Following the Bison Trail Part II by Doris Florig

"Gros Ventre", Bison Fiber Sculpture by Doris Florig

Part II.  Gros Ventre


Read Part I

It took all summer to complete but it was worth every minute. While working on him, he got moved around quite a bit from studio to studio. Everywhere he went he created quite a stir. Unlike other art work, there was never a hesitation in the response of the observer.   Some jumped because he seemed so real, others thought he was scary and others laughed showing great pleasure.  The reactions changed as he took shape, but there was always an uninhibited reaction. He has been fun from start to finish.

He was constructed from nothing but wire, a raw fleece, felted wool, yarn, real bison hair and real horns. Once completed, he sold immediately. I am happy to say that he went to a good home. He was purchased by Marie-Eve and Harvey Locke.  Harvey is the founder of the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, commonly known as Y2Y. One of their projects is to reintroduce the Bison to Banff National Park.

With my approval Harvey and Marie-Eve named their new sculpture after the location where he was conceived, “Gross Ventre”.  Headed for Canada, they left my studio grinning and smiling. ”Gros Ventre” become the first bison to migrate to Banff National Park as part of the BISON BELONG project.

Should I do a big horn sheep next?

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Doris Florig is currently teaching in the fiber department at Jackson Hole, WY at the Center for the Arts. To learn more about workshops and classes offered contact Doris: email.

Doris is a TAFA member although her member profile is still not posted. Visit her website.

See all of Doris's posts here on Fiber Focus. 

 

Following the Bison Trail Part II by Doris Florig

The Gourd Patch Festival, Mayfield, Kentucky

Photos courtesy of Bob Davis

The days are still warm and pleasant here in Western Kentucky, but Summer has officially ended and signs of Fall and colder weather begin to manifest themselves. Leaves start to turn, night comes a bit quicker, that tell-tale chill in the morning... yep. The cold is on its way here.

With the change of season comes harvest and bountiful, beautiful pumpkins and gourds. A couple of my Paducah Fiber Artists friends and I took a trek to attend the Gourd Patch Festival in nearby Mayfield, Kentucky. What a wonder!


I've seen gourds before and plenty of pumpkins. But, I don't think I've seen so many varieties, such vibrant colors and all that texture!







We learned that the gourds are dried by leaving them on the vine, in the field, and the ones that survive the elements will make good gourds for craft use. I picked a few that I want to experiment using henna designs:


There was plenty to do at the festival as it featured gourd vendors, craft booths, a Gourd-mobile derby (!!!), food concessions, live music, a hay-bale maze, with the day ending in a ghost walk at a nearby cemetery (we didn't stay for that!).

Vendors definitely had a brisk business!

David Meeks from the Pumpkin Barn sells raw
gourds and these birdhouses he makes.

Paula Martin, of Nashville, Tennessee, looked around,
getting ideas for what she was going to make with the gourds she bought.

Many of the crafts were season oriented with Halloween, Fall and Christmas decorations in mind.



Others were quite lovely, appropriate for year round use.

Murray State University's Gourd Percussion Band tried really hard to make a commotion (they could have used some mikes...), but they were cute and darling.


My friend, Bob, posed for a portrait:

A great likeness in my opinion!


The Ice House Gallery (Yep! It really was an ice house way back when...) sheltered the masterpieces by gourd artists from all over the country.

It's amazing what different people came up with! Pigs, dragons, presidents, and intricate ornamental work revealed themselves through this gourd art.

At the back of the Ice House Gallery, there is a little shop and an art room for classes. I enjoyed speaking with one of the local artists (the guy who made the dragon).


We rushed out because we didn't want to miss the Gourd Mobile Derby. Our friend, Margaret had been volunteering inside, while her husband, Fred, also a gourd artist, got all the gourd cars ready for the big competition. For weeks before, kids prepared for this event by getting their spiffed up gourd cars ready. The base is from a kit, the same on all of them, but the top is up to the artist.

As you can see, some stayed close to traditional car designs, while others went wild with their imagination:


The cars are raced, three at a time on this special track. It was surprising to see which ones got the best umph!

We loaded up our pumpkins and gourds with ideas spinning around in our heads of what we might be able to create with these wonderful shapes! I'm sure there will be some tasty pies coming up in the next few weeks as well. Yum, yum!


The Exhibit at the Ice House Gallery continues through October 11. That's at the Mayfield/Graves County Art Guild, 120 North Eighth Street, Mayfield, KY 42066. If you are a gourd artist and would like to submit your work next year ($1,000 award!!!), you can contact Dana Heath at icehouse@wk.net, 270-247-6971. They accept work from all over the United States.

