Winter cheer - Thursday opening @IMCLabGallery

Dear blog readers,

Yes, it's cold. Yes, I am suffering from season-long sinus congestion. I'm giving up dairy. For real, this time. It's going to be hard. I will miss Greek yogurt more than I can say. I am hoping coconut yogurt (which is basically a sugary custard) will suffice. Who am I kidding? I can't even keep a straight face typing this.

Anyway, enough about me. 

Thanks to IMC Lab & Gallery, the opening for my solo show, the culmination of my Co-Create Residency, is this Thursday. Details below on the invitation co-designed with James Tunick, Residency co-director and technology guru.

I can't wait! If you're in the NYC area, please come by!

Brooklyn Family and how has it been so long?

Dearest blog readers,

It feels like I've been on staycay, as it's been so long since we've talked. Balancing multiple trajectories (teaching, making art, research, planning, curating, Bushwick Open Studio visits, gallery meetings, art openings, design projects) + the Brooklyn Half Marathon have left me aflutter.

But I'm back.

Here is a rendering of my Brooklyn "family" in 3D - my pregnant alter-ego, my imaginary dog sharing the story of the night we met, and Bedekah, the imaginary friend of my neighbor's daughter and of little girls all over Brooklyn.

If you've really, really missed me, you can find me this Sunday aka tomorrow, 6/8 at TAC's 5th birthday celebration at the Small Works invitational show on the second floor. I am showing two of my 3D figures. Plus, there will be collaborative art making/weaving, and preparation of a new sewing seeds garden.
505 Carroll Street, Brooklyn, NY.

New Post-its

Last night's opening of Visual Vernacular was a success! Several of my "post-it" pieces sold. Here are some new ones.

But your emotional thermostat was set to an ex girlfriend

"You wanted to reserve space inside my body. I wanted to crawl into a warm space I thought we shared. But your emotional thermostat was set to an ex girlfriend."

Yesterday, I rushed home after work to see Muriel, the gallerist at Shop Art. We met to select work for a group show opening October 3rd. As always, upon leaving, I was all worked up. Ideas were flowing, and I ended staying up late thinking, rearranging my pieces within my portfolio, and stitching. I had started the piece above months ago, and was finally able to finish it last night.

I will post details about the opening very soon. I can't wait!

Synapse

I love the word synapse. When I was in my early 20s, I had just started dating a man 9 years older than me whom I'd met when we shared an office at a non-profit. I found my job tedious, but looked forward to seeing him every day. 

Shortly after he and I started dating, he went on an annual beach vacation with his family. Alone again in New York City, I missed him, and, of course, wondered if he had been thinking about me. 

My most salient memory of that week was going to the Whitney Museum to see Robert Rauschenberg's "Synapsis Shuffle," a piece composed of numerous panels that were to be rearranged or shuffled upon each new installation by a different person or group. For some reason, I found it interesting that Martha Stewart was one of the participants in the Whitney Museum installation.

In any event, I have always loved the sound of the word synapse, which means a small gap where neurotransmitters travel. I like to think of a synapse as a space in a relationship where emotions and information are conveyed, shared, and exchanged. 

In the piece above, I removed some of the warp (vertical) and weft (horizontal) threads to encourage the fabric to fray, and to create larger "synapses."

Piece above: "Synapse." 2009. Embroidery on distressed linen. 4" X 3.5".

"I want to slip into the synapse of your loosely woven threads."