Category Archives: personal

my art history

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You might have noticed that I added some new categories last month. One of them is “my art history“. I figured that it would give me a place to show how little has changed over the years!

When the studio building where I worked burned down in 1999, it took me a while to realize that one of the biggest loses would be my sketchbooks- years of them. I have been thinking about the recurring themes in my artwork. If I post examples of the artwork with those themes, it is a way of remembering what was in those sketchbooks. And as I try to make some kind of order in my studio these days, I keep finding examples.

I figured this needed to be posted today, since I finished up another tiki yesterday.

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1972, I think. Carved out of a scrap end of a 2 x 4. In an early 70’s definition of feminism, my 2 friends and I signed up to take wood shop in my senior year in High School. We were the groundbreakers- the first girls through the door. This was a little project I did then.
Combine embroidery, a Spirograph, a 14 year old and some really ugly color combinations-

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It is 3″ x 3″. I did this the same year as my sampler. I have no memory of how I transfered the image onto the fabric, but I see on the back that I wasn’t happy with my first try.

and some other stuff- Last Saturday, I broke down and got myself a subscription to Embroidery. I was so excited when I got an envelope in the mail today- 2 magazines- yippee! And another thing- I am having problems with my comments and email. I am not getting emails when someone comments so I have to go check things out regularly and when I email back, it might look a little odd. It all has to do with over-zealous spam filters or something… arg!

New York trip

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pictures out the train window-

1/14- leaving Boston
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and into Connecticut-

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to New Haven- where there was very little snow.
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and then it was too dark for photos.

I will start with the most fun thing- On Tuesday afternoon, I visited the Etsy Lab– it was great! I was very unsure about the whole expedition, wondering if it was going to be totally weird, but everyone was very nice and welcoming. I guess what I should have done was to take photos of me with all the people that work there… but I didn’t. Instead-

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this is what greets you when you come in the door-

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A wall of artwork from Etsy people. I left an atc to add to the wall.
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Outside the offices, there is a giant poster with everyones avatar… I couldn’t find mine and I did look for a while!

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Other stuff I did- I went to the Museum of Art and Design and saw Pricked, Extreme Embroidery. There were a few pieces that stuck with me- one by Paul Villinski of wings made of gloves. Another by Shizuko Kimura that was sketches done with thread. Also, Andrea Dezso. I have a hard time getting past the fact that this used to be the American Craft Museum and they felt they had to change their name. Please!

Across the street is the American Folk Art Museum– I love that place! They have a permanent collection that I always enjoy. When I visit, I feel like I am seeing old friends. They are having a show that included some amazing papercuts. I’ve been seeing a lot of papercuts in the greater internet world and was primed to really enjoy what was on display.

On Wednesday I went to the Metropolitan Museum– which is totally overwhelmingly huge. I did find the costume show I was looking for, but I think I had to ask 5 different people and it took 20 minutes to get there from when I started out. Wow.

Also, lots of walking, people watching, window shopping, fun, fun fun. Oh, such tired feet!

And then home. This is Penn Station, as we were leaving-

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and out the window of the train again-

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And home again, very late. I think I’ve been catching up on the computer ever since!

I’m going to New York

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I’ll be in New York City next week.  Any ideas for meet-ups or shows I shouldn’t miss?  I haven’t been paying attention and now I am only remembering interesting shows that are over.

I got some treasure yesterday-  lucky me!  Now for the picking over and sorting fun.
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I have put some stuff into my Etsy shop.  Some of it is artwork that came back from Craftland.  Other things are of the -clearing out for the new year- category.  Those include felted ball pincushions and also bug pins.  I’m not finished posting yet… hopefully the bug pins will go up later today.

the last day of 2007

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Two dolls that I got for Christmas. Lucky me!

A beautiful EFA doll from Bettsi at Tender Arts.

And, a Wren doll. She came from the Boston Bazaar Bizarre.

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I have been working on my links. I am moving them to link pages. If you see anything that doesn’t work or is spelled wrong, let me know and I’ll fix it. Also, it is showing up as I am working on it- ie, I’m not done yet.

