For those of you in my local area (Lansing, Michigan, USA) who are interested, my knitted Self-Portrait is “home” in Michigan again from its one-month display in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. If you are interested in seeing it, the piece will be having a whirlwind of display activity for the next month or so.
This Sunday 8/6/2006 began a month-long show of customer works at Threadbear Fiberarts on Waverly Rd/West side of town… and they hung my piece… up, up, up above the windows so you can see it from more of a distance. (This really helps see it as a picture rather than a “pseudo-tapestry” of individual stitches.)
Thanks go to Sabrina for suggesting I bring it for the show, to Rob and Matt for supporting this idea, and Marti and others who helped get it hung properly in the shop. I really appreciate all of you.
The City Pulse sent out a reporter/photographer (Mary C.) to Threadbear for the opening of the show. She spent a lot of time with me, and also talked to Rob and Matt (owners of the shop) and Rhonda, a woman who brought in her knitted wedding dress as her contribution for this exhibit.
Yes. Knitted wedding dress. It’s just as amazing as that sounds. Do watch to see if the article makes it into this week’s edition on Wednesday. I pick up my copy at Altu’s restaurant but you can find it many places around town.
For the record, my piece will not be at Threadbear the whole month as the other pieces will. It hangs there until at least closing time Thursday and maybe closing time Friday, depending on if I can find a guild member who can bring it to me (Friday I’ll be working for Altu in her food booth at the Great Lakes Folk Festival).
On Saturday and Sunday, August 12 & 13, the Mid-Michigan Knitting Guild will have a booth in the guilds tent behind the People’s church in East Lansing. My portrait will be on display there for those two days.
I believe my piece will go back to Threadbear for Monday and part of Tuesday, but I’m not absolutely clear if they expect it back on those two days. On Tuesday night, August 15, I go to Allegan, Michigan to prepare for Michigan Fiber Festival.
I teach polymer clay on Wednesday all day there, I have Thursday off and then I teach “Creating your own Turkish-Style Socks” all day Friday and half of Saturday. I’ll have the portrait in my classroom on Friday and then it will be in the festival booth of Little Red Schoolhouse yarns for Sat/Sun.
When we all return to Lansing, the portrait will be on display at Rae’s Yarn Boutique in Frandor/Lansing for a few weeks. Which is sort of too bad, because it was Rae who first suggested that I send the piece on a tour of the shops where I teach. By all rights, the local tour of this piece should have started at her shop.
It was just clear that since I had this opportunity to put my piece in the Threadbear customer show/First Sunday Gallery Walk (and the associated possibility of press coverage), I needed to do that first. She totally supported me in the choice. If she wants my piece on display longer to make up for being last, I’m ready to do whatever she wishes.
Here is a (recycled) photo of me next to my knitted self-portrait, taken by Brian when we were at the gallery opening in Minneapolis just over a month ago. (Added later… photo of Rhonda’s wedding dress. Exquisite!)