The Mayfield Gourd Patch Festival is sponsored by the City of Mayfield, the Mayfield Tourism Commission, and the Mayfield/Graves County Art Guild. See www.icehousearts.org for more information.

The Gourd Patch Festival, Mayfield, Kentucky

Sarah's Artwork and Her Traveling Muse: Australia, Mexico and Africa!

We have this little gadget on the front page of our Fiber Focus Group that pulls images from Flickr tagged "fiber art".  Last week this cute guy with a red face and wings popped up:

Merman by Sarah's Artwork

I quickly clicked on it as I wanted to know more about it.  I knew instantly that this was a piece that would be close to my heart.  And where there was one, there would probably be more.

I was right!  Merman led me to a treasure trove of wonderful work! I am especially attracted to work that is influenced by ethnic art, yet twisted into something new.  If you visit the Sarah's Artwork blog, you will find this to be true in this case. The blog is loaded with images of inspiration and how they become translated by Sarah into something new.  For example, take this piece from her series, My Tribe: 

Source of inspiration: Africa!

Other My Tribe pieces all recall Africa, although Sarah said that she is also inspired by the immigrants she sees in Melbourne, often wearing tribal tattoos or henna designs from their place of origin.

But, Merman, looked distinctly Mexican in flavor to me.  Hmmmm....  Sure enough, Sarah has been to Mexico and fell in love with it!

And, where does this well of creative juices spring from?  AUSTRALIA!!!!  It's A Small World After All started playing in my head...  Sorry.  It's all that childhood indoctrination...

Its A Small World (After All) - Disney

Sarah is prolific and diverse in her work.  The soft sculptures are heavily embellished and expressive.

Woman by Sarah's Artwork

King by Sarah's Artwork

She also draws, filling space intensely, creating wonderful environments of chaotic order:

.

The Embrace by Sarah's Artwork

Sometimes the sculptural and figurative become combined into the functional:

I have found that artists who fill their artwork with detail and texture, like Sarah, tend to also decorate or fill their work spaces in the same way.  This is true with her.  Sarah's former studio was an altar to life.  Walls, even the ceiling, celebrate the world, bringing cultures together into a collage of color and texture.

I contacted Sarah and told her how much I liked her work.  We exchanged several e-mails and she turned out to be as interesting in cyber-reality as her work.  I don't expect much when I contact people out of the blue like this.  Many never respond, people are busy, whatever...  but, Sarah was enthusiastic and shared quite a bit about what is going on with her.  She packed up her studio and is in the process of crossing the ocean to start a new phase in her life: Montana, USA!  She has friends there and eventually wants to make it back down to Mexico.  Montana is a long way from Kentucky, but it gets my hopes up that if we are at least in the same country, there is a tiny chance that we could meet someday.  

Meanwhile, visit Sarah at her blog, leave some comments here about how wonderful she is, and from us all, we wish you "Happy Travels, Sarah!"

Click on this short bio to see a larger image:

Sarah's Artwork and Her Traveling Muse: Australia, Mexico and Africa!

A Different Kind of Fiber Art, or, "Don't Play with Your Food!"

Were you ever told, "Don't play with your food!" as a child? Well, Anita of Deerwoman Designs, sent me one of those forwarded e-mails with these images and I just had to post them. I like to think that this artist overcame a childhood trauma about food by Playing with his or her food to the extreme. There was no source on the images, so if anyone out there knows who did these, I will happily credit them. All of the settings are made using food. Click on the images for larger photos and you will see more detail.

I had to chuckle, too, because when I first chose Fiber Focus as a name for the blog and ning group, I was thinking about fiber art, not food. But, Google's spider also sees fiber as food. I have a subscription to google alerts where you can have google send you a list of daily notices where your key phrases appear. Fiber Focus is searched and google duly reports on a gazillion articles about how to lose weight, how to stay "regular" and other food related articles. This post combines the two Fiber Food as Fiber Art!

I like to play with food sometimes... Back when I was in college, I worked in the school cafeteria. Sometimes my shift would be in the serving line and there were always bits and pieces of food that would build up on trays. I would make sculptures of them that would stare at the next person in line. The aging process has not changed that curiosity. Last night for our monthly Paducah Fiber Artist meeting, I made a broccoli forest dish. Make a base of rice in a cake pan and stick broccoli shoots into it, straight up so that they look like trees. Decorate with other vegetables to make your own magical place. Nothing like these photos, but fun and perhaps a way to encourage children to try a healthy dish...

Salmon, bread and potatos...




I dedicate this post to my beautiful husband, Mohammed, the best chef in the world!

A Different Kind of Fiber Art, or, "Don't Play with Your Food!"