my sol lewitt moment + a give-a-way

SFSU bathroom [hi]

so.... i didn't really want to talk about this beforehand because i had NO IDEA how it was going to turn out. i got to have a sol lewitt experience. when i was asked to be in depth of surface at san francisco state the gallery director asked me to have a visionary moment outside of the building.

he said : we have a vinyl cutting machine. you make doilies. we'd love to make vinyl doilies and stick them all over the entrance doors. we have tons of students who can work on this. game?

heart racing as i had wanted to do this for years - in fact i researched getting vinyl doilies but couldn't afford to get them cut... i quickly said yes.

SFSU :: pilotwheel 3

so several emails and an map i generated in illustrator later.... voila. they did it. and not only did they do it - they did it ALL over the building.

SFSU :: pilotwheel 7

including the bathroom [that's me in the ladies room up top]. god i love enthusiastic students. so much. i feel blessed. i want to do this again and again in a big way. how to fund it? find the buildings to do it to? i don't know. but i want it. i could get used to being sol ... giving directions .... having it come together .... mmm hmmmm

nocturna :: install longview

and the other piece? i added wall drawings and crochet and felt bits around it ....
[sorry it's just not as exciting as the vinyl, huh?]

here are all the install shots [this is a pictobrowser image viewer - so it might not show up in a feedreader?]

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer


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and the give-a-way? well - they gave me some extra doilies. so comment here with where you'd want to put one if you had one and i'll pick a winner next thursday :: 3/11.

Comments

Di said…
How exciting! I think it would be amazing to see a building covered in art work I had created (now that would actually be a miracle because no one would ever want me to do that but it's fun to dream!)

Now for the doily - it would be in my window - I live on the 2nd floor of a building on a main road, with a big bay/picture window overlooking the city and the sea....now if it was in fantasy I would put it in the windows of Galeries Lafayette in Paris or perhaps on the glass pyramid at the Louvre or perhaps on the shining silver outside of Gehry's Guggenheim in Bilbao - that would dd some colour......somewhere designed with vision to do justice to yours!
julie said…
OMG how fantastic lisa!! the building looks amazing and says lisa soloman all over it!!
i think your artwork looks pretty magic too.

i would obviously put the doiley on my girls window :) - i havent found any curtains that i was happy with so it is still bare.

xxx
Virginie said…
This is a fantastic giveaway as the vinyl doilies are absolutely lovely! I dream they would cross the ocean. I'd put them in my coming-soon new Roman appartment's bathroom.
Cindy Powers said…
I would love a doilie on my studio window. It would be inspiring to look at while I carve away my pots. Love your work.
shari said…
that is so awesome, lisa! they look great. and how wonderful that one of your wishes came true. i think if i had the doily i would put it on our large mirror. xo
Morgan said…
That is SO cool!!! I especially love the first ones on the mirror. We should all have our own vinyl cutting machines! Like- it's 2010: where's my jet car, where's my robot maid, and where's my personal vinyl cutting machine?!
lulubeans said…
they look so amazing!
stephervescent said…
lovely!

I would love to find a way to add some doilies to my vintage bicycle.. if that didn't work, I'd love them scattered around my apartment as little surprises/pops of color
clairehelene7 said…
How absolutely fantastic! They look so awesome! I think you definitely need to find a way to doily up more buildings!
Sarah said…
These look great and are such a fun idea! I think I'd put one of these on the bathroom mirror in my apartment. That crappy old mirror could definitely use some sprusing up, and this would be just the thing to do it.
Tracy said…
i just have to say how amazing! and well deserved. congratulations! xo
matirose said…
that is so exciting lisa!! wow. i love the way they look integrated in the environment.
i really wasn't commenting because of the giveaway, but i would put a doily in my studio or new house :)
AMCSviatko said…
I could almost definitely get one up at Craft ACT (http://www.craftact.org.au) here in Canberra but that's probably too easy: I'd try stealth stickering the mirror in the toilets at The National Gallery of Australia (http://www.nga.gov.au/Home/Default.cfm)for you so you can say you've exhibeted internationally!

If I get caught I can always say it's art...

;-)
Suzy said…
That is so great! How exciting to see your work all over the building.

