A Gesture Transformed

Happy Birthday, Red White and Blue!

The gesture doll from a few posts back is finally complete. The image which kept coming to mind was from an old painting of Liberty on a battlefield (I can't remember who painted it, but I will find out.) She was ultimately my inspiration. I painted the doll and costumed her in a red white and blue ensemble. The hair is blues and whites, the bustier is blue crochet adorned with a sheriff star and a sea star. The big blooming skirt is made from red fabrics and white silk printed with pages from the constitution. In her outstretched hand is a star spangled baby.

An early Fourth of July gift celebrating US, THE PEOPLE.

More Stick Dolls

Stick Doll Project

This is one of the stick dolls I've been making these last two weeks. The Austin Fiber Artists asked me to put together a one-day doll class for July. I'd been thinking on this for a while -- how to offer a class which would allow a beginner to discover the joy in creating a doll in one day.

If I teach my style a doll probably cannot be made in one day. It would be too time consuming and tedious. Plus, you never know what you're going to get. You might see the head and decide on a costume or surface design which you never considered before (which would require going back home and getting new materials). So a full doll in one day was out.

With these stick dolls I'm pretty sure I landed on a project which will take a full day and guarantee the participant a challenging, rewarding and fun experience. Hopefully she will want to continue the process and make more, maybe move on to bodies and hands. In any case, it's a workshop designed to teach the basic doll head, needle sculpting, eye placement and the attachment of the neck to the head which uses a stitch which is repeated often in the making of a full doll. The workshop will give exposure to doll tools, the threads and types of materials used, where to place the pattern on the grain of the fabric for different features, etc. As I was working through the workshop day I discovered just how much I'd learned about doll making, all the trial and error I'd gone through, and I realized that I had landed on a style which is my own and which I can actually share. It's been exciting.

The more sobering part of the process is that I realize I can't offer this workshop to someone who's never sewn before, since the sewing is tricky and requires curves and darts, something a beginner wouldn't enjoy. I also can't expect everyone to have the tools you need (hemostats, stuffing tools, doll needles). Finally, I can see so many gaps in this process, areas which I haven't seemed to master myself. I know how many times I really screw something up and I just have to make it work by adding some extra feature, or glue! I'm a bit worried about not truly being expert at this. I'm thinking of bringing in my box of mistakes so people know what they're in for. Hopefully, the fiber artists will understand, since it's really just a play date with friends at this point. I'm going to see how it goes and then decide if it's something I can teach others.

Quilted Portraits

Pamela Allen is a Canadian art quilter/teacher whose workshop I was lucky to attend yesterday. For 6 hours we quickly worked on compostition, line, color while making 4 small art quilts. Her teaching method is friendly, quick and intuitive; I can tell she has had extensive art training because she really is not shy about editing and offering helpful criticism. Part of the workshop included time to hang all the work after each hour-long "assignment" and critique what we made. I really loved it.

This collage is composed of portrait quilts we made. Mine is the witch in the black hat.

It's so inspiring to work alongside other people on projects like this. If you can't get away for an art retreat I wholeheartedly recommend an afternoon with an artist who so graciously and enthusiastically takes her classes to you.

I thank my husband for taking over for me the second Sunday in a row so that I could play. He took the kids to a party at a huge rock-climbing/bowling/pool/arcade place and even stayed to play with the boys there. Wow.

A child's work

Once again I am inspired by my kids. When you get right down to it a child's main job is to create. Of course the inspiration around here is all THEM. Here are a few scenes at my house today:

A pile of fat quarters which my ten year old gifts to her friend Lauren for her tenth birthday. Katie saw Lauren's room yesterday and decided she should have some new fabric to play with. I think she's right. This is a little girl who watches project runway and actually met Tim Gunn at a fashion show. (I saw his signature on her cast this spring with his phrase "make it work".) If Lauren can't find something to do with these pretties, I'm afraid it's "auf Wiedersehen," don't you think? Who wouldn't love a gift like that?

A little vignette left on the kitchen counter. Check out the doll. Katie cleverly added pipe cleaners to her Model Magic creation so that the doll's arms bend at the elbow. She had asked me earlier today if she could look through my scrap drawer. I will never say no to her when she asks to have some of my craft stuff. But don't tell her that.

A wee block building found on the dining table. Love it. Don't know who claims to be the architect.

