Searching the Archives 12-25

Posted on December 24, 2023 by Robin

I was looking for a photo earlier and got distracted by others that were of memorable events. Then I realized it had been a long time since I searched for a number to see which photos showed up. I chose 1225 and searched my Lightroom catalog for that number. I turned up a group that is not that exciting, but there are some stories attached.

In May 2017 a group of friends and I went to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. We made our trip long enough for some sight seeing. One of our stops was Assateague Island National Seashore where we saw ponies. Here is the story about that.

This is from setting up a show at The Artery in November, 2017. I called the show Loom With a View. In looking back through the photos I have two conclusions. One is that it it looked pretty good. The second is that my style hasn’t changed much. Is that a good thing–in that I weave functional pieces with a recognizable style? Or not so good in that I haven’t evolved? Here is a link to the post about setting up that show.

Maybe this is cheating to keep within the theme of this post (photo # 1225), but here is a photo of how the room looked.

The next #1225 photo is from March 2021. Ahhh, the pandemic years of wearing masks everywhere. I can’t find a blog post from this shearing at the Timm Ranch but here are two from shearing in 2019 and shearing in 2022.

This is not Photo #1225 but Warp #1225. That’s the 1225th warp since I started keeping track. I guess if I run out of ideas for blog posts I could go back in those archives as well. This warp was a sampler that I ended up using to develop the class I just taught last month. Blog post is here. Class description is here.

This piece is from that same warp and seems to be an appropriate end for Christmas Eve.

Loom With A View

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Robin

I wrote two blog posts about setting up this show but then I moved on to other things. Now I’m getting to the show itself. I’m not thrilled with the photos I have taken at the Artery, but I am thrilled about the show and want to share it.

As I said in one of the previous posts this theme started with the idea of using the old windows that were around here. As you enter the gallery you see the title and the Artist’s Statement. If you want to read that click here.

This is the wall to the right… …and these are some of the sheep.

More sheep.

Continuing around the gallery there is this collection of photos. I used two of these six-pane windows to display photos and give a feel for the farm. These are not for sale because they are too rotten (people have asked) but some of the photos have been matted or framed and are for sale.

This is the Solano Colors wall and the yarns are the 2017 locally grown yarns that are on my website. Don’t they take natural color beautifully? There are three examples of the natural dyestuffs–black walnuts, weeping willow leaves, and dried coreopsis flowers.

If you look at the previous photo again you’ll see that the shawls and the yarn are hanging on what looks like bamboo. I decided to use the Arundo (an invasive species that grows on our north border and had big hollow stalks like bamboo) for hanging the pieces in the show. It was in keeping with the rest of the props (stuff found on the farm), I have an infinite supply of it, I could cut it to any size, and it is free. The perfect solution! Originally I had planned to use the Arundo for weaving, but I just didn’t get to it. On the morning I was to set up the show I got up early with a lot on my mind. I got out the loom that I had already warped for this and I wove this piece. It inspires me to do more because I think it is very cool.

Moving on around the room this is the next grouping. Those scarves were woven on a space-dyed warp that I dyed a few years ago and found in a box on the shelf. Do you see something hanging to the left?

I wanted to do something interesting with the weeping willow branches after stripping the leaves for the dye pots. I tried weaving with them but I think I like this mobile best.

The Sunflower wall is around the corner. These are rayon chenille scarves in the colors of the sunflower field that was Across the Road last summer. I didn’t just stick with the yellows and oranges of the flowers but included all the colors of the fields. Here is a closer view of the flower scarves.

In addition to the window pane photo collage, I included this piece that is not for sale. I wove this years ago when we lived and worked on our family dairy.

This close-up includes my daughter carrying milk buckets, my sheep, and our pony. Here is another farm photo collection.

These ponchos and ruanas use the same yarns as the Solano Colors wall, but mostly in natural sheep colors. There are also a couple of handspun Jacob pieces here.

Close up of a ruana.

The display in the center of the room is really panels out of my sheep trailer. I used them to hang my blankets and some scarves.

Here is an overall view of the room…

…and this is the table in the doorway when you come in. The notebook is for visitors’ comments. I’d love to see your comments as well.

Loom With A View – More Set Up

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Robin

I just wrote a blog post using Dona’s photos of “The Creative Process” at the Artery setting up my show. Here are my photos.

It was sometime in 2016 (maybe the spring?) that I found out I could have the gallery space for a show in November, 2017. That is perfect timing for any show because of the holiday buying season and even more perfect when your focus is wool. I thought for a long time about what I wanted to do. I knew that it should be different from the show in 2014, “Close to Home–Yarn with a Story”. There are sixteen posts about that show, starting with this one.

