Dulcey Heller

Bloggity blogs

Dulcey Heller — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:40:53 +0000

And some more fodder for your feed reader:

Carpet part 1

Dulcey Heller — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:39:32 +0000

Okay, I need a carpet about 6″x6″, I believe. Maybe a tad larger. Here’s about 1.25″ of the width. This is a good traveling project, one color of beads, no pattern to track. I use one-needle right angle weave, so it ends up with a grain. If I did two-needle, the beads would be more at a right angle. To keep the grain consistent, I always hold the beadwork the same way; the thread ends are up, and towards the top. I also haven’t trimmed the tails for another reason, so that doing the fringing that creates the pile doesn’t pull the tails out. I’ll trim as I add that layer.

The lovely thing about RAW is how flexible it is. Look, a rose!

Check out the Remembering Cindy Etsy shop!

Dulcey Heller — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 22:43:27 +0000

The Remembering Cindy shop, starring the Mystery Image Challenge panels, has had many things added to it. The panels are there to be ogled (and purchased!); postcards are available if you’d like the images on large, glossy postcards — 4 postcards, one panel/postcard.

Beaded items, strung items, even painted items were originally donated by artists all over to help defray Cindy’s medical costs in her battle with lung cancer. These are being sold now, with all proceeds after expenses being donated to the American Lung Association.

I’ve purchased two items from the shop already. Go see what’s there, and maybe do a little Christmas shopping! Remember, we’ll begin closing the shop in January, so don’t delay.

Here’s my earlier entry with more details about the Remembering Cindy project.

Afghanistan — Hidden Treasures from the National Museum

Dulcey Heller — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:01:42 +0000

I had the good fortune of recently being in San Francisco, and toured the Asian Art Museum shortly after this exhibit opened. Hidden Treasures highlights four archaeological sites in the northern part of Afghanistan, ranging from 2200 BCE to 200 CE. It was co-organized by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art.

The finds highlighted were excavated from the 1930s to the late 1970s. Because of the Soviet invasion of 1979, Afghani civil wars, and the Taliban decimation after, these items from the National Museum of Afghanistan were thought to be lost. Most had secretly been hidden in crates in the presidential palace in Kabul, and were opened in 2004. They are now touring the world while the National Museum is being rebuilt.

Afghanistan is located on the Silk Road, and enjoys a wide range of cultural and artistic influences. The oldest excavation is from the Bronze Age (about 2000 BCE), and included several bowls made of gold, amazingly intact. The images from Mesopotamia (Iraq) and the Indus valley (Pakistan).

One excavation was from a Greek colony from about 200 BCE, originally discovered by the King of Afghanistan! Uncovered by French archaeologists, they found a theater, temples, tombs, a residential area, and an amazing gymnasium. Art found is Greek, but with Syrian and Persian influences, as items are locally made.

Another excavation is of two undisturbed storerooms of luxury goods, dating from about 1-200 CE. I was particularly taken with the glass (no surprise there!). There were many vases with a slumping lattice over the solid vase, surprisingly intact. Also, a couple of pieces carved out of clear rock crystal. There were ivory figures from India, stone vessels from Roman Egypt, and bronzes from the Greco-Roman world. Another piece I would have liked to have seen in action was a bronze fish pond — the fins had lead weights hung underneath them, and would move.

The last exhibit had the most gold, it was a burial site of a chieftain and five female members of his family, dating to about 100 BCE to 100 CE. There were literally thousands of gold objects and ornaments that were sewn onto the shrouds and clothing; mice had carried away some of one of the women’s gold, likely giving that burial hill its name, Tillya Tepe (”Hill of Gold”). The collapsible gold crown, on the cover of the exhibition catalog, is one of these artifacts.

Hidden Treasures is going to be in San Francisco through January 25th, 2009; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 22 through May 17, 2009; and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, June 23 through September 20, 2009.