Did you see these amazing 3-d women/doll illustrations (?)- linked today on Drawn.

I just went back and read my January 2007 post about what I hope to accomplish this year. Here is the list-

-write up and publish at LEAST one pattern.

well, I wrote some tutorials, but not a doll pattern… maybe that is step one.


-make cards, probably through cafepress shop

Yes! I made cards! They are available in my Etsy shop. Hopefully more in 2008.


-go back and finish the many unfinished dolls sitting around my studio- they are all untouched since I showed them here and here. For the most part, they need clothes.

not really. The only doll that got finished was done right after I wrote that last January.


-teach a class- wool dolls

Yes! I taught 2 last summer and I am planning on doing it again.

-more linking, more commenting, spend less money, make more dolls, go on a real vacation, laugh more, garden more, make a new friend, worry less… I’m sure there is more but that’s all for now.

?, maybe, probably not, yes!, yes- Ithaca NY and Chicago,

maybe, yes- I think I got excited about gardening again this year, friends?- yes and yes! and probably not… I am good at the worrying thing.

At this point, all I can think of for next year is to hope to get to the end and not be so totally wiped out. I will probably post some more thoughts about this in a few days though.

Okay, enough for now. Happy New Year everybody!

reworking and balance vs passion

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I used to think it was somehow a sin to go back and change (or fix) an artwork that I’d considered “finished”. I seem to have gotten over that. Some of the pieces that stay around for a while, continue to talk to me. This baby has been around for a year or so. I redid the applique. Much better-

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And, I decided this fellow needed some more oomph in his hair-

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I’ve been pondering the notion of balance (in ones life). Is there any intersection of passion and balance? I don’t think of myself as ever living a balanced life… I get involved in things very intensely. These passions- my artwork, garden design, etc- take over. It is what I think about, dream about, bore everyone around me with… And then there is the question of being passionately involved in ones work versus being a workaholic. That came up at Thanksgiving with my daughter, her roommate (a painter) and me. My reply was that a workaholic is what other people call the person who is passionate about their work. It is that other persons’ way of saying, you are not paying enough attention to me. I have continued to think about it though.

love of a bean

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I’m back from Chicago.  Despite a bad cold, I had a wonderful and mostly relaxing time- ie, more family time then attractions.  I will go to all those museums next time!
I love this sculpture–
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Everybody, and there are crowds, is having fun as they admire and interact with this art.

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It is inspiration for anyone with a camera.

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No one can resist a self-portrait.

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This is a view looking up from underneath-

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While we were there, 2 construction workers were also looking at it.  They proudly told us that they had worked on the assembly and pointed out where the seam lines were.

While in Chicago, we toured the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  I was blown away by the facilities and the size of the school. The huge studio for fabric printing made me want to go back to art school.  Our guide talked about the importance of writing for an art student.  The students need to be able to write proposals to galleries for shows because all art is now conceptual art… huh?!  Yeah, right.  What a very limited definition of art… it made me sad and also reminded me of the down side of art school education.

Thanksgiving in Chicago

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I will be in Chicago during the week of Thanksgiving.  I’d love any recommendations for great places to go and see- especially galleries, thrift shops, restaurants… I will be staying in Andersonville area.  And, of course, if anyone wants to meet up… email me at mimik(at)pobox(dot)com.

This is what I did last time I was in Chicago, in August 2006.

CraftyPod!

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WooHoo! Finally, I can let you know about the coolest thing- Sister Diane from CraftyPod called me a few weeks ago for an interview. We talked and laughed for over an hour. It was so much fun! And well, afterwards, a bit nerve-racking. I spent the next few days rethinking everything I said and sometimes wishing I could add (or subtract!) to the conversation. I have been having low grade anxiety ever since, worrying I’d sounding like a complete idiot, but I have to hand it to the magic of Diane- she took all my babbling, run-on ramblings, ums and pauses and put them together in a way that I am ecstatic about! I think audio editing for podcasting must be a lot like quilting- Diane has all these little bits and snippets and goodies and she puts them together into an interesting and better-than-the-original, finished product. Amazing.