The top picture is an invention for a LEGO contest asking for a "must have" gadget 50 years in the future. The boys each made one a few weeks ago. This one is Willie's -- a portable grill for cooking meat when you're on the move. There's a weapon on there somewhere, too, in case you need to blast something. (OK, not exactly the future I want to live in, but hey, the little guy's seven. God forbid we really will need something like this 50 years from now!)

Can you see why I'm letting these short people hang around for awhile? I don't know anyone more fun.

Incidentally, Willie received a nice LEGO kit for his birthday this month which was a house kit. (No I don't get a kick-back from LEGO or Amazon.) I bought it for him because I see an architect in his strong sense of order and heavy-handed persnicketiness. (No offense to the architects out there, but maybe you'll understand what I mean when I say that!) The windows and doors and roofing pieces were a happy departure from the space ship and car pieces he usually plays with. His house turned out lovely and I believe after the love affair with it wears out, he'll take it apart and get a lot of use out of those new pieces. Anyway, LEGOs rock, but wood is good, too.

While I'm going on and on about LEGOs I have to mention our school's seventh and eighth grade LEGO robotics teams headed by Mick Scallon at St. Gabriel's. A few years ago after leading a LEGO club after school he decided to make the club an authentic elective for middle school students. It's only been a few years since the decision to make LEGO robotics a bona fide class. A serious and studious approach has paid off -- this year the school team went to the World LEGO competition in MN and placed 8th overall! They competed against teams from virtually everywhere, including the Denmark, where LEGO originates. Kudos to LEGO for taking their awesome toys to the next level and helping kids learn that mechanical engineering can be FUN.

Does anyone know, will LEGO ever go public?

Crochet Coral Reef

Jen Hirt, from the Museum of Ephemerata and my kids' art teacher (lucky us!) sent me this link, which I will pass on to you. Apparently, scientists discovered that the growth of coral can be reproduced through crochet stitches exactly mimicking the expanding and warping growth process. What fun. The Institute for Figuring website explains the process and shows you all kinds of crocheted coral and even invites you to make your own.

On a related note, I had an hour to kill in B&N today, where I found myself browsing the science and math aisle. There are many recently published books I didn't even know I wanted. Understanding prime numbers, mirror cells in the brain which are foundations of social interaction, or why humans are wired for music are all subjects within reach of the average jane. Well written contemporary science reads like a good story. Last year I discussed this popular genre with a brainy friend who runs a lab at Harvard. She said she couldn't enjoy these types of books because wasn't convinced the facts were "true". Probably unfortunately for me, I'm not one who needs proof on the molecular level that things are true, so I guess I can enjoy these types of books. I'm sure a couple of these will end up on my summer reading list.

The last days of school are upon us. Summer is here, but I'm feeling no inclination to relax -- scary. Just when I think I have plenty to do, I go and find more. Today my Jazzercise friends met for lunch at Johnny Fins, a floating restaurant on Lake Travis. I indulged (since there's no telling when I might be going out to lunch with the ladies any time soon) and met a new friend among them who makes gourd art, so we're planning a get together sometime this summer. A Fiber Arts meeting tonight inspired me (as usual) to do something different and creative with wool roving, but I'm thinking dryer lint might work almost as well.

Meanwhile, my son turned seven this week. He and his younger brother are busy with tee ball, and LEGO projects while thankfully my daughter's schedule is loosening up after a big dance recital last week. Too many hobbies around here lately. On top of it all, my Valentine doll is being exhibited at the TX Capitol this weekend and we're bringing an adopted cat into our home on Friday afternoon. What can I say; we stopped in for Guinnea Pig food and came out with adoption papers. He's a big mellow fellow named Pinto and I just know he's going to love it here!
More on the Fiber Arts exhibit tomorrow...I should probably sleep at some point tonight.

Spring in the City

I took my daughter and mother to Chicago for the weekend to celebrate a very special tenth birthday. The American Girl Place was the main event (for one of us). We also took in "Wicked" and stuffed pizza, some shopping, train rides and cab rides -- something we never get to do in Austin.

It was great being in a favorite city on its first really mild weekend of spring. So many people were out walking and enjoying the weather. Nice to be among them and see the sights, Canas bursting through the soil in plots along the streets, folks carrying their coats that they left their homes wearing in the morning, the sounds of traffic, teaching my ten-year-old to walk through revolving doors without stopping midway, and looking UP at buildings and Chicago's tall trees.

