One Week from the Opening ... Let’s Teach a Workshop!

Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraiflua) on paper

For anyone with Sweet Gum trees in their garden, you know that, although they are beautiful shade trees, the seeds are spikey hard spheres that can sprain an ankle or cut through a bare foot in a heartbeat.

Sweet Gum Seed from Eat the Weeds.Com

But on the other hand, the leaves make beautiful prints on both cellulose and protein fibers. The image of the leaf above was made by soaking a leaf (that had been pre-dried and saved back in 2013) in iron water for 10 minutes (iron water = iron bits of metal + water in a jar that sat in the sun for about a week), placed on 120lb paper (that had been soaked for 5 minutes in an alum + water bath), then steamed for 30 minutes in a stainless steel pot between two bricks to hold it in place.

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) and Osage Orange (Maclura pomifura) on paper

With an abundance of trees in my garden and nearby woodlands, I’ve been testing a few leaves, such as Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) and Osage Orange (Maclura pomifura) in preparation of teaching printing with plants and rust to my Art 1 students at Oakville Middle School in St. Louis, MO. 

Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina) with iron acetate, copper, iron water and alum on paper

In the meantime, my dear friend and fellow fiber artist, Pat Vivod, has agreed to share a bit of her rusting-on-silk magic in my classroom tomorrow with the three other middle school art teachers from my school district. Take a peek at Pat’s blog, Sentimental Pentimento to see her very large  and most beautiful rust printed and naturally dyes silks. Since Pat shared a few of her secrets with me back in 2012, I’ve also been rust printing and eco-dying on fabric and handmade paper. At tomorrow’s workshop, Pat, a retired art teacher herself, will show a few of her pieces and discuss her process while the teachers have the opportunity to make their own rust printed artwork on paper. I’ll bring along a few of my own pieces for inspiration. 

Rust on paper

Although my students return to school this week, Pat and I are crazy busy preparing for our international fibers exhibition that opens in just one week!!! 

 From the Inside Out -

      Felt, Paper, Textiles: 

      Revelations in Natural Mark Making

      A Surface Design Association Exhibition

From the Inside Out is an international exhibition of five artists who share a devotion to ecological, economical and sustainable ways of dyeing and printing natural fibers, fabrics and handmade paper, but whose individual processes and ideas are quite diverse.

Each artist explores distinct interpretations of the overarching theme through personal investigations defined by their individual key words: Tangent, Seeds, Mapping, Feast, and Core. From handmade paper to heavily textured felt, from rust printed silk hangings to profusely embroidered eco-printed silks, the title describes both a process and an artistic vision.

                      Elizabeth Adams-Marks (Illinois, USA)

                      Irit Dulman (Tel Aviv, Israel)

                      Fabienne Rey (Utrecht, The Netherlands)

                      Patricia Vivod (Illinois, USA)

                      Rio Wrenn (Oregon, USA)

Opening Reception: Friday August 22, 5 to 9pm

Artist Talk: Friday August 22, 7pm

Exhibition: August 18 to September 21, 2014

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville - Art and Design West Gallery

75 South Circle Drive, Edwardsville, IL 62026

618-650-3073

This exhibition is the recipient of a 

2014 Surface Design Association Small Works Grant. 

For more information: http://exhibition-fromtheinsideout.blogspot.com

Sand, Summer and Sumac

Rust with Sumac

Where did the summer go? I suppose we were just too, too busy to notice it slipping on by. First things first, I am feeling well these days, and am cancer free! Each day is a gift and a blessing.

The bride and her momma

Secondly, my dear sweet daughter, Betsy, married a remarkable man in front of friends and family on a beach very close to where they live in SW Florida. We were overjoyed that my husband’s family from England could join us in the five day festivities along with Peter’s son and daughter-in-law-to-be from California, plus the groom’s parents and closest family members. 

New Work on Handmade Paper in Progress

But once the wedding cupcakes were eaten and the sand was shaken from our luggage, it was time to get back to work in the studio.  Although I still am not quite a strong as I was physically pre-chemo and radiation, I did manage to work in the garden almost every day, ticked off a few of those home repair chores, and made a few new pieces for our upcoming exhibition, From the Inside Out, that opens (gulp)  in less than two weeks at the Art & Design Gallery at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 

From the Inside Out - Felt, Paper & Textiles: Revelations of Natural Mark Making - An International Exhibition!

Elizabeth Adams-Marks, 2012

My dear friend, Pat Vivod, and I, both from Illinois, USA, were approached by the Jacoby Arts Center 

to put together a fibers show of our recent work in rust printing, eco printing and natural dyeing. After many long, but lovely planning sessions at our favorite coffee houses, diners and kitchen tables, we decided to invite a few other fiber artists who also use natural materials to join us.  

And they all said YES!

Thus, we are pleased to announce we have partnered to curate and participate in 

a 2014 international fibers exhibition

From the Inside Out 

Felt, Paper, Textiles: Revelations of Natural Mark Making

at the

 Jacoby Arts Center 

Alton, IL, USA

August 22 - October 3, 2014

Our honored guest artists (in alphabetical order) are:

Irit Dulman - Israel

Fabienne Rey - Netherlands

Rio Wrenn - Oregon, USA 

Although Pat and I have been friends and exhibited together for many years ... 

Fabienne and Irit got together for few days in the Netherlands in 2013 ... 

and Pat has spoken to Rio many times by phone ... 

and we all communicate regularly through social media and emails ...

as a group, we have never met face-to-face. 

Yet, maybe ... someday in the future ...

we might gather in the St. Louis area, or perhaps, 

somewhere overseas!  

Elizabeth Adams-Marks, 2012

For more information about the exhibition and each individual artist, plus regular updates over the next year as the project develops, here is the link to our blog:

From the Inside Out

Please join us for the opening on August 22, 2014!!