AIR 2017 Week Three, and a thanks to a great artist whose earthly life just ended.ife just

This post is a humble one, since Week Three of the Artist in Residency 2017, stitched signature book was yesterday. Then today came the news of the death of  Magdalena Abakanowicz. She, a great figure in art, who dealt with many setbacks in the male oriented art world, came through triumphantly, with great works and decades of achievement.

She was a fiber artist, using fibrous materials to create her shapes, and they were cast in metal.  But the male art world in Europe at the outset, dismissed her work as not art, because it was created in fiber..

Never mind, who knows her critics now, but the world knows her!  Nowadays nobody likes to admit they were dismissive of her work, all like to think she always knew her power.  Twas ever thus.   You're unlikely to see any admissions in her obituaries. 

Unforgettable power surrounds her human forms. Go here
The figures that link shows you, were lent to Princeton University Art Museum some years ago, and I forced all my students to go there and experience them, and take their kids and everyone! 

I feel honored that she was a fiber artist, though you see her works cast in metal.

And down to my little part of the art world, yesterday's Artist in Residence Session Three, stitched signature books, at least that was the plan.

So here, many choices of materials and ideas

 leading to some very intense work yesterday, learning to create a stitched signature book, and work an interesting stitching.  Jill is a stitcher, and has done calligraphy, so this was a chance to create a book for her own use

 My handcut stamps came into play, and more than one person wanted to examine them in case she could give it a try.  Always a great outcome.

And one participant simply went her own way, old friend, who has attended my drawing classes and taken part in community arts. She's an artist, who selected some mulberry paper strips, went off and drew some flowers in fine black ink, and is deciding how to assemble and display the results.  

She took a couple of pieces of daylily paper to continue the work at home, and left me in a very mellow frame of mind.  A real artist never looks for the instructions! she looks over the material, considers how it will work for her, and does that.  So glad Carol came yesterday.  It was a treat watching her process.

This was a much quieter session than last week, but was at least as valuable in the ideas exchanged and explored.  Program directors love numbers to participate, but art doesn't always run along those lines. 

Next week: portfolios, and I have a couple to finish before then, to show off, also some materials to assemble for people to use.