Friends (Lisa and Dona?) said “you should use those old windows that are in back”. They were thinking that I could weave using the windows as weaving frames. They like that sort of thing. I like it too, but I haven’t actually done much of it. My weaving is more functional than decorative–like blankets, shawls, and scarves. I admire things to hang on the wall, but my house has hardly any wall space, and in my world things that hang on the wall just get covered with dust and cobwebs. Still, one point of doing a show is to move outside what is your same-old-stuff.

I had to choose a name for the show. Loom With a View came to mind, and the theme was set.

So eventually (this photo was from May, 2017) I dug out the windows. There were probably a couple dozen in various degrees of ~~repair~~ disrepair. These in the photo were the best. I took that photo after I hosed off the windows, trying to not chip off any more of the glazing and paint than was already gone. I remember sending a text of the photo to my friends and asking “Do you mean these windows? The ones with the dry rot and termites?” “Yes!”, they said. I spent the next several months trying to figure out how in the heck I’d use these in a show in an Art Gallery. (There will be more in future posts about this.)

Wednesday, October 25, 2017. That date was stuck in my head. I had to be Ready. My friends showed up when the gallery opened at 9:30 and we unloaded the truck. All those white cubes were in the gallery from the previous show. The first decision to be made was which cubes to leave for my show. The Artery Display Committee needs to know how many they can use for the other store displays, but the person doing the gallery show gets first choice.

I wasn’t really sure but narrowed it down to Not Very Many, keeping some of the larger ones.

Organizing by color.

Half way through the day I needed to get my signs printed for the entry. My friends were going to go get lunch and I asked them to bring back a slice of pizza. They know me well. It was touching that they brought back my favorite beverage, but saved for special stress-invoking occasions like being at the fair all day.

Lunch break.

As Dona and Mary left at 5-ish I think they wondered if I’d spend the night there.

I didn’t but I did come back on the next day and the next.

Keeping track of all the pieces in the show by my inventory number and the show number (not the same), entering pieces into the Artery computer, applying barcodes to the tags, applying bar codes to the sales list at the desk, applying sticky numbers to the wall for each piece. I could have used a chocolate milk. I finished up at about 1:30 on Friday.

This is the display in the front window.

Here is my “Artist’s Statement”. I don’t know if you can read it in the photo. I’ll get it on my website at some point.

More photos to come now that the show is installed.

Loom With A View – The Creative Process

Posted on October 29, 2017 by Robin

I have worked for over a year to prepare for my show at the Artery that is up from now through November 27. Well, maybe I didn’t work for a year. I thought about it for a year. I started working on ideas, but went into full production mode only a couple of months ago and then panic mode at the start of October. Once the weaving was finished the show set-up took 2-1/2 days of work with friends helping too. This series of photos were all taken by a good friend, Dona, who has been there from the beginning giving me ideas at the start and there at the bitter end to help with set up. This is her view of the set-up day’s Creative Process.

Neither of us took a photo of the completely empty space. These were taken as we unloaded the truck and emptied boxes. The theme for the show “Loom with a View” has started with old windows that were behind the garage. There will be more about that in another post. As I ~~worried about~~ obsessed over how to arrange this show I thought of and dismissed a variety of props from around the farm. It wasn’t until the last week that I made some final decisions. The gate with the hangars on it is something another friend didn’t want. The tin panels are those that we use for the State Fair display. There are other panels that came out of my sheep trailer, and there are the old window frames, with and without glass.

Without my friends there helping it would have taken twice as long. Alison, Mary, Kathleen and Dona were there all day on Wednesday, Kathleen came back to help on Thursday and I finished up with a one-person-because-its-all-in-my-head labeling and details on Friday.

Things start to go on walls and panels.

Decisions are made.

Putting up the Solano Colors wall.

Working on the Sunflower Wall.

I hope you’ll check back for the next blog posts to see the evolution of the show and I really hope that you will go to the Artery to see it in person. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

Thanks Dona, for all these photos and for the support.

Animals at the Artery

Posted on July 20, 2017 by Robin

I worked at The Artery in Davis yesterday. The current gallery show by Susan Stoll (a member who does photography) and Nicholson Blown Glass (non-member) is fantastic.

Susan Stoll

I love how they matched the colors in the glass and the photos.

Susan Stoll-2

Susan has set the bar high for when I do my show in November.

Jenn Norpchen

As I walked through the rest of the store this sheep caught my eye. This is by a new member, gourd artist, Jenn Norpchen.

