Current Exhibitions

I visited my best friend, my grammy, for a few days this week and she took me to visit Water Street Studios to check out Indulge curated by Anni Holm.  My piece, Diversity of the Tomato is in the photo.  It is such an excellent group of work!  Thanks, Anni!

This is a watercolor painting I made for Grammy 4 years ago.  It is a collection of objects that remind me of my lovely childhood with her.  I love her a lot!

Tomorrow night, at 7:30pm in Ukranian Village, I will have two pieces in Push, an art apartment show curated by Lisa Muscato and Sean Murty of Paperish Mess Pop-Up Gallery.

Midwestern Clover

Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplant

I will also have two works on display at The Shoe Factory Art Co-Op in Rochester, New York from September 7 to September 26.  The Group show is called Green: What does it mean?  I really like the title!  This gallery is super fun.

Farmer Joel's Duck Eggs

Spinach and Peas

Tofu Scramble Recipe!

I have been cooking consistently for a year and a 1/2 now and I am finally at a point were I can make yummy food without a recipe! I'd like to start sharing them every so often. Here is a recipe for Tofu Scramble:

-1 TBS oil

-1 medium red pepper chopped

-1 medium green pepper chopped

-2 jalapenos chopped (or 1...or none if you don't like spicy, but I've noticed cooking jalapenos gets rid of a lot of the spice)

-1 15 oz extra firm tofu (drained well)

-2 TBS sesame seeds

-about 2 TBS of low sodium Tamari (it's like soy sauce, you can use soy sauce...but not a lot if it's not low sodium. I usually just add the tamari slowly, tasting it as I go to make sure I have enough. You definitely don't want to put too much.)

-1/2 cup green onions chopped

Chop the pepper and put in a pan with heated oil. Cook on medium heat for about 8 minutes or till peppers are a bit soft but still have a crunch! Drain tofu and crumble. Add to pan along with sesame seeds and tamari sauce. Cook for about 8 minutes or until tofu gets a bit brown. Turn off heat and add green onions. Serve! I like to douse everything in Tobasco sauce...but that's just me.

I thought I'd share how I am making the plushy corns since they are taking so long to do. I made a pattern to follow. It took an entire night to get the pattern right. What a relief when it was finally right!

I cut out two corn patterns. I also cut out hundreds of tiny circles from fabric and hand sew them to the corn patterns.

I put the two patterns face together and sew with a machine.

Flip it out like a pillow and stuff it and.....

Tada! Plushy heirloom corn!

Yesterday I found out I was accepted to be a part of the "organic/botanic" show at the Union Street Gallery. Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplant will be shown from February 29 to March 31. The opening reception is March 2, 6-9pm. The address is:

1527 Otto Blvd

Chicago Heights, IL 60411

It's just outside Chicago so I imagine it would be hard to come...but if you do I will make you cookies. :0 )

More Fabric Cards

I have decided these fabric cards will be a regular thing for me. I enjoy making them because they are a relief from conceptualizing...and I still feel productive.

Color and Shape Study of Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplant-Finished!

In September I posted some water color studies I did of two Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplants and my plans for those studies. I finished the piece today. Here is a link to the post with the studies.

I had finished all the eggplants and started sewing them onto a big navy blue fabric. I got pricked so many times that I was about to give up. It is still shocking and unsettling every time I get pricked. And even more frustrating when I get pricked three times in 30 seconds.

I laid out the eggplants on the fabric to see what larger shape they would make.

Here is the piece finished. It is 32 x 28 inches, all fabric and thread. I think the title is Color and Shape Study of Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplant or just Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplant. I like the first title because it gives a bit more of an explantation of what the viewer is seeing, but it makes the title long and calling something a study makes a piece seem like it is not a final piece. Then again, I could use a different word than study. Or maybe it is obvious enough what I am trying to do when I simply call it Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplant. I have two more pieces similar to this and I go back and forth with the two sorts of titles.

And a close-up of an eggplant.

I am glad to be done with this one. Always near the end of a piece I get antsy to start another with completely different materials. I don't think I could ever do just one media over and over again. I need a break from fabric and sewing machine, so I am going back to sculpture to create a piece about the disappearance of our honey bees.

Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplants

In the middle of August I went to start an eggplant inspired piece when I received a phone call that made me realize I had two shows coming up and that I had so much to do. I put it aside and haven't had a chance to get back to it till now. The shows are done...and I am relieved. I can rest and make artwork again. I will post images from the BFA show in my next post.

These are two beautiful Rosa Bianca Heirloom Eggplants I bought from the farmer's market back in early August. I was so surprised by their shapes and colors. Right after this picture was taken they were sliced and made into vegan eggplant parmesan.

I knew I only had a matter of time before they went bad so I did as many watercolor paintings I needed to do to make sure I captured everything I saw in the eggplants. I was interested in their silhouette and their creamy yellows, many purples and that great brown shape in the middle (not sure what that is called).

So this is what I was up to today. I am using the water color studies to make these abstract fabric eggplants. I will make many and then sew them to something...I am not sure yet. First I have to make many of these before I decide what to do next. It is a lot of fun to be free of copying an eggplant from life or photograph. Instead, I use my memory of what I enjoyed most when I looked at these eggplants and the result is something new that slightly resembles the eggplant but also creates a new perspective.

I am so happy to be using fabric completely for once instead of mixing it with other mediums. I was greatly inspired by Rebecca Ringquist when I saw her work at the Packer Schopf Gallery in May. It was a lovely way to start my internship.

These crazy eyes are the result of a hectic last few months. Maybe now I can pick up the apartment...

I have had a great summer and I am excited to be experiencing fall for the first time in 19 years before school got in the way.