The Big Show!

Hi All!

Ready for some great art! This is just a small sampling of the wonderful offerings at Hello World, I had to narrow it down a lot, also I'm terrible and didn't note all of the artists when I took photos, but nearly everything in the show is for sale at a web store the gallery has set up, here, if you see something you simply must own. 

Oh! I never did say what I was submitting to the show, did I? Here are the finished pieces just before I packed them up and sent them off...

Home Is Where The Bra Comes Off

 Finished size 8" x 10"

Super Butch!

Finished size 8" x  8". 

I finished the piece only hours before I mailed it out, I think when you last saw it, it looked like this. I stitched the words on bright yellow fabric, trimmed it down to a strip and blanket stitched the strip to the existing piece. Then I did some piecing around the embroidery, much like a quilt square. 

After everything was squared up, I mounted on the piece on a gallery matte that I first padded with cotton batting so the stitches weren't sitting so "hard" on the matte, does that make any sense? I just like to have a little padding for the stitches to sink in to. Then I learned something new, how to make perfect gallery corners! 

Ok, let's go!

The show was held at The Service Station, this place is really cool. An old service station repurposed as an art gallery, event space, Hello World was it's opening event, but they've got some very neat things coming down the pipes, like open air movie screenings, they did Pee Wee Herman's Big Adventure last weekend, how fun, no?

Yarn for bombing, bombs away!

 Thanks Lion Brand!!

My pal, Ellen. Ellen Schinderman that is. She and I bombed that fence, we cross stitched "hello world" for the day of the event. Cross stitching a chain link fence isn't as easy as it might seem (and it's dirty, nail breaking work). But it was worth it :)

After bombing and helping with site setup, Ellen and I took off to get gussied up for the show. Back at the event we met up with our stitchy friends who were all contributing artists in this show. It was so exciting to meet these folks in person. Most of my stitchy friends are "online" but fortunately highly concentrated in California. Hi guys!!

From left to right, is Mark Bieraugel, yours truly, Ellen Schinderman, Amy Goldsmith Sheridan and Mo Powers. 

The show was a blast, there was live mural painting, a DJ, art everywhere you turned, drinks, a pizza truck and happy people, it was a wonderful amalgam.

This is the live mural painting, this was an amazing process, I watched it develop online the week leading up to the show, then the guys went gangbusters on it on Saturday. Dave MacDowell is a very talented painter, and a pretty chill dude. Meeting him in person was rad, he had a great vibe.

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Meex One's tribute to Keith Haring.

The Fiber Room! 

Yu Cotton-well, what a sweet lady and an amazing artist.

Amy's piece was the first sold at Hello World, and to a pretty high roller, to boot! Congratulations, Amy!! Amy is a creative wonder, and prolific! Mad skills, and quick! I don't think I know anyone else who produces more embroidery than Amy. You should really check out her Photostream. I'm lucky to have one of Amy's pieces hanging in my craft room. I snagged it from her Etsy shop the day she listed it. I loves it. 

This piece by Tod Hensley is astounding, I mean wowza! Previous to the show, I'd never seen Tod's work in person and like many embroidered things, it's hard to grasp the scale of the thing looking at it on a computer screen. This piece is SO small, the stitches comprising this amazingly dense piece are minuscule! The finished size of this piece is 16" x 16" but it's matted on raised, black velvet, I'd say the embroidered portion is no bigger than 4" x 4"! I was honestly blown away, and stood gawping at this piece for quite a long time. Click the photo for a bigger view, you will be amazed, too. 

Strange Charm by Mark Bieraugel, science meets embroidery = awesome.

These two embroideries by Mo Powers are my favorite of the show, oh, how I'd love to own them. They are so graceful and somewhat haunting. Just gorgeous. Let's take a closer look...

Primrose by Mo Powers

Fallow by Mo Powers

The trio of pieces on the left are by artist Alaina Varrone, they are wonderful and weird and I really dig them. Alaina's stitching is incredible, her use of teensy, tiny satin stitch blows my mind. I actually own a very small piece by Alaina, it's one of my favorite things in the world.

The piece on the right is by Katharine Lawrie, the stitching is delicate and interesting, but what's more interesting (to me) is that Katharine made the fabric and the frame. She made the fabric, people. That's dedication.

Speaking of dedication, this piece by Ellen Schinderman is incredible. It's a portrait of her mother, which in itself is pretty great, but as I mentioned earlier, seeing things online makes it difficult to get an idea of the scale of a piece. This piece is large. LARGE. Two FOOT by three FOOT. 

Over sized cross stitch, pixelated portrait. 

Here is a snapshot I took of two people looking closely at the work in portrait. I wanted to give you a true idea of how big this is. I enjoyed seeing people go in close for a good look and kind of shake their heads, unbelieving at first, "whoa" and then they lean a little closer and see that this huge portrait is actually made of thousands of stitches, not ink, and utter another, breathy "whoa!" and then turn to their friends and say "whoa, this is crazy, come check this out!" It makes me proud for my friend. I'm smiling just thinking about it.

Wait until you see what else Ellen is cooking up! I'll have to think of a better phrase than mind blowing, but let's just say it will make this gorgeous portrait look rather small.

My friends came to the show, too! 

Hi Lokens!

These are some other pieces I thought were great...

 Yarn bombed.

I did that, heehee! I think wrapping those fence posts in small, knitted squares is as close to actually knitting as I'll ever get.

Oh, hai guys! Hey look, it's that thing I made.

It was a great night, but it went by so fast! I got to meet some online artist friends in person, I got to see fabulous art, I got to see my best friend, and I got to be a part of something I never imagined I would. I think it's fair to say I might have been floating on air that night. What a lucky girl I am!

This was short trip to LA, just an over nighter (thanks for the lodgings, Ellen!). Next morning, I had breakfast with Mel then hopped on another plane and flew home. The day after that I hopped on two more planes and flew to Georgia to see family, but that's another post ♥

Whoa, that was a lot of links, I hope I didn't miss anything. Did you make it through? 

Is anyone still here? 

Hellolol...?

What'd ya think? Pretty neat, aye?

oxo,

Lisa