Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Warehouse 104: Part of the Artist Village!

Artist Village Project


I love a great challenge, and Kathy York provided just that a few months ago when she invited me to construct a 3-dimensional building for an "Artist Village".
The Rules:
1) It must fit onto a footprint of 12 inches square.
2) It must fold flat for shipping (I believe this rule might have been amended a bit).
3) It must have quilting.
4) It should reflect your own personal style.

Here is what Kathy has to say about the project:
This project began last summer.  I was inspired by Judy Perez and the 3D houses she had made.  I thought it would be an interesting project to see how different artists would interpret the challenge to make a 3D house. And as I thought about the inspiration and support I have received from others, it seemed the perfect fit to make a collaborative project and build a village. It reminded me of the old adage..."it takes a village to raise a child".  
Each participant was asked to make a 3D  fiber art house or houses using any techniques, but to include quilting in some aspect of their house. I asked participants to attempt to make a house that would fold flat for shipping, but slightly less than half of the houses fold flat. What can I say?  Art doesn't conform well to rules.  I personally was not able to make mine flat...it just didn't turn out that way! Please join us for a close up tour of the houses.  Be prepared to be amazed and inspired by this wonderful collection of visual treats!
Kathy 

Oh fun!  This project resonated with me.  I think my late father, an architect and structural engineer, would have loved this!

Welcome to Warehouse 104.  This is my contribution to the village:  my take on an old semi-abandoned warehouse that is being converted to a series of artist lofts.  I hope you enjoy the progression of images leading through the construction.

Using my dye-printed upcycled facial wash cloths fused to lutradur, I began stitching
across the surface, adding "graffiti" to the walls.
I started stitching this in Open Studios at IQF Houston last fall!


walls were cut, then quilted to Peltex

grommets added to create funky windows on one side of the loft

another unusual light source: a used vitamin packet!


Each side was glued to corrugated plastic.
Look what I had to resort to to weight the pieces in place!
Even my 1530 Bernina was called into action-now there's some weight (like an anvil!).

Roof added by creating a pleated flap of heavy cloth, pleated and stitched to black felt, 
then painted with black gesso.  More grommets added for personality (and light, of course).
The walls were held together by fused, stitched lengths of facial cloth-covered lutradur at each corner.
The building is held in place by a strip of velcro that joins the two end-pieces.  The roof flap folds over.
The building becomes entirely flat.





Seen from all four sides, and top.
Thanks so much for stopping by!  Please be sure to visit the others involved in this fun project!

Susan Else (website)                       May 2
Frances Holiday Alford                   May 3
Pamela Allen (website)                    May 4
Frieda Anderson                             May 5
Lisa Call                                         May 6
Jane Davila                                     May 9
Naomi Adams                                May 10
Jamie Fingal                                   May 11
Barb Forrister                                May 12
Vickie Hallmark                             May 13
Connie Hudson                              May 16
Leslie Jenison                                 May 17
Sherri McCauley                            May 18
Judy Perez                                     May 19
Melanie Testa                                May 20
Laura Wasilowski                          May 23
Kathy York                                   May 24

13 comments:

  1. Leslie,
    Wow! Wonderful post about making your warehouse. Love all the closeups and different angles of your house. The grommets and graffiti are awesome!

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  2. Leslie, I love the name of your house, Warehouse 104 and all the grommets, pleats and vitamin packets. The whole house is wonderful! Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Leslie, holy cow, this is amazing. Not only is the construction and design eye-popping, but your fused tissue "fabrics" are vibrant and truly evocative of graffiti-covered city walls. I'm so glad you took all those process photos, I'm a total geek for them!

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  4. I love your house, so tactile. And the grommets for the windows. Your personal style of using the screened wash cloths. I really like the roof. I want my studio to be in this structure.

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  5. Thanks for all your kind words. It was so much fun to create this structure. I, too, want to have my studio in here. In fact, I think I want all my artist-friends to have their studios in this place. How fun would that be?! Of course, the rent would be quite low, great climate control throughout, new plumbing, unlimited hot water, good ventilation, and every resource we surface design nuts would need. A girl can dream....!

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  6. Thanks so much for the pictures of the "construction". I am certain you would have been a great architect. All of the light sources are perfect.

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  7. My late father (an architect) would have loved that comment, Rachel.

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  8. love,Love, LOVE it! You are incredibly creative!

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  9. Love it, the grommets are a nice touch.

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  10. Hi Leslie,
    This is very cool! Did you have any particular ispiration to do an artists loft conversion for the project?

    Is there anything particular inside the front door, or is that a trick of the photography?
    Thanks for sharing!
    Sandy in the UK

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  11. I like the concept of old warehouse conversions into living and/or studio space. These places breathe new life into areas of most any city, and there is nothing like a group of artists to bring renewed vigor into a city! So, that was my jumping off point for the building. Sandy, you are correct: there are some "things" peeking out from inside the door. I used some laminated paper/cloth to promote the idea of an internal presence in the building.
    Judy, all I want to do is make more buildings!! You (and Kathy) really started something!

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  12. Love your warehouse - I know I am several weeks late, but I am just going through the blog hop posts and am stunned at the cretaivity. Thanks for sharing!

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  13. Hi Barb! Thanks for your kind words. Hope all is well with you and yours.

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