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One More Week to See My Gallery Show

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My show ends next week–I will be sad to see it come down–LAST DAY is Friday, December 4 at 3:30 pm.
It’s a show I am very proud of–40 pieces and they are very creative (if I do say so myself.) 

Here are times when the gallery at the library is open to see the show. Closed Friday after Thanksgiving.

  • Saturday November 28: 10–5:00
  • Sunday, November 29: noon–5:00
  • Monday, November 30: 10–6:00
  • Tuesday, December 1: 10-noon; 1-3:00–5-7:30
  • Wednesday, December 2: 10-4:00 and 5:00-7:30
  • Thursday, December 3: 10-noon; 2-4:00; 7:30-9:00
  • Friday, December 4 10-3:30–(Last Day!)

People who purchased items can pick them up on Saturday morning when we take  the show down at 11:00 am or get them from me later.

- click to enlarge
– click to enlarge

 

Pictures at My Exibition

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Bel-Tib Library Show 2015-5
Here are photos of my show that is up now until December 4th at the Belvedere-Tiburon Library. It’s a lovely venue–really feels almost like an art gallery with the exception that if there is a meeting or activity in the room, no one can see the show.The opening reception was a big success. I made a list of the times the show is available to view for the month. If anyone wants to see the list of times, I can email it to them.
Bel-Tib Library Show 2015-3 Bel-Tib Library Show 2015-2 Bel-Tib Library Show 2015-4 Bel-Tib Library Show 2015-6 Bel-Tib Library Show 2015-8 Bel-Tib Library Show 2015 Bel-Tib Library Show 2015-7 Bel-Tib Library Show 2015-9

Little Pieces in “Caskets”

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Little Pieces in Caskets - 37
I dyed several pieces I’d woven out of the sheer silk threads that collapse and was thrilled with the results. There are a few more but since they are a dark indigo, they don’t show up as well as in person. I’d woven the pieces in various ways to encourage or control the collapse areas. However, that was a few years ago. When I put them in the indigo dye vat, they all were flat. What wonderful surprises I got.

The reason I call them caskets is the mounting I’ve done. One of them shows the piece in a frame—the frame is made of very thick foam core board for the depth and covered with a frame of mat board with beveled edges on the window. The pieces themselves are stitched to a backing piece of mat board. Then I put a sheet of Mylar over the top and held it in place with a few stitches in the corners. Thus the pieces are protected and encased but in a simple way. They could be framed  more properly later. I plan to show them this way in my show at the Tiburon Library for the month of November.

Note: I had a professional framer cut the foam core frames and the top mats.  I stitched the pieces themselves to the mat board on the backs and cut and stitched on the Mylar myself.

If you click on the images to enlarge them you can really see the loops and textures better.

Little Pieces in Caskets - 47 Little Pieces in Caskets - 45
Little Pieces in Caskets - 35 Little Pieces in Caskets - 39
Little Pieces in Caskets - 42 Little Pieces in Caskets - 29
Little Pieces in Caskets - 27 Little Pieces in Caskets - 41

 

Little Indigo Pieces

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Indigo Book Pages
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I’m thinking of making a book with small pages of my own woven cloth dyed in indigo with clamp resist. The cloth is sheer silk I wove in a crepe weave. It is flat when it is woven and doesn’t crinkle up until it gets wet. Sometimes I wet the cloth before dying and sometimes I let it crinkle when it got wet in the dye vat. This is great fun. The pieces are mounted on small pieces of cloth about 4 1/2″ square. I love these little miniature patches and can’t wait to begin stitching them down.

Weaving Again after Months!

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Rose Hips Collapse
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I finally got to the loom this week after months of distractions. There were lots of ideas in my head, but not a specific one to start on. I saw the rose hips on my desk where I left them months ago so I thought to put some in the new weaving. At the loom, I decided to wet the pice and see how the “cloth” would collapse. Here is the result. I had thought of removing the headings and rag weft, but am thinking that’s part of it so I’ll keep them for awhile.
The background cloth is from a coat that came from  the San Francisco Opera costume sale last week (the first in five years). Rumor has it that one of the divas wore it in the opera, Mary Magdelin, performed last season. It’s monumental–probably a foot too long and weighs a ton but I think it’s beautiful–the cut and the fabrics. Notice the gathers on the sleeves–a great idea to shorten them without cutting anything. I have a gorgeous Afghan coat with very long sleeves. I’m going to try this on it. I see there is a gros grain ribbon (1″ wide”) inside the sleeve that is hand stitched to the cloth to gather it up. The ribbon adds the support needed.

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Weaving Keynote Speech

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2012 CNCH Weaving Convention
2012 CNCH Weaving Convention

I spent the month of March preparing my keynote speech for the northern California weaving conference, CNCH. It will be May 17-20 at the Oakland Convention Center. It was a lot of work but fun figuring out what I could say in 1/2 hour. Believe me, there was a lot I had to relegate to the cutting room floor. It was hard to give up so many ideas. Maybe we can make a video and put it on line!

