the littlest bohemian ....by THREADSTAR

FINALLY! NEW PICS!

2011-08-08T15:12:00.002-05:00

I am so happy to share new pics that I am just going to down load a bunch at once. The circle pieces are for a new necklace series called MultiVerse...The copper and fabic bead necklace is now complete...I have added a new necklace called summer sherbet, and finished the black and white beads for the earrings....now ...back to a little work on the THREE CHRISTS OF YPSILANTI series. Hope You and enjoy! I sure missed everyone!

Crow Necklace

2011-03-20T13:14:00.001-05:00

bird necklace, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

These are my favorite necklaces to make. I love the way the lay on a sweater...so pretty on Amy!

NEON KRO BEADS

2011-03-20T13:12:00.001-05:00

table 1, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

Modeled by Amy, pix by Sarah, I love the beads clustered!

Amy Modeling new Jewelry

2011-03-20T13:11:00.001-05:00

hand on tree 1, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

The latest photo shoot. I am so fortunate to have a great model and photographer. It is so difficult to understand the size of a piece of jewelry without seeing it on someone! Sarah (photographer) takes many many pix and then works on them individually so we will have what we need for a real life shop an online shop and a catalog for jewelry parties...

NEW JEWELRY

2011-02-24T11:57:00.000-06:00

Finally a few new pieces. I am a first timer at this jewelry making enterprise but I love it! All of these pieces are hand stitched and I have used no pattern. All of the jewlry is leather backed. I made my first jewelry findings on the earrings and was very pleasantly surprised when they acually worked! I am looking at opening in mid to late May and can't wait! I am inspired on to the next projects...Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

WIPs I AM FINISHING UP and some I'M NOT!!

2011-01-30T14:04:00.000-06:00

I have been working on several pieces including more work on the perpetual cloth I am making for my daughter. I have added some black and copper coins in metallic thread. I like metallic in bits and pieces mostly because I find it difficult to work with. Probably because I use a very tight thread count in my background fabric. I like the tighter thread count because it stops any puckering, but it is rough on metallic thread. I also put in 2 leaf shape shields in reverse colors, which turned out so cool I decided to make them into earrings as well for my jewelry line. Speaking of! I have a bib style halter necklace...when it is finished a fabric halter will be attached to the bib and it will tie in the back. The clasp will be made from link chain. I love the zebra look in this piece. I am also adding some drop earrings to go with this piece or separately. Last but not least I am almost finished with the Crow in Spring Branches necklace...I love the greens! Thank you for stopping by, I can't wait to see what you are working on!!

Look Trendy or Relax and Go Fishing!

2011-01-08T13:07:00.001-06:00

100_0988, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

Latest Kro Beads...yep ..inspired by fishing bobbers...new stitched pieces are on my facebook page will blog them as soon as I finish the crow necklace! Have a great day! Miki

A WORKIN' GIRL!

2010-12-28T14:45:00.000-06:00

My excitement over deciding to have a shop is apparent, I am workin' away and loving it...there will be a drawing coming up for some big beads so if you want to glam up or know someone who does here's a chance to win the multi-color jumbo bead necklace...details soon! I am making some necklaces with one jumbo bead an easier way to wear a jumbo bead if you are not used to them! Here are some pix of stuff I am working on now....

Thanks for the visit and have a great day!!!!

new neons...ruthie davis shoes inspired these

2010-12-27T14:08:00.003-06:00

new neons...ruthie davis shoes inspired these, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday and that you are all feeling well and rested! I had a great time with Kro, Angel, and Ollie...Kro is a fabulous chef and cooked a meal to die for...wish you all could have sat a spell with us! Here are some new things I am playing around with, sorry the pix are foggy but I have a shakey hand these days..primarily good for stuffing my face tho!

rag braid kro bead belt

2010-12-27T14:05:00.003-06:00

rag braid kro bead belt, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

rag braid kro beads belt

2010-12-27T14:05:00.001-06:00

rag braid kro beads belt, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

starry night metallic rag braid love knot..necklace

2010-12-27T14:04:00.003-06:00

starry night metallic rag braid love knot..necklace, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

picasa play

2010-12-27T14:04:00.001-06:00

picasa play, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

NEW KRO BEADS ADDED

2010-12-13T11:20:00.000-06:00

I have added three new Kro Bead necklaces to the growing collection. The three from the top left including copper/black; purple/blue

and blue/green.

These are pics I took of the photographer (Sarah) taking pics. I take really bad photos, so I am fortunate to have Sarah who took tons of shots, and is working them up for me. Sarah's amazing and a great friend . Amy (model) is also a remarkable gal...she posed for-EVER and was so accomodating and lovely!. Which all sounds like fun...and it was...but they were out the night before and stuck in the bad snow, driving from Milwaukee...had partied a bit (a good bit), got back about 4:30am...made cakes, cookies and lasagna for a birthday party...picked up the little ones (they each have two)..got the kids off on playday with dads, made chocolate biscuits and coffee and started the shoot (which took a few hours) by 9:00am.. Where can ya get service like that?? Only from the grandest friends...Oh yeah and Jack the GIANT GIANT dog (big as sofa, that one) helped too...mostly by demanding camera time which we obliged since he could easily eat the camera, the model, the photographer...the beads...well you get it.. actually he is a monster size , but very friendly..he does bark lightly throughout a conversation sometimes, but he seems to think he contributes... then he curled up on the sofa (which I was sure would up-end) and went to sleep...GOOD TIMES!!!

KRO BEADS!

2010-12-05T13:59:00.000-06:00

Pretty KRO BEADS...we are thinking of 12 pro-shots of the KRO BEAD necklaces on black background in a grid to make a poster (we love color saturation) we will make the posters available for the shot. So I am plying around with my sooo not pro shots to get some ideas.

I really don't take very good pics anymore I'm shakey and I hate setting up the tripod *whine* but I do love playing with these beads...they remind me of those big jaw breaker candies. they are big beads a bit larger than a golfball. I am plying around with different knit, crochet, fabric and floss materials to braid, coil, weave, and wrap washers in...it looked so easy! Not so I find...at least for me...

Back to he experimenting..have a great week-end and thanks for visiting.

THE CHOP SHOP and NEW WORK FROM THE CHOP SHOP

2010-12-04T11:56:00.000-06:00

My friend QT asked to see the work table...so here's the mess! At the top..old doors on old sawhorses...the clutter is a mish mash of found, recycled, garage sale and donated items..I don't think I have a process anymore...it's fairly instinct and luck...if it works YAY! if not...it just goes back in the pile until I pick it up again.

Next..I love rusty junk off the road, and pine cones taken apart make great beads ..you can paint or stain them...and I always keep my Lil' "color junkie" cross stitch..a gift from Beefranck close by...the shell cross is a folk art piece someone gave me...I like it because I like art attached to ritual and this is an old home altar piece.

Next..experimental fun. The nail boards allow me to work on several beads at once...those are indeed bottle caps...I am using a thinned out white glue instead of resin...the schools always have leftover glue...tons of it..this is the second layer and it's still white the layers dry clear. Underneath the glue are tiny little pics of marijuana tax stamps and other mj pics..I am an advocate for Medical Marijuana...these will be on a leather cuff if it works...

final chop shop shot..lots and lots of recycled plaited fabric...I like 4-6 strand plaiting because you can weave things into it, it lays flat and I will stitch three or four rows together ...these are long enough to knot as well...they will eventually be belts, stirrups, cuffs and necklaces...I have a loooong way to go on these!

OK..new stuff..or... finished WIPS

Handstitching on layers of leather..with recycled garage sale beads. I use a woodburner on the leather which ya' gotta be very careful with...I have learned!

Thanks for stopping by! Much appreciated!

NEW STUFF-NEW SHOP COMING!!

2010-11-29T10:55:00.000-06:00

Next Spring I will be opening a new shop space in a Chicago handmade /green mall with a couple of close friends who will do the actual work (hee-hee). I just make stuff! The shop will be called "THE LITTLEST BOHEMIAN" and feature no jewels jewelry made from recycled, upcycled, repurposed, salvaged, materials. There will be neckwear, cuffs, anklets, spurs, and some specialty boho chic clothing items for starters with other gift items added over time. So I am working away on items for the shop. Here are some new pics:

Our goal is to keep the rough, handmade, we grabbed the scraps and got to work look.
No- sleek bejeweled or polished look. Metal scraps from copper, aluminum, and wire bits will be seen in upcoming pieces...we use the material as we get it in. We have several fiber weaved, braided, cuffs, neckwear, and belts on the work table. All recycled and incorporating found items and handturned, handmade beads. No fancy studio, no atelier...just a messy messy work table piled high with stuff..more fun than I have had in a looooong time!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

EVERYTHING IS ALWAYS A WORK IN PROGRESS (me too!)

2010-11-27T23:02:00.000-06:00

CUSTOM ORDERED BOOT STIRRUPS. I have a client who wanted to be able to change out her boots without buying many pairs. She didn't want the usual boot jewelry or an anklet, but a full stirrup that wrapped underneath the boot. So I did a mock up and after approval am now working on the stirrups The hand stitch design will be mounted on leather base straps and small rivets and a side buckle will be used as findings.The first photo is a side view of the mock-up stirrup pattern. I used the clients boots and began by making a fitted brown paper pattern on the boot, followed by this mock-up done in strips of leather left over from other projects. Everything I use is recycled and upcycled other than the findings.

Front view of the mock-up stirrup pattern.

Side view of the mock-up stirrup pattern.

Horizontal view of custom order boot stirrup top straps. The work is titled Painted Feather. The center ring will be a native american symbol. The finished top straps will be mounted on leather base straps with the leather border showing. The heel straps will also be stitched in the feather pattern. The sole straps that go under the boot will be dark leather only. The stirrups will assembled with small rivets. The stirrups can be removed or changed out to other stirrups.

Elongated view of painted feather stirrup top straps. The background fabric is recycled fabric left over from other projects, it will disappear entirely as the work progresses.

hand stitched on leather necklace

2010-11-17T10:13:00.001-06:00

hand stitched on leather necklace, originally uploaded by Threadstar (in and out).

I'm working on some new pieces...trying a bit of boho style jewelry for some friends...the jewelry was shown this past weekend with good response so I will keep on with it. This necklace style hangs beautifully and the round floss wrapped washer at the bottom of the piece ends at the top of a strapless dress, tube, or other top and looks like part of the clothing...I have a model and photographer now and some pro shots will be taken the weekend after Thanksgiving...good idea since my own photography is pretty much a hot mess now!!
I am using the jumbo beads Kro did awhile ago as well and braiding and weaving them int o fabric necklaces and cuffs...also using a wood burner on leather jewelry so I'll have a variety of different shots ...it's like playing dress-up!

GOOD LIFE wip

2010-07-27T16:29:00.000-05:00

GOOD LIFE WIP

2010-07-27T16:28:00.000-05:00

On The Work Table

2010-07-27T16:27:00.001-05:00

GOOD LIFE perpetual WIP

2010-07-27T16:27:00.000-05:00

FAMOUSLY RECLUSIVE ARTISTS-I am enthralled by reclusive-ness

2010-04-16T13:02:00.000-05:00

HENRY DARGER

Regarded as one of the quintessential examples of outsider art in the United States, Henry Darger existed in complete obscurity in his lifetime due to his highly regimented, isolated lifestyle – nobody even knew of his lofty literary and artistic

undertakings until his death in 1973 when landlords Kiyoko and Nathan Lerner discovered the thousands of pages worth of manuscripts, sketches, and watercolors he kept to himself. A menial laborer in a Chicago-area Catholic hospital, from the outside it seemed as if Darger’s life was marked with very little deviation and social activity. He attended daily mass, sometimes multiple times, went to work, and picked interesting bits of trash from the streets for use as illustration references. Darger’s most popular work, The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, weighed in at 15,145 pages and featured hundreds of illustrations that underscored the importance of preserving childhood innocence, wonder, and naiveté – a theme that carried on into his 5,084-page autobiography The History of My Life and the more obscure 10,000-page novel Crazy House. Due to his tragic and traumatic past, Darger’s work clung to keeping kids safe and the hope and comfort he found in his devotion to Catholicism. Repeatedly denied the ability to adopt a son or daughter of his own, he sought solace in his creations and served as a sort of spiritual protector of the memory of poor, strangled Elsie Paroubek. He even kept newspaper clippings of her terrible demise around as a reminder of the importance of caring for broken and battered children – more than likely this was due to Darger’s own horrific childhood. His popularity exploded following his death, true to the archetype, and came to inspire numerous other artists (both outsider and traditionally trained), writers, and musicians. FAMOUSLY RECLUSIVE a good read.

A GOOD LIFE ...WORKING INTO A HAND QUILTED CLOTH

I am making embroidered patchwork to frame "A GOOD LIFE" which is a work for my daughter and son-laws art collection. I am just meandering around and enjoying this. Stitching has been held up as I had a bad fall and broke a bone in my hand, my foot, wrenched my knee, and smashed my face a bit..but ...let's face it...I seem to have nine lives...so I am thinking "A GOOD LIFE" is just what mine is...maybe I can be bent....but not broken...Threadstar

CHRIST JOSEPH= SECOND OF THE THREE CHRISTS OF YPSILANTI SERIES

2010-04-12T09:06:00.000-05:00

I sketched a brief outline directly onto the muslin and then started the halo work which is still in progress. the split areas in the halo are spaces where small copper star embellishments will be added. I don'tusually use embellishments but it is appropriate to the interpretation of Joseph the person.

close up of WIP using french knots and split stitch in brown, black and gray/white variegated which I made using two strands of white and one of gray-twisted together. I used white cotton floss and gray silk so the hair texture/highlight will vary.

Insights for professional artists and crafters-In other news: @ JOURNAL OF MODERN CRAFT

"The replica is, in a way, the realm of pure craft … Its objectness, its materiality, its form absorb the force that would otherwise arise from its “content.”

So wrote Rachel Weiss in the second issue of this journal, in an article on the Cuban contemporary art group LOS CARPINTEROS."...

A study of the concepts of replication and copying-what it means in different global cultures, and what are the effects?

los carpinteros

Zdeněk Sýkora 90 – A must-see exhibition in the Czech capital...will you be a serious artist at 90?

2010-04-11T15:16:00.000-05:00

LINE 125 1994 - @ age 74

article courtesy: Jan Velinger 12-03-2010 12:02

Artist Zdeněk Sýkora, who turned 90 last month, is without question one of the Czech Republic’s most important painters, whose style over his long career developed from traditional landscapes to the abstract line paintings for which he is certainly best known. A retrospective of some of the artist’s best work – including Line No. 24 on loan from Centre Pompidou in Paris – is currently underway at Prague’s Municipal Library, a highly-respected gallery space within the city centre.
An insightful interview with curator and art historian Pavel Kappel can be read or listened to
Listen:RealAudioDownload:MP3Podcast @ zdenek sykora exhibition

Zdenek Sykora

TREE-1959

GRAY STRUCTURE 1963

LINE 220 - 2003 @age 83

BOB DYLAN FAN-Jim James and Calexico - Goin' to Acapulco

2010-02-05T08:21:00.003-06:00

excellent song-excellent movie...some photos fro the movie clips:

THE SIX FACES OF DYLAN INTERPRETED BY TODD HAYNES

JIM JAMES AND CALEXICO SING GOIN' TO ACAPULCO-THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IN THIS MOVIE IS AMAZING

JIM JAMES AND CALEXICO SINGING-GOIN' TO ACAPULCO

INTERPRETATION OF WOODIE GUTHRIE BY A YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICAN WHO IS ALSO ONE OF BOB DYLAN'S ALTER EGOS...FABULOUS...

THE FRONT AND BACK COVER OF THE BASEMENT TAPES ALBUM FROM 1975

ANTONY-FROM ANTONY AND THE JOHNSONS-SINGS THE RENDITION OF

KNOCKIN' ON HEAVEN'S DOOR IN THE MOVIE...IT IS SO DRAMATIC AND HEART-WRENCHING IT MAKES GROWN MEN CRY...I HAVE IT ON MY MP3 BUT I AM SURE IT IS PROBABLY ON YOUTUBE...

I VIEWED THE DOUBLE DISC VERSION SO I COULD WATCH AND LISTEN TO THE DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/ACTOR/SPECIAL CLIP/MUSIC WITH LYRICS.

SO MANY REVIEWS SAID THIS MOVIE WAS DIFFICULT TO FOLLOW BUT I THINK ARTISTS, PEOPLE FROM THE DYLAN YEARS WHO UNDERSTAND AND KNOW THE TIME FRAME...PROBABLY DO GET IT.

SHARECROPPER ART & PHOTOGRAPHY- AMERICANA CONTINUES....

