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I stitched endangered species on our road trip to Roam Ranch near Fredericksburg. My supportive husband Curtis did the driving so I could stitch.
I free stitched it and you can tell. Why make it by hand if you want it perfect, right?. It does look better than my regular handwriting but that isn’t saying much.
The trip was an incredible experience; worthy of a well thought out post just on the Ranch and the stewards of the land and animals - Taylor, Katy, Cody and Julia.
“12 neociotinoid pesticides are pulled from the market”- Muenster Enterprise
I can home Wednesday night a few weeks ago and found a newspaper clipping sitting at my place on our kitchen island. The clipping is from the Muenster Enterprise, a weekly newspaper from my husband’s hometown Muenster, Texas. Curtis reads it every week to keep up with his many cousins. He saved me the article because it reports great news for bee lovers.
Besides 12 neonicotinoids being pulled off the shelves the EPA is now required to analyze the impact of the entire class of neonicotinoids on endangered species.
This morning in my notices I read very disappointing news about the EPA.Even after loosing lawsuits the EPA finds ways to authorize use of chemicals that harm bees. See the below link.
Glysophate
Artspace 111 report the the artist that Hilde selected 59 artist out of 1300. Man! I feel lucky to be included.
Our son, daughter-in-law and grand dog just moved to Minneapolis. They are very adventuresome and planned a car trip with/for us to the boundary waters of their new state to hike and canoe. My daughter-in-law Alex is very supportive and helpful with my art, especially as it relates to the environment. She is the project manager at nRhythm and works closely with the Organic Consumers Association, Regeneration Canada, Regeneration International, and the Savory Institute, to name a few. Also, Griffin recently completed his MBA and is continuing his environmental work through industry. They have both been to several climate change meetings and know their way around that world. I knew Alex would be excited to help draw (or in this case stitch) attention to the plight of the bee and the impact glyphosate is making on the bees' intestinal flora.
Once we landed in Minneapolis we had a 4-hour-plus drive to our cabin. I suggested to Alex we have a driving sewing bee. She was all in. This time I supplied Madewell lined linen caps.
Map of the Boundary Waters north of Minneapolis
the Madewell linen cap is a nice neutral color and has a leather adjustable strap.
I like this cap because the inside of the cap is lined and that makes it easy to hide the unsightly underside of the stitching.
Above: Alex is stitching away with me as my son and husband caught up in the drive to the Boundary Waters. We discussed the Rusty Patch bumble bee, which is now on the endangered list, being one of the most important pollinators of the Northeast and northern Midwest US.
my cap - bee eyes, head and tongue
Above- I am adding the bee thorax. This is the section the bee the wings and legs are anchored on.
The best pollinators are extremely fuzzy. I want my bee to be an excellent pollinator so I am layering lots of randomly placed stitches in black and several different yellows.
Above- More layers - it appears my thorax is too big for my head and eyes. I will fix that later.
Below is some bee information we stumbled on at The End of The Trail Nature Museum .
Here I am working on the wings and tiny legs. Stitching in a car on a curvy bumpy road is sketchy.
I have decided I want this bee to be the Rusty Patch bumble bee so I am adding a bit of orange/rust on the back of its abdomen.
Alex’s bee was looking great I am hoping she will post a picture when she finishes.
Below are some images from the rest of the trip.
Griffin, Alex and Grito canoeing at Clearwater lake.
The four of us after climbing to the top of the cliff across the lake from our cabin.
Alex, Grito and Griffin Klement
My soul mate checking out Clearwater lake.
A river stop to test the possibility of one more fishing opportunity on our drive back.
Above- strawberry plant
I would like to come back when the wild strawberry plants have fruit. Strawberries are self pollinating, their flowers are hermaphroditic. Each strawberry flower contains the male and the female pistil. That said without pollinators they produce 50% less fruit than with pollinators. strawberries need bees too.
Above- wild onions
Honey bees and bumble bees both visit onion blooms.
and of course we made S’more memories. The trip would have been perfect if our daughter could have joined us.
We will miss these three.
I am bad (or maybe it is a good thing) about hyper focusing on a subject. The subject of the moment is the plight of the bumble bee amidst the use of man made chemicals. Taking a break from my studio and catching up with my dearest friends. We had a beach based sewing 🐝.
Knowing my friends would not enjoy a beach weekend of me hyper focusing and preaching to them about how we need to do what we can to protect the bees intestinal flora from glysophate a sewing bee was a super fun solution. We stitched and caught up for hours on end breaking only to play canasta and sip a beverage or two. I see these ladies only once a year so there is a lot to catch up on. My friends are all super supportive of my art and they are up on the latest problems for the bees intestinal flora.
I provided pashmina scarves (in everyone’s favorite colors) and coordinating threads. We stitched cactus and bees that pollinate them. We are all from El Paso so cactus was a natural for us.
Bag to keep our work in, (we all have bags from years past) embroidery thread, a few ball point sewing needles, tiny scissors, pencil or disappearing ink pen, embroidery hoops, and images of bees and cactus.
