Ev-ev-ev-everyday I'm hustlin'

Stitching until my fingers are bloody and raw.

Frame 11, with chart.

Trying to meet my deadline for Aubrey Longley-Cook's X stitch animation project. Makin' progress, but it isn't fast. Stitching never is.

5/20/13 WIP, Frame 11.

Meanwhile, here is another artist's completed Frame 7. Love the colors by Jess Berhhart! For more images, check out Aubrey's site.

Frame 7, by Jess Bernhart, 2013. From Aubrey Longley-Cook's site.

 OK, back to the bloody fingers...

Insomnia stitching. 

Every day I'm hustlin'

WIP It Good

Making progress on Frame 11 for the Aubrey Longley-Cook x stitch animation. I'm crazy excited about this project. My deadline for my frame is the end of May, so I have some serious stitching to do.

WIP, Frame 11, as of 5/14/13.

Aubrey's collaborative project is part of his solo show at the Barbara Archer Gallery in Atlanta this September. He is developing a new website for the animation, which looks amazing in the beta version. As soon as it's available, I'll post about it. For now, let me say it has been SUCH a treat to work with Aubrey. Aside from his huge talent and drive, he is a warm, expansive man with incredible energy and passion for his art and for the artistic community. He is inspiring to me in terms of his discipline, his artwork and the encouragement he gives us.

Even though my family and friends are incredibly supportive of my sometimes unconventional decisions, when I told them that I'd be going to Atlanta three times in three weeks (in the middle of a full blown anemia flare), I think it seemed a bit nuts. But I am so glad I made the decision to participate in this project.

Fused glass plate for my mother.

With my friends Kate and Katherine, I took a fused glass workshop and made these plates. I gave the big one to my mom for Mother's Day and I kept the little one for myself. Now we have a matching set together.

I made myself a matching, smaller fused glass plate.

My doodles and experiments with paint, stitch and vintage fabric are continuing. I see these as sketches. They are a lot of fun to play with after a long day in the corporate salt mines.

Painted a grid in acrylics.

Playing with fill stitch. Here in French knots.

Watercolor paint, dripped ink and back stitch.

Headed to NYC next month to participate in another stitched art collaborative project created by artist Iviva Olenick. More to come on that wild, unique project!

Big Yes! Poltergeist, 2 times, by Amy Sheridan

Who else appreciates it when artists show their process? I love photos and posts about works-in-progress and geek out on sketches that lead to finished artwork.

By Amy Sheridan, 2012.

I was especially taken with these wonderful pieces by Amy Sheridan (a.k.a. Drop Dead Quirky.) The Poltergeist scene is such a strong, familiar cultural reference for so many of us. The way Amy rendered the creepy image of the little blond girl being lured into the TV into stitch is just masterful.

It was gorgeous stitching the first time she made it. But like many of us (ahem, me for example) Amy couldn't resist editing and re-imagining her work in a new piece. And she was generous enough to share both of them with us!

By Amy Sheridan, 2013.

Here is what she says about it.

What made you try this piece a second time?

When I made the first one, I had just learned how to do a French knot and wanted to do a piece that was mainly focused on that stitch. I knew I had the Hello World exhibition coming up and I thought it might be fun to do the piece over and see how much my stitching had changed in a year.

Can you tell us how your approach to the piece was different the second time around? Different stitches? How many strands did you use?

I used the same type of fabric and did most of the stitches in 3-strand. For the first piece, I used black only for the body of the TV. For the second one, I wanted to make the piece a little darker and give it more definition, so I used more black and solid outlines. I used only satin stitch as the fill stitch and I made the screen primarily white so it would give some more contrast against the black.

Be sure to visit Amy's shop and her flickr stream to see more of her twisted, clever, creative artwork.

Big yes, Amy!

"Big Yes!" is a blog feature where I share, with the artist’s permission, a piece of textile art that has opened my eyes to the possibility of what we can create.  When faced with things that are truly beautiful or moving or that fill me with awe, I try to say yes. More than that, Big Yes.

Big Yes! 99 Names of God by Sarah Sipe (with Q&A)

I’m fortunate enough to have many amazing, talented friends, both online and in 3D. Some of the coolest and most creative folks I know are fellow members of a fiber arts group called String Thing. Based in Durham, NC, we are a motley collection textile artists, spinners, weavers, knitwear designers, quilters and hobbyist knitters.

