a little artwork for RC

 

I have been thinking up and working on these small pieces for Roman Candle for a couple of months now and they are finally at the stage where I can start to share them here. There will be a bigger update on the main blog page later today but here is a sneak peak at some Roman Candle song stitchings that have come from a little bit of time in the tour van with a lot of rainy windows to look out and a little bit of imagining over a LOT of touring these past couple of months. I'm really excited to share these with you...stay tuned :).

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Leah Evans and Rosa Pomar

I don't know where or how I found out about Leah Evans but her work is fantastic. I am not patient enough to be a quilter or a knitter in any formal sense and, in all honestly, the creations I imagine seem to be either impossible or laborious or just plain ridiculous for an amateur in either of this fields of "making".

Still, Leah Evans textile pieces really ring my bell. As she describes in her own words "My current work combines aerial photography, maps, and satellite imagery. I also find myself drawn to the more minute systems of the microbial world. I enjoy the play in scale between magnified microbial life forms and remote sensing images of huge tracts of land. Both scales deal with the translation of scientific information into a visual form." These pieces are each detailed renderings of various studies in the physical world through the use of applique, machine quilting, scissors, chalk, but never a computer. Super cool. Check out more here.

Nine Patch, Possibly made in New Jersey, United States, Circa 1900-1920 (image of International Quilt Study Center & Museum).

Also, to put an end (or maybe a new beginning) to all of this ridiculous textile and quilting fascination I will send you over to Rosa Pomar for one of her most recent posts on abstract design in American quilts. Rosa shows pictures from the catalog of this exhibit held in 1971 at the Whitney Museum in New York in which American quilts were hung and exhibited as if they were paintings.

Rosa is a Portuguese artists and writer who keeps a blog filled to the brim with inspiring stories, pictures, history, etc. One of my favorites and definitely worth visiting. She also has a shop that specializes in Portuguese textiles and her own handmade pieces. She is cool. Go check her out.

**all images courtesy of leahevanstextile.com and http://aervilhacorderosa.com.

aervilhacorderosa.com.

Quilt Barn Trails

As we are driving across the country on this tour I keep noticing all of this awesome wooden quilt squares on the sides of barns out here.  I asked our usually dorky and encyclopedic bass player yesterday but even he was clueless (no offense Jeff. You usually have plenty of ridiculous information on hand).  So,  I looked it up. And it was pretty cool.  

There are plenty of places to dig up further histories and retellings but the dorky link is here for a basic story of one woman's desire to created a national trail of quilt squares by which the traveling public could both enjoy a rich strain of history and plug support back into the surrounding rural communities. Very cool idea and it works.  Even the guys in the van are noticing and pointing out some of their favorites which is a testament to the contagious and simple power in the design of a single quilt square. I dig this. Big time.

Nani Iro

All of Nani Iro's textiles look like paintings to me. Of course it is all to fancy and expensive for me to buy and then act like I could actually do something to it other than destroying it. Still, it is beautiful all the same.

South/ South West Tour

The boys, band frisbee, rainy van rides, Sun Studios... so far so great.

a suitcase for the books

When we went out on our very first tour years ago it lasted four weeks or so and I packed one backpack with clothes and underwear and a toothbrush and then went on to fill the above suitcase with books. The whole thing. Full. And heavy. I admit this sheepishly because this is the least "zen" part of my personality. I hoard books on every single journey as if they were my underwear. It is not a cool thing, and never a reasonable thing. In fact, it is kind of a panic thing. I get so overwhelmed and excited about the potential of whatever adventure we are going on that I think I need nothing short of a small library at my constant access in order to be fully prepared for whatever inspiration might or could strike. Does anyone else do this? Please say yes. Even if you are lying.
I have hurt my back, taken up way more than my share of space in the back seat, and not read more than I would ever admit when I am stacking them up for the next journey. Anyways, after that first trip of packing this suitcase to the brim, Skip was kind enough to stop me at the door and veto about a third of them (only to add his own bag full of poetry books..he is not above it) and then he talked me slightly down off of the loony cliff I was on convincing me that it was kind of crazy and, well, crazy. SO, this time around I am thinking light. Just a couple and a good variety. The truth is, when you are stuck in a van there are a lot of variables to what you can read and when. the length of the drive, the stage in the tour ( if you want to kill everyone and need to just peace out with an embarrasing vampire novel for example), how loud the music is and what kind is playing...you never really know what book is going to fit until you are out there and you try it on. Can you tell that this is the kind of stuff I tell myself while I am sneaking extra books into my duffel or even into the kid's suitcase ( I am not above it either).




Anyways, this time it is the above short stack and it should be good. There might be another cookbook in the stack but nothing else. For now, the suitcase stays.

Nigel Peake

Just recently discovered the illustrations of British born Nigel Peake. He has drawn things for about everywhere but the real treats can be found in his mini-zine projects here. I really love how he uses so many technical subjects (architecture, biology, anatomy) and yet each of his illustrations have a kind of whimsical element. I can;t explain it but it is pretty great. I also love the names of his zines, i.e. "Ghost Houses", "Broken Camera Club", "Entirely Ordinary", "Wreck and Ruin". Each name really adds to and completes these miniature works of art. Go check out is site and don't forget to click through his books to see the different pages. Pretty nifty. Oh, and he has a blog to with a bunch of his photography, etc.