2010-02-04T08:42:00.001-06:00

A kind reader wrote and asked if I was working on anything new and if I feel bad when I am not posting my work, (the reader wasn't being unkind-she/he is having a personal struggle with "group" competition On-line tsk...tsk oh that self inflicted group pressure) and I thought I would take a moment and answer...I am not working on stitchwork at the moment and will probably not pick it up again until mid March. I am reading, researching, sharing interests, and hangin' out at my place with artist friends. I can set things down and pick them back up pretty easily. I don't have a schedule and I am not an artist who feels I am "betraying" my work if I spend time having fun...

TODAY'S AMERICANA IS ABOUT SHARECROPPER ART & PHOTOGRAPHY...

SHARECROPPER-ELIZABETH CATLETT-1968

PLACES TO SEE SHARECROPPER ART AND LEARN MORE ABOUT THE HISTORY, STRUGGLES, HARDSHIP, COMMUNITY, LIFE AND ART OF THE PEOPLE...

HOPE YOU ENJOY....NEXT WEEK....AMERICAN MOONSHINERS

FRED SCRUTON PHOTOGRAPHY-EXQUISITE AMERICANA

2010-01-29T10:21:00.000-06:00

COURTESY: FRED SCRUTON

In keeping with interesting photography...I am drawn to unusual Americana...the unique themes and the people who create and live outside the mundane, no concrete and plastic city, no suburban sprawl, a little bit of living testimonial to the creative genius found when we feel compelled to take that odd left turn and don't know why...Fred Scruton captures the vivid imagination of people who have taken that turn and call it HOME....

an encyclopedia of art photography-hope you visit his website-you will be delighted!

RALPH EUGENE MEATYARD 1925-1972 PHOTOGRAPHER

2010-01-26T11:59:00.000-06:00

PHOTOS SHAMELESSLY RIPPED OFF FROM GOOGLE IMAGES

visit:MEATYARD

THIS WEEKEND a couple of friends visited and one of them is an artist who is changing from painting to art photography. She is very interested in the supernatural and how to set up shots that imply "there is more" -we talked about dust-bowl photography, photographing the dead, etc...many topics. My bud had never heard of Ralph Meatyard...my all time fave. But here are some of his fabulous works. I hope you read about this unique and unassuming man by visiting the MEATYARD link...

Blue Jeans, a White shirt and the best damn COWBOY BOOTS ever...NOW THAT'S STYLE

2010-01-21T10:39:00.000-06:00

barbed wire boots photo CRASH

all other photos are courtesy google images.

I LOVE SIMPLE CLOTHES...NO PATTERN, NO EMBELLISHMENT AND SIMPLE TO NO COLOR, PREFERABLY BLUE JEANS AND A WHITE SHIRT... AND I AM NOT A FAN OF WEARING SHOES...BUT IF I WANT WEARABLE ART...IT WILL ALWAYS BE IN A PAIR OF PAINTED COWBOY BOOTS...I LOVE EM!!!

I PULLED ALL OF THESE PHOTOS FROM GOOGLE IMAGES, BUT THE BARBED WIRE BOOTS ARE FROM A CLEVER AND MULTI TALENTED HOT-ROD ARTIST:

"CRASH" RASCHKE FROM AUSTIN TEXAS. HER WORK IS ALWAYS WORTH A VISIT TO HER WEBSITE...ESPECIALLY FOR MY "SKELL" LOVIN' FRIENDS...SHE DOES SOME DETAILED, FRESH, SKELL WORK - HER AIRBRUSHING AND HAND-PAINTING ARE A GREAT COMBINATION...LEATHER PAINTING THAT HOLDS TO THE LEATHER OVER TIME WITHOUT FADING AND CRACKING.

SOME DAYS YA' JUST POST A FUN THING...

IS ART YOUR GIFT? OR THE~MANIFESTATION~OF YOUR GIFT?

2010-01-12T10:49:00.002-06:00

SWEET FRIENDS BRING ME FUN BOOKS TO WANDER ABOUT IN...
I LOVE BEAUTIFUL PICTURES AS MUCH AS THE ART...

EVERYTHING IN THIS BOOK IS FASCINATING...THE BRAIDS ARE LIKE A BEAUTIFUL PAINTING... SUCH GIFTED PEOPLE SHARING...I AM AMUSED AND AWED

I AM THINKING ABOUT THE GIFTS THAT PEOPLE HAVE...
The prophet mother- a wise-woman said…“you came into this world knowing everything you need to know…all of your life will be spent looking at that knowledge fleshing it out, creating something from it, but it is all there…waiting for the times you choose to engage it, you got the divine gift of INSPIRATION…but beware…don’t be led to believe that you will need knowledge from others…the knowledge they have is for them to navigate their own life…you can’t take theirs-they can’t take yours…everyone has what they need already…anything more is selfish…you child, are not seeing that the garden was just adam and eve wanting knowledge that wasn’t theirs…they already had everything they needed. But no notion of sharing‘…just takin‘…all of the problems in life are rooted in people wanting what someone else has…the knowledge and the talents, even wanting to own the earth itself…stealing from God…you share your gift and never take something that isn’t yours. ..you can love God’s humans as a tribe of the world but don’t you be takin’ up with them…God is your best friend…no one else will suffice…mind your business child, mind YOUR business…you got a gift…it is enough and more than enough…” Individual prophecy received by me
COGIC 1974...the prophet mother was 102 years old at the time.

“The child learns so easily because he has a natural gift, but adults, because they are tyrants, ignore natural gifts and say that children must learn through the same process that they learned by. We insist upon forced mental feeding and our lessons”
Rabindranath Tagore quotes (Indian Poet, Playwright and Essayist, Won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, 1861-1941)

INSPIRATION
INSPIRE: to fill with an animating, quickening or exalting influence * to produce or arouse a feeling or thought * to fill or affect with a specific thought or feeling * to influence or impel * to animate* to communicate or suggest by a divine or supernatural influence * to guide or control by divine influence * to prompt or instigate by influence without avowal of responsibility * to give rise to or bring about * to take air into the lungs, breathing * to infuse by breathing (breath life into) * to inhale and breath into then upon…
MOTIVATION: incentive to induce or apply whatever moves one into action. Used to apply the gift. Are you uninspired or just feeling unmotivated?

(definitions courtesy: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language RHR PRESS 2001.)
I read a lot about my blogger artist friends feeling *UNINSPIRED* and I am pondering the notion of uninspired v. unmotivated. Perhaps because I have always considered an “ancient” definition to be most accurate [to communicate or suggest by a divine or supernatural influence…to inhale or take in and then breathe life into…] whether your divine influence is The Holy Spirit, Muse, Faerie, Totem, Animus, Native Spirit, Tribal Spirit, Ancestral Spirit, or whether it is meditated upon, prayed on, conjured, weaved into, brought about by magic, mesmerized, or hypnotized into being.
I make no jest as this is the nature of my beliefs. I have often said I am easily amused and endlessly inspired. This is true. I was taught that this is my gift …that everyone is gifted but one has a responsibility in breathing life into the gift…it is in concert and compliment to the spirit of inspiration. I believe that inspiration is my gift. Many friends, acquaintances, skeptics and such have referred to my gift as “the ability to create art” but…that is the ends not the means…the gift is inspiration…it never fails me and I have been taught to respect and draw in and on the gift…I took my lessons seriously.
“Breathing into” is not something I take lightly…the jest of the gods is my constant reminder that breathing is not to be taken for granted, and so it follows that inspiration is not to be taken for granted. Ironically I have a crippling lung disease which reminds me daily. Breathing is akin to covering my mouth and my nose with duct tape and inserting a drink stirrer in thru the duct tape…the opening in a drink stirrer is about 1/16th of an inch.
Most people take breathing as a given and find inspiration a full time job…I am the opposite, my inspiration is given and breathing is a full time job. But I have a devout and reverent respect for both and I pay apt attention to both. I honor my gift and give thanks for every day I draw breath…even the struggle, even tho there is never enough air…my lips are often violet blue as are my toes and fingertips, and still I am inspired.
Inspiration may be my particular gift but everyone is gifted. And if a thing is not your *gift* it by no means makes it unavailable to you…it means only that it comes to you differently. I loved teaching but teaching was not my gift…I had to use my inspiration and work at being a good teacher. Others are supernaturally gifted teachers and I am in awe of them. Some folks are supernaturally gifted with compassion, my daughter has this gift and it serves her well in her profession as a healer…people desire her to be around them and draw comfort from her presence not just her skill. Compassion is something I have to work at, it is not my supernatural gift. Some people are supernaturally gifted with a peaceful quieting nature. They are supernaturally in tune with their life rhythm and people desire to be like them because they are drawn to the gift. I have to work at this. There are many, many gifts.
WHAT IS YOUR GIFT?
I am writing this as a response to my friends who are struggling with inspiration…do not be discouraged…you have a gift…use that gift to draw inspiration to you…if you are a gifted teacher…find inspiration thru honoring your teaching gift first and foremost…if your gift is compassion…honor that gift first and foremost and let compassion draw inspiration to you. If you are supernaturally qifted with a quieting peaceful nature honor that above all things and let that always be the drawing card to inspiration… I will share what I have and also stand in awe of your gift and use my inspiration to draw from you…to learn from your giftedness…it is that sharing of giftedness - that honoring of one another that makes us creative.
Who are the unhappy people out in the blog world who are coveting, exhibiting jealousy, sabotage, accusing, stealing another’s work, all of these unnatural and libelous things that I am reading about in the blogs?…peoples shops being dishonored, their desire to implement a core group in a network being sabotaged, artwork being copied or misrepresented, people arguing over the “right way” the “best way” the “business way” are all devastating to our desire to create and share…and dishonor the human spirit with it’s supernatural gift.
And so to the unhappy people who seem dedicated to foolishness and causing so much mischief to others take heed from my friend the prophet…mind your business…mind YOUR business…you got a gift…it is enough…it is more than enough…
May you acknowledge and honor your gift!!!

CHRIST LEON -from THE THREE CHRISTS OF YPSILANTI..COMPLETED!

2009-11-19T15:06:00.004-06:00

CHRIST LEON..YPSILANTI STATE HOSPITAL, YPSILANTI, MI

The Three Christs of Ypsilanti is a book by Dr. Milton Rokeach, based on a social psychology experiment he worked on in the 1950's. Ypsilanti State Hospital, Ypsilanti, Michigan was home to three gentleman diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Each gentleman held the delusion that he was Christ. The experiment brought these three men together daily for an extended period of time. Dr. Rokeach was interested in whether the three men being brought together would diffuse the delusions..or whether one of the gentlemen would maintain the delusion...What happened was all three maintained their belief that they were Christ...the delusion shifted to accommodate each one...all three maintained the delusion...but they did develop a relationship of sorts...unusual in paranoid schizophrenia...the book is astonishing, and not a light read..it is graphic in it's descriptions of the religious, political, and sexual ideation. It is also difficult because today the experiment would never be allowed. There are 17 boxes of original notes in Michigan at University which detail this experimental psychology, but the notes are redacted and blacked out in large amount to accommodate HIPAA laws.Leon Gabor was in his mid to late thirties and described as looking in life like a beautiful "Hollywood" Christ..with arresting eyes and shoulder length hair. My interpretation is based on 11th-12th century Sicilian Mosaics which I find quite beautiful. The next piece is CHRIST CLYDE..the third will be CHRIST JOSEPH...all very different men. It was thought at one time that Leon was showing signs of giving up the delusion, but in the end he held fast. Although he is now deceased there are people diagnosed with a psychosis who, after having read the book, or found an Internet group..believe he is in fact the Messiah.

COLOR SATURATED TO SHOW PHOTO DEFINITION OF THREAD COLOR
I DON'T MAKE A PLAN WHEN I WORK A PIECE...THIS WAS SKETCHED FROM MY HEAD..AFTER VIEWING SEVERAL 11TH-12TH CENTURY SICILIAN MOSAICS..I ALSO DO NOT PLAN ANY COLOR SCHEME OR WHAT/WHERE I WILL USE A PARTICULAR STITCH...ALL OF MY FLOSS SITS IN A BIG PLASTIC BIN..THE COLOR RANGES ARE IN ZIP-LOC BAGS...I PULL SOMETHING AND IF I THINK I WILL WORK..I WORK THE ENTIRE PIECE FROM IT...I DON'T SORT OR TRY TO PLAN ANY AREA WHERE I WILL USE A COLOR I JUST STITCH BY INSTINCT..OR AS I JUST READ ON JUNKER JANE'S BLOG...
"THE PLAN IS...THERE IS NO PLAN..." YOU WOULD BE SO VERY UNIMPRESSED WITH MY METHODOLOGY...I HAVE NONE...
I USE VERY TINY STITCHES...THIS IS A ONE INCH CIRCLE.
1.25 INCH QUILTING NEEDLE...VERY THIN...VERY TINY EYE...
I USE TWO STRANDS OF FLOSS ON TH CHRIST IMAGE AND THREE ON THE OUTLYING STITCHWORK
SO...NO PLAN JUST GUT INSTINCT..BUT I AM VERY VERY AT EASE WITH HOW I WORK,
I DON'T THINK I WOULD DO WELL WITH A PLAN...I AM EASILY FRUSTRATED BY ANYTHING BUT THE ACTUAL STITCHING...
THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!!

SOMETIMES THINGS JUST MAKE YOU SMILE...

2009-11-18T09:32:00.002-06:00

These little designs are way off the beaten path for me...since "cute" is not really my thing and I don't like the word...but...I also haven't come up with a better word...so it's on me...

THESE ARE CUTE! YES! A shoeshine kit...I wondered if anyone polishes shoes anymore...although shoe polish is a craft staple!!
I don't cook or bake...but I wanted to ...when I saw this...what could it be???

This sewing kit trips my triggers even in all it's "cuteness" what a sweet way to get the little ones started on their "stitching" arts & crafts...

And of course this one reminded me of my daughter...a nurse!!

These designs are the inspiration of
The Dumpling Dynasty brand was created by illustrator, Fiona Hewitt and Andy Tainton who is a expert in Asian Kitschology. via TheDieline
http://www.thedieline.com/blog/2009/11/dumpling-dynasty.html

cool inspirations can be found at:

http://dailyartmuse.com

http://www.creativeroots.com

http://www.artknowledgenews.com

"There is a coherent plan in the universe, though I don't know what it's a plan for." Fred HoyleHave a good one!!...

THREE CHRIST'S OF YPSILANTI WIP-CHRIST LEON...ART AND SELLING ART...what is an art rep?

2009-11-15T16:44:00.000-06:00

This post includes a picture of the now defunct and mostly demolished Ypsilanti State Hospital,

Ypsilanti, Michigan, the home of the Three Christs of Ypsilanti...Leon, Clyde and Joseph.

I actually have quite a bit more completed than is shown here, I haven't photographed the piece again...this shot is dull due to the gray light and photo editing made it look saturated so I will wait a for a sunnier day. This is Christ Leon , the next will be Christ Clyde, followed by Christ Joseph.

photo courtesy: http://www.opacity.us/

ART AND SELLING ART...MY MOST FREQUENT REQUEST IS FOR INFORMATION ON HOW MY ART IS SOLD...I do not sell my own art..I don't have the time or desire and I never want to give up making art for the business of art...it works for some folks...not me. I also find that if your work is selling in the "over one thousand dollar per work" category different things work better for different TYPES of art. My work is highly niched..it is purchased by private collectors who are interested in my crossover from painting to thread and HOW I work with thread as a painter's medium. They do not collect embroidery, do not troll the Internet, nor are they interested in embroidery techniques...that is a very defined niche...so I use an artist rep.. Recently in my e-newsletter from Chicago Art Resource there finally appeared an excellent article about artist reps. I am reprinting it...

Art Consultants: The Hidden Resource

By Geoffrey Gorman, courtesy of New York Foundation for the Arts

Lynn Basa, Steam BubblesThe Friday evening opening at the Toney Gallery drew its usual crowd of elegantly dressed buyers and aficionados. As I glanced around I saw someone who looked familiar, but the pieces didn't fit. The friend the man resembled had always defined the term bohemian for me; he did not, as far as I knew, even own a suit. This man was dressed impeccably, custom tailored and slightly European down to his expensive leather shoes and French cuffs and cufflinks. I looked again and he caught my eye; he moved toward me, smiling, exuding self-confidence, his hand outstretched in greeting. It was my friend after all. But what a change! No longer the starving artist, this man looked downright prosperous.

I have known this artist for many years but this was my first encounter with him in more than 12 months. During this time I had seen no shows or reviews of his work. What had changed? Had he given up art? Had he won the lottery or married an heiress or made a killing in the stock market? We each took a glass of champagne and drifted off to a corner where we could catch up. Yes, there had been a change. And for him it was art consultants.

