Pictures from ICONIC exhibition, part 2

Last week I shared photos of every tapestry (and one mixed-media piece) in the My Real Name is Mary series currently on view in my show at Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance (SEFAA).  The show is up through Tuesday, March 13.  I know I've been droning on about this show for awhile--and I promise I'll change the subject next week!--but I want to present proper images of the finished pieces for those of you who can't get to the show in person. 

There is another series in this show in addition to the Mary series, entitled Book of Hours.  It's loosely inspired by illuminated manuscripts, of which Books of Hours are one category.  These books were hand-lettered and decorated prayer books, medieval devotionals.   I absolutely love their sheer lush decorative-ness:  the intensely patterned text in the center, often "illuminated" with gold, and the contrasting margins of either empty space, or more decorative patterning.

I have mentioned before that I'm intrigued that we can't decipher the meanings in these texts anymore, at least not unless we can read medieval Latin.  I wondered if I could produce in tapestry a kind of contemporary illuminated manuscript that uses the same compositional strategies and that combine text (or the suggestion of text) and pattern.  In most cases these pieces developed out of collages I created and then translated into weaving

We've all heard the phrase red letter day.  Did you know that it came from books of hours?  They often contained a church calendar listing all the holy days and feast days, and those days were written in red.

Here are the Book of Hours tapestries, starting with the most recent.

Red Letter Night (c) Molly Elkind 2018
35" x 26"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Red Letter Day (c) Molly Elkind 2016
35" x 26" 
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind 

I am thrilled to report that the piece below, Annunciation, sold at the opening!

Annunciation (c) Molly Elkind 2016
8" x 10"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind 

Huh? (c) Molly Elkind 2016
8" x 10" 
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Red (T)his  (c) Molly Elkind 2016
8" x 10" 
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Some who know me are shocked to discover that I really do mean WTF below.  I made it in response to the massacre at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

WTF  (c) Molly Elkind 2016
8" x 10" 
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

All of these pieces, and most of the Mary series tapestries, are for sale.  Contact me for information.

Pictures from ICONIC Exhibition, part 1

Last Sunday we had the opening reception for my show of tapestries entitled ICONIC.  I was so happy that so many friends and colleagues braved the rain and came out to Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance (SEFAA). 

Photo courtesy Marilyn Kleinhans

Photo courtesy Marilyn Kleinhans

I gave a short artist's talk and was really gratified to hear such thoughtful questions.  Here I'm discussing Mary's Cloak, part of the My Real Name is Mary series.

Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Mary's Cloak is the one non-tapestry work in the show.  It's inspired by something I read during my preparatory research:  "Mary's azure cloak has been a heavy one for women to bear."  The outside of the cloak is blue velvet, trimmed in gold, typical of Mary's clothing in paintings throughout the centuries (if not historically accurate).  The inside of the cloak is a red rose-printed cotton.  It is collaged with tissue garment patterns.  The pattern tissues are overlaid with images of Mary from paintings throughout history.  These images have been scanned, printed on fabric, and "framed" with ribbons or lace.  In my handwriting the words "ecce ancilla Domini" ("behold the handmaid of the Lord") are repeated over the surface.  At the bottom a scalloped border of beads and fishing weights adds the weight to the cloak.  The label encourages viewers to take it down and try it on.

Mary's Cloak (c) Molly Elkind 2018
71" x 61"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Mary's Cloak (c) Molly Elkind 2018
Photo courtesy Marilyn Kleinhans

Left to right:  Mary (the anxiety of influence), Mater Dolorosa, Mary's Cloak, Mary (Yes)
all (c) Molly Elkind 2017, 2018
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Mary (the anxiety of influence) (c) 2017 Molly Elkind
45" x 37"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Mater Dolorosa (c) Molly Elkind
27.5" x 19"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Mary (Yes) (c) Molly Elkind 2017
28" x 19.5"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Here are the earlier pieces in the Mary series:

Mary (a sword shall pierce) (c) Molly Elkind 2013
11.5" x 17.5"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Mary (gilded) (c) Molly Elkind 2014
21.5" x 20"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Mary (greater is what she bore in her mind) (c) Molly Elkind 2015
19" x 15"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

Mother/Mary (c) Molly Elkind 2015
15.5" x 15.5"
Photo courtesy Sam Elkind

If you want to know more about the ideas behind this series, click HERE.  Or ask a question in the comments below!

Next time I'll share the other series in the show, Book of Hours, inspired by illuminated manuscripts.

