Silkwinter1 an edits by Ashley Nichols

SILKWORM The Magazine of Silk Painters International Volume 21, Issue 4, Winter 2014

In This Issue: Catching Light with Tina Gleave Susan Louise Moyer’s Composition Workshop Joyce Este’s Travel Headline

From The Editor’s Desk

ooking back on my youth, I recall my sister and I complaining that time seemed to move so slowly. We couldn’t wait to grow up and get on with our lives. No one told us then that, as you get older, the years fly by. Here we are at another turn of the clock. We are a year older, hopefully, a year wiser and a year happier. We face our challenges with the Silkworm trying to achieve and maintain a high editorial standard while keeping the magazine interesting and enjoyable. With the magazine, changes may be in order and I would like your input. It is hard to know the types of stories members want to see. Do you want more member/artist profiles? Do you want to see non-member profiles? Do you want more techniques and how-tos? What would you like to see more of? What would it lose? In this, the final issue of 2014 (which you’re probably reviewing in early 2015), we have strived to bring you a slightly different kind of article with our feature of Tina Gleave. It is a combination artist profile with techniques. Tina has such a wonderful way of capturing light, we asked her to share some of her challenges in capturing it on silk. And Susan Louise Moyer, consummate silk art instructor, shared her festival presentation. As it turns out, the President’s message is full of challenges and searching for light. She proclaims 2015 as the International Year of Light. There are so many applications for that moniker, the International Year of Light. Could this be the year that we find a new lightness of being? Maybe a light shines lighting a new path for a creative adventure? Or maybe we will finally reach enlightenment as a world? Wherever and to whatever your search for light leads you, we hope you’ll take your silk painting along letting it bring you to new levels of experiences and expertise as you enliven the world with color. Bonne année. Feliz año Nuevo. Ein glückliches neues Jahr. and finally Happy New Year.

Tunizia

Tunizia Abdur-Raheem, Editor

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Announcements In This Issue:

Volume 21, Issue 4, Winter 2014

Features

Capturing the Light with Tina Gleave by Tunizia Abdur-Raheem - 5 Silk Festival Composition Workshop by Susan Louise Moyer - 10 Joyce’s Travel Headline by Joyce Estes - 16

Departments

Editor’s Message - 2 Announcements - 3 President’s Message - 4

Cover art by Tina Gleave Backpage art by Susan Louise Moyer

Silkworm Credits Editor: Tunizia Abdur-Raheem Membership Database: Gloria Lanza-Bajo Layout: Keely Dorsey Copyeditor: Phyllis Gordon Please send Letters to the Editor. Stay in touch. We want you to be involved. If you have comments, complaints or suggestions, let us know. Send correspondence or photos to editor@silkwormmagazine.com. If you have photographs of your art that you would like to have showcased in the Silkworm, send photos with your name and the name of the piece. The photo size should be minimum 5”x 7” and 300 dpi for best printing. To become a member of SPIN or renew your membership, visit www.silkpainters.org/membership.html. Membership is $50 USD annually and renewable in January of each year.

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Spring Blossoms by Tina Gleave

Send change of address or questions about membership status to Gloria Lanza-Bajo - Membership Chair Email: glbsilk@earthlink.net Phone: 718 624-0313 Want to advertise in Silkworm? Send for our media kit at spin@sacredworldarts.com. Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/silkpainters/ All works presented in the magazine are the property of the artists.

