Anything Art Day

Monday I took a day off from my usual gig of being a "grand nanny" and spent the day with my art quilt bee, "Anything Art."  We had our usual morning of "show and tell" followed by a field trip to an art installation.

Show and Tell included Peg's original patchwork tote bags.  That large one would be perfect for carrying a cutting mat to a quilting workshop.

Roberta is known for up cycling garments and other items from thrift shops.  Here is a necklace made from neckties, sewn into tubes with wire inserted and rolled up to make flowers.

She also had a vest made from recycled clothing.

She is working on this fabulous piece which resulted from a skirt with the figures and blossoms printed on it.  We had a lot of fun thinking of titles for this one.  I was thinking along the lines of "Rohypnol Nights" 

There were several other quilts shown, but some are probably going to be the upcoming PAQA-South quilt show, so I will save those for a future post.

Then we took off for the Cary Arts Center to see the exhibit of work by jan-ru wan titled In Clothes We Remember.   

She is an installation artist and fiber art educator.  She used garments and up cycled objects to create objects of art.

Here is the room with two of the installations in view.

The works are ethereal and lovely from a distance.  Upon closer inspection, you realize that the wedding dress has rusty razor blades hanging from the split panels of the dress. You can interpret that in many ways and our group had some lively discussion.  Most of us are of the opinion that art should be beautiful, not edgy, but this exhibit was both.

The installation on the far wall is titled Wearing Mortality on Your Sleeves.  It is made of dyed and printed silk organza, and includes bean sprouts and stitching.

One of the installations that we all liked was this baby bassinet with spirit money attached.  It is filled with mini-marshmallows.  The anthropologist in our group, Toni, explained that spirit money is used by people in some Asian cultures when visiting the graves or memorials to their ancestors.

The next installation,  The Little Blue Shirt, is made from a shirt from Guatemala.  It has dyed threads and beads, which support used laboratory tubes containing bean plants.  

Several of us were quite put off by the laboratory tubes, which look kind of gross.

The largest installation is the one we all liked best.  It is ethereal and lovely from a distance as well as up close.

                              

I would like to have seen this installation in a room with natural light catching the petri dishes and glowing through the silk organza.  The windows in the room were covered with shades, perhaps to avoid fading of the fabrics due to sunlight.

It was an interesting and thought-provoking exhibit, and I am glad that we went.

And then the next day, I got to stay with my little granddaughter, Charlie.  She always makes me happy!