I would put a doily on my bedroom window, so it would have the sydney city skyline peeking through behind it.
bugheart said…
that shot at
the entrance
made my heart stop.
doilies
in vinyl.
you are
magic girl!
Sarah said…
I would put one up on the south facing window of my girls' room. The shadows it would cast around midday would be beautiful.
melissa s. said…
oh my gosh, lisa. that is so fun. I'd love to walk into a doily-laced building. And if I won one? Right on my front door, for sure!
This is so great! I've wanted to use vinyl in a few past projects and found the cost too prohibitive. This worked out perfectly for you! You must be feeling better. You look healthy in the bathroom mirror : )
lindsay said…
oooh - walking through a doilied door - ! going to check and see if there was lipstick on your teeth in the ladies' room only to peer through coloured tendrils - thrilling!

i have a huge bay window in my apartment that looks onto a lovely tree lined street. my writing desk is in the window and that is what i'd doily in my home...

stunning, lisa. just beautiful.
Elizabeth said…
how long are these going to be up for? They look fantastic.

There's a largish window in my bedroom that I stare at while I lie in bed in the morning, one of these would look awesome in it.
risa said…
beautiful!
did you see that movie "herb and dorothy?" they had a sol lewitt piece that dorothy completed in their tiny nyc bathroom.
i'm torn about where i would put a doily. i'd either put one up in my work office window and leave it when i'm done here in april as my legacy of sorts (the office could use a little more color and creativity) or would stick it in our front window so everyone who walks by could enjoy it.
one would have been awesome on our old junker car, but we just gave him away.
sophia said…
that's pretty wonderful lisa. it's fun to hear the excitement in your voice about this project. congratulations...so cool when artwork evolves into something that genuinely moves you.
i love how they look on mirrors...i'd place it on a mirror somewhere in my home.
jen said…
wow! they look amazing, lisa! i would love to put a doily on my balcony window, right next to one of your drawings i have framed on the wall. beautiful.
Katrina said…
um... my own heart is racing and it's not even my work! lisa, this is amazing. and makes me think a bit of megan wilson's street flowers, in a way. oh love. (i happen to know of a few grants you might want to seek out.)

okay, i would ask the staff if we could put one on the windows of the conference room, looks out onto the street from the gallery. xoxo, k.
Anonymous said…
Hi Lisa,
Wow...what fun. I would like one for my daughter...on her big window facing a school yard...it would be great for her looking out and the kids looking up. Great pieces...I would love to get over there and see them up close.
Liz & Oona
Maitreya said…
That is SO NEAT. Wish I could see it irl. I have a big blank wall in my lab where I have been wanting to put a vinyl sticker and just haven't found the right one yet. A doily would look great wrapped around the corner. Hmm, if I don't win, I might have to figure out a way to do something similar....
Taylor said…
Aw these are incredible!! I went to the Boise Art Museum and fell in love with your robot patchwork and embroidery! So incredible!

As for the amazing vinyl doilies, I would definately use them to brighten up the living room in my shared apartment. My room is decorated with art and pictures but the living room is bare. I think it's time to give it some life =] thank you for the incredible giveaway!
Taylor
Jannette said…
I've arrrived here via habit - and just wanted to say I really really like your doilies..! Light, airy, colourful - how wonderful to enter a building and see something that makes you look, and then makes you smile!
rach said…
wow, i love them! so simple and yet so intricate. thanks for sharing!
Kelsey said…
These are wonderful and add a little colorful pizzaz to each window! These look like they're wonderfully fun to play with!

I'd put mine in my crafty room to inspire me to create and think outside the box. It would be wonderfully fun to put them in my kindergarten classroom as well (I'm a teacher by day). Oh, the possibilities!
~kelsey
Wow Lisa what an amazing project- CONGRATULATIONS! I would love to have one of your doilies-( the word to remember here is 'love')-I see them as a 'feminine module' that adds joy and a sense of connection to the buildings- (I hope this doesn't sound too odd)
My bedroom right now is totally bare so what an excellent start to an art collection to have a doilie that says Lisa S.!!
Best,
Annamaria
Esti said…
I'm so happy to see one of your dreams come true in such an impressive way. I wish things like these would come your way more and more. I'd be just glad to witness all your art processes from the distance.

And as for the doily. I am not sure. On a round window we have looking out the street, or a large mirror or my girls' bedroom door. Many little bits of these house could improve by sticking doilies onto them :)

