Blog

I know I said I was going to try to post more frequently in the New Year…clearly that hasn’t worked out so well just yet. While there is really no excuse for not taking just a few minutes a few times a week to update, I have been a little preoccupied this past month. I was getting ready (promo materials, pr, etc) for my first local show in San Miguel which was hosted at the Oasis — one of San Miguel’s renown boutique properties and a Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice 2010 Winner for Service and Bargain. Nancy Hopper, the owner of the Oasis, was so gracious to open her doors to host an invitational reception on January 28th for me and Bill Fares, a local sculptor of reclaimed iron. The artwork was well received and I did sell a piece. Flor de la Noche, which recently received a “Special Recognition” in the Upstream People Gallery Juried Art Exhibition, is installed in its new home in Mexico City. I hope the new owner is enjoying it as much as I enjoyed creating it (you may view the piece on my site here).

Below are a few photos from the opening. I will be posting again next week to show the new piece I’ll be starting for the WOW (World of Wearable Art) competition and show. I’m really looking forward to getting started on that piece…it’s going to be a lot of fun.

Andrea Soto Alegria, Textile Artist Wendy Moyer, Alexis White and Oasis owner Nancy Hopper.

Doug, Brett (owner of Shanti day spa in San Miguel), Oasis owner Nancy Hopper, and me. Paraíso is the piece in the background.

One of Bill’s pieces. This piece is hooked up to a propane tank and incorporates fire into the sculpture.

After much prodding from the man in my life to do more promo work, I recently submitted a few pieces to two online juried art shows. I just found out that my work was selected as one of 30 finalists, from 75 artist entries, in the Projekt 30 January Exhibition, and Flor de la Noche received Special Recognition from Juror, Laurence Bradshaw, in the Upstream People Gallery’s 12th Annual All Media International Art Exhibition. Another New Year’s resolution…listen to that man more often:)

So please take a moment to view the shows. Just click on the linked images below. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

“WENDY MOYER shows textile art in a professional manner. Perhaps most successful is her piece “Flor de la Noche” with the black behind the night flower strengthening the subject. The hand stitching adds a nice touch to the simple and direct statement.”

Since my last post, I’ve been working away at the new piece and got totally immersed in all the components and their various challenges that I completely forgot to take photos along the way. Sorry.  My New Year’s Resolution: I will try  to be more diligent about posting and taking “in-progress” photos.

However, I have finished my last piece for 2009. Uprooted (Sp: Desarraigadas) is part of the Textures of Mexico series and is a sculptural interpretation of the lilies that bloom here in Parque Juarez in early spring. The background of this piece is comprised of torn and frayed pieces of shantung and jacquard silk. The pieces were overlaid in a geometric pattern and then machine quilted in place over a heavy cotton upholstery batting and artist grade canvas.  The durability and weight of the background is necessary when adding high relief, 3D forms to the front – especially wire frame forms such as the one from which the root ball is protruding. {If you’re interested, the making of the root ball was covered in my previous post.} Although all the leaves and the flower stems have been tacked into place, each leaf and flower petal have thin wires embedded into the veining allowing them some additional movement and flexibility.

Hope you enjoy viewing this piece as much as I enjoyed creating it. For purchasing info and more detailed photos of this piece please click here.

Hasta el Año Nuevo!

I promise this isn’t going to turn into a sea creature or some otherworldly monster. In fact, this textile element when finished will look like it was pulled from mother earth. Normally I would post after the element is complete, but I am particularly pleased with the singeing/melting fabric and thread thing that’s going on. I’m excited that it worked the way I thought it would building (or rather melting) the outer skin on this element. So thought I’d share this step, even though it’s not yet complete. I’ll post the finished element soon. Hasta….

