Art & Design Archives

In the Studio with SCAD Fibers

March 8, 2014 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, In the Studio, Inspiration & Education, Organize, Photography, Systems & Techniques

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting my Alma-matter for the Fibers Open House. I am always blown away by the delightful work I see coming from this department and thought it would be a fun opportunity to visit In the Studio with SCAD Fibers students. I have such fond memories of my time there and the department has grown tremendously over the past 15 years. They are using the most cutting edge technology mixed with the best foundational teachings. This is a recipe for success!

Here are (anonymously) some of the studio work-spaces. Of course for the open house they were tidied up and I’d love to pop in and see how they look from day to day but in a setting like this you begin to see how different styles of organizing emerge.

Farewell SCAD Fibers…Till later!

Master Makeover

February 24, 2014 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Home, Organize, Organizing Projects, Photography, Wellness & Mindset

It’s been awhile since my last makeover…I’ve been busy transforming spaces but sometimes I’m not able to share the before and after shots. I’m really proud of this one though. I began with this client right before Christmas and the project was put on hold for about a month. When we picked up again in late January, we had done a full closet purge and were mostly through the sorting and purging of her dressers and remaining wardrobe. This phase of the project was all about removing the obstacles in her bedroom and making her room a sacred space. My client was not making her bed daily and not using her nice linens because the rest of her bedroom was such a mess she just didn’t see the point. I encouraged her to make a comfort zone on her bed that felt as luxurious as possible and see if that radiated outward…it has and continues to do so.

Master Makeover

My main concern as we began was safety and beyond that I knew we needed to purge not just clothes but a lot of papers. We also needed to relocate some items out of the bedroom into an office that is now partially functional. Those photos will be coming along later this spring.

MCG B&A 2

Do you see the chair above and the computer on that cart? Well guess what…I tripped on a cable and that computer fell! No, I do not consider myself a clumsy person and needless to say this was HORRIFYING to me but I have an accident clause in my contract and in this case my client was so gracious she knew it was an accident. Really, this kind of thing doesn’t happen often and the Mac survived…We had discussed safety at the very beginning of the project so she knew what the hazards were. Not only did we purge and remove boxes and other obstacles but we re-arranged furniture to allow for easier passage on this side of the bed. There is now a wide open space and hopefully no-one will be tripping on anything here again! Below you can see the table that was on the left side of the room which was moved to the end opposite the bed, the rolling stool is now also out of the way and there is much more open floorspace. I don’t just organize, I look at the whole picture!

MCG B&A 4

You can see from these photos that there was a large pile of boxes, bags, artwork, baskets etc that was entirely sorted through and organized. Eventually we will re-arrange furniture again and move the large file cabinets out to make space for a yoga and meditation corner but for now the room has been transformed into a safe sanctuary for this client to continue to heal her physical and spiritual body.

MCG B&A 1

We met this client’s deadline to have her bedroom neatly organized and cleaned by Valentines, that’s a sweet and loving gift don’t you think?

The Beginnings of Love

February 14, 2014 by Heather Filed Under: Art & Design, Inspiration & Education, Photography, Textiles & Pattern

Last fall I fell down the rabbit hole of into the world of quilting via a project I’m working on. It took me back to Beginnings of Love, you know that feeling you get when you are super excited and start to LOVE something or someone? Well I’ve shared a bit about my trip to Quilt Market in Houston but not much about why…

Here’s the why, I’m working as a design consultant for a local company who has recently launched an exciting tool for anyone who loves creating their own textile designs! It’s called FabricMaker and it’s a commercial quality (means you can WASH it and expose it to LIGHT!) fabric printing system! I was so excited to collaborate on this project because for quite a few years now I have experimented with various image transfer and print techniques to get my photo’s onto fabric! I was not fully happy with any of the results, the fabric’s either came out faded looking, were not wash fast, would fade if exposed to light, left a residue (transfers) or involved tedious steps of soaking (pre, post etc)…ughh. In the end I kind of gave up because I didn’t think the results were worth the hassle.

Well, along came FabricMaker via a serendipitous encounter…they found Spacecraft Studio’s here in Charleston and my dear friend passed my name along to them.

Now that I’ve had some time to play with this printer and learn all about it I’ve also decided to teach myself to quilt. I have begun a sampler quilt using photo’s of flowers, foliage and other bits of nature. I hope to get this quilt done for fall quilt market but in the meantime I’ve embarked on some smaller projects.