"I've had one of the best years I've ever had just because of working with art consultants," he told me. He'd given up working with galleries, which was why I had not heard about his art career over the last year, and his work was going exclusively to art consultants.

What are art consultants, or, as they are sometimes known, art reps or private art dealers? They are essentially people who sell art but who do not have a gallery. They're middlemen or women who make connections between artists and buyers. And the buyers are very often large-scale buyers. There are hundreds of art consultants throughout the United States, and they handle every kind of art imaginable: from photography to sculpture to paintings to craft.

Art consultants are a curious breed. They're a mix of agent, private dealer, gallery dealer, interior designer, curator, and traveling salesman-- all thrown into one. But what they all have in common is that they sell art, sometimes a lot of it. And you've probably never heard of most of them. They don't advertise nationally; they don't have shows of artists' work; and they certainly don't go to gallery openings.

What they are doing is selling art to a variety of clients, such as hospitals, hotels, corporations, restaurants, resorts, and any other business or home that has bare walls and a suitable budget. They work with both corporate and private clients and usually handle a wide-range of art styles.

Any artist who has worked with art consultants can tell you that many of them are demanding, pushy, persistent, and annoying. But the good ones are worth a thousand times over whatever fortitude it takes to deal with them. Finding the ones who are active is the secret to making money with them.

The best way to find active art consultants is by getting a tip from artists who know them firsthand. If you don't know any successful artists, think about attending an art expo and speaking with some of the exhibiting artists there, or even just researching trade publications such as the Art in America Gallery Guide or the Artist's & Graphic Designer's Market--a handy resource book which list consultants under "art reps." Do as much research as possible before you contact the consultant: be sure that they show work of a similar price range and style to your own, and that they work professionally. If possible, visit their web site and look at their client list.

After you have assembled your list of appropriate art consultants, start contacting them. This should be a straightforward, but friendly, call: introduce yourself and offer to send them work.

Listen carefully to their description of how they want to receive your work, and be sure to tailor your portfolio specifically to their requests. After sending out your packets, make sure to follow up within a week to confirm receipt. If they have not had a chance to review your work, schedule a time to call again. If they're interested, be prepared to ask them about commission splits, shipping, insurance, payment schedules, and discounts.

Will art consultants change your life? Maybe. Like my artist friend who suddenly looked so prosperous, you might also find your career revitalized by a talented art consultant. But finding an art consultant isn't easy. Before you can even go on the market for one you need to make sure that you are prepared not just for the search, but for the possibility of becoming a client. You need to have an updated portfolio and relevant pricing; you need to be steadily producing in case they receive a large project. Successful art consultants place dozens of pieces of art a month, so they want artists who are energetic, if not driven, and who are capable of producing an extremely large amount of good work.

Many emerging artists find pricing especially tricky. If you are essentially an unknown artist, your prices should be reasonable, usually under $1,000. You can expect the art consultant to double your price when he or she presents it to the client, but you must also have a firm idea of what your bottom line price is since art consultants are notorious for giving hefty discounts to their clients. Commissions vary anywhere from 10 percent to 60 percent-- be sure to confirm the commission before signing on the dotted line. (You need to focus your self worth and negotiating skills here and find a rep who you can work with) parenthesis mine.

As with galleries, finding the right art consultant--who thinks you're the right artist--is no small feat. Your work has to have broad appeal, your prices have to be competitive, and you must be well organized and professional when dealing with this little-known faction of the art world. But when you connect with the art consultants who respond to your work, the sales will happen. So start searching.

Geoffrey Gorman, a former gallery director, attended the Maryland Institute of Art and the Boston Museum School. Five years ago he founded GG+A, an artist career development firm that works with artists individually and through workshops.

courtesy: http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/visual-arts/node/429
Sound Hefty? well the time you max out on the multi level marketing of, Flickr, Blogs, Giveaways, sales, etsy, shows you pay to enter, facebook, and twitter, fees for packing and shipping, phonework, and the other insane things it takes to "self-represent" will often exceed this amount in value and as you work with your rep over the years..you will be able to negotiate the percentage...when you use this method...your work is going directly to the client..no competition. It is a done deal. And YOU get to be an artist.

THE RISING UP OF CHRIST LEON

2009-11-05T11:28:00.000-06:00

I thought I might be at the end of my thread career. During my illness I lost the use of my left hand and as an artist who works in high density and detail threading, I was not sure I would be able to create new thread art. I have since regained the partial use of my left hand and am teaching myself different ways to work - that work for me as an artist. I have embroidery stands and quilt stands but part of my art is the up-close-in-my-2 hands work. Another aspect of my work is that I put needle and thread to cloth without the use of patterns, photos, transfers copies or drawings. I have done original quick sketch to fabric on two of my works. I am now revisiting quick sketches on my fabric since it allows me a little more control of my stitching, and I don't know if I will regain full use of my hand. My sketching is my original work and I continue to work in EKPHRASIS.

My new EKPHRASIS is the interpretation of Dr. Milton Rokeach social psychology experiment of the men who have come to be known as

THE THREE CHRISTS OF YPSILANTI

I have included a brief book review here as well as a description of my first Christ...Leon...

The things I wanted to consider as I determine how the work progresses are:

What would I be stitching if I were a patient at the Ypsilanti Michigan ward for patients with schizophrenia in the 1950's...how might I see these Christs?

If I thread render...I want to have a work that if it had been shown to...Christ Leon, here...he would recognize it as a portrait of himself. I want the same for Christ Joseph and Christ Clyde.

This is not satire...I was introduced to the study The Three Christs of Ypsilanti many many years ago in my undergrad psych studies..as I went on to complete my psychology degree, I did clinical work in a state mental health facility...a very different place than what you would find today...now that we are many years past deinstitutionalization in the US.

This work has been long on my mind and I am happy to be able to undertake another project at a time when I thought I would stitch no more....some information about

The Three Christs of Ypsilanti...

The premise of Rokeach's study (bringing people together who share the same delusion) has broad implications: in a culture with so many shared ideas and values, what sets us apart as individuals? In this 1960s experiment, of course, these three patients have been diagnosed with More... a proven pathology. In society at large most of us seek out friends and associates with whom we share a great deal; yet our sense of personality is still a matter of individual choices. At end, this was the same discovery Rokeach made with his three Christs; when confronted with the truth, these three men made personal choices allowing for the existence of the others -- a society of Christs...courtesy: M. Bromberg book review @ http://abebooks.com/

CHRIST LEON: courtesy: Three Christs of Ypsilanti-a play by Dan O'Brien
LEON looks a lot like Christ, in fact—at least the Hollywood kind. Long hair,
bearded. Somewhat fair-complected. He’s in his mid- to late-30s, tall, thin, an
ascetic face of intensely earnest expression.
He sits with great dignity, some rigidity, staring straight ahead with his hands in
his lap, right palm over left, as if he’s about to receive the Sacrament.
He speaks eloquently,

CHRIST LEON WIP...FLESHING IN DETAILS...

interpreted from 11-12th century Sicilian Mosaic

CHRIST LEON...WIP...STILL IN HOOP SO STRETCHING OF HALO APPEARS IRREGULAR

This work is the property of the artist Miki Karson/Threadstar and not for reproduction.

google it.

...LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL AND TRAGIC ALL AT THE SAME TIME...

2009-10-30T08:09:00.000-05:00

IN PROGRESS CROSSROADS MONTAGE...

TRIBUTE TO GEORGE HUNT-BY MIKI KARSON

MONTAGE ...GEORGE HUNT/MIKI KARDON ARTWORK COLLAGE

CROSSROADS BY MIKI KARSON

Margaret Rogers Dennis 1916-2009 Vicksburg, MS

Embellished visionary environment Created 1994 to present

4:02 PM CDT, October 7, 2009

VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) — Margaret Dennis, the namesake and longtime proprietor of a grocery store that became a folk-art landmark in the Mississippi Delta, has died. She was 94.

Dennis died Monday at Vicksburg Convalescent Home. Services are 2 p.m. Saturday at Cool Springs M.B. Church in Vicksburg with burial in Cedar Hills Cemetery. W.H. Jefferson Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Dennis is survived by her husband, the Rev. Herman Dennis, who turned the couple’s modest grocery store into a maze of red and white bricks, Christmas lights, Mardi Gras beads and signs with theological slogans.

Margaret and her late husband ran a rural grocery outside Vicksburg on old Highway 61, until he was fatally shot by a neighborhood kid during a robbery. Margaret met Rev. Dennis through the ladies at church. They married in 1979 and began to fix up the place to attract attention, so Rev. Dennis could share the word of God. Rev. Dennis began to paint the building red, white, and some blue, but Margaret added the crowning touches of pink and yellow. Brick towers and signs abound, welcoming “Jews and Gentiles” with various symbols of the double-headed eagle of the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge, of which he is a member. The interior of the store is elaborately decorated with beads and bold paint, and as well is the church bus, which also has pews and a pulpit for preaching.

These wonderful "called by GOD" visionary landscapes are what interested and influenced me to start drawing, gluing, painting, nailing, collaging...on my walls and ceiling..zoning prevented me from doing the outside...should have anyway...

article and photos courtesy of http://detourarttravels.blogspot.com/ ...taken from AP

this is a great blog for visionary, outsider & art brut lovers!

Route 61 & Route 49 (the Memphis to Vicksburg route) are the legendary CROSSROADS, where bluesman Robert Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the devil...the stuff of folklore, tales, legends, deep roots, talent, visionary art, books and movies. I am enamored of visionary life and art and have been fortunate to have traveled, lived in, absorbed, and expressed in art my love of so many cultural diversities...

ROBERT JOHNSON

REV. DENNIS ON THE BUS

photo courtesy: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

TAKING THAT ARK TO THE NEXT LEVEL...how will we get the animals up the stairs?

2009-10-29T11:40:00.000-05:00

When God told Horace Burgess to build a treehouse, he promised that Burgess would never run out of materials. So far he hasn’t. Using tons of reclaimed wood, Burgess has built a 10 story treehouse in Crossville, Tennessee. Burgess claims it is the world’s largest treehouse and since no one has disputed him yet, his fantastic 100 foot tall structure continues its reign. Known as the Minister’s Treehouse, you can climb to the top and see a big surprise....

full article @ http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/10/29/

for the Biblically inclined...10,000 square feet=4444.4444444445 square cubits

courtesy :Bridgette Meinhold

"Show me a man or a woman alone and I'll show you a saint. Give me two and they'll fall in love. Give me three and they'll invent the charming thing we call 'society'. Give me four and they'll build a pyramid. Give me five and they'll make one an outcast. Give me six and they'll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they'll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home."

— Stephen King (The Stand)

but I like my arks to walk like dinosaurs!!!

someone e-mailed this to me without a credit...if you know who the author is let me know and I will add a credit...I love this one!

As we mentioned Kro will be blogging less from NOV.1-JAN.4 during that time we will be reinserting the September 2009 posts that went missing and then were retrieved by Cymberrain (yeah!!)

plus adding in some new things...

"The most important things are the hardest to say. They are the things you get ashamed of, because words diminish them -- words shrink things that seemed limitless when they were in your head to no more than living size when they're brought out. But it's more than that, isn't it? The most important things lie too close to wherever your secret heart is buried, like landmarks to a treasure your enemies would love to steal away. And you may make revelations that cost you dearly only to have people look at you in a funny way, not understanding what you've said at all, or why you thought it was so important that you almost cried while you were saying it. That's the worst, I think. When the secret stays locked within not for want of a tellar but for want of an understanding ear."

— Stephen King (Different Seasons) and we agree...T&K

MANDALA MEDITATION AND FOCUS...A LIFE AFFIRMING EXERCISE...

2009-10-28T10:16:00.001-05:00

Death is not the biggest fear we have; our biggest fear is

taking the risk to be alive.. the risk to be alive and express

what we really are.

::: Don Miguel Ruiz :::

MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY...T

photos courtesy: http://www.jeh.it/?p=234

http://notcot.org/ #22452

THERE'S ALWAYS BEEN A PARTY IN MY HEAD...

2009-10-27T07:31:00.001-05:00

WHO LIVES IN YOUR HEAD???

There has always been a party in my head. Lots going on, new things mostly since I prefer a forward moving lifestyle. I have been doing the "looking back" thing intermittently for the past few years, since my first bout, when I really knew I was ill. But it is not a place I ever hung out in throughout my life and my comfort level is less when I do a backview. Not because of any-things I have done, but because my nature is to move on to the next thing, I am not a sentimentalist. I like sentimentalists and have them around me, but sentimental has largely escaped me.

Even while I read my own writing there is a "yeah, that was my life"...but a disconnect with dwelling on anything..I lose interest in it quickly. Now there are things that I brought to the present from my past...but they are edited and updated. I am very much still a Hippie, still a wanderer even if it's in my head now, still have that life philosophy of live and let live...but I have noticed that when people ask me about my own life I am much happier in a future vision than any reliving of past moments. This crossed my mind as I was going over the blogs I subscribe to because I notice there are a lot of very sentimental beautiful blogs in my niche. I enjoy the view into that space through others. There are a number of primitive and spirit artists blogs, there are family blogs, old world living blogs, country garden-y easy living blogs, and I have always loved folk art handcrafted things.

CHECK A FEW OUT:

http://aefondkiss.blogspot.com/

http://mornacrites-moore.blogspot.com/

http://carolynsaxby.blogspot.com/

http://cottonwooddiner.blogspot.com/

http://ewa-christine-antikanojen.blogspot.com/

http://heavenleighart.blogspot.com/

http://mypinkturtle.blogspot.com/

http://artworkbysarah.blogspot.com/

http://whateverjamesinstitches.blogspot.com/

http://timewithtascha.blogspot.com/

http://yoursmallkitchengarden.net/

These are a few...I also subscribe to contemporary art blogs, tattoo shop blogs, erotic illustrator blogs, weird and amazing B.S. blogs, ancient history blogs, feminist blogs, political blogs, funeral industry blogs, medical blogs and education blogs...there is so much out there and its all so very interesting. It strikes me this morning because I realized that my friendships run the same way..I have very straight-laced friends, relaxed and laid back, troubled, tunnel visioned, global, very contemporary, new age, back to the earth, party animals, artists, intellectuals, home makers, singles married, LGBT, all ethnicity's, adopted folks ...I tend to adopt people from everywhere... now a lot of these folks like all of the facets of me...but many tune in to one facet..the one that is most aligned to their thinking and so the party changes up often. I like it this way but it struck me as I was going through my blog list...because a friend was sitting with me and mentioned that my list was different from hers...she has mainly one type of blog on her list...the type of friendly folk art with a bit of family and here's what I did today blog (we have a few of the same blogs on our list) but my friend said she likes only those things and we were laughing because I said "How do I fit in your only list?" She said "I don't read your blog, Miki" and I cracked up because my non-cyber friends and family other that Kro and Ang...really don't ...I asked her why and she said "spending time with you is like visiting the Art Institute, The Museum of Natural History, The Museum of Science and Industry, and the Contemporary Art Museum all in the same day...no need"...well let the party carry on...today I finish up the B.B. Burlesque work and I have already moved on to new works..I am fleshing out "The Faces of Christ" which I have had on my mind-so off erotic whimsy and on to the new religious works....

WHO LIVES IN YOUR HEAD? see ya...Threadstar

BIG BEAUTIFUL GORGEOUS SUMPTUOUS B.B. BURLESQUE...

2009-10-26T09:44:00.000-05:00

B.B. BURLESQUE ORNAMENTS

2.5x4 inch/handcut wood/acrylic paint/sharpie marker

commiss'd for tattoo shop owner.

"THE TATTOO SHOP OWNER is an average size guy, his wife is a BBW and amazing. I am talkin' about this because I always get the e-mails about "making fun" of healthy size women. I have been fat, skinny. medium, and everything else in my life. If I hadn't had some meat on my bones when I got sick again...I would already be dead...there is room for fat in the world and I celebrate women and their right to be...PERIOD. I have had blonde, red, pink, blue, black, brown and a combination of color hair...this time it's going to grow back in snow white...it's already white stubble...I have scars, I have tattoos, I wear make-up and then I don't. I am good with whatever version of me I choose to portray at the time. The important thing is CHOICE and a person's right to choice without a running political commentary. My art in erotica, whimsy, exaggeration, and illustration has always focused on these issues. It always will. Burlesque satirizes these issues, but very pointedly and I like that venue. I also create an entire line of B.B. Burlesque inspired dolls that are sex worker dolls. This version of B.B. Burlesque is about 25 years old. There are some that are over 40, the originals were inspired by Mabel's Whorehouse in Nevada, later by the whorehouses in New Orleans followed by a variety of stereotyped descriptions of women. She is also a calendar, coffee mug, and a variety of other licensed gift products.

