An Artist Book from year’s Past
I was reminded today of this artist book that I made several years ago. The image below is on my Flickr photo stream and a wonderful fan just added it to her favorites list this morning, which “ping-ed” me and led me to look at this again.
 "Self Portrait Evolution" ©Ayn Hanna (Artist Book - scroll format; ink, crayon, paper, tree branch, beads, linen fabric) I made this in the mid 90’s, after spending 3 years living in New York City and having returned to Colorado. I was in a big Artists’ Book “phase” during that time and made several artists’ books using a variety of handmade bindings. (Wikipedia defines Artists’ Books as: works of art realized in the form of a book. They are often published in small editions, though sometimes they are produced as one-of-a-kind objects referred to as “uniques”.)
This one is a drawing made using water-soluble crayons on 100% rag paper, which I fused to linen fabric (to make it stronger) and then made it into a scroll by stitching a tree branch (found in my backyard) to one end of it.
I was in an introspective mood and made this self portrait scroll book and another self portrait woodcut (shown below), during this time period. Body image has been a struggle for me pretty much my whole life and I’ve always been a rather voluptuous gal, so these self portraits kind of speak to that.
 "Self Portrait" ©Ayn Hanna (Woodcut printed in black on white rice paper), 1997. Inspiration from older work
I saw a “tweet” recently from author Chris Guillebeau that said “If you’re not embarrassed by work you did years ago, you probably haven’t evolved or developed much.” In some ways, I do agree with this quote – looking back at work I did years ago, I sometimes feel a little embarrassed, but I also am able to put myself back in those shoes I was standing in at the time and have empathy for where I was at and recognize how much I know now that I didn’t know then.
So, it’s more of a celebration for me to look at older work and remember who I was then and enjoy the memories and the path I’ve traveled since then.
What struck me most when I revisited this “Self Portrait Evolution” artist book image this morning was remembering how wonderful it was to do that drawing, making the marks on that luscious rag paper, building up the volume of those (container) forms, and the color. Drawing – it’s what art is all about for me. No matter what medium I’m working in and whether it’s 2D or 3D, Drawing is paramount.
When I saw my scroll book again, I said, “Ya, that’s a good drawing. I want to do more of that.”
Glad it’s a holiday weekend and I’m in full Art Mode. I’m excited to have some time in the studio and can’t wait to see what comes of that. Will check back in here next week and share some updates from the studio weekend.
Have you looked at any work you did years ago recently? How did it make you feel?
Continued from here and here, I’ve now finished my first piece in the LineScape series which contains some significant hand stitching. I’m really loving the look and feel of the hand stitching as well as the meditative (problem solving) time I get while doing the stitching.
 LineScape #14, 42" x 36", (cotton fabrics hand-dyed and silk-screened by the artist, cotton threads hand and machine stitched, fabric paint) ©Ayn Hanna Here’s a couple more detail photos that give a better view of the hand-stitching:
 LineScape #14 (detail) ©Ayn Hanna  LineScape #14 (detail) ©Ayn Hanna This most recent piece is really a convergence of things. Although it fits within the LineScape series of work, it’s like the perfect storm of imagery and ideas from my Tangled Web series, LineScape series, and Dream series all rolled into one. It’s a recording of some of my night dreams, very entangled. Feels good to have this one finished!
On to the Next
June is nearly upon us and I’ve got lots of work to do to get some pieces ready for the Ft. Collins Studio Tour event on June 23-24. I’ve got plans to have new textile paintings large and small, as well as some art cloth and maybe even some scarves available for the Tour. So, it’s back to the factory!
Influenced by Jude Hill’s Contemporary Boro teachings, I’ve been working to incorporate some fabric weaving into my work. Here’s my latest piece in the LineScape series, almost complete:
 LineScape #15 in progress, layered cotton fabrics, stitching (12"x12") ©Ayn Hanna I’ve combined some of my own hand-dyed fabrics with some old soft used stripey fabric which I found recently at a thrift store. Repurposing worn cloth is one of the boro qualities, as is Layering. Worn cloth and layering, materials and techniques that just seem right to me. I’m finding an even stronger connection to the cloth pieces, their texture, weave and softness. And, I’m also exploring the hand-stitching, ever so slowly.