The President’s Message: the Magic of Light and Challenges

elcome to 2015, the International year of Light, the year of the Sheep, Green Sheep or Goat. 2015 is also named The year of Soils and the year of the Magic of Light. That last phrase resonates to me. Our SPIN Board of International members have celebrated Holidays and family gatherings in Doha, France, Switzerland, New York, Florida, Kansas, New Mexico and California. I’m sure all of you celebrated wonderful Holidays in your homes and communities. After enjoying the warmth of these events and perhaps an opportunity to reflect, it’s really time to shed a magic light on our new year of CHALLENGES. Your of Directors has been working diligently towards a successful 2015.Please join us in welcoming Diane Lawrence, of Kansas, to our Board. She will complement our group by chairing the marketing committee. This will be a good year to shed light on other ways to bring more members into our SPIN fold. I challenge all of you to reach out and bring at least one new SPIN member to our ever growing Silk family. An Ad-hoc committee has been formed to review and research our Chapters’ needs. They are preparing information on how we can better serve our chapters. We have Suz Knight and her remarkable energy to thank for our evergrowing family of SPIN Chapters. You can visit our website and check out what different Chapters are doing. Many of them have their own websites and/or Facebook pages. I challenge all of you to create a new chapter or join an existing one. We continue to improve our new website. It certainly made our jobs easier during the 2014 Festival. We are exploring ways to create a members only forum. Ideally this would provide much more in-depth and thoughtful discussions on whatever topics you bring to the table. The Silk Wiki continues to enrich the archives with helpful information. Our Website is a tool to be used by all our SPIN members. Currently 132 of you have an image of you or your work in our gallery. I challenge all of you to increase our participation to 100%. I’d love to be able to return to the members’ gallery and see all of you represented. We are also looking forward to the festival plans for 2016. While nestled in the Tennessee Mountains, we’ll be celebrat-

ing our group’s reunion at Arrowmont. Gloria Lanza-Bajo and Joyce Estes are hard at work with every intention of making your next festival experience a life changer. They will be formulating their team soon. I challenge those of you with time, energy and ideas to offer your skills to these two remarkable women. As many of you know, our Silkworm magazine is in the capable hands of our Editor, Tunizia Abdur-Raheem, and two wonderful student interns, Keely Dorsey and Ashley Nichols. We are very pleased to be able to provide them with small stipends. The magazine is equally dependent on all the volunteers who also give countless hours to SPIN and the Silkworm. As indicated in our last issue, two more members contributed a wonderful article. I challenge all of you find a way to contribute to the Silkworm. Remember, it’s your magazine. We, as a Board, have been aware of the ever increasing shipping costs and its impact upon our service to you. Thanks to the research done by another ad-hoc committee we have determined a balanced increase in shipping costs affecting our International members. As always, each of us has the option of downloading a PDF rather than paying the increased shipping fees for a hard copy. Our approved Board minutes are available at our website if you wish to read them. To access the minutes just go to the members link on our website. We are sharing these minutes to keep you updated as to our progress. Without bragging, I also want you to know just how hard we are working for you. Decisions are discussed, and made. Few are easy but rest assured that all are made with the goal of improving our SPIN organization. I challenge you to share your ideas, energy and talents with us. At the time of this writing, our Facebook page membership stands at 2692. Probably by the time your magazine arrives there will be even more silk art-loving members added. This page was founded for the purpose of providing an open dialog for the love of silk art. We, as members of SPIN, wanted to be able to share our work, ask for comments and bring awareness to our organization. I challenge you to use our Facebook site wisely and shed your magic light on us. Enjoy 2015 and its challenges.

Kaki Stewart, President

Kaki

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Capturing the Light with Tina Gleave By Tunizia Abdur-Raheem

hink about the dappled light of a Renoir, a Monet or any of the other Impressionist paintings that have become so popular over the last century. How do you translate this beautiful and luminous effect onto silk? Ah, but the dazzling effects of silk. So often the lushness of the shiny canvas and the vivacity of the colors renders the artist devoid of ideas, ability or even desire to conceive beyond the bounds of simple dye on silk. But once the artist has moved beyond the pure pleasure of thick cobalt lines on pearlescent fabric, where do we go? When we want to capture a more realistic or even photo-realistic portrayal of imagery, how do we approach the subject matter? In many silk paintings, the viewer is left flat. The image is flat the color is flat and lacks subtle nuance. It’s easy to see how a painter can opt out of bringing the viewer into a sunlit canvas. Silk dyes on silk are so luminous. Very often, the vibrant color seems quite enough. After all, most paintings paint lights by adding in the light and shadow with paint. In the case for silk, depending on the method the painter uses, sometimes, the highlights may need to be considered way in advance of making the first brush stroke. So how do you translate those effects that are so commonly taught in oil, acrylic or watercolor classes and translate them to silk? If you’ve learned the technique in oil, you have to reverse what you know to maintain your white areas. You must really carefully consider the finished product even before you lay brush to silk. “Where do I leave the canvas untouched? Should I leave the canvas untouched? Is that white I’m seeing or does it only appear white? Is it white with only the sheerest hints of azure, olive or ochre providing its tint? A silk painter once said to me about some of the finer works of silk art – why

