Author Archives: Sheba

Artist Statement

I have a not so secret passion for paper. I haunt the office supply stores to see the orderly stacks of every kind of basic business paper. But this is never enough, gift wrap, tissue, books, maps, ticket stubs and packaging. It always finds its way into my home.

It started with magazines, the glossy images begged me to rip them apart. Once I started ripping I couldn’t stop. I began to see myself as painting with the paper. The texture and dimensions are as important as the colors. More often than not, I will tear the paper with my finger rather than use any one of the hundreds of pairs of scissors that clutter my desk.

Somewhere along the way, fabric intervened. The paper is still a passion, but now the fabric has begun to pile up as well. I don’t usually think of myself as a pack rat but when I look at my stashes, I wonder. I imagine it came from my mother, who had a saying, “She who dies with the most fabric win.” I’m not sure what the prize is, but I am in the running.

Be it paper or fabric, on glass or in books, my work is always about my journey through life. Early pieces show a struggle with sexuality, relationships and matters of the body and heart. When asked to describe the inner workings of these pieces I would say, “My collage and mixed media work is a perspective of the female form, by a female. By reducing existing images to an elemental point, the resultant collages are sensual and colorful constructs that suggest redefinition of the cultural views of women. My work continues to be an exploration of my own femininity and my place in the world.”

Later my work reflected my spiritual questions and searching. As I become more settled into my adulthood, my work turns to understanding the more subtle aspects of personality and choices in life.

I know that my work will change and grow on this journey of mine, but I believe a style of strong lines and bold colors will weave its way though all of the pieces.

Welcome

September 2007 So I am a bit frightened and excited. Just bought a screaming new computer and so I am doing my last back-up before switching to the new system. I haven’t had to reload these sites and the program on a new box for about 5 years…. so I am very nervous that I may loose everything and will have to start from scratch.

So in fact it turns out that my web program is out-dated and no longer supported. So instead of spending hundreds fo dollars on an upgrade I am switching over to a new wordpress and will be switching things over here….

I plan to play around with features and themes and learn my way around really customizing this before I go totally public. So if you are reading this, you are a friend that I asked to have preview the site OR you found my blog how?

So on to the meat of things! happy blogging to you

EBSQ Shows 2006

January 2006

February 2006

April 2006

May 2006

July 2006

August 2006

December 2006

  • Better Late Than Never 2006 Duncan

My Favorite Sites of 2006

art propensity Chosen for TOP TEN, not only because she is really coming into her own style with her dolls, but also because her web site is really top notch. Patricia Anders,  claiming my propensity for art on this spec of the world wide web where I weave my work into galleries of:  figurative sculpture, art dolls, “Diva Dollie” jewelry sets, and flat art

DJ Pettitt Chosen for TOP TEN, because I LOVE and WANT one of her fantastic purses. Creating artwork using original photographs and drawings, vintage ephemera, found objects, newly painted papers, and recycled papers. Substrates include stretched and unstretched canvas, Stonehenge and watercolor paper, recycled book covers, and fabric, all treated with a variety of polymer mediums, acrylic paint, glazes, and colored pencil. Original images are created using a combination of digital and traditional collage methods.

Keith lobue Mixed media, Chosen for TOP TEN, not only for his artwork, but also for his amazing web site! Keith E. Lo Bue’s work with found objects gave rise in October of 1989 to his first solo exhibition, entitled Oddments. In the ensuing years his work has evolved into minute constructed environments, oftentimes viewed through lenses, that have been called “diminutive museums, reliquaries of dreams.” (Raymond Smith) His art has been recognized and selected for awards by Senior Curators at the Museum Of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the American Craft Museum. Solo exhibitions have occurred in New York City, Chicago, Baltimore, Westport, CT and several other cities.

