It's all in the details

Hello!

I want to share some of the detail work from my Time Passages piece.  I really enjoyed working on this, especially making the small fabric-backed key chains.  For each one, I used repurposed bits of fabric, including denim, gauze, calico cotton, and woolen sweaters.  I typed the labels on my old Smith-Corona manual typewriter, and then hand-embroidered each label to the fabric backing.

Each key was individually attached to chicken wire with a small clip.  I didn't count the keys but there had to be well over 200 of them.

Here are some close-ups:

Thanks for peeking!  Stop back soon.

Marsha

Capturing Time

Hello!

Once again this year, I participated in the Leonardo Challenge at Eli Whitney Museum in Hamden, CT.  Each year, artists are invited to create artwork around a certain theme, with proceeds of sold work going directly to the museum's programs.

This year's theme was Capturing Time.  The challenge was to capture the markers of time that give it meaning.  Time is the most commonly used noun in the English language and yet it is elusive.  Clocks and calendars tell time, but rarely its meaning.  Consider the cast off watches too precious to abandon that inhabit the depths of drawers and still remember the last minute and hour of their service.  Consider the lines on a door frame that your grandmother marked atop your head each year to remember your growing.  Consider the daughters of time:  Anticipation and Flight that stretch and compress experience.  Consider colors that change in the first light of dawn or the last ray of dusk.

For my project, I repurposed hundreds of metal keys that I gathered over time.  Many of the keys came from a local retirement community.  Others were given to me by neighbors and friends.   To me, each key represented space, time, ownership, freedom, authority, hopes, and dreams.  Collectively, the keys symbolized beginnings, endings, and the passage of time.

In addition to arranging the keys on the frame, I created several hand-sewn and embroidered key chains, each designating a certain place, location, or desire. 

I really enjoyed participating this year.  And the best part is that my piece sold!  I'm very proud of that...and of the fact that all of the proceeds from the sale go to further the museum's programs.

Please stop back again to visit my blog!  I will be posting some detail shots of this work, including close-ups of the key chains that were so much fun to make.

See you soon,

Marsha

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Hello Again, Readers!

It seems as if I've been tracking a certain theme these past few weeks, that of plastic pollution and its impact on our environment.  Did you know that each year, Americans use 380 billion plastic shopping bags?  It's estimated that only 5% of these are recycled.  That means they end up in oceans where turtles, albatross and other sea creatures mistake them for jellyfish. 

Last month, I worked on a piece that was picked up for publishing by the Arts Council of Greater New Haven in the April issue of their monthly publication The Arts Paper.

You can see it here on page 16:  https://issuu.com/artscouncil9/docs/the_arts_paper__april_2018_.

And also here!

This was a fairly lengthy project, which involved weaving strips of plastic bag yarn through 1/2 inch holes in a 17 by 23 inch piece of spray-painted metal mesh.  Sounds like fun, right?!

Here's what the process looked like:

I followed a needlepoint pattern for each of the letters, weaving in and out of the mesh to form them.  It took forever, but I was pleased with the result.

Happy Reducing/Reusing/Recycling!

Marsha