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take the effects of oil painting and translate them to silk? It’s too much work! Why not just paint in oil? And perhaps that’s a right attitude. Silk has its only qualities and does its own thing. Silk does some things that would be unimaginable in oil or even in watercolor. Have you ever seen salt effects or alcohol halos in an oil painting? But who doesn’t love the effect of the gossamer wing of the butterfly as it flutters in the sunlight? Or the lacy translucence of a flower petal in the sunlight? And silk painting, well for most silk painters, it’s a love affair that can’t be touched by any other mode. Artist Tina Gleave has contemplated some of the mysteries of translating light to white silk. We caught up with her in a crack in her artist schedule over a busy post-Thanksgiving weekend where she was busy hosting a booth at a holiday boutique. Just to start, let’s get the basics out of the way. Although Tina started out in college studying Art Therapy, she dropped it once she discovered all that it actually entailed. Tina says of her stint in school, “I loved studying pencil, charcoal, pastels, acrylic, watercolor and jewelry classes. However, when I combined the psychology of the major or the therapy part, I quickly knew it was not for me. I was emotionally drained.” She didn’t choose another art form to study. Instead, she went on to get degrees in Business Administration and Marketing and Early Childhood Education. “At that time, even though I had studied so many different mediums, I didn’t feel a real drive to stick with one. I was never truly happy with anything I produced.” After college, she began work for an international jewelry designer. She traveled, secured vendor relations and got to buy beautiful gemstones. Tina is quite the businesswoman. She currently owns and runs a preschool and in 2013, she created a Non-Profit Organization called Art Work! “Through Art Work! I teach Middle School aged children silk painting. I work with at risk and lower income youth on school campus. I show them the many facets of silk painting – free painting, serti, sizing, wax and marbling. I also introduce them to a wearable option and/or wall art.”

Tina discovered silk painting when a local artist invited her to a “women’s art night.” That was in 2011. The artists were supplied with a silk scarf on freezer paper, seta silk paints, gutta and, according to Tina, “a glass of wine!” “I sat down, pencil sketched out an idea and started painting. I didn’t move or look up for four hours. It was only when she asked me if I was going to go home that I realized it had been so long since I had created something. I had not painted for about 15 years.” She began painting again and it has been not stop since that time. Like many silk painters, no other art form really captured her until she discovered silk painting. “Silk was the first media that understood me. I needed the variety, versatility to express myself completely that I couldn’t express in watercolor or pastels. The magic and iridescence of silk is addicting.” She has studied with many instructors (man of the them SPIN members). She studied with Karen Sistek, learning the method Karen uses of applying a sizing treatment to her silk before painting. She initially studied with SPIN member Natasha Foucault. She wanted to learn how that quality that Natasha has of painting reflections. However, she indicates that she was still new to the art form and that there was so much about painting on silk that she still needed to learn. She says later she wanted to learn to hide the gutta lines or not have any lines. “I wanted to learn how to hide my lines or simply not have lines in my paintings so I flew up to Washington (state) and took a class from Karen Sistek in June 2012. I immersed myself in painting in the Sistek Sized Technique for about a year and then I started experimenting with adding additional techniques in my paintings. I started drying my dyes and working with wet and dried dyes. Later, she studied with Christine Sutherland, another SPIN member. “I attended Christine Sutherland’s France Silk Painting Class in September 2013 where we learned how she moves dyes with alcohol, water and a hair dryer. I thought her abstract approach was very interesting and completely outside of my head. However, she gave me much to think about. I learned a lot about myself. Mainly, trust-

