Quilt Transformed into Community Art Project - "The Wishing Wall"

The quilt took a whole new turn on Friday morning, the day of "Whitsun", when the Holy Spirit comes to the Earth! After I heard the little voice in my head say, " you are creating "The Wishing Wall", I ran into my foyer and stripped the pieces from the wall. I found a basket to hold them, gathered up all of the pushpins I could find and quickly typed up the Score sheet seen above. At school, I pinned the "seed" origami piece with the Score sheet and the monoprint that resulted from my exploration of monoprinting called "Ripples 2" to the wall. During the critique in my Fiber Art Sculpture Class, one student exclaimed, "I don't know if I'm looking at the ground or the sky." In the Land of Metaphor, monoprints folded into simple origami forms do resemble a field of "flowers" or a sky full of "stars." Another student said that she could see this as a large public installation project. Now, I am folding monoprints like crazy for a Community Project at the Falkirk Center for the Arts during the Re: Valued show in June - August, 2011.

Thank you Cayan Robertson for showing me how to create the conditions that encourage people to participate in artmaking.

Elise

Origami quilt made with monoprints is growing!

As I pin my folded monoprints to the wall in my foyer, I notice that the quilt is taking on a new life of its own. I wonder where this "block" will fit, and how to make the edges meet on forms that were created out of different sizes of paper. I think about how Nature does it. How each piece needs a space, and how each piece fills a space. I originally wanted to use as few pushpins as possible because I didn't want to make holes in my wall, but I realize that this "rule" is too constraining for what the piece wants to do and can do. My installation piece can't be forced into a contrived configuration because I don't want to put holes in the wall. It needs to BREATHE. I think about the freedom that the "Magic Wall" at O'Hanlon Center for the Arts offers me. I wonder, I ponder... on how to proceed. Then, I realize that I only need to keep making monoprints and all of them will find their way onto my "Magic Wall"!

Stay tuned as the quilt folds and unfolds, breathes and takes on new meaning.

Elise

Origami "Scrap" Quilt Created with Monoprints

I am using my monoprint "rejects" to create a "scrap" quilt. In the making of my monoprints, I noticed that my brayer was going over the edge of my paper. To protect my work space, I placed a piece of paper under the paper I was working on. At the end of the day, I noticed a history of marks from the various inks I used throughout the session. I also found myself with a lot of unused ink on my pallet, and in my conservative nature, I sprayed the pallet with water, and "printed" more paper. With many monoprints accumulating quickly, I saw the opportunity to create a "scrap" quilt, with folded Origami "flowers". Now, I pin them to my wall in the foyer and enjoy the interplay of random color, line and form.

Artwork submitted to Surface/Tension: h2o Show

"Equisetum hyemale", monprint, ink on YUPO paper, 22" x 28"

"Ripple 1", monoprint, ink on YUPO paper, 12" x 18"

"Ripple 2", monoprint, ink on YUPO paper, 18" x 12"

I submitted these monoprints to the Surface/Tension: h2o Show at ICB, juried by Donna Seagar, which will be hanging at ICB through June.

(I first discovered YUPO paper when I created my artbook, "Return to Oz", which was shown last month in the "Elements" Show at OHCA.) YUPO "paper" is plastic that performs like Hot Press watercolor paper. Water-based printing ink travels on the surface of YUPO paper and yields many different effects, including "phases" of water that register like "steam", "mist" and "ripples". YUPO is the perfect support for wet and dry media as seen in my artbook.

Monoprinting Workshop at OHCA

I took the monoprinting workshop at O'Hanlon Center for the Arts yesterday. The group meets on the first Sunday of every month. Cayen Robertson showed us many ways to work with monoprints including 1)direct drawing, 2) subtractive, and 3) additive techniques. I went wild with creating collages with monoprints and cover photos from old National Geographic magazines. In 1988, lemurs were on the edge of survival. I wonder how they are doing today, 22 years later.

Monoprint Making at OHCA

There is so much you can do with monoprints. Send your loved one a card, use it for a flyer to advertise workshops, or simply frame it and hang it on your wall. The stories embedded in the spontaneous happenstance are rich and wonderful.


I love the soft effect when I added water to the plexiglass "pallet". I have to remember that everything prints backwards and need to learn how to "mirror-write", in order to get the type in the correct orientation.

Inspired by Paul Klee and Ann O'Hanlon's students, I'm working diligently in the shared studio space at OHCA on my monoprints. Yesterday, I discovered a "new" technique using ink and rubbing alcohol. Check out the "halo" effect around the horse in this monoprint.

Elise

Personal Creativity Workshop at O'Hanlon Center for the Arts

Hi Folks,

I took my first monoprinting class at OHCA with Cayen Robertson, long-time teacher, and will be showing some of the beautiful artworks we created at the Personal Creativity Workshop last Saturday.