Affordable Art Fair report

This week is the Affordable Art Fair in New York City. The madness has once again begun!!

My gallerist, Muriel Guepin, is representing my work. She has many of my  post-its, like this piece here, and some Brooklyn-specific pieces. In fact, I jammed out this piece just yesterday morning, responding to Muriel's request for more pieces of this kind. 

I am off from work, but feel as though I am working just as hard, if not harder...As I think I shared last year at this time, standing around while others discuss your work can be funny, uncomfortable, etc. No one who saw my work yesterday realized I was the artist. The responses were quite emotional. I am glad to see my pieces finding an audience. 

Thanks again to Muriel for supporting my work wholeheartedly.

MTA: Brooklyn's veins and arteries...Get there from here

J train: ReJoice

L train: BeLoved

G: Get going

C: Come on

M: Mystery train

D: Diverge

R: Ride

(c) 2010 Iviva Olenick

Final art-fair ready version of Bygone Brooklyn

Here is the final version of "Brooklyn of a Bygone era." Muriel Guepin, my gallerist (of Muriel Guepin Gallery in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn), thought the piece needed a little more visual information on the top right corner, which I added in as narrative. I also removed the graffiti. I knew she would prefer the sign without it!

The Affordable Art Fair is from May 6-9th in New York City, and I am nearly finished with piece 4, which I will post soon. 

In the meantime, I have been working away at some FiberGraf pieces (check out FiberGraf's blog here) in preparation for an application due this hot minute...I am also set to teach every Saturday in April. More info about that imminently.

Come to Brooklyn

In preparation for this year's Affordable Art Fair, from May 6th-9th at 7 West New York (on 34th Street near 5th Ave), Muriel of Muriel Guepin Gallery has asked me to created some Brooklyn-related pieces. It's fun having an "assignment," and being able to create work on a different theme using some of my tell-tale techniques.

This piece, "Come to Brooklyn," is an homage, one of several to come, for the place where I was born and have lived about 30 of my 34+ years. Yay Brooklyn!

The text says:

Iconic NYC structure seeks runners, walkers, skaters, dreamers, bikers to play on my celebrated footpaths - 1.1 miles of fun, the clack clack of wooden slats.

To prepare for this piece, I have run over the Brooklyn Bridge numerous times in the past month, trying to feel the spirit of the bridge. The female figure represents this spirit. 

The Embroidered Art Journal -- My September class at Pratt

Well, the artist talk at the Center for Book Arts last week was fabulous. I was in wonderful company, and was impressed by the other artists' work, and their public speaking skills. I really felt as if it were a communal experience: there were common threads among our work. One of the audience members wrote a lovely review on her blog. You can check it out here. 

My next adventure will be teaching at Pratt this fall in the Center for Continuing and Professional Studies on West 14th Street in Manhattan. I encourage you to sign up! Unfortunately, the Pratt web site is down until August 18th, so if you'd like to register, call 212-647-7199. Here are the details:

The Embroidered Art Journal: Embroidery as Narration and Illustration

This introductory workshop on embroidery and artist books will begin with making a sampler of 12 embroidery stitches and learning some basics about how to work with different fibers and fabrics. Your instructor will work with you to develop concepts for an artist book that incorporates embroidery and other media. Emphasis will be on the creative process, and the application and use of new skills and materials. In addition to experimenting with embroidery, you will be asked to record information in visual and/or textual form during and in between each class. You can do this in any way you choose: by keeping a conventional sketchbook or diary; writing a blog; taking photographs; making paintings or sculptures; even recording notes in your iPhone or through emails or text messages. The goals of this course are to become comfortable with embroidery and fabric; practice engagement with your daily visual and social environment; develop a project from initial concept to artistic execution; and participate in a group environment where new artwork and ideas are created and shared.

Topics include: 

A vocabulary of embroidery stitches; the basics of fabrics and fiber materials; 

conventional and unconventional materials in embroidery;

transferring images and text onto fabric;

drawing and writing with embroidery;

text as a primary artistic medium; 

an introduction to book arts, including blogs.

Prerequisite: No previous experience with embroidery, sewing, or book arts needed.

• Section 1: W 6:30–9:30 PM

5 sessions Sept 2-30

Iviva Olenick

• Section 2: Su 9:30 AM–12:30 PM

5 Sessions Nov 15–Dec 20

Iviva Olenick

PMDA 104 1.5 C.E.U.s $195

Antique fabric and what I'm dreaming of

I love when my artwork helps bring new friends into my life. Paula Overbay, a fellow artist I met at the recent Affordable Art Fair in New York City passed on to me a wonderful piece of antique, Irish fabric. The piece at left is how I am using this delicate lace.

This piece, when finished, will hold a collection of my aphorisms or "post-it notes;" my small-scale comments on fabric. I think of it as a text quilt.

So far, the piece says:

"I'm mourning the relationship we never had, and thinking

of the ways I would have loved you."

"I don't want to be the girl

you call for homework.

I want to be the girl you

go out with Friday night."

Somehow, as a single 34-yr-old woman, dating still reminds me of how I felt in high school.

 

Sneak Peak

As I mentioned in my last post, this weekend is the culmination of NY's Affordable Art Fair 2009. I volunteered to sit with my gallerist, Muriel Guepin of Shop Art Gallery yesterday. I felt a bit of the magic as I watched some wonderful pieces find homes. I also met two of my own patrons, and got tons of feedback.

I don't know if you've had this experience, but it can be awkward to pose as a gallery assistant while people casually talk about your work, not knowing you're the artist. I was impressed that people spent time reading every word I had stitched, laughed out loud at a lot of my less flattering dating moments, and brought their friends to see my work. 

I tried to find ways to interject myself in conversations without being overbearing or feeling shy. It wasn't easy. In talking about my work, I generated so many new ideas. Thank you art fair visitors! 

Seeing my work sell, and getting reports from Muriel about sales, has made me both ecstatic and sad. I will go so far as to say I feel betrayed by my own artwork. I started the hand stitched portion of "Were I So Besotted" because I was heartbroken. I have continued to stitch stories about men I have been involved with, all the while hoping one would materialize who would be a loving and reasonable partner. Seeing people identify with my work enough to take it home is wonderful. But I am reminded that my search for an emotional home in another person is not resolved. Each stitch I make is a form of wounding and healing fabric, just like dating and starting over.

The image above is the start of a new piece. "He Left Me Because of My Underwear," (or something like that).  

Blank Wall Syndrome

These past few days, I've been coming home to bare, white walls. (Wow, does my apartment need to be painted!)

My gallerist, Muriel Guepin of Shop Art Gallery, is participating in the Affordable Art Fair. I am thrilled that we have been selling work, and cannot wait to see the outcome of this 4-day event. The only downside is my compulsion to immediately fill blank wall space with new work. I am waking up in the middle of the night with phrases running through my head that just may end up in my next piece. 

Thanks to everyone out there who has enjoyed seeing my work, has purchased my work, has read my blog, and has been interested in what I'm doing.

To read a review of the Art Fair, visit Nylon Magazine.