The last couple days I’ve been back to my most current textile art piece. I’ve finished the top stitching on the background. The top layer is comprised of torn jacquard and shantung silk, neither of which are incredibly sturdy, but by adding the natural batting layer and top stitching (machine quilting) all layers to a canvas back this piece is now strong enough to support the subject. I’ll be starting on those sculptural components in the next few days…as soon as I figure out how best to create them:) I don’t work out everything 100% before I start. Many things are figured out as I go – that’s half the fun!

Hasta pronto mis amigos!

My current project has been on hold this last week as I was asked to participate in a local charity “event”. One of the store owners asked several local artists to make ornaments that can be sold to benefit Hospice. Of course I said I would be happy to participate, and in my classic form, realized only a week before they were due at the shop that I hadn’t even come up with a design. Panic is a great motivator:)

I did manage to finish all three and deliver them to the store on Sunday for the tree-trimming event:) Below are the three ornaments. The first two are “genus: imaginari.” To my knowledge, these flowers don’t exist in nature, but my imagination is full of them. These like my larger pieces of work are entirely made from recycled brand name clothing I find in the mercados of Mexico. The flowers are then glued into a dried cutting from the tip of maguey leaf. People who plant magueys near and around their homes and gardens typically cut the tips off the outer leaves so no one impales themselves upon them. The tips of the leaves are so pointed and strong they can easily put a pretty nasty hole in soft flesh and were once used as needles to sew together animal hides. Each of the flowers are about 7″ in height by 3.5″ wide. The last ornament is an abbreviated version of “Las Tunas” and is about 7″ in height by 8″ in width. It’s not as heavy as it looks. The interior wire-frame gives it more structure than stuffing.

If any of you are in San Miguel de Allende, you can purchase these at Mixta (located at Pila Seca 16A – near Zacateros). $500 pesos for each of the flowers and $600 pesos for Las Tunas. 80% of the price goes to support Hospice SMA (the other 20% to the store for arranging the event). Or if these aren’t your style, stop in and see what the other artists created… No matter where you are, please spread the cheer this year to your own charity of choice.

I’ve started the background…a little different than the previous pieces. The background of this is torn/frayed shantung and jacquard silk. It will be machine quilted into place, but first I need to finish the basting top stitches to hold it down (the large white top stitches toward the bottom). I’ll give you a hint to the weight of this piece….the background is being quilted over a heavy cotton batting onto an artist weight canvas for proper support of the focal point:)

That’s all I have for now. I check back as soon as I finish the quilting bit. Hasta pronto—

OK, I said I would be posting a lot more…so here’s the next one (in the same day, nonetheless:) Below is the wire form from the first post covered in muslin. I know it looks like it could be the start of a wedding cake, but trust me it’s not. Any guesses? Now on to the background quilting. Hasta Pronto…

For all my other pieces I’ve first included a sketch of the idea…but not this time:) I did do a sketch, but I’m afraid it looks like a child’s drawing destined for the premier spot on the refrigerator. It brings back early memories when I had just completed the most glorious elephant ever created in crayon. I presented it with such pride to some “parental unit”…I honestly don’t think it was my mom but maybe a grandparent. And the response, “Oh this is beautiful…what is it, dear?” was horrifying. At 3 I just couldn’t believe that an adult didn’t know an elephant when they saw one. So, since I don’t relish any of you asking me “what is it,” I decided that the sketch of my new piece will be only for my reference:) So, I am going to try to post many more photos than I have in the past showing each progressive step. Let’s see if you can guess what it is…feel free to leave comments — I look forward to hearing from you!

Here’s the first: The wire support frame.

The mobile I’ve been working on is finished! Although this piece didn’t take as long as many of my others, the time spent was spread over a longer period of time. What can I say about the delay….life happens:) Below is a photo of the finished product but you can see higher-res, close-up photos on my site here. Hope you enjoy it. This is, to date, the only piece that lends itself to orders. Even though I can’t guarantee the ceiling tile will be exactly the same design, I can say that the leaves and the flower stem will be made of the same fabrics shown in the photo. Of course no two will be alike….ahhh the beauty of artwork:)