Aprons at TraillWorks

Guests at the Opening of Two Sides to Every Story, 10/9/10

After months of discussion and hard work, Two Sides to Every Story, has finally come together as a big success. When I moved to 214 Spring Street earlier this year and realized that I had some pretty big walls to fill, my first thought was to talk to my friend and artist, Martha C. Hall. I met Martha several years ago at a Business of Art meeting (an organization I used to run). She captivated everyone with her amazing fabric work. She was very shy, but was quite impressive to me about her seriousness and dedication to her work.

Last winter, Martha was at my old studio and we got to talking about ideas for our work and found we both had similar interests in aprons. I suggested that we regroup in 2010 and see where we were. We met soon after my move, brainstormed a variety of ideas, and came up with the name Two Sides to Every Story. We set a date for and October show and started working. 

Neither of us were overly aware of what the other was working on. And when Martha dropped by to hang the show, we were both amazed at how well everything worked together and at the differences in our vision of the apron. 

Martha on the day of the hanging.

Me, in front of our work.

The show opened officially with a reception on October 9th, which also happened to be Newton Heritage Day. During the day, I gave a lecture on the history of aprons, their symbolism and their roles in womens' lives, all connected to our exhibit. In the evening, Martha and I greeted guests and talked about the work.  As part of the ongoing exhibit, Martha taught a one-day workshop titled No Sew Fabric. Both the opening and the workshop were well-attended and enjoyed by all. I have a photo album posted on Facebook to see more of what we made. 

No Sew Fiber Workshop Participants with Instructor, Martha C. Hall, 10/24/10

It's been an extraordinary experience working with Martha, as a friend and artist. Exhibiting with Martha encouraged me to prioritize my own artwork production and explore new ideas. I love seeing her work every day, and I would be remiss if I didn't say that she has helped bring new people into the gallery through her workshop and our exhibit. The success of our show together has already encouraged a potential collaborative exhibition with another local artist next year, Karin Lowney-Seed. 
 

Martha and Me Talking to Guests.

Martha Talking to Guests.

Martha and her Friend.

Lee Goldberg (my husband), Me, Don and Adele Sirota (Lee's aunt and uncle)

Ibbie Boehnke (my aunt), Me, Martha Traill Schaeffer (my mom and successful jewelry artist).

Stay tuned for another post in the next few days about an apron sharing event she and I are hosting on November 20th at the gallery.

Inside My Studio - Teacups, Aprons, and Hoosiers

Palette table, oil paints, and reference pictures of teacups for an upcoming commission in my studio.

I've been hearing it from Corrie for awhile, "where's news about your own work?" Hmmm, I am working on my own work, but between my husband's new job and traveling responsibilities, caring for my son who is now verging on the fabulous age of two (enough said), and taking care of me (which I'm learning takes precedence over everything), I haven't had much of an opportunity to share what's going on in my own studio! So I'm going to write a few posts in the next week about commissions and pieces that I'm working on.

Towards the end of the summer, I booked three Christmas commissions and am continuing work on one that has been slowly progressing since the beginning of the year. No worries, the client keeps telling me "piano, piano". (She's Italian.) All of them deal with memories, involve food, or food preparation. However, the two I'm featuring today focus solely in the home domain and are related more to food prep and containing food, whereas the other two are about food.

The first commission is a gift from one of my adult students and her two sisters to their mom for Christmas. Her mom has a collection of prized teacups, and was, and still is an apron-wearer. My student actually stole her threadbare, everyday apron, and the lavender gingham and organza seen below, and shot several photos from a variety of angles of three selected teacups.  

We decided on a series of three panels, 10" x 10" each, on which to create an homage to the three teacups, somehow incorporating her aprons. I'm so glad with the selection of teacups that June made, and I found that the lavender and gingham worked so well to tie all three together. After several different sketches, I came up with the one below arranging the teacups in a more dynamic, asymmetrical composition, playing with different points of view, all featured on the organza apron. I still have some things to work out, which I will do once I start painting, but she was thrilled with the overall gist. I'll be starting this painting in November, as I'm still working on preliminary sketches of other commissions.

My client's mothers' apron (lavender gingham trim with organza body). Mom doesn't know I have it!

Teacup

Teacup

Teacup

 

Selected composition for three-paneled painting featuring my client's mother's teacups and apron.

The second commission was begun back in February, but actually was implanted in my studio two and a half years ago when my client brought me her grandmother's sugar bowl in a Styrofoam box and pink gift bag to my grand opening celebration at my old location. She told me her idea then, "Sweet Memories" featuring the sugar bowl. Then stuff happened in her life, and mine, and she's just simply fantastic. I actually hadn't communicated much with her during 2009, and then I moved to 214 Spring and we got in touch again. 

After sitting down over a glass of wine, we came up with the start of a painting that is still evolving and now much closer to inception. Initially, the painting was to simply be the sugar bowl, but after seeing some of my larger works composing many aspects together, my client wanted to include the red Cosco stool I own, and her grandmother's apron. Well, the first round of sketches weren't happening, I was too tied to some of my previous paintings. Then, when we discussed some of the problems, my client suggested adding in her grandmother's Hoosier cabinet. I thought, well, that's just going to add in more complications. Well, it actually enabled me to shift my thinking and come up with a more interesting composition. 

The first sketch shows the Hoosier on the left, with the percolator on the shelf, the sugar bowl on the stool, and a tile floor extending out into a fantasy space with a manikin wearing her grandmother's apron. This goes back to a painting I did in college of my parents where space between the interior and exterior blends together. 

After meeting and reviewing this idea a couple of weeks ago, my client decided, and I think rightfully so, given the proportions of the canvas, that the apron is too much. Now we're moving towards no apron, a window in the background to open up the composition, flooding in light (much like her memories of her grandmother's kitchen), and moving the sugar bowl to a shelf over the window. I still need to work a bit more on the latest sketch before I present it to her, but this is where I'm at now. 
 

My client's stove top percolator and her Grandmother's sugar bowl on a shelf in my studio.

My client's grandmother's Hoosier cabinet.

2nd round of sketches incorporating the Hoosier, percolator, sugar bowl, and apron.

3rd round of sketches adding a window element and moving the sugar bowl to a shelf.

Catch me later this week in my studio with progress on my other two commissions - a visual homage to an eating tour in Italy and a tile design for installation in a client's kitchen / bar area.