Handmade Holidays

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, everywhere you go...

Especially at 'some things looming' where you can find unique, handmade, one-of-a-kind gifts!



Special Holiday Hours:

Monday: Closed
Tuesday - Friday: 11am-2pm
Friday Eve: 6-8pm
Saturday: 12-8 pm
Sunday December 12, ONLY: 12-5

For more details visit our website at www.somethingslooming.com

Featured Artist: Barbara ZuaZua

During the eight weeks of 'simply irRESISTible' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, three artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Barbara ZuaZua from Douglasville, PA.

Immortality

About the piece:

“Immortality”


On the other side,
The dawn mirrors our dusk.
Sadness and grief are released.

Immortality realized,
My love awaits me
“Immortality”


On the other side,
The dawn mirrors our dusk.
Sadness and grief are released.

Immortality realized,
My love awaits me

B.Zuazua written 1999"

Immortality, detail

Artist Statement/Biography: Most of my quilts are driven by emotion. "Discected" was driven by intense grief and anger. Most are driven love that is bursting forth. With any extreme of emotion, it fights to be expressed.

Currently I'm exploring more technical designing instead of following emotional inspiratations and pictorial quilts.

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Building a foundation from the traditional style of quiltmaking, years of drawing and painting, and her woodworking style shows a logical progression to the studio quilts of Barbara Zuazua.

In the first few years, she worked with the basics of geometric shapes in designing her own quilt patterns and taught quilting at Pottstown Sewing and Crafts. Meanwhile she had been playing with the possibilities of combining several art mediums into her studio quilts and developing a voice in her artwork.

Since 2005, her quilts and dolls have been accepted in several shows, exhibits, and publications.

Currently Barbara is represented by The Gallery On High, Pottstown, Pa. She teaches at the Gallery School, is forming a free quilt making class for seniors at a retirement community, and is entering juried art competition

http://www.bzthreads.com/

barbara@bzthreads.com

Featured Artist: Leslie Sudock

During the eight weeks of 'simply irRESISTible' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, three artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Leslie Sudock from Philadelphia, PA.

Arashi Vessel #1

About the piece: Arashi Vessel #1 is the first in a series of experiments, both in knitting and resist dyeing. I knit the vessel using 28-gauge bare copper wire with nearly a dozen 5” double point needles. The vessel was then subjected to two sessions with non-ferrous metal patina dyes. Traditional Japanese Arashi resist technique consists of wrapping, compressing and tying cotton fabric around a large pole before dyeing. The tight wrapping with string produces the wonderful striation that characterizes Arashi textiles. I applied this process to my knitted vessel to the extent possible: the vessel was twice compressed and bound with thick cotton cord before being “dyed” with special metal patina solutions. The technique produced subtle creases and colored layers and converted the copper knitted jug to a geological structure that gently resists its origins.

Arashi Vessel #1, detail


Arashi Vessel #1, top, detail

Artist Statement/Biography: Needlework of one kind or another has been a part of my life since early childhood: my grandmother taught me to crochet and sew on her treadle machine in the cellar, and a kind neighbor gave me my first pair of knitting needles to ease me through illness when my parents were on holiday. Since then, my hands have been perpetually engaged with making. Indeed, the collection of afghans, quilts, sweaters and vests stacked in my closets and drawers map my journey through high school (with special permission from teachers and principal), university, graduate and law school; my life as a young mother was charted by caps, booties, mittens, scarves and cardigans.

I have always been fascinated by the fibers, techniques and structures of knitting; Scandinavian stranded color work sweaters in 9th grade history class, intricate Aran pullovers in Philosophy seminars, and complex mohair lace vests in Constitutional Law lectures. So I suppose it was natural enough when - after an extended foray into the three-dimensional world of sock and felted shoes - my work turned sculptural.

The discovery of knittable copper wire a few years ago has enabled me to explore the intersection of knitted textiles and vessel forms. I've decided I must have been a potter in a previous life. A recent opportunity to study traditional Japanese shibori resist techniques in Massachusettes, and some unexpected conversations with an open-minded master blacksmith in North Carolina, has enabled me to test the limits of my needles.

Featured Artist: Mary Stoudt

During the eight weeks of 'simply irRESISTible' we'll focus on individual artists here on our blog. Every week, three artists will be featured. Today, we're pleased to introduce to you: Mary Stoudt from Reinholds, PA.

Vintage Gold Circle

About the Piece: I create my art quilts looking through a lens informed by decades of experimenting with a wide variety of art media, manely photography, printmaking, ceramics, weaving, collage, bookmaking, and sculpture, etc.

To begin an art piece I imagine a basic composition in my head concentrating on color and form, and then work intuitively through each piece. As I progress through the quilt, I improvise, perhaps like a jazz musician would.

Vintage Gold Totem

Sometimes, I give myself quilt assignments such as, "See how big you can make a quilt', or "use wool and cotton together" or "see how many layers you can add to make a quilt. Some of my quilt creations could be put into categories such as color studies, storytelling, or optical illusions.

About the Artist: Since the 70's I have been stitching, weaving, making paper, creating mixed media all to create diverse works some of which have been described by critics as being whimsical and spiritual. In 2003 I started layering fabric in a grid-like fashion. Simply put, I visualize the quilt composition , its colors and forms in my head and then as I move through the process, I improvise the details. For certain pieces, I make an actual size pattern as I move through the process, but I introduce new elements while using the pattern. I love the warmth, the flexibility, the play of color and textures of quilt making.

Here is a mixed list of my favorite artists and other inspirations:

Paul Klee . Gees Bend Quilters . Pennsylvania Mountains, Fields . Traveling . Andy Goldsworthy . Red Grooms . Blues Music . NY times Sunday paper . Gustav Klimpt . Oiseaux Sisters . Joseph Cornell . Fabric Stores . Frank Gehry . Audrey Flack . Childhood Memories . My family . Hundertwasser . NPR . Goggleworks . Literature

http://www.marystoudt-artquilts.com/