Sarah modeling her luminous 99 Names of God shawl.

Knitwear designer extraordinaire Sarah Sipe is one of that ultra talented crew. When I saw this immensely beautiful circular shawl she designed, I was blown away.

In the midst of the gorgeous lace are delicate glass beads in a mysterious series of patterns. What are those patterns? They are the 99 Names of God that Sarah translated into code. (Anyone who knows me know that I adore codes.) There is an almost alchemical magic to this shawl.

Mandala on Sarah's back.

For more about how she created this stunner, please read on.

Please describe the 99 Names of God scarf to us?

The 99 Names/Attributes of God are a Muslim devotional. The 99 names are said to be different characteristics of Allah which are meant to show all of God’s facets. It takes all of these attributes to come close to describing Allah (which is NOT one of the 99 attributes.) The 99 names are not codified. I chose a list off of wikipedia, which is very similar to the list of 99 on a print in my house.

The shawl is based off the Elizabeth Zimmerman Pi Shawl design, which creates a circular shawl by doubling the number of stitches on an increasingly large repeat of rows. I charted out my names and plugged them into the rows.

Each beaded pattern represents a coded name of god.

What was the inspiration for the scarf?

Naomi (a fellow String Thing member) was working with a friend on coding a Hebrew prayer into her Secret Code. At the same time, a group I'm in on Ravelry was running a Knit-A-Long of a pattern called Celestarium, which is a circular shawl that maps out the night sky as seen in the Northern Hemisphere. I was totally geeked out by both, and decided to combine all of my interests into one completely insane idea, combining a circular shawl, Arabic, and beads.

Taken from a "hamsa," (also known "Hand of Fatima")
detail of the lace edging.

Can you give us an example of one of the names of God and how you translated it into code and then the knit pattern? 

Each name begins with “al”, which simply means “the” in English. Thus, for example, one of the 99 attributes is “al-Rahman,” the Most Compassionate. I removed the “al” from each name, instead chosing to make a visual representation in the center of the shawl – in Arabic, “al” appears to look like two lines next to each other, making my center mandala look like four sets of “al”. Removing the “al” from each name made it so that each, rendered in Abjad numerals (each letter is assigned a number), tended to be less than 10 digits across. I made each name into a grid. “al-Rahman,” minus the “al,” becomes 200, 8, 40, 50. 

An example of Sarah's magical code.
I want to stitch it!

And then the math came in. The center mandala increases to 48 stitches by row 12. Row 13 begins the name charts, 5 in the first section, 10 in the next two sections, 20 in the next four, until I ran out in the final section. The lace on the edge is meant to look like a hamsa (also known as the Hand of Fatima), a symbol of protection used throughout the Middle East.

For Naomi's secret code advice, visit her blog.

As a knitwear designer, what are your favorite things to design? What inspires you to sit down a create your own patterns? For example, the natural world? Things you see in films? Books? How long have you been knitting, spinning, designing patterns?

I love designing shawls, especially shawls with secret meanings. My favorite published design is my Bull City Scarf, which has a hidden "D" for Durham in the lace. I find myself especially inspired by the city of Durham - everything from the shapes of the buildings downtown to the Eno flowing through my backyard. I'm also more than a little geeked by putting math into use in knitting.

Casually thrown over Sarah's shoulder.

Any projects in the works that you're particularly excited about?

I'm playing with math. Fibonacci sequence in particular. I'm also considering something inspired by some Frank Lloyd Wright shapes, after visiting my old Chicago stomping grounds recently. 

Sarah wearing her devotion shawl in Juline's garden.

************

So inspiring!!

You can purchase Sarah's designs on ravelry. I'm not a knitter, but I adore her Piedmont Slouch Hat (yes, that is a photo of me modeling the purple one.)

Big Yes to the insanely talented Sarah!

"Big Yes!" is a blog feature where I share, with the artist’s permission, a piece of textile art that has opened my eyes to the possibility of what we can create.  When faced with things that are truly beautiful or moving or that fill me with awe, I try to say yes. More than that, Big Yes.

Colorful WIPs Are All I Have

No, I have not slipped off the face of the Earth.

Experimenting with hexagons to make a mosaic ground fabric for a piece.

Just busy, happy. Traveling and working hard.

