Tie-Dye Party!

(l. - r.)  El, Sue, Barb

Yes, Raisin Studio had a party and all my most hippie-like friends were invited. Early RSVPs gave me time to order online, scarves, shirts, skirts, sarongs and bandannas, lots of dyes and other necessities from Dharma Trading Co.

Then just before the party, it was time to
mix the dyes and the fixative, and to cover table surfaces with plastic.

We experimented with folding, crumpling, pleating, or twisting the fabric then clamped the bundle with clothespins or rubber bands. We squirted dye from bottles, some of us agonizing over which colors to choose.

Margaret

Then when done with dyeing, the fabric
was plastic baggied and left with the
heat on inthe studio for about 4 hours.


While waiting for the dyes to "cure," we walked over to the annual town and gown street festival. It seemed like everywhere we went we saw tie-dye - in the shop windows, on pets, for sale in craft booths.

Sue

Eager to see the results, we returned to wait
for the alloted time. Then with either cries of delight or dubious silence, we untied, rinsed and unfolded our garment.



 Some had a knack for tie-dye.

El

Some people not so much (me).


But it was a day of color in Raisin Studio, with
the flowers all around us, and our squirt bottles filled with vivid dyes.


And a colorful day is a happy day.

New Work for the CORE Show

UMBILICUSES.



What could be more core than these body parts?


The link to our mother, and the entry point of nourishment from mother to fetus during the first months of life.

The vestige of it remains through our lives- outie, innie, lint catcher, erotic zone, reference point for locating the dan tian, the sacral chakra, the diaphragm, the breath, the belt buckle.











Everyone has one and they are all different.


















CORE has another meaning that I explored in clay. The cosmological meaning refers to the universal laws that govern the planets, the stars, the novas and other celestial forms. It also refers to the origins of the universe and how it keeps growing, evolving and devolving from the genesis with the Big Bang (a theory, I wonder if it's correct) to the formation of and fiery death of stars.

I created these simple images on square plates from the idea of energy as it is expressed in our universe. At the core is energy which radiates outward. It has gravitational force, it has heat, light. I am not a scientist, nor do I know the words for what I am trying to say.

It is a simple design for a possibly very complex system of forces.

And it also relates formalistically to the umbilicuses. As above so below.

Each plate is footed and is signed with "CoRE 2014." All umbilicuses (6) and plates (8) will be for sale at the art reception:

CORE ART SHOW
Exhibit on view for the month of May

RECEPTION

 May 8, 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Thomas Sweet Shop Cafe
1325 Route 206, Skillman, NJ 08558

in the Montgomery Shopping Center, 
next to the Montgomery Movie Theater.

https://www.facebook.com/GotArtCollaborations

Back in Time: Ceramics in the PU Museum

Twice in one week I walked up to the campus art museum. The first time was so good, I had to go again.


First, each time, I have to look at the ceramics for sale in the museum shop - some very good ones are in there - artists from our area mostly.

Then I can go in. Donations are happily accepted, but you can walk on in without paying. There were Italian master drawings and woodblock prints by Munch in two new exhibits.                                                

one handled cup, Persian 10-9 century B.C.

Downstairs in the museum is the really old stuff and the Non-Western art from the permanent collection. The pre-columbian ceramics are favorites of mine. I have studied them on many occasions.

Cup with Animal Heads, South Italy, 600-550 B.C

This week though, I focused on the Mediterranean
lands and thereabouts drawing in my 4" by 6"

sketchbook with pen because I didn't want to get bogged down with erasing and perfectionism.

This animal head cup was one of the weirdest forms of the day. I only saw one unidentifiable antlered animal head though the label said "Heads."

Celadon ewer of lotus flower design, Korea,
Goryco Dynasty 1918 - 1392 A.D

So many forms and uses for clay, I learned some new ones. My favorite that I drew? The spotted hare oil bottle which is used for light, if I remember correctly. So petite, it was only about 6" long, It must have made a very small light, maybe in a child's room for a night light. Who knows?

And I also loved the spout and surface decoration on this very round pot made in Cyprus many, many years ago. It looks as though it could've been made today. Are good ceramics timeless? Yes, they would be.

Drawing is a worthwhile activity because with intense gazing, you discover the particularities of the object you are drawing, the relationships between parts, the integral balance and rightness of the thing, and in discovery comes appreciation and maybe even ideas (!) for your own work.

It was fun, too.