Woo Hoo...New Assignment - Woven Nest

Every year I teach my Beginning 3-D students how to spin their own yarn as well as to weave with it.  And I usually have them weave a pouch, but this year I tried something different, we wove bird nests.  The requirements were to build a foundation for the nest out of wire, then use at least 4 different kinds of fibers to weave the nest with, one being their own hand spun yarn.  They also had to fill the nest with something that worked visually, then make something special to put inside their nest.  The medium was up to them.

These nests turned out so spectacular that instead of just showing off a couple, I've photoed at least half of the classes projects, so this is kind of a long post.  I hope you enjoy it.

This first one above was done by sophomore Lydia Kim.  I was so impressed by her choice of fibers and then figuring out and making a pattern to sew a felt bird.  Bravo Lydia!!

This next very feminine and lovely nest was built by senior Aparna Vanchewaran.  This was an end of the year project and I turned the kids loose to find whatever they could to weave with.  I have boxes with laces and ribbons that Aparna made use of, and then just look at her incredible butterfly she made for the inside.  Wow! 

In this one, junior Alice Zhang used chenille, jute, feathers and newspaper strips to get this very realistic looking nest, plus her white hand spun.  And she splintered a piece of wood and used our woodburning tool to etch "Home" for her inside.  So creative!

This next playful piece was done by junior Sheila San Agustin.  She recycled a notebook spiral binding, and papermache'd  this adorable little guy holding his fishing pole.

I asked senior Jaimee Chirico to make a prototype so the students would be able to see an example before they started.  This is her wonderful piece.

Her bird and nest's foundations were built from wire before they where woven.  And her eggs were made from paper mache' and then paint was speckled on.

Junior Emily Yang has made a gorgeous piece here with lots of wonderful fiber choices.  she also made paper mache' eggs. 

Junior Tiffany Lee got crazy creative and built this fabulous sculpture using all kinds of recycled materials.  I was so impressed when she turned this in.  She is such an outside of the box thinker, and I'm hoping she goes on to major in design.

Look closely at this next one with it's sleeping angel inside made from polymer clay and feathers, and the little sign that says "Be back in 2 hours"  So cute junior Lydia Ko

And then there's the sweet pomegranate angel by senior Stephanie Pascua, and the wire chicken below by senior Luis Gomez.

Junior Sara Shams peeled apart a plastic woven netting material to line her basket with, and then made a golden egg to nestle inside her lovely nest.  And sophomore Alex Rendon went all out with a purple lace he found to weave with that created a great fringe. 

Junior Ashley Chowdhury created the most lovely piece with her ribbons, laces and roses, and sweet butterfly.  And very clever senior Shavanti Kariyawasam dedicated her nest to the senior class and how they were ready to spread their wings and leave us.

One of my very favorites was this one by junior Stella Park, loved the form, the color choices, the fiber selections, and all the beautiful hand spun around the lip.  Gorgeous work as always Stella!!

And this last one, by junior Julia Chanco, is another well thought out piece in both form, colors, and hanging devise.

And her egg was so lovely with the collaged papers.  

Fantastic job all of you, I'm so proud to show these off!!  Just sorry it took me so dang long!

Hard and Fast

That's how it was for me when I recently saw a tease of Diane Savona's work on Morna Crite-Moore's blogsite, and fell instantly, deeply in love with her work.  This first piece that I'm showcasing, "Fossil Strata", is like magic for me.  I could stare at it for hours and marvel at her handwork, her composition, her subtle colorways, and her choices of sewing notions. 

Diane says:

My art is constructed of salvaged linens, found at the local equivalent of archaeological digs -garage sales. Once-common crocheted doilies and embroidered tablecloths are becoming extinct.  By presenting them as unearthed fossil specimens, I hope to change viewers perception of our textile heritage. 

Domestic Markings #2

Domestic Markings #3

Visit Diane's website and see other series she is also working on.  These next 2 pieces are based on maps, and aerial views of the disasters in New Orleans and Japan

Hurricane, New Orleans

Chalmette section

close up view

Tsunami, Japan

close-up

These next 2 she calls her Fossil Garment Series in which she deconstructs garments and overlays them on top of her strata work. 

Landscape of a Past Civilization

Overgrown Fossil

I hope you get a chance to explore her site for a real treat.

Felt Balls - Student Art

My Beginning 3-d students get a taste of feltmaking with this unit on felt ball making. They begin by choosing from bags of recycled wool yarns and rovings. After being shown how to layer the wool they then stuff it into a nylon and dip it in hot soapy water and work it until the mass turns into a felt ball. After rinsing out excess soap they then manipulate their ball into another form (squares, hersey kisses, hearts, etc.), and let then dry overnight. What I really like about the one above created by Marisela Herrurte is that she stitched on top of it to bring in a bit of embellishment. What a great idea, so beginners this year, you will be stitching your balls :)

Appliquilts - Student Art

Trying to find a day with enough time to be able to post all these incredible quilts that my Beginning 3-d class created. Also hoping that they are seen by Quilting Arts Editor Pokey Bolton, so that maybe they could be featured in her magazine. They were based on pieces done by Susan (Lucky) Shie (http://www.turtlemoon.com/) and Andrea Stern (http://www.embellishmentcafe.com/) from QA articles that I had seen that had inspired me to teach their style of quiltmaking to my students. See labels on right (click appliquilts) to see the piece I did after I saw the QA article as well as last years pieces that my students did. I had the kids start by tye-dyeing their own back and foreground fabrics, then after units on stitching and embroidery I felt they had the skills necessary to make an applied quilt or Appliquilt as Tonee White coined it in her quiltmaking books years ago. So I hope you love them as much as I do! Starting off with the owl is senior Kevin Ni, look at the close-up to see all his amazing stitch embellishment.

Here we have senior Jenny Dai and her close-up. I think I've probably featured close to everything Jenny has made this year, she is a terrific designer and an impeccable craftswoman.

And of course you have seen everything senior Ashlee Chang has made both this and last year. She is one of my top art students this year, hopefully headed off for a career in the arts.

Her close-ups are ridiculous!

And below Ashlee we have her boyfriend Daniel An's piece, also a senior. They sit next to each other and I do believe inspire and encourage each other to always do their best work.

An here is junior Brittaney Lee, one of my up and coming super stars for next year. Beautiful, sensitive workmanship.

Another up and coming star is junior Hilary Chan (above) who always comes up with outstanding work.

And then there is sophomore Kelsea Lee, who I adore. I'm hoping she will be back for another two years with me. Can you just image her work when she's a senior if she is doing this now?

And one of my all-time favorite students ever, senior Anne Guu, who actually wants to be an art teacher :) YES! Hoping she'll come back and take my place here when I leave in another 6 years. I'm grooming her now.