Those of you who have known me awhile, know about my fitful zine, The Wandering Uterus, which I started in college. I haven’t had much time to make zines or mail art for the past couple years, but was inspired again when hearing about the upcoming Fluxfest Chicago on the weekend of February 23rd. If you go, the tradition is to bring an edition of 50 or more of something…so I’m making #4 of my zine and crossing my fingers that I can get away from it all for a day and head down to Chi town with my husband — THAT would be a feat of amazingness!

chicago-poster

DSC_0010This edition is minimal and in keeping with my fiber art. It is one sheet of paper, machine stitched, folded into a small zine. The concept and design is an edition of 50, although each piece is unique.

So, hopefully I will see you at Fluxfest Chicago!

I am so excited to finally announce the location of my new studio, which will be on the 2nd floor of the Peter Myers building at 121 N. Main Street #1, in Janesville. This has been in the works for a long time, and I’m so happy to finally find the right place, and that it is working out!

The history of our new building is really interesting. It was built in 1851 by Peter Myers, and is one of the oldest remaining commercial buildings in the city. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. I could only find one, old-ish picture online:

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Peter Myers was an interesting fellow. I found an in-depth account of the man in the book, Rock County, Wisconsin: A New History (volume 2) by William Fiske Brown. To paraphrase, Peter Myers was born in France on February 8, 1819 and his parents immigrated to Pennsylvania when he was a young boy. His father served under Napoleon and lost a limb in the battle of Moscow. Being a younger brother, he didn’t inherit anything after his father died, so he moved to Buffalo, NY and learned the butcher’s trade, and lived there ten years. He met a man from Milwaukee, after which he first moved to Rockford before he settled in Janesville in 1845. By 1851, he was constructing the current building on N. Main, which he used for his meat market business. However, he quickly switched to pork packing and became quite wealthy. He invested heavily into early Janesville — erecting many other buildings including the Myers Hotel and the Myers Opera House. His home was the first brick residence. He also invested in many early Janesville businesses and was an original shareholder in the first railroad that came to the city.

What I found most interesting was this passage, by the author above, about his personality: “Mr Myers was a man of simple habits, caring little for personal adornments, and yet in the appointments of his home and the furnishings of his hotel and decorations of his opera house he was most luxurious and artistic. He was well known coast to coast on account of his strong personality as “Peter the Peculiar”, however underneath a blunt exterior beat a warm and generous heart, and by his wise prudence, thrift of character, and kindliness he gained and held the confidence and respect of all who knew him, and his death which occurred on March 13, 1888, was mourned by all as that of one of the city’s most enterprising men and benefactors…His religion was to love justice, to assist the weak, to forget wrongs, and to remember benefits. Tis a fitting inscription which encircles a large portrait of him in the Myers Opera House:  “Janesville’s Benefactor, Peter Myers, born February 8, 1819, died March 13, 1888. He made and left the best efforts of his life for you.”

Indeed, he has left his best efforts for us. I would like to think that Mr. Myers would be very happy to see that his building was still in use — and fully occupied with three storefronts, three apartments — and soon to be my studio space.

Here is the building today:

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The stores that currently occupy the building make me very optimistic about the future of Janesville. If you are in the area, stop by and check them out. It is so important to shop locally and support these small businesses, and all the others in the city.

Once Junky, Now Funky is a wonderful shop, filled with great displays of “re-styled and re-purposed” home decor  — simply a must-see.

Modern Charm has a wide variety of high-quality, vintage goods from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s. You are sure to find a treasure or two. Great prices!

Tried and True Tattoo offers unique body art by several talented artists.

And I will soon have my own studio space open to visitors on the 2nd floor — but it will be more than an art studio. You probably know of my love for vintage, for the ephemeral, for books, for bits of nature…basically what you are going to find when you come visit me is my own little corner of the world that I’ve built for myself — idealistic, non-conforming, and authentic to who I am as an artist and person. Things such as these can’t be described, so I invite you to keep updated with me, through this blog and my Facebook page, and get to know me, and come visit the new space someday!

“BEFORE” pics to come soon!!!

New Year’s is one of my favorite times of year. I always feel a sense that anything and everything is possible. I want to get rid of old projects and start new ones!

Quick recap of what has been going on with us lately ~~ I feel like I am heading down the right path and I’m very excited! Those of you who know me, remember that we moved from Algoma shortly after Fiona was born, and I transitioned from running a gallery space to focusing on my personal artwork and seeking a studio space. Ideally, we were looking for a place out in the country south of Madison. But we decided that the smartest thing to do was invest in Janesville. From a financial standpoint, we bought four houses for what we could buy one for in the Madison area. Brandon and I decided to start a property management business that focused on fixing up houses that were foreclosed on or run down, yet were in good neighborhoods. Our mission is now to be good landlords and provide quality housing. You may remember that Brandon was in a serious car accident a few years ago, and he was unable to go back to his previous job (concrete construction), so this was a perfect solution for him. So that has what we have been working on all last year, besides my artwork of course (and the kids, and the other zillion things we have going on). And while there have been times that I lamented about not being in Madison, I’ve actually found Janesville to be better than I expected. In my quest to find out more about the culture and art happenings here, I started a new blog, Art In Janesville – so check that out if you are in the area.

