Saturday, October 9, 2010

fiber at Paradise City

OK--finally I got my booth set up at the Paradise City Show in Northampton. Sometimes, I swear it is harder to set up when you are close to home--after all if I forget something,  I can always drive up to the studio to get it. Argh!!! Alas--I  think I know I-91 North too well!!!




But it looks pretty good. And I had half an hour this morning before the show opened. Time to see the new works in decorative fiber. One of the features I love most about the Paradise Shows is the fact that there is always something new to inspire me. This year did not disappoint.

I stop first at the booth of my friend Alice Pickett Lewis. I feel that I have known her forever. Or at least way back when she did wonderful rag rugs. She has always had such a great use of color and texture. Well now she has taken the concept of recycling wool one step further by using wool to create wonderful textiles that sing with color and movement. Isn't it wonderful?




Here's another one. Gorgeous.



As she pointed out, it is much harder to do a piece that is "random" than a piece that is planned. Certainly I can relate to that.  Oh I want to run my hand over the soft wool. She dyes and manipulates the recycled wool to create these wonderful works of wall art.  How clever that she uses the name salvage--do check it out: http://www.salvaj.com/


The next work that stopped me in my tracks was that of Corinne Seeley. Again she was a rug weaver who wanted to go beyond the physical process of rug weaving if I remember correctly. These works are made of cotton and silk woven in the most wonderful dynamic designs. The work is then treated with something--she told me and I forget--to give it the finished texture. It makes it a bit hard to photograph but look at the wonderful designs. Alas, she does not yet have a web site but she can be reached by e-mail at clseeley@optonline.net.



I am sure she has better images than these.




See I told you it was hard to capture. But she adds all these wonderful and perfect details. You really do want to see her work and her use of colors. I had never seen it before and I love it.


Finally there were the paper lights--or are they sculpture?-- of Riki Moss and Robert Ostermeyer. This illuminated sculpture is actually made of paper created from the pulp of bamboo leaves. Just talking with them let me feel the excitement when they realize a piece. Some of them looked so organic--lettuce leaves gone awry perhaps? And the soft colors--much better than those in my snapshots--are truly golden and lush. Do check out their web site-http://www.studio-glow.com for more and better images of their work.







Aren't those shapes amazing? Haunting. Lush and golden. Turns out the work is also fire proof. Oh am I lusting after this?? For an added treat, Riki also makes a wonderful line of paper work that is currently shown in Japan as part of a Paper Biennial. She definitely knows her media. Her other work can be seen at http://www.rikimoss.com

And now I must get prepared for another day at the show--there are still a few aisles I have yet to explore--maybe even more great fiber. Oh it is so much fun being at a show that is so inspiring. How hard it is to stay in my booth.

And you--do you find other fiber works to be inspiring? Do you gravitate to them the way I do?

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