My fave being the porn cartoons, which I still draw. For the last 25 years B.B. Burlesque is moving into her full on body tattoo version although she has always had a few tattoos and always has a smoke...She has earned her keep, B.B. Burlesque pays a lot of bills...How cool to have this lifetime friend step back in when I can't work in thread ...she is my favorite lady....Threadstar"

HURRY ...SAVE YOUR PETS ...THE END IS NEAR!!!!!

2009-10-24T17:20:00.002-05:00

HILARIOUS AND REAL...FROM OUR FRIENDS AT:

http://eternal-earthbound-pets.com/Home_Page.html

Christians who believe they’ll vanish from Earth in the rapture can now hire an atheist to care for their pets.

For $110, Eternal Earth-Bound Pets offers a 10-year contract guaranteeing that an atheist will adopt the pet that’s left behind by its raptured owner. Additional pets can be covered for $15.

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets has guaranteed atheist reps in 22 states (NC is a new addition, as is GA).

We are a group of dedicated animal lovers, and atheists. Each Eternal Earth-Bound Pet representative is a confirmed atheist, and as such will still be here on Earth after you’ve received your reward. Our network of animal activists are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus.

You’ve committed your life to Jesus. You know you’re saved. But when the Rapture comes what’s to become of your loving pets who are left behind? Eternal Earth-Bound Pets takes that burden off your mind.

...Unfortunately at this time we are not equipped to accommodate all species and must limit our services to dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and small caged mammals. [Please note: we can now offer rescue services for horses, camels, llamas and donkeys in NH,VT, ID and MT ]

Oh, and if God takes you prior to the Rapture, there’s no refund: “In the event of the death of the subscribing pet owner prior to the Rapture the contract will remain in effect. EE-BP will continue to honor the contract for the remainder of the contract period. We do not adopt / rescue animals except as a result of the Rapture occurance.”

More, from the FAQs:

Q: Is this a Joke?

A: No. This is a serious offer to our Christian friends who believe in the Second Coming and honestly care about the future of their pets after the Rapture occurs.

Q: Do YOU believe in the Rapture.

A: As atheists we do not hold beliefs in the supernatural or a divine being. Thus, we do not believe in the Rapture. However, we respect the beliefs of others and are open to the possibility that our perspective could possibly be wrong.

Q: How do you ensure your representatives won’t be Raptured.

A: Actually, we don’t ensure it, they do. Each of our representatives has stated to us in writing that they are atheists, do not believe in God / Jesus, and that they have blasphemed in accordance with Mark 3:29, negating any chance of salvation.

SHE HATES EVERYTHING.....

Well I hope that acceptably-blaspheming owner Bart Centre receives some endorsements from Focus On the Family, the Family Research Council, and Pat Robertson and friends, who have membership lists full of true believers in the Rapture that will benefit greatly from this service.

some days it's just damn fun to be alive...

STOP RIGHT NOW AND CHECK THIS OUT....

2009-10-23T14:57:00.000-05:00

KRIS KUKSI @ http://kuksi.com/

this kind of genius doesn't need a blurb...ya' just gotta go to the site and stay awhile...K

SHIT...I WISH I'D DONE THAT...FRIDAY!!!!!

2009-10-23T08:28:00.000-05:00

IF I HAD ONLY KNOWN ...SHIT I CAN CROCHET MY OWN HARLEY...

photo courtesy: http://www.trendhunter.com/

SHIT...IF I'D ONLY KNOWN...I CAN CROCHET A CAR COZY...NO EXPENSIVE CUSTOM PAINT JOB...AND A SCRATCH BUFFER...WISH I'D DONE THAT.

WHEN YOU'RE READY TO RIDE THE BIG KIDS BUS IT SHOULD BE COZY...AND IT SHOULD BE MOBILE ART...SHIT I WISH I'D DONE THAT...

all photos courtesy of http://www.trendhunter.com/

WE REALLY DO WISH WE'D DONE THESE...THE SIZE...THE MOBILE FEATURE, THE COOL IDEA, THE COLOR...FUN, INTERESTING, INVITES CONVO, MAKES PEOPLE GIGGLE A LITTLE, SOMETHING TO MAKE YOUR WEEKEND A BIT SILLY...!!

WE WILL BE POSTING WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY STARTING NOVEMBER 1, TIME FOR KROMO TO PRESENT HIS DISSERTATION, SO I WILL BE IN AND OUT WHILE I WRAP IT UP....K

MINI BIO PART II ..T..KEEPIN' IT REAL...WHAT MASK ARE YOU WEARING TODAY???

2009-10-21T10:32:00.001-05:00

We are reprinting a bit at a time while adding in the new bio info because so many of the blog posts disappeared!
I would paint every man made object I come in contact with but I weary of being arrested-but-I am a big fan of GREGOS “My Face On The Walls of Paris“…another avenue for exploration
http://gregosart.com/

I see my hair and my body and everyone else’s as canvas I love body painting, make-up and hair color I cut and color my own hair always have and I have had every color of the spectrum in my hair, I am also tattooed…ARE THESE THE MASKS I HAVE WORN???? ABSOLUTELY- I QUESTION WHAT I WANTED TO CONCEAL YET MANY THINK THESE THINGS ARE MEANS OF DRAWING ATTENTION TO ONE…DUAL PURPOSE I THINK….DRAW ATTENTION AWAY FROM SOME THINGS AND TOWARD OTHER THINGS..HMMM...

I don’t smoke or drink anymore but I like people who do

If I had been alive when John Steinbeck was I would have seduced him and probably hung out with him for some time.

I can say “no” to people and not feel I owe them an apology or explanation.

I experience a full range of emotions, can experience them simultaneously including joy and despair, and I have never felt I needed to fix any of them, I ride them like surfers ride waves and I love the rush.

I can like you better than chocolate and not care what you think or what you do; I like adults to take responsibility for their own thoughts and actions.

Naked with a breeze blowing on my skin is the best tactile sensation.I like natural light I don’t like artificial light it’s just something I need because I am awake a lot.

My favorite food is hamburger and fries which is one food to me and I can eat it for breakfast lunch and/or dinner I can eat the same thing forever I don’t need diversity in food or drink
When I was a kid I thought owning a hot dog cart would be a grand thing… I still do.

When I did drink I drank tequila but I never liked being drunk so it lost its appeal I gave up smoking long before I gave up drinking but I still think tequila rocks.

I drink ice tea- I have a mug of coffee in the morning, black, the rest is ice tea all day every day.

More recently I went all the way into simple living I want my life stark, my closest friends get the why of this…nothing to do with saintliness… I have never enjoyed the mundane details of day to day living, I don’t even like answering the phone or getting the mail…but I will call someone…here’s how it works so far:

I rarely shop anymore, I never liked stores and shops and the like so that was easy….
I will steal food from a garden…really you are welcome to mine… I like community gardens tons of food free and I like raw stuff right out of the garden.

I gave away most of my furnishings I never liked furniture...I like it as an art but I don’t like to be tied down to things…the exception is books and art …I gave away many, many books and grieved for them and still do, but I don’t buy books there are libraries, google books, and free stuff everywhere.

It is unlikely that I will give up my computer but it won’t be updated like it used to be and I don’t care about my cell phone so I cancelled it.

I live in jeans and I prefer no shoes I will put socks on but still avoid shoes unless I have to wear them they are usually someone else’s that I just grabbed by the door and I don’t care whose
I don’t like color or pattern in my clothing my shirts are white black and tan. My coat is a denim jacket and Harley Davidson old school leather with epaulets and belt- it will never wear out
I have silver hoop earrings but I never wore any other jewelry… everything else is gone and my clothes can now fit in one regular suitcase.

I don’t go out to eat anymore but I only like diners anyway, I preferred picking up a burger and taking it with me…but my son in law is a killer chef…I used to go to coffee shops to hang out but not really for the coffee. I like strangers.

It’s pretty simple and not too hard because I don’t form attachments to anything but my kids and books and art and I don’t buy art I make it, and everyone gives me art supplies because people give up art too easily.. But I have benefited from their loss.

Let’s see, my favorite smells are fresh cut grass (just the smell I hate arranged lawns I like prairie and very wild things, coconut, cucumber and any cut melon, but the smell of watermelon is fabulous, and the smell of my brother’s skin and my daughter’s skin they have a natural baby skin smell that has stayed with them through their lives, I haven’t met anyone else other than babies with that smell but it’s amazing.

I was a messy teenager and did exactly as I pleased with whomever I pleased, no apologies.

I have been arrested, more than once, and I had a delightful FBI file that would probably be boring by today’s standards…there is a price for activism…and just plain badass behavior.

I have had an extreme act of violence perpetrated upon me and I have been violent towards another human being …and yes I advocate for peace and feel no conflict…I have been around a while I have seen and experienced many things…I am not in denial about my peaceful views and my need to protect the people I love so it does not cause conflict, peace is an ideal but not achievable: you would be controlling everyone and everything on the planet to achieve peace… control is not PEACEFUL…it means someone is forcing an agenda.

There was a man I lived with briefly - he was not married but had children with another woman-she killed him, but I survived-this was many, many, many years ago-she did about 20 years and came to see me when she got out (against her parole), it was not a meeting of reconciliation-

I have had several surgeries…all medical but I don’t have an opinion about designer surgery…live how you feel best….but my body is zigzagged I have a huge scar from my chest down to my navel, 2 large scars form a capitol I on the torso. There is a large indented scar that looks like a volcano blew it’s top on my abdomen and another scar lengthwise across my pubic bone from hip to hip (no not c-section…never had one) there are six scars that look like random stab wounds on my right side…there are more from internal injuries and I had to have surgery to remove the internal scar tissue…which ironically makes more scar tissue. Lots of scars...but I like them because they are part of my life map…I prefer my art models to have scars and size …much more interest and life lived beauty in my way of thinking.

I don’t like interviews, magazines, galleries, shows too much any more. F/B, Flickr’, social communities, blogs are fun but I don’t use them as a tool, I use them as a hang out and place to share art, music & info on causes and yes to piss away time.

I spent my early adult life in the 60s/70s and fully engaged myself in everything, it was not unusual for an artist/activist to be a mom, teaching, writing, creating art, getting arrested, getting high, partying, speaking in public, and living rough; my life has been exciting and I have certainly lived many lives in one and am glad for that.

I support the legalization of Marijuana for anybody and certainly for medical benefits, If you can’t smoke it, luckily it works in food too.

I could describe myself as a top 10 combination of Auntie Mame (free), Gemma (Sons of Anarchy) Mae West (really smart business lady), Pink (true grit), Ella Baker (activist), the madame in Cannery Row (heart), and the rest would be people who steal from the rich and give to the poor...very Robin Hood, but I'm probably a crook at heart...To be continued

photo courtesy: http://gregosart.com

ALSO CHECK OUT JESS MENDEZ CRAZY GREAT ART AND MASKS AT:

THE MAIN ART@1968

http://theartofjesse.blogspot.com

THE ARTISTS STUDIO..who doesn't like the James Lipton ?'s...

2009-10-20T08:57:00.004-05:00

This house has everything glued to the walls and ceiling and is never dull...even on the dark overcast days...always something to look at and inspire...we are inspired this week to give a shout out to:

A HAIRY HOME @ http://virginhockeyfan.blogspot.com where you can view some great thread art, meet a cool couple, and feel like you sat down with a cuppa' and a donut to have an interesting convo...Next a shout out to AN UNEXPECTED HUG @ http://jojobooster.blogspot.com ..JO has another blog so if I twisted the link well..read both! They are both fun and interesting... we like these gals..they are very genuine in their personal adventures...we like that!
YES EVERYTHING ON THE WALLS...GLASS BEADS. HAND MADE CONCRETE CUPIDS, HAND PAINTED BIRDHOUSE CHAPEL, AND A LITTLE HAND MADE ORIGAMI NUN MADE JUST FOR T...

WELCOME JAMES...asking T the top 10 ?'s...

What is your favorite word? precocious...I like a word that sums up the "gifted with a streak of evil." Gifted children need choice with their brilliance...you can kill an artist fairly quickly forcing them to feel responsible to only see the world thru guilt and shame aimed at forcing them to do someone Else's version of life and art...

What is your least favorite word? toss up between cute and artsy...both ridiculously designed to use toward women's art which currently only represents 3% of museum art...I don't like when women start denying their strength and ability and talent to maintain some arbitrary notion of "feminine."

What is your favorite curse word? FUCK...obviously and no I don't think cursing makes me less than I "should be" cursing keeps me healthy, balanced, humorous, and never needing anti-depressants, that's just me..I like a nice organic curse word...and I don't really give a flyin' fuck what anyone thinks about it...Give me five minutes with anyone and I will have pushed a button that makes them curse..it's just a service I offer...

What turns you on? art...all kinds as long as people are trying to explore something different...As Ecclesiastes stated "there is nothing new under the Sun"..but there are new materials. and old materials to use in different ways, there are so many ways to manipulate everything...so many ways to see the "nothing new" and I get high when I see a new interpretation...

What turns you off? Bullshit peddlers...the black and white view, the people who are so afraid to live...they measure everything in good bad right wrong moral immoral ethical unethical...but there is a wonderful professor that I had when I was studying beliefs and believers...he taught me that God made each individual unique and wanted them to be unique...the sin was in denying your unique self and following...the mundane was what God detested...giving up your giftedness, your brain power, your talent, your ideas, your right to rebel, just to follow the mundane...you know that is something that most people will never let go and do... I am still crafting that thought daily..yeah I hate bullshit...even mine.

What sound do you love? singing..I am not a singer meaning I warble but have no real voice ..but singing..."Pickin" On Nickelback" in Bluegrass, Luciano Pavarotti Arias, Metallica (the early stuff) Southern Rock by Gov't Mule, Gregorian chanting, choirs in born again churches wit fab solos, reggae, reggatone, latin, R&B. ..I love all singing...

What sound do you hate? I hate sirens of any kind...they are painful to my ears, foreboding, and just so fucking noisy even if they are necessary.

What profession other than your own would you attempt? Probably counterfeiter I like easy money , and maybe whorehouse madame..love the characters of the whores with a heart of gold in literature, history, and novels..

What profession would you NOT want to attempt? I would hate to be the wife of any fundamentalist minister and if you think that isn't a profession..think again.

If Heaven exists what would you like to hear God say when you get to the pearly gates?

Hah!...(and that's it...because I think God is all loving and all accepting ...even tho that doesn't set well with everyone since people like to think they have some sort of power to condemn others to some sort of Hell.. but I don't believe in Heaven or Hell...what a childish notion...you're grounded ...really ????)

WE WOULD LOVE TO READ YOUR ANSWERS!!!

MONDAY MORNING n' I NEED VOODOO to get me thru...

2009-10-19T08:18:00.005-05:00

VOODOO DOLLS BY: THREADSTAR
AUTHENTIC TO NEW ORLEANS VOODOO (VODOU) PRACTICE

HAITIAN AND AFRO CARIB PRACTICES DO NOT USE THESE DOLLS
HAND CRAFTED CLAY HEADS/ACRYLIC PAINTED/GLOW IN THE DARK EYES
EACH COLOR REPRESENTS THE USE FOR THE DOLL

EACH DOLL IS STUFFED ACCORDING TO VOODOO PRACTICE AND IS BLESSED FOR SPECIFIC USE
THESE ARE POSITIVE SPIRIT DOLLS THE SPELLS AND BLESSING ARE FOR GOOD HEALTH, PROSPERITY, PEACE, SERENITY, HAPPINESS LOVE, ENERGY...

EACH COSTUME IS HAND MADE RAG WRAP/EMBELLISHMENTS ARE ACCORDING TO DOLLS PURPOSE AND INCLUDE SHELLS, PEBBLES, FEATHER, LEATHER, STRING, TRINKET, SEQUINS...

EDVARD MUNCH INSPIRED FACES

THE STRING WRAPS ARE DONE DIRECTIONALLY AND WRAPPED ACCORDING TO DOLLS PURPOSE
EACH DOLL HAS A CONJURE BAG WITH A SPELL IN IT PER REQUEST OF THE INDIVIDUAL WHO ORDERED THE DOLL
EACH CONJURE BAG HAS PINS WHICH WORK WITH THE SPELL OR BLESSING AND THE COLOR OF THE PIN HEADS MATCHES THE SPELL/BLESSING IT IS USED TO PRODUCEFABRIC IS HAND PAINTED WITH BLEACH..THESE ARE NOT DOLLS MADE FOR SHELF SITTING OR POP ART..THESE ARE EXTENSIVELY RESEARCHED AND APPROVED FOR USE IN THE PRACTICE
THE NEW ORLEANS PRACTICE USES ROOTWORK IN COMBINATION WITH AFRO CARIB SERVICE (VODOU) PRACTICES..ALTHOUGH THEY CROSS OVER THEY ARE NOT ONE AND THE SAME PRACTICES.