Some afterthoughts- On the doll vs softie thing- I think in the end it comes down to this- what I am doing grows out of a tradition of dolls, what softie makers are doing grows out of a tradition of stuffed animals. It took me all day of mulling to come up with that!

On the topic of getting into dollmaking- here are some links for dollmaking kits, patterns and supplies.

My favorite book/author on the subject- Susanna Oroyan’s Anatomy of a Doll All her books are excellent.

Gail Wilson– her dolls are based on antique dolls. You get everything you need and extensive directions. Her website has so much more then dolls though- there is furniture, fabric, dollhouses… a whole wonderful Gail Wilson world. Be careful ‘cuz you might get permanently sucked in!

Susan Fosnot– she has patterns, kits, and teaches workshops.
There are lots of places that sell kits for Waldorf/ Steiner type dolls. One place that I’ve bought from is Magic Cabin.

Judi Ward– I am a big fan of her patterns. They are easy to follow, easy to make your own and she has a most extensive variety of designs. I have learned a lot from making her patterns.

Here is a list of some Dollmaking suppliers that I have ordered from and been happy with. They have all the things you’ll need- tools, patterns, materials, on-line classes, stash enhancers! Doll Artist’s Workshop, Joggles, Dollmaker’s Journey.

I did some antique and vintage doll patterns when I first started. There are loads available on Ebay.

Now, if you still haven’t had enough of listening to me talk, I did another interview a year ago with Carley. Here are links to that- part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

And since we always need a picture, my desk today-

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rainy day news

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this is going to be one of those all over the place posts… bear with me.

It is a rainy day today- hurray! We haven’t had rain since my July workshop and everything in the garden has been shriveling up. That said, I hope it stops by the weekend because I will be showing at the South End Open Market on Sunday (9/16). It is the Open Studio weekend in the South End. I will be sharing tent space with Betsy of Stonehouse Studios.

I have had a classic me kind of morning.

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I went upstairs to get to work. My table and desk had gotten to the critical point where I had to do a little cleaning up. I dug down through the layers- tattoo men patterns and fabric on top, a few big man pattern pieces and floss colors, lots of swaddled baby wool and rejected cut out applique pieces. Okay, I got the table usable again. Back to work on my latest tattoo guy. I was busily embroidering away, trying out some new stitches on the hair. Having fun. I ran out of my color and went to find the skein- I couldn’t find it.  Arg! I HAD to have more. I went through my drawer. Everything out. It turns out to be a clean and sort morning. I pulled out the wood cigar box at the very back of the drawer. (This box has history. My mom used it to store rayon embroidery threads probably as old as the 1920’s. I still have those threads although I’ve never figured out anything to do with them.) The box has a big tangle of floss that probably dates back to the 60’s. Not anymore though- I untangled them and sorted them by color and added them to my other threads. And, I did find my dark brown floss- see, I knew I had it!
And here is the drawer now- probably doesn’t look so great to you, but it works for me-

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other things-

* An acknowledgment- I want to credit this cute little girl by Heidi for the push to make my tattoo guys. I have lots of ideas in my head and sketchbook that never get made. The dolls in limbo. There is always some little spark that causes one idea to jump to the front of the line. I’d been mulling over the toile/tattoo idea since June.

* I got an IPod for my birthday- I know, I was the last person to get one. I love it!!! I am still figuring out all the great things I can do with it. As of yesterday, I am a CraftyPod-aholic. After a few tries I successfully got the podcasts onto my Ipod- I was a bit Itunes store phobic- afraid I’d be sucked into some money pit vortex or something. Phew, over that! Anyway, I’ve listened to about 10 so far and have to remind myself that I don’t have to listen to all of them at once. They are so much fun though- as I listen I am thinking/saying “Yes, yes, yes! That’s just the way I do it” or “I think that too!”. I love hearing the voices of the people whose blogs I read. Now I will go on a Craftypod diet so I’ll be able to savor them longer.

This is my table now- tattoed men and tikis piled up.  Lots of projects started…

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