Tag: asuMFA

Wired Article – Open Source Embroidery

The Open Source Embroidery exhibition is now open at Umeå University’s Bildmuseet. After the show is over there, it’ll be traveling to the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco (October 2009). Wired.com interviewed me in an article about the exhibit and movement.

An online editor for the Craft and Make magazines, Becky Stern is deeply involved in the DIY community. Stern took her love for programming and crafts and meshed it into an embroidered piece that puts a microcontroller board called the LilyPad Arduino at its center.

The LilyPad is a microcontroller board that can be sewn to fabric with conductive thread. The board was designed and developed by Leah Buechley and SparkFun Electronics and it was an idea that fascinated Stern.

Stern took the board and embroidered it into a floral pattern. She added lights and sounds activated by sensors and the microcontroller software. Moving your hand over the piece results in changes in light and sounds generated from the fabric.

Fiber Arctic

My Iceberg piece will be in this show opening Friday, June 12. Kristen Rask, organizer of the show, also did an interview with me on her blog.

Fiber Arctic

Opening June 12, 2009

Exhibition runs June 12 to July 9

Schmancy Gallery

1932 2nd Ave, Seattle

Iceberg

Iceberg
Cotton/Linen Yarn, Acrylic, Sterling Silver, MDF, Ice
2009

This iceberg is made from cotton/linen yarn and then stiffened with acrylic. Inside is a polar bear made from ice which slowly melts down and out through the sterling silver drain on the sloped platform. The iceberg itself was made using a knotless netting technique.

This photo is by Matt Mets. Check out more photos at my Flickr set.

Vicodin Ring

Vicodin Ring

In Case of Emergency
Sterling Silver, Vicodin
2009

To go with my Vicodin earrings, here’s a ring with a bezel-set pill instead of a stone.

Vicodin Ring and Pendant

This photo is by Victoria Altepeter.

Plush Knee

my knee sculpture and video

Ouch, My Femoral Condyle!
Synthetic Fiber and Batting, Steel Stand, DVD Video
2009

I’ve completed the plush model of my knee working from my MRI and arthroscopy images, plus anatomical illustrations I found online. It’s capable of dislocating, just like my real knee, and uses elastic to make the ligaments stretch when the joint is bent. It’s my best soft sculpture yet. Still no fibula. The title is “Ouch, my Femoral Condyle,” after the place on my femur where the cartilage was torn.

I made a video to be displayed with the knee, which is a combination of video shots of my knee dislocating combined with MRI animations and arthroscopy stills. Warning: I’ve been told it’s not for the squeamish.

Plush Knee

Related project: Embroidered MRI Slices

Artificial Sweetener Tablecloth

I constructed this tablecloth from artificial sweetener packets and packing tape. I made the underlying tablecloth, too, then topped the whole thing with a protective (and even more artificial) layer of vinyl. I’m having trouble coming up with a title for this piece. So far I’ve got “You’re Sweet Enough Already,” do you have any suggestions?

If you like this project, try these others!