SHIT...I WISH I'D DONE THAT...JACK O' LANTERN FRIDAY

2009-10-16T08:19:00.004-05:00

Ya gotta watch how many shots ya throw back when yer' eatin' pumpkin seeds...

FAVE

MICHAEL
MARIO... AND HERE'S HOW THEY LOOK WITH THE LIGHTS ON...
NOW THIS BEATS ALL ...SHIT I DO WISH I'D DONE THIS ...

OF COURSE DARTH FOLLOWS...

VERY ELSA LANCHESTER...COOL

CHUCKIE'S BACK...

all photos are courtesy of http://trendhunter.com/

which has everything on it so easy to save yourself searching for the fun stuff!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK END ...GO TO THE PUMPKIN FARM...NOW!!!!!

WHAT THE F@#K...??? WEDNESDAY

2009-10-13T18:46:00.004-05:00

CRAZY CRAP WE FOUND....

available at: http://www.bigbookaltpress.com/main.html

also available at: http://www.bigbookaltpress.com/main.html
but why is this one smaller??

REGRETSY

YEO MORE MINI PADS...POKEMON? SHOULDN'T THIS BE SPONGEBOB???

REGRETSY ITEMS COURTESY: http://www.trendhunter.com/

TRUTHFULLY...I GOT NOTHIN...

SO ON TO...

BAD DATE CAKES

HMMMMMM...
SO MUCH FOR THE COLD SORE STORY...

BACK DOOR BANANA ANTICS...WASH YOUR FRUIT

photos courtesy: http://www.trendhunter.com/

TUESDAY IS FOR THREADSTAR....and B.B. BURLESQUE

2009-10-13T07:13:00.005-05:00

ORIGINAL B.B. BURLESQUE HAND CUT WOOD DOLL ACRYLIC PAINT

B.B. Burlesque was born after the period of time when T and her brother (now deceased) were working in comix after the "Adventures of Thadeus Dildo" comix and after the "Mabel's Whorehouse" comix. T loves art erotica and faves it in whimsical painting and cartooning.

B.B. Burlesque Cat O Nine Tails-18"x24"
B.B. Burlesque Bella Series on shirts, caps, cups and all kinds of novelty items.
B.B. Burlesque-private collector

B.B. Burlesque-TAMMY from a series of illustrations of teachers as B.B. Burlesque commissioned by teachers.

B.B. Burlesque..This is actually the lid on a wood toilet seat part of an entire bathroom design..shower curtain, wall art light switch, trash can, mirror surround, rug etc.

B.B. BURLESQUE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS..all hand cut wood, hand painted, there are about 25-30 different ornaments and thousands have been made and sold..thinkin about bringin' em' back.
B.B. BURLESQUE BIRTHDAY CARD SERIES ..QUITE A FEW GO INTO THE SET

this is the most popular..."hello? Vunderbra complaint department?"

B.B. BURLESQUE DOMINATRIX SERIES hand cut wood hand painted acrylics.

The Dominatrix series of these gals includes four models and appeared on household accessories, and novelties as well as wall art.
We are cataloging the B.B. Burlesque photos so more cool stuff this week.

SHIT...I WISH I'D DONE THAT ...FRIDAY

2009-10-09T08:15:00.004-05:00

We like SKELLS...but we see a lot of similar stuff out there (I am workin' on my first skell) and T didn't do skells because she felt there were lots of cool skells already out there...
so I was wonderin' if we could hunt up some new inspirational ideas...
well bling ain't exactly new but there is a lot of detail in this...

the shrunken heads are T's pick and this is her fav easy to see why...
Lotta talent to stitch on these baby's....
KROMO fave....when you just wanna say...DEAD
TELL ME A STORY....
Looks like a felters dream...

GRAMA loves that you got that crochet thing rockin'...n' so do we...now I am inspired and ready to knock out a new thing...but SHIT I WISH I"D DONE THAT....

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!

all photos courtesy: http://www.trendhunter.com search-bizarre.

ABOUT THAT "great for a first try embroidery thing"

2009-10-07T11:31:00.006-05:00

This is the 3rd piece of stitch work I have done since Threadstar got me stitching, it is a WIP a 7" hoop stitched on Lycra velvet. I am going to do some of the freehand machine stitch on this piece, it's something I want to try because I like the rough finish and string look you can get from the machine. Several people have commented on Flickr' and here congratulating me on my thread work "especially for a first try" on the heroin piece and continue to support my work, and I thank you. I want you to take a moment if you will and see what a killer teacher is...I know the work that I have posted here has been seen by many of Threadstar's fans, but there is something I want to share, and it explains why I am learning to do do this fairly quickly and what a difference it makes when you have a really talented mentor. The works shown below my grim reaper are the first three stitch works ever done by Threadstar and she had no teacher...she just picked up the needle and floss and went to work. KROMOSAPIEN'S 3RD STITCH WORK

Threadstar's first stitch work DANBALA & AYIDA WEDO 2'x 4' completely hand stitched..better photos are listed in the archived posts on this blog and also at Flickr" by clicking on the blog post title.
Danbala & Ayida Wedo is a big piece with very intricate details and stitched standing up while she was very ill and not able to breath sitting or lying down. This is the piece she learned on.
Threadstar's second piece, approx 16x16 in. There are 85 tiny little dragon flies stitched in this piece and it is hand quilted.
Threadstar's 3rd piece. approx 16x16in. Completely hand stitched and quilted.

Threadstar's beginning students started working this piece on their first day stitching, (she worked with one person at a time, but had several students). Threadstar drew directly onto the material so the student could pick a flower, leaf, or just stitch sky area and it just kept getting added onto, so it doesn't necessarily match in color or style but there is no such thing as the usual "beginner" thread work when she is teaching someone because she teaches the exact same way she learned...Threadstar quote..."when a race car driver first begins he/she doesn't get in the car and drive 5 miles an hour, then a week later 10 miles an hour, then another week later 15 miles an hour...they get in and drive as fast as that car will take them and tweak the car and driving errors as they go...and art is no different ...just get in and drive as fast as you can and tweak as you go...most people can do wayyyy more than they think they can...just do it." Her method works!!!!

THREADSTAR..OOOOOH YOU NAUGHTY GIRL....

2009-10-06T08:57:00.008-05:00

The non monogamous life...

What is non-monogamous? I have never been inclined to be in love with one man. I have a roaring passion for my children, for art and for joy, but it was never in me to think of a mate for life, I would have been bored senseless and they would have been alone.

Does that mean cheating...you have been married a couple of times? Married, but not in denial my husbands were adults and made a choice as did I; my lifestyle was not hidden, my affairs were not "in your face" my lifestyle wasn't a means of payback or proving anything, it is just who I am and so nothing was hidden but it wasn't a "see how cool I am" it's just a life choice.
Were there a lot of lovers? Remembering I was a child of the 60's and 70's and fully engaged in a radical lifestyle which I loved and carried through my life...yes many many.
Women too? No, but I wasn't around very many women...I think the female body is the most exquisite form..women are my favorite art models and all shapes and sizes are perfection...people thought B.B. Burlesque was me making fun of large and older women, but B.B. Burlesque is not that at all...she is a celebration of women. The most beautiful women art models are big beautiful women...so who knows where life would have taken me....I am not that gender role oriented so it's not a gay or straight thing to me it's more a "what are ya' into at that time...
Married men? I don't like marriage for me, my own marriages were crisis marriages not love matches and both were unfortunate. If a man is married he probably likes the lifestyle of day to day that goes with marriage...he is not bringing anything to the table that fits into my lifestyle...so no married men...and it's incredibly easy to tell...ring or no.
What about love? I am in love with my children, and art...I have loved many but that doesn't imply longevity for me. My view of love is intense and different but honest... The most exquisite tactile sensation I have ever felt is swimming naked, coming up out of the water and feeling that soft breeze on my skin while the sun's warmth is touching the top of my head...it's rapturous, it is why I am a creationist...it's too good, too deep, too amazing... like Adam and Eve must have felt before the fashion serpent got hold of them and they were guilted into covering up. That's love..the connected to the universe kind.

Is orgasm the best tactile sensation? It is a different sensation not a universal connectedness a one to one connectedness. Just as amazing but other...and I think that intensity is quite internal as the other is external..in orgasm you are so trying to physically devour another human, you can't get close enough and the penetration of male into female is symbolic of that need to devour. You want to climb inside that person and ride those waves over and over...or at least I did.. well I hope you do...I have friends who have been married 30 plus years and never had an orgasm and friends who've never had multiple orgasms...so it's a bit sad if people aren't experiencing the intensity of physical connection..and in those moments I was saying all the I love you's and hearing them back and meaning them..but...for me love is transient and I am aware that once that intense physical closeness begins to wear off, and over time as people get routines and expectations I would not hang around for that. I am very selfish in that I want the fresh new holiday romance and have no interest in long term commitments.

Do you think marriage shouldn't exist? Not at all, my daughter is very happily married, I have friends who are happily married. I think people should live a life that works for them.

What about social pressure, morals, family values and all that? I am not here to cater to social pressures and have no interest in what other people think is right or wrong or moral, since the reality is all of those things are very situational in most people's lives. And I am not unaware...my family is largely fundamental Christian now and I have spent my time exploring that world but I am in no conflict about anything. I have no thoughts that there is a God who is displeased with me.

Sharing this is about? Me documenting bits of my life that shape me as a woman and and artist.

NEVER RACE FOR THE FUCKIN' PARKIN' SPACE...JUST LIVE THERE...

2009-10-05T10:02:00.003-05:00

THE ANSWER TO WALLY WORLD PARKING WARS
photos courtesy: http://www.trendhunter.com/

IS IT CONFIDENCE OR ARROGANCE...WHO GIVES A SHIT ....GET IT AND USE IT!

2009-10-05T06:25:00.005-05:00

SO...DO YOU POSSESS CONFIDENCE???Self confident lady...she says "fuck the small stuff I'm goin' LARGE"...and does!

photos courtesy: http://www.trendhunter.com/TOLD YA' !! This is for real...never saw those needles at HOBBY LOBBY!

Hey...A good weekend was had by all ??? Yeah..confidence, self confidence...what is that? I'm reading blogs, lookin' at art, stitchin', talkin' to people and every place I look, read, talk, I keep seeing some reference to confidence..or the lack of. Lots of writing with the same story...got a bad rap in school...I drew a (you fill in the blank) and my kindergarten teacher told me not to quit my day job...so I gave up tryin' to be an artist...ya' know ya' said it or read it.... at some time in yer life. So what is it? WHAT IS CONFIDENCE?

A wise person said..."It never occurs to me that I CAN'T..."

"Confident people just do it..there is no questioning whether they will "be able" to or whether what they do will be "good enough."

"There isn't any THEY...there is no "what do they say....no, what do they think" there is only what I (the confident) say and think...outside influence doesn't enter into it, the confident keep their own council, are their own teachers and being teacher/learner is the same thing in a confident person...so there is no kindergarten teacher to tell them not to quit their day job"...but how does that happen??? A lot of folks think about the "what if I fail, am I good enough, is this good enough, and can I even do this???"
Are we socialized to self doubt..from kindergarten? I mean, we are told we can't really learn or accomplish things without out following some set program of instruction, education, apprenticeship...and... institutions, motivational speakers, life coaches, instructors...make big bank on this...but are they teaching you self confidence...or are they just making bank on the fact that we're socialized away from it?...how many times in your life have you thought someone "arrogant" or stopped yourself from "tootin' yer' own horn" because you didn't want to come across as "bragging" or "arrogant" but is that true? Is it arrogance or confidence? If you are good at something shouldn't you own it? Should you give a shit what other people think?

Are you able to just ...."DO IT" without question...? What's yer' story, thought, or opinion?

I'm interested...K

SHIT I WISH I'D DONE THAT FRIDAY:JO HAMILTON CROCHET

2009-10-02T11:08:00.002-05:00

photo courtesy: http://illusion.scene360.com/sewing/4439/crochet-portraits/

http://johamiltonart.com/
photo courtesy: http://illusion.scene360.com/sewing/4439/crochet-portraits/
http://johamiltonart.com/

THE TOO FUCKIN' COOL CROCHET ART OF JO HAMILTON, THIS IS A SMALL PREVIEW VISIT THE SITE AND BE BLOWN AWAY...SHIT...I WISH I'D DONE THAT

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND..T&K

GRAFFITI STREET SIGN COZY?? Damn... Gram stop taggin' already...

2009-10-01T09:28:00.006-05:00

First a major shout out to CYMBERRAIN, for sending the lost posts to me from France no less...A major deal simply because the posts are a journey and we started the Threadstar and Kromosapien blogging for that purpose. SO THANK YOU...and it's only fair to give a shout out to Cymberrain and Cymberfloss at http://www.etsy.com and visit when you need some of that excellent hand dyed floss and cool art work.

This knitted street sign is from Lauren Marsden (Canada) who knitted street cozy's for all the streets she's ever lived on...now I never heard of a street cozy and I had a mental pic of these tiny little gray haired gram's in biker jackets and walkers toddlin' out in the middle of the night as a knit tag gang...but this is the new graffiti and it ain't bein' stitched by gram's so the UK Telegraph says in it's hi-jacked street sign art piece today. The following photos are courtesy of

http://www.telegraph.co.uk click on motoring news. Just a little stitch inspiration while I go figure out how the best way to repost with some new stuff in between ...kromo

HELP ...I am being held hostage and forced to blog feminine hygiene products

2009-09-30T21:26:00.004-05:00

photos courtesy of: http://loloro.com/
photo cortesy of: http://loloro.com/

photo courtesy of: http://loloro.com/

photo courtesy of: http://loloro.com/

photo courtesy of : http://loloro.com/

THE AMAZING LAUREL ROTH

This is me being held hostage and forced to blog embroidered mini-pads.

Or as quoted by T "this is fucking awesome you need to blog this people are gonna wanna see this website." I am going to try and think of some way to find my dignity now but in Ms. Laurel Roth's defense...ya gotta think this is really some slick art work...

ATTENTION: no manparts were sacrificed in the writing of this post...yeah right...

PENIS n' VAGINA DOLLS-FOUND THESE LOOKIN' IN BOXES FOR STUFF

2009-09-30T14:13:00.005-05:00

LOOKIN' FOR STUFF TO SELL ON ETSY... lo' and behold , I find a box of penis and vagina dolls...which are T's... she's made a ton of dolls in her career but these crack me up...I am told they are fertility dolls and also used in rootwork/spellcasting ...the spells include getting rid of a woman you don't want hangin' around your man, getting your man to be wicked crazy for you so he never strays, increasing your fertility status and... the spells that go with these are freaky...but really....these are just freakin' funny.

VAGINA DOLL

PENIS DOLL ....COULD BE WISHFUL THINKING DOLL... SINCE THE PENIS IS ALMOST DOWN TO HIS ANLES...

Never an end to the fun stuff in this house...for the folks who are tunin' in, I am thinkin' of an ETSY shop and I have stuff that I made n' T is lettin' me go through her stuff and maybe nick' a few things ...these are at the top of my list...

We lost so damn much history in the bloggin' that disappeared. I did find a mini bio of T's which I am posting and that at least gets into some of her life and that will give me some stuff to blog on and try to get this blog rollin' again...