ing my judgment of painting diffuse colors and shapes was really a natural approach.” Below, Tina explains a bit about her painting style: Q. Clearly, when working with silk painting, you must mask off your highlighted areas. How do you approach a painting when you know you want it to have that ephemeral quality of light? A I don’t mask off any white areas, but rather paint light to dark. I always paint my foreground to establish value and color hues. This sets the tone for my paintings. Then I fill in with medium tones, under-colors and richer tones to gain a 3-D approach to the foreground and the background. Q. How do you approach a subject – sketches, photographs? A. I work in pencil and charcoal sketches and capture as many photographs as I can. I try to capture colors and feelings from locations with sketches, but I use my camera also. A. I always begin finding the light in my paintings and the meaning of where the light is coming from. The light has always been symbolic to me whether it’s spiritual or painting guidance, it keeps me focused on framing my piece around the light. I then can establish highs and lows for blending and shadows based on the initial light direction. Q. Do you spend a lot of time figuring out the lights and shadows? A. Yes, I try to establish the light direction from the beginning, which sets the whole tone for the painting. Q. Do you use gutta or some other method for painting? A. I use several different methods for my silk paintings. For fine up-close details, I find that using dried dyes with the Sistek sizing technique works well for me in an almost dry brush technique. I use Resistad for some lines and wax for floating certain painted areas so I can free paint in others. Q, What dyes to you like using? A. I use Jacquard Red Label Dyes –wet and dried. I dry my dyes, which, I find, gives me a new color palette, and can apply and blend them almost like a charcoal or pastel. Jacquard has sponsored me and now supplies all of my classroom dyes.

Q. I see that in the foreground, your paintings might be in sharp focus, but the background is soft. How do you achieve this quality? A. This is a product of studying Sistek sizing method for so long which concentrates on up-close details! I studied her technique and then decided to add a soft out-offocus photography element. My sister is an amazing photographer and she always gets some great colors and blends in her backgrounds. I just started wondering if I could get a fade out in painting too. This is my attempt at trying an Impressionistic style in silk painting. These fade outs are achieved working on a wet-onwet surface all at once staying ahead of the wet surface. The larger the background, the faster I have to work before everything dries. Q. Do you make up the colors with which you paint before you start painting? A. I try to mix up all my dyes and make them unique to each painting. I do find my preference always swaying towards a similar color palette though. When I see the similar colors in consecutive paintings, I do make a conscious effort to take those away and mix new ideas and work with a diffuse color idea. Q. Do you have any favorite places to paint? Favorite subjects? A. I love to paint on my kitchen table really late at night. There’s something about finding the quiet within the hub of activity that makes me most productive. I used to sit on the beach at Moonstone or Patrick’s Point Beach and paint the rocks 20 years ago. I haven’t found a way to plein air paint with silk. I’m sure it can be done, but I don’t find the flying sand a great element in my dyes.

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However, I did take on a 2015 Yosemite National Park teaching assignment with hopes to get outside and paint the beautiful scenery in the park. In 2014, I was invited to teach a beginning silk painting class in Yosemite. Since I study the Monarch Migration, nature and love the national park, I took on the weeklong adventure of ‘Artist in Residence’. Everyday was a new adventure with a new group of adult students and full of fun. Most students were looking for a souvenir and had never done silk painting, but all classes were full and they left saying they learned a new art. Q. So you teach as well? A. I teach private studio art classes and also teaches several times a year at Eureka Studio Arts.

En Pointe Painting a view from her front porch, En Pointe (see the cover painting of a hummingbird with white and pink fuchsia), she uses a dry brush method with the dried dyes. “I was taking an advanced watercolor class and had an assignment to paint a self portrait. I was studying overlapping and diffuse transparent colors. I was rebellious and painted my study on silk because that is more “my self portrait.” Good thing I wasn’t getting graded because the professor didn’t seem to understand silk, nor was he impressed I chose to paint it on silk.” Q. Explain a little about how you painted En Pointe. Tell us what colors you started with and what colors you ended with. Did you paint the bird first or last?

