Saturday, May 21, 2011

Studio Guest

My friend Helen came to visit last week. Here we are in my studio.
And here we are in Sunday school in 1976. I am in the plaid dress on the left and Helen is in the pink dress in the back row.
Helen is now an Episcopal priest. She is taking a 16 week sabbatical funded by the Lilly Endowment. As part of her sabbatical schedule, she wanted to spend a few days of guided creativity with me. She has long been an enthusiastic supporter of my work and has always encouraged me to explore teaching and sharing my art in unique ways. We had two and a half wonderful days (and some late nights) in the studio.
We painted fabric, created fused collages, explored surface design, tried hand embroidery, used a variety of embellishments and thought about composition and design.
Benjamin ran around taking a few candid pictures.
Here I am contemplating whether to add some embroidered vines or some square sequins on my piece.
Helen tried several techniques that I don't think she thought she would enjoy... and then liked them more than she thought she would. Isn't that was exploration is all about?! We also fixed fresh artichokes which she liked more than she thought she would!
Here are some of Helen's completed pieces. She was very focused and truly took each of these pieces exactly where they needed to go -- all the way to labeling and preparing them to be hung.
I especially love the long piece that was created with fabrics Helen painted on the first day, composed on the second day and quilted and finished on the third day.

3 comments:

Kristin L said...

That looks like a wonderful visit -- and so productive!

Jeannie said...

Helen learned very quickly! Her artwork is beautiful. What a wonderful friendship you have.

Joanna Stein said...

I love it! Also, I don't remember Andy Dick growing up in JC in the that nice polyester suit.