Part 1- Threadstar (faxed to a mag that wanted a live interview...posted on f/b when T had her f/b)
Mini bio-I don't do interviews…but if a person wants to know things about me well here they are:
I keep getting the movie? so here’s a list …#1 will always be On Borrowed Time...the rest don’t have an order-Underworld, Full Metal Jacket, Apocalypse Now, Deer Hunter, Fight Club, Secretary, The Piano, Children of the Lost City, Harold & Maude, Man On Fire, Benny & Joon, Pulp Fiction, Donny Darko, Slingblade, Spitfire Grill, Secondhand Lions, Michael, Fritz the Cat just for starters…
I have always wanted to shave my head; I love Sinead O’Connor’s head. (Now I don’t have to but I might do sharpie art on it.)
I am an Ekphrasis Artist and a Social Activist.
My favorite art is erotic art and religious art-I have no conflict creating both.
My brother and I learned comic erotica from the Robert Crumb comics and created the comic Adventures of Thadeus Dildo in the 60’s.
My religious beliefs, my art, my activism, my actions and behavior do not cause conflict in my life at all…but they seem to trouble or confuse other people.
I don’t support censorship in art but I understand people’s concern as we live in a very transparent world-adult technological skill has not eclipsed children’s yet-another generation or so- they aren’t that great at monitoring...we take our pre-k kids into the computer lab here so they will be quite savvy …keeping up will take work on the part of parents. Although I despise censorship… I am a strong activist for children I have no conflict about this either.
I am well educated, it is an addiction and its purpose is to feed my brain which never, never slows down, I have neural diversity, I am not a person who is restful and I am AOK with it, I chose education over drugs and therapy simply because for ME-I like it this way, I am not making any statement for anyone else here just me…
I went to secular and fundamental Christian Colleges and I still never have internal conflict.
I studied ancient Greek and Hebrew, I own many, many religious texts I have read them all. I also have a vast library on women’s studies, poetry, literature, sociology, social justice text, political text, philosophy, art, cultural anthropology and business. It's unlikely that my beliefs will align with yours.
I am hyper vigilant and have been since early childhood it allows me to read people very well and it helped me in learning to read art, I sort thru about 500 pieces of art and social justice news in the early morning hours in my feeds. I read everything, but I read voraciously and quickly.
I am celibate, by choice, but it’s not remarkable I sooooo wasn’t always.
When I was not celibate, I was also non-monogamous, it isn’t in my make-up, and I have never been devotedly in love with anyone but my children and grandson. I am not a relationship seeker, but I have been in relationships and I have been married, just never monogamous.
I am very confident.
My favorite word must be fuck I use it a lot.
My least favorite words are cute and artsy.
I work and live in saturated color and when I see “bits” that I like I just glue them to my color saturated walls I don’t like drawers of stuff-I also paint any ol’ place on my walls I feel inclined and write on my walls... I used to buy stacks of old dishes at garage sales ...I throw them and break them when I'm pissed...thats why I bought them...to be con't.

CITY AGRI CORP. V. COUNTRY COWS....IT'S ON BITCH..

2009-09-30T12:22:00.003-05:00

MOVIN' FORWARD (still pissed off)...This piece reads from the bottom (pig talkin' smack)

pig -"hey mommeee how about a quickie snout job?"

counter clockwise (sunflower country cow) - "fuckin' cud suckin' agri co-ho's"

movin'up (city cow stylin) -"bitch..you standin' in ya' own shit...shut the fuck up" (true-look back below)

upper left (boob job double udder city cow) -"girl...them country heifers is nasty..."

well...I'd like to stay for the cow fight but I gotta go patch up whatever happened to this blog...

POLITICALLY INCORRECT

by...threadstar&kromo

WHAT THE FUCK??? ALL POSTS DISAPPEARED?

2009-09-30T11:04:00.004-05:00

So I get on line last night and all the posts for the past month have disappeared...and I am fucking pissed...that's a lot of bloggin' don't know where it went...T says crazy shit happens on these blogs but never seen posts disappear, Ang says maybe hacked??? By who for what??? Ollie ain't sayin' shit...but he could be pissed...there are three new dogs here and I do call Ollie the wannabe hmmmmm...well I figured fuck it I am done with this shit...but the fact is...I dig the blog and like the threading..it keeps me hangin' in on RL shit instead of BS...so after the mad...after the fuck it'...I see this am a really cool bit..my work is blogged at http://www.mrxstitch.com so a major FUCKIN' A THANK YOU...I'm keepin' on. Sorry to have to backtrack but it'll just be on the pics because I don't know technoshit and had no back-ups of the posts..live n' learn....(still sucks)..kromo

THINKIN' ABOUT USING THIS...RE-POSTRE-POST

TX FOR YOUR PATIENCE FOLKS!!!!!!!

AWAY FOR A BIT

2009-08-20T22:44:00.003-05:00

With apologies...many thanks for your patience.

Time To Confess Work In Progress-color saturated editing

2009-08-16T11:39:00.002-05:00

I AM CURRENTLY WORKING ON THE TATTOOING ON THE MALE BODY.

The tattooing on the bodies is about the human concern for concealing their skin even when nude, concealing the act, and about the human tribe...when an act of violence is committed against one it has repercussions the whole human tribe.

This piece becomes more dramatic as I am now incorporating red oxides which represent the bloodiness of an up close and personal act of murder...stabbing is very different than say...shooting someone from a distance...the song lyrics speak to both acts.

Time To Confess Lyrics Artist(Band):Gov't Mule

Only the darkness can keep you warm-
On an evil night like this-
Are you looking for someone-
To give your little arm a twist-
Everybody needs some danger sometimes-
I'm no different- Just think of me as your equal-
I won't undress you-
I won't hold you down
I won't stick a knife in your back-
The way you did that clown
Can you feel it - can you taste it-
Yeah, you must've seen it coming-
Surely you could've guessed-
The game is up-I'm gonna' take you down-
No more crying I think it's time to confess
You better pray for a miracle-
Or you better pray this never ends
I, myself, can play the victim-
I'll do whatever the part demands
You saw me watching you-You had time to run
Ain't it enough that you torture me-You had to go for his gun
Can you feel it-can you taste it
Yeah,-you must've seen it coming
Surely you could've guessed
The game is up-I'm gonna' take you down
No more crying I think it's time to confess
You won't see no bright lights burning-But you'll feel the heat
This is what happens-
When strangers turn to lovers... turn to enemies
Can you feel it-can you taste it-
Don't look at me that way With that blood on your dress-
The game is up I'm gonna' take you down-
No more crying I think it's time to confess…

This song can be heard at YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DN3yqC-G8VE

THE ART OF BENJI WHALEN

2009-08-16T10:30:00.003-05:00

MOURNING-SCENES FROM LIFE AND DEATH

courtesy: http://www.benjiwhalen.com

http://www.artnews.org/benjiwhalen/artist.php?i=1194

MOURNING-SCENES FROM LIFE AND DEATH
courtesy: http://www.benjiwhalen.com

http://www.artnews.org/benjiwhalen/artist.php?i=1194

GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS
courtesy: http://www.benjiwhalen.com

http://www.artnews.org/benjiwhalen/artist.php?i=1194

FOOLED AGAIN

courtesy: http://www.benjiwhalen.com

http://www.artnews.org/benjiwhalen/artist.php?i=1194

Needlework “Fooled Again” by Benji Whalen, Detached arms filled with tattoos and with part of a shirt hang on the gallery wall side by side – seen from a distance they look a bit scary - like lifeless limbs. A closer look encounters the viewer with strong and aggressive imagery with multiple references. The artist Benji Whalen is well-known for his stuffed fabric arms embroidered with colourful tattoo imagery which shows a variety of themes connected to life, death, sexuality and even religion. In some of his works he points to the great old masters in art history like Albrecht Dürer (the piece “Man of Sorrows”) and Pieter Paulus Rubens (the piece “No Complaints”). By using these references he mixes high and low imagery and transforms the iconic art historical imagery to a tattoo image. A leitmotif in Whalen’s work is death fused with sexuality and most of the imagery combines rough masculinity with naked women posing as pin-ups. References to mortality are seen in the use of skeletons and skulls in an often frightening and explicit graphic way. Death is also the topic in another embroidery series “Scene from the Life of Death” where important events like e.g. fatherhood and wedding is pictured with Death in the leading role.The imagery in Whalen’s work deals with excess in every way and with taboos from the “underworld”, which now is brought in to the institution of art. This act can be seen as a provocation as can the exaggerated imagery but the cliche-filled universe of Whalen’s work can also be seen as an ironic gesture or comment on an artistic expression that traditionally is far from “high culture”.
http://www.artnews.org/benjiwhalen
http://www.artnews.org/artist.php?i=1194

There is much in art that appeals to my aesthetic and Benji Whalen's work encompasses that part of me that believes that art should not be censored...it is after all...the artist discovering him/herself. The more one censors to please the public the less one defines who they really are. I comment on this as an artist whose works have been censored to the point of "truncated" on facebook, flickr', photobucket to name a few. I am not arguing with a public pages right to apply their standards..my question always comes down to "whose standards?" Everyone has a personal view...if I find something that I question I want to know more about the piece..is it meant to shock and challenge? Is it an expression of the artist feelings, thoughts, agenda? Is it an experience the artist is sharing? Is it a political, religious, social protest? and so much more...if I find it unappealing to me at that point ..I just click off...

There are very dark and very deep parts of me that I fully express artistically..there is a sharp wit and biting satire in me that I fully express artistically...I am a woman and an artist with layer upon layer of experience, life, belief, challenge, knowledge, intuition, expressive creativity...so much to share, and I am a very confident artist, I am saddened a bit when I get e-mails that declare "I wish I could make the art I want, but I am afraid of what people will think or say about me"...and I read this statement a lot..I also hear this from people who entirely gave up trying to express their art. This is why I love an artists of the caliber of Richard Saja, Benji Whalen, Alice Kettle & Mary Bero to name a few...artists who are transparently expressing life in all of it's messiness...in the words of the song..."SAY WHAT YOU NEED TO SAY"

How to Catch a Cabin

2009-08-11T10:14:00.004-05:00

courtesy: http://www.readymade.com/

http://historically-inaccurate.blogspot.com/
How to Catch a Cabin

Shared via AddThis

Richard Saja is an exciting thread artist who will inspire you to rethink the term "EMBROIDERY' and you will not be disappointed with his installation art either! Just click on "How to Catch a Cabin" above or visit his blog http://historically-inaccurate.blogspot.com/ , I suggest both as his blog carries a lively selection of his art!! ENJOY!

HELENN RUMPEL GROUNDBREAKING IN THE ART OF HANDPAINTING WITH THREAD

2009-08-10T09:08:00.002-05:00

HELENN RUMPEL SANTA FE ARTISTIC THREAD ARTIST

For more than 40 years in Santa Fe, Helenn Rumpel has created fine art in cloth, in stitchery, and in oil and watercolor paintings. Her primary medium has become fine art stitchery, in splendid arrays of colorful threads and yarns, reflecting fascination with the mythological and spiritual symbols of ancient and contemporary cultures.

courtesy: http://www.sfaol.com/store/rumpel.html

LA LUZ

FAMILY

MADRE DE TIERRA II

CATCH A FALLING STAR
photos and bio courtesy of http://www.sfaol.com/store/rumpel.html
Today I bring you the art of Helenn Rumpel, an internationally known thread artist, yet, you may not know her work. As a thread artist I try to encourage other artists to examine their own work and think about with the mind of an artist...I see too many talented people exhibiting their creations as craft...those who know me understand that I am a fan of craft, but my mission is to see fiber.textile artists hold their own alongside the accepted professional visual art medium which is painting...I know...I began my career as a painter and there were those among my peers that were appalled that I would, in their words "commit professional suicide" when I picked up a needle and thread. I did not commit professional suicide...but I did have new challenges and I began to take a very strong and determined stance when I taught, lectured, showed my thread work, priced my thread work...I am an artist and that is how I present and sell my work, I make no exceptions and I encourage other artists in the same direction. The art reviewers, critics and gallerists are going to do what is familiar...talk about painting. It is up to us as fiber artists, to educate them about fiber art. and this education includes professional bios, artist statements, display, showing and pricing our work. We will only gain the respect in the art world that we deserve through these means. And that means being able to discuss your art professionally. Helenn Rumpel is one of those exquisite artists who began her career as a painter..and while she still enjoys painting...her divined medium is thread. Her works are built and stitched in the same fashion as her painting. Helenn's lectures, teaching and artwork are world wide..yet she is one of those remarkable people that often fly under the radar.
I encourage you to visit Santa Fe Always Online http://www.sfaol.com/store/rumpel.html it isn't always easy to gather information on artists who have had lengthy and successful careers, once they make the choice to determine their own career and ignore much of the artist establishment..these artists are my favorites and I will continue to search and share as I reconnect with my long time teachers, friends, colleagues and artist peers. I hope you enjoy these artists and that they inspire you to think about your fiber work as art..in terms of how you create, list, show, price, and teach...!

THE ART OF AMANDA PERKINS

2009-08-03T12:50:00.004-05:00

This lovely blonde is Amanda Perkins, well known textile artist from the Suffolk Coast of England; and owner of a Natural Dye Company. Amanda's beautifully crafted textile art and knitted quilts can be viewed in all of their glory at http://amandasartquilts.homestead.com/
Amanda is one half of
The Natural Dye Studio.
She lives for dyeing!!!
and not only does it as a living, but does it for fun and the sheer amazement she gets every time the fabric comes out of the dye bath.
This photo shows Vicky (other one half!) and Amanda with their dye baths, taking part in a living history day at one of the local churches.

RIDER OF ROHAN
Amanda states "I have always been astounded by the Battle of Pelinnor fields, maybe because real battles such as this have happened in history. Watching Peter Jackson's "Return of the King" has just illustrated the horror and futility of war, whether it is justified or not. I am struck by the senseless waste of life and have to admit crying every time I watch the riders of rohan's charge.
My use of the tapestry for this work is even more poignant, as it depicts a real battle, that would probably have been very similar.

JORMUNGAND
Jormungand (the Midgard Serpent) comes from Norse mythology.
He is the world-encircling serpent who lives in the ocean,
He is son of Loki (the trickster god) and Angrboda (giantess).

SUTTON HOO SNAKES

Amanda started making art work again.
Not quilts but intarsia knitting,
She specialised in this at art college and so 20 years later has gone back to her roots.
At the moment she is still designing, saying "It's not as easy as I thought, but hopefully I am beginning to get to grips with the intricacies of designing intarsia patterns."

A visit to http://amandasartquilts.homestead.com/ provides a beautiful walk through her galleries as well as a learning experience that will leave you spellbound.

During the rest of the month of August I will be featuring more remarkable thread artists and then in September along with a featured artist I will pick up blogging on art terms, and creating artist statements, and mounting /framing embroidered work...See you next week!

THE AMAZING ART OF CAROLINE DAHL

2009-07-24T07:09:00.005-05:00

DAY OF THE BEACHMASTER metallic thread art-Kreinik

12.5"x14.5"
http://www.carolinedahl.com/

Caroline Dahl is a very well known thread artist and accomplished musician. Her work can only be shared in thumnail version, but when you visit per WebSite, click on "side B" then "gallery" and you will be tranported into an exiting, unique and colorful adventure in thread art. Once there, Caroline allows you to click on her photos and enlarge them so you can enjoy the individual stitches! Caroline's work is in museums, and she is one of those fortunate thread artists sponsored by thread companies so you will always see what threads she is using. Caroline taught me about metallic thread. I was hesitant-many are - but when you see the enlarged "DAY of the BEACHMASTER, you will want to run out and stock up on metallics!

I chose to feature Caroline's work today because I am taking a direction in this blog now that I hope you will enjoy. I am going to feature artists and chat a bit about there work, then chat about an art term that is approprite to the featured work, I will wrap it up with a word on professional presentation a Q&A ...I will answer a question someone has e-mailed me and I will submit a question to readers ..I hope you respond it is a something we do on FaceBook, where I network with several hundred Artists, Magazine Editors and Gallery owners. Your input is valuable!!! Networking increases knowledge, skill, and marketing! Just scroll to the section that interests you!

WORLD PARADE DMC-26"x12.5"

http://www.carolinedahl.com

TODAY'S ART TERM - EMPHASIS

Emphasis is also referred to as point of focus, or interruption. It marks the locations in a composition which most strongly draw the viewers attention. Usually there is a primary, or main, point of emphasis, with perhaps secondary emphases in other parts of the composition. The emphasis is usually an interruption in the fundamental pattern or movement of the viewers eye through the composition, or a break in the rhythm.
The artist or designer uses emphasis to call attention to something, or to vary the composition in order to hold the viewers interest by providing visual "surprises."

Prolonged visual involvement through intricacy (contrast of detail) is a more unusual form of emphasis, not as commonly used in Euro-American design, though it is common in many other cultures. In this case, many points of emphasis are created that are to be discovered through close attention to the intricacies of the design. Caroline Dahl's work as well as my own are examples of contemporary use of prolonged visual involvement. We make use of all surface areas, Caroline uses highly detailed backgrounds which incorporate everyday familiar objects. I use random stitches and geometric shapes. There are several modes of emphasis in thread art, this example is a reference to the work I have featured today. I will talk about other modes of EMPHASIS when I feature an artist who works in a specific EMPHASIS, in an effort to provide an appropriate visual example.

DIANA & ACTAEON REVISITED-DMC & applique 6"x8"

http://www.carolinedahl.com

PROFESSIONAL TERM - ARTIST STATEMENT - WHY??

I will break this information into small sections because ALL fiber artists need good working artist statements, and more so if you work in collage. Paint is still considered the primary art medium..fiber artists can change this..