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A. I started with a flower and studied all of the overlapping petals. I sketched them on a paper and then hung the flower sketch on the wall. I kept adding more flowers – which represented decisions and people in my life and then, feeling a bit overwhelmed, I added my hummingbird sketch. I had never added and taped on to my sketches before this project.” “My rough outline was a huge mess! Taped and taped again – apparently this represents my life! Once, my sketch was mostly complete, I started with finding my source light for my painting. In tough times, I seem to always concentrate around the saying, “Head up and don’t forget to look towards the light,” which keeps me grounded.” My painting began with all of the white petals with my dried dyes. I started by painting all of the foreground top white petals and filled in the background petals as the tops dried. I was building a puzzle with my painting. I then added the reds with the shading and shadows to ground the flowers. Then the stems and leaves went in.” “I was having so much fun laying the fuchsias that I forgot – I usually paint the birds first!” I almost chickened out, but then found adding the bird in to be a huge challenge.” The hummingbird is painted

wet on wet with the Sistek sizing technique. I pull out the lightest, iridescent shapes first and as it dries I rapidly add the darker shades. I then painted the feathers on the wings at the very end. The colors merge as they dry. I then spray endlessly with the sizing to gain more texture and merge the colors. I painted the background with alcohol and a paper towel. Always keeping my light source in mind, I sprayed with rubbing alcohol and rubbed my colors in with a paper towel. Rubbing with a wet paper towels gains a soft blend.

Swan Song Q. Looking at the image, Swan Song, with its beautiful cascade of white flowers, it is almost like looking at a photograph. How did you capture that quality? Was it intentional or was it accidental? A. I was granted permission by a brilliant photographer Harold Hingle to interpret his image. I had just returned from a painting trip to France where I saw all the sunflower fields turn and learned that a dear friend passed from a terrible round of cancer. That is the darkest of my paintings and it comes

Swan Song

from a very raw place. I love white flowers, light and the shadows that the light casts. I was really drawn to understanding the fade out and shadows that the foreground images were presenting in my Swan song painting. I try to capture colors through the shadows and see them as shapes. In Swan Song, I merely interpreted each color as a shape and segment and presented it like a jigsaw puzzle.

Fireworks

Q. In Fireworks, you have three white flowers in the center. But then there is a purple-blue flower with light tones in the leaves. Explain a little about your approach to this flower. A. “Each petal was painted one at a time from light to dark. I used Sisteksizing and my dried dyes. I started in the center and built the flower from the inside out. I worked with the light part of the petals and then added the dried dye purple-blue to each petal. I found the colors merged beautifully as the mix dried. There is this unintended merger of colors (with the sizing and dried dyes) – it doesn’t look forced, but it looks naturally merged. Q. How do you determine the colors of the white petals? Two of them are kind of pink. But the other is a kind of greenishyellow. Is this a quality of the light? A. No, this paintLa Cascade, Reflection ing was painted with the “White Dahlia Challenge” in mind.

I knew from the beginning that I needed to change up my painting, but I couldn’t make up my mind on the colors of white. As I was studying them, I noticed all of the various colors of white combinations that were directly unique to each white flower. They have their own personalities. So, of course I had to paint them and see the many color variations of white! Well, then I had three white Dahlias in the center and I couldn’t stop because I had seen so many other colors that were so explosive. So I started tucking in random colors because they were interesting. I simply ran out of room on my pre-stretched silk. I would have kept going with more colors or weird shaped Dahlias. As I was painting, they all reminded me of hairstyles. The bigger the more eccentric-I was giggling at the very end! Q. Did you paint in the purple flower after you painted the white ones? A. The white flowers went in first and then I started tucking in all the other colored flowers. This was not drawn, sketched or planned out first on paper. I had gathered photos of Dahlias and I started painting. Q. Your decision to paint a kind of diffuse background of flowers, how did you accomplish this? Is it wet on wet? A. The background was conceived when I saw the endless local Dahlia gardens and how they had a sense of continuous blooms as far as I could see. I wanted my painting to have that depth and the sense of a sea of Dahlias.

Fireworks

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After studying in the transparent watercolor class, I started playing with overlapping dyes and color washes. The background was achieved working with the Sistek sizing mix, wet on wet, and scrubbing with a paper towel. I worked in the complete background all at once and then let it dry. I then went back over with accent colors and overlapped the diffuse shadows all at once again. Sometimes there are three to four passes to obtain the colors I want.

