Weaving at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts -- progress continues!

I'm making steady progress on the weaving that I'm doing at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. There are just two classes left, so I have to boogey to get it completed and off the loom, so that I can learn how to tie the fringe ends. I'm doing large blocks of color, as seen below, and it's looking really neat (much more vividly colored than it appears in these pictures, which look so washed out and greyed down by comparison). I'll have finished pictures very soon!

Section 1 of my scarf (and my jeans below)

Section 2 of my scarf (ha! and my little purple-shoed feet beneath)

Tying Off The Loom -- Next Week I Weave

I mentioned in my April 9th posting that I'm taking a weaving class at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. I've been making steady progress on getting the warp wound on the board, the reeds threaded and in the loom. These past two classes, I've been threading the heddle, "combing out" the strands,  getting the appropriate tension on the yarn, and tying off the ends. Next week, I should be able to start filling my shuttle and putting in weft. Very excited to get to this part! In the meantime, some pictures.... 

The back of the loom--the yarn is under tension



The front of the loom, where I'll sit to weave. I
tied off all the ends before I left class today. Next Tuesday,
I'll begin adding weft. I plan to start with lime green,
move to my yellow-orange, and then to the purple-pink
(the weft yarn colors are visible by clicking here)

Weaving Class

I've begun taking a weaving class on the third floor of the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. I've chosen some wild colors for my scarf. The warp is the variegated multi-tonal worsted wool on the upper right. The woof will be the yellow-orange wool, the purple-pink wool, and the lime green wool that surround it. So excited to start weaving! Right now, I'm still in the heddle-threading stage. 





The colors of wool that I chose! A little wild, I know, but I think they will be
beautiful when put all together. The pattern will be twill.




Designing on the heddle itself. I'll have a lot of combing out
to do.

 More on my other projects very soon!

PCA Emerging Artist of the Year

Tonight, Michael and I will be headed to the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts to see the "Artist of the Year and the Emerging Artist of the Year 2012" exhibitions. I'm especially excited to see Emerging Artist of the Year Vanessa German's work, which I first saw in Shadyside's Gallerie Chiz (on Ellsworth Avenue) back in March 2011 when I was working on a review of Peter Calaboyias's retrospective. In the two vimeo videos below, German describes the personal value of her work, that she views it as a kind of visual and spiritual language. The second video describes her process, which involves excavation and layering. More on her work after we see the show tonight. In the meantime, the videos:
Sneak Peek #3: 2012 Emerging Artist of the Year, Vanessa German: Love from PFPCA on Vimeo.
Sneak Peek #5: Emerging Artist of the Year, Vanessa German on Process from PFPCA on Vimeo.

Hysterical Machines at Wood Street Galleries

Bill Vorn's "Red Light" (2005)
currently on view at Wood Street Galleries

For a review I'm working on for Sculpture Magazine, I went to see Wood Street Galleries' recently opened, full-gallery installations, collectively titled Hysterical Machines. These robotic installations were created by Bill Vorn.  I'll have to go back....while the lights show and sounds were pretty spectacular on the third floor, the hydraulic machines seen hanging in the picture at left were not moving, and the second-floor gallery was not accessible via the elevator.

Earlier this morning, at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, I also got a chance to see Sung Rok Choi's series, Call of Duty: Opeartion 100, which I'll be writing a review of for next week's CP.

Also, while this week's CP is not yet online, it is out in print, and I picked up a copy outside the elevator entrance to Wood Street. My interview with Absurdistan author Gary Shteyngart is advertised on the front, which is exciting. I'll include a link in tomorrow's post, when the whole enchillada goes live on the CP site.