In the 1980s, when the crafts field started to become driven by the "business end" of things, and in turn become a marketplace, we saw artists' personal statements surface more frequently. As the retailer or gallery owner became more sophisticated and aware of the value of added information and how it affected the public's purchasing choices, the statement began to have a direct link to the selling process.
Today we might relate the concept of an artist's statement to that of the "point of purchase" (POP) strategy so common in retail marketing. Advertising professionals figured out long ago that the POP can be responsible for as much as 50 percent of the consumer's decision-making process when contemplating a purchase. So, it's not surprising that consumers are continually bombarded with information on almost every product or service.

(courtesy of Ivan Barnett is a Santa Fe, N.M.-based full-time arts advisor, writer and studio artist. His career spans 25 years and encompasses furniture design, book illustration, painting and the metal arts).

LAUNDRY DAY OF THE DEAD-DMC & applique 16"x20"

http://www.carolinedahl.com

WHY I DON'T LET GALLERISTS "RED DOT" (sold) MY WORK..AND WHY I DON'T MARK WORK AS "SOLD" ONLINE.

This is a common practice and certainly if you are featuring your work in Online Shops like ETSY or 1000 Markets your work will be marked sold. In my work I can probably create 20-30 thread art works in a year. Mt work isn't reproduced or featured on cards, calendars and other gift items (yet anyway!) My work is person to person, the artist, gallerist, private buyer or show attendee. When the body of work is as limited as mine is by the nature of labor intensive-ness, it does not help me to lose a possible sale by having an interested buyer walk away from a red dot or click away from a piece they viewed Online. I want the personal contact with my client. The piece they wanted might not be available..but I am going to be the one to tell them and sell them a commission work on the spot...no loss of sale. I have learned over many years that "status quo" is not necessarily the best way to feature fiber art. I have also learned that as the artist..I am the one responsible for my career as such I keep my best interests foremost..never "what the standard is" and I don't let reps for my work make those decisions for me. Food for thought?

YOUR QUESTION OF THE DAY- HOW IMPORTANT IS "TECHNIQUE" IN MARKETING AND SELLING YOUR WORK?

HOW I CREATE ART..MARASA THE SACRED TWINS

2009-07-21T08:19:00.007-05:00

MARASA-SACRED TWINS IN HAITIAN VODOU-12 STRAND EMBROIDERY FLOSS/CHENILLE NEEDLE ON DENIM. One in a series which includes AGWE & LA SIRENA,
DANBALAH & AYIDA WEDO AND MARASA.

HOW I CREATE ART (OR HOW IT CREATES ME!)

I study cultural anthropology, specifically the concentration of belief systems and practices around the globe. In my studies I first took a global secular perspective in a public university, followed by a an Evangelical Christian perspective at a Christian University and then back to the secular university for a another view in a setting where the students had an open class and each brought in their world view and/or religion/beliefs and daily we discussed likeness, difference, the various ways there are to study and interpret beliefs and believers and gain not just tolerance but appreciation for all peoples. There were so many students signed up for the open classroom discussions that students had to submit a thesis to be admitted. I have studied more than 250 belief systems and off shoots of those systems and barely scraped the skin of diversity.

I have been fortunate to experience many of these systems firsthand. I also use the knowledge to teach/discuss the impact/influence of the symbols in ritual practice and in art..the visual expression and invocation processes of beliefs and believers. My own art (as well as myself) is very influenced by what I have learned. All artwork that I create that is layered with levels of these influences..

The fact that I paint in thread is part of a long belief/mythology system which includes the stories of...Lachesis in Greek mythology, her sisters Atropos and Clotho; in Scandanavia the stars of Orian's belt are "Friggjar rockr/Friigga's Distaff; in Egypt nt (Neith); in Dine (Navajo) the legend of the Spider Woman; for the Olympians, the weaver goddess Athena; in Homer's work the tale of Philomela, for Germany Holda & Perchta. This list is endless..Thread is one of the most important materials in the world..it is one of the very first tactile experiences you have upon exiting the womb and entering the human community..it also one of the last tactile experiences you will ever had upon your exit of the earthbound community..it will go with you into the next place or oblivion depending on your own beliefs about afterlife or lack of afterlife. The umbilical cord is described as the internal thread of life..the sustaining thread, the apron string..you see thread is going to touch your life everyday and follow you into eternity.

Thread is the natural choice in my seeking of the perfect medium for my artwork..the natural choice representing one layer in my work. The philosophy and beliefs I study are another layer..I am an interpretive artist..I interpret the beliefs/philosophies as they have been interpreted into music/prose/poetry/and personality.

I have been asked how I choose the poetry/prose etc. to "go with my art." That is a misunderstanding..The poetry/prose/personality chooses me and THEN I sit and stitch. I let the thread speak and I let the thread go where it will.I am not a planner of artwork , I work in a very spontaneous and often trance like manner...my art is my belief system expressed..I have no need of planning ..it just happens. So there is no "matching" poetry /prose/ or personality to a finished work. My art is often shown alongside other "poetry chosen to go with embroideries." and I am pleased that there is a "thread to share" but this causes my own art to be mis-interpreted, and I am aware of the irony...but I am very glad that artists are using the written word as part of their expressiveness.

The layer which is the thread itself is also highly influenced by beliefs and believers..and also falls upon me naturally ..I don't choose a particular style of stitch work or cultural influence..but I have studied so many and they live in me. The Marasa work is Haitian Vodou in its subject, it is very Koshare influenced in it's appearance, and then Huichol influenced in the way I manipulate the thread pattern. All live in me and there was no decision on how the piece "should look." I am a naturalist and have learned to trust my mind, my spirit and my hands. Composition is naturally occurring, even in a work like "Time to Confess" I dreamed it..awoke from the dream and sketched the dream work immediately onto the muslin..I did not get up the next morning and think "well.. how do I turn this into a composition?" It already was..

And so you see and many of you understand from your own creative processes..there is layer upon layer of cultural influence in my work, from start to finish...!!!

MARASA-SACRED TWINS IN HAITIAN VODOU-DENIM JACKET

2009-07-20T15:00:00.002-05:00

explanation provided by: Shannon R. Turlington-Idiots guide to Voodoo-Alpha Press, 2002.

http:/www.idiotsguides.com. I use this reference because vodou as a religion is multifaceted and multi-layered, it is internalized in ritual and instruction layer upon layer over many years. There are also considerable variations in the Nanchon. In the post I wrote previously on Danbala Ayida Wedo artwork there are more references for those who are intensly curious about studying vodou as a belief system. Turlington does and excellent presention for the every day reader..and frankly I read an enormous number of educational texts and published papers, and I still love Idiot's Guides and For Dummies books..

Time To Confess Work In Progress-color saturated editing

2009-07-12T10:47:00.005-05:00

I photographed this WIP update and then color saturated it..I love the monochromatic grays..but it is hard to photograph progress when there is subtle contrast..the piece is all grays and black but the saturation differentiates the silver gray, green gray, blue gray, etc. I continue to shade and fill in areas..I always work around a piece..since I freestyle I don't want to complete an area before moving on..this prevents demarcation and imbalance in the final piece.

A FEW ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS PEOPLE ASK ME ABOUT MY WORK:

1. Do you sell your work online, at etsy, 1000 Markets, or places like that? No, I don't. I show my work online. I love those shops and support my friends who sell there..but these are not venues that will produce sales for me for a couple of reasons, the price of my work does not fall into the categories where most online shops generate sales. My work is intricate even the best quality photos will not produce an image that will compare to seeing the original. Collectors usually do not buy art in my price range online..they need to see the art original, collectors are not just purchasing my work they are invested in me as an artist and want to cultivate that relationship over time..they show the art they purchase and want to be able to discuss the artwork and the artist in detail.

Photos of thread work are very misleading even when the size is stated because we need to create photos that are highly detailed shots, even other thread artists struggle with size relationship when they view other works online.

2. What are your favorite sales venues? A great rep who has a private black book of well known collector's who collect in my niche..and keeps that list private..a rep who would show my work and 200 other artists who work in my niche isn't someone who would be vested in my career..yet they get a hefty fee which is well deserved if they ARE vested in their artists. Artists need to understand this process and what it entails and I get asked many questions about this so I am going to do some blogging devoted to this topic in an instructional format soon.

Art slams are another favorite. I am an interpretive artist. I work a lot in producing a vision of a poem, lyric or personality (not portrait - see Threadstar and Fatslick70 at flickr') so an art slam allows me to use the original work and a power point of music poetry or personal photos to engage the viewer. The viewers are in a comfortable inviting beautifully lighted ambiance..whether coffee shop, cafe, small club..and like poetry slams the artist is giving a live performance..vital in the style of work I create..I need to bring my audience into the work, give them a share in it and keep them engaged..the results are amazing.

3. Do you frame your finished work? My finished work is pin stitched mounted on archival product. The buyer decides how they want the piece mounted or framed. A favorite is a custom made frame hand detailed, round, with convex (bubble) glass. The company I use does beautiful work .This type of framed adds anywhere between 300.00 and 500.00 dollars to work up to 14".

An open mount on a finished backboard mount will add around 150.00 to the price, my clients can buy the work raw and have their own framer mounter do this if they like collectors sometime have a preferred framer.

These are a few questions I have been receiving e-mails about. I will discuss portfolio, pricing, and the reason I never mark a piece as "sold" online...can you think why this might be important?? Most artists think the more "sold" signs on their work the more buyers will be attracted because they "sell" so much work ..I disagree...stay tuned!

THE WORK OF ARTHUR BISPO DO ROSARIO

2009-07-12T07:53:00.002-05:00

ARTUR BISPO DO ROSARIO
WHAT IS ART BRUT??

Art Brut or Raw Art- A much misunderstood term today..originally coined by Jean Dubuffet in1945 for the works that he collected and revered..the art born of madness or art of the driven has often been used to describe these works..Arthur Bispo do Rosario is one such artist..and a threader savant.

Art Brut is raw, uncooked..work that is creation in it's most direct and uninhibited form. Not only are art brut works unique and original, but their creators are seen to exist outside established culture and society..often confined in psychiatric facilities..art brut artists are driven to create ...not by any notion of becoming artists...the term is applied to works that are not created as art, by persons who never considered themselves artists...and had no concept of creating for the public, being discovered, or that anyone would see their work at all. Art Brut is visual creation at its purest..a spontaneous psychic flow from brain to medium.

Arthur Bispo do Rosario
Born in 1911, in the city of Japaratuba, Sergipe. It is known that it was carabineer of the navy and boxer, arriving in Latin American became champion of the light weight category. He was stopped several times by insubordination and was separated of the War Navy in 1933. He worked in Rio de Janeiro as: employee of electricity company, domestic employee, security guard, hotel janitor; almost all the time exchanging his salary for housing. In 1938 he was confined in the psychiatric Hospital Pedro II, in Rio de Janeiro after raving during 2 days in the street. He was later confined in the Hospital Praia Bermelha. In 1939 presented mystical deliriums, claiming he had seen Jesus Christ in company of blue angels and said he was Saint Joseph. Transferred to the Colìnia Juliano Moreira he began to develop his creative process using simple materials. His expression needs were so intensive that he unstitched his uniform to use the threads in his embroideries. Defended with obstinacy his projects, keeping them away carefully. He built a miniatures universe. The work "inspired by the angels and by the Virgin Mary" would be presented God in the day of the Final Judgement. He never considered himself an artist. The aesthetic trip of Arthur Bispo Do Rosario was a "mission" dictated by heavenly beings. When someone asked him by his origins he diverted the matter: he was sent from the sky, a Christ. And said "one day I simply appeared in this world".

Arthur has created many extraordinary works which can be viewed along with the full article at:

http://greatartistsmultiply.com/photos/album/11/Arthur_Bispo_do_Rosario

4TH ELEMENT

2009-06-28T19:12:00.002-05:00

4TH ELEMENT-BY MIKI KARSON-$2800.00

Handstitched embroidery floss on muslin 10" hoop. 4 elements solid-liquid-gas-plasma (what stars are made of!)

Inspired by the poem To the Chief Musician upon Nabla: A Tyndallic Ode
I come from fields of fractured ice, Whose wounds are cured by squeezing, Melting they cool, but in a trice, Get warm again by freezing. Here, in the frosty air, the sprays With fernlike hoar-frost bristle, There, liquid stars their watery rays Shoot through the solid crystal....
The poem can be read in it's entire verse below in the 4TH ELEMENT WIP post or at:http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-the-chief-musician-upon-nabla-a-tyndallic-ode/James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish theoretical physicist and mathematician.

THE ART of ZDENEK SYKORA

2009-06-23T22:02:00.004-05:00

ZDENEK SYKORA

Zdenìk Sýkora - Line no.50, 1988, oil on canvas, 200x200 cmAS INTERVIEWED BY VÍTEK ÈAPEKThe turning point in your work was "Grey Structure," 1962-63. What gave you the idea for it? I found my way to structural work via a gradual process of "objectivisation" and the reduction of expressional means to colored flat geometric patterns which were set in balance. This sign - element - which I restricted to white, grey and black so that I could get as far away from associativeness as possible, directly lent itself to line arranging, revolving and grouping. Klee's definition of structure as a separable, divisible system, then laid down the path for my next work. I arrived at the further development of combinatory possibilities with primary elements in their own and mutual positions until I reached a phase where my intuitive work with the elements seemed illogical and the computer began to take over.The result of , when worked with lines which no longer created the entire area but were positioned in emptiness. Could you explain this in greater detail?The macrostructures emerged at the close of programmed structures. They were an expression of my endeavors to show their combinatory nature unambiguously.

show work
show exhibitions
During the years that Zdenek Sykora was forbidden to exhibit in his own country, he found great success abroad, becoming one of the best-know czech artists internationally. During that same period, working with mathematician jaroslav blazek, sykora began using a computer to generate compositions - becoming the first artist in his country to make technology his co-author. "in the art world, this was and still is understood as heresy, like something dangerous for this "fragile realm of feelings. [...] art which doesn't feel or isn't capable of perceiving the spiritual pathos of contemporary scientific knowledge and actual work, is not the art of today or the future. I am continually intrigued by the possibilities of new media and knowledge so long as it deepens or clarifies the expression of my life emotions." Although his work is in one sense quite cerebral, Sykora also uses classic painting techniques and the emotional resonance and visual weight of color to bring fluidity and equilibrium. [...] rooted in classic geometric abstraction, sykora\\\'s technology-assisted compositions offer endless possibilities for soaring flights of imagination. (excerpts from a text by mimi fronczak rogers) Sykora lives and works in Louny, Czech Republic.
Miki Sykora Karson

WHEN IS FIBER ART - "ART" ?

