Gail Harker Creative Studies Center

Metal Mesh Artist..Guest Blogger Lanny Bergner

gailcreativestudies — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:01:50 +0000

I’d like to introduce you to our guest blogger, Lanny Bergner. He is an international mixed media sculptor/installation and fiber artist. To see his work in a one man solo exhibit visit the Schack: http://www.schack.org/ in Everett, Washington until Feb. 23. We are very excited that he will be teaching a 4 day class at the Barn House in La Conner this year http://www.gailcreativestudies.com/documents/Brochure-ExperimentalMetalMeshworking.pdf

Lanny Bergner's solo show at the Schack Art Center

I got interested in working with metal mesh back in 1983. It was at the beginning of my last year of graduate school at Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. A friend of mine gave me a small sheet of bronze mesh; I cut it into strips and made a conical form out of it. The simple act of making this spiral shape got the ball rolling and it culminated in a graduate thesis show that was entirely constructed out of aluminum screen that I purchased from the local hardware store. Several things appeal to me about working with mesh. First I like the direct hands-on approach to art making. I don’t need fancy fabrication equipment or tools. The material is inexpensive and all I need is a scissors for cutting the mesh, flat nose pliers for connecting the mesh together, my two hands and a somewhat compulsive creative mind.

a wall of mesh containers at Schack

You can plan designs or you can work entirely freeform so there is a great deal of creative freedom. Mesh can be very flexible, soft and delicate yet through cutting and joining 3D forms can be made that have a fair amount of strength and structural integrity. Another appealing aspect of mesh is that it is about 50% negative space, which means that a mass can be suggested yet the interior of the form is visible as well.

Amoeba Gathering © Lanny Bergner at the Schack Art Center

I have recently embarked on a new addition to my “meshworking” and that is flame patterning/drawing on stainless steel mesh. This is an exciting development for me because prior to this I worked with plain stainless steel, bronze, aluminum, brass and copper mesh. Now I can draw on stainless steel mesh using a propane torch. This adds a whole new facet to my work, akin to turning a monochrome sea creature into a cuttlefish. So, this is my present preoccupation and I am anticipating a long and fascinating creative journey. Lanny

Lanny Bergner © 3 D Mesh work at the Schack Art Center

The Last Embroiderer…Tribute to Francois Lesage

gailcreativestudies — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:20:04 +0000

While living in Britain in the 80s, I had an opportunity to see a special embroidery/bead exhibition at Liberty of London arranged by Francois Lesage. See this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqp6hoUaMq0 . There were so many beautiful, fantastic items from high fashion to small accessories, many beaded items made by means of the tambour hook. Mr. Lesage was a very special embroiderer who created for Chanel and Karl Lagerfield among many others in the fashion industry. That show so inspired me not only for the sheer beauty of it but for the amount of art and design placed into the embroidered beaded pieces that were on show. I treasure a rare book by Francois Lesage that my husband went to great lengths to get for me after the exhibition. Students always get to see it when they learn bead skills at our center. Understanding light, pattern and texture when working with beads is a well developed skill that Francois Lesage had in spades. Thank you for that brief glimpse into the world of the truly creative. Your genius will be missed. Here are a few photos of a small handmade beaded book that George Taylor created from one of my Level 2 classes at our center in Washington. Copyright George Taylor I know you will enjoy it. Gail Click to view slideshow.

Greetings from France

gailcreativestudies — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:57:18 +0000

It is always intriguing to know how sentiments were given in other places and in times past. I photographed this lovely little card that Penny Peters brought back from Britain from one of the tours. It’s about 5 1/2 in. x 3 in. (14 x 9 cm.) I’ve seen a number of cards similar to this while I lived there. They usually have flowers that fit the space just perfectly. I’m looking at another one in The Batsford Encylopaedia of Embroidery Techniques by Gay Swift. -1984. 1918 is heavily embroidered and beaded in the framed area with Souvenir of France embroidered below. Send this on to anyone you know that has a birthday soon. Gail

Encroaching Satin stitch worked with silk floss creates the flowers and leaves. The banner that says Happy Birthday is made with herringbone stitch on the reverse side that forms back stitch on the front of the card.

My Embroidery Magazines are partly unpacked so i will be having a look through them for more references. Unless you find something sooner. It will be interesting to know how we can send something tactile on the computer. Any ideas?

The embroidery is stitched on cotton organdie - a common fabric used for embroidery in Britain at that time as well. This is really a close up photograph as ordinarily you don't see the weave of the fabric.