(I wish I could stick it at my daily work space, to embellish a very gray surrounding...)
Jacqui Dodds said…
How exciting to be able to make your designs into vinyl - it certainly seems like a dream come true! They look really great too - it's like your handwriting all over the windows and mirrors. I think you should make more!
Jacqui Dodds said…
Sorry - I realise I was supposed to say where I would like to put a doilie. It's the kind of thing I would keep and not put anywhere for a long time as it is so lovely. However, I think that I would give it to my daughter and let her decide and put it in her room as her room is the one that is the most recently decorated. That would also take the decision away from me ;)
Halley said…
I have found your blog through Habit, one of my favorite stops in the morning. Fell in love with your doilies! Yay for you!
I would prob. put mine in my bedroom, where I could look at it everyday.
Anonymous said…
LOOK at all the excitement your SFSU exhibit generated! Just think of your doilies all over the world in people's homes, offices, studios, etc....You go, girl!!
How brilliant! You must be so pleased...they look totally amazing... What would I do with one of your doilies? My fantasy answer is to put them on the clouds - that would look fantastic! But my more sensible answer would be on the wall above my bed...x
betsy said…
This is such an incredible project, Lisa. Beautiful. I love the doilies and if I was lucky enough to have one, I would put it right on our front window for the world to see. xo P.S. I love the bathroom shot. :D
Camilla said…
Wow- those look wonderful! The students are very lucky to have been able to work with such nice designs, and imagine how great it must be to study there! I'd put one of them up in the studio space I work in at the moment, or maybe i'd save it and take it with me to Cornwall for when I start my Masters in Curating later in the year.
Lisa, that is even more awesome than I imagined! For some reason I didn't know they were ALL OVER the building, that's just too much too good! Congratulations, it is so beautiful. And I love seeing that photo of you. :)
erin power said…
wow, how amazing is it to walk into a building with your customized doilies everywhere? it must be a dream. they are gorgeous. :)
claire platt said…
wow! they look incredible! you've really taken over the building - I love it!
If I was lucky enough to win one I would put it on my mirror - i found it at a second-hand market - it's oval, decorative carved wood frame, it was in a poorly state when i claimed it - i've dressed it up with some pink paint and a doilie addition would make it look extra lovely!
sally said…
Beautiful!! I would put a doily on my studio window!! ;)
Yellow said…
This is so lovely! I am teaching and introduction to composition next quarter in a forgotten little house on the edge of campus. (I know, most exciting course and a remote location- poor students). The one thing it has going for it: windows! i think one of your doilies would be just the addition of spark and creativity my students need.
hayden said…
I live in a small, dark, basement apartment. The kitchen window above the sink - near where we stand to wash dishes, prepare meals, start and end our days has a lovely (if awkward) close-up view of a weathered fence. Though I do have a love for this fence (and the idea of what it might enclose), I sometimes dream of another focus for that window. Curtains would block out what little light comes through (I've actually dreamed of a complicated system of mirrors outside - or even just one - to bring more light to our space), but a doily? A vinyl doily would complement the roughness of the wood, and help frame our 'view'.

Thanks for the chance - definitely enjoyed sharing this! :)
Eireann said…
oh lisa! those look stunning.

obviously i'd love to put one in my window right in front of my desk.

thanks for your recent reading recommendations--the 'is this art' one was especially useful. xx
bugheart said…
oh,
i forgot...
i'd put one
on the door
to my lab.
:)
ps i got
your package
last night!
your pieces
look so
wonderful
over our bed.
his over grub
hers over me.
xoxoxo
abby try again said…
Wow!
Saw these on flickr , but didn't realize how many there are-these are amazing!
Your new piece looks fantastic, too. Lisa, thank you for always inspiring :)
Faythe Levine said…
hummmm, frame it? put it up in the new gallery i'm opening down the street? front window of my house? guest room? those photos are AWESOME. congrats on the opportunity!! x faythe
emily said…
oh my god. oh my god! lisa! (however did i miss this!?!) this is fantastic - on so many levels. congratulations you on this achievement. and the vinyl doilies all over the building and even in the bathroom are FANtastic! i love it.

where would i put one? so hard to choose one place. but. when we bought this house 7 years ago there were mirrors everywhere - on closet doors and whole wall mirrors and everywhere. we've taken most of them down, except for one large smoky mirror covering a narrow-ish wall in the living room, and i would absolutely have to put my vinyl doily there for everybody to see. and i will be thinking about this idea now forever. oh my. xo.
Tiffany said…
Gorgeous! Mine would go next to the bathtub.
amisha said…
these are blowing me away with their beauty, lisa! if i had one i would put it on my living room window to catch the late afternoon rays :)
xoxo
p.s. missing this space so much... looking forward to a long catch-up over the weekend :)
amy k. said…
oh this is brilliant! I wish I could have seen them in person, hanging around the building. God, this is so cool!!

and I think I would put one in the girls' room, on the big mirror they dance in front of-
~Jill said…
love the sfsu tribute!
i would put one on the gallery doors at csueb in honor of such a talented artist and teacher. we miss seeing you around:)
ps-saw the sjica show-congratulations! it's a great exhibition!!
jenifer lake said…
oh now i know the story! saw that photo of you on twitter and was loving on those doilies, now i know the source! super cool :)
Chase Clark said…
Oh man those doilies are amazing! Lucky.

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