Making progress on Frame 11 for the X stitch animation collaboration
project for Aubrey Longley-Cook. 

These are some of the pieces in my hoops.  Lots of colors.

Trying 4-strand, charcoal chain stitch as "grout" for the mosaic ground fabric.

Big love, peeps. Holla!

Old Man Winter Assassinated!

That's my Springfield Shopper-inspired, spinning newspaper headline.

Weary selfie to stitch.

Viva Springtime!

And how do we mourn his passing? By living more intensely, dammit! Hence, this tired selfie, which I think may need to be translated into a stitched self portrait.

Stack of 100 Hardscrabble & Wondrous postcards for my
etsy shop.

Art, hiking, making photo cards, hanging with friends, eating delicious food around Durham, enjoying Spring... that's what is happening in my life at the moment. 

WIP: Frame 11 for the x stitch animation piece.

For example, I saw Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival last weekend. It's an amazing look at intersection of performance art, Punk, feminism, patriarchy and social media in the ever fascinating world of contemporary Russia. (Who wants to take a trip to Moscow with me??)

Magical hour at the Duke Forest.

Other wonderful experiences... I attended the Wangechi Mutu opening at the Nasher Museum. To say that Mutu's gorgeous collage work is inspiring is an understatement. 

Hiked for miles at Raven Rock State Park, where the terrain under the enormous rock face had a freaky, moon of Jupiter quality that was pleasantly disorienting. (Or maybe that was the effect of forgetting to eat properly before we left!) 

Sat ridiculously close to the ice at a Carolina Hurricanes game. They played dreadfully, but the spectacle was incredible fun on a cold, rainy night. 

Monuts Donuts. Eating my way through Durham's delicious food.

Sharing all of these experiences with people I care about makes my life delicious. Creativity flows more freely and making art feels richer and more real when it is intertwined with my love for the people in my life. 

Simple and corny as that sounds, mofos.

A tiny, hardscrabble new venture

I didn't always love where I live, Durham, NC. I was once so wrapped up in my own unhappiness, I couldn't see what was beautiful around me.

My entire card collection. Now for sale.

Last year I started pointing my iPhone camera at Durham and collecting the photos in a flickr set I called "Hardscrabble & Wondrous," a phrase Andy coined to describe Durham.

Red brick tobacco warehouse, Main St, Durham.

On a whim, I started to make little photo cards from the images, stamped with expressions about Durham in a 20th Century typewriter font. Really, just to amuse myself and send. But my wonderful, supportive friends (like Juline) told me they were lovely and encouraged me to sell these.

Since I'm pretty much always trying to create something, I thought, what the hell.

Bevy of bulls.

So, here they are, my little handmade photo cards on sale in a teeny, tiny etsy shop called Hardscrabble & Wondrous.  [Insert modest trumpet flourish & tell your friends!]

Backside of Main St.

Last thing I'll say about unhappiness:  It deforms every experience, every view into a kind of ugliness.

And it's worse when you realize that your unhappiness is entirely of your own making, that no one else is responsible for fighting against your misery but you. And still you soak and stew in it. And this knowledge makes the world even uglier -- and you more unhappy and uglier in it.

King of the bulls, downtown Durham.

I say, what a waste. Fight, mofos. Fight hard.

A beautiful, strange word

Divulse was the word of the day about a year ago. The word upset and disturbed me. (Yes, I'm clearly too sensitive to words.)

Stitched on a bit of vintage linen in variegated pearl cotton.

I spoke to my friend Erin about it. She loves words, too. I explained that the word somehow hurt me.... that it touched me to the quick and made me sad. (It was a difficult moment of transition in my life.)

"What should I do?" I asked.

Pinned it to my red board of fragments.

"O, what can you do? Create something. Stitch it."

Erin is very special. How lucky and I to have friends who understand? Now it is a beautiful, strange word.

And I don't feel torn apart.

Black birch do not care for my despair

Finished another stitched poem fragment.

the brook mocks me more each day

Vintage linen. Pinned to a new covered cork board. I will stitch more fragments of my own poetry, words I love and other people's poems. I will pin them to this board. Just for me.

Obscured the text with some feather stitch braches.

"Just for me," is not entirely true. For everyone I love, whether they know it or not. Whether it means anything to them or not.

These WIPs have my attention!