April will be devoted to preparing for my two classes and a retrospective of my work. I’ve already made the list for the exhibit for the labels, but now I need to be sure every piece is prepared and ironed, etc. I’m honored to have this recognition.

The two classes are about collapse weaving and supplementary warp–two of my favorite things. (I’ve signed up for CNCH 2013 to teach them again–also about using the paddle.

I Have Many Projects Going On

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I’ve mentioned my fiber optics weaving project and the work on the blog and web site. These are just two things on my mind besides trying to weave the sewing thread warp and the wavy wefts warp. Another major item is making ebooks. Yet another is making an art book or a portfolio in book form. The keynote speech and seminars in Collapse Weaving and Supplementary Warp for our conference (CNCH) in May are also on my mind. I feel pregnant with at least 9 babies!

An Art Book Retrospective

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I’ve had my work photographed recently and over the years and am working now on a book like a portfolio–sort of like a retrospective. Organizing the photos was the job for today–a big one. It will be hard to cull them because they are all my “babies”. The photographs look wonderful and I’d love to be able to include them all. The next job: titles. My thinking is to make a few copies that I will sell at cost. It’s really a way to see what I’ve done over time.

Collapse Yarns Source

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Collapse piece with fine over-twisted wool and sewing thread

I found my fine and not so fine over-twisted yarns for collapse from this shop in London. It was easy to order. I contacted them and they have several types and S & Z twist yarns as well.  Contact: the handweavers studio & gallery:  info@handweavers.co.uk or try sales@handweavers.co.uk. they have a web site, too.

New Photos in My Gallery

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Cloud Tiles (click to enlarge)

I just put up new photos in the gallery section of this blog. I’m thrilled with the results of the photo shoot–the pictures look as good as the work! I have the final session on Wednesday. Look for more from time to time on the blog.

These are my first very fine silk pieces. They are damask–playing with warp face and weft face.

A Video About Me, sort of

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Check out this video–I am thrilled with it.
http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2011/03/04/what-is-energized-yarn.aspx Click on “What is energized yarn?” and scroll down to the You Tube video.

I loved working with Kathryn Alexander and in this video she tells about working with me. The thread she spun for me that she talks about was really fine and fragile. She was sure that I couldn’t weave with it and that I would be mad at her. But I did–warping “back-to-front”, of course. I wanted to test my warping process with the most fragile thread I could find, so that’s why I asked her to spin some for me.

Pink Creature (click on to enlarge)

She calls the yarns “energized” I call them overtwisted. These  yarns are what I’ve used for collapse weaving where the cloth puckers. Search  for “Pink Creature” to read my post about it. This is one of my favorite collapse pieces. There is also a picture in the post of the cloth after woven but before washing.

http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2011/03/04/what-is-energized-yarn.aspx

A Home for the Curtain Stretcher

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A home was immediately found for the curtain stretcher! I couldn’t bear it just going out there to anyone. We call yarn and stuff like I’m giving away, “dead weaver’s yarn”. I’m glad I could pass on so much on my own steam. Today I took a workshop about silk–degumming and shrinking with overtwist yarns. It inspired me greatly. I’m glad I kept some of my overtwist yarn–but I gave away pounds of it. People were astounded that I wove my own cloth! I showed them the photos that are in the blog’s gallery. I know the silk in those pieces collapses a lot–so that with degumming and resisting parts of the cloth by clamping, I’ve got a lot of ideas swirling around in my head.

A Review of My Weaving Show

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Silk Pieces in my show (click to enlarge)

Here is a review of my show which goes until February 13, 2011 at The Tamalpais in Greenbrae, California. This is just what I would want a reviewer to say. You can see more of the silk pieces in the blog gallery.

“Many a critic has discussed where the line is drawn between art and craft.  Peggy Osterkamp has crossed that line into the arts in her current show at The Tamalpais in Greenbrae. Her work ranges from richly textured, tapestry-like hangings to “critters” fashioned from her woven pieces immersed in water to shrink them into whimsical little pieces, to soft, pale, gossamer pieces which seem to float on the wall.

Small Pieces Mounted in Plexi boxes

Peggy’s reputation as a teacher and author of numerous books on weaving is enhanced by her skill as a fine artist, and we look forward to more of her magnificent creations.”

Two Weavings in My Show

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Pink Creature (click to enlarge)

My show has been a huge success and I’m thrilled beyond words. People are blown away by the work–they have no concept of weaving, let alone what I’ve done. This is my first one-person show and I really do feel like an artist. I’ll post more photos of some of the pieces. The show is at the Life Care Community where I moved in April. I hope to get people here interested in doing some handwork soon.

Cloth as woven for Pink Creature

Here is “Pink Creature”–a piece woven with high twist wool thread and sewing thread. It was woven as a flat piece in an open weave then put in water–Pink Creature is the result of these two steps.
Photos of the installation are in a post dated January 6. Also, see photos in the gallery.