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.

.

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

Hello World - The Big Day!

Today's the big day, kiddos! 

I'm flying to Los Angeles this morning to take part in my first art show, and it's a doosie! I'm very excited to see so much fantastic art tonight, and nervous about what people might think about mine!

Lookie there, I've got business cards! 500 of them! Arteests need business cards, ya know...

I used an image from the Sashiko embroidery that I completed not too long ago for the front of the cards, and went with matte black on the back with my contact info in white, I wanted it clean and simple. I'm official now, yo!

 3160 Riverside Drive

Los Feliz, CA 90027

The show's begins at 2pm, and ends at 10pm and there's going to be music, drinks, and art! Art! ART!

If you're in the Los Angeles area please, please come, I'd love to meet you!

I feel so, so... hopeful! So open to possibilities. Energy and love are flowing on an electric current. Watch out, I'll zap ya with my looove!

Thank you for all your encouragement and your kind comments, dear friends!

I'll take tons of pictures, I can't wait to come back and tell you about it. 

See you tomorrow (or tonight if you're coming to the show, hint-hint!)!

oxo,

Lisa!

Hello World!

Hello friends! Hello World!

Things are coming together and I'm feeling good, really good! I have some news to share with you guys today that I'm very excited about and that I've been keeping under my hat here on the blog. 

I've been accepted as a contributing artist to show a few pieces of my work in an art show! 

In Los Angeles!

In less than three weeks! 

Hello World!

Photo credit

Hello World opens on April 20, 2013 and you're all invited! No seriously, if you're in the LA area, please come! The exhibition is being held at a very cool location called The Service Station, in Los Feliz. It's going to be amazing! 

Someone needs to come over here and pinch me because I think I'm dreaming, but this is for real. It must be, I just booked airfare. I'm thrilled to be a part of this! This show is going to be incredible, the variety of art that will comprise this show is dizzying, there are over 40 contributing artists for Hello World, some of them incredible fiber artists and fellow stitchers such as, Ellen Schinderman, Alaina Varrone, Amy Goldsmith Sheridan, Mark Bieraugel, Tod Hensley & Mo Powers.

More exciting news! I made a website, a genuine dot com!

www.lisaleggett.com

It's basic, it's simple, but it's a place to start! It'll be a work in progress as I figure out this whole website building stuff (which is kind of scary! I have no idea what I'm doing, people! none!). All the links are there and working, and that's the important part. Pop over for a visit, tell me what you think!

It felt a little odd to think of being at this art show and referring people to my blog as a starting place to meet me on the web because you never know what you'll find here on my blog. I'm kind of an all over the place blogger, and I like it that way. One day (ok, most days) it's about embroidery, but it's also about taking tea, my dogs, my life, my family & friends, the places I go, things I see and other crafty endeavors. I love this space, and I love all of you guys, and I'm not going anywhere. But to have an actual website feels... I don't know, solidifying in a way. And good!

Guess what else? I ordered business cards! Like, professionally printed business cards to hand out to actual people. What a kick! Never in a million years could I ever have fathomed I'd need to do that. Wow, what a blessing this all is.

I'm sure I'll have more details to tell you guys in the days to come, but for now, wooooooo!
I'm going to be in an art show!
oxo,
Lisa

A Visit With Salley Mavor

Howdy Kids!

Last weekend my mom and I headed down to Fresno to meet one of my favorite fiber artists, Salley Mavor, who's traveling exhibit, Pocketful of Posies is currently on display at the library at Fresno State University, the exhibit opened Friday night, but we went down Saturday morning.

This photo is an image from Salley's book, Pocketful of Posies. It's also the  image she's currently using as her blog header, such amazing detail! Look at all that chain stitch!

 Salley was doing a book signing at a wonderful, local children's book store called Petunia's Place, so that's where we headed to first. Fresno is quite a drive from where I live in Lodi, about 150 miles, but the opportunity to meet Salley and see her work in person was well worth it. I've been a fan of her art, and her blog for some time.

Salley was so friendly and gracious! I enjoyed a little bit of time chatting with her about her work, and embroidery in general. I even got to see a something she's currently working on, a small patchwork quilt with lots of stitching, it's going to be amazing when it's done, an heirloom to be sure. I got to have her autograph my copy of Pocketful of Posies, look at how sweet the small illustration is that she drew!

Salley's work is incredibly intricate and creative, I absolutely love the detail that infuses every piece.

I think this is my favorite panel from Pocketful of Posies, A Treasury Of Nursery Rhymes, look at all the sweet little faces of her Wee Folk!

And of course, a tea shop! Isn't is terrific? Again, the extraordinary detail is just gorgeous.

This is another of my favorites, a wee fairy hiding from the rain under a delicately stitched mushroom.

This image is from Salley's book In The Heart, which is sadly out of print, but which I was fortunate to  purchase a copy of that day at Petunia's Place. I'm a lucky ducky!

I also picked up a copy of Hey Diddle, Diddle! 

I've now got myself a nice little collection of Salley's books, happy, happy!

After hanging around the book shop and chatting with Salley and her husband, who was kind enough to take our photo, as well as give me a few pointers with my camera (darn white balance!), mom and I took off to find some lunch. Then headed over to the University to see the exhibit... queue scary music!

Dun, dun dun!

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

The library was CLOSED!

Boo! Hiss!

The exhibit had only opened the night before, this was opening weekend, how could this happen to meeeeeeeeeeee? I called the bookstore to verify if I was in the right location, and sadly, I was. They were shocked to discover the building closed too. I gave that closed sign a mighty scowl, let me tell you.

I don't think I'll have another chance to make it down to Fresno to see the exhibit before it moves on as it's so far away :( What a bummer... 

But hey, look who I met in the parking lot at FSU, this little chubster!

He was friendly, a little too friendly. He ran up on me so quick I thought he was going to jump in my pocket! I love squirrels, but that was a little too close. I squeaked and jumped in the car! He only loved me for my cookie crumbs anyway...

So even though I didn't get to see the exhibit, the day wasn't so bad. I got to spend quality time with mom, chatting about all manner of things on our long, long drive to & from. Meet one of my favorite artists, eat a killer lunch from Whole Foods (and can I just say, Whole Foods, if you're listening, please, please come to Lodi! I love your hippy foods and delectable deserts, I'm pretty sure I can single handedly keep you in business). And get an up close visit with Mr. Squirrel. Not too shabby!

This week has been a busy, exciting one! I can't believe it's already Easter weekend, and I can't wait to tell you guys my breaking news! You'll have to stay tuned for more, mwuahahaha!

oxo,

Lisa