transferred using the water method. After the transfers were done I again "lived with" the image for a couple of days mulling over where it wanted to go. I began to think about the similarities between roots and branches, both in real trees and in family trees (also explored in the Roots Cellar piece), and decided to manipulate the image to emphasize that connection. Acrylic paints, Pitt Pens, and gel pens were used to draw/paint into the trees, entwining the roots of the oak with the branches of the trees at the bottom and side of the piece and with the text of the document. The house at the top seemed too dominant making the piece feel out of balance so I used some transparency sheets to play around with drawn text on the right side of the image to give it better balance. Once I decided on the size, I drew the lettering on a sheet of paper and used the lightbox to transfer it onto the fabric, adding color with my Pitt Pens. Below are details of the house and the bottom right corner of the image.




The finished piece is 11 x 14 in. I stretched the fabric over a canvas panel and taped it to the back so I could move it around and have a stable surface to work on.
The siennas of the rust are complemented nicely by the touches of blue. While the piece is pretty complex I don't think it is too busy. I really like the linear qualities added by the branches, roots, and document. I am pretty well satisfied with this piece.

Cousins finished

Well folks, I think this piece is finished. I have reached the point at which doing anything else would be too much, so I am calling it DONE. I will be mounting this onto a gallery wrap canvas a bit later so it will not need a frame.

A bit of info about the persons in this piece. The original photo was this:



The individuals are (L-R): Lee, Roy, and Fletch Jenkins; William Hobart Holder; and Fred Higdon. The Jenkins boys were cousins of my grandfather, and Lee looks remarkably like Grandpa when he was younger. Hobart and Fred were both married to Grandpa's cousins. When I was a child Hobart ran a little community gas and grocery in Stecoah. I used to go there with my Uncle Bart in the evenings or on Saturday. The cinder block building was always cool and inviting as we moved from the hot dusty parking lot to the cool gray concrete floor of the inside. The walls were lined with homemade shelves stocked with every thing from motor oil to fresh hot dog buns. Wire racks near the door enticed Uncle Bart with Moon Pies, Sno Balls, and Honey Buns and a smaller one against the wall on the counter held Snickers, Three Muskateers, coconut bars and Pay Days at eye level so he could not miss them. You see, trips to Hobart's store were not for gas or groceries, but to appease Uncle Bart's famous sweet tooth; those two racks were his primary target as he ambled through the door with a "Howdy boys" to the locals perched on straight back chairs around the room. Uncle Bart would always treat me to an ice cream or a soft drink. The drinks swam in icy water in a huge box-like cooler; I can still feel the edge of the cooler pressing into my stomach and rib cage as I hung over the side fishing for a bottle of Coke or Nehi Orange soda. Once my selection was made the bottle cap was removed by placing it under the bottle opener attached to the side of the cooler and giving it a quick downward snap; the cap would fall into the metal box underneath, clinking to rest among the caps left by other thirsty patrons. When I turned the bottle up and took a long drink, it was so cold it almost made my teeth hurt. The Coke,stronger than it is now, would make my nose and eyes tingle as I took my first sip. Soft drinks just aren't as refreshing now as they were then--or maybe it has something to do with rarity? I don't know, but I know that my Coke in a can just doesn't have the same effect as that tiny little bottle did after being fished from the icy depths of the cooler in Holder's Shell and Grocery.

Cousins

The Blizzard Warning gave us about 5 inches of snow night before last. Today the roads are pretty much clear so all can be out and about--for a bit anyway, as we are again under a Winter Storm Warning for the next 24 hours or so with an expectation of another 3-5 inches on the average with higher amounts at higher elevations and near the Tennessee border (I suppose that means me!).

But on the more encouraging things...After taking what seemed like forever to become comfortable with a background fabric and arrangement of the component images, I think I have finally brought the Cousins piece to a conclusion, other than mounting it on some sort of substrate for display. Here is what it looks like now:

I did some color washes with dilute acrylics to tone down the white areas and reduce the contrast along the edges of the smaller images. More gold paint was added around the main figure and additional green color was washed into his shirt to add emphasis to him. The pine needles and cone on the left side were further developed using a Pitt Pen, which was also employed to push the values on the small pine cones as well. I think the images is much more unified as a result of the added color washes and the banjo picker is now more clearly the center of interest in the piece.


