Deidre Adams

Eastern Plains with Hay Rolls, Summer – ©2006 Deidre Adams

This kind of a field, with rolled hay bales, is a very common sight in eastern Colorado and Kansas. I’ve always loved these colors – pale yellow greens, straw golds, and the faded pale blue of a midday summer sky. It’s a typical scene that feeds my love of the horizon line.

As part of the process for the Anythink Library commission, I met and talked with members of the local community who live in the area near the towns of Bennett & Strasburg, about half an hour east of Denver. The interviews were part of an oral history project that the library is doing in conjunction with the artwork commission. We had some standard questions that we asked all of the participants, although the format was freeform and many of the people also contributed some personal memories and anecdotes that were quite entertaining. They were asked about how they had come to live there, what they liked and didn’t like about it, and what kinds of life lessons they had gained from living there. Some of the questions also focused on determining their impressions of the sights and sounds and smells that they experience living on the plains. In answer to the question about colors, by far the most common answer was green, golden brown, and blue (skies). That was a validation for me of the picture I had in mind of what I was thinking of doing; I was on the right track and ready to go.

As another aspect of the community involvement component, I wanted to make the quilt from fabric supplied by the local residents, so I asked them for donations. I was overwhelmed by the response – I received enough to make the entire top layer of the piece from fabrics supplied by the community. Some of these pieces have special meaning to the people who donated them, so I wanted to keep a record of each one. I kept a tiny swatch of each one in my sketchbook with the name of the person who donated it.

I also made a video to document the fabrics. I’m still not over the cringe factor of watching this with all its many faux pas, but at least it’s a good record for posterity.

[note: So after I embedded the video, I realized that it's wider than the main column my blog theme allows for, and after having spent several hours on this already, I just do not have the inner fortitude right now to decide how to handle. All of the posts I've ever done are formatted to a 500-pixel column, so I don't think changing the format of my template is the wisest course of action. Guess that means cropping the video. I will try to resolve this at some point in the very near future. But if anyone has a quick solution, please let me know!]

[update: above cropping issue fixed thanks to Lisa Call. Thanks, Lisa!]

Horizon 18: Plainsong, mixed media textile, 90 x 90 inches

I’m happy to say that I’ve finally finished the commission for the Anythink Libraries that I wrote about here. At 90 x 90 inches, this is the largest piece I’ve ever done, and it represented considerable challenges. After originally contemplating working on it in sections, I decided for multiple reasons that it wouldn’t be feasible in this case. I had also planned on blogging about the process, but when I saw how the fabrics I was working with were so disparate and not at all coordinated, I decided it would be best to show the finished piece first so you wouldn’t all think I was completely crazy.

The finished work is scheduled to be installed on Dec. 13, with a reception following in the afternoon. Starting tomorrow, I’ll go back to the beginning and write about how it was made.

UPDATE: The dinner has been cancelled. But you can still view the artwork through Sept. 25.

Lisa Call and I have our work on exhibit at Dazzle, Denver’s premier jazz club, through Sept. 25. Next Sunday, Sept. 18, we’ll be talking about our work during the Docent Dinner. Details below.

Times Square

Images from Midtown, Uptown, and a little bit of Harlem.

Some images from Wall Street and environs. The New York Stock Exchange building has a classical pediment with its own listing on the Smithsonian art inventories catalog.  Trinity Church is beautiful, with an unexpected gem of a churchyard. The story of the Trinity Root is quite interesting. The people having their pictures taken with Charging Bull are more compelling than the sculpture itself.

(Side note: I’ve made a resolution to stop using the word “amazing” in my writing. It’s proven to be rather difficult for my NY blog posts.)

So much to do here, so much to say about it – talking will have to wait. But for now, some photos from the Lower East Side and Bowery.

View from the balcony of the apartment where we are staying – Saturday before the storm.

Minor detour from regularly scheduled activities – a visit to New York. Although Hurricane Irene unfortunately did major damage in other areas, the area of Brooklyn & Manhattan near us were relatively unscathed. These photos were taken Sunday afternoon, after the storm had passed. This is DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass).

©2011 Deidre Adams. All rights reserved.

This summer I’ll be starting on a new public art project to be installed at Anythink Bennett, a library serving residents of Bennett, Strasburg, and Watkins, a group of small towns on the eastern plains of Colorado. The project, whose theme is “Life on the Eastern Plains,” is the first in a planned series of collaborative, community-inspired artworks for the library district, under the umbrella theme of  ”This is Who We Are.”  This press release has full details.

“Anythink” is the name given to a “new style of library that celebrates imagination, play and interactivity.” The concept is the driving force for the Rangeview Library District, a network of seven libraries serving the residents of Adams County, Colorado. It is a “new style of library that offers memorable experiences and transformations for its customers,” and in addition to books, also offers “innovative programming, technology, and the highest level of customer service so that everyone who walks into an Anythink feels welcome.” This video illustrates the spirit of the Anythink concept and the accompanying logo.

As part of the development of the artwork, I’m talking with residents of the area about their experiences living on the eastern plains. Members of the library district staff are assisting with the interviews as well as recording them for an oral history component of the project. We’ve had one community meeting to introduce the project to the public, and two days of conducting interviews. A final day of interviews will be held this Monday.

In addition to talking to people, I’m also asking them to contribute fabric for the artwork, which will be a stitched textile piece. I’m asking them to give me pieces of fabric that have some kind of a history: perhaps a scrap of an old work shirt, or a worn dishtowel or apron – something that was a part of the daily experience on living on the plains. I want the finished piece to incorporate literal physical artifacts that have come from the community.

I’m also asking for handwritten letters and photographs that speak to the experience of life in the area. These I will scan and return to the owners. My vision is to incorporate some of the handwriting into the piece either by direct printing on fabric or perhaps with a silkscreen.

Anythink publishes a newsletter called Spark. The June 24 issue of Spark has two articles about the art project. The editor, Ken Devine, interviewed me after I was chosen for the project and wrote a great article about my work and how I was selected. Evidently, having a love of grain elevators was a pivotal factor working to my benefit. But whatever the reason, I’m very honored to be a part of this project and really excited to start working on it.

Older grain elevator in Bennett, Colorado. ©2011 Deidre Adams. All rights reserved.

Last post of the series – images from the Surface Design Association member show Merge & Flow, on exhibit at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, through June 30.