Colleen's Trail Blog: December 2008

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Monday, December 29, 2008

This piece is roughly 7 feet in diameter. It's double sided (as are all of the sewn pieces I've been making) but I think this is the "front." It would be great to hang them on a transparent surface but in the mean time I've turned it around for a view of the other side:

This is on the machine with "I tried to stop" and "All that's left of my heart" hanging on the wall in the background.

This is "I tried to stop" almost finished. I sewed an edge at the top but haven't rephotographed it since. Each individual shingle in this piece is a 4" square with text on it.

Sunday, December 28, 2008

Reflections

Ha. I couldn't resist that title for this post. I've been having fun with mirrors and other reflective surfaces. This one is from Longwood Gardens.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Maximalist Christmas

Olivia is going through her "anti-minimalist" phase. The cookie cutter that made this bird used to be a reindeer. You probably know the one...it's the cookie cutter with the narrow pieces that ALWAYS break, sometimes before baking, sometimes after baking, and sometimes even after decorating. But even if they don't break off that leg, or antler, is always overdone. So I reshaped it into a bird shape. We've been bird watching all year so it seems appropriate to add a bird to our cutter supply. The narrow santa cutter is on next years hit list.

My favorite part of the holidays is making things. It's probably the reason Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. In fact if I review my life I find a lot of the things I get excited about involve making stuff. The best part of planning for my wedding was making the dresses. This year I actually finished all of my gifts on time, unlike the wedding dress which I was still sewing 10 min before the wedding.

Dream big, work hard and have a Happy Holiday!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Dona Nelson

I've decided to end my artists "advent calendar" with my all time favorite painter, Dona Nelson. She doesn't have a website but it does appear that she has work up at her gallery right now. This is her piece, Walnut Way, taken from jameswagner.com

Hadassah Emmerich - Chitra Ganesh - Dona Nelson - Haeri Yoo

Thomas Erben Gallery
Chelsea

526 West 26th Street, 4th Floor, 212-645-8701
December 16, 2008 - February 1, 2009
Opening: Tuesday, December 16, 6 - 8:30PM

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Alyssa Pheobus

Monday, December 22, 2008

Amy Jean Porter

Amy Jean Porter's work from her website All Species, All the Time.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Lauren Kalman

Only 3 more advent calendar days left. That makes choosing an artist site to post more difficult. So many great options. I was introduced to Lauren Kalman's work through an artist in Knoxville. Definitely worth checking out.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Linda Ganjian

Linda Ganjian's sculptures are influenced by Middle Eastern carpet designs and they look like so much fun!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Mireille Vautier

Mireille Vautier's work includes stitching on plastic bags (my personal favorite) among other things.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Mille Guldbeck

Visit Mille Guldbeck's website to see her haunting and beautiful works. If you get a chance to see them in person take it. You're missing a lot of the subtleties of the works online.