finding ingenuity

One of my favorite past times is hunting for inspiration. It is necessary as an artist, craftsperson, creative, what have you. I find that historical sources make up a lot of the inspiration I use in the pieces that I create. And one historical source that I come back to time and time again, is the work from the Bauhaus school. 



At the school, there was a weaving studio. From that weaving studio, came the first female master craftswoman the school had ever seen: the lovely and perplexing Gunta Stölzl. She was a forward-thinker, wearing trousers and puffing on cigarettes, unapologetic and confident. She celebrated color and understood the beauty in subtleties. She revolutionized the design world for women and for that I owe her eternal gratitude. 

These portraits of her, done by a fellow Bauhaus master, show her in a light that not many might see when viewing her craft. Her work is clean and geometric, following the values set forth by the founder of the Bauhaus school, Mr. Walter Gropius. She pioneered the modern age of weaving, although not entirely separating it from the centuries old tradition it grew from. 

Tapestry by Gunta Stölzl, 1923

African Chair by Gunta Stolzl and Marcel Breuer

Office of Gertrude Stein with works by Gunta Stölzl

Other amazing female craftswomen from the Bauhaus include Anni Albers, Marianne Brandt and Otti Berger. Do some research and feel inspired! :)

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long-lost wovens

While in Toronto, I visited an old friend from FIT: the beautiful Valentina with her fiance Jeff. She had snagged some woven pieces for me after graduation (which was the last time I saw her; much too long since) and has been keeping them safe for me for the past two years. They are some of my favorite pieces and were featured in the Art & Design Graduating Student Exhibition at FIT in 2010. Anyway, I am SO SO happy to have them back and I wanted to share! Oh how I miss the weaving studio at FIT...

The wovens shown here utilize an ombre warp with a spike of red down the center. These two samples look very different but they were both part of a larger experimentation with twill weaves on an eight-harness table loom. I fell in love with weaving because of the focus on color and structure. I love all the rules! Which is something I would never normally say. The creative process morphs into something completely unexpected when a loom is at your fingertips! 

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weekend jaunt to toronto

As a Buffalonian, I am familiar with Canadian customs and I find myself identifying with their ways. Toronto is a beautiful city, clean and polite, having an excellent juxtaposition of old with new. Things are noticeably slower than New York; time seems to be appreciated, as well as togetherness.

The boyfriend and I went up for the weekend with little money and most every meal was Tim Hortons. Despite the lack of funds, we did some great sightseeing and people watching in very real neighborhoods. The Kensington Market and Queen West are two amazing little pockets west of the University. Kensington has some great vintage emporiums and plenty of hippie-chic garb. Queen West on the other hand is home to a handful of flawless design stores, hip tattoo shops, and drinkeries akin to the LES.

Overall the trip was a welcome break from the monotony of dull side jobs and slowly picking the pieces of my life back up. Hopefully it won't be long before another visit considering the drive is under two hours! I am also considering fishing for a design position up there... we'll see what bites.

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crafts crafting craft

Hello all!

I attended this GREAT indie craft market called CLUTTER today down on Essex St. here in Buffalo. It was a bit slow for most of the day due to the fact that it was Father's Day; regardless I met some amazing people making truly lovely things! I love seeing creative people making things happen here in Buffalo and it truly inspires me to keep making!

We fought off some sprinkles early on but then had beautiful sun for the rest of the day. We were set in the quaint courtyard of the Essex St. Studios outside the Griffis Studios and Big Orbit Gallery. This was my first market so I learned a lot and I now have a better plan of action for display and setup. 

For next time, I will be adding more pillows and t-shirt designs! I am going to do some dabbling with watercolors in the near future and see how those designs might translate to shirts. I also am going to continue experimenting with bleach and my secret weapon Soft Scrub ;) And of course, I can't wait to see all the wonderful goodies everyone else brings to their tables. 

More to come!! 
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