Here was a sight/slogan I loved! More art to come soon. I'm inspired to create...

If a five year old boy with a broken arm can do it...

My son has been bringing home the sweetest little handmade pillows from school. It's his last year at a very traditional Montessori school and his high spirits have caused him some frustration there, so next year he'll be at a "mainstream" (as some Montessori parents call it) and strongly academic Kindergarten. Since he broke his arm a few weeks ago I wasn't sure how his final months of school would go and what work he would choose. I could just imagine the havoc he'd wreak with a maddening and debilitating cast on his arm. But NO! Lo and behold he's been stitching and sewing up a storm, with perfectly tiny and even stitches, just like the most patient and clever student EVER to grace the halls of that school. I just love these things. His face is beaming like a headlight every time he emerges from the classroom with a new pillow. He is right proud of his stitchin' self. So am I.

Exploring Gesture

The space a doll inhabits reveals something, but I'm not sure what. I've been staring at this figure(s) for several days now in all light and from all angles. I started this doll without consideration. I was playing with the eyes in the head and found a rather worried or merely diligent expression, didn't care for the chin or the shape of it's head, but fixed it to a body nevertheless. I realize I need to add to the bust to make it more womanly, but then what? The baby in her hand can stay or go, incidentally; it is not fixed there yet.

Does the body's gesture suggest a certain costume, personal characteristic, or some other concept? I am intrigued with the idea that a figure's space, that portion of space that a doll or any body (anybody!) occupies in the world, may relay something universal. I'm trying to decide if this pose is trying to tell me how to costume her or if I should consider some esoteric theme. Either way it's all play. This is the fun part; the speculation over Who or What this doll IS.

Sometimes a costume is what makes a doll. Other times it's an idea (patriotism, hunger, flattery) which provides a great jumping off point. In this case I sense it's the sweeping, almost affected gesture.

Recently my massage therapist (whose business card states "fairy godmother" -- in addition to being board certified -- can you do any better than that?) loaned me some articles on space and movement, written by a former dancer. While reading them, I didn't fully appreciate the concepts, being neither a professional dancer nor a massage therapist, yet they have crept into my thought process. See how a little information does a person no good? Alas, this is the story of my life. I resolve to re-read those papers. After all, she enthusiastically forced them on me after I told her I was working with armature and balance. Maybe she knew something I didn't. She claims the fairy godmother title, after all. Maybe there's an answer for me there. How to finish this doll!

Doll Eyes Awaiting Paint

Eleven pairs of eyes fresh from the oven. The best way to put holes in them is to use a doll needle, which is curved (see it on the left) so that the holes don't show from the doll's eye sockets. Rather, they will be embedded in the stuffed head. I match them up by size; since they are hand rolled they are all slightly different. The trick will be to paint the irises at the exact spot in relation to the bead hole so that they pull through and are centered in each socket.

This makes me thinks that someday I'm going to make a spider woman doll with a bunch of eyes and legs and arms. She will be charming, I'm sure.

I give you my heart

I finished this doll a couple of weeks ago and was delighted with her. As I've said before, these dolls take on a personality of their own, so once they're "finished" it's as if they are not mine anymore. This doll "Valentine" is much sweeter, gentler and giving than I thought she'd be. I think it's the lace and the expression on her face. Check out the whole doll on my website www.jenmcgahan.com in doll gallery 4.

I'm excited about the new eyes. Before this one I'd been painting over the needle sculpted features of the face. I decided to try making the eyes from Sculpy and painting them. As if they were beads, I strung them with strong thread and pulled the eyes through cuts I made between the eye spaces after the doll's head was stuffed. I like the effect, although some of them look a little bug-eyed. After playing around with these bead eyes I think they will just be another variable feature on the face. They do seem to add personality.

A Humble Servant

The head of my children's school is one of the most amazing and inspiring people I've had the pleasure of knowing. Dr. Judith Knotts not only leads a top notch school, but also practices the kindness and service she advocates and expects of the community. This morning during school mass she told the story of Jesus personally washing the feet of his disciples before the last supper. Then she carefully and lovingly washed the feet of 12 people -- faculty, staff, kids, parents, and a few guests she'd met over the years from her association with Austin's homeless people. I can't say I've seen a more moving re-enactment of this story. To see this woman who is loved and respected not only by her school, but among leading elementary education experts in our country, perform such a humbling and symbolic act was awesome. Today I feel so honored to have witnessed her gesture of love. She is a wonderful example for school children and adults alike.

