I was really excited to start work with Kay. We decided on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11-6. We would get all of our time in before she left for her first residency in Sweden. I was excited to be around for her prepping for that, to see and hear about what all was involved in the process. Kay had also received a couple grants that I was grateful to learn about as well. I knew it would be very valuable for me to work with Kay and understand how she works, because I don't really know a lot about the connectivity and business side of living as an artist. I think understanding the really functional behind the scenes parts of being a visual artist like that can really make a huge difference in your success and ability to do work freely.
My first day, Kay gave me a greater overview of the studio and where stuff is kept, where we'd be working mostly and what materials we would be using. Her studio is insanely well organized, she has an inventory spreadsheet of every box that she has clearly labeled. That's the level I'm trying to get on, and it is so great to be able to quickly find whatever random material you need as a sculptor. She showed me the pieces she started that we would spend the majority of our time together working on, and I was going to start off by sewing a little practice piece, a power outlet. After Kay showed me how she wanted it to be done, she left me to begin sewing and we started talking. Through the time working with Kay, I really appreciated how much we had really great conversation and connected on a lot of ideas; especially creatively. She told me that the style of the sewing/soft sculpture work she does is technically a type of trapunto quilting technique. You sew the form inside out, flip it right side, and stitch over other lines or forms within the larger shape created. flip to the back of the stitched image, rip a whole in the fabric of each closed shape, fill with stuffing, and hand sew shut. When the whole piece is stuffed, you are able to flip it back to the right side and the image or object hands on the wall as a piece that straddles 2D & 3D, soft sculpture & quilting, fine art & craft.
I love the style of Kay's work. I really connect to the objects she makes because of the 2D/3D aspect, I feel my work often fits there too and I love to see ways artists create and display that style of work. Kay incorporates ceramic and printmaking elements in her work often. The pieces we worked on together, 4 large potted plants (think 6-7'!) were somewhat unusual in their process for Kay because she hand painted each one. They are beautiful! Three of the plants were created for a show at the Philadelphia Airport and were recently installed. They will be in Terminal A for the next three months.
After I completed an outlet, I did a light switch, African violet, and then began stuffing the first of the giant plants. Truthfully I don't know that I really did much machine sewing at all after that. Mostly I spent my time cutting, stuffing, and hand sewing. It was fun to see how much faster I got at hand sewing by the end of our time together
My first day, Kay gave me a greater overview of the studio and where stuff is kept, where we'd be working mostly and what materials we would be using. Her studio is insanely well organized, she has an inventory spreadsheet of every box that she has clearly labeled. That's the level I'm trying to get on, and it is so great to be able to quickly find whatever random material you need as a sculptor. She showed me the pieces she started that we would spend the majority of our time together working on, and I was going to start off by sewing a little practice piece, a power outlet. After Kay showed me how she wanted it to be done, she left me to begin sewing and we started talking. Through the time working with Kay, I really appreciated how much we had really great conversation and connected on a lot of ideas; especially creatively. She told me that the style of the sewing/soft sculpture work she does is technically a type of trapunto quilting technique. You sew the form inside out, flip it right side, and stitch over other lines or forms within the larger shape created. flip to the back of the stitched image, rip a whole in the fabric of each closed shape, fill with stuffing, and hand sew shut. When the whole piece is stuffed, you are able to flip it back to the right side and the image or object hands on the wall as a piece that straddles 2D & 3D, soft sculpture & quilting, fine art & craft.
Kay was always helping me by taking photos for the blog
I love the style of Kay's work. I really connect to the objects she makes because of the 2D/3D aspect, I feel my work often fits there too and I love to see ways artists create and display that style of work. Kay incorporates ceramic and printmaking elements in her work often. The pieces we worked on together, 4 large potted plants (think 6-7'!) were somewhat unusual in their process for Kay because she hand painted each one. They are beautiful! Three of the plants were created for a show at the Philadelphia Airport and were recently installed. They will be in Terminal A for the next three months.
Little detail shot of how the ink looked on a hand painted leaf
After I completed an outlet, I did a light switch, African violet, and then began stuffing the first of the giant plants. Truthfully I don't know that I really did much machine sewing at all after that. Mostly I spent my time cutting, stuffing, and hand sewing. It was fun to see how much faster I got at hand sewing by the end of our time together
My first creations
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ReplyDeleteWhoa I love how detailed her work is, and her style is one of a kind. Hope youre have an amazing time and leaning a lot.
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