The addition of music and lyrics from the traditional folk ballad In the Pines provided a unifying element for the composition and set the "mood" for the piece. This is a lonesome mournful song that wails and moans like the wind through the tall hemlock trees that stood head and shoulders above all the other trees in our forests until they were destroyed by a tiny little foreign invader, the wooly adelgid;now they are simply silver ghosts of their former regal presence, waiting for the winds to strike the final blow that will bring them to the ground. Like the hemlocks I have loved for so long, the singer's love has gone and he is left to "shiver when the cold winds blow" without a true love to protect his heart from the darkness of loneliness "in the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines".


I am currently mulling over how to display this piece. Current thoughts are to display it: between layers of glass with minimal framing; mounted onto a stretched linen canvas, or a regular stretched canvas with some sort of color/texture painted onto it; or it might work well mounted above a piece of wood so that the fabric image was raised from the surface (this would not provide any protection for the piece, so it seems less desirable).

Progress on Cousins

The Cousins piece is coming along. I have finally attached all the pieces permanently to a piece of nubby silk using fusible webbing. I cut the banjo picker from the group shot in Photoshop and fiddled with the color to make him a nice warm brown, then printed him out on muslin and cut him out. Since I forgot to put fusible webbing behind him before cutting him out, rather than mess up my iron, I attached him with some spray adhesive. I began to use some crayon and dilute acrylic paints to add color over parts of some of the images to tie them together. Stitching was added next with feather stitches used to add some pine boughs over the right top corner of the group shot and running stitches and french knots anchoring the edges of some of the pieces. I located some sheet music for the old folk ballad In the Pines recorded by Bill Monroe (and Nirvana, among others) and mirrored it before printing. I took the music to the photocopy machine and moved it back and forth while copying it to make it wavy, then using Goof Off spray transferred it to the top of the piece across the small images. Pine cone drawings were also copied and transferred using this method. I continued to work into the piece with a sepia Pitt Pen, adding shading to the pine cones, pine needles around the larger cone, and lyrics running throughout the piece. I am thinking this one still needs some work; some parts have too much contrast while others need a bit more. We'll see what else it begs me to do.

Five days later...the snow is still laying about three inches deep in our lower pasture. The weather service is predicting rain/freezing rain for us this evening and tomorrow...but...the "old folks" say that if snow hangs around three days it's waiting for more... Also, smoke from everyone's chimneys is coming to the ground...and...it clouded up over a HUGE frost this morning. We'll just have to see about this weather prediction.



Roots Cellar--version 2: This is a second version of this piece with some of the changes suggested by Amber. I went out yesterday afternoon and shot some photos of roots hanging over the edge of the red clay road bank and payed around with the image again in Photoshop last night. I think it is getting there.



I also scanned the Alice piece, although the colors may be off a bit.



Eat Crow: This is the first experiment I did this semester with the water method for transfering inkjet prints to fabric. The garden are of the image is done with this technique. I use Goof-Of to transfer photocopies of a crow feather and some of my crow and tree drawings for the other parts of the image. Crayon and Pitt Pens add color and text to tie the image together. The text relates to myths and sayings about crows. This piece is small--about 5" x 7" on unbleached muslin.

An in-progess piece: I am calling this one Cousins; it is based on a vintage photo of my Grandpa Jenkins' cousins. I think the photo must have been taken at a wedding or something, as they all have flowers in their shirts/overalls : ) The images are water transfers on muslin. I am going to stitch/glue the parts down when I finally decide where this one is headed. Below is a detail:

I want to add some drawing/painting to the image to break the grid up and unit the parts more. The green background was not working very well for me in this direction, so here it is with a different ground.

I want to also add a larger image, maybe of one of the individuals. I am thinking about the banjo player. To check this out I did a gel transfer yesterday so I could put it on the piece and work with placement. There is a bit of glare from the "plastic" of the transfer in the photo below, but you can get an idea of what I am thinking anyway.