I decided to look for more sheep in the Artery. I found four artists’ sheep. Tile wall art by Eileen Hendren, photo by Deborah Lamoreux, candle by Jan Schubert, detail of painting by Marie-Therese Brown.

Then I decided that I could do a blog post about Animals in the Artery.

Horses are my other favorite animal besides sheep. Tile by Shannon Moore, detail of a pottery vessel by Marianne deBoer.

But I like dogs and cows too…

… e~~ven~~ especially politically satirical dogs. Painting (dogs) by Linda Miller, cow photo card by Jock Hamilton, dog & cat sculpture by another artist new to the Artery, Marcia Smith, painting (cow) by Phil Gross, stuffed cow by Sara Yost, and trivets by Leslie Zephyr.

There are other animals represented too.

Birds. Detail of art-quilt by Marjan Kluepfel, etching by a third new member, Laura Morton, plate by Sharon Bloom.

How about creatures in the animal world beyond mammals and birds. Not all are my favorites but they can be subjects for lovely artwork as well.

Wood by Diana Kwan, glass dragonfly by Linda Marie Bird, ceramic fish by Jeff and Jimee Taylor, octopus by Heidi Bekebrede, fish print by Chris Dewees, dragonfly pin by Anita Winthrop, and sand-dollar earrings by Janine Echabarne.

I will be adding to the Artery’s animal collection in November when I present a show at the Artery.

FullSizeRender

These are a preview of what will be in the show.

Close to Home…Yarn with a Story

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Robin

For many months I have been preparing for a show at The Artery in Davis, CA. The Artery is an a cooperative gallery with about 70 member artists and I have sold my work there for over ten years. The show runs from November 7 to December 1. I hope that local people will be able to visit.Jacob blankets above and on the rocking chair (my mom’s) on the right. Gray blanket on the left chair uses “Mom’s yarn” (see a future blog post on that). The others are wool from other Solano County farms.

The best way to explain this show is to reprint my “Artist’s Statement” here. My blog is usually mostly photos because that’s the kind of blog that I like to read but I hope that you will take the time to read the following because it explains the concept behind the work in the show. I’ll throw in a few photos, but will display others in later blog posts.

Blankets woven from yarn grown by Imperial Stock Ranch in Oregon.The story about this yarn will be in a later post.

Artist’s Statement: In 2010 I became involved in the Fibershed movement by donating yarn produced from my flock of Jacob sheep to Rebecca Burgess whose goal was to wear, for a year, only clothes sourced entirely from an area within 150 miles of where she lived. That means that the fiber (and any dye) was grown, the yarn was spun, the cloth created, and the garment sewn locally! Imagine doing that—it’s not easy!

Why bother? Have you looked at your clothing labels and thought about the impacts of the way in which we clothe ourselves? The true cost of inexpensive clothing is high when you consider the social and environmental impacts on a global scale. (China produces 52% of the world’s textiles.)

Rebecca’s personal challenge led to the creation of the on-line Fibershed Marketplace in 2011, and in 2012 the Fibershed (501c3) with the mission “… to change the way we clothe ourselves by supporting the creation of local textile cultures that enhance ecological balance, and utilize regional agriculture while strengthening local economies and communities.” In other words, by embracing the Fibershed concept, we support the idea of using locally grown and locally made textiles and encouraging the development of Fibersheds all over the world.

Education is an integral part of the Fibershed movement—educating the consumer about the environmental, economic, and social benefits of embracing the Fibershed concept. Imagine the Slow Food movement applied to textiles!

Close to Home… Does that mean down the block, across town, or within the U.S.A? Each yarn used in this show has a story. Some were grown by my own sheep, some by my neighbors, and some in other parts of Solano County. One is grown by a long-established Oregon ranch and another is grown by several ranches in the Pacific Northwest and dyed with plant dyes in Napa County. A few pieces are woven of yarn handspun and dyed by my mom many years ago. It was a challenge to stay true to the Fibershed concept when I needed commercial fabrics for pillows. (One of the many Fibershed goals is to bring mills back to our area that will commercially produce fabrics not locally produced now.) I did the best I could by using fabric and pillow forms made in the U.S.A. and some pillows use my home-grown wool for the pillow itself.

I wove or felted all the wool fabric in the show and each of the fibers have a story. Some were grown close to home and other evoke memories of home. The pieces are simple because my focus is on the fiber and the yarn. Enjoy the photos, read the stories, and think about the stories that your textiles would tell.

Meridian Jacobs' Blog

Life on the farm and at the loom.

Tag Archives: Artery