art and life - both the cherries and the pits
Wanting to bring attention to the election during my ArtSpan SF Open Studios scheduled the weekend before the election - oh my! I wasn't thinking about that when I registered for November 5-6. Oh well, I hope we are not all too distracted! I'm sure engaged in this campaign.
Here's a little series of drawings in the appropriate color scheme.
"Draping" ©2016 Susan R. Kirshenbaum
"Looking at You" ©2016 Susan R. Kirshenbaum
"Leaning Back" ©2016 Susan R. Kirshenbaum
This past weekend I participated in an intensive workshop to re-learn the silkscreen process and familiarize myself with Kala in Berkeley, which is an excellent printmaking facility! Plus, a great teacher and a small class comprised of friendly, talented artists.
It was a lot of work - messy, sweaty, and a lot of ink under my nails, but now I have a complete edition of 13 silkscreen prints on heavy fine art paper to share with the world. Very satisfying. Here they are laid out on the drying rack in the print studio. My original drawing is on the home page. I simplified the artwork and made it into a two-color print (ballet pink and rich black). The prints are 15 inches wide x 11 inches high.
View of Kala's printmaking studio
My silkscreen print edition on the drying rack at Kala.
Here are several pieces from one of my new series titled White Silk Scrolls. Most of the finished pieces are around 6 feet tall – human scale. Galleries might ask how these scrolls hang. I've worked out a plexiglass rod system, top and bottom, mounted to the wall with L screws. They are each about an inch from the wall so air and light can pass through and behind. I'll be showing some of these works, along with works on paper, at ArtSpan SF Open Studios the weekend of November 5-6, 2016. Look for updates about my show and sale which will take place at The Laundry, a new exhibition space on 26th Street between Mission and Capp. Photos by David Papas.
This is our friend Miquel's Girona art studio ceiling, which is in an ancient building located on the original Roman road, La Forca. Girona, Spain has a gorgeous, history filled Old Quarter.
These are images in and around Lisbon, Portugal. It's a very beautiful city I enjoyed seeing for the first time last week.
Here are a few shots of my new Lycra fabric. I designed this textile using one of my new collages (www.cherrypits.net/portfolio). I plan to make this into a dress prototype, in the same style as the one below (Woman on the Bay Bridge) that my friend/model Kat is wearing. I'm showing close-ups so you can see the layer in the collage which is a photo I took of flowers. Mirroring the artwork abstracts it quite a bit.
I've just started to sell my dresses and my tapestries, in addition to the rest of my work. The tapestries are large single images printed on silk with a built-in hanging mechanism. I'll be posting about those soon. These are all extremely limited editions.
I'm off to get some fresh inspiration now - look for the colors, textures, and patterns of Spain and Portugal. I'll post some photos here for you while I'm traveling.
Woman on the Bay Bridge Dress
Here's my latest dress design and prototype. The original art is a collage I created digitally. The dress is made of "4-way stretch" Lycra, just like exercise leggings - so it's super comfortable and packs like a dream. No zippers, just slip it on. If you wear this, heads will turn! I wore it to Art Market SF and Renegade Crafts Fair over the weekend, and it made people smile. The bit of fabric that was left over from making this dress (which I made from a single yard of digitally-printed fabric) I then made into a rag doll (see blog entry below). Model: Katherine Shedrick ©2016 SRKirshenbaum
