"Materialized Magic" coming (hopefully soon) to DC

!Stacy Cantrell, fiber artist and curator and I submitted a show proposal to the Crave Micro-grant dinner, organized by the Torpedo Factory and Convergence, in Alexandria, VA...We had to present our idea to an initial jury panel, who picked four proposals. We and three other groups presented our ideas at a micro-grant dinner, where over 80 attendees voted and chose the grant winner. We were the winner! 

Our proposal is a show called "Materialized Magic: Mythical Creatures in a Yarn Bomb Habitat." It is an exhibit of large fiber creatures, mine are felted and Stacy's are crocheted. And the environment is created by members of the community during several months of preparatory crocheting, knitting and felting sessions, where free materials and instruction will be provided. Here is how our proposal is described on the Convergence blog.

We are currently seeking a venue for the exhibit and I will post when we get a place. We welcome participants of all experience levels, so stay tuned. We have a proposal in to the Target Gallery at the Torpedo Factory and are exploring several other options. Keep your fingers crossed for us and for our magical creatures!

If you remember my newsletter from two months ago, you may remember hints I gave about my dolls getting bigger (hint: I showed the hands of one of my bigger dolls.) Well, in the photo above, you can see me holding one of my first larger dolls. He came and helped us win the award and will be part of the Materialized Magic exhibit. Below (left) is another detail of his construction.  His is a four foot tall character and his name is "Tumnus," though he says he is not a faun. I will be working on him more, creating a large cape with felted images with scenes from one of my own magical stories. Stacy is wearing a crocheted "Medusa" hat. 

In the works are plans for an on-line felted doll class to be added as a part of the wonderful Gretchen Miller's 60 Degrees of Creativity class. More about this to come...

And there are some workshops coming up this month, one this weekend at theExpressive Therapies Spring Institute, a class at Arlington Parks and Recreation on creating a felted spirit doll and a felting class Mapping our Internal Landscape at the Smith Center for Healing and the Arts. 

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