Pieces of the "Whole" Exhibit

Once more I have been too busy to blog, so tonight (this morning) I'm playing catch up.  I heard the news online and looked around until I found streaming video online so that I could hear President Obama's address.  The top news story tonight is that Osama Bin Laden has been killed.  And while the story played out I sewed the final details on this collection.  Then I photographed this series of 17 canvases.  I take no pleasure in this man's death, life is sacred.  Death and life, revenge, forgiveness... all are fitting themes tonight as I look forward to putting this art exhibit together.

Each canvas represents a piece of my journey of the last year.  Each one is created with hand dyed fabrics, commercial batiks and in some cases hand marbled fabric and hand dyed white on whites.  I used a variety of methods in getting the color into the fiber.  All pieces are machine pieced and machine quilted.  I then put them through the laundry for the crinkly texture.  Then I frame them on canvas stretchers and embellish them with found objects.

 "Discarded 3"

A gasket I found in the parking lot, a washer from the junk yard and a new washer from Lowe's.

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 "Potential"

An antique skeleton key.

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"Faith in Fire"

An old key, I added enamels to it and fired it in the kiln.  I love how it turned out.

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"Neglect"

Scrabble Tiles.

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"Set Aside"

 These are little circles of felt with a layer of leather on top.  They are about 1/2 inch thick, give or take.  Pieces like this are used inside pipe organs, these just happened not to fit and were set aside.

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 "Storm Tossed 1"

This old weathered shell has really been through it, 

I love the swirls of color that result from a strange wear pattern.

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 "Hope"

Another antique key, a personal symbol of possibility, hope and opportunity.

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 "Buttoned"

A button.  Nope, it's not old or anything, it's just a button that came with the rest of a package of buttons that I have around here.  Leftovers from some project.

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 "Broken"

A bit of broken china I found on a walk in the woods.  

I was intrigued with it and brought it home.
SOLD

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 "Pieces"

Puzzle pieces.  

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 "Solitary"

I love this old sea shell, it's shaped a bit like an artist's palette.  

 "Thoughtful"

These lovely little shells were a thoughtful gift from a friend who came home from an exotic 

place and brought me these tiny treasures.  

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 "Lost"

An unknown bit that was at one point useful.  I found it in the junk yard.

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 "Possibility"

Another kiln fired key, this one is green.  Love it!

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 "Forgotten"

(Lower left)  This is an earring that I just discovered in my jewelry box.  

I had forgotten I had them. 

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 "Storm Tossed 5"

More sea shells from a trip to the beach.

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"Discarded 2"

A rusty old ring and a washer from the junk yard or somewhere.

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These are some of the 12x12's in the exhibit coming up.  

More photos coming up as I continue to prepare for this exhibit.

I'm really looking forward to seeing my broken and discarded pieces come together in this exhibit.  

I believe the "Whole" will be beautiful.

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Help me put this exhibit together? 

They are $100 each, shipping included.

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Happy Creating,

-Carmen Rose

Photo Shoot with Broken Pieces

I spent an evening with the men of the band "Broken Pieces" for a photo shoot. They are a neat group of guys, we had lots of fun on location. It was an overcast Sunday evening, the light seemed a bit unpredictable but I think we got some good shots anyway. I also liked what happened when I changed a few of them over to black and white. Which one do you think they will chose for their main photo? They've got choices.

These photos are taken at the Warf area of downtown Staunton.  There is a train station, and the train came by in the middle of the shoot, unfortunately one of the band members was on trapped on the other side or else I'd have photos of them in front of the moving train.  The location seemed to be a great fit and the guys had a natural sense of what to do in front of the camera.  I am pleased. 

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Two:

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Eight

Nine

Ten:

Eleven:
The guys are: Jesse, lead singer & black guitar. Jeremiah, with the guitar the color of honey. Roy, longer hair, bass. Phil, drummer and La-Thon, sound guy. I'll drop by to hear them play one of these days, that sounds fun. Broken Pieces website.

Which one do you think they should choose?  Leave your vote in a comment.

Happy Creating (with some great music as well)

-Carmen Rose