Stitch by Stitch

Learn how I make these small fabric sculptures this summer at Pratt!

We will review embroidery basics; learn image transfer techniques and strategies; and most importantly, 3D embroidery: learn how to make small stuffed animals, fabric sculptures, dolls, jewelry.

at Pratt Manhattan
144 West 14th Street

Course name and number:
Stitch by Stitch: Crafting for Collaboration, Investigation
PMFA-513-01
Sundays, 5/31 – 6/28
9:30am – 12:30pm

Registration: reg@pratt.edu or (212) 647-7371
 
Questions? Ask me!

An old New York that you don't really see...

I am thrilled to have made major progress on these coordinated pieces. The embroidered painting and doll share the memories and stories of a native New Yorker (Queens born) who now lives in Brooklyn and has seen the borough go through many changes.

As I continue developing Native/Immigrant City, my embroidered study of assimilation versus acculturation in richly textured, socioeconomically challenging Brooklyn, I am excited to find stories like these from natives. I also want to thank the Greater NY Arts Development Fund of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs administered by BAC for partial sponsorship of this project.

Coming up in May, I will be sharing the techniques I use to make the above pieces at Brooklyn Workshop Gallery at 393 Hoyt Street in Brooklyn near 3rd Street (and not too far from Whole Foods). Martine Bisagni, Director of the Gallery, is kindly hosting a Sewing and Embroidery Studio on Thursday May 21 and 28 and June 4th from 1-9pm. I will be on site from 6-9pm on those dates, sharing my techniques and processes and teaching embroidery basics.

Where has March gone?

While warmer weather continues to evade us, I've taken advantage of the climate to work indoors on growing Native/Immigrant City, my homage to New Yorkers born in the City and from other States and countries.

My current piece in process is below. Please get in touch if you happen to be a current or former Brooklyn resident with a story to share about your experience making a home in the borough.

I also want to thank the Brooklyn Arts Council for providing me with some funding to grow and continue this project. More specifically, I have a generous regrant from the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC).

Finally, stay tuned for announcements of by-donation workshops coming soon to a Brooklyn venue near you...I provide supplies and instruction; you show up with an idea for a soft sculpture. Together, we turn your vision into a physical reality.

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!

Embroidery 3D Workshop at 61 Local - join me Monday, 9/15, 10:30-1:30

I am teaching a special brunch time 3D embroidery class on Monday, September 15 from 10:30am - 1:30pm. Join us in the 61 Local mezzanine, 61 Bergen Street, Brooklyn. Among in-class exercises, we will make mini doll houses, like the ones below.

To purchase a spot in the class, $35 for 3 hours of instruction with supplies provided, use the button below:

Shoestring Press

I discovered a lovely new space for art making, taking workshops and meeting Brooklynites: Shoestring Press in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a collective operated by Lane Sell and colleagues.

Ever excited by the idea of collaborating, Lane and I are cooking up a combined screen printing/ soft sculpture workshop in mid September - stay tuned for details! And Lane, interested in embroidery's graphic capabilities, is planning to experiment with collagraph printing using an embroidery as the source image. With printmaking, one must reverse the direction of the source image so that it reads properly, so note that the below embroideries (at least the front side) have been reversed left-right!

Shoestring back and front reversed direction.

www.IvivaOlenick.com

I've been slowly making organizational and content changes to my web site, www.IvivaOlenick.com. I'm particularly excited about a new series of small, soft sculptures, "Native/Immigrant City." You can check them out here.

  

This tree was planted in front of my apartment as part of the NYC Million Trees project. "Brooklyn Full of Leaves, Treehouses." 2014. Sculpture with fabric, paint, stiffener, embroidery. 

Latest tiny gun pillow

Latest "tiny gun pillow" based on Montana Ray's poem, "(back to the future)." Thanks, Montana! 

The salmon color is from beet dye. After boiling beets, I used the remaining water to dye my fabrics. The variegated thread was store purchased. Some of the thread's color is very close to the fabric color. I like the "come and go" look of the text, and the concealing and revealing the poem.

Starting off 2014 with a non-literal but literary Bang

(freedom is a trip)

a concrete (i.e. visual) poem by Montana Ray 

My re-interpretation in embroidery and fabric manipulation with stuffing...A "soft" gun. Flat, before stuffing and embroidering, the separate fabric pieces I cut resembled Montana's original - I traced her poem to get the right shape. Somehow in the translation, the shape morphed. For one, I added extra fabric at the extreme right because I ran out of space for the top 3 lines of the poem. 

As you can tell, the piece is small
- 3.5" h x 7" w x 1" d