Absence of Color!

Those of you who know me and my work would say that a post on absence of color is almost laughable! You have heard me say emphatically, "I don't do black and white"! OK, so I'm eating my words! Who would have thought it would have come to this. I AM DOING BLACK AND WHITE! (GASP!)

Now that you all have composed yourself, I'll try to explain why I am doing black and white. Ever since I had my own apartment after graduating from college I've had this "thing" or "need" to be devoid of color after the Christmas holidays. I love all the holiday colors and lights but by January I am in color sensory overload. So when all the decorations are put away, the only color I want to see is white! I put out white candles, white accessories, and for years I would buy white carnations to start the new year. It was a cleaning of all the clutter and chaos of color! A fresh start! By February color would creep back in by putting out pink candles and maybe a pink table runner or placemat. March brought the color yellow and daffodils on the scene. April got more colorful with pastels and tulips. Get the picture? By October all the colors of fall leaves, mums, and pumpkins were taking over!

This year has been different. It seems that my soul is needing the absence of color. Maybe it's age. Maybe it's the world today. Maybe it's the political climate. Or maybe it's the need to do something new and unexpected. A friend of mine recently used the word "Purity". I thought about that for a minute. I liked the idea that it might be a kind of purity that I was seeking. What better way to find that then to begin with my work. Simplify! Remove the color and all the millions of possible combinations. Limit the possibilities. Use only black and white.

Note cards by Judy Connor Jones©

Note cards by Judy Connor Jones©

I began thinking about how I could create black and white scarves. I purchased some black silk and began to ponder how to use white with it while not be boring.  A few weeks ago I was able to dye some white silk with black dye. I diluted the dye to produce various depths of gray and used a Shibori (fancy Japanese term for tie-dye) technique to dye the cloth. I have to say the depth of, dare I say, "color" that I got was exciting and extremely satisfying. Who knew Black and White could be so challenging and interesting!!

I started weaving by using an off-loom weaving technique. I chose to weave opposites. One scarf primarily black. The other white. Both have shades of gray. I never thought I would get excited using such a neutral and limited palette but every time I wove a new strip across the piece, the pattern became more and more interesting. WOW! The black became very theatrical and dramatic. The white more subtle. I'm in LOVE!

Scarf by Judy Connor Jones©

Scarf by Judy Connor Jones©

Scarf by Judy Connor Jones©

Scarf by Judy Connor Jones©

   

I'll be doing a few more in upcoming weeks. Don't know how long this phase will last. I have to admit, the idea of maybe, just maybe, the addition of a "wee" bit of color creeping in is looming in the back of my mind! What do you think?

What's happening in the Studio?

So what have I been up to in the first half of 2017? For starters I took some time off to relax, be with family, and enjoy the sunshine in Florida. I've realized that the sun energizes me and so my time in Florida is alway a wonderful time to be inspired.

To help that process I enrolled in an on-line class called "Creative Strength Training" led by Jane Dunnewold and her daughter, Zenna. This course is jam packed full of ideas, processes, fun, and serious contemplation. I am enjoying it to the "nth" degree! Since I've been going through serious re-evaluation of where my work is going, this is exactly what I need. Questions like, do I want to continue doing shows, do I want to continue making production items to sell, what will give me satisfaction in the work I do, how will I continue creating with physical ailments increasing, and most of all am I having fun and enjoying what I do, have been an on-going conversation with myself for a couple of years.

 So as that process continues, I am discovering some things.

1. My work needs to change. I work at a slower pace and am excited about creating new work that challenges me.

2. Learning and playing with new techniques is energizing.

3. Production work is not satisfying any more. It was a good run but it is time to move on.

4. I need to connect with artists of all mediums to explore and discuss new possibilities. The CST class has a wonderful Facebook Group with which to share insights, discoveries, and new learnings.

As I explore and move through this process I'd like to share some new work I'm developing. I've been working with this technique for about a year and I am enjoying the fact that it is an off loom technique. That has given my body some time to heal from all the years of weaving on a loom to produce for sales. It also gives me a sense of excitement to see how each piece turns out.

detail of 4" scarves

I started working with the technique by making silk scarves, both infinity and loose hanging. I just recently worked on a narrow version. I am selling these but they are limited in production. Each one, since the dye patterns are not duplicated, is truly one of a kind. As I explore I try to create new ways of weaving them.

