Self(ie)

Starting something new: life-sized (or almost life-sized) fabric figures with embroidered tweets. I'm about to start weaving fabric with which to clothe her. Stay tuned.

Selfi(ie). 2014. Paint and embroidery on
stuffed and sewn fabric.

Bearded Brooklyn

What do trends in facial hair say about the status quo? Beards are in in Brooklyn. Just in time for winter.

Watercolor and embroidery on fabric. 2014 by Iviva Olenick

I used to

use this forum to pour out concerns I wasn't sharing IRL ("in real life") contexts. Now Twitter is more of my home.

Is blogging obsolete? Have Twitter and Instagram replaced longer-form writing? (what) Do we read? How long is the average #AttentionSpan? Is #reading #obsolete? What does that mean for poetry and journalism? Are talk show hosts better received than news anchors?

The art of documentation

With a little help from some friends, I got my sculptures speaking. Here is a newly edited expose of little voices. Thanks to IMC Lab & Gallery and James and Carrie Tunick for tech support and sound programming and to Colby Cannonwill, Colleen Flanigan, Isabelle Garbani, Katya Usvitsky, Dionisio Cortes Ortega, Daniella Engen and Ian Trask (and their dogs), Jacob Rath and strangers who inspired the sculptures, provided sound and generally helped with project development and documentation.

Embroidering to Scale

In the works right now is a project I'm really excited about! 

I'm embroidering tweets from my @EmbroideryPoems handle onto an outline of my body on fabric. This will eventually become my first, full-scale, life-sized sculpture. 

Rather than completely cover my "twin's" body with my own tweets (which, as we know, can get kinda personal), I will carry my twin with me as I navigate the NYC art scene and more intimate social gatherings. Interactions with the sculpture will appear on the sculpture in embroidered form. 

I'm hoping for lots of usies (selfies with you+me+sculpture) on Instagram and Facebook, and resulting online commentary, which I will also embroider on the sculpture. 

The feedback loop of in-person interaction to online communication will come full circle. The two will fuse. My sculpture "twin" will physically embody my/her online life.

My latest interface for interactive performance art, crafting and storytelling!

Successful Open Studios + sneak peak of interactive sound!

Last Thursday's open studios at IMC Lab and Gallery was a success! Visitors shared in our excitement over the launch of new projects at the intersection of handmade and digital realms. And there's more - stay tuned for details as each of us rolls out solo shows of our new works later this fall and early in 2015. Colleen Flanigan is up first with a show opening in November; I will debut new works in January-February 2015. 

In the meantime, here is a sneak peak of how James Tunick took sound files of my interviews with friends and acquaintances (and dogs!), and turned them into an interactive piece relating to my sculptures.

Open Studios, 9/25/14

It's Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year next week. This happens to coincide with:

1) a break from public school for those of us in the teaching trenches, and 
2) Open Studios at IMC Lab and Gallery. 

Stop by and see a debut of my new series of fabric sculptures in progress, "Native/ Immigrant City."

Open Studios @IMC Lab and Gallery
56 West 22nd Street near 6th Avenue, NYC
F to 23rd Street; N/R to 23rd Street
Thursday, 9/25, 3-8pm

Also featuring performance, sculpture, installation, digital simulation, handcraft and interactive digital environment(s) by Colleen Flanigan, Dan Baker, Tal and Omer Golan and Iviva Olenick