Surface Design Fabric Samples

A lovely collection of probably 100 or more surface design technique samples was shown at the Feb. Austin Fiber Artists' meeting. I believe it was a traveling show sent by members of the Surface Design Guild. The variety of dyes, stitches, substrates, and techniques (shibori, batik) was almost exhausting. I took some pics of some of my favorites as they came around. The next meeting is tomorrow night; hopefully between T-ball practice, dance practice and my husband's work schedule I can make it there!

New Fabrics

...and a mango. A few weeks ago I sneaked out of a birthday party my son attended and ducked out of the rain into a quilt store nearby. I fell in love with the floral print on the left and built from there. I thought I'd make Easter eggs out of it, but here it is Holy Week and I haven't started on them. I guess I'll do something else. In any case it's proof that a few quarters of fabric can turn a dreary day into something special. How I love a good fabric store.

Valentine Doll in Progress

The Geek Squad had my computer for one month. I probably could have gone to a coffee house and used a computer there, but I just don't have time for that kind of thing. So I did without. It's alienating not being online for awhile. People don't use the phone anymore. I know I don't. I had to let a few people know that I was still alive, but other than paying bills and making doctor's appointments I let all online activity languish there without me. It's humbling and liberating to realize just how smoothly life goes on without my involvement. I only wasted a little bit of my internet vacation (I found I snacked a bit too much) but it coincided with some sick days with the kids last month so maybe the timing was perfect after all.

The main benefit: without the distraction of the computer and other email related obligations (I did shirk a few) I got to work on a couple of dolls finally. It had been since before Christmas that I'd worked on them and I was really missing them. The one above had been floating around in my head for a long time now and she turned out much more lovely than I expected. I'll post a picture of the finished doll as soon as I have one. I also attended my first meeting with the Austin Fiber Artists, formed last summer. My new friend Ruthie invited me to join when we met at the AMOA show in December. They are an active group of artists who meet once a month, attend shows, take classes, share skills, and even exhibit together. I knew I was home when I noticed that half the women had dye under their fingernails! Suddenly I feel more connected. Their Yahoo group is thriving with newsworthy and interesting posts every day, and the members seem motivated to share and educate each other and the community about fiber arts in Austin. Yippee!

Other than that, my forced break from the computer includes these highlights:

• The flu swept through our house with a little disruption.
  
• I read about 6 books, including some eye-openers -- Middlesex (Eugenides), and Real Simple Food (Alice Waters). One of my new year's resolutions was to get back to reading more. My goal was two novels and one "other" book per month and after three months I already feel like my old self.
• Christian, the family favorite, won Project Runway. Didn't you love seeing him win?
• I treated myself to U23D at the IMAX. No one local I know (and how sad is that?) loves U2 the way I do so rather than drag someone along like a wet blanket I just took myself. I was just me and Bono, the Edge, Larry and Adam, and a few thousand fans. A real "bird in flight" experience, it was, flying around the stadium, swooping close and soaring away again. I could have touched Bono's nose with my little wing. It was heaven.
  

Back Porch Style

I met Conni at last year's Stitch craft show in Austin, where she purchased a book from me and enthusiastically told me about her new shop in Dripping Springs. We've been keeping in touch online through the winter and her shop is finally open. I stopped by the other day and was so charmed by the bright and juicy atmosphere she and her partner Valli had created there in the old stone house on the highway. The store's called Consuela. In it are warm wood floors, a couple of large well-stocked work spaces filled with fabrics, ribbons and buttons (which they use to create oil cloth pillows and bags and other decorative things for the home), and in the back a room filled with their sunny, stylish, artsy merchandise. My favorite thing about the shop is that every turn reveals something different. They also carry work by a smattering of independent artists and designers (me included). You can't find two things alike in there -- proof of these Texas ladies' creativity and passion for enlivening a shopper's experience. You can tell that they have a lot of fun and want to share it. Prices are reasonable; you'd expect to pay a lot more for most of the delightful handmade and vintage goodies they have. I just love this place and will definitely purchase gifts and stop for a chat whenever I'm in Dripping Springs. If you can't make it check out the website Conseulastyle. It definitely captures the flavor of this delicious new shop. The grand opening is Friday, March 28. Margaritas from 5-7!

