it's in the workmanship

i love this time of year in the bay area. we always have an indian summer right about now... so it's warm and lovely and sunny... the tomatoes finish ripening and the anenomies go insane.... you can tell that fall is right around the corner [leaves are tinging orange and nights get a bit more nippy] but you get to put it off by wearing flip flops and throwing all the windows open for some last bits of fresh air!

i'm quite excited because my favorite entomologist is coming out this way.... and will even come to see the show "embroidered stories and knitted tales" at the bedford gallery . the opening is tomorrow from 3-5pm. i'm a bit less stressed about this opening because there are so so many artists in the show. and i know a few of them so i can hopefully just blend into the background.... although i still don't know what to wear... again... yes... sigh....

so on thursday when i went to meet and talk to all the docents i got to preview the show and golly gee is it really cool. there are a few artists that i've really loved for a long time [ stephen sollins , megan whitmarsh , mark newport ] and then a whole host of others that make simply amazing work. i'll go into more detail about some of them later, but.... it made me feel super honored to be a part of this continuum. listening to what insprired the other artists i really got to thinking about this whole ART and CRAFT thing. again. this is a constant for me - it is sort of always bubbling beneath the surface.... and it's risen to the top once again.

partially because i think i'm going to be writing a little article for kitchen sink on this topic [although after thursday i may change this into a conversation on the topic between myself and lacey jane roberts who is writing her thesis on this subject {gulp!}]. but mostly because i think this is an interesting time in which needle arts are "cool" and "fashionable". i know there are some of us who are doing it for reasons that hit close to home and our hearts, but it seems like every single gallery now has at least one artist on their roster that uses thread, yarn, or some kind of crafty material in their work. which ones of us are going to be using these materials 10 years from now when they aren't hip? and how do you decifer the good usage from the frivolous usage?

my friend sydney made an excellent point of well - there are millions of painters - do they all get upset when they see another painting? in the moment i said no... but now that i've thought about it - they sometimes DO when they see paint being used in the same manner that they are using it... of course no one owns the right to a style, or a material, or a color... but i find it fascinating that as artists and makers we tend to want to claim something as ours...

and as fate would have it... the american masters show on andy warhol aired this week. there were so many good tidbits in there. i especially liked how they talked about him disengaging - or splitting into 2 people. the public andy who seemed to not care and the private andy that was anxious . and i loved the idea of being a conduit -- a filter for ideas -- and an editor [he was a master at removing, selecting, and detailing - things that are so close to my own practice].... finally i really really loved the idea of making marks and that every mark can be infused with double or triple meanings. like language and emotions....

i think that's enough art babble for a saturday afternoon, no? have a pleasant weekend everyone!