Stitching the World Project

Don't mind me, I've been rearranging the world:

Alphabetically

Then I added denim patches:

It just seemed more interesting

What are my plans for this?

Two months ago I asked these four questions on my Pattern Recognition blog:

I decided to add an audience participation element to two Art Fair applications that I submitted in the fall.
There will be the questions to answer, embroidery floss to stitch with, and (hopefully) a dedicated Stitching Crew helping with the whole thing. I'm printing The Rearranged World on a Redbubble medium-size wall hanging, which fits nicely on a king-size bed.

I was accepted into the StARTup LA fair, February 14-16 at the Hotel Kinney Venice Beach, where this idea will be put into practice. Meanwhile, there will be preliminary collective stitching meetups  during the Sundays leading up to the fair. If you're in the greater LA area and want to join in, drop me an email.

If you'd like to add your responses to the Four Questions, 
click on this link to see the color chart and  access the form.

Next, I want to design some sort World Map textile repeat, so I can wear the world during the art fair.

Linking up with
Catherine's #shareAllLinkup
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness

Let's Haiku. Linkup.

One of my favorite blog reads, Adulting – Second Half, wrote a post with her first stabs at poetry. I remember Shelbee on the Edge also was posting poetry recently. Have you had the urge to get poetic? Or did you write poetry as a teen?

from my high school art and literary magazine, 1972
Heavy influenced by Kenneth Patchen

I sure did. It seemed the best way to organize all those tumultuous teen thoughts.
And perhaps some of you are experiencing peri/menopausal emotions that might be nicely tamed in a poem. (Thanks, hormones). (I know a poem won't subdue the beast within, but it may help channel the energy in a creative way).

My response comment to Kelly got me thinking.

I like writing haiku at times. I was going to do a whole series “Haiku to My Closet” about favorite garments, which hasn’t progressed very far, but never too late to take it up again!
A recent poetry moment was in the final session of a year-long mending workshop: we were asked to sum up our activities as a short haiku-like poem since our prior meeting. It was a fun challenge!
So I introduce myself as a haiku: 

Anne M Bray, artist.
Serene road trip art, wild style,
Body as canvas.

Let's have a Haiku Linkup!
It could be a haiku to something in your closet:

original post

Or introduce yourself, as I did above.
Anything goes, as long as your link has a poem in Haiku format:
A Haiku is a Japanese short poem made up of 3 phrases with 17 syllables in it divided into 5, 7, 5.

This Link Party will stay open until 01/01/2020

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Linking this up with
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Catherine's #ShareAllLinkup

A Glint of Gold

The Textile Arts LA "Year of Mindful Mending" with Ruth Katzenstein Souza had its final meeting last week. Ruth provided us with the golden opportunity of playing the Golden Joinery game.

From their website:

A tear in your favorite jeans? Your grandmothers silk blouse with a worn collar? They form the basis for the GOLDEN JOINERY game:
a fashion first aid
a game to wear
a treasure box
an adventurous journey
The game will be hosted by YOU. You will invite some friends, ask them to bring a dear but broken garment and together you will repair your clothes with gold. No experience needed with needle and thread, you will learn by doing.
The GOLDEN JOINERY game will offer techniques and playful interventions. The cards will guide you through the levels on the gameboard to get to the finish: your unique minicollection of garments with golden scars. They will be part of the ‘new’ fashion brand GOLDEN JOINERY, inmediately spread both online and offline.

I brought my grey Danish Schoolbag that I've had since the '80s, it had become worn at the bottom of a pocket -- so much so that I'd taped over the pocket opening with blue tape so I wouldn't accidentally put anything in there.
No before photo! Forgot, and we had to put our phones away!

Game material and tools included (from website):

manuals
gameboard
deck of 27 Cards
8 Round cards
set of needles
box of pins
4 Bobbins golden thread
threader
6 golden fabrics
leftovers
a tea bag

I was so grateful for the game supplies, because the golden "thread" that I brought was wretched to work with. Refusing to go purchase thread, I pulled apart some gold chord from my "Christmas Wrap" box. Each ply of the 2-ply chord consisted of 10 threads.

