Cinnabar Art Gallery: Extraordinary

My pieces in this Show are:

What Do You See?

Highrise

City Anywhere

as my work hangs in the gallery

EXTRAORDINARY

Every ordinary object that we deal with on a daily basis has the potential to be extraordinary. Sometimes a simple change in perspective is all we need to find beauty in our world. One might wander through a cornfield and see nothing but the mundane repetition of cornstalks, but from an airplane, elaborate and mysterious crop circles become visible. Other times it takes an artist - someone full of creativity and whimsy - to transform tired, seemingly boring materials into something magical. That transformation from the ordinary to the extraordinary epitomizes the work of each of the four artists selected for this exhibition. Kevin Box begins each work with a single, blank sheet of paper, but after a 12-week process of casting, his finished pieces are majestic, unwavering monuments of bronze, aluminum, or stainless steel. His inspiration comes from origami, paper planes, and crumpled thoughts, to name just a few sources. Through every wrinkle in the paper, Box's overarching philosophy of chaos and consciousness unfolds. Ernesto Ibañez developed a technique that allows him to change the compounds in nails to simulate fur on his eclectic sculptures of animals. The thousands of nails are made softer to the touch and pliable, causing the fantastical beings to come alive and truly inhabit the space around them. Javier Vanegas began his "VIP" project by amassing a substantial collection of tart cards (used around to world to advertise establishments that offer sexual services) from the streets of Bogotá, Colombia. Vanegas then used software to arrange the cards into a series of mosaics that depict some of the most famous controversial paintings of art history. His work uses a common, often frowned-upon material to examine our ideas of what is or should be taboo and how those ideas have changed over time. Dörte Weber is a structural weaver who uses modern, quotidian materials combined with traditional patterns. She uses fibers from agave plants, rusty heddles, or plastic bags that once held newspapers. Her woven cityscapes with metal heddles evoke a sense of continuity between past traditions and present industrialization, between glassy faraway cities and our own homes.  Each of these artists celebrates the ordinary through their work. They don't hesitate to search for what is quietly extraordinary in their daily surroundings, and they transform those often overlooked materials into fascinating works of art. This new exhibition allows them to share their vision with us. http://www.cinnabarart.com/

Studio C Gallery in Corpus Christi

Studio C is carrying some of my weavings thru February 2016:

FASA 41st Annual Show

See my piece at the Plaza Club in San antonio.

The Show is up till January 7th, 2016

Play with Nature
2015
sticks, Habu fibers, bast fibers, dried plants
24 in x 48 in x 1.5 in

From the Show Untangled

Nice little write up about my work in this show:
http://www.somethingslooming.com/featured-artist-doerte-weber-2/

I am a Semifinalist in the Bombay Sapphire Contest

I am a semi-finalist and need your vote every day till Nov 9th: www.bombayartisan.com
Under keyword, enter Doerte           Thank you!

Thank you, thank you!

Checkpoint Carlos

Entangled

Entangled

Glimakra loom

A few weeks back I was very fortunate to purchase a used Glimakra loom, 8 harnesses.
I had been in need of a 8 harness loom at home. It took us 2 weeks to put it together and work out how to do the tie up. I had a friend helping me. Without her, it would have taken me a much longer time.

set up frame

ready to weave my first sample

look at this tension

and the back

I have to say, it is wonderful to weave on it. Very smooth, great tension sysstem and no more pain in shoulders or neck. Best investment I ever made. And it is more beautiful then most of my living room furniture.
Can't wait to weave my other projects on it.

Visit to Leipzig, in particular the Grassi Museum

A few weeks a go, I visited a friend in Leipzig for a day. She is doing a residency at the Spinnerei.
The next day we went to the Grassi Museum which is actually 3 Museum in 1.
We had to go back twice to change our ticket since we were going to see exhibitions in different museums.
What stood out for me were the Josef-Albers-Fenster:

and then there was the show : Expressive Bildteppiche by Johanna Schütz-Wolff:

Student and Faculty Show at SSA

This year's exhibit is up thru the end of August.
Binary Code and Serendipity were accepted into this year's show:

Binary Code

Serendipity

Natural Dye Workshop at SSA

This past weekend Sarah Westrup and Analise Minjarez taught dyeing with natural colors. In particular cochineal, marigold and indigo. It was so much fun and very informative. To do it right and achieve permanent colors, we need to do a lot of prep work. But let me tell you, even if it is more time intensive then synthetic dyes, it is worth it.
Enclosed please see pictures from the workshop and my samples:

 Here we used a clay resist paste to prepare our fabric before we put it in the Organic Indigo Vat.

 

Here we used Iron and Alum Mordants Paste for dyeing with Marigold and Cochineal.

Samples

 

After the fabric was dyed:

Fearless team working the Indigo bath

more samples

And here are my pieces after boiling them for 10 min, washing them.

My Cochineal pieces looked a bit to dull for my taste, so I added some lime juice and get a stronger color.

Marigold piece

Cochineal, inner circle lime juice

Cochineal, brightened up with lime juice

Indigo

old curtain with Indigo

Sarah WestrupSarah WestrupAnalise MinjarezAnalise Minjarez

Main Street Gallery Opening

here you can see photos from the Opening.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/97104204@N06/sets/72157633973387471