Save the Date – June 23/24 Ft. Collins Studio Tour
Want to see my work in person? I’ll have the piece above and many other artworks on display during the Ft. Collins Studio Tour in June. Free Maps showing all the 30+ studio locations in the tour can be picked up at local libraries and the Lincoln Center. My partner and I are participating as “Hanna-Hooly” studios in this year’s tour – look for us under that name on the map.
My studio will be open to the public both days from 10am-5pm and I’ll be available to talk with visitors about my process and answer any questions. I’ll have a number of completed textile paintings, some work in progress, as well as some art cloth and hand-dyed fabrics on display.
There will also be a studio tour “sampler” Exhibition at the Lincoln Center Art Gallery, June 8-24. This is an excellent opportunity to see a sample of work from all of the 50+ artists that will be participating in this year’s tour. There will also be an opening reception for this sampler show on June 15, 5-8pm – a chance to meet all of the participating artists.
I can’t believe the studio tour is only about a month away….time for me to get back to stitching!
(Fair Warning : Not for those who can’t stand clutter or visual chaos)
Antiques week at Brimfield
For the truly hardy, the Brimfield Antiques Show is the largest outdoor antiques show in the world, with over 6,000 dealers and 130,000+ visitors during the course of the week. While it is convenient to refer to it as “The Show”, it is actually comprised of 23 fields, owned by “Promoters”, who lease spaces to dealers from all over the world. These “fields” are located along both sides of a mile-long stretch of 2 lane road, just outside of Brimfield, MA (normal town population is 2000).
I’ve been to “the show” 3 times before, but it’s been several years since I’ve made the trek. This year I met up with my Grad School buds, all of us flying into Boston from various US locations and then driving down to the Brimfield area for a quick 3 day antiquing trip.
Day 1 – Vintage Fashion and Textile Show
 One of the booths at the Vintage Fashion and Textile Show The Brimfield Antiques week starts off with a 1 Day indoor Vintage Textile Show in nearby Sturbridge. Approximately 250 Vendors in a giant building sell everything imaginable related to vintage fashion and textiles, even vintage underwear:
While there were some truly beautiful antique textile pieces, much of the fare at the Textile show was way out of my price range and not what I was looking for. I mostly look for interesting vintage bargain bits of materials I can use in my artwork. I was also disappointed that a few of my favorite vendors from years past weren’t there (the “Ribbon lady”, the Vintage tablecloth booth, and Dusty’s Linens – although I did find Dusty’s at the outdoor show in Brimfield the next day).
Day 2 – Brimfield Show
The show opens at daybreak on Tuesday, so in order to get there and get parked in the closest-in parking we were up before 5am. When you make a purchase in one of the “fields”, you have to schlep it back to your parked car so it’s a good idea to get to the show early to get the best parking. It’s about the only time you’ll ever find me remotely happy to be getting up while it’s still dark out.
 Some of the booths at the Brimfield Show Many of the vendors don’t allow pictures in their booths, so it’s hard to capture the amazing array of items for sale or the full flavor of the event – it really is something you have to see to believe. The many treasures, colors, shapes and textures are great inspiration for my creative art process and get me energized. Despite the rain, we walked through most of the fields on Tuesday.
Besides the fabric/art materials I always have on my list to look for, this year I also was looking for some metal pots/cauldrons that I could use for my eco-dyeing experiments. I found 2 copper pots and a cast iron kettle, all of which are in transit on their way home, as I shipped them rather than schelp them home in my suitcase.
Here’s what I scored this year (minus the pots and a few other items that were shipped and still en route):
 vintage fabrics and silk floss from the Brimfield and Sturbridge Antique Shows Given the rainy cold weather, we decided 2 full days of pickin’ was enough for us this year. We packed up our treasures, shipped the heavy stuff and headed to Boston to fly home on Wed.
It was really good to get to do “the show” again, even though the weather wasn’t great. I love the energy of the dealers and pickers and the mystery of never knowing what you’re going to find around the next corner or buried in a pile in one of the booths. And the people-watching can’t be beat!