Kirsten Francis Printmaker Chosen for TOP TEN, because I have LOVED this artist since I saw her work at the Bellevue Fair YEARS ago. Here method of printmaking is inspiring and her subjects are deep and filled with symbolism. Woodblock Print Creation Process I use the color reduction printmaking technique, whereas only one woodblock is used to print successive layers or runs of color. I begin by drawing directly onto the plywood block with pencil and fixing the image with a spray varnish.
Each run of  color is then made by repeatedly carving out additional areas of the wood block,  rolling the block up with an oil-based ink, and then printing it on to paper  using an etching press in my home studio. I build up the image, layer upon  layer, starting with the lightest colored inks and progressing to the darkest. I  usually print 8 runs using between 8 and 13 different colors.

 

Off the Hook Studios, Art by Jami Moffett what can I say I just love this site.

Step by step work in progress pet portrait

Step by step making a dog protrait for EBSQ Pet Swap.

Work in Progress…..
 Working with a photo to create a dog portrait

 step one making a pattern from the photo

 Next: adding bits of fabric to the background with the pattern

 a jump in time, with more fabric added

 getting close to done with the piecing part of the project, still to come quilting and embellishment

Selecting the background…
Plain Brown or tan simple background…
dibbybackground02

OR Landscape style with blue on left

dibbybackground01

OR portrait style with more blue on top
dibbybackground04

Final Product
2007WIPfabricart_april004

ArtFiberFest 2006

NOTE: this will be long and picture laden! I personally soaked up every entry after AF since I couldn’t go to that one, so I hope others are as interested in my details about AFF) if not… carry on!

Well I came home early last night, but spent the evening catching up with the boys and didn’t feel like opening up the HOT Attic to get to the computer and really had no desire to deal with the email and catch up required. So hung out and watched MS 3000 “A touch of Satan” until I couldn’t keep my eyes open. Shawn had to BE AT work today at 9am IN Issaquah down the hill from AFF. So my only choice was to come home Sat night or EARLY Sunday morning. I was ready to come home last night so I did. and glad for it. I got to finally sleep IN! Despite how late I stayed up I was waking up at 6am every day at AFF. don’t know why…too much energy and excitement and inspiration I guess. I really don’t have the opportunity to hang out with like minded artsy types…like…EVER! so these things are really invigorating for me.

So here’s my recap:
Wednesday took Shawn to work at 9am and Charger to the dog park including a detour to Trinity so I would know where it was and not get lost later.
Charger at the Dog Park at Marymoore

Drove home finished shopping and packing and getting ready for AFF. Drove back to Issaquah at 5pm for registration and opening ‘ceremony’ took WAY to long to get there. it should only be about 45 mins from my house to Issaquah, depending on traffic. So I HAD intended to go home and sleep in my own bed every night. But due to construction and traffic it too almost 2 hours to get there Wednesday so I decided that staying might be a better plan. So I asked Teesha if they had extra rooms. With gas being as expensive as it is, I think I will have saved money by not driving back and forth, I know I will have saved some sanity. So I unloaded my art stuff in my room and hung out with and till 9pm, when I had to go down the hill to get Shawn from work. We drove back home, I packed clothing and headed back. I got there about midnight and was still up. her room just down the hall from mine we said good night. I should have stayed up and talked since I laid in bed for hours my mind busy with the excitement for the next day. I woke at 5 am only a few hours of sleep and I was UP!

Started Thursday morning with a trip down the hill to the Fred Meyers for food and stuffs. Then spare time to visit before my first class. I had a batik technique class which was fun and I enjoyed playing with dyes in new ways. It has been years (1987) since I played with dyes and batiking so the products are significantly different now. I enjoyed sitting next to a great gal, but I am so bad with names at these things… rats! (will post pics of my fabrics after they are set, washed and dried)

Lunch and more workshop followed. Tried to find the girls to go to dinner but ended up going to red robin by myself. I saw someone at the restaurant that looked like but it turned out not to be her.