The Beginnings of Love

These little mug rug’s of love were something I did for the Charleston Modern Quilt Guild February meeting. The pattern came from Here. The two are slightly different in size because the pattern was written for Die-cut pieces which I didn’t have and in the first I had to make adjustments to re-calculate…my many years of creating engineered and woven designs will serve me well in the world of Quilting! Sadly due to weather and changes in schedule I was not able to make it to the swap, so I now have two! I think they are pretty sweet and I LOVE working with my photo’s on Fabric. If you want to print your own fabric designs, check out Fabricmaker‘s systems, they are affordable, amazing quality and really have the best color saturation I’ve seen anywhere on the market!

Happy Valentines, Loves!

PS…These are the two images I used in the above projects…I didn’t create the text fabric’s but I will be making my own custom text fabric designs soon!

Capture

(Re)Discovering Personal Style in Design

January 7, 2014 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Inspiration & Education

I’ve gone back to school in a manner of speaking and am (Re)Discovering Personal Style in Design! I signed up last year to take the Ultimate Guide to Repeat’s over at Pattern Observer. I’ve followed Michelle and her blog and business for the past few years. She began the site in 2010 right around the time that I left the Carpet and Textile design industry full time. I will always keep an eye on what’s happening in textiles regardless of whether it’s a part of my business or not. That being the case I’ve gotten a bit rusty here and there with my design skills and I’ve had to switch from a very expensive industry software package to the more commonly used Illustrator and Photoshop…neither of which I am quite the master of…yet!

Pattern Observer to the rescue! The e-course “The Ultimate Guide to Repeats” shows you how to use and master Illustrator as a textile design tool! This year she has launched a private membership site that allows you access and interact with a variety of e-courses and the other members taking them. I’m trying it out and so far I LOVE it! I decided to investigate my own personal design style as I continue to slowly get back into the world of textiles as a consultant and perhaps as a designer.

In “The Sellable Sketch” course one of the first lessons is all about investigating what and who inspires you and why. I took the time to really think about the designers I really love and have loved for many years. They are not trendy although their designs may come and go, they have a certain staying power. The four designers I chose as my “Hero’s” are textile design icon and legend, Jack Lenor Larsen, Bauhaus artist and textile designer Sonia Delaunay, modern day design legend Amy Butler and European rug designer Jan Kath.

Discovering Personal Style in Design

By investigating these inspiring designers I was able to see common characteristics such as the use of cheerful, funky and playful colors in a sophisticated way. Geometrics are balanced with bold organic shapes, subtle texture layers used in contrast with clean flat color. I found the root of what I love in these design styles and most of them have a midcentury feel. As a weaver at heart I love structure but I also love to break it up so it is not purely geometric. There are not a lot of details, they are not needed in these styles. The colors, line work and bold graphics are what appeal to me.

Project 1

After investigating these influences I took a look at some of my own art and surroundings. I was able to see some similarities with some of my influences and by just noticing these elements I hope to be able to better understand and develop my own design style. Other people may be able to look at my style and easily see a common thread but I’m too close to it and I spend so many years designing for clients specific needs that I feel I sort of “lost” my own personal style. This year, with the help of Pattern Observer and other artistic PLAY I hope I will find what I thought I’d lost.

Save

Word-Of-The-Year or WOTY is Play

January 1, 2014 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Photography

Happy New Year! Welcome, 2014…it’s going to be a FUN year ahead! It’s been my tradition for the past few years now to selected a ‘word of the year’ or WOTY (aka) one little Word -OLW) that I feel embodies qualities, habits, and goals I choose to set as an intention for the upcoming year. This year, my WOTY is PLAY and I can’t wait for all the fun in store that will come along with it.

Play is something we forget how to do as we become adults. It’s no longer considered important or valuable. Play gets replaced by chores, discipline, work, habits, practice and responsibilities. Those things are inevitable for most adults but my intention is to invoke and infuse everything I do with a sense of playfulness.

WOTY is Play

PLAY

verb

engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.

OLW2014LPlay

I’m being choosy about how I will PLAY in 2014…I will not be “playing along” with some of the more negative associations of play. My kind of play will be fun, joyful, stimulating, creative, experimental, adventurous, loose and light. These represent some of my Core Desired Feelings for the upcoming year.

When you set an intention, there is no possibility of failure, only reflection and expansion.

Are you planning to choose a Word of the Year (or One Little Word) for 2014? If so below are a few links that might be useful for you as you contemplate your 2014 Woty.

Danielle LaPorte

Christine Kane (writing exercise)

Kim Klassen (an exercise in discovering)

Thinkmap (a visual thesaurus to help you visualize your word)

Huffington Post (a broader exploration of this idea within media)

Ali Edwards (word ideas) & OLW yearlong workshop-Which I’ll be playing along with this year!

Save

In the Studio with SCAD Fibers

Master Makeover

The Beginnings of Love

(Re)Discovering Personal Style in Design

Word-Of-The-Year or WOTY is Play

Legal Disclaimer

Search Blog by Popular Catetories

Seach Blog by date