New Sketchbook Covers

Just playing with fabrics and decided to make a few of these sketchbook and journal covers. I like how they look before the flaps are stitched down (like the green one at top). They're like mini quilts. One of these days I'll go ahead and make a quilt just to look at, but until then they're book covers. I've covered all my books (date books, address books, journals, sketchbooks).

What does it say about me that I have to make something functional all the time? I think it's a result of my effort to simplify/get rid of stuff I don't need/ clear out the superfluous decorative stuff around here to calm my head. I figure if we just make the stuff we use pretty then we won't need to fill up the house with all the extra stuff. If it's just hanging on the wall or sitting on my window sill then I'm breaking the rules. That doesn't sound like an artist talking, does it?

You should see my studio, full of dolls, doll parts, and all kinds of funny little arty things. My kids are all super creative and their toys and artwork are everywhere. My husband also has hobbies galore, music, electronics, etc. His studio is as full as mine (but no color -- all black and gray and chrome. I keep trying to sneak some art in).

I still maintain that I could live in a simple one room space with a bed, a desk, a window. I really don't need all this decoration and chaos and activity. I could very well be wrong about that, my little fantasy about being a contemplative nun somewhere. But I hope to find a happy medium. I'm watching my parents and older (on the verge of retiring) friends all starting to fret about their possessions and how to get rid of them. This downsizing of theirs has resulted in more than a few boxes of useless stuff pitched in my direction. We recently received an assortment of about 20 videotapes of children's movies from an aunt in another state. Very well-meaning, of course, but in these days of Netflix and DVDs I'm happy to say I don't mind the job of taking them to Goodwill for her. Sometimes you just have to make gifts of things to purge them.

Here's a little blessing to all my future grown kids and extended family -- you may toss this ratty little covered journal right into the river where it can decompose and feed the fish. May someone thousands of years from now find the treasure of green glass beads embedded in sand. I don't care. It's my gift to you.

Birds in Flight -- Lots of them!

Winged Migration:
This film has been in my Netflix queue for awhile now and I finally saw it tonight. It's wonderful -- an hour and a half of birds in flight! The filmmakers must have attached tiny cameras to the birds because most of it is shot from the point of view of the airborne bird. It's really amazing to see the landscape below while among migrating geese. One time as my plane was nearing the ground I saw the shadow of a bird flying along with the plane's shadow, speeding over the land. It was weirdly breathtaking, unnatural and beautiful. I suppose I always look at birds flying and imagine being free from all the constraints of the world, our small duties and tedious days. Yet, in this film the narrator begins by saying "This is a story about a promise. A promise to return." And of course these animals repeat their flight patterns down to the smallest landmark, year after year, flying thousands of miles to mate or eat, with no lamentation that their days and years are all the same. My three children fell asleep while watching, of course. I convinced them it would be as cool as Microcosmos (a favorite nature film) but the Enya(?) music and beating wings must have done them in after a long Saturday. I loved it.

Valentines for the Troops

At their last meeting, Girl Scout Troop 1953 made Valentines for Troops in Iraq. They enjoyed playing with fabrics and fibers, buttons and beads. I was helping them earn their stitching badge, but we ran out of time and ended up using quite a bit of glue. The postcards were adorable, though, and sure to be appreciated overseas.

I'm always amazed the amount of work that goes into planning just one meeting with kids. My hat is off the the three women who commit to these meetings every month.

Vest to Jacket

Ok, A friend asked me (a year ago) to sew sleeves on her embroidered vest which she purchased in Saudi Arabia many years ago. She even gave me the fabric for the sleeves. Try as I might, even after many episodes of Project Runway, I could not find the inspiration to complete this simple task. I thought maybe I should add a collar with the same material so that the sleeves wouldn't seem too loud. But then again, maybe the patchwork look wasn't quite right. I finally decided to just put three-quarter length skinny bell sleeves on it so she could wear it over a turtleneck or collared shirt. The truth is, my friend is a tall, very slender, very hip chick and if anyone could pull this off it would be her! I can't wait to catch her wearing it. I'm returning it today, after looking at it on my mannequin for over a year. Yippee!