Out the door for Squam tomorrow morning!

I feel like I've got whiplash (or an undying affection for the New York Turnpike) because after arriving home from Maine Sunday, I'm headed north again tomorrow morning for New Hampshire. I've spent every waking hour since I got back getting everything ready for  Squam Art Workshops which start TOMORROW!

While I'm gone I've prepared a few posts about our trip to Maine, and you can bet that as soon as I'm back I'll have lots to share about my time at Squam.    I can't wait to meet readers that are coming!  See you soon....

Threading Needles

In getting ready for any workshop, or just a long day of work, I like to pre-thread lots and lots of needles. I think it's a great way to start the day.  Threading needles is mindless, grounding work;  a sort of a meditation, and it certainly comes in handy when I'm in the middle of a project or a demonstration and don't have to stop to reload.    If I'm working in the studio, I arrange them all by color in pincushions, but if I'm traveling, like I am in a week or two up to Squam, I keep all my needles tidy in a needlebook. 

If you're coming up to Squam to take one of my workshops, make sure you thread up your collection.  If you're without a case, just stick them in a piece of folded up paper.

For those of you coming to the post-Squam sale, perhaps I'll interest you in a handmade needle case a la my studio- they are all made from hand screen-printed fabric with 100% wool felt to keep your needles rust free.  A vintage button seals each one up.   If there are any left post squam I'll pop these up in the shop when the new samplers go up.

Getting Ready For Squam

I hit the ground running yesterday in an attempt to get everything organized for Squam before I head out the door for a much needed vacation on Saturday. 

Today, I wrapped up all six sampler designs for the  Squam Sale.  I'm happy  to say that there are now three brand new ones, as well as the three that are already up in the etsy shop.  The newest will be for sale online on June 6th. 

Each design is wrapped in a different color of ribbon to make things easier at the sale.  I think they look pretty great all wrapped up like love letters and ready to go. 

If you're coming to Squam, I can't wait to meet you!  If you happen to be passing through Sandwich, NH on June 4th, please stop by the sale from 7:30-10.  There will be 38 vendors, as well as music, beer, and cake!

 I'll be posting a few other projects that I'm working on for the sale later this week.  Stay tuned....

Thanks For Coming Out!

Thank you thank you thank you to all of my friends and family who came out to Chicago (from five different states!) for the opening reception of Red Sky at Night on Friday. 

It really made my day to see so many smiling faces from lots of different parts of my life.

 I have the BEST friends!    I just updated my website with images of the show, and thought I would post pictures of the party right here....click on over to the website for better images of the work.

 Thanks to my mom for taking so many pictures!  Katy and I were way too busy talking!

Red Sky At Night Opens Next Friday (May 13th)!

At long last, I am packing my bags for Chicago to install my solo show at Packer Schopf Gallery.  I hope you can join me in person for the artists reception on May 13th.  I've included a teaser photo of Sailor's Delight as well as the press release here.  See you in Chicago!

 

Red Sky at Night

Ringquist's work tells love stories and creates veiled, fractured narratives full of double entendre. She is inspired of late by the fictional relocation story of the Swiss Family Robinson as well as her own cross-country move to Brooklyn. She alternates between hand embroidery and machine stitching, and the harsh difference between the rates of speed with which she works conveys a complicated message. Although the machine stitching is in itself very labor intensive, it also carries with it a sense of violence and aggression, reflecting the tangled messy nature of relationships. On a large wall piece, the thick orange flames, which lick up at the bed suggestively, are quite different from the sweet daisy imagery that lies beneath. Ringquist's work is at times careful, contrasted with moments of fast machine-stitched frenzy, expressing implicit and explicit intensities, and alternating between innocence and recklessness.

Artists Reception:
Friday, May 13, 5PM ­ 8PM

Exhibition dates:
May 13 ­ June 18, 2011

Gallery Hours:
Tues. ­ Sat. 11:00AM ­ 5:30PM

--
Aron Packer
Packer Schopf Gallery
942 W. Lake
Chicago, IL 60607
312.226.8984

http://www.packergallery.com

Pink!

