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.

Show Openings in Chelsea

The last time I was in Chelsea for an afternoon of art I came home tired and discouraged. I saw work that seemed shallow, forced, redundant and you could add a long string of disappointed adjectives to continue the thought. I wasn't inspired to go back until a friend of mine that I used to share the opposite side of a studio wall with had her first solo show opening at Robert Steele Gallery this past Thursday. It was a lovely opening characterized by many friends, acquaintances, colleagues and new connections coming to support Michelle. The work looks finished, it has humor and introspection, a rich pallet of texture, color and varied composition and in short, belongs in a gallery

Now, of course I'm biased by seeing Michelle's work progress and being friends. But, there was also a different air to the evening that greatly contrasted to the spaces I visited the last time and I left feeling like thoughtful art-making really can have a home in Chelsea.

The Paper Bride is Here!

About a year and a half ago Esther K. Smith contacted me through a friend of a friend of someone I was in a show with a few years ago. Esther was going to be writing a book about wedding crafts made completely out of paper and she was looking for someone who could make a paper wedding dress. She inquired if I had one, indeed I did, but as we talked it became obvious that a new dress would need to be made. Jump forward a few months later, countless different designs, at least 12 glue sticks and multiple months of the New York Times Magazine and voilà the paper wedding gown! The dress is made completely out of magazine and newspaper and is secured with glue and a velcro fastener. No sewing machine required! The book is now on sale through Esther's website, Amazon, the publisher's site and I'm sure various other book sites. You can see the full gown on page 82 and a write up on page 91.

If you can't beat them, join 'em.

Here begins my first steps into the world of blogging. I got schooled by a P.R. person at a recent professional development session for artists about not having a blog nor Facebook account. So, in an effort to step up the communication I did the unthinkable and joined Facebook and now I'm taking on the new identity as a blogger. A new year has begun and I am hoping that these small steps will bring me and my work into a new season.

One of the projects I will be periodically be writing on is the progress of a Queens Community Arts Fund grant I received through the Queens Council on the Arts. The award ceremony is next Thursday and I have to complete my project by the end of 2010. I'll add more details as they get solidified but basically I will be working with the community around the Queens Botanical Garden to collect materials and dress three new torsos. There will be some public workshop events and then the pieces will be on display at the garden.