2009-06-20T10:38:00.007-05:00

AN IMPORTANT ARTICLE REPRINTED FROM "FIBERARTS MAGAZINE"
"WHEN IS FIBER ART- ART?" 1986 by JANT KOPLOS -international art critic

When is Fiber Art "Art"?
What are the criteria for evaluating art? How does one tell good art from bad art? Contributing editor and art critic Janet Koplos shares her thoughts on the subject of art criticism.
Every article and review in this magazine was preceded by an initial judgment of whether the art work was "good," thereby influencing the writer's desire to write about it. But how was that judgment made? How do we decide whether a work of fiber is "good?"
These are very difficult questions, because usually the judgments are intuitive, made without deliberate steps of reasoning and, especially, without verbalizing. Let's try to put the process into words. The two underlying questions about any work are: What makes this unique? What gives this value?
Within the range of aesthetic creations falls everything in this world that isn't purely functional, as a machine. Aesthetic creations range from potholders and doilies to liturgical hangings to the abstract and sculptural art of contemporary fiber artists. How do we encompass such varied things? We don't. Instead, we narrow the field and don't include potholders or works that merely follow patterns without doing anything more. Such works may be "good" for their class, but we judge them not appropriate for serious consideration as art.
People have been arguing about what art is since the days of Classical Greece and no complete definition has ever been established. Among the factors that seem to define art today are: originality, an ability to communicate an idea or emotion or some sort of message, a transcendence of the literal, and a quality of mystery or multi-valence. Art involves some personal expression by the maker, as well as expressive choices that are not simply arbitrary, but have some explainable meaning. Art is not just a concrete object; rather, it operates on a metaphoric level—the concrete object refers to other things, and the personal idea or image suggests a universal that can be shared. Art is never a simple or obvious statement; instead, there is always a depth to it that holds our interest and allows the art work to be reinterpreted over time.
Art is public expression and is subject to measurement by critical reviewing. Reviewers are simply seriously interested individuals with some talent for verbal expression, whose judgments provide starting points for further discussion and understanding. Reviewing presumes that the work has a purpose as "art"; it is not the same as writing about techniques, the artist's lifestyle, or the business of creating textiles. Those are interesting topics, but have nothing to do with art.
Reviewers appraise works according to physical factors such as form, relationship of surface to form, composition, style, materials, and techniques. But intangible factors, such as ideas or theories, originality, feelings, presence, transcendence, and impact, demand more reflection. Reviewers must judge subjectively, because all they can be sure of is their own reaction, but they are ethically required to have reasons for their judgments.
The foundation of any art work is knowledge of material and technique, and a wish to communicate something visually. Visual communication is common to every art form, but materials and techniques differ. When fiber work fails as art, the explanation is usually too much reliance on material or technique to carry the work, banal content or no content (decorativeness or formalism), or too personal a content. There is nothing inherently wrong with formalism or
private-ness—decorative works give visual pleasure and purely personal works can have psychological importance to the maker.
Good art, however, is broader. For the past twenty years or so, the whole of the crafts field has uniformly clamored to be considered as art. Too many people are asking for the rewards without the responsibilities; they want to be granted the status of artists without being subject to the demanding kind of thinking that is necessary for art, or to the challenging criticism that it always faces.
Art is an intellectual activity and the best work in fiber has thoughts or observations or emotions behind it. While there may not be any new ideas, there are as many ways of expressing an idea as there are individual human beings. What makes an art work new is the strength, assurance, and depth of the expression of the maker, who communicates to those of us who take the trouble to look carefully.
While art results from technique and materials, fiber is often sidetracked by these aspects of its craft history. Materials and technique are fit subject matter for art criticism only for identification or when they make a symbolic contribution to the work's meaning. "Exploring the nature of the material," which was a catch phrase for the 1960s and 1970s, can now be seen as an immature approach. A more profound approach would be, for example, to let the limitations of the material symbolize certain limitations in life. In other words, the nature of the material is used to express something beyond the nature of the material.
Technique, we must remember, is only a means to an end and while demonstrations of technical skill impress all of us, they measure craft. It is also important to remember that time and effort are not equivalent to artistic worth; they have to do with labor, not aesthetics.
It is a fact of life that art is presumed to be painting until proven otherwise and the question "Why use fiber?" is an inevitable challenge. Fiber artists must know where their works stand in relationship to the dominant art form, but should also remember that the dominant form is not necessarily right, and that copying is a dead end.
This categorizing is not meant to imply that art is the only worthwhile form of visual aesthetic activity. But all work in fiber is not art, and within art there is good work and poor work. Every artist who makes an object for public view must risk categorization and critical evaluation.
© 1986 Janet Koplos. Reprinted from Fiberarts, March/April 1986, with permission from the author.

4th ELEMENT-WORK IN PROGRESS

2009-06-17T14:22:00.003-05:00

4TH ELEMENT- INTERPRETIVE ART BY MIKI KARSON

Work in Progress update

4TH ELEMENT is a embroidery floss on muslin free style sit and stitch method. The base fabric is muslin worked with cotton and rayon embroidery floss. 4th Element is named for the scientific arguments concerning the states of matter-solid, liquid, gas and the "4th element" , plasma. The piece is an interpretation of the 19th century Scottish physicist and mathematicians poem;

To the Chief Musician upon Nabla: A Tyndallic Ode

I come from fields of fractured ice, Whose wounds are cured by squeezing, Melting they cool, but in a trice, Get warm again by freezing. Here, in the frosty air, the sprays With fernlike hoar-frost bristle, There, liquid stars their watery rays Shoot through the solid crystal. I come from empyrean fires -- From microscopic spaces, Where molecules with fierce desires, Shiver in hot embraces. The atoms clash, the spectra flash, Projected on the screen, The double D, magnesian b, And Thallium's living green.
We place our eye where these dark rays Unite in this dark focus, Right on the source of power we gaze, Without a screen to cloak us. Then where the eye was placed at first, We place a disc of platinum, It glows, it puckers! will it burst? How ever shall we flatten him! This crystal tube the electric ray Shows optically clean, No dust or haze within, but stay! All has not yet been seen. What gleams are these of heavenly blue? What air-drawn form appearing, What mystic fish, that, ghostlike, through The empty space is steering? I light this sympathetic flame, My faintest wish that answers, I sing, it sweetly sings the same, It dances with the dancers. I shout, I whistle, clap my hands, And stamp upon the platform, The flame responds to my commands, In this form and in that form. What means that thrilling, drilling scream, Protect me! 'tis the siren: Her heart is fire, her breath is steam, Her larynx is of iron. Sun! dart thy beams! in tepid streams, Rise, viewless exhalations! And lap me round, that no rude sound May max my meditations. Here let me pause. -- These transient facts, These fugitive impressions, Must be transformed by mental acts, To permanent possessions. Then summon up your grasp of mind, Your fancy scientific, Till sights and sounds with thought combined, Become of truth prolific. Go to! prepare your mental bricks, Fetch them from every quarter, Firm on the sand your basement fix With best sensation mortar. The top shall rise to heaven on high -- Or such an elevation, That the swift whirl with which we fly Shall conquer gravitation.
James Clerk Maxwell
http://www.poemhunter.com/
More information about the poem To the Chief Musician upon Nabla: A Tyndallic Ode
Reader comments on the poem To the Chief Musician upon Nabla: ANabla: A Tyndallic Ode by James Clerk Maxwell)Scottish physicist
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-the-chief-musician-upon-nabla-a-tyndallic-ode/
James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish theoretical physicist and mathematician.

WIP "TIME TO CONFESS"

2009-06-17T13:51:00.004-05:00

TIME TO CONFESS- INTERPRETIVE ART BY MIKI KARSON
This photo is an update on the work in progress. The background fabric is muslin with a watercolor wash. The piece is being worked in a 14" embroidery hoop. The artwork is original to the artist who dreamed the piece, woke up in the middle of the night sketched the dream onto the muslin (Miki keeps all sizes of hoops ready to stitch at her bedside). Karson began stitching in shades of graphite and is using about 25 shades of gray which will build to approx. 40 shades of gray in the finished piece. A major fan of the Allman Brothers and Gov't Mule, Miki wanted to get the dream onto muslin afraid she would forget too much of it if she waited. She liked the work lines incorporated into the piece and added the color wash.
A link to Warren Haynes (Allman Bros., Gov't Mule) websites are listed. The song lyrics are :
Time to Confess-Gov't Mule
Only the darkness can keep you warm-
On an evil night like this-
Are you looking for someone-
To give your little arm a twist-
Everybody needs some danger sometimes-
I'm no different- Just think of me as your equal-
I won't undress you-I won't hold you down
I won't stick a knife in your back-
The way you did that clown
Can you feel it - can you taste it-
Yeah, you must've seen it coming-
Surely you could've guessed-
The game is up-I'm gonna' take you down-
No more cryingI think it's time to confess
You better pray for a miracle-
Or you better pray this never ends
I, myself, can play the victim-
I'll do whatever the part demands
You saw me watching you-You had time to run
Ain't it enough that you torture me-
You had to go for his gun
Can you feel it-can you taste it
Yeah,-you must've seen it coming
Surely you could've guessed
The game is up-I'm gonna' take you down
No more crying I think it's time to confess
You won't see no bright lights burning-But you'll feel the heat
This is what happens-
When strangers turn to lovers turn to enemies
Can you feel it-can you taste it-
Don't look at me that way With that blood on your dress-
The game is up I'm gonna' take you down-
No more cryingI think it's time to confess….

This song can be heard at http://www.governmentmule.com website or just click the post title and visit Warren Haynes official website.

SEE NO EVIL HEAR NO EVIL SPEAK NO EVIL

2009-06-12T09:56:00.003-05:00

See No Evil Hear No Evil Speak No Evil by Miki Karson- mixed media - $550.00US

Tribal masks are hand molded air dry clay painted in acrylics. The arms are twigs, the body hand formed wire and dowels. The blouses are hand stitched one of a kind designs by the artist. The skirts are hand torn rag wrapped African print and handpainted and embellished cloth. Mounted on acrylic painted wood base.

First MAN covered his eyes and spoke, “See no evil”...By refusing to see and confronting evil Victims are born of doubt, guilt and fear Clear sight sheds light and illumines evil - Second MAN covered his ears and spoke, “Hear no evil”...By refusing to hear the voice of evil one cannot know truth Truth is discerned by the heart and mind Voicing truth creates a vibration that dis-integrates evil -Third MAN covered his mouth and thought, “Speak no evil”...Evil cannot manifest if one thinks before speaking.

anonymous adaptation of RAY LUCERO's poem "Three Monkeys Plus One"

GUATEMALAN WORRY DOLLS

2009-06-11T07:44:00.004-05:00

Guatemalan Worry Dolls by Miki Karson $74.00 US
The dolls are embroidery floss wrapped twigs 4"x1/2". The eyes are acrylic. The bags are stitched flannel 4"x4" hand embroidered front and back. The cord is hand braided metallic thread 24". and can be worn around the neck for good juju. The complete legend and history can be viewed at:

http://www.sciencejoywagon.com/kwirt/mayan

DANBALA & AYIDA WEDO

2009-06-07T11:12:00.004-05:00

Danbala & Ayida Wedo-embroidery floss on muslin 28"x40"- $7500.00

textbox provided by shannon r. turlington alpha press 2002

The artist's interests in cultural anthropology, specifically beliefs and believers has led a global study of over 250 global belief systems and offshoots of those systems. Miki Karson's interest in human development including education, health care and ending poverty led to her love of Haiti and it's peoples. This excerpt does not express a true and devotional feeling to the belief in Haitian Vodun..it is merely used as an explanation of the figures in the artwork. Voodoo is the term mistakenly used often by Caucasians in the U.S., and Hoodoo represents the African American tradition of folk magik, conjuring, herbal medicine and rootwork not directly related to Haitian Vodun. This piece is an artist's interpretation of a Haitian Vodun flag without trying to mimic the sacred flags used in ceremonial practice. The next in the artist series is a current works in progress of Agwe & LaSirena, and Marasa the sacred twins.

Reading: rootwork by Tayannah Lee McQuillar: http://www.amazon.com/
Websites: temple of yehwe: http://www.vodou.org/
folk magic rootwork: http://www.luckymojo.com/
africa and african based religious practices: http://www.afrikaworld.net/
vodun: http://www.mamiwata.com/

4th ELEMENT-WORK IN PROGRESS

2009-06-06T09:26:00.005-05:00

4th ELEMENT -WORK IN PROGRESS by Miki Karson- 10 " round - embroidery floss on muslin.

This work is being stitched simultaneously with "Time to Confess" seen below. The 4th element is plasma and this work is a contemporary interpretation of solid, liquid, gas, and finally plasma..as it proceeds it will include the the flow chart to the elements. The artist chooses a whimsical work to pull her from the dark places of "Time to Confess" which is an interpretation of the struggle with chronic and debilitating illness.
The piece is completely freestyle and has no drawing, sketches, or patterns. It follows in the tradition of the major body of Karson's work..sit and stitch, pulling the vision in the artist's mind directly into the embroidery floss and the muslin. Karson finds this connectivity the strongest creative force she experiences in art:

"Thread and its ability to draw it's own conclusions ...I am so enamored of the
process of stitching and creating-it is trance-like...I have to look at the
photos of my work and then view the actual piece to separate myself from the
work when it is finished...it is like an actor being in character..or an
author who becomes her protagonist."

The poem-To the Chief Musician upon Nabla: A Tyndallic Ode

I come from fields of fractured ice, Whose wounds are cured by squeezing, Melting they cool, but in a trice, Get warm again by freezing. Here, in the frosty air, the sprays With fernlike hoar-frost bristle, There, liquid stars their watery rays Shoot through the solid crystal.
I come from empyrean fires -- From microscopic spaces, Where molecules with fierce desires, Shiver in hot embraces. The atoms clash, the spectra flash, Projected on the screen, The double D, magnesian b, And Thallium's living green.
We place our eye where these dark rays Unite in this dark focus, Right on the source of power we gaze, Without a screen to cloak us. Then where the eye was placed at first, We place a disc of platinum, It glows, it puckers! will it burst? How ever shall we flatten him!
This crystal tube the electric ray Shows optically clean, No dust or haze within, but stay! All has not yet been seen. What gleams are these of heavenly blue? What air-drawn form appearing, What mystic fish, that, ghostlike, through The empty space is steering?
I light this sympathetic flame, My faintest wish that answers, I sing, it sweetly sings the same, It dances with the dancers. I shout, I whistle, clap my hands, And stamp upon the platform, The flame responds to my commands, In this form and in that form.
What means that thrilling, drilling scream, Protect me! 'tis the siren: Her heart is fire, her breath is steam, Her larynx is of iron. Sun! dart thy beams! in tepid streams, Rise, viewless exhalations! And lap me round, that no rude sound May max my meditations.
Here let me pause. -- These transient facts, These fugitive impressions, Must be transformed by mental acts, To permanent possessions. Then summon up your grasp of mind, Your fancy scientific, Till sights and sounds with thought combined, Become of truth prolific.
Go to! prepare your mental bricks, Fetch them from every quarter, Firm on the sand your basement fix With best sensation mortar. The top shall rise to heaven on high -- Or such an elevation, That the swift whirl with which we fly Shall conquer gravitation.

James Clerk Maxwell
http://www.poemhunter.com/
More information about the poem To the Chief Musician upon Nabla: A Tyndallic Ode
Reader comments on the poem To the Chief Musician upon Nabla: ATyndallic Ode by James Clerk Maxwell)Scottish physicist
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/to-the-chief-musician-upon-nabla-a-tyndallic-ode/
James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish theoretical physicist and mathematician.

TEN KINGS

2009-06-01T10:30:00.009-05:00

TEN KINGS by Miki Karson - 12"x40" - mixed media - $3800.00

TEN KINGS is a mixed media piece created on an acrylic painted wood panel background. Each King is created in tribal representation. The staffs are marquee pointillism acrylic. The heads are hand shaped air dry clay painted with acrylics. The crowns are twigs inserted into the clay. Each royal robe is hand stitched embroidery floss on 200 thread count cotton. The robes are heavily stitched using large eye needles with 12 strands of embroidery floss which gives them a very rich texture. Each King's royal countenance is symbolized based on the mask color used in creating the figure:

black-absorb negativity, increase power, promote change.
purple-spirituality, humility.
pink-attraction, healing, joy.
yellow-creativity, optimism, renewal.
periwinkle-peace, calm, patience.
blue-healing, insight, enhanced psychic ability.
aqua-work ethic, nurturing, playful.
green-prosperity, abundance, growth.
brown-stability, focus.
orange-clarity, energy.
red-desire, strength, power.

The stanza

YOU BELONG TO THE KINGDOMS OF AFRICA’S PAST KINGDOMS OF GREATNESS THROUGH TIME, THAT STOOD FAST, YOU BELONG TO YOUR HERITAGE A JEWEL TO GRASP BLACK MAN, YOU BELONG!
Black man you belong! By Lovett-Sept.7, 2006
http://haha.nu/amazing/kings-of-africa/

The artist explores symbolism in all of her work..her portraits are visual symbols used to create a picture of the inner workings of the person she is depicting. Language symbols are explored literally and figuratively, color and shape symbols are often viewed at first glance as the artists love of bold saturated color and abstract forms...but further investigation reveals layer upon layer of meaning..what appears on the surface as bright, bold, whimsical and interesting..soon reveals a depth of knowledge of the human psyche and global cultural anthropology.

SYMBOLS IN ART: Symbols in art are our
oldest form of visual communication and convey meaning beyond what's
obvious.
Symbols are pictures, images, or objects used to represent ideas,
concepts, beliefs, attitudes, or feelings. Symbols can have deep meaning and can
evoke powerful emotion, such as the crucifix in Christianity or the Star of
David in Judaism.
For a symbol to have significance, its meaning must be
known to the viewers. Take, for example, the Chinese symbol for yin and yang. To
those who understand its origins as an explanation of the workings of the
universe, it is a symbol for the idea that one thing cannot exist without the
other. To those who don't know the symbol's meaning, it's an intriguing design
with opposing colors and interlocking shapes. It doesn't mean viewers can't
enjoy it; it simply means they don't know its deeper or hidden significance.
Similarly, a sound such as "meow" to represent a cat has a meaning known to
many, but it could be replaced with a word like "jalley" if everyone memorized
the new sound and agreed on its meaning.
Symbols in art are humans’ oldest
form of visual communication. Artists have incorporated symbols into their work
since humans first began to delve into the world of visual expression and they
painted on cave walls. During later times, those unable to read could still
follow along in, say, religious events by looking at and understanding the
paintings in their churches. Puzzles, riddles, and symbols are still part of the
vast appeal of art.
Read more: "Symbols in Art: Everyday objects can have
hidden but agreed-upon meaning Suite101.com" - http://arthistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/symbols_in_art#ixzz0H3RRW9Vl&A