Green Center Show Opens This Week

I wanted to send one last reminder about my big show opening this week at the Green Center. As I mentioned before, this is my biggest show to date and features several new assemblages and fibers-based assemblages, so I hope that you can make it out to see the show. This show is a really big deal to me as I have over 80 pieces on display, a vast majority of which are new.

I'm sorry I haven't blogged much lately. I have been busy getting ready for this solo show. My hope is to blog a really brief synopsis about some of the fiber shows soon, as I've made it out to see quite a few. The next couple of weeks will bear some plein air events, but after that is a much needed break and hopefully more time for blogging.

Relics & Reliquaries, solo show
The Green Center
8025 Blackberry Ave.
University City, MO
Oct. 3 - 31, 2009
reception: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2 - 4PM

Going Green - Opening This Week & Next

My next two upcoming events are going green. First, I am taking some of my remaining assemblage artworks from my Seeking Nihility show to the Green Craft Show & Sale this Saturday. After that, I will be showing several new found object assemblages at my upcoming Relics & Reliquaries solo show at the Green Center as mentioned in the Innovations in Textiles brochure. I am very excited about Relics & Reliquaries as it is my biggest solo show to date and I am glad to be debuting more of my window screen assemblages.



Green Craft Show & Sale
in conjunction with the Green Homes Festival
Cardinal Ritter College Prep
701 N. Spring Ave.
Grand Center
St. Louis, MO
Sept. 26, 2009

Relics & Reliquaries, solo show
The Green Center
8025 Blackberry Ave.
University City, MO
Oct. 3 - 31, 2009
reception: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2 - 4PM

This Week

Here's a list of what I'm doing this weekend. The collaborative exhibit at Third Degree Glass is one of my bigger shows this month, and the work generated by the artists involved has proven quite different, so please stop by and check it out. I am also participating in the Mississippi Earthtones plein air event in Alton and will have a small selection of jewelry available for purchase and will be painting from 12 - 5 as per the event.

Common Threads
collaborative small group show
Third Degree Glass Factory
5200 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO
Sept. 2009
reception: Friday, Sept. 18, 6 - 10 PM in conjunction with Third Friday
Artists: Jes Kopitske, Jeremy Lampe, Libby Leuchtman, Jim McKelvey, Aaron Quigley, Sandi Shapiro, Jennifer Weigel, and Denise Williams.

Mississippi Earthtones Festival 2nd Annual Plein air Competition
Riverfront Amphitheater, Alton, IL
Sept. 19, 2009

Claude on the Big Screen

As I'd mentioned before, Claude and I went to the film screening of his videos today at Schlafly Bottleworks in Inside the Outside as part of ArtOutside. We thoroughly enjoyed watching all of them on the big screen.

Gee's Bend quilt show

I'm not going to write an actual review so much as a word of advice: go to the Missouri History Museum. Seriously, if you haven't yet seen Mary Lee Bendolph, Gee's Bend Quilts, and Beyond, you have missed out on a truly wonderful exhibition. I am very glad that I managed to finally make it out today to see it (especially since I had thought the show ran longer and it ends this weekend). I can't even begin to describe what an amazing show this is, you really just have to see it for yourself.

The exhibition closes on September 13 so this weekend may be your last chance to see it. And artist Lonnie Holley and curator Matt Arnett will be at the Missouri History Museum from Thursday, Sept. 10 - Sunday, Sept. 13. There will be documentary screenings, book signings and a quilting workshop over the weekend. So even if you have been, it's likely worth returning this weekend to see the show one last time and to meet Lonnie Holley & Matt Arnett.

Last Claude Video / Video Screening

Here's the last Claude video, in which we play some more Rock Band and sing a duet.

The Claude videos are going to air on the big screen in Inside the Outside, a video, sound and performance art event in conjunction with ArtOutside at Schlafly Bottleworks, so please feel free to check them out.

Inside the Outside, premiere Schlafly video, sound & performance event in conjunction with ArtOutside
Schlafly Bottleworks
7260 Southwest Ave. (at Manchester), Maplewood, MO
Sept. 11 - 13, 2009
I am performing Gendering from 10 AM - noon and the Claude videos will air from 4:30 - 5 PM on Saturday, Sept. 12. (The videos will also air from 6 - 6:30 PM and 8 - 8:30 PM on Sept. 11 but Claude & I won't be able to attend at that time due to the WCA show reception.)

Material Studies

I have been hoping to see a bunch of the fiber shows happening all over St. Louis and write some mini reviews on my blog, but I am so busy myself that I just haven't had much time to write anything. However, I will post a brief blurb about the Material Studies show at Good Citizen Gallery, which opened September 4 and runs through September 26.