That evening we all (Enchy, Android, Believe and many others) set up in the large hallways with our tables and machines to work on projects. Although this is the first time that I have really hung out with these gals in person, since we gab all the time here on LJ it was as comfortable as visiting old friends. Our brains all seem to be on the same wavelength, we compared our men (all science/computer geeks) and our pets (too many of them and all spoiled) and our experinces with art and our passions… (well Andriod is into those creepy dolls, but I won’t hold that against her) taught me how to free motion sew and my machine was working fine. It was a little scary and fun at the same time. She is REALLY good at it. I will have to practice. But now that I know how, watch out!

more pages from Tracy Bautistas class (an example of her talent!)

The night ended for me about 11ish, and again up by 6am the next morning. This is crazy for a NON-morning person, let me tell YOU!!

Friday (and it was rather hard to keep track of the days, they were so full that some days seemed like more than one and the whole event started on my first free day from school which felt like a saturday, so I was constantly having to remember what day it was… at least I was not the only one with this problem)
I took DJ pettitt’s book class. The supply list was the longest and most detailed yet confusing, list I have ever had for a class. Plus she changed it not too long before the event. I even emailed her a couple of times to clarify. I ended up NOT needing more than 70% of the things I borught because I never got to the later stages of the project. (few did) She was a great teacher even if her class had 85 hours worth of work and 3 years worth of supplies crammed into a 6 hour day www.djpettitt.com/

DJ teaching

The class mostly went OK. I really got to enjoy the ladies around me. The process seemed to facilitate talking and sharing. I brought so much stuff that I didn’t seem to need that I was in a very sharing mood. Apparently this surprised some people. and I had offers to pay me for a scrap of paper here or there. which is just silly to me. I have WAY too much collage crap as it is. Although the sewing machine worked fine the night before for my free motion practice, here in the class where I needed it, it wouldn’t cooperate at all. 10 stitches here and the thread would break, another 20 or so and break again. I tried different needles, different threads, different tensions, different presser feet. the needle gummed up with the collage adhesive and the thread broke time after time. Needless to say, I didn’t finish and my sewing machine broke 🙁 I decided that mine was just not going to become a book at all. (I didn’t really like the look of the hinge thing she was doing for a binding.) and I was not happy at all with the outcome of my collages. DJ admitted that the technique works much better with a transfer press (which I am actually getting my school to order next year for part-time art use and sharing within the building) so I will try it again then.

Here is one of the pieces I made. I was able to do some of the sewing with Lelainia’s machine. (www.tattered-edge.com/)

DSC09844

That night I again ran out to dinner on my own and back to visit. We had the VENDOR fair that night and some off campus LJ friends came to check it out. It was pretty small and rather unexciting. I bought a zine from Keely and some papers from Tracy Bautstia. She has a great looking book that I want to order because she had none left to sell at AFF. went out to a late dinner with and and me. Then I hit the hay.

Saturday I actually slept till 7am. I had to shower without getting my hair wet, because I didn’t want to turn the dorm into a horror movie scene with my fresh dye job.
My new color
I had a class today that was not my original choice. I was supposed to have a class on more fabric techniques with Traci Bunkers but she cancelled at the last minute. So I had to pick from a few classes. I picked randomly because there wasn’t anything I was really excited about. I got Winged dolls with Kate Lyons and it turned out to be my favorite class of all. I needed a sewing machine for this class too. I had brought an extra one from school and pulled it out to use, only to discover I forgot the cord to plug it in! duh! luckily she had a machine to share and I got way ahead of most everyone.

front of winged doll

She is the most embellished thing I have ever made pretty much. and I love it. Shawn thinks it is creepier than the 3 armed doll… maybe he thinks all dolls are creepy.

