Gretchen Klimoski's Iris-Inspired Jacket

This is Floris Flam, your May blog editor.  Today we are going to look at the work of Gretchen Klimoski, whose jacket, Iris in a Clifton Garden, won a jurors' recognition award in our show of work inspired by Van Gogh's painting of irises.  

Gretchen Klimoski. Iris in a Clifton Garden

I asked Gretchen to tell us about her work and her process for designing and making her wearable art.

Gretchen told me "I created Toad Hollow Designs after moving to Virginia in 1965 after a long history in the field of historic preservation and serving as a consultant in nonprofit management.  Realizing that this area didn’t need another consultant, I followed a friend to Design With Heart, a fiber arts conference in Santa Fe.  Inspired by so many creative women, I returned home and began to experiment with designs and techniques.  While I had sewn my own clothes for many years, my only try at original design was “designing” new clothing for my paper dolls by cutting up my older sister’s Seventeen magazines. 

"Since 1995 I have explored many surface design techniques but have become very fascinated with all things Japanese.  It all began when I found a merchant on Cape Cod who imported bales of kimono, sold the “best of the best” and took the rest apart to sell as fabric.  I was hooked!!!  Soon I found that the stains and wear and tear of many of these salvaged fabrics limited their use and I now purchase unused kimono bolts from Japan.  Staying in my “Japan” frame of mind I began to experiment with sashiko, the quilting technique of northern Japan. I now us this running stitch technique to re-create traditional – and not so traditional – patterns on many of my designs.  I love the rhythmic flow of the needle through the fiber and can almost meditate while I sew.

Gretchen Klimoski. Sashiko on raw silk vest

"Aside from the kimono fabric, I am an opportunity shopper.  I love ethnic fabrics of all sorts, particularly the ikats of southeast Asia and the rough hewn weavings of parts of Africa.  I sort fabrics into related piles by color and fiber and just sit back and let them speak to me.  That is how Iris in a Clifton Garden came to be.  With the theme of the show in my head my gaze settled on this lovely violet dupioni silk – what could better convey iris in a garden?"

Gretchen Klimoski.  Detail of Iris in a Clifton Garden

Gretchen doesn't confine her work to ethnic fabrics and sashiko stitching.  Here is a hand-painted raincoat she made:

I hope you can visit our gallery and see Gretchen's work.  Iris in a Clifton Garden has already gone home with one of our customers, but you'll find Gretchen's other work and that of our other talented members when you come. 

Who we are

It is a pretty well known fact that artists aren't making much money for the hours we put into our work.  We have to love what we do or we'd go back to what we did before because it no doubt was more lucrative than making art.  The following is a list of what some of our members did before they started making art.  Come see us in Studio 18 in the Torpedo Factory Art Center and see if you can relate the former (and sometimes current) jobs with the Art.

Zita Simitus--Chief Psychologist of the Army

Joanne Bast--taught zoology, biology, botany, human anatomy and physiology at              the college level.

Carol Bodin--computer systems designer

Mickey Kunkle--mortgage loan officer

Jeanne Bohlen--physics major who ended up in a number of libraries--public,  for              profit business, non profit organizations.

Lynda Prioleau--still working as a meeting and conference planner

Cindy Grisdela--financial journalist

Eileeen Doughty--cartographer supervising a number of people some of whom were           deaf so she had to learn sign language

Claudia Levy--reporter and editor at Washington Post

Betty Ladd--computer programmer (now office manager at architecture firm)

Ruth Blau--technical writer/editor

Merle Thompson--professor of English Literature

Clara Graves--freelance graphic designer

Roz Houseknecht--swim instructor both then and part-time now

Kay Collins--art teacher, business owner, sex education counselor, and lots more--             very varied jobs

Fran Spaeder--30+ years at the CIA in information technology

Larry Novak--systems engineer and software project manager--scientific and                           engineering applications

Anne Sanderoff-Walker--registered x-ray technologist and used CT scans when                    they were fairly new

Diane Mularz--currently employed as software systems engineer

Debra Lee--managed programs to integrate technology with business systems

More from Bead and Button

I clicked on the wrong button while posting so now I'll try to upload a couple more pictures taken at the show.  this is a picture of an award winning piece of bead work.  It is called off-loom bead weaving when done like this.  Each bead is picked up individually and sewn into the next bead in a pattern (though it can also be done randomly).  Pretty amazing to see.  This is a life size piece

Reminds me of crocheted doilies like my Grandmother used to make.

 

 

This is a vendor who sells the frames (and yarn and beads) to make knitted purses.  This was all the rage around the turn of the last century.  The purses are elegant and not for the faint of heart knitter.  It involves stringing hundred of beads and knitting with very small thread on very thin needles.  But isn't the result worth it.  Gorgeous.

Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery Holiday Jury Day

Monday November 15 was the jury day for our Holiday Treasures Show. The Potomac Fiberarts Gallery is a coop gallery that exhibits about 10 entirely new shows of fiberart each year. At the end of a show, all work is removed from the gallery and new work is submitted to a jury process before entering the gallery for the new show. Each piece is individually juried to maintain quality and relevance to fiber or a fiber technique.

The gallery is first emptied of all outgoing work.

Then the gallery is cleaned and prepared for new incoming items.Display committee member Paige Garber is sweeping the floors as Clara Graves prepares hat racks.

The jury tables are set up in the corridor outside the gallery. Racks and bags contain members work awaiting checking in which is done on the tables to the right and left. The center table seats two members of our jury committee who collaborate on passing decisions on each item. While the jurors present for the holiday show are our own members, several times a year, we invite guest jurors to gain a fresh insight. The holiday show is also our largest show in terms of number of items entered. Therefore this jury process is repeated at a second location with a second set of jurors and accessory people. I will only be showing you one. The jurors are ready to go.

Incoming work awaiting jurying.

Members Lynn Hoffman and Bev Ringel check items against inventory sheets.

Roz Houseknecht hold incoming art pieces up for the jurors to see.

Jurors Carol Holmes and Janet Stollnitz make tough decisions.

Works start coming in to the gallery.

The jury process continues.

The gallery fills.

By about 2-3PM, the jury process is finished and the gallery opens for business with a fresh new selection of fiber art and art to wear selections. Scarves and shawls:

More scarves, jackets, vests and other wearables:

Wall Art:

Purses, hats, gloves, handmade books, pillows, and more:

Jewelry, brooches, earrings, barrettes, bracelets, necklaces:

Jewelry cases for the special pieces:

We are open 10AM-6PM daily and weekends, Thursday 11AM-9PM. There will be a special Holiday Open House throughout the Torpedo Factory Art Center on December 2 from 6-9PM.We welcome your visit. Until next blog when I will continue my discussion of stitched beadwork with an introduction of brick stitch. Joanne