Monday, June 27, 2016

Looking for a Fall 2016 class? Take Beginning Fibers!

BEGINNING FIBERS
FALL 2016
ART_FIBR 2300 SECTION 2
MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY
2:00PM-4:50PM

EXPLORATION OF
PAPERMAKING AND
SURFACE DESIGN


Thursday, April 7, 2016

DUE MAY 1, 2016: The Appalachian Center for Craft invites proposals for its 2017-2019 exhibition schedule.

The Appalachian Center for Craft invites proposals for its 2017-2019 exhibition schedule. 
Solo, group, and curated exhibitions of work by American artists will be considered. Exhibitions at ACC focus primarily on contemporary craft and proposals are open to all media except digital and performance artists.
ACC houses three exhibition spaces, Gallery One, Gallery Two and Front Gallery. Gallery floor plans are available by request.
The deadline for proposals is May 1, 2016. All proposals will be reviewed by a three-person committee in May of 2016, after which all applicants will be notified of the committee's selections by email.
You may submit a proposal by applying through this website:https://youjudgeit.org/ttucraftcenter This website will allow you to submit all of your information online. When uploading images for your application, please use high resolution JPEG images and when uploading documents please use PDF).
Required Entry Material
1. 10 high resolution JPEG images (300 DPI) 
2. Corresponding Image List (include as PDF document) 
3. Resume (include as PDF document) 
4. Artist Statement (include as PDF document)
*Incomplete entries will NOT be reviewed. 
**Only a single entry per applicant is allowed.

For further questions or concerns, please email Karen Short at klshort@tntech.edu

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Art with a Personal Touch Senior Madalynn Olmsted brings attention to mental illness through art.

Madalynn Olmsted working on her artwork.
Madalynn Olmsted uses her art to educate the public about the stigmas associated with mental illnesses.

By Alyssa Bessasparis
Senior Madalynn Olmsted’s artwork draws upon her experience with mental illness and brings awareness to the prevalence of mental illness in today’s society. Olmsted uses drawings and embroidery of birdcages, childhood toys, razor blades, chains, pill and alcohol bottles, barbed wire and the distorted human figure to illustrate the lifelong impact of childhood abuse and neglect.
“I romanticize mental illness to force my viewers to be immersed in a taboo subject that society tries to ignore,” Olmsted says. “I hope to educate the public and reduce the stigmas associated with mental illnesses to promote healthy healing and recovery in today’s stressful world.”
Olmsted has displayed four sculptural fibers works entitled NurtureLostHarmful Home and Healingin the Undergraduate Visual Art and Design Showcase in January where she received a $250 merit award for funding professional development. She then displayed the same works in the Undergraduate Juried Exhibition in February at the George Caleb Bingham Gallery. 
For her project, Healing, Olmsted used hand-dyed silk organza to illustrate cutting, a form of self-mutilation. According to Pazia Mannella, Olmsted’s faculty mentor at MU, the book’s fabric is slashed and embroidered with deep red thread that progresses to deeper shades as the viewer progresses through the book, like an open wound. In the book’s final pages, the wounds have healed, illustrating the end of the self-harm pattern.
“Madalynn's work demands the viewers to personally address their thoughts and emotional reactions to these important mental and physical illnesses,” Mannella says “She is fearless in her work.”
Children often don’t know how to report abusive behavior and are unaware they are being abused, Mannella says. It is common for them to suffer from mental illness, be suicidal and abuse drugs and alcohol. It is certainly a topic many would prefer to ignore or pretend didn’t exist, she says.
Olmsted’s interest in understanding how the mind works developed when she was a child, possibly struggling with an undiagnosed mental illness.
“I was confused and didn’t understand why I was feeling the way that I did, so I always kept my ears open to others’ stories to see if my experiences were normal,” Olmsted says.
Olmsted has always been artistic, but believed she would not be able to make a career out of art. She learned otherwise after being hospitalized due to mental illness halfway through her sophomore year at Mizzou. She failed all of her classes that semester, except for her fibers class, in which she received an A. Olmsted switched her major to Fine Arts, and has been wrapped up in following her passion ever since.
“Creating art is my therapy and it is how I express myself. But art is so much more than just the expression of an individual,” Olmsted says. “It can become a visual platform to bring awareness to sensitive issues, and it can create a sense of belonging among the most diverse audience. It helps us to explore the inner workings of our minds, and it brightens our daily lives.”
Book artwork by Madalynn Olmsted.
Olmsteds’ work entitled Healing shows a book’s fabric slashed and embroidered with dep red thread to symbolize and open wound.
Olmsted is currently focusing on the Emerging Artists Residency she has been awarded by Columbia’s Resident Arts. The program provides emerging artists with one-on-one career consulting, the opportunity to participate in up to five professional development workshops free of charge, documentation services and 24/7 access to studio space. Olmsted’s residency began February 5 and will continue through June.
The program requires its selected students to research, produce, and present to the public one large-scale project or a series of smaller works. At Columbia’s Resident Arts gallery, she will be displaying a series of weavings that illustrate the daily rollercoaster of emotions felt by those affected by mental illness.
“It’s unique to find projects that deal with very heavy issues in such a way that it doesn’t diminish the issues themselves,” Madeleine LeMieux, founder of Resident Arts, says. “I’m impressed with Maddie’s ability to provide an insider’s perspective about mental illness by being so open about her own experiences. Her work is visually striking.”
Olmsted plans to assign a different color of yarn or material to each emotion, activity or trigger point. Each weaving will have its own key that documents each material used and what it represents. The key will need to be read before one is able to understand the entirety of the piece, she says.
“I hope to create a space for my audience to compare their daily routine to the daily routine of the mentally ill,” Olmsted says. “Our minds and emotions are all incredibly complex and unique to each one of us based on an infinite number of variables.”
Through Facebook support groups, Olmsted has come into contact with people of all ages from Australia and the UK who, in addition to MU students, have lent her their daily emotion logs so she can transform them into a tactile weaving to represent post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), borderline personality disorder, depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
“Hopefully, this series will bring awareness to the reality of living with a mental illness, thus encouraging community learning, empathy, prevention and recovery.”
The opening night for the Resident Arts showcase is June 3.
Olmsted hopes to continue creating art at an exhibition level and eventually attend graduate school. She never wants to stop learning.
“To me, art is life; I live and breathe to create,” Olmsted says. “I believe art can help us all heal, relax and get in touch with our creative sides.”