Material Studies includes works by fiber artists Erin K. Cork, Courtney Henson, Christine A. Holtz, Jessica May, Alicia Pigg and Jessica Witte. This exhibition "is a culmination of artists exploring the world of fibers in which the boundaries between art and everyday life are blurred by our familiarity with materials and hand-made processes... The show is full of highly charged artworks meant to challenge and inform our personal involvement with fiber materials and processes in the world today."

The show highlights a wonderfully diverse range of modern explorations into fibers, incorporating found object assemblage, performance art, installation art, video and more. Many of the works are quite ethereal and utilize natural objects, including my personal favorite: a floor installation by Jessica Witte of an elaborate "doily" of birdseed that could easily be swept away. I am especially interested in how Witte's work engages the viewer by involving him/her in the artwork through his/her avoidance of stepping upon it. I am also drawn to the reference to the Tibetan sand painting mandalas and the temporary nature of the piece. Another piece that begs for viewer interaction is Couch by Erin Cork, an altered sofa that has taken on an even more organic feeling. While I was at the opening reception, this artwork always had at least one (and often two or more) people sitting on it.

I especially find these interactions intriguing because I feel that viewers naturally connect to fibers in different ways than with other media and that such artworks further explore those relationships. Fiber art incorporates textural elements that are experienced visually and sometimes even tactilely (in those circumstances in which viewers are invited to physically handle and engage in the material). There is much rich history in fibers and textiles, from long before the development of fiber as a modern art form to the actual fiber artworks themselves, which are often painstakingly generated over time. And we all have very intimate relationships with fibers and are rarely without them, as is evidenced by our use of clothing, upholstery, blankets, shrouds, covers, curtains and more.

At any rate, if you get a chance to see the show, you should definitely do so. I only regret that I cannot make it to the gallery talk with as many other things as I have going on.

Material Studies
Good Citizen Gallery
2247 Gravois Ave.
St. Louis, MO
show: September 4 - 26
gallery talk: September 12, 2 - 4 PM

It's a Crazy Hectic September!

Hi everyone,
This is panning out to be a crazy hectic month for me, so I want to kick it off by letting everyone know what I'll be up to. Please check out all the amazing fiber shows that you can - there's a really diverse range of incredible innovative work. You can learn more about Innovations in Textiles and some of the fiber shows on the blog. I even did an interview there awhile back for the Third Degree Glass show.
- Jennifer

Reclaim, Renew, Reuse, juried by Pat Nelson & Kenton Hall
Atrium Gallery, Ball State University
2000 W. University Ave., Muncie, IN
Aug. 25 - Sept. 26, 2009

On the Wall, invitational exhibition through the St. Louis Chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art
Spirits Lounge
300 S. State St., Alton, IL
Sept. 3 - Oct. 31, 2009

Made By Hand, juried by Jo Stealy and sponsored by the St. Louis Chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art
Crossroads Art Studios
501 N. Kingshighway, St. Charles, MO
Sept. 11 - Oct. 8, 2009
reception: Friday, Sept. 11, 7 - 9 PM

Inside the Outside, premiere Schlafly video, sound & performance event in conjunction with ArtOutside
Schlafly Bottleworks
7260 Southwest Ave. (at Manchester), Maplewood, MO
Sept. 11 - 13, 2009
I am performing Gendering from 10 AM - noon and the Claude videos will air from 4:30 - 5 PM on Saturday, Sept. 12. (The videos will also air from 6 - 6:30 PM and 8 - 8:30 PM on Sept. 11 but Claude & I won't be able to attend at that time due to the WCA show reception.)

Common Threads, invitational small group show featuring fiber and glass collaborative artworks
Third Degree Glass Factory
5200 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO
Sept. 18 - Oct. 13, 2009
reception: Friday, Sept. 18: 6 - 10 PM

Mississippi Earthtones Festival 2nd Annual Plein air Competition
Riverfront Amphitheater, Alton, IL
Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, paint out: 12 - 5 PM, awards presentation: 6 PM

Green Craft Show & Sale, in conjunction with the Green Homes Festival
Cardinal Ritter College Prep Commons
701 N. Spring Ave., Grand Center, St. Louis, MO
Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, 10 AM - 6 PM

And don't forget about my solo show at the Green Center, in October. :)
Relics & Reliquaries, solo show
The Green Center
8025 Blackberry Ave., University City, MO
Oct. 3 - 31, 2009
reception: Saturday, Oct. 3, 2 - 4 PM

Yet More Claude Videos

Here's a video that Claude and I made revisiting Carondelet Park.