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Modern Women in Design

August 24, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Inspiration & Education, Museums & Galleries, Textiles & Pattern Leave a Comment

One of the most inspiring things I have seen this summer (and there have been quite a few!) is the current exhibit at the Textile Museum. It is all about mid-century modern women in design and boy are there some fabulous and fun textiles on exhibit! I tend to be a rule breaker (in some areas of my life only) and when it comes to taking photo’s in museums…I often break the rules. I do it so I can share snippets with others who I know may not be able to experience the same thing in person. So enjoy the photo’s I risked my visit to take, luckily that day the security guard seemed more interested in talking on the phone than observing the museum goers.

The show is called “Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain” and it ends on September 12, so if you get a chance you may want to make a trip to see it. The show features a majority of designs by British designer Lucienne Day and two of her contemporaries: Jacqueline Groag and Marian Mahler. The work above and below is from Lucienne Day. Aren’t they just incredibly fresh and fun and honest? That is what I love about this era of work. The designs are not pretentious, over thought or trend driven.

This is the type of work I love to share because it’s different and fun and the love that the designer put into the work shines through.
Lucienne Day’s husband (Robin) was also a furniture designer. I’m certain this contributed to her overall sensibility about good design for home interiors. Below are some great tea towels she designed.Her are a few shots of the overall show. All these ladies were fabulous designers who’s designs have stood the test of time. I especially enjoyed the work of Lucienne Day and was so glad to get to see this show in person. Save

Collaborative Visions

August 17, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Handmade, Inspiration & Education, Photography Leave a Comment

Moving directly from my last entry I would like to explore the idea of collaboration. My last project was a collaboration between myself, another artist and the client. Each and every custom design is just that, at least that’s the way I view it. My job on any custom project is to help fulfill someone else’s vision. As an artist and designer I am find myself getting stuck on certain projects or pieces from time to time and usually, if I can find a way to collaborate then I can break free of those limitations. Over the last several years I have been involved in quite a few collaborative projects. I’ve both been invited to collaborate and organized collaborative projects. You can view some images of my last project “Collaborative Visions” over HERE. Above is a mosaic of several in progress pieces from a previous art project and there are more images over HERE. These projects never fail to inspire me to look at my process differently. I love seeing how other’s react to things I create intuitively and vice versa. We don’t take these projects too seriously, we have fun with them. That’s the whole point, to liberate ourselves beyond our own creative process.

I can promise you will be seeing a lot of collaborative work here at HKPowerstudio. It is something I want to explore in more depth on both a professional level and in a more personal creative way. How and why do you collaborate?

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A Custom Design is Born

August 13, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Handmade, Textiles & Pattern Leave a Comment

I thought it might be interesting to show the process of how a custom design is born! This is a recent project I worked on and was super fun because my clients; Normans Farm Market; are energetic, young, entrepreneurs who run several farm stands supplying the DC area with fresh produce from many small farms within about a 100 mile radius of DC. They had a long time friend of theirs, Anne, create the conceptual sketch for their new season re-usable shopping bags and tee shirts. When I heard they were going to hire a graphic designer to convert Anne’s art I told them I could do it for them! Here is what we started with, Anne came over and we spent a couple hours together as she was curious to see how a pencil drawing becomes a screen print design. Next I worked on “cleaning up” this original piece of art. I work in Photoshop and an industry program called Texcelle for all my work. I really want to learn Illustrator, that’s next on my list. So after I got this basically into a two tone image with the right high resolution and file formats (this will differ based upon your output type and end product) I presented it to the client and it looked something like this. From here I went back and forth with the Normans several more times to revise text, placement and other elements within the design. The final design is below and it turned out great, they were happy and that’s the most important aspect of working with a client on a custom design. I have to say that working on custom design is one of my favorite ways to work. I love working with people to take a creative idea and make it a real product. The final product is always a little thrilling to see once completed! It’s is especially great when you get to work on a project that incorporates something your passionate about, in this case Local Food and it’s even better when your clients are such fun to work with. Thanks John, Eris and Jeff!

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Metamorphosis and meaning

August 6, 2010 by Heather Filed Under: Inspiration & Education, Wellness & Mindset 4 Comments

metamorphosis and meaning= transformation or rebirth

I started this blog back in January after many years of fantasizing of starting my own studio. I put blogging aside and even though I have thought over the last 6-7 months about posting here I remained hesitant as I’ve undergone many changes in my life over this period.

At the end of January I lost my job of over 7 years as a senior designer working on custom rug and carpet design. I was shocked, devastated, afraid, excited, angry, hopeful, relieved, worried just to name some of the emotions I have experienced. It is pretty ironic reading back to my early January 1st entry. I will still be exploring this process here but will no longer be doing so anonymously.

I realized pretty quickly that this loss was also a wonderful opportunity to make my own dreams a reality.

Dreams are funny though because sometimes when you come face to face with them you flounder and don’t know where to begin.

I began my metamorphosis by doing a lot of introspection, reading, researching, talking with supportive friends and family and giving myself time to revel in this chance to enjoy my life and recreate it.

As much as I loved moments of my corporate career it had become terribly unsatisfying over the last 2 years as I became bored, unchallenged and lost creative enthusiasm. In hindsight perhaps these were the exact reasons that I lost my job but I also worked very hard and was a loyal employee; something that is becoming more of a novelty in today’s corporate environment.

I decided pretty early on after my job loss that I didn’t want to pursue the same type of career path. I contemplated going into Non-Profit arts, beginning a Non-Profit (which I still aim to do one day), working in a Museum environment or working on a farm. After these ideas of radical change subsided I slowly realized the value in the many years I’ve invested in the world of textile and carpet design. I love so many aspects of design, I love working with clients to create something that evolves from a collaborative vision into a reality.

The process of collaboration is one that I love and am fascinated by. It is something I have explored over the past years as I’ve participated in and organized many collaborative art projects with fellow artist friends. This will be a place for me to share news, sneak peaks, inspiration, and bits of knowledge I will share about this process of launching my dream business.