In Praise of Silk… Guest Blogger- Patricia Wood

gailcreativestudies — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:36:36 +0000

One of the things I miss most about not living in Britain any longer is that some of the suppliers of specialist fabrics and threads are not as close as they once were. Now that we can be connected a little easier online I have invited Patricia Woods of Mulberry Silks, a very old friend of mine to share some information about the great silk threads that she offers from the U.K. and that I love. I have supplemented some of her thread photos with pictures that I have taken of silk historic embroidered items. Of course they are wonderful for contemporary embroidery too. Gail

Mulberry Silk from Patricia Wood

Silk is a most georgeous and luxurious thread to work with and, although not the cheapest creative sewing thread on the market, it is considered to be the best. Silk is smooth and easy to handle and is perfect for stitching and embroidery of all kinds – it is not ‘slippery’ or ‘springy’ as is often thought, but strong, hardwearing and so lovely to stitch with either by hand or with a sewing machine.

Color Palettes are personally selected by Patricia

The Fine silk thread (100/3) is great for the sewing machine, the Medium (30/3) can be used in the lower bobbin with the foot removed (there is a large colour range in both) and the Thick (10/3) (minimum colour range approx. 35 shades) can be couched with a finer thread but is too thick for the machine.

There is a beautiful range of colours in varying thicknesses to create a variety of stitches. The Connoisseur Range contains a cross section of Thick, Medium and Fine weights with a matt or shiny finish in one package.I believe more and more embroiderers, book-binders and even fishermen (tying flies) are using silk thread and although you may need to stitch perhaps more carefully, the finished product is a joy to behold and I consider well worth your time and effort

18th C. costume from Bath Costume Museum - photographed by Gail on one of our tours to U.K.

closeup from costume - silk fabric with silk and metallic threads. Clusters of flowers were a special design feature of this period.

closeup of same costume displaying sequins and flowers on bodice front

sample of silk embroidery on silk damask from Wantage Vale and Downland Museum, Bucks. U.K.

Closeup of same sample in silk and gold threads

Silk threads on apple from chasuble at Winchester Cathedral, U.K.

Pat’s January Sale offers a 20% discount on all silk packs, Mini Topics, Silk Topics, Boxed Topics, Connoisseur Range and Palettes. These can be viewed at www.mulberrysilks-patriciawood.com

Anonymous Embroiderer of 1933

gailcreativestudies — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:37:13 +0000

This precious little embroidery book created in 1933 by Rosemary Frank turned up one day with a student, Deborah Zibrik who purchased it at a shop. It is with her permission that I have photographed the book. It has 24 pages. Each embroidery is framed within the book and there is a hand written page describing how to make the stitches next to the samples. It feels to me like such a personal view of the embroiderer. You can’t help but wonder where Rosemary lived, what she did, was the embroidery used in tablecloths, pillow cases, garments? Anybody who does embroidery understands the time it takes to create the stitches but also the enjoyment that can be had by doing so. Many years separate the time that this book was created and today. The reasons that people stitch has almost totally changed as has our way of living but still there is a common bond between people of each generation who create with a needle.. Gail

Front Cover for Embroidery Book

Inside front cover of embroidery book

The Berry Stitch #21 is featured on the page bottom.

closeup of Berry Stitch

Hand written description and diagram of Berry Stitch

Top of page #26 Bullion Rose or Wheat Stitch:

closeup of Bullion Rose or Wheat Stitch

hand written Bullion Rose or Wheat Stitch description

Interior back cover of Rosemary Frank's embroidered book.

Christmas Still Life

gailcreativestudies — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 07:17:05 +0000

I like to set up a still life before Xmas. so I can use it as part of the Xmas. festivities. It serves double duty as I use it for my own photography and drawing purposes, as well as student lessons. The size of the still life often gets out of hand. This one spans 2 – 5 ft. tables and climbs quite high up the wall almost to the ceiling. I usually end up painting an enormous amount of paper for specific colors in the background. This epic usually takes me a minimum of 8 hours to set up, sometimes much longer although I don’t like to admit it takes as long as it does. The still life in this blog is from a past Christmas. Meanwhile Don is in the kitchen finishing the pecan and pumpkin pies and starting on the brioche. Happy Holidays. Gail

Click to view slideshow.

Online Level 1 Color Course in Full Swing

gailcreativestudies — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 06:54:37 +0000

We started our first online course in Nov. There are 26 people attending from different states in the U.S.A. and also from Canada and Australia. What a great group of ladies. Our next course begins Jan. 12th, 2012. Have a look at the video Introduction to the Level 1 Color Online Course

The pictures below are from a color course that I taught at Salt Spring Island some time ago. It is so exhilarating to see and feel the color. We made a color wheel from flowers and plants. I also did this with my Grandaughter and she was amazingly good at finding just the right colors in plants for our wheel.

Click to view slideshow.