So after show and tell I went home and relaxed….
slept in today and have now been fussing with this entry for too many hours. so I must end it NOW>>>

check out my flickr for more pics!

tomorrow I have to unpack, clean and do laundry as well as mow and move stuff around to prep for the carpet cleaning on Tuesday. BUT I don’t have to go back to work 🙂

Color Tag “directions”

1) obsessively collect paper and fabric for over 20 years
2) obsess about the color purple so much that you paint the inside and the outside of the house purple

 

3) let your studio become a complete disaster

4) finally sort everything and set aside all purple papers and images as you sort

5) sew together all these scraps on your mother’s old singer sewing machine in crazy quilt style.

6) add ribbon and other fabric elements where they fit

7) run out of papers you like and decide to make more

8) create more purple papers

8a) get white and off-white papers with images and writing and texture

8b) scribble over with purple and magenta water soluable oil pastels

8c) blend with water and silver paint

8d) hang on your cool corkboard room border to dry

9) create other “elements”

9a) get old browned paper letter stencils

9b) scribble over with purple and magenta water soluable oil pastels

9c) blend with water and silver paint

10) keep backing papers of both experiments of 8 & 9 and added stamped/stencil letters in dark purple rubber stamp ink

11) sew new papers together
12) when satisfied with a “quilt” cut out card stock tags of proper size and sew to quilt. then cut out each tag.

13) attempt to be satisfied and not continue messing with it or you will ruin it!

(created for http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArtErratica/ swap May 2006)

About Artistamps

Stamp collecting is a hobby enjoyed by many throughout the world. But did you  know that creating stamps is also a well-loved hobby, and in fact an art form, practiced as long as stamps have been used as legal postage? Artistamps have been known through out the years as Seals, Decals, Poster Stamps, Cinderellas, Faux Postage, Postoids and have even been passed off as real postage.  But at the post office, they are only known as illegal forgeries. Wikipedia defines the  Artistamp as “postage stamp-like art form. It is similar to a Cinderella  stamp, in that it is not valid for postage, but it differs from a forgery … in that no intention is made to fool any post office or collector of stamps. The Artistamp is intended to be a miniature art form which  can depict or commemorate any subject its creator chooses.”

These art stamps have grown more and more common, first with the Dada  Movement in the 1920’s and 30’s and then with the popular explosion of Mail Art  in the 1980’s. In 1991, Nick Bantockbrought the world of Artistamps to the more popular reading public with his rich and wonderfully imaginative series, Griffin and Sabine.

Similar to the standard postage of the past, Artistamps will often be  perforated, gummed and display a country and monetary value. (these are the basic requirements.) They are often created uniquely or in limited editions. Artistamp creators will often include their work on actual mail, alongside valid postage stamps, in order to decorate the envelope with their art, similar to a Commemorative First Day Cover, which also a collectible.

Techniques for the creation of Artistamps vary greatly. They sometimes include perforations and a sticker or gummed backside to more resemble a traditional stamp, but that is by no means a requirement. Artistamps have been  issued in practically every possible format, often mimicking those of the postal services around the world, including  souvenir sheets, stickers and more. The artwork can be hand-drawn or painted,  lithographed or offset-printed, photographed, collaged, Xeroxed, rubber stamped, or printed with a computer printer. This is usually based on the skills, preferences and tools available to the artist.

Frequently the creators of such stamps will create an entire world, society  or political system in which to distribute their mock postage. Others will  comment on our own society or commemorate personal or public life and world events. Still others have made a business of creating for you a personalized stamp. Even now  stamp.com is offering the creation of legal US postage with your own images and  artwork.

So what of collecting these so called stamps? Do they have value? Philately  (stamp collecting) is not an artistic activity – mostly it is a kind of  investment: collecting monetary values. But Artistamps can not be used as legal tender in our current postal system. So they would have more of an artistic value, based on personal aesthetics combined with the popularity and value of the particular artist’s work.

If, then, you purchase Artistamps what should you do with them? Collecting them and saving them in archival stamp books or plastic protected binders is one  option. Using them to decorate your own mail is another. Even framing them and hanging them as a work of art is not uncommon. But whatever you do with them,  once you begin you will find it easy to become addicted to this wonderful form of mini-sized art.