Monday, March 7, 2016

AARON MCINTOSH, FIBERS CLUB VISITING ARTIST, Public Lecture at Leadership Auditorium, Monday, March 14th, 5:00PM-6:00PM, and Public INVASIVE Workshops, Monday, March 14th and Tuesday, March 15th.


Invasive, a project for Southern queers and their allies, subverts the negative characterization of invasive species and uses queer kudzu as a symbol of visibility, strength and tenacity in the face of presumed “unwantedness”.  Traveling across the Southern states, the project will facilitate the collection of stories of LGBTQ people through workshops at community centers and historical documents from archives. Drawing on the preeminence of quilting in Southern folkways and the work of creator Aaron McIntosh, the artist will embed these stories, photographs, and archive documents into quilted leaves and vines. Eventually forming an overwhelming and undeniable mass of Southern queerness, the kudzu will be exhibited at art centers and public events across the Southeast.


ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC



Monday, March 14th

INVASIVE Workshop at the Fibers Studio 11:00AM-2:00PM
Bingham Hall, 902 S College Ave, Columbia MO 65211

Lecture at Leadership Auditorium 5:00PM-6:00PM
2202 MU Student Center, Columbia, MO 65211

Tuesday, March 15th

INVASIVE Workshop at the Fibers Studio 8:00AM-11:00AM
Bingham Hall, 902 S College Ave, Columbia MO 65211

INVASIVE Workshop at the at the Craft Studio 11:30AM-1:30PM
518 Hitt Street, N12 Memorial Union, Columbia, Mo 65211

INVASIVE Workshop at LGBTQ Resource Center 3:00PM-5:00PM
MU LGBTQ Center G225 MU Student Center Columbia, MO 65211