It was the most devilish stuff!
Threading a needle was a challenge (even with a needle threader!) and stitching with it even more so.

I also used some provided gold vinyl -- the tear was beyond mending with mere stitching.

Here's my mend in its current state:

I used two more types of thread: lovely golden metallic thread that came with the game and gold-color embroidery floss.

All the mends:

Ruth, thank you so much for our Year of Mindful Mending. It was a wonderful experience!

Linking up with

Patti's Visible Monday

Shelbee's Spread the Kindness

Catherine's #shareallLinkup

October Goals Summery

October Goals? Sure, whatever.
I did what I could, and I did pretty well.

October 10-14 I was in Houston working an art fair, sold six things.

Love those red "dots" (or whatever the geometrical term is for a quartered circle).

Two weeks later, I attended FierceCon with 33 completed "cards" of my "Fierce Deck".

A closer look at the completed cards:

click to embiggen

I plan to sketch everyone that attended!
I must admit, the sketching project was a great conversation starter.
No awkward standing around like I did in 2017.

Daily Goals: Weekly Goals: not going to bother with this
Fall Goals: reduce, reframe and focus on the positive!
54 FASHION SKETCHES 34/54
Get taxes done. DONE 10/15, 9pm   :) refunds (:  

Steps taken in my "self-directed MFA in Textiles at Anne M Bray U"
[don't ask about the curriculum][haha]
10/6 Bauhaus Beginnings exhibition, Getty, walkthrough with curator
10/19 Digital Weaving, Physical Computing (beginning Coding) IG post
10/22 Started Four Questions virtual mapping project -  click here to answer the questions!

10/26 Digital Weaving, Physical Computing (more Coding, plus basic weaving) IG post
10/30 Started Daily Detritus paper weavings series from trash generated at work

Daily Detritus: 10/30 from 10/29, color laser print paper weaving, triptych each 3x3", ©2019

Do you have any sort of "To Do" list? Or maybe a "Honey Do"?
I'll report back again at the end of the November.

Linking up with
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Catherine's #shareAllLinkup

FierceCon 2019 -- the Power of Kindness

What? FierceCon was last weekend? Where does the time go?
WHAT is FierceCon? The tag line is "It’s not a Conference. It’s a Connection! Celebrating and empowering women at Midlife & Beyond." It's the brain child of Catherine Grace O'Connell and I encourage all of my over-40 female friends to consider attending in 2020. It was amazing. Yes, I've imbibed the Kool-aid.

I will probably [read hopefully] write more about my experience eventually.
[Including my project to sketch everyone that attended].
This post is about what I wore, as documented by others [credit given if I recall photographer].

Friday. The Fluevog Dress.

With Rena Perez of Fine.Whatever
We are brandishing the mini cards I had printed of the sketches I'd completed in time for printing.

I had a professional photoshoot with Courtney Paige Ray and wanted to have photos in The Dress, wearing Fluevogs, and showcasing my Fluevog Shoe Art.

photo by Courtney Paige Ray

Saturday day. The Kimono fabric Tunic

We are the Leopard Squad!
Lana Lindgren, Jill Lorentz, Amy Kennedy, Deb Gutierrez [shoes, can't see]

Saturday Gala. The BOOM! tunic.

In the hotel bar before the "Gala" party.
photo by the bartendress

Barbie Holmes, Sophie Davies, BOOM!

Sunday. The "tribal" tunic. The one I hand sewed on a bus.

photo by Paula Griffin

With Theresa Martin and wearing her super light leather earrings [gifted, link to similar].

The Faces of Fierce on Sunday morning. Catherine is reclining center front.
photo: Mike Castagna

Looking at these photos brings back the super fun time that I had and all the new friends that I've made. Really, consider joining in next year! I'll sketch you!

Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike

Off Duty in Houston in Selfies

My last post showed you what I wore during my exhibition in Room 400 at the Hotel ICON StARTup Art Fair Houston.
What did I wear during my leisure time?

