03.29.07
Whip up
According to the dictionary whip up means: To prepare quickly, to excite, to create, incite, build, invent, conceive, push, upset, manufacture and provoke… so that’s what I’ve become involved in having my debut as a writer for Whip up, a site – and a meeting place – where artists, crafters and makers exchange ideas and information about their passion .
Whip up focuses on handmade crafts, designs, patterns, magazines, books, blogs, tutorials, exhibitions etc. etc. It also features a monthly Whiplash competition where everybody’s challenged to contribute a tutorial according to a certain category or subject.
Please go and check it out if you haven’t been there yet. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting!
03.24.07
Ready for London
And here is Anna Sofie saying goodbye to Nala (the very black furry thing she´s holding in her arms) – last thing to do before take off to London.
One weeks study trip to the capital of Great Britain together with her high school class mates and teachers. God, wish it was me!!!
Now I have one week to imagine how it will be the day she’s leaving home for good…
03.19.07
Ready for Brussells
03.18.07
Boywatcing at Aros
A Saturday trip to Aros and Ron Mueck´s “Boy”. The sculpture is incredibly realistic, absolutely worth a visit. So are the videos made by Bill Viola and Pipilotti Rist. Actually the whole museum is a nice place to spend a half an afternoon – although the café is a terribly expensive place to take your tea!
After our “boy watching” we went on to the cinema to see “The Painted Veil”. A love story set up in the most divinely beautiful Chinese scenery and landscape.
And then it was back home and directly into the studio to work with my art money project. Deadline for arrival is 22.nd March so I hope it is ready to send off at the end of the weekend…
03.17.07
An invitation
The desk of my studio is laid: I’ve been invited to create a new set of small collages 12 x 18 cm (4½x7 inches?) called art money for an exhibition later this month at the Danish Cultural Institute in Brussels. There will be another exhibition and a conference on “Visual Arts and Politics” at Goethe-Institut Brussels where. The occasion is the celebration of the 50 years birthday for EU and it’s a couple of quite prestigious events.
The art money concept started as a practical joke and a critical comment on financial slavery some years ago – it has now developed into an art project witch is looked at with great interest. Isn’t that magnificent – and funny?!
03.15.07
Big washing day
Spring is here now. I celebrated the day washing and sorting out some of my piles of second hand fabric. I wonder why, but all my thrifted finds always have this vague smell of tobacco and stuffiness. Maybe it’s simply the smell of second hand shop?
Here in Denmark smoking is not accepted in public places any longer. The only sanctuaries left for smokers actually seem to be the second hand shops. At least the non-fancy ones run by a staff of elderly little ladies and gents. Of course it’s difficult to forbid volunteers, who work for free, to drink coffee, smoke cigarettes and socialize while doing their job, so when you get home you have to wash your finds – even if they look perfectly clean. But it’s okay, I guess it´s as a way of taking possession of the stuff so to speak.
Today was a perfect day for washing and hanging out the laundry - everything dried in a couple of hours and here it is: sorted out and piled up. Ready for use.
03.14.07
A quilt to be…
This weekend I started a new project – a quilt.
My last quilt had a star pattern – this one is going to be made out of squares – and still it´ll contain stars!
Right now I’m considering my palette: red and a few green and blue to contrast – or?
03.11.07
An appetizer
Here are two great books I’d like to recommend, both bought in London this autumn.
Especially the Crafter’s Companion is a favourite. It’s an introduction to 17 textile crafters from the blogging community – their tips, tales and patterns. The books offers a lot of reflections on why bother to make things by hand when we live in a world where every material desire can be fulfilled by ready-made, shop-bought items? What got these guys started – what inspires them, what sort of sewpojects are they doing and what’re their studios/working spaces like? Of course every section is sprinkled with photos of projects, piles of fabric, embellishment, pincushions, tools and whatever lies at peoples working desks.
Vintage fabric style has equally inspiring photos and ideas on how to transform old textiles into dresses and soft furnishings. It´s a great source of inspiration, actually the whole idea of design/redesign is – one of – my favourite subjects.
A quick flick through books like these – and you ´re ready to rush to your own working space and start – or go on with – your own projects…
03.05.07
Workshops…
This weekend I’ve been totally absorbed in planning and describing a number of workshops I’m going to teach in mixed media subjects such as Artists´ Books, Icons & House altars, etc.
I’ve also planned some workshops in the textile department: Ideas and inspiration for redesign of second hand clothes and fabric.
Anyway, planning’s always the difficult part for me: to decide – months before – what you´re going to do…
I am getting better though!
Hope to see some of you guys sign in!
03.02.07
A fancy apron
Look what happened to my grandma´s apron: a very beautiful piece with its green and brown leaves carefully embroidered on white linen. Definitely not the type of apron you wear in the kitchen or the studio to protect your clothes from grease and dirt. This was a fancy apron meant to look nice – when serving tea or dinner at special occacions. I inherited it recently, but as I never wear aprons for the appearance but only for pure rational reasons I decided to transform it into something else.
It is now a file cover and lays here at my desk reminding me of the many hidden skills of my grandmother.