Aaron McIntosh (b. 1984) grew up in Kingsport, TN, a factory town in the Appalachian foothills of East Tennessee. A fourth-generation quilter, his family’s working class environment and domestic material culture figure large in his art practice. McIntosh’s education includes a BFA from the Appalachian Center for Craft and a MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University. His exhibition record includes numerous solo and group exhibitions, including Queer Threads: Crafting Identity & Community at the Leslie Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art in New York, and most recently Man-Made: Contemporary Male Quilters at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles. His work has been published in the LA Weekly, ArtNews, the Houston Chronicle, American Craft magazine, FiberArts, and the Surface Design Journal. His essay, “Parallel Closets”, was published in the April 2014 edition of the Brooklyn Rail. McIntosh currently lives in Baltimore, MD, and teaches at the Maryland Institute College of Art as a Professor in the Fiber Department.


Friday, March 4, 2016

Call for Entries: Art Quilt Exhibit, Daniel Boone Regional Library, due March 15, 2016.


Once again this spring, the Columbia Public Library will display a selection of quilts throughout the building for all to enjoy. This year's exhibit will take place April 2-16, in conjunction with National Library Week. This year, we will feature art quilts, and are seeking submissions from area quilters. If you have a quilt you'd like to submit for consideration in the exhibit, please fill out this form and email it, along with a photo of your quilt, to mindy@missouri.edu.

The exhibit will be curated by Mindy Smith, local artist and CEO of the Boonslick Trail Quilters’ Guild. Due to space limitations, not all submissions will be chosen to be part of the display. Submitted pieces may have any form of embellishment, but must meet the definition of a quilt: a middle batting sandwiched between two layers of fabric and all three layers stitched together.

If you have any other questions, please send your query to Mindy Smith.
Submission deadline is March 15, 2016.

http://www.dbrl.org/files/quilt-show-intake-form1_0.pdf

http://www.dbrl.org/programs/2016-01/call-entries-art-quilt-exhibit

CRAFT ALLIANCE FIBERS, CLAY, SMALL METALS AND WOODTURNING RESIDENCY EXTENDED TO APRIL 1, 2016.

The deadline has been extended for applications for residencies beginning September 2016
Deadline to apply: April 1, 2016

Media requirements:  Fiber, Clay, Small Metals, Woodturning

The Artist-in-Residence program supports emerging and mid-career artists who want to develop their art in a collaborative, community based arts center.  This residency, set in the heart of the arts district of St. Louis, has the advantage of an urban environment – studio visits with local museum curators, gallerists and university faculty; access to a vibrant community of artists; and exposure to a broad audience. Craft Alliance encourages artists to explore and develop their studio practice.  We provide professional development and resources based on each individual artist’s needs to help foster their artistic careers.  Resident artists are encouraged to complete a body of work for the Artists-In-Residence Exhibition presented each year in our Delmar Loop Gallery. This residency has a strong emphasis on teaching and encourages the artist to instruct in our adult education program, summer camps, and get involved with our community outreach programs. Craft Alliance provides each artist a work space free of charge, access to fully equipped studios, a built-in audience, and opportunities to exhibit and sell their work.  Craft Alliance is dedicated to promoting the resident artists both locally and nationally throughout the duration of the residency.

Applicants must be able to fulfill a program requirement of working in their studios 20 hours per week and take on the role of Studio Manager. A modest monthly stipend of $100 is provided.

Jury selection is based on quality of creative work, ability to interact with the public, and career direction. Residency start dates and length determined by program review panel. Accepted artists will be notified via e-mail in April.

     • 3 to 6 residencies awarded per year
     • 6 or 12 month residencies available
     • Residency cycle begins in September and ends in August
     • Each artist will receive a 180 square foot rent-free space equipped with Internet access
     • Each studio opens onto a common area, and the artists will have access to fully equipped classroom studios for metals, clay, fiber, wood turning, and graphics, and also nearby water/sink facilities
     • A wide variety of teaching opportunities are available through Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design’s Education Center and Community Outreach Program
     • During the residency, artists’ creative work is represented by Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design and may be considered for sales in the Delmar Gallery Shop
     • Additional opportunities are provided, such as discussions with curators and gallery owners, exposure at Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design events, and interactions with visiting art professionals
     • Ongoing professional development
     • Group exhibition at the end of residency cycle presented in the Delmar Loop Gallery

Studio Manager:
Each resident is expected to take on the role of Studio Manager, maintaining the public studio dedicated to their medium. The residents are required to oversee maintenance and operation of the equipment, check on supplies, and maintain cleanliness of the studio. Artists-In-Residence are required to be present as monitors for open studio sessions (schedule varies). Tasks vary depending on the studio. Five hours a week of basic studio upkeep is required. In the clay studio there is a stipend for additional hours that are required for maintenance.