Costumes of Macedonia … Guest Blogger – Penny Peters

gailcreativestudies — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 07:35:57 +0000

costume from Debar Drimkol, Macedonia

On a recent trip through the Balkan countries, we had the opportunity to see traditional village costumes on display at the Museum of Macedonia located in its capital city Skopje. These costumes were excellent representatives of the rich village culture that existed in the early 20th Century.

Wedding costumes are the most elaborate, so I believe most of those I photographed were wedding or celebration costumes. They were certainly not worn everyday…only for celebrations after they were worn initially as wedding costumes.

Costume bodice

Each little village had its own conventions for decorating the costumes with embroidery and metalwork, and the variety of motifs and types of decoration was quite amazing. The only disappointment was that the costumes were displayed behind heavy plate glass, so stitch details were difficult to see clearly.

Pocket detail

A few days later we were able to pay an impromptu visit to a small private costume collection in the village of Podmocani near Lake Prespa, and we were greatly pleased to be able to photograph and touch the many wonderful folk costumes.

They had been collected over a 30 year period by a costume enthusiast and were displayed beautifully.

detail of a sleeve

closeup bottom of sleeve

back of sleeve detail

detail

Ethnographic museum where costume is displayed

Owner of Ethnographic Museum Jone Eftimovski published a book about his collection. It is titled Macedonian Folk Costumes ISBN 9989 - 785 - 50 - 3

http://www.soros.org.mk/Konkurs/018/Default-e.htm

Check link for more information about Macedonian Costume

The Painted Book… Guest Bloggers Karen Nelson, Claire Jones

gailcreativestudies — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:30:43 +0000

Watching a Demonstration by Martha Cole

Blog: The Painted Book

What could be more intimate than to curl up with a beautiful book….touching it, savoring the pages, letting the words sink in, looking at the incredible artwork? Easy answer–creating the book yourself!

In mid-November, fourteen ladies spent five days with Martha Cole in a purely delightful workshop. No previous knowledge or book-making experience was needed to be successful in this venture. Time was spent in a mixture of happily painting with wheat paste not worrying about the “end composition,” to working with the detailed measurement of book construction without rulers or angst of 1/64 inch measurements.

Claire showing her handmade book

Martha guided us and continually assured us that each one of our books would be surprisingly beautiful creations as we played with color and texture, adding collage, photocopies or any other interesting bits of materials to the book. Measuring in “smidgeons and hairs,” we were able to bind our books, complete with headbands…..and without headaches in the process. Martha mentored us through all of our construction “dilemmas” and the artistic angels did their magic…..Each book was a truly beautiful AND finished creation!

A page from Claire's book. Wheat paste was used with acrylics.

“Encountering someone with such a love of books drew me into books in a new way. Usually I just pick up a book, get the knowledge and information I want and put it back…without realizing that a book could be such a thing of beauty,” Claire noted. “I walked out with a deeper appreciation AND my very own personally hand-created and bound book.”

Karen showing her completed book to the class.

“Martha Cole is a master hand-made book creator! Having always had a love for children’s picture books, I experienced the joy of creating a book with “wild abandon.” It was so inspirational to dive in with little (very little) knowledge of book-making and I knew within 5 minutes of class that Martha would guide me through the process. She demonstrated each step and gave us a wonderful handout of steps so that we could continue to create books in the future,” reflected Karen. “Claire and I think that EVERYONE would thoroughly enjoy this class, no matter what their artistic level might be. If you love books, you’ll love Martha’s class!”

closeup of Karen's book

patterns made into the wheat paste on Karen's page.

Carol Burrows front cover

Sydney Hole's front cover

Watch for Martha Cole’s next course at our center in 2012. Gail

Red Poetry in Winter

gailcreativestudies — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 05:15:09 +0000

Red is an ancient color. Famous wall paintings from Pompeii 2000 years ago were painted in a unique, shiny and intense red color that was made from cinnabar pigment (mercury sulfide.) Several frescoes showing this color still exist in Naples.

Our next online Color Course begins Jan. 12 Gail

Life and Living (warning, warning)

Dying embers fade away.

Poison-Color. Staining lips with blood

As all things Fall apart and fade.

Poetry by Taaya Sharn – A young high school student who sat in on a talk I gave about color.

Xmas. is a good time to look at different hues of red. When white is added, pink emerges. pink doesn't have anything like the energy that red has.

Many expressions are derived from the word pink. The term In the Pink was used in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet

Color is my day long obsession, joy and torment. Claude Monet

Passion, blood and fire all use red as symbols.

Red Oxide still carries the name of red but as it gets darker becomes browner if it has more orange in it. This changes the character of red greatly.

Newcomers to the world of color often think that red that leans towards violet is not valid. But it is.

Red light has the longest wavelength of all. It is measured at 650 nanometers. A little bit of red goes a long way when working with colors. It advances towards you in a composition, rather than receding.

Send along any poetry you have about color. Gail