We were getting away from the pressures of everyday life so the idea was stitch like nobody is watching, no judging. No stitch is a bad stitch, and the beauty is in the imperfections. No one wants a scarf that looks machine made.
Below are images of my pashmina bee/cactus scarf as the work progressed. I will let my friends post their own work and hopefully spread a little 🐝♥️ to their other friends.
saguaro cactus
Prickly pear cactus
ocotillo cactus
yucca cactus
mark making with thread
barrel cactus
this guy ended up rather large.
scarf w stitching
finished? I am not sure but the trip is.
Looking at this photo I must give a tip for wearing a scarf and taking photos- pull scarf up around your neck - 🤪 aging is 👎🏻 On your neck but it comes with knowledge and that is 👍.
If anyone would like to host a sewing bee and talk about ways to save the bees give me a shout. I am happy to send you images of bees to stitch and help out in anyway I can.
As an artist, I know how important it is to get your work into exhibitions. With the Texas art scene being extremely competitive, having work accepted into a beautifully juried exhibit is an honor and privilege to be appreciated. It also takes a fair amount of luck, time and it can be costly. That said I am extremely happy that I recently got lucky, “Portrait of My Cousin” was accepted into the regional Juried exhibition at Artspace 111 in Ft. Worth. The exhibit was Juried by Hilde Nelson, the Curatorial Assistant for Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art. When there is an exhibition I am interested in before I apply I always research the juror. Hilde sounds like a very interesting curator. Here is her description as described in the call. “Her work primarily concerns contemporary art at the intersection of memory, belonging, and political visibility. She has contributed to publications and exhibitions for solo presentations of Günther Förg and Jonas Wood, as well as the recent exhibition America Will Be!: Surveying the Contemporary Landscape, an installation of the museum’s permanent contemporary collection.”
I hope to get to meet her.
PORTRAIT OF MY COUSIN
48” X 28” X 28”
steel, hydro stone, wire cloth, wire mesh, and baling wire
photo by Nash Baker
Portrait of My Cousin was inspired by a long exposure photograph of my cousin, Arkansas Symphony Concert Master Andrew Irvin, that captured time and movement as he played his violin. I applied the same concept of capturing time and movement in photography to abstract sculpture. The piece is physically very light and hangs from a piece of monofilament connected by a swivel from an acrylic hanger. With one light source the piece cast shadows onto the wall. The air movement in the room causes the sculpture to slowly turn changing the viewer’s perspective. The turning movement causes the 3D sculpture and 2D shadows to disappear into each other and reappear at a different perspective. This creates the abstraction of time, movement and sound energy as the Concert Master plays. The gentle movement can be as hypnotic as a beautifully executed sonata.
It is extremely generous of Artspace 111 to take the time and trouble to host the Annual Juried regional exhibition. :)
We all see bees, hornets, and wasps in nests, but most bees and many pollinators live in the ground. That is another reason that it just makes good sense to be very selective with what additives you put on your lawn, garden or crops. I had no idea bees lived in the ground until I started my Impact body of work. Yesterday on my walk I saw this wasp fluttering around in the grass. I hope the homeowner uses inputs that will not hurt the wasp intestinal flora. Wasps are also pollinators but they are not as effective as fuzzy bumble bees.
Editing bee parts and adding botanical elements.
In order to help the large abstract shapes read as botanical or floral shapes I have added some smaller botanical shapes and vines. I think they help.
hopefully this flower is abstracted enough but not too much.
Here is another
Regarding the title today I am loving “impact” as a title, I will discuss more on that in another post.
On this day I made abstract botanical inspired shapes out of a variety of materials. Then I whipped up some hydro stone and put a coat on the largest shape. The next day I started arranging the pieces into a kinetic composition.
botanical inspired small pieces.
the large piece covered in hydro stone
Above I am starting to connect the pieces.
I have not added the legs and wings to the 2nd bee. All the bees do not need legs and wings????????
When I add the hydro stone it will be easier to discriminate between the bees and the flowers.
Below are two different compositions using the flower and the two bees.
checking out shapes that hopefully read as floral.
This summer I will be focused on building a body of work that addresses the impact that pesticides have on the bumble bees and honey bees.
As pollinators, rusty patched bumble bees contribute to our food security and the healthy functioning of our ecosystems. Bumble bees are keystone species in most ecosystems, necessary not only for native wildflower reproduction, but also for creating seeds and fruits that feed wildlife as diverse as songbirds and grizzly bears.
Bumble bees are among the most important pollinators of crops such as blueberries, cranberries, and clover and almost the only insect pollinators of tomatoes. Bumble bees are more effective pollinators than honey bees for some crops because of their ability to “buzz pollinate.” The economic value of pollination services provided by native insects (mostly bees) is estimated at $3 billion per year in the United States.”
https://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/insects/rpbb/factsheetrpbb.html
Below is a still image of a 4D/mobile piece I started last week.
A dead bee without legs and very big broken wings.
Here is a photo of the shadow. The sculpture is photobombing on the right.
shadow and sculpture
I might call this collapse and disorder.