Not that I’m a stranger to Janesville. I grew up 30 minutes from here. Brandon grew up in Milton, which is practically Janesville. It is really nice to be closer to family and friends. Our new house is right across the street from a big park and even has woods to hike in. There is a great coffee shop a couple blocks away. My kids are going to a wonderful school. I see a lot of ambitious, talented people making things better. I’m encouraged by places like the Janesville Performing Arts Center, Raven’s Wish, Basics Cooperative, events at UW-Rock and the library, and the new restaurants and shops popping up. And it’s still a relatively short drive to Madison, Milwaukee, and Chicago.

So that is the background info for why I’m setting up a studio in Janesville. It is going to be a mostly private space, open by appointment but the focus is not going to be on selling, it is going to be on making. And how am I able to not worry about selling? That is the genius part. Because of the property management business, we are purchasing a commercial building downtown that has three storefronts and four apartments upstairs. But there is an empty, unfinished space above one of the shops, which will be absolutely perfect for an art studio – big and cheap!

It is strange how things work out. It wasn’t how we planned, but it is turning out to be better. It comes down to the fact that Brandon and I are willing to change, be flexible, take risks, but yet never settle for less than what we want. And we work really hard.

We just confirmed that we are closing on the building on the 15th of this month! Then, I’m going to have some major renovations to do. But you know how much I love getting my hands dirty!

I did not make this up — my first post was 12-12-07 (still my fave, photographs of dead salmon in ice) so today is my 5th anniversary of blogging right here on Visual Influence. What a great way to celebrate 12-12-12. I looked back on all my posts throughout the years….all the learning, struggle, and failure that made me who I am today. And all that is between the lines – the weeks or months that I didn’t post, when I was involved in other projects or exploring new directions.

I re-posted my fave highlights on my Facebook page, if you want to take a look…

But enough reminiscing — looking forward I am very positive about where I’m headed with my work. Here are a few new pieces I’ve completed this week:

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hand embroidery in distorted vintage hoop

about 7″ x 8.5″

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hand embroidery in distorted vintage hoop

about 4.5″ x 9″

DSC_0054

hand embroidery in distorted vintage hoop

about 4″ x 6.5″

So the big news is that I am **THIS** close to opening a studio space in downtown Janesville {WI} — within the next few weeks I will know if we have secured an amazing space for the next phase of Visual Influence — which will be a physical space for my studio, but more than that it will be an alternative space – library – vintage boutique – cabinet of curiosities – fiber lab — basically the ideal place for me to work and simply be. Friends welcome. I will post more details as they come about.

THANK YOU to all of you who have been there with me throughout this crazy journey. I’ve learned not to rush. I’ve learned not to compromise. I’ve learned who I am and how to be that.

“I am not careful to justify myself…but lest I should mislead any when I have my own head and obey my own whims, let me remind the reader that I am only an experimenter. Do not set the least value on what I do, or the least discredit on what I do not, as if I pretend to settle anything as true or false. I unsettle all things. No facts are to me sacred; none are profane; I simply experiment, an endless seeker, with no Past at my back.” –Emerson

Really brilliant concept, I think. And he pulls it off. This is the type of artist I admire. He wasn’t afraid to come up with a radical, original idea, and then commit to it for a long period of time. The result is striking, and it is okay to find the humor in it.

Thanks Tammy for sharing this TED talk with me!

And while you are lost in TED land check out Bjork’s faves too

After almost two years of struggling with my new direction after ending The Eclipse Gallery (oh yeah, and having that baby and stuff), I am coming back home not only physically (we just bought a house 30 minutes from where I grew up) but online to Visual Influence — my first art blog which will turn FIVE on December 12th.

One thing I am extremely happy about is that after about two years of creating embroideries as art, I am definitely comfortable that fiber is my medium and always will be. From a museum-quality standpoint, I am most happy with my current series Motherhood: Snapshots & Sanctuaries.

The Sewing Studio (Snapshot), hand embroidery/photography, 8″ x 10″

Twin Caves (Sanctuary), hand embroidery, 14″

The contrast between the dark and often jaded Snapshots and the bright hope and idealism of the Sanctuaries serves as a metaphor for the complicated relationship between mother and child. Snapshots are everyday photos of friends and family, strangers, still lifes, and sometimes myself. Hand-embroidering the surface highlights truisms and contradictions often occurring in the daily lives of moms. The Sanctuaries describe imagined places of escape and solitude. When feeling trapped in my domestic role, I daydream of visiting these utopian and ethereal destinations. It is here that I am able to rediscover my true self that is lost, at times, as I put the needs of my family before my own needs, ambitions, and desires.

This work is about dismantling stereotypes surrounding the terms ‘maker’ and ‘mother’ and questioning what it means to be both. I use hand-embroidery to highlight the struggle of balance that mothers often face — raising issues of identity, domesticity, and societal expectations. Using the slow skill of traditional stitching connects me with mothers/makers of the past who have passed down their knowledge of needlework and motherhood. My method depends heavily on my drawing abilities, as the work is embroidered freehand. My process is highly intuitive and unabashedly feminine – relying on my intuition, subconscious, and emotions to discern the content of the piece, and to guide my hand.

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