Top 10 Reasons to do a Solo Show

If I've done my job right (smile, wink), many of you are already aware that a solo show of my tapestries just opened at Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance (SEFAA) just outside Atlanta.  I admit, I've been pretty much consumed by the weaving and other preparations for this show for months years.  Today, now that the show is up,  I want to share why I think every artist/maker/craftsperson should aim for a solo show of their work at some point.  

10.  Let's get this one out of the way right off:  it is a nice ego boost to see your name, maybe not in lights, but on the wall.  We toil along in solitude in our studios, mostly, and it just feels great to get yourself and your work out in the light of day.  

title wall of exhibi

9.  It's great to share your work online, through websites and emails and social media--and I love all that--but nothing beats getting it in front of actual humans.  Yesterday I got to talk with people IRL about their responses to the work, hear their questions and their responses, and that was so good.  

8.  You will make or deepen your contacts and connections with the folks at your gallery or venue, and also with other artists, potential viewers and collectors.  In the art biz as in every other biz, networking is really important.  I am incredibly grateful for the support of the folks at SEFAA and that of my artist friends in pulling this together.  Specifically, Linda DeMars' and Marilyn Kleinhans' suggestions way improved my initial plan when we hung the show together.  Thank you!

hanging with Marilyn Kleinhans (left)

hanging with Linda DeMars

7.  Other people--family, friends, fellow artists, potential buyers--will see your commitment to your own work and respect you for it.  You demonstrate to them (and yourself) that you are a serious artist.  (For more on the difficult path toward calling yourself an artist, see Kathleen Loomis' excellent recent post.) 

6.  Once you commit, a year or two out, to having the show, then you actually buckle down and make the work!  Nothing is so motivating as a deadline and a commitment to someone else.  And when you're done, you have a coherent body of work that you created with intention.  For the record, I have eight pieces in the Mary series and six in the illuminated manuscript series.  This body of work is now available for juried show entries, other exhibits, and potential sales (who knows?). 

5.  Your artistic growth accelerates.  Again, once you've set the goal, you get busy solving artistic problems, improving your technique, figuring out what it is exactly you are after in your work.  While I know I still have much to learn, my understanding of how different yarns behave, for example, improved a great deal between the first Mary piece. . .   

detail, Mary (a sword shall pierce), (c) 2013, Molly Elkind

and the last one:

detail, Mary (Yes), (c) 2018 Molly Elkind

Or between the earliest illuminated manuscript piece:

 

Huh? (c) 2016, Molly Elkind

 and the lateest one. . .

Red Letter Night, (c) 2018, Molly Elkind

4.  You will get serious also about writing and updating your artistic resume, your inventory (see previous post for more on this) and mailing lists (email and snail mail).  It can be tempting to let this stuff slide sometimes. . . but when you have all your paperwork ducks in a row you are ready when opportunities knock.  And they will, because with a solo show in the works, you are a Serious Artist.

3. You will learn to speak and write with confidence about your work.  You will get your elevator speech down cold.  This has been one of the most challenging parts for me.  I've stumbled and hemmed and hawed trying to explain why I'm fascinated with such arcane subjects as the Virgin Mary, illuminated manuscripts, and tapestry itself.  

It's SO important though, because people want to understand, and they need you to give them some clues and a starting point.  I'm going to give an artist talk at the reception for the show, but for those who miss that, I've installed a mockup of my design wall, with some of the quotes, sketches, images, yarn cards and samples that I used in developing the work in the exhibit.  I hope it helps clarify not only my subject matter but the tapestry process a bit as well.  

design wall at Iconic:  Tapestries by Molly Elkind

 

2.  You will hone your time management skills.  You will start to plan your days, if you don't already, around the studio time you require to get the work made, rather than trying to find creative time after you've done everything else (and you're tired, to boot).  Your priorities shift.  

1.  And for the Number One reason why you should do a solo show. . . Well, you tell me!  If you feel like it, please share in the comments below. 

Now, what are you waiting for? 

What's looming

For the past couple months I've had this note stuck to my studio door:

It reminds me that my chief task right now is to finish things for my upcoming show, ICONIC, in February.  You can read more about that show HERE.

So here's where we stand.  So close to finishing Mary (Yes) I can taste it!  That black horizontal line on the warps about 2" above the weaving is the finish line.  I think the hand came out OK.  Foreshortening and shadows made for an strange rendering.  And of course the whole image is being woven from the side.  My one complaint about weaving on this horizontal loom is that I can't see much of the tapestry at any one time; the completed weaving rolls under the breast beam.  I do unroll it occasionally to check how it's all looking, but I kind of hate to do that.  (What do the rest of you horizontal loom tapestry weavers do?)