La Cascade, Reflection Q. Explain a little about your approach to La Cascade, i.e., what did you paint first, last? A. In La Cascade, I started with Sistek sized technique for the leaves. I steam set and washed out my silk. I then captured the inside lines of my leaves with Resistad. Then, I started placing random color dye dots and branches with wet dye. Once the dye dried on the silk, I started moving the dye with alcohol dots. I dry it with a dryer at every pass. It usually take about three to four passes with alcohol before I like my setting. Q. What were the unique challenges of capturing water, its colors, tones and movement?

A. I have been trying to capture movement of water and reflection from my very first wall painting. I find it the most challenging. I also find that I only have about a 50% success rate at these paintings. I’m sure I’m trying too hard because it is the thing I strive for most in my art. So, I’m most thankful for a semisuccessful water and movement painting. I always strive for an unplanned, abstract approach, but that is not always how my brain works. I try to let the dye, paintbrush and my creativity just run. These are new ideas for my brain and me, so sometimes I get too many colors and they muddy together. I often get myself into a jumbled mess. I move on fast and take my messes and learn from them. I try not to dwell on the muddied messes, but look at my positive growth.

Morning Light Q. Give a little information about how you created Morning Light. What did you paint first, last? Was this a sketch, photograph or combination? Do you place your sketches on the silk before you begin painting? A. I love studying science with my children. One day they asked about the

Monarch butterflies and so we started researching them. I found it quite interesting to learn about their migration journey. Once I started researching about their migration, I started gathering information and ideas about what the butterflies look like and types of trees they gather in. My life seems very chaotic at times with so many 3 and 4 year olds around, the butterfly chaos seemed like a natural phenomena to me. I started by painting one open butterfly and then started tucking in butterflies all around the first one. I saw them in leaves and layered puzzle pieces. I sketched the main butterflies and then filled in as I painted. Some leaves were sketched on paper and then put in pencil lightly just to hold my place. Tina has been invited to teach in France. “I will be hosting a silk painting retreat in the south of France, July 2015. I will do a painting demonstration each day where each student will complete a silk painting to take home at the end of the week. There will be multi layered techniques to add to all skill levels. We will explore local splendor and stay in a bed & breakfast with an amazing chef. If you’re interested or want to see more of Tina’s work, visit www.silksquirrel.com.

Morning Light

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Susan Louis Moyer and Silk Festival 2014 Presents...

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Joyce’s Travel Headline By Joyce Estes (?)

magine the boldest hues of color you can. Did they awe your artistry with inspiration or did they astound you with their brilliance? Now, imagine being fully immersed in a fantastical land of naturally beautiful shades found in clear waters and luscious forests. It sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, this seemingly fictional place is indeed real and full of artistic wonder. The Isle of Man is a small island which is bordered by 100 miles of blue coastal shorelines. Nestled in the middle of the Irish Sea, it is surrounded by the coasts of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The lush lands of natural beauty and rich culture entice locals and visitors alike to explore. With so many vibrant hues of green and blue, artistic inspiration is never lack-

ing. In fact, the Isle of Man is a muse to many local and visiting artists. It is also an amazing location for a silk painting festival. The Isle of Man’s Silk Painting Guild hosted the Celtic Kingdom Festival of Silk 2013, which was held in association with Manx National Heritage Art Gallery from September 19-22, 2013. It was a weekend full of new friends, new views and new ideas. This silk painting festival was designed to bring in local artists of all skill levels, to teach beginners and to grow those with a little experience. The four days were host to workshops, lectures, a fashion show, an art gallery and many more entertaining activities that focused on a love of silk painting. However, for Joyce Estes it was also a weekend of forming international connections and meeting fellow silk painters that live abroad. With dreams of Ireland tantalizing her desire to travel, Joyce was elated with

the discovery that the Isle of Man Guild of Silk Painters was hosting a festival on their island near the Irish coast. With an opportunity to travel to her dream destination and to meet with international silk painters, Joyce could not pass it up. So, she packed her bags and, along with her granddaughter Courtney, headed to the picturesque Isle of Man to begin her adventures abroad. Upon her arrival, Joyce was met with friendly faces and amazing views of natural beauty. Because of the seclusion of Isle of Man and the cost of traveling, Joyce was the only American guest present at the festival. “Jane Buck was the chairman of the festival. She was very helpful in getting my travel information together and in guiding us around, helping us stay over and to enjoy the sites on the Isle of Man.” Although, at the time, Joyce was the Silk Painters International President, she was able to enjoy the festival as a visitor,