At the moment, I'm almost distracted by having so many ideas for projects. Trying to quietly work on these two longterm pieces.

Frame 11 is my contribution to Aubrey Longley-Cooke's X stitch animation.

WIPs: Frame 11 & detail from Shadow Spine, 2013

I'm mesmerized by the way the piece is slowly developing before my eyes. It reminds me of my past work in the darkroom, standing in the dim light over puddles of chemicals and watching my prints come to life in the tray of developer. There is almost something alchemical about it.

Each new color I stitch adds a layer.  

As crazy as all of the Atlanta travel was in the midst of my anemia flare, I'm so glad that I am able to be a part of it. (Special thanks to my dear friend Kate for patiently showing me how to somewhat neatly do X stitch!)

Using a Q-snap frame is making it easier to stitch.

Exciting news from Aubrey -- the animation is going to be included in The Window Project in Atlanta this September! The Window Project is a digital, public art installation, featuring enormous screens that will display various videos and other digital artworks. I will definitely be making another trip to see that in person!

Shadow Spine in process. What is it with my and portraits of my back?!

At the opposite end of the spectrum of the intensely colored Frame 11 piece is a more personal, private portrait of my own back that I'm calling Shadow Spine.

French knots as shadows. Detail from Shadow Spine.

I'm stitching it on gray Kona cotton in shades of charcoal, silver and black. I'm experimenting with French knots to create shadows and will use other free-hand embroidery stitches to build the piece as I go. This feels entirely different from the pixilated grid of the X stitch piece. This process is more familiar, but I find that building pieces like this gives me a sense of uncertainty that is kind of exciting. Like I'm creating as I go.

Stitching at the infusion clinic. Take that, anemia. I'm a tough mofo!

Going back and forth between the two pieces is a wholly jarring pleasure. I like being jarred like this.

WIP: X Stitch Animation

I'm in Atlanta for the third time in three weeks to work on an amazing cross stitch animation project with Aubrey Longley-Cook. Life is chaotic with all of this travel, but I'm crazily inspired by this this collaborative art process.

Frame 11, WIP, on the bus.

More to come when life settles a bit, but the quick details...

Aubrey leads a discussion about the collaboration.
WonderRoot Studio, Atlanta. 

Aubrey (one of the only artists I know who combines textile art/stitching with animation) has collected over 30 artists and friends to each stitch an animation frame. He will shoot and loop the stitched frames into a video artwork. It will be shown at the Barbara Archer Gallery in a show this September.

WIP: Frame 11.

Each artist selected his or her own color palettes. I chose bright, juicy colors. Others are using pastels and still others are stitching in a virtual grayscale. I can not wait to see how the frames fit together to create a gorgeous kaleidoscope of color and stitching.

My frame! 

This is my first foray into cross stitch. Jamie Chalmers, a.k.a., Mr X Stitch (for whom I blog) has teased me about my cross stitch virginity. I'm embarrassed to admit that I've not been compelled by cross stitch before. My own style of work with freehand embroidery, creating images by building it with stitches, has always been vastly more appealing to me than stitching row after row of tiny xs in a grid.

But this experience has opened my eyes to what the little pixels of stitches can create. And it is harder to be neat in my stitching than I ever realized! I am humbled!

Riding the bus to Atlanta has been wild and inspiring in its own way.

On a personal note (and for me, my art and my personal life are intimately entwined -- so much so that I sometimes feel sorry for my friends, family and boyfriend) I've been having some serious anemia problems that should be resolved soon with an iron infusion tomorrow.

Shooting the breeze with fellow travelers back in Durham.

But, I haven't had my normal energy to tackle my artwork. I hope to be returning to my normal hale and hearty self soon!

Durham bus depot in the early morning.

I head back to Durham today on a Greyhound (all the driving got to me -- with the anemia, I was having trouble staying awake) which has been a wild experience. I live tweeted the bus ride to Atlanta yesterday. (I'm @olisacorcoran on Twitter.)

Today I will just quietly stitch. Ahhh... sounds lovely.

Press your ear to my heart

Stitching my poetry fragments onto vintage linens.

Press, 2013.

Hanging them on a little board I made next to my bed.

French knots. Three.

Because writing and reading poetry is something that I've loved for so many years. And stitching these words makes me feel whole.

My fragment board.

Please read more poetry and eat more art, peeps. And talk to me about it.