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.

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? 

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?

Margins and borders

Artists, have you ever stepped back and looked at the whole range of your work, and noticed something, a common thread or theme, that you hadn't been aware of before?

Today I'm thinking out loud about a trend I've noticed in my own work.  Lately I've been purging my studio, pulling out old work and deciding what to do with it, and I've noticed a persistent habit or feature in my compositions that I wasn't fully aware of until now.  I seem to have a thing for margins and borders.

(c) Molly Elkind, Freud's Diagnosis, hand embroidery, c. 1995.
cotton.  12" x 12"

I did this embroidery as a surface design class assignment at the University of Louisville.  The dense stitching distorted the cotton ground, so I decided to exploit the mistake by stitching an off-kilter frame around the piece.  I still love the quotation, attributed to Freud:  "Constant needlework is one of the factors that rendered women particularly prone to hysteria because daydreaming over embroidery induced dispositional hypnoid states."  

(c) Molly Elkind, Out of My Hands, hand embroidery, 1998
cotton.  12" x 12"

This embroidery was inspired by Amish quilts.  As I worked I imagined what might result if those masterful quilters could break free of their carefully circumscribed lives and 20-stitches-per-inch standards, stitching irregular shapes that break the confines of the square and disrupt traditional patterns. 

Here's one of my first self-designed quilts.  It may be hard to make out in the photo below, but I chose to quilt the border with an irregular zigzag line, perhaps echoing the off-kilter log cabin frames around each flower, rather than a traditional feather or other curvilinear motif.   

(c) Molly Elkind, Applique Flowers, quilt, hand applique and quilting, machine piecing, 1993.
cotton, 35" x 29"

Here's another early quilt, in which the border comes and goes, like a lost-and-found line in drawing. I borrowed this idea from master quilter Ruth McDowell.

 (c) Molly Elkind, Cardinals, quilt, hand and machine pieced, appliqued and quilted. c. 1995
cotton.  54" x 70" 

Below are two pieces from my Ways of Looking at Dodd Creek series of small mixed media quilt/collages.  In this one I definitely see the wide border around a central image that continues to interest me today.  

(c) Molly Elkind, Ways of Looking at Dodd Creek #5, 2007.
Mixed media, 22" x 18" 

And in this piece, I couldn't resist adding a binding in an unexpected color.

(c) Molly Elkind, Ways of Looking at Dodd Creek #6, 2008.
Mixed media, 14" x 14"

So, what does all this have to do with anything?  I've been working on two series of tapestries for the past few years.  One series, inspired by an icon of the Virgin Mary, I've posted about fairly often, most recently here and here.  (It looks like I might need to do an update on these soon!)

The other series is inspired by the format, composition and colors of medieval illuminated manuscripts.  I love the way these manuscripts combine text and image in a gorgeous whole, a patterned, brilliantly colored, decorative surface that carries meaning. . .meaning that most of us can't decipher anymore.

Hours of Etienne Chevalier,
160 x 115 mm, c. 1420, Visitation,
illuminated by the Master of the Boucicaut Hours
British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts

I especially like the way some manuscript pages leave spacious margins around an area of dense text in the center of the page.  Sometimes these margins are filled with decorative patterns, sometimes not.  My tapestry Red Letter Day explored this composition in an abstract way.

(c) Molly Elkind, Red Letter Day, handwoven tapestry, 2016.
cotton, wool, synthetic.  35.5" x 26"

I'm going to continue to play with this theme as I work on more tapestries inspired by centers and margins.  

Hey, all you artists and makers out there!  Have you ever pulled out your work and looked at the whole range of it?  Did you discover anything surprising? 

The Joy of Finishing

Awhile back I griped in this space about having too many projects underway at once.  I'm happy to report that finally, finally I have got some projects finished, others well underway, and a couple empty looms sitting around, at least for a little while.

I finished the scarf for my sister-in-law, plus three extra for our upcoming show.  Please check my Facebook page for details about that event if you're in the Atlanta area, Nov. 11-13.

tencel and silk-alpaca infinity scarves (c) Molly Elkind

tencel infinity scarves (c) Molly Elkind

I selected several of the collages I've done this year and, thanks to the patient instruction of my dear husband Sam, learned how to cut mats for them.  What an incredible difference it makes to put a mat around something!  These affordable pieces will also be in our show.

collage of painted words and torn paper in sketchbook

dictionary page for "annunciation" and pasted paper collage

L to R:  "Huh?", Red (T)his, Annunciation,  matted and cropped collages (c) Molly Elkind 2016

L to R: Column and Spiral, Weeping for Istanbul, Manuscript/Portal, collages (c) Molly Elkind 2016

I was very happy to finish a set of four 4" x 6.5" small tapestries that I've been thinking of as small contemporary illuminated manuscripts, because they contain or allude to text.  Three of them were inspired by the collages in the top group photo above.  I'm happy overall with how they turned out, but boy, were they fiddly, in both the weaving (12 epi) and the finishing!  I did and re-did the edge finishes, first thinking I would hide the warp fringe (with a half-damascus that would turn the warps to the back) and then deciding to expose it.  I never could get the corners to be as neat as I wanted.  I like that the fringe is visible.  These will also be in our holiday show/sale Nov. 11-13.