If you would like to do additional reading, see some video and more pictures, visit the National Gallery of Art website, and the National Geographic website.

The Asian Art Museum is well worth a visit; quite large, and inspirational, including art from all parts of Asia: Japan, China, Korea, South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka), and Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines), and the Himalayas and the Tibetan Buddhist world (Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Mongolia). I jotted a few ideas down for possible future projects.

Start of a torso

Dulcey Heller — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:58:04 +0000

Maybe.

Here’s the first attempt; I’m hoping that this is about the waist. I’m unsure of proportions. I learned to make figures years ago, and my experience is quite limited. I know that I can build a figure starting anywhere, but the only ones I’ve made have been face, then head; waist, then building up. I’m hoping I can get the two to meet using this scale for the body. Also, I learned with building a female torso, with waist and breasts, and that’s not what I’m making here.

Photographing this against my usual white paper background didn’t work. This is a piece of pretty dyed wool felt — the fuzz is probably too distracting.

Also, I think I’m becoming more and more convinced that making a figure with 15s is a bit much.

Recent blog finds

Dulcey Heller — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:20:15 +0000

More to enjoy:

Beading Heart Art
PERLE4u.de
Michon Jewelry Design <- Leah and I worked on a group project together, I love her understated elegance.

Masters: Beadweaving (I couldn’t wait)

Dulcey Heller — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:00:16 +0000

I had originally planned on putting Masters: Beadweaving by Carol Wilcox Wells on my Christmas list for someone in my family to buy for me, but I had a gift card burning a hole in my pocket, so I used it towards this book. Carol Wilcox Wells curated this book, and chose the artists included. Many are expected — NanC Meinhardt, Joyce Scott, Huib Petersen, David Chatt, Laura Leonard, Maggie Meister, Marcia DeCoster, Sherry Serafini, and Laura McCabe, Marcia DeCoster, Ann Tevepaugh Mitchell, Jeanette Ahlgren, Laura Willits, Sonia Clark, Cynthia Rutledge, Don Pierce and many other recognizable names. There are three dozen included artists.

There were a few things that I enjoyed about this book. One is that it pulled together these excellent artists in one place. Even those artists whose work I know fairly well (I’m thinking of Scott, Chatt, and Leonard, specifically), there were new works for me to enjoy.

Another is that Wells did an excellent job choosing works for this collection that showed the breadth of artist’s work. For example, I am familiar with many of Rutledge’s kits, but there were pieces I had never seen. I have seen images of Sonya Clark’s hands, but not many displayed in this book — there are some large installation pieces that I would like to see in person. Clark also confirmed the use of darker thread with lighter beads, which I am using to effect in the carpet I’m slowly making. I want to study Leslie Frazier’s work more; her use of stitches to construct graceful jewelry forms is excellent.

And, there are artists I’ve managed to miss learning about previously. Amolia Willowsong collects beautiful cabs, and connects them with seeds in an understated freeform way with, as Wells states, knowing how to leave negative space. Several of Willowsong’s pieces are in this gallery of the Southern Highland Craft Guild. I don’t believe I’ve seen Melanie Potter’s work before, lacy, sparkly creations.

This is a beautiful, dense book, nearly 300 pages long. If you like seeing masters at work, you’ll enjoy browsing this book.

A carpet sample

Dulcey Heller — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:47:22 +0000

These are Czech 10s, about a half-inch square. Think a 6×6″ square will look like a pile carpet? I’m using the darker thread to add a little depth of color.

I haven’t had much beading time lately, trying to finish up on outside projects. Hopefully, this will be the last week.

New Beadin’ Path challenge

Dulcey Heller — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 06:25:05 +0000

The last one was the beaded mask — this year is The Ugly Bug Ball. Bead something based on the Burl Ives song of the same name, recorded for the 1964 Disney film “Summer Magic.”

Bead a bug! Here’s Fred, for inspiration.

Another blog or two

Dulcey Heller — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 13:27:59 +0000

Some more….