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while of course still representing her own silk painting organization. “I was there as an onlooker and visitor and as the SPIN President. I was trying to reach out and pull other international organizations in and get more people interested in silk painting. We try to keep the lines open so that we can share with one another and expand the world of silk painting.” On Thursday, the festival was already in full swing with culturally immersive events and silk painting courses. Curator Yvonne Cresswell welcomed festival guests with a private guided tour that explored the exclusive works of Celtic artist Archibald Knox, but more specifically his illuminated image ‘Deer’s Cry.’ (An illuminated writing is writing in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration with colors and embellishments of design.) By viewing his exquisite work, the guests were able to translate his artistry into their own silk painting. Throughout the first day, there were lectures and workshops formed around the Celtic beauty found in local art, which brought a certain cultural appreciation for all festival goers. While the festival began informally on a Wednesday, Friday was the first official day and although activities were already in full swing, the hosts decided to kick off the festival weekend in the Sayle Gallery, a charitable art museum that hosted multiple festival events, where they welcomed all of their attendees. This opening day was all about meeting fellow silk painters and just reveling in the excitement to come. Saturday, was a day full of activity and learning, in which several workshops and lectures took place. There were courses about layering colors, creating textures, learning shibori and they even held a beginner’s guide to silk painting for those new to the fine art. These classes were specialized by topic and they offered tools for creating specific looks or textures on silk. While many of the workshops were geared towards beginners, Joyce, a more advanced silk painter full of tried and true techniques, was still able to learn something new in a more intermediatelevel festival class. Having already dabbled a bit with shibori, she had a

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grasp on different techniques, but was exposed to a new type there. “It was my introduction to this type of shibori. It was a very simplified shibori, with two simple techniques: folding and twisting silk scarves. It’s a lot like tie-dye in ways. The gathering of the silk and putting dyes on it…the more advanced you become, it changes. It always gives you different designs.” The Isle of Man’s Festival 2013 was so much more than bringing together silk painters for a time of learning and enjoyment. Although there was quite a lot of activity going on during the festival, the silk painters still managed to find time to reach out to the local public in attempts to enlighten them on silk painting. One

of the keenest pleasures in art is sharing it with others, and that is precisely what the festival goers aimed to achieve. The festival set up a booth inside of a local mall where they displayed their own artworks and allowed the public to interact with silk painting by trying it out firsthand. Joyce stated, “They had an area in a mall that they opened to the public that showed the pieces the artists did and got the public introduced to silk painting. It was quite successful. It really was an open invitation to get them involved, as well as to display the artist’s pieces for selling.” By exposing the unknowing public to the fine art, silk painters have the opportunity to not only educate them on the basics, but can also show silk painting’s relevance

and timelessness in today’s art industry as well. Joyce added, “In the United States, silk painting is turned into a craft instead of a fine art, and we want to show people the varieties that it offers. Our mission is to bring silk painting into the fine arts.” By exposing the public to a fine art that is often wrongly associated as a craft, silk painting organizations can slowly build their authority in the art world by displaying their works.” And what is a festival without an art exhibition or fashion show? On Saturday evening they hosted a dinner and a fashion show, which allowed for all of the guests to reflect on what they learned and to show off some of their work. This fashion show was a unique event, because it not only showcased works of established silk painters, but it also partnered with a local hospice to display their pieces as well. Consequently, marvelous oeuvres of luxurious silk paintings were not confined to just the show, but were exhibited in the Sayle Gallery and at the mall. A wide range of works from the guild’s member was displayed as well as works from other organizations on the island. The evening’s capper? A surprise guest, the island Governor Adam Wood, made an appearance during this evening full of celebration which gave an added layer of excitement to an already amazing event. In spite of all this buzzing around, Joyce still found time for a little sightseeing. “The weather was great; it reminded me of our American crisp fall time,” Joyce said comparing seasonal differences between the Isle of Man and America. Fortunately, it stayed mostly dry and she and Courtney were able to explore the island and appreciate all it had to offer. “We got to do a little sight-seeing, but the Isle of Man is a small town and area. There were lots of sheep and grass that