4'' scarves

5" scarves

My CST on-line course is definitely an influence as I work on who I am as an artist and what I am meant to do and be. I have new ideas running around my head. Hopefully the ideas will emerge into something new, exciting, and wonderful. It's a challenge but, oh, am I having fun! Stay tuned!

The End and The Beginning

Happy Labor Day to all in the US who celebrate this day in honor of our work force. Hopefully you are getting a break from your labor. For me, having been a Jr High teacher, Labor Day always signified the end of summer and the beginning of the new school year. It was and still is a chance for new beginnings and fresh starts!

While I no longer teach, Labor Day is both an ending and a beginning for me. The days of summer with it's travel and fun give way to the more serious task of getting ready for fall shows. Oh drats!  I really have to work hard now to have inventory for my fall and holiday commitments to Galleries and Art Centers! So while you all are celebrating, I'm making lists, checking current inventory, and marking deadlines on my calendar. Deadlines are beginning to loom! (Pun intended)

So here's my ambitious schedule for the fall and holiday season:

Artistry 2016
November 3, 2016 - January 8, 2017
Guilford Art Center
Guilford, CT
www.guilfordartcenter.org

Weavers' Guild of Boston Exhibit and Sale
November 3 - 6, 2016
Josiah Smith Barn
Weston, MA
www.weaversguildofboston.org

Artists' Market
November 11 - December 3, 2016
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum
Lincoln, MA
www.decordova.org

Handmade Holiday 7
November 26 - December 23, 2016
Some Things Looming
Reading, PA
www.somethingslooming.com
(work will also be in the boutique starting the end of September)

Along with these shows, I will continue to have work in the Elizabeth Stevens Gallery, Towles Court  in Sarasota Fl.

For those of you who are local, there is a possibility I may have a Studio Open House sometime in November. Stay tuned for info on that. If you want to make sure you know when the Pop Up Open House may happen, please sign up for my e-mail newsletter at http://bit.ly/1uMQqyr. I promise not to flood your inbox. I only send out a newsletter occasionally to let you know what is happening at Judy Connor Jones (no more than once a month and more likely only 3 or 4 times a year).

I leave you with a preview of my newest work.  Selected galleries will be carrying the newer work. All others will have a selection of my other work which is shown on my website, www.JudyConnorJones.com.

Shawls Are More Than a Wrap - Part Two or What in My "Tool Box" Can I Use?

I have a habit of being interested in new techniques, taking a workshop, and after the workshop/class never having the time to play with what I've learned.  The cycle goes like this - excitement to use the new techniques, no time to play reinforcing the technique, months go by, fear sets in, memory fades, and there you have it. New technique, new supplies, sitting on the shelf or in the box never touched again. My "tool box" is full of these things! Any of you have this problem?

Well this time, I was thankful for an excuse to play with Color Hue dyes that I learned about at a weavers'  conference last summer, July 2014.

©Judy Connor Jones

It was a wonderful workshop and the dyes were so easy to use and the teacher was excellent. As it turned out, they were the perfect dyes for this project. You see they bond instantly to silk and because they do, they require no mordants (dyers nerdy talk) and very little washing of excess dye in the cloth. There is very little dye left that has not bonded to the cloth.  So why is this important?  Remember my dilemma, how to incorporate prayers in the shawl? One of the other items in my tool box is knowing how to ink jet print onto fabric. While the ink jet print is permanent, washing over and over again to remove dyes would cause the ink to fade. The Color Hue dyes would allow me to give color to the silk, which was white at the beginning, without the print fading. I would print prayers or statements of faith for each of the Abrahamic faiths onto silk, dye it, and cut it into ribbon using a Japanese technique for making long strips of ribbon, another tool box item!

©Judy Connor Jones

Issue resolved! BUTTTTTTT (UT OH, here goes another Judy brain storm!) - wouldn't it be cool if the prayers or statements were written in English, Hebrew, and Arabic! YES! 