Molly Elkind, Mary (Yes) in progress.  (c) 2017 

I've finally begun weaving the last of the illuminated manuscript-inspired pieces for the show.  The background of Red Letter Night will be wedge weave, as you can see from the work so far.  I'm weaving this from the side, so the image is turned 90 degrees to the left. It's about to start getting interesting as I weave those big shapes and patterns in the center.

Molly Elkind, Red Letter Night in progress.  (c) 2017

And, since it's the beginning of a new month, I've started November's tapestry diary.  This month the name of the game is texture, in various pale neutral yarns.  We'll see how many textures I can come up with. 

Here's a closer look at the weaving so far.  So far, from left to right, I've experimented with countered soumak, plain weave, plain weave on doubled warps, twining (the thin gray rectangle in lower right), and eccentric weaving (above the gray rectangle).  I may have to break down and finally try rya knots one of these days!

Finally, there is one more piece I'm going to make for the show.  I'm not going to say much about it yet, but here's a sneak peek at the fabric and trim I will use.  I've got some ideas simmering that I can't wait to try out.

I hope you are finding time this fall to be creative in your chosen field of play.  Thanks for keeping me company here. 

ICONIC: work in progress, and a show!

These days the term of highest praise is iconic.  Something (or someone) that is the latest, hippest, purest exemplar of its type is iconic.  The online Urban Dictionary offers this:

Similar to "classic," iconic is generally restricted to more recent, highly original, influential, or unique, works of art, artists, or performers. As such they are now well-established and widely celebrated in popular culture.

"Oedipus Rex" is a classic, but the original "Planet of the Apes" is truly iconic.

Unfortunately, like every over-used word, it will soon cease to mean anything.   Epic, anyone? Awesome? 

Overused or not, ICONIC is the working title of my 2018 show of tapestries.  Save the date:  the opening will be Sunday, February 25, 2018.  The show will run February 15-March 13 at Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance (SEFAA) in Atlanta. 

Lest it sound presumptuous to describe my own work as iconic, let me explain.  I've been obsessed for the past few years with a particular icon, the one pictured below, of Mary the mother of Jesus.  This is an icon in the original sense, a painting of a religious figure intended to enhance prayer and spiritual devotion.  For me, this image has sparked a whole series of tapestries exploring the meaning and influence of the mythic figure of Mary. 

Mary, detail of 6th c. encaustic icon at Sta. Maria della Francesca church, Rome

I am nearing the completion of this series now, having begun the seventh and final piece recently.  Here's my progress so far on Mary (yes).

Molly Elkind, Mary (Yes), handwoven tapestry in progress, (c) 2017

And recently I cut off the loom my largest, and most personal, piece in the series, called Mary (the anxiety of influence).   

Molly Elkind, Mary (the anxiety of influence), handwoven tapestry, (c) 2017

You can see photos and read about some of the other pieces in the series here and here.

Related to this series is another series I'm working on, loosely based on medieval illuminated manuscripts.  These texts were packed with meaning for their original readers, serving as prayer books.  Nowadays most of us cannot read the text, and we appreciate them purely for their decorative qualities, and perhaps for the insight they offer into a different world and time.

I find these manuscripts fascinating for the layout of the pages--those margins, either empty or packed with intricate decoration!  That profusion of pattern!  That beautifully lettered text, which contains some kind of sacred meaning, out of reach for most of us today.  The way the patterns, pictures and words are interwoven into one unified surface fascinates me.   

In my tapestry series I am experimenting with compositions that explore margins and centers, and with combinations of text, or text-like patterns, and abstract imagery.  Red Letter Day is part of this series.  I am starting a companion piece, tentatively titled Red Letter Night--it will have a dark background.

Molly Elkind, Red Letter Day, handwoven tapestry, (c) 2016

Here's a peek at the collage and some sampling I've done for Red Letter Night. 

And I have several small pieces in the series as well.  Here's one:

Molly Elkind, Huh?, handwoven tapestry (c) 2016

An icon provides an occasion and the means for contemplation, for meditation, a chance to forget oneself and one's daily life for a few moments and enter another deeper or higher reality. . . . Rather like what we have come to expect artwork to offer us.

What is iconic for you?