I didn't plan this well:

Thursday afternoon, cold brewing teas in the bathroom.

Thursday night. In the main lobby with the StARTup signage.
Can you tell that the hotel's ground floor was originally a bank?

Friday morning. 4th floor landing.
Wait, isn't that the same outfit as Thursday night?

Saturday morning, outside the ICON's main entrance.
Those weird steps over my shoulder almost did me in, I slipped on them
but was able to grab onto the decorative architectural element to avert a face plant on the bricks.

Sunday morning. Trying to dry my one pair of socks that I hand washed the day before.
I wore them damp.

Monday morning, elevator area in lobby.
Here you can see the entire "chilly weather" look:
Flannel shirt
Patterned scarf
Red Fluevog Creepex Tee (you can't see the graphic in my pix)
Leggings (second of the two)
The Socks
Leopard Clogs

I packed a tunic and the Fluevog Dress, and I never wore them.
Used the red tee as my night shirt as well. Could have used a second tee!
Really glad I took the clogs (chiefly for airport TSA. Did not want to be barefoot through security). I needed them!

I have an Excel chart that I use for packing and if I'm super organized I'll make notes on it after a trip of what I didn't need or wear. It helps a lot when space is at a premium. This trip, I need all the space possible for art.

Do you have any packing rituals?

Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike

SpyGirl: The Case of the Mistaken Identity

Melissa thought she was going to visit Anne Bray at the stARTup Art Fair in Houston at the Hotel Icon. She found it curious that during their most recent phone conversation, Anne hadn't mentioned that she'd be in Houston. "Well, I'll just go surprise her," she thought.

SURPRISE!

She got me instead! Anne M Bray! It's all in the M, folks.
I had to start deploying my middle initial when I learned of my name double, who is also based in LA.
There is also Anna Bray.
We A Brays are legion! Well, legion in LA, anyway. Haha.

Melissa and I had a great meeting of the minds.
It was probably my best experience of mistaken identity!
Melissa is a professional photographer, as you can see from this great portrait:

StARTup Art Fair Houston was a grand experience. Maybe you caught some of my Instagram posts.
There's a great video interview posted on Facebook shot by Ray Beldner, the fair director (which I don't know how to post anywhere besides Facebook. Sorry. It was one of those Facebook Live things).
I'll be writing more about it on the On the Edge blog eventually.
Right now I'm supposed to be doing my taxes and then go to the day job.
Sigh.
Reality bites.

Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Catherine's #iwillwearwhatilike

Bauhaus Beginnings at the Getty

It's the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Bauhaus and there have been many exhibitions world-wide commemorating this milestone.
Cameron Taylor-Brown organized a tour of Bauhaus Beginnings at the Getty, led by the co-curator Gary Fox.

Our group outside the Getty Research Institute
photo by Julia Taylor-Brown

The tour was fascinating and Gary was most erudite and skilled at presenting the information.

Gary Fox

I wish I had taken a wide shot of the space with all the color theory course work. I felt like I was surrounded by all my assignments from Otis Freshman Foundation Design (black and white work) and Color Theory (all those color chips). It bordered on the nightmarish!
Here's an IG post of some students with Gary:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @giulia_amoresano on Oct 4, 2019 at 7:11am PDT

The English translation of the Bauhaus curriculum
(from Instagram because I forgot to take a photo)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Janet Bellotto (@janetbellotto) on Aug 10, 2019 at 12:30pm PDT

I had no idea that the Otis curriculum was so similar! Theresa said it was the same for her, twenty years earlier in 1963.
I guess it's ironic that the school's teachings, in operation for only 14 years, closed by the Nazis in 1933, has universally proliferated the art and design world.

The show closes next week. There's a companion online exhibition which is worth checking out.
There is also a pdf of all the exhibition's wall text.

