growing health by design: September 2015

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Coming Up... Save the dates

Coming up this Fall I will be traveling to do some demonstrations of weaving willow sculptures. My main focus will be creating sheep but other flora and fauna may appear!

This coming Saturday, September 26, 2015
11am-4:30pm
Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
139 St Gaudens Rd
Cornish, NH 03745

"...From 11:00 am to 4:30 pm, Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish, N.H., will hold its tenth annual Sculptural Visions event celebrating the many forms of sculpture. Visitors can interact with artists demonstrating different sculptural techniques, such as modeling with clay, carving wood and stone, working with metal and wire, and using paper to cast a sculpture. At 1:00 and 3:00 pm, two sculptures will be cast in bronze during a demonstration of bronze casting.

Throughout the afternoon there will also be hands-on sculpture activities for all ages working with clay, metal and foil. Children will also have the opportunity to create a 3-D plaster cast of their hand. The park and event will be free admission all day, and will happen rain or shine."

Sunday, October 4, 2015
10am-4pm
27th Annual Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival
Tunbridge Fairgrounds
1 Fairground Lane
Tunbridge, VT 05077

Sunday, October 18, 2015
10am-5pm
Billings Farm Museum
5302 Old River Rd
Woodstock, VT 05091

still working on a couple other dates and will post those as soon as I know.

I can only hope these demos will open up a whole range of possibilities. Commissions anyone? At the very least-you've gotta know I will be quite content... weaving willow with the gorgeous fall foliage as my backdrop.

Come see me!
love-
susie

Monday, September 7, 2015

All That Glitters Is Not Gold

I've just returned from installing another piece of artwork in Woodstock, VT!

This show is located at the King Farm, just down the road from and considered to be a expansion of the SculptureFest Exhibit. This show, curated by ECO-Visions is called "Intersections: Our Natural and Synthetic Worlds".

My piece is a re-purposed woven willow sheep. With synthetic fleece and a wee bit of 'bling' ie glittery fabric added.

all that glitters is not gold...

The meaning behind that saying is: the attractive external appearance of something is not a reliable indication of its true nature.

This piece is my interpretation of the way today’s society/culture views beauty, both in a general sense and specifically pertaining to women. We live in a world where ‘natural’ is often thought synonymous with ‘less than’ and ‘undesirable’. Synthetic -whether we are talking about fibers, containers or bodies- is promoted as better, beautiful and desirable.

The overall structure of Rose, the sheep is woven from willow. Natural, flexible, strong, sustainable. It has a long life cycle but will (even if well cared for) eventually disintegrate, providing kindling for a fire or nourishment for microorganisms in the compost pile. The juxtaposition of synthetic fleece pieces tied to the willow sheep is first, intended to make you laugh. Then, to think about how often women feel compelled to hide their natural selves underneath designer clothing, make-up, plastic surgery…

The fleece fabric I used is covered with Disney princesses. I’ll let you personally assign your own meaning to that. And the purple glittery fabric? Well. Of course… all that glitters is not gold. Sometimes it’s purple!

and a few other pics from the show...

a very cool musical instrument by Jeff Levison!!

and, by Ethan Ames- torches... my word, not necessarily his. The clam shell makes a place for a tea light candle. I think Ethan installed upwards of 500 of these along the paths on the 2 adjacent SculptureFest properties and we had a candle lighting along the field path at dusk on Saturday-it is amazing how much light a single tea light gives... with the entire pathway lit it was impressive.