Reality check - how to do that? I don't know Hebrew and I don't know Arabic. Just so happens that my husband works at a seminary (Andover Newton Theological School) where, you guessed it, there is an Interfaith Professor, a Hebrew Professor, and BINGO, an Islamic Professor!  I am most grateful to the help they provided by doing the translations I needed and their perseverance to get it into a format that I could use. Thank you Jenny, Greg and Celene.

So what was printed and woven into the piece? For Christianity, in English, I printed the first line of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name", for Judaism in Hebrew, part of the Shema, "Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.", and for Islam in Arabic, "There is no god but God".  Under each of these ribbons was another ribbon with the same phase for each, "Peace, Salaam, Shalom".  At the end of each silk ribbon row was an olive wood bead from my "stash of stuff" which I acquired from my mother-in-law's "stash of stuff".  Perfect! They were waiting for this moment!

©Judy Connor Jones

When the piece was completed and I took it off the loom, I was so moved by the colors and the incorporating of the prayers that it became a Holy moment.  My hands had created something I never dreamed I would do.  So many serendipitous things happened in the making of this piece that it is hard to believe that my hand was the only hand creating it. The Great Creator's Hand was definitely present.

©Ritterbin.com

The piece was shipped off and presented to the General Secretary of American Baptist Churches, USA at their Mission Summit, June, 2015. The Program presentation was called "Draping of the Mantle", a reference to an ancient tradition. PERFECT! I was honored to be a part of it.

So what's next? I don't know.  I do know that something new and creative is around the corner. The idea of working with the Interfaith concept is gnawing at me. I can't ignore it!

I leave you with a collage of pictures including the draping of the mantle and a blessing that you may be wrapped with the mantle of inspiration and creativity.

Please respect copyrights, ©Ritterbin.com and ©Judy Connor Jones

Shawls Are More Than A Wrap!

I recently was commissioned to create an Interfaith Prayer Shawl which was to be a retirement gift for the General Secretary of American Baptist Churches, USA. It was to be presented to him at the biennial Mission Summit held in Kansas City at the end of June.

After I'd agreed to the commission I began to wonder what I had gotten myself into! What was an interfaith prayer shawl?  What faiths to include? After all there are many all over the world. Had this been done before by someone? Could I find something on the internet to help?

The specifications were:

 1 -  represent the three Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity
 2 -  without specifically being a Tallit (Jewish Prayer Shawl), it could incorporate a few of the elements such as the Tzitzit
 3 -  Be a specially designed handwoven piece instead of a knitted shawl that the Prayer Shawl Ministry makes to give to people for whom they are praying.

This was to be a whole different thing made special for the occasion and the person for whom it was intended. Wow! Breathe! What a challenge! You can do this!

Where to start?

First I needed to discover if there was such thing as an Interfaith Prayer Shawl or if anyone had made one before. So I began my research. I found lots of Interfaith art work but nothing was wearable. After many hours of researching and not discovering anything, the question became "What was I going to do"? Panic, of course!!!

It occurred to me that I needed to remember what I, as a weaver, do best, Work With Color! (A "DUH" moment!)

Ok, got that! NOTE TO SELF: The colors will progress from the desert colors for the nomadic tribes of Judaism and Islam to the colors representing the majesty of God for all three faiths (Judaism, Islam, Christianity) to the blues and greens of Living Water representing Christianity. My palette was set after I looked to my shelves to see what yarns worked in the color way I wanted. Amazingly, I had all the colors I needed in my stock of Tencel. This would be a good weight for the shawl and when woven in a twill and plain weave structure allow the right amount of drape.  Here is the final palette, 12 colors in all including a gold metallic yarn.

You'll notice there are only 11 colors here.  I added one more to the dessert colors because I didn't think the colors were strong enough.  I had just ordered the color Sienna from my supplier. Turned out it was the perfect color addition. It is in the card wrapping below.

The next step was to figure out what else would make this a special prayer shawl. I wanted to somehow incorporate prayers into the weaving.  But how to do that? And what prayers? More research needed!

I'll leave it here for now and follow up with another blog post on what happened next. While you wait, here are a few pictures of putting the yarn on the loom to weave the sampler and choose the weft color.

Can't wait to show you what came next!

"There's No Business like Show Business"!

