Museums and galleries

I was wandering in San Francisco, and happened upon the Liuli Gallery (mellow music will play when clicking). It’s a company started by Loretta Hui-Shan Yang (multi-award winning actress from Taiwan), who in 1987, entered the art glass world. It’s pate de verre, which dates back to the Third Century B.C. in China.

I have a gorgeous glossy brochure that my ‘tour guide’ from the gallery gave me. I spent maybe 30 minutes in this gallery, and he loved showing me the pieces from small to very large, telling me about the symbolism, construction, etc. I had a great time.

The art had Chinese and/or Buddhist imagery, many seasonal or monthly. There were turtles and fish and pigs. There were Buddhist hands, lotus leaves and flowers, and Buddhas. There was tableware, jewelry, and sculptures — small and large. Pieces were polished, waxy-looking, or shiny. There were faces or figures of frosted glass imbedded in shiny glass of the same color. There was a lot to see.

The gallery was a whole atmosphere, with music, lights, and glass. If you’re in California (San Gabriel or San Francisco), New York (Flushing), or locations in Singapore, Malaysia, Mainland China, or Hong Kong, see if you can fit in a visit. And if you can make it to the Liuli China Museum in Shanghai? It’s a nightclub at night. Can you imagine?

Image of the Liuli Museum, courtesy of www.smartshanghai.com

What’s the image that I’m doing, and how did I choose it? One of the feeds in my feed reader is Eye Level, done by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. February 29th’s post was of Hans Hoffman. Hoffman was born in Germany, came to the United States, and was an important influence in Color Field painting.

I liked the painting shown in the blog, Fermented Soil, and wanted to see more. I clicked on a link in the entry, and it took me to Technorati tags for the artist, and in another blog, found Autumn Gold. Chris Abraham had been to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and wanted help identifying this painting that he loved.

Someone helped him out, and provided the NGA’s information on the painting, image below courtesy of the National Gallery of Art.

I printed it out with no resizing or editing, and decided to do it as is. My printer, which has seemed to print color out as I expected in the past, made the colors richer and deeper. Well okay then. I like that too! So, the orange is now a rich orange-red, and the other colors are more intense too. I took a Sharpie and outlined the shapes, deciding where I wanted the edges of the colors to be when they are more blended in the painting. I don’t have all the colors in the size 10 French and Italian beads, so I’m substituting. It will definitely be Hans Hofmann’s painting, but probably only recognizable to those who know his work well.

From an Amazon email, I learned that there is going to be a book on Monkeybiz, a South African project reviving beadwork by providing beads to disadvantaged women in Cape Town. They can work from home, and still look after their family and avoid transportation costs. This nonprofit organization puts profits back into the community through fair payment for bead art, and provision of community services. Their beadwork has traveled the world, from Norway to Madison Avenue.

There was a collection of Monkeybiz beadwork on display November 2007 at the Hennepin County Government Center (where I helped display the Bead Quilt several years ago). I took some pictures, and got them out of my files to share. Enjoy!

I went to a museum today, one that is in a beautiful mansion with carvings, etc. I took a picture of the rug, and built a palette, for my own amusement — no project planned for it.

Image from the Minnesota Textile Center

The Beads of Whimsy Show is a national show, juried by Stephanie Eddie, and held at the Minnesota Textile Center from March 7th through April 12th. There are whimsical beaded pieces from across the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

Carol and I went to this show today, and the image from the website and on the postcard (above) is of Laura Leonard’s Motorcycle Mama, image courtesy of the artist. I love her work, always have. She has a great sense of humor, and I see her work at local shows (including American Craft Council shows) probably once/year. This piece won first in non-wearable.

(I took the pictures below — I took others, and would have liked to share more, but the rest were unclear.)

This is the best in show piece, Beadgami by Jennifer Hastings. It’s a great structural piece of herringbone and peyote.

Ann Gilbert had a whole collection of fish, called Mobile Fish. This is one of my favorite fish.

Another collection of whimsical pieces was a collection of birdhouses, done by Diane Fitzgerald. This was second in non-wearables.

Second in the non-wearable flat category was Split Rail Analogy by Frances Holliday Alford. Carol and I stood there and identified things that were incorporated. It’s like Where’s Waldo!

This is Shell Game, a purse by Kelly Dorman, second in wearable, non-jewelry (I think I have these categories right). This is jasper, and she used trapunto for some of this; don’t see that much.

This picture’s not as good (window, etc), but I wanted to post this regardless. This is by Valerie Kuzma, and we loved these colors. That’s Peruvian opal in there, among other things. The title is Jump in, the water is fine, and this first in the wearable category - jewelry.

The colors and structure of this piece were really phenomenal. This is Festival by Karyl Lynch.

Sharon Wright’s Red glove and booted naked lady has great texture. It looks like the beads were colored somehow after embroidering, and then some wiped off the surface?

Look at this! This is Tatiana’s Crown by Brenda Brousseau, first in wearable, non-jewelry. Excellent construction, just gorgeous.

Another great headpiece. I wonder how this looks on? Sorry, lost the name on this one….  (eta, this is Fauna and Flora by Maggie Hamel McCloud, 3rd in wearable jewelry)

And finally, were Carol and I the jury, this is the piece we would have picked. This is Pirate Poem by Terri Allen. The sign by it said we could touch it and turn the pages. It’s an original poem, lavishly illustrated, and bound into a book. The artist will take the book to schools and such and show students. Enjoy!

Edited 6/7/08 — The Upper Midwest Bead Society has included pictures of the winners on their webpage.