I totally get it.

Kathleen Loomis, she of great quilt art, recently posted an article on her blog about animated embroidery. I have to say I was a bit skeptical. However, after watching this bad%ss video called Tharsis Sleeps, in which each frame is directed and created by the artist on an embroidery machine, I had to gasp in wonderment. I particularly love his quote that was posted on the Junkculture blog:

“I completely ruined any kind of social life,” Livesey says of the creation process. “I haven’t spoken to anyone in the past few months. This is the most ridiculously stupid idea.” - Nicos Livesey

See the video here: Tharsis Sleeps

pundits

I have been mulling over a series of pieces that I want to call pundits. They are inspired by all those talking heads in media who reduce the news to shouting matches and name calling. These are the roughs I have been working on (with a nod to russian constructivism). Next step, narrow these down to one and then try to figure out how to construct it.

Pundits, ©2014, Paula Kovarik

preparing for action

On a recent trip to New York my friends took me to Jones Beach. It was a cool and cloudy day and noone was there. We saw these trash bins set out in a grid on the beach ready for the future crowds to fill them up (and, my friends informed me, to overfill them up).

Jones Beach, 2014

I spent the day preparing the studio for new work, setting out my own trash bin in the center of the floor. Some test swatches went in there as well as some well intentioned scraps. Now the deck is clear for new ideas.

Maybe I'll do something with a stitch pattern that mimics these bins in the meantime...

let me explain

I loved this fountain in a park in Madrid. The woman seems to be saying "Wait, wait! let me explain!" It has a background of stone with carved letters in Spanish. Someone took the time to underline the word "catolica?" It intrigued me enough to try to translate it via Google Translate (always a fun experiment). I got this:

Everything passes, one thing you will be told and it is your job well done. Noble is the man calls and just who every day renveva her. Excitement, wise, to discover the order of the world, including the irony is responsible father, and service mission patricia, political, must be Catholic. That is, universal, apostolic, ie chosen, Roman, ie one. Also a culture free state of solidarity in space and continuity in time that everything is not tradition is plagiarism sin nature, are sickly leisure and solitude. Let each io cultivate that angelic graces him in friendship and dialogue.

Admittedly a bit foreign, eh? Love that phrase:

"Let each to cultivate that angelic graces him in friendship and dialogue."

Maybe I need to get a real translator to help me understand. What kind of animal is that exactly?

Letting the sky in

Sky roof, Madrid

I love how the architect of this art museum remembered that the most beautiful visions can sometimes be over our heads. Seen in Madrid at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, devoted to modern art. The museum was brimming with some of my favorite artists: Miro, Picasso, Gris, Calder and Braque.