Philadephia - Misc

Philadelphia is a city filled with art. Not just galleries and museums, but art out in the open for all to enjoy. I was lucky at have had such wonderful weather for my jaunt to see FiberPhiladelphia and took advantage of it as much as possible by walking everywhere. Well, nearly everywhere. Did need to taxi to the Crane Arts Building.

This trip took me down streets and into new parts of town. I was continually stopping to admire and photograph murals.

If you'd like to see more of Philly's murals, click here.

Painted Bride Art Center mosaic

 Tria menu

Philly is home to two, now three, of my favorite restaurants - Fork, Farmicia and Tria. I discovered Tria quite by accident and happily so. It's a wine bar extraordinaire with salads and desserts that are simply heavenly. The menu above is focused on the olive oil rosemary cake with blood orange sauce. As a lover of rosemary, it was just too tempting to resist. Next trip to Philly, guess what I'm having...again.

 The Rocky steps leading up the Philadephia Museum of Art

Yes, I momentarily...or secondarily...struck the Rocky pose at the top.

 The H from the Van Gogh signs hanging at the museum. 

The shadows were too much fun not to photograph.

 sculpture in front of museum

No trip to Philly would be complete without a shot of a crosswalk. I don't know what it is about the crosswalks there, but they have some of the most exquisite wear patterns.

FiberPhiladelphia continues officially through April with new exhibits opening almost daily. Don't be surprised if I venture back down...just for a day this time. Anyone care to join me if I do?

The shape of things

Been playing with a new piece and can't decide whether it should be

a square or

a rectangle.

What do you think?

Details

My friend, Julie Booth, put in a request for detail shots of Rust Boro #1.

Not quite sure these are the kind she had in mind...

 rust boro #1 detail 1 © jennifer coyne qudeen 

 rust boro #1 detail 2 © jennifer coyne qudeen

rust boro #1 detail 3 © jennifer coyne qudeen

...but then again, maybe they are.

Rust boro #1

Woohoo! The first completed rust piece. 

Cue music...time to do the happy dance in the studio.

Rust boro #1, 2012

20" x 40"

Studio visit

Someone is coming to the studio this morning to see what I've been up to lately art-wise. Should be interesting!

Philadelphia - Barbara Lee Smith

The last FiberPhiladelphia exhibition I viewed was A Sense of Place, curated by Bruce Hoffman. Yesterday's post contained work that sparked an emotional response in me so I thought to share them with you. The work that had me riveted in place was that of Barbara Lee Smith.

After strolling through the two large rooms that housed the rest of the exhibit, I stepped into a smaller room and found myself in a different place.

 Barbara Lee Smith, Marshland/Twilight, 2010

painted, collaged and stitched textile

Marshland/Twilight detail

I was in a place where the breeze rustling the leaves of marsh plants could be heard as could the tinkling of water caressing the shore.

 Barbara Lee Smith, The River, 2010

painted, collaged and stitched textile

The River detail

A place where shore birds called to each other as they played on the air currents.

 Barbara Lee Smith, Whitecaps, 2011

painted, collaged and stitched textile

 Whitecaps detail

A place where spray from the whitecaps turned everything just a bit damp as it was crashed and churned in the tide and was carried along on the wind to land on your skin. A place where the air smelled of salt and freshness...purity at its best.

 Barbara Lee Smith, You Are Here, 2010-11

painted, collaged and stitched textile

  You Are Here detail 1

 You Are Here detail 2

You Are Here detail 3

I was there. I stood in the middle of the room and drank it all in. Not a soul approached while I stood there listening to the birds calling, feeling the breeze on my face and in my hair, tasting the spray on my lips, hearing the rustle of the leaves and the movement of the water, being at peace. Yes. I was there. 

Philadelphia - A Sense of Place

Bet you thought I had finished posting about last weekend's venture to FiberPhiladelphia. Not quite. There are two last posts regarding A Sense of Place which was displayed at the Philadelphia Art Alliance. Curated by Bruce Hoffman and including such artists as Marian Bijlenga, Marcia Docter, Pat Hickman, Ke-Sook Lee, Amy Orr, Barbara Lee Smith, Wendeanne Ke`aka Stitt and Bhakti Ziek, it seemed like the right exhibit to end my trip with. And it was.

Just take a look...

 Bhakti Ziek, Nomad, 2010

handwoven welf-backed jacquard

-------------------

 Wendeanne Ke`aka Stitt, Niho Mano, 2009

Hawaiian kapa (bark cloth) dyed with California black walnut hulls.

Machine pieced. Hand quilted.

-------------------

 Pat Hickman, Pulsed, 2012

fiber sculpture, gut shells molded over river teeth

-------------------

 Marian Bijlenga, Palimpsest 4, 2007

horsehair, cotton, viscose, stitched

Some of the installations were difficult to photograph, like Ke-Soon Lee's and Marian Bijlenga's above. Marian's work is quite intriguing, however, in the full shot that I took, the shadows were more prominent than the various sections, hence the two detail shots.

I've been lucky enough to see Marian's work several times and always stand in amazed awe - slack jawed and hoping that I'm not drooling. Yes, just as I was when viewing Jason Pollen's 48 Prophets. There's a playfulness that is infectious. I always walk away from a Marian Bijlenga piece feeling light, happy and ready for anything.

Rust circle #32

While in Philly, I left a few gears to rust. Thought the unwrapping and unbundling of the largest might be fun to share.

rust circle #32

90" x 72"

still damp, it bled a bit in drying, but not too much

Habu

Sunday's post over at Paper Ponderings was titled Pebble happiness and for stoners like me or Habu junkies, again...like me, it was a feast for the eyes, senses and imagination.

You see, during her recent trip to New York Fiona visited Habu Textiles, which must have been heavenly. Actually, there's another phrase that comes to mind to describe what the experience must have been like that is definitely not suitable for my pg rated blog. But...oh! my!...that's exactly what it must have been like to stand midst Habu's exquisite textiles.

screen capture of  Habu's web site home page

And...well, textiles is a good word for Habu's products. Calling them yarns doesn't begin to do them justice, neither does threads. Ribbons are certainly not what they are, nor are they mere strings. They are textiles to be used however our creative mind sees fit.

Fiona used her Habu to wrap pebbles in the most simple, yet spiritual way. I sat in awed silence for quite a while Sunday morning, just gazing at her wrapped pebbles and thinking just how right it was. How Zen. 

In my comment regarding her post, I promised Fiona a shot of my Habu stash...which has been accumulating since my first Surface Design Conference back in 2005. 

Fiona, these are for you!