Getting ready to do a show this weekend in Wilmington, DE. As a Master Artisan in the PA Guild of Craftsmen, I will be exhibiting my work at the PA Guild Fine Craft Show at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington Delaware.  This is a beautiful air conditioned facility with plenty of parking  and plenty of artists!

Come see me at booth, #316, on July 25 & 26.  Hours are Saturday, 10 - 6 and Sunday, 10 - 5. You can get directions and admission coupons for $1.00 off at the guild's website, www.PACrafts.org.

Hope to see you there........................................Remember, fall is just around the corner! I can help with those cool breezes that begin to blow!

              Jessica says Hi and is wearing my Ripple Scarves which are made of silk and wool.

Mad River Valley Craft Fair

It's been over a year since I've done a craft fair.  I've had to deal with repetitive motion pain issues for the last two years.  I finally had to cut back on my work and then learn how to redirect the way I work and how I sell.  After physical therapy, a chiropractor, exercises, and being kind to my body I am able to return to the Mad River Valley Craft Fair this weekend.

This is one of my favorite places to go for a show.  The valley is always beautiful, no matter what the weather. Although I'm hoping for gorgeous days! The show is a fund raiser for the Valley Theater Players of Waitsfield.  It has a down home kind of feel, a throw back to the early days of craft shows. The quality of work is very good with many accomplished artists.

So if you are traveling in VT this weekend, stop by and visit the show.  I know you'll have a good time.  Visit me at booth T. See what new items I have, spice up your wardrobe for fall and winter, and get an early start on holiday shopping.  I promise you won't be disappointed.

See you at the Fair! I'll be outside enjoying the VT air!

Weaving with New Materials

In the midst of this crazy time of year for me with orders to fill and work to ship off to galleries and art centers, it's always good to stop and take a break and breathe!  Breathing can be a day off, a day away, a day to read, or a day to learn something new and challenging.  I did just that this past Saturday.  I had the chance to learn something new, to work with materials I've never work with before, and to become a student again.  It was great to feel that excitement as I created something totally different than what I normally do in the studio. And I have to say I was proud of what I had accomplished by the end of the class. So what was it that drew me away from thinking about the ton of work I had to do to get work off to places "hither and yon"! It was weaving jewelry with wire and metal!  The feel of the material was different than working with fiber but the techniques were familiar.  We were doing simple plain weave and plying of the wire to create a piece of woven jewelry.

The class was taught by a wonderful artist, Anastasia Azure, a weaver who works with unusual materials - fish line being one of them.  Her work is fabulous and blows me away. You have to check out her website at www.anastaciaazure.com.

The class was held at The Mad Dog Artists Studios in Pawtucket, RI.  How's that name to get you in the mood for a creative experience!  As you might guess it is an old factory building which has been renovated into studio space where many artists come together to work. As one who works alone in my studio I am always a little envious of the inspiration one gets when being in the company on a regular basis of other artists.  So I live vicariously through one time experiences such as I had on Saturday. And it was great.

Here are a few pictures of what I learned to do.............................

Beginnings

Beginning the weaving. Aluminum base with colored plied wire.

Framed and finished pendant 

Close up

Can't wait to wear my new necklace!

What new experiences, learnings, or challenges have you had lately to get the creative juices flowing?  I welcome sharing in the comment section.  I'd love to hear what you are up to!

Gallery Exhibit - Cranberry Country Weavers

Yesterday I spent the day helping to hang an exhibit of weaving done by the Cranberry Country Weaver's Guild members. The exhibit is at the West Bridgewater Library in West Bridgewater, MA where our guild meets once a month. www.cranberrycountryweavers.com.

It was a great collaborative effort to arrange and display the work so that no matter what the level of weaving each piece was presented with it's own special attention to detail and given it's own space.  This is the first time the CCW Guild has put on an exhibit. It was not juried which is a great tribute to how this guild works.  Everyone is treated equally and all weaving is appreciated. It's one of the things that makes this guild so special to me.  We are there to help and learn from each other and have fun along the way.

So here are some pictures of the exhibit. Of course if you live near W.Bridgewater, Ma I encourage you to go see this exhibit.  The work is great!

          Enjoy the exhibit!