Education Programs:
The Nancy and Ken Kranzberg Education Center consists of a metals studio, clay studio, graphics studio, fiber studio, wood turning studio, and three studios for resident artists. All studios are well equipped and designed to provide large spaces that comfortably accommodate the equipment, students, and teaching artists. Programming includes weekly classes in 3 sessions (fall, winter, spring and summer sessions), one- and two-day workshops, visiting artist master classes, and summer camps that involve joint programming between Craft Alliance and other area arts organizations.

ArtSmarts:
We ask that all Artists-In-residences participate in our ArtSmarts Program. ArtSmarts is a unique educational arts program that fills a void in urban schools with under-funded art departments. Students visit Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design during field trips designed to introduce them to contemporary craft in our studios and exhibitions. Led by professional artists, students learn the basic techniques and history involved in flame-worked glass, ceramics, metalsmithing, and fiber arts. Artists-In-Residence are a central aspect to the ArtSmarts program, offering students an opportunity to meet professional artists and be exposed to their studio practice. This is a paid opportunity. There are between 25-30 total visits per school year that are each 2 hours long.

Teaching Opportunities:
Artists-In-Residents are encouraged to teach and will be given multiple opportunities to take advantage of Craft Alliance educational programs for all age groups. Our Education Center offers adult evening, weekend, and daytime classes and workshops. Summer camps for children ages 4 and up are also offered as a teaching opportunity. Artists are asked to submit their class/workshop ideas to the Director of Education. Artists are encouraged to teach a variety of teen building programs, after school programs, and weekend inter-generational programs that are offered during the school year and organized by our Community Outreach Director.

About Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design:
Established in 1964, Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design is a nonprofit art center located in the Delmar Loop and the Grand Center districts of St. Louis, Missouri. Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design offers exhibitions, a gallery shop, education classes, artist residencies, and community outreach programs.
The organization moved to its headquarters located in the University City Loop in 1969, which provided more exhibition space as well as art studios for the instruction of classes in craft media.
In 2008, Craft Alliance opened a second facility in the Kranzberg Arts Center in Grand Center where this residency program is located. Grand Center is a developing arts district that includes museums, galleries, theaters, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. The addition of our Grand Center location has allowed Craft Alliance to reach new urban audiences, expand outreach programming in the city, form important new partnerships with other art and educational organizations in the Grand Center area, and offer new programs that provide the St. Louis community with greater access to contemporary craft.

Financial Support:
Each residency studio is offered to the artists-in-residence free of charge and all associated utilities are absorbed by Craft Alliance. Artists are responsible for their own housing and living expenses as well as costs of materials associated with producing their personal work. There is a $100 monthly stipend offered in the Craft Alliance residency program. Residents are compensated for teaching.

To Apply Please Submit the Following:
Complete the application form online here >>
Send the following materials to info@craftalliance.org  or mail to address below.
     • Current Resume
     • Artist Statement (maximum 1 page) about the nature of your work and a one paragraph biography
     • Letter of intent explaining why you want this residency and how you can contribute to Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design in Grand Center
     • Three letters of recommendation (the letters may be sent separately). They must be signed and on letterhead. PDFs preferred.
     • Images of 10 recent works completed within the last two years (see image requirements below)

Image Requirements:
     • Digital images of 10 recent works, with up to 5 image details, making a total of up to 15 images.
     • Images should be JPEGs approx. 2000 x 1500 pixels at 72 dpi (no larger than 3MB). RAW and other formats will not be accepted.
     • Each image should be labeled: lastname_firstname_#.jpg (example: Smith.John_02.jpg)
     • An image list with titles, media, dimensions (height x width x depth) and date completed.