Clockwise from upper left:  Huh?, Red (T)his, WTF, and Annunciation, handwoven tapestries  (c) Molly Elkind 2016

I'm still working on the large Mary tapestry, and I expect it to take several more months at the rate I'm going.  I'm discovering just how hard it is to weave a self-portrait.  Just call me Penelope. 

M3 (working title) in progress

Meanwhile I'm designing the next Mary piece, a smaller tapestry on the theme of Mater Dolorosa, the sorrowing or weeping mother.  Goodness knows, if Mary is paying attention at all, she must be weeping over our world.  I'm thinking of incorporating somehow tiny shards of obsidian I've collected in New Mexico, known as Apache tears.  Wonder if I can drill through them so I can thread the yarn through?  Let me know if you have any intel on this.  Would a bead-reaming tool work?

study for Mater Dolorosa, with Apache tears 

So, that's the way things stand here.  Don't ask about the quilt.

2 + 3 = 3 too many

Many artists like to work on more than one piece at once, and I do too.  If you get stuck, or tired of puzzling out one piece, you can shift gears to another.

Right now I have about five projects going, though, and that's too many.  It's just making me nuts. This is not the first time this has happened; I seem to be a slow learner regarding where exactly the sweet spot is for me.  Sigh.  But we all know the siren call of the new idea, the seductive thrill of beginning something new that will be the most exciting thing ever, right?

Here's what's in progress at the moment:

1.  On the floor loom, two Tencel twill scarves, in belated fulfillment of an order from my very patient sister-in-law last Thanksgiving   months ago.  The first scarf is a sort of buffalo check, taken straight from the color gamp I did a few years back.  You can see it to the left of the orange line that divides the two scarves, winding around the cloth beam.   The second scarf features a straight diagonal twill with occasional veers into the other diagonal direction, at roughly Fibonacci intervals.

2A.  On the PVC tapestry loom, I'm sampling colors and weave patterns for my next big Mary tapestry.

2B. As I sample I am going back to the full-size draft of the cartoon that's in progress on my design wall and making adjustments.  It's really cool the way sampling colors has allowed me to approach the design with fresh eyes and sharper focus on what I actually need to know in order to begin weaving.  Thank you, Joan Baxter!  Here's a detail of the design.

(c) Molly Elkind 2016

3. On the Mirrix tapestry loom, I'm making a 4" x 6" tapestry in the series I'm thinking of as modern, miniature illuminated manuscripts, a piece entitled WTF, my response to the horror in Orlando.  I'm thinking I need to un-weave and re-do the W and the section around it.  Sigh.

4. And then there's the bed quilt I started a year ago, inspired by Turkish tiles and meant to coordinate with the Turkish rug on the floor in our bedroom.  I thought I couldn't tolerate the way the current quilt clashed with the rug, but apparently I can.  Admittedly, this is a project I work on very intermittently.  I'm still appliqueing the right side panel.  Next steps will be to do the applique border along the top and to seam all the panels together.

5.  And you already know about the tapestry diary from last week's post.  This is a no-stress project, only requiring 15-30 minutes per day.  So it hardly counts in terms of adding to my self-imposed project stress.

My son would say at this juncture, "First world problem, Mom."  And he's right.  I am a very lucky woman to have the time and resources to do this work.

Red Letter Day

I promised after sharing my cutting off party that after I took care of all the warp and weft ends I'd post a proper photograph of my latest tapestry.  Here it is. 

Red Letter Day (c) 2016  by Molly Elkind

This has been in the works for longer than I care to admit, but I can say I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.  It's a faithful representation of what I had intended to do.  This is the first piece in what I hope will be a series inspired by illuminated manuscripts and medieval books of hours.  I am interested in the composition of those densely decorated pages, the contrast between areas of empty space and intricate lettering and patterns, and the sense that they contain sacred but nearly unintelligible meanings.   

One thing I wanted to learn in the process of making this piece is whether I enjoy working large (until now my tapestries have been more or less one foot square).   And I do!  I am deep into designing my next piece in the Mary series, which will be even larger than this.  I can't wait.