overlooks the water. The city was very old and the hills were so huge that you had to walk up. And we chose to walk as much as we could. Everyone was so friendly and helpful in making us enjoy our trip.” As the festival came to an end, Joyce said goodbye to her new friends, stored away her happy memories and set off for Ireland. She extended her trip abroad to see different cities and sights that Ireland had to offer and reveled in the fact that her dream of visiting there had finally come true. “We joined a tour after the festival to see Ireland. We went to Belfast and saw the Titanic exhibit – how it was made – and saw pictures. A special cart would take you up and down building the Titanic and made you feel like you were part of it. We also went to a theatre in Dublin and saw the new company that produced river dancing; all of the

cultures of Ireland were brought together in one production.” It has been approximately one year since her trip. Reflecting on her time spent in Isle of Man, and of course Ireland, Joyce is reminded not only of the people she met and views she saw, but also of the importance of creating bridges with international silk painting communities. This notion of sharing and receiving knowledge, ideas, techniques and more can enhance the

Silkworm - Volume 21, Issue 2

Isle of Man Guild as well as SPIN. Joyce hopes to maintain those friendships and connections and network SPIN with more international communities. We live in the age of technology and information. No era before this has had the kind of quick access to information and other cultures that we do. By typing a few words into a search engine on the Internet, one can easily be connected to a web of like-minded individuals living thousands of miles away. “This access to technology (the Internet) allows organizations like ours to easily connect with others abroad and to share ideas and information. SPIN is actively encouraging all members to do the same, to connect with people in other cultures to expand silk painting knowledge.” It would be even more exciting if other members can one day visit a silk painting organization in a foreign culture, just as Joyce did. And, in fact, The Isle of Man is hosting their next Festival of Silk in 2015. See their website _____________ for more information. Nothing is more exciting than traveling to a foreign place and finding people there

who share your same passions for silk painting. Imagine being able to not only teach them about what you know, but to be able to learn more techniques that may have never occurred to you. Each silk painter has a different outlook and experience with silk, therefore giving them the knowledge to share with their fellow artists. Being able to expand the confines of silk painting and meet other silk painters would be nothing but valuable.

Ro-Kata

Japanese Wax Stencil Process

One in a series of instructional DVDs by master artists Kiranada Sterling Benjamin. First available worldwide! This is the “complete course, on one disc” covering the origins of this unique 8C Japanese process, as a flexible art technique for applying pattern to fabric.

DVD Includes:

• History • Blending Process • Steaming & Finishing

• Preparing to Wax • Waxing hibiscus • Cleaning Stencil • Cutting a Stencil • Applying Wax • Dyeing

This 53 minute DVD is accompanied by a booklet of written instructions on the process.

Also Available: CD version of The World of Rozome Resist Textiles of Japan. A history of the Japanese resist process.

http://www.betsysterlingbenjamin.com/

20th Anniversary

15th - 16th August 2015

Rodbaston College, Staffordshire

Workshops, workshops, workshops and a whole lot more!

www.silkpainters-guild.co.uk Silkworm - Volume 21, Issue 2 Gosp Postcard.indd 1

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SILKWORM P.O.Box 585, Eastpoint, FL 32328, USA

SILKWORM (ISSN 2162-8505) is the quarterly magazine of SPIN -- Silk Painters International -- a nonprofit organization of silk artists, painters, practitioners, and educators. SPIN provides its members opportunities to network with kindred spirits and to grow through workshops, conferences, juried competitions, and gallery exhibitions. Material contained in The Silkworm belongs exclusively to The Silkworm and/or the artist. Do not reprint without written permission.