I started a new shadow/mobile to be part of my Glyphosate series. Last week I started the wings.
Above I am started the wings with some leftover pieces from “Bringing Home The Bacon” held together with new wire.
a wing and its shadow
Before I left for the day I threw together a body to slap on the wings and see what the shadows look like.
I am considering the title “collapse and disorder” for this piece.
I will probably add some hexagon shapes to the sculpture. Which made me wonder why are honeycombs hexagon in shape. Guess what I found?
breaking out the handle
I coved the piece in liver of sulfur and now it is time to add the green moss.
adding the moss green patina
one of the three new pieces added to strengthen the support and spread the load weight.
I thought I was ready to plan the faux bois handle, but while thinking through the process, it became evident that the root pieces supporting the structure are too small. I am concerned that under the weight of the concrete, they will bend. My solution is to add new pieces that are thicker to spread out the load.
I thought that it would be simple to add the patina to the new support pieces - wrong! It looks like I charred the new pieces. When things go wrong, it can be so frustrating.
Sandblasted and ready for Patina application #2.
The patina recipe I am using.
A tip from David Delgado at Legacy fine art Foundry - After the birch wood Casey have some ferric ready and add a wash of ferric before the cupric nitrate mixture. This will help keep it green and not cupric blue.
birchwood Casey ✅
cupric nitrate
Just in time for earth day
In the fall of 2018 I started this piece to add to my Heritage series of sculptures. As a teen, I shaped hats in my father's western wear store and I began to understand that old hats are reflections of their owners, that they keep a bit of the spirit of the person who wore them. When I start a piece I am often thinking about a specific individual and a challenge they're facing. While working on this piece I had a conversation with a friend about his career. This friend is very very passionate about his profession and has an admirable work ethic. His work situation has been frustrating for several years. There was not a way he could remedy the situation. In the end he turned challenging circumstances into a new opportunity. He took the leap and carved a new path.
Initially, when I broke the piece out of the shell I was disappointed that there were so many spots that did not pour. The texture is exactly what I wanted, well worn and full of passion and character.
A little frustrated but keeping an open mind, I set it on my utility room counter. I like to set pieces I am working on there so I can glance at them quickly as I go about my household tasks. This allows me to think and rethink my next step with the piece.
I walked by it and glanced over quickly and it hit me, those patches that did not pour could resemble the new path that my friend carved. Is it possible this piece took on bit of the spirit of my friend and his circumstances?
The next step with this piece is to do the metal chasing. Once the metal work is done I need to make a decision regarding the cool spots. Do I want to patch the cool spots or leave it as is.
I will have to ponder that.
Below is a list of the other things that I was thinking about as I shaped this piece.
Turning challenging circumstances into opportunities.
The human ability to start over.
understanding the hardship and struggles of another people.
Resilience and having a dream and perusing that dream.
Molding and changing a dream until we reach our dreams.
lifes struggles
dedication and passion
a connection to the earth
compassion that drives us
courage to carve your own path
quiet strength
laugh lines
hope for a better life through hard work
In the fall of 2018 I started this piece to add to my Heritage series of sculptures. As a teen, I shaped hats in my father's western wear store and I began to understand that old hats are reflections of their owners, that they keep a bit of the spirit of the person who wore them. When I start a piece I am often thinking about a specific individual and a challenge they're facing. While working on this piece I had a conversation with a friend about his career. This friend is very very passionate about his profession and has an admirable work ethic. His work situation has been frustrating for several years. There was not a way he could remedy the situation. In the end he turned challenging circumstances into a new opportunity. He took the leap and carved a new path.
Initially, when I broke the piece out of the shell I was disappointed that there were so many spots that did not pour. The texture is exactly what I wanted, well worn and full of passion and character.
A little frustrated but keeping an open mind, I set it on my utility room counter. I like to set pieces I am working on there so I can glance at them quickly as I go about my household tasks. This allows me to think and rethink my next step with the piece.
I walked by it and glanced over quickly and it hit me, those patches that did not pour could resemble the new path that my friend carved. Is it possible this piece took on bit of the spirit of my friend and his circumstances?
The next step with this piece is to do the metal chasing. Once the metal work is done I need to make a decision regarding the cool spots. Do I want to patch the cool spots or leave it as is.
I will have to ponder that.
It is still sitting in my utility room. I do love the shadows. ????????????
He is one big pig, the beloved family pet that had to be hoisted upstairs to save him from drowning in the flood waters of Harvey. The idea of saving a pig was inspired by a YouTube video posted by a young family in Conroe, Texas. I hope you see in the figure not only the strength it takes to lift up a frightened squirming pig but also the determination that the figure has not to let the family’s favorite pet parish. The pig twist and turns while straining his back legs straight out trying to reach the ground.
photo by Nash Baker
Bringing home the bacon
66” X 42” 60”
Steel, stainless steel lath, plaster, hydro stone, wire mesh, screen and cloth, and baling wire.
the next pig post - why a pig?
