February 15, 2010

Josef Albers is my sunshine

This week I wrapped up Project 1: Color with my students at KCAI. The assignment that I give them is to find color inspiration in photographs, choose 5 paint chips to represent the overall color scheme of each photograph, and then dye fabric to match the paint chips. Then they have to synthesize all of that information and figure out how to present it. It always re-ignites my excitement for color. It also makes me remember that it's okay to be a nerd about something. I'm a nerd for Josef Albers and wanted to share the love.

 

These are some of my favorite Albers paintings. They are a revelation. Normally when I think of Albers' work, I picture the square inside a square.

  

Though the overall compositions of these paintings are all pretty similar, they each have so much personality. I think it's because the two smallest rectangles look like eyes, or windows in a house.

  

I'm thinking about doing a series of quilts based on these paintings. They would make beautiful crib quilts. Sometimes it's nice to work on something very formal and traditional as a counterbalance to the personal/creepy/rabbit quilts. 

  

 
 This one reminds me of fried eggs and hashbrowns. Maybe that's only because I filled up on delicious diner breakfasts this weekend (thanks to Kathryn, Town Topic, and Cascone's Grill)

February 5, 2010

Pretending to be a designer


They Seek, 2010

Every once in a while I have fantasies about becoming a famous designer - like Denyse Schmidt, Jonathan Adler, or Lotta Anderson. These episodes usually occur after spending way too much time on Apartment Therapy. In the course of trying to make our home more "us" Simon and I have frequently turned to AT for inspiration. Last weekend, on a whim, I painted a back splash in our kitchen (thanks for the support, Mom). Just this week I decided to make over our staircase. This will involve ripping up the carpet, painting the plywood stairs underneath and applying FLOR tiles to the treads. Simon's big job is turning our awkward, unfinished attic/closet mess into something attractive and usable (with much guidance from my Dad).

I digress. Back to the fantasy at hand. This week I introduced my students at KCAI to our new textile design software, Pointcarre. This re-awakened my secret wish to be a fabulous designer.

Here are some examples of what I'm playing around with:

I like to start with my own work as inspiration. The quilt at the top, "They Seek", was finished over winter break. I zoomed in on different parts of it to create the patterns below.


rabbit spines


heads with eyes - I like the white teeth


mirrored mouths - looks a bit like flying saucers

The first one is my favorite. I want to try some different colorways and scales. I'm thinking of having it printed at Spoonflower. We do have a large format printer at school but honestly, it seems like too much work to format, check color, and print. I would rather pay someone else to do it.

*P.S. - I found my studio keys. Yay! And did I mention it's snowing again?