Supported materials may also be mailed to:
Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design
Attn: Artists-in-Residence Program
6640 Delmar Blvd.
St. Louis, MO  63130

Saturday, January 30, 2016

FIBER FACE 4 ONLINE EXHIBITION « Babaran Segaragunung Culture House.

The fourth in the series of Fiber Face exhibitions extends the previous themes of Evolution and Transformation into the new theme of Resonance: An Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Fiber Face 4 Online Exhibition poses the above questions to both Indonesian and international artists working in the realm of fiber and textiles. Artists are invited to contemplate how their artwork is a form of resonance. This exhibition seeks to open a space for sharing both traditionally based and contemporary fiber artworks to enliven and live within, and to share intangible cultural heritage. It will do so by using the intangible platform of an online exhibition. The internet is an appropriate space in which to share these ideas, being itself conceptualized through textile metaphors: it is a net, a web, a kind of virtual tikar (woven bamboo mat for sitting upon) that can serve as a public platform for dialogue and sharing. Making use of this unique exhibition format, Fiber Face 4 Online Exhibition will create a truly public showcase of fiber artworks accompanied by writing, interviews and other interactive and educational material addressing the resonance of fiber arts’ intangible cultural significance across the world. In addition to the artists’ works, there will be a Spotlight Exhibition of West Timorese Mollo weavings, allowing for deeper contemplation on the lineage of textile traditions in Indonesia. This online exhibition will serve as the steppingstone to future publications and a physical juried exhibition of the same theme when the appropriate space and funding is secured. 
CALL FOR ARTISTS SUBMISSIONS
All submissions due 14 February, 2016

Artists are invited to submit up to 3 original artworks that respond or relate to the theme of Resonance: An Intangible and Oral Heritage. Because all the artworks will be displayed through their documentation, only high quality, printready, and high resolution images should be submitted. Please follow these guidelines for making your submissions in either Bahasa Indonesia or English:
1. Complete an application with:
          image list
          brief biography
          artist statement
          artist CV
           (Guidelines for these documents are described below)

2. Submit images and/or video using the guidelines described below

    Download application from here.
Artist Statement:
Please use the first paragraph or two to describe your work’s broader themes, concepts, and background. Please address the reasons you work with fiber, what is the significance of this medium in your work, why are you drawn to it, etc.? For each artwork submitted, please spend one short paragraph describing the work (conceptual and material development, references to personal or cultural significance, etc.) and in what ways it relates to the exhibition theme.
Maximum 500 words

Bio:
Brief artist biography describing your background as an artist. May include information about your nationality and location, you work history, education, recent exhibitions or publications, etc.
Maximum 300 words

CV:
Use the following format to submit a brief CV ( Maximum 2 pages ):
     Full Name
     Country/Nationality
     Date of Birth
     Address, email and phone number
     Education
     Most recent major selected exhibitions
     Awards
     Works in collections

Image List:
Please label each file using the following format: artist’s initials.title of work.1(or 2 or 3).png (example: skd.threshold.1.png)

The image list on the application asks for the following information about each work:
     Title
     Materials list/description
     Year
     Dimensions
     Image and Video Submission Guidelines:
Image and Video Submission Guidelines:
For each artwork, please submit up to 3 digital images, preferably in png format (jpg or tiff will be accepted as needed). There should be at least one full documentary shot of the work and 2 detail images. These images should be 300 dpi, and at least 1900 pixels on the shortest side. We highly suggest having your work professionally photographed with good lighting and a neutral background if possible since the selection process will be based upon quality of work and also documentation. Images of sitespecific work are also welcomed.
If you are submitting a video based work, please provide a link to the video on YouTube (Vimeo is inaccessible in Indonesia). Note: any video works accepted to the online exhibition must be viewable on a single screen (we are sorry to be unable to accept video installations in this format).
Submissions may be sent electronically through WeTransfer ( https://www.wetransfer.com/ ) to the following email: bsgbts@yahoo.com , or may be sent on a Windows and Mac compatible
DVD to the following address:
Babaran Segaragunung Culture House
Ds. Tegal Cerme KDV
RT/RW 08/14 Banguntapan
Yogyakarta, Indonesia 55197
Tel: 62 274 377881
FIBER FACE 4 ONLINE EXHIBITION « Babaran Segaragunung Culture House