I posted my "best" photos on IG here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by anne m bray (@annembray) on Oct 6, 2019 at 7:19pm PDT

Linking up with
Patti's Visible Monday
Catherine's #shareAllLinkup
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness

Fall Goals -- September Summery

Daily Goals:

Do a Daily Drawing. (Fashion sketches count). 14/30
I have been working (somewhat) diligently on my FierceCon fashion sketches.
It's been very hard keeping them secret.
I revealed two so now I will share them here:

Catherine of Catherine Grace O and the creator of FierceCon

Jodie of Jodie's Touch of Style, FierceCon Excel chart maven

My ultimate goal is to get 54 done for the FierceCon weekend event that starts 10/25.
How is my progress? 25/54

Procreate doodles 4/30
I had to take a break. Was getting too scattered.

Weekly Goals:

Waterlogues from old road trip photos 14/4 / Post to Saatchi Art. 4/4
This got accelerated due to the upcoming Art Fair in Houston. Mostly creating new Waterlogues.
Posting to Saatchi later.

Sew and/or repair at least one garment. 0/4

List at least one item on Poshmark 1/4

link to item

Upload new art to Redbubble. 3/4
Redbubble now prints on SOCKS!!!!! 

I posted a promo image on Facebook and sold a pair within 1.5 hours!
Thank you anonymous purchaser! (Redbubble only tells us creators the country of origin).
Mosaic link

I have to upload new artwork for these -- for some reason, the scale is super tiny.
Very excited about this for all my Fluevog print fans.

Fluevog Adele link

Sew one patch onto Crazy Quilt 0/4
Nope. Just nope.

Fall Goals:

54 FASHION SKETCHES 13/54

Get taxes done. not yet -- DUE 10/15
Nope. Cue doom music. Guess what I'm doing Monday, 10/14.

DeClutter the living room (again). started and needs more constant/consistent work
Started again! There is hope!

Get sewing machine repaired. (how many years has this been broken now?) still not yet

Do you have any sort of "To Do" list? Or maybe a "Honey Do"?
I'll report back again at the end of the October, progress or not.

Linking up with
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness
Catherine's #shareAllLinkup

#SecondHandSeptember Thrifty Friends

It's the last day of #SecondHandSeptember and certainly not the last day of shopping second hand first!
Today, I'm featuring a few thrifty friends who linked up over the month and provided me with quotes.

Amber, of The Hungry Mountaineer:

It just breaks my heart to think of landfills full of discarded Forever 21 leggings and crop tops. Recycled shopping has become a part of my life in the past two years and I will never pay a hundred dollars for trendy jeans from Nordstrom again when I can be a much more sustainable shopper and purchase them gently used from my favorite thrift store. Recycled fashion has changed my life and my closet since I have embraced limiting my carbon footprint.

That's why I brag to everyone I know, "Love this jacket? I bought it second hand at my favorite thrift shop!" Friends tell me my boots are so cute and I tell them "You too can buy awesome boots from the Goodwill and refurbish them at home! It's easy, it's crafty, it's upcycling!" With a bit of effort it's easy to be fashionably cute and help keep this planet just a little bit greener for the next generation.

Amber wrote a great post about ways to be a sustainable hiker.
I highly recommend clicking over there if you hike and/or camp!

Shellbee, of Shelbee On the Edge:

Yes, of course, shopping second hand is a huge one! ... If we donate or sell second hand, we should also be shopping at those places, too. I honestly get a little sick when I think about how much perfectly good clothing ends up just dumped. I saw so much go out of the consignment shop when I worked there, clothes with tags still on. What we couldn’t sell, we would donate to churches and charity shops and when I would drop off there, I was amazed at how much they had back logged that they couldn’t even fit on the sales floor. It really is a sad state of affairs. And there are places in my local community, like the children’s home, that won’t even accept donations. I ran out of places to donate to.

Monica of Señora Allnut:

Shopping second hand is not only good for the environment, it's also good for me, for my budget, for my self expression and creativity!. Actually, I'm being selfish!

And there you have it! One more day to link up your second hand something!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Linking up with
Shelbee's Spread the Kindness