Where do you find your creative inspiration? Any special events that you attend that stir your creativity?
I am starting somewhere and just going.
Using the larger eco-dyed cloth as a base, I’ve started some cloth weaving, using some of my hand and eco-dyed fabrics. Then I’ve done some hand-stitching, basting the woven fabrics with the goal of removing all the pins:
 Cotton cloth, juniper and iron dyed  With some cloth weaving and stitching added  Detail So I’m going along, and this piece will continue, slowly.
And I’ll be working on some other things as well….
 preparing the avocado pit dye bath I have some special plans in store, so won’t be posting for the next few days. But I’ll be back later next week with some new fun things to share.
This piece is continued from here.
 Work in Progress - state 5 ©Ayn Hanna Combining my layered techniques now also with something new for me – hand stitching. As this piece is evolving, it’s becoming an important part of my story, a combination and convergence of many things, with ties back to multiple works across multiple series. And, with paths toward the new as yet unknown textile territories.
Also, I’m sharing a photo of one of my newly eco-dyed pieces of cloth below, because I’m going to start working with this to create a new piece and I wanted to capture the creative progress from the very start this time:
 Cotton, dyed with juniper and iron. Right now I have no plan in mind for what this will become. I’m just going to let the cloth start leading me toward what it wants to become, and know my heart will get engaged as the vision begins to take shape.
After my Artist’s Talk last Monday, I was in a meditative mood this past week. I spent many hours taking apart all these silk ties – prepping them to be usable for my textile work.
 ties on the lines Thinking about the making while doing something else
Doing things like this is a part of my creative process, what appears to be a mindless mundane activity allows my mind to wander and contemplate new art ideas and how I might realize them.
 eco-dyed silk and cotton strips, including juniper, sumac, and some with combinations of both plus metal. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve also unwrapped a few of the sumac berry and juniper bundles. I love the variation of color and texture on these strips (above) that were used to tie up the bundles and interesting variety of colors achieved with sumac, juniper, and black bean dye pots (below).
 silks and cottons dyed with juniper, sumac, and black bean dyes Below are the results of a couple of pieces of silk which were pre-mordanted with an alum solution, bundled with sumac berries and juniper “leaves”, then steamed in a stainless steel pot. They were left for ~ 1 month before unbundling:
 silk, pre-mordanted with alum, bundled with sumac berries and juniper, steamed.  silk, pre-mordanted with alum solution, bundled with sumac and juniper, steamed in a stainless steel pot I’m done now with the sumac and juniper, but not to worry, I have some avocado pits quartered and soaking, so will get a chance to try dyeing some fabrics with those in another couple weeks.
My studio walls are now covered with lots of eco and rust-dyed cotton and silk. I haven’t washed any of it yet….letting the colors set as long as possible before washing them. They each have an inherent beauty – I love looking at them and contemplating how I will use them. Ideas come readily for some, not so much for others.
Guess I’ll continue to meditate on that for awhile, while beginning to do some stitching.
I’m still basking in the warmth of all the appreciation I felt from the audience during my artist talk Monday night at the FRCQ meeting in Denver – what a wonderful group!
I shared my life journey of becoming an artist, my path from printmaking to textiles, and discussed my creative process and inspiration as I showed many images of my prints and textile paintings, printed art cloth, and eco-dye experiments.
 My map of all the places I've lived - my physical life journey so far. My introduction to creative arts came the day I was born – my Dad was just starting his professional photography career and I instantly became his most ready and available subject with which to practice his photo-making skills. I spent the first few years of my life staring back at a camera lens a lot of the time.
 Another topic I covered in my Artist Talk was “Some of the Artists that Inspire Me Today” (because there are MANY artists that inspire me and my sources of inspiration change from day to day). I chose 8 artists because that’s how many I could fit on a one page slide and still include a thumbnail image of their work along with their website info:
 Why these Artists?
Dorothy Caldwell – Beautiful abstract textile maps. I love the mark-marking, the textures, combination of stitch and surface design techniques in her work.