 The pink blossoms are out all around us in Brooklyn- from cherries to plums to unknown (to me anyway) sweet smelling flowering trees and even purple lilacs.  For a midwestern girl like me, it all seems rather sudden and exciting.   In studio news,  I am up to my eyebrows in last minute tasks to get ready for the show in Chicago.  My artwork is finished, and I'm just getting all my other business ducks in a row.  I'll be back tomorrow with an official invitation for you to the reception.   Perhaps I'll see you there!

Studio Visit

The_tapisseriste-1000377.jpg, a photo by Stacey Estrella on Flickr.

Recently, my friend Stacey Estrella came by to photograph the studio. I love the way that she captured the space.  To see the whole set of images, as well as other artists that she has photographed, you can visit her flickr page here.

Springtime in Brooklyn

For the most part, I am loving living in Brooklyn.  We were lucky to find a great apartment with room for all that we do, but I miss the back porch we had in Chicago.  Around this time each year it felt like our home grew by one room and we spent all our time out there- eating breakfast, lunch and dinner out there most days, and spending most mornings waking up by watering the plants.  It was a great space. 

 Flash forward to this spring and I'm too stubborn to give up completely on a little garden to take care of- I've moved into this tiny little (fire escape) space outside my studio window and planted snap peas, sweet peas, zinnias,  bachelors buttons and basil (some are waiting inside until it's warmer.) 

I'm not sure how realistic keeping this little plot up will be but it's worth a shot. 

What are you planting?  If you've got your own makeshift garden or a real live backyard, I'd love to see what you're working on- leave a link to share.  Wishing you a sunny spring weekend!

Can't wait to get back to the woods...

From where I'm sitting in my studio today,  I can hear the songbirds outside the window, as well as the wind in the trees and the bubble of our downstairs neighbor's fountain.  It's idyllic really, until I hear the traffic sounds winding around from the front of the building, and some far off unidentifiable neighbor who is blasting circus music (don't they know I'm trying to listen to the BIRDS?!) 

I was so tickled to find this picture on Squam's Facebook Page yesterday.  It's one that Christine Chitnis took last summer when she was taking my workshop- it captures the feeling of the event so nicely, and made me excited to pack up my embroidery tins and head north to sleep without the front of the house noises for a few days.  I can't wait to hear the loons and the woodpeckers and the rain on the roof.    Are you coming up to New Hampshire to attend Squam this year?  Leave a note here to introduce yourself, or find me on the Squam facebook page. 

I'll trade you.....

When I kid I was an Olympian- then the organization was sued by the actual Olympics, and I became a member of Odyssey of the Mind.  Did you do this?  It's a creative problem solving club for nerdy kids.  I loved it- and one of my favorite parts every year was the trading floor.   We brought pins with our team's name, but some kids brought t-shirts, bags, bumper stickers, key chains, and other small trinkets.   One year a team from a nearby town brought red tool boxes.   There were only eight or so, and with two hundred kids screaming their heads off for them, they were red hot and awesome.  Oh lordy did I want one of those boxes.  Like the Stock Exchange, this culminating event was a total madhouse of yelling screaming negotiators trying to get as much of the coolest swag that we could by trading.  It was SO MUCH FUN. 

So, imagine my delight when I stumbled on a blog dedicated to trading art supplies the other day!  Blarter is a place for bloggers to post something they want to get rid of and suggest what they might like in return. It sounds like a more civilized, less stinky version of the OM trading floor, which, although the frenzy of a BO filled gymnasium does have its appeal, this trading can be done in your pajamas with a glass of wine in your hand.   From the looks of it, Japanese craft books are the red tool boxes of the blarter arena.   If you've got one that you're ready to unload, you can pretty much get anything you want.

Anyhow, I already added this awesome new site to my favorites list off to the right, and you can bet that just as soon as I'm not chained to my sewing machine I'll be listing some stuff to get rid of.   Check it out!