@EmbroideryPoems #BrooklynTweets

Dear blog readers,

I learned a few weeks ago that I have a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council, courtesy of the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, to collect and embroider Twitter "poetry." Yay! I am so excited!

I envision a web of interconnected tweeting between myself and poets, both self-defined and accidental, throughout Brooklyn and really everywhere. Sometime this spring or summer, I plan to have a live poetry reading with a responsive embroidery circle. The embroiderers will try to record the poets' words, but since they won't be able to stitch quickly enough, they will end up embroidering what they remember, resulting in new "found/accidental" poems.

The beauty of Twitter is in its ephemeral nature. But this ephemeral quality is exactly what I'm trying to counteract:
I find our obsession with disposable communications sad, and long for a sense of permanence and meaning. That's why I'm embroidering tweets, and also why I'm seeking writers who use Twitter to say something important to them. 

So you, yes you, blog readers, can help. Tweet me @IvivaOlenick or @EmbroideryPoems. I need you, yes, you!

One of my first embroideries for this project appears below. Thanks @postcrunk for the words, which seem to have resonated with so many people. 

Don't use Twitter? That's ok. You can follow along via my new blog for this project.

On my 37th birthday...

This past Saturday, I turned 37. Do you know, dear blog readers, that I am a fraternal twin? I celebrated with my twin brother, Simon, our parents, and lots of friends. It was a great day.


Here are some pieces I made a few days beforehand. They don't specifically relate to my feelings about gaining another year. They simply reference some of my most recent dates and interactions. This is one of the best birthdays yet. I can feel 40 coming up, and I am excited for that, and for the intervening road and years.

So many people in NY

Cats and Dogs on the streets of New York City

I was walking in Chelsea last Thursday night on my way to an art opening when I overheard a man say to a woman, "That's because you don't know how to have fun. All the dogs you like are really boring and may as well be cats."

If she replied, I didn't hear her.

She did NOT say "meow, meow," although I wish she had...

Can you imagine breaking up with someone because you disagreed over the type of pet you wanted? I am sure it happens.

In this case, I do not think the man and woman were a couple, yet the slice of conversation I overheard was so funny. It was fraught with the kind of tension you can only share with someone you know very well.

The Brooklyn Love Exchange

I am super excited to announce that I have been awarded a grant from the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC). Technically, this support comes from the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and is administered by BAC. In any event, I am grateful to both organizations for choosing to honor my artistic vision.

And I am asking for your participation in my project.

Through The Brooklyn Love Exchange, I plan to map love in the borough of Brooklyn. I am collecting stories from current and even former Brooklynites about your romantic encounters and relationships in the borough. Come one, come all! Pick up that iphone or ipad or sit down at your laptop and shoot me an email with your fondest Brooklyn love memories. If your story resonates with me, I will turn it into an embroidery like the piece above, and in the style of the work you have come to know.

Want your love story immortalized? You can post comments to this post, or email me at brooklynlovexchange@gmail.com. To track the progress of this project, you can visit my new blog dedicated to The Brooklyn Love Exchange.

Standing right in front of me, yet out of reach

This piece in progress is of a "disappearing" man. 

It will say something like the following:

"I have scoured the city for someone who feels like home. Now, you're standing right in front of me, yet still out of reach."

The love and partnership I want still eludes me...My primary relationship is with my art, and all it encompasses -- teaching, constant stitching, updating my blog, scribbling ideas on the back of receipts, text messaging myself when inspiration strikes...

Let love come to me.