Barbara Gilhooly – Wow, can she draw! Her work is serious fun – it makes me happy. Carved abstract paintings on wood and wire sculpture. Best described as a “modern optimist”, her paintings have a history and texture achieved with layers of luscious color and line. (Barbara is my partner, so I get daily inspiration and honest feedback – a wonderful benefit of being in relationship with another artist.)
Denise Burge – Her early art quilts are amazing. She tells stories, maps of experiences in fabric. I love the shapes, forms, colors and the masterful combination of old and new cloth and text in the imagery.
Jude Hill – Weaving and stitching a story of spirit cloth. Amazing teacher (check out her many online class offerings) and one of the best blogs ever. Uses old cloth, eco dyed fabrics, and hand stitching to make contemporary boro cloth pieces. Beautiful textures, colors and line, celebrating our human spirit and stories.
Huguette Caland – Painter and sculptor. I am very drawn to her mark-making in her paintings, which reminds me of textiles, her use of color, and also her personal shapes and forms, both in her paintings and sculptures.
Mary Lee Bendolph – One of the Gee’s Bend quilters. I saw her show, Mary Lee Bendolph, Gee’s Bend Quilts, and Beyond 3 years ago and haven’t stopped thinking about it yet. Included in the show were some of her first soft ground etching prints (made at Paulson Press) which reflect her textile pieces. They touched my heart and are some of the best prints I’ve ever seen.
India Flint – Botanical Alchemist Extraordinaire. Using cloth, paper, felt and stitch, she makes marks with with bio-regionally gathered, ecologically sustainable plant dyes to create pieces that enfold bodies and sometimes hang on walls. Words can’t really describe the colors and marks she achieves using nature’s bounty. Her work is pure (natural) magic.
Terry Winters – Abstract painter who also makes wonderful etchings, his subjects often relate to “connectors” and his work is another form of mapping. I love the rich line, texture and implied spacial depth of his (mostly) b&w and monochromatic prints. I’m mesmerized by the depth of space and movement he achieves in his works that upon first glance could be taken as quick scribblings, but upon further study reveal very purposeful use of line and mark-making.
Commonalities I see in this of group of Artists
Maps, Storytelling, Mark-making/Stitching, Color, Purposeful Use of Line, Texture, Layers, and Authenticity are some of the first words that come to mind.
I find myself dreaming of what fun it would be to gather this group together for an afternoon party of mark-making and storytelling.
What Inspires You?
Its a fun exercise to write about because the answers also help lead to greater understanding of oneself and one’s own work. Which Artists are you inspired by? Why?
the exterminator told us. “They can make themselves small to squeeze through the tiniest of holes in the floor and then “poof” back up like umbrellas.”
 "NYC Journal", Artist Book, 9"x6", original woodcuts and linocuts on rice paper, text printed on rives heavyweight, hand bound with linen cover) We’d been having a problem with RATs in the basement of the building – coming in through holes in the floor- and then Al saw one in her apartment on the first floor. Now we’re all running around trying to fill in every little hole that is a potential RAT entrance.
Above is an excerpt from my artist book “NYC Journal”, one of the artworks I’ll be talking about tonight during my Artist talk at the FRCQ meeting at the Westminster Recreation Center, 10455 Sheridan Blvd, Westminster, Colorado.
I’ll be speaking about my background as a printmaker/sculptor and my journey to becoming a textile artist. I will share my creative process, and provide examples of my exploration of translating the principles and process-intensive techniques I’ve used in creating my prints to realizing my new works in fiber. And I’ll have many of my current works on display.
Please join me if you’re in the area!
 One thing we have in abundance here in the mountain west: Rusty old horseshoes
 silk, horseshoe-wrapped, vinegar, juniper dye bath  Top piece: cotton, bundled with plant material, steamed. Bottom 2 pieces: silk, bundled with horseshoes, dyed in juniper dye bath.  (detail view) Top, Cotton bundled w/plant materials and steamed, Bottom, Silk, bundled with horseshoes and dyed in juniper dye bath. I can see at least two spirit figures in the silk piece on the right. How many do you see?
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