Day 2 at the Garden

We had a great day at the Garden on Sunday. Comfortable temperatures and clear skies made it good day to be outside. Here are a few shots from the day... more to come later.

QBG Project, Workshop 1

It was a beautiful day to be outside- a definite contrast to two days prior when a tornado ripped through Queens and left a great deal of destruction. The Botanical Garden took a beating that left 20 large trees strewn about the grounds with gaping holes from the trees that were uprooted. The wedding garden was a mess. A beautiful, large weeping willow was felled by the storm and the branches and parts of the trunk were all over the placed. Thus the wedding that was scheduled there for Saturday got moved to the terrace... right where my workshop was set up. Needless to say folks were intimidated to get too close lest they disturb the wedding and in turn left me with a lack of attendees. We're switching up some details for next weekend's workshop which should help with getting folks participating. Oh well, at least I got some good work in. Below are some shots from the day.

On the 7 train heading to the garden. I had more people talk to me on the train than I did at the garden!

Gathering materials from the compost pile.

Hauling branches from the wedding garden. I figured I might as well try and turn the destruction into something positive by using the debris for the project.

Stripping the leaves off the branches. The leaves get too brittle once they are dry to use for the sculpture.

The gathered materials.

Amaranth, prepped and ready to be added.

Attaching prairie grass to the sleeves. The bulk of the garment will be made from grass and willow branches. The amaranth will be added on the borders.

You can see the wedding going on behind me.

A good start.

Standing Room Only

The body is done, but she looks a little bare. Luckily my community workshops start this Saturday, September 18 at the Queens Botanical Garden and we will get her all decked out. This first piece will be wearing a garment based on a Chinese Han Dynasty design. A sketch of the design in the proposed location is below. Stop by from 1:00-4:00pm to help out.

The link below will take you to the  QBG website with more information on the workshops.

http://www.queensbotanical.org/programs/SusanSpringerAnderson

Look Ma! No Hands!

The pieces for my Queens Botanical Garden project are coming along. I will definitely have 3 full body pieces ready for the community workshops and I'm considering doing a fourth. After the frames are complete I will begin working on the base layer of the dresses for each form. I will be creating a different styled garment for each piece out of window screen. Then, the visitors to the garden will be able to make their own patch to add to the dress. Ready or not my first open studio time at the Garden is Saturday, September 18th. More details to come.

At this moment I know there will be two standing pieces and one sitting.

The studio- in good shape

It's Done!

I've been working my fingers to the bone- more literally into needle jams and wire knots, trying to get this last piece finished in time to send it out for a competition. Today WAS the deadline, until I checked the website today and found that they had extended the deadline. Which means, I could have had at least 10 extra hours of sleep last week, one movie fun night and one slouch around the house night! Alas, it's finished and I'm glad. Now.... onto the next piece?

The finished dress (minus a zipper) brought to you by Spic and Span reusable cleaning cloths with a fresh lemon clean scent guaranteed to make you remember zebra stripe gum!

"A Good Clean Education"

The subject of this piece dons a frock of reusable Spic and Span cleaning cloths featuring a clean lemon scent. She has been practicing being a good student but has been caught in the act of writing her own thoughts and is vigorously attempting to wipe them away.

www.susanspringeranderson.com

A spot of spring

This is the first patch of tulips I've seen in Jackson Heights and it's right outside our front door! Spring has been much anticipated this year as winter seemed to last longer than normal in so many ways.

Dr. Frankenstein and the Lab Assistants

As I've been working on creating the full body armature I've ended up with individual body parts scattered around the studio. As each member gets added I've had multiple flashbacks to seventh grade reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Granted I haven't been collecting body parts from scandalous sources but I have been mending them together creating a brand new creature. I feel like the piece needs a nickname as she's being brought to life... any suggestions?

It's been awhile since I've shown some progress shots of the work. I just finished the entire body today and now all that's left is to create the dress for this piece. It's going to made from Spic n' Span reusable cleaning cloths in a lovely shade of lemon yellow and white polka dot like flowers. Stay tuned for the completed piece on the docket to be finished by THURSDAY! No kidding.

Head and Shoulders, knees- not yet, knees-not yet

Monday at 11am. My eyes were starting to get a bit buggy staring at the wire grid.

Progress! One arm on, one to go.

There she be, full body!

Catching up on some reading.

The Chief Lab assistant doing a final inspection.

The Chief lecturing the subordinate on the importance of craft.

Materiality at ARC Gallery

They made it! Every time I pack up pieces and ship them off I am nervous about the condition they will arrive in. I anxiously check for photos of the show opening to see that they made it to the gallery safely. Well, I can now take a deep breath after seeing that indeed the work is up on the walls and no major dents, rips or wrinkles seem to have occurred!

Two Torsos Will Go to the Windy City

I just got word this morning that two of my armature assemblage pieces got accepted into the group show "Materiality" at ARC Gallery in Chicago! Flamenco Filters and A Modern Dress for a Modern Woman: Just Wipe Clean, will be shipped off for the show that takes place between 3/3/2010 to 3/27/2010, and an opening reception on March 5, 2010. I won't be able to make it to the show but if you are in the area, check it out, it looks like there is a lot of good work that got accepted!

A Modern Dress for a Modern Woman: Just Wipe Clean

Flamenco Filters

The Girls are Getting Legs! (along with arms & a head eventually)

I've been tossing the idea of taking the torsos to a full body format for the last year or so. Most of the new projects I want to work on are taking on a more installation type feel and having the torsos pinned to the wall or suspended from the ceiling just wasn't going to work. So, here's the start of a full body in process- Legs!

What I have discovered is that the labor on a full body is going to far, far, far surpass a single torso.  Each one of these legs took between 7-8 hours.  If each body part runs the same we're looking at about 48 hours just for the frame. Considering that the dresses take anywhere from 12-20+ hours, I'm looking at a lot of work ahead.