Liberty and Justice exhibit in Cotuit

Posted on March 23, 2019 by Salley Mavor

Last September, when my Liberty and Justice exhibit was cancelled at a local venue, due to its political content, 2 arts organizations immediately came to the rescue. The New England Quilt Museum quickly rearranged their exhibition space to accommodate an expanded version of the original concept, which they showed for 3 months last fall. It was their idea to add a section of my earlier work, which my husband Rob labeled “The Innocent Years”. Now, the Cotuit Center for the Arts on Cape Cod is hosting Liberty and Justice: The Sweet to Satirical Art of Salley Mavor until April 20.

To read a review of the show from the Falmouth Enterprise, click here.

The Cotuit Center reports great traffic, with many smiling faces seen on folks coming from the Upper Gallery. They’ve also received applause for their willingness to host the show. A friend told me that she surprised and embarrassed herself by continually laughing out loud, while perusing the exhibit. It’s nice to hear this, because that’s how I imagined the response would be, way back when I first began planning the exhibit. The show has also triggered an emotional release in some viewers, like this woman who wrote to tell me, “I’m uplifted for the first time in three years. I burst into tears last night and realized your art helped me deal with my distress and dismay.”

A friend passed on this comment she received from an acquaintance named Zoe, who went to see the show on her recommendation – “The Mavor exhibit was so perfect and captivating! I’m so interested in the moment where she must have realized that her medium was perfect for what she wanted to say.” She and everyone else can find out on April 13th at 11 AM, when I give my Artist Talk.

For the Cotuit show, I’ve added more framed cartoons and early pieces, and I’ve set up 2 display cases with scenery and props used in the filming of the movie.
The exhibit includes the following:
18 enlarged photographs from the Wee Folk Players series of satirical cartoons (including the doll house set), 13 minute stop-motion animated film – Liberty and Justice: A Cautionary Tale in the Land of the Free, Displays of 3-dimensional characters, props and scenery from the animated film, A collection of earlier work from “the innocent years” – embroidered bas-relief pieces, children’s book illustrations, Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion , Rabbitat and Birds of Beebe Woods.

Liberty and Justice: The Sweet to Satirical Art of Salley Mavor
Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cotuit, Massachusetts
March 2 – April 20, 2019
Artist Talk – “Sweet to Satirical”, Sat., April 13, 2019 at 11:00 AM

The exhibit is an opportunity to see a wide array of works by fiber artist and illustrator, Salley Mavor, who has recently added political satire to her repertoire. She uses small dolls as a metaphor for living in a safe controlled environment that has been taken over by outside political forces. The exhibit features a collection of photographs of scenes she created in a doll house and a stop-motion animated film, which satirize the Trump administration. The original dolls and props used in the film will also be on display. Although Ms. Mavor’s foray into political art is the centerpiece of the show, the exhibition also includes original embroidered children’s book illustrations and other artwork from earlier in her 40-year career. The inclusion of these pieces tracks the evolution of her artistic journey from “innocence” to tackling real world issues.

The exhibit is located upstairs, with the wall facing the balcony dedicated to the sweet section of the show. By far, the favorite in this group is Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion , which a lot of people can relate to.

Rabbitat, detail 2011
Hush-a-bye baby, 2010
Birds of Beebe Woods, 2012

Self-Portrait, 2007
“The Red Chair”, 1994
Walking the Dog, 2005
“Hickety pickety my black hen” 2010
Jerry Hall, 2010
“Queen with Duster”, 1995
“Pocketful of Posies” 2010
Pink House. detail 1995
Mary Had a Little Lamb 1995

The politically satirical portion is shown in 2 side spaces. One has the Liberty and Justice film and display cases full of the real dolls, props and scenery used in the film-making process. The other side has the photographic “cartoons” and the doll-house stage set.

For the show, I matted and framed 18 enlarged photographs of the Wee Folk Players cartoons, which were produced in the first 6 months after the election.

Michelle Law, the center’s gallery manager, was incredibly helpful and a delight to work with during the installation.

Fireside Tweet
Flat Earth Society
Civics Lesson
Coffee Break
Abraham’s Lament
Wonderland Ex-Press

The doll house, which I made in art school over 40 years ago is also on display. It served as a stage for the Wee Folk Players in many of the scenarios we photographed.

I hope that those of you who live within a manageable distance of Cape Cod can make a trip to see the show, which runs until April 20 at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cotuit, Massachusetts. I will give a talk about the evolution of my art from “Sweet to Satirical” on Sat., April 13th at 11 AM.

Next, a portion of this exhibit will be included in The Art of Cute, which takes a serious look at a powerful aesthetic that is often not taken seriously. Some of my topical and political work will be displayed in the Meta Cute or “beyond” cute category. This part of the exhibit explores how cute, combined with other aesthetics, can create meaningful art that is ironic, disturbing, political, joyous humorous and provocative.
THE ART OF CUTE
Brick Store Museum, Kennebunk, Maine
May 1- August 31, 2019
Curated and produced by the Illustration Institute

To keep up with new posts, please subscribe to this blog (top right column on the home page). Your contact info will not be sold or shared. If you’d like to see more frequent photos tracking the projects in my studio, please follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram.

Migration exhibit

Posted on March 17, 2019 by Salley Mavor

Friday night was the opening reception for MIGRATION at the Imago Gallery in Warren RI. The curated exhibit includes a wide array of art on the subject of migration, refugees and displaced peoples. The amazing sculptor, Harriet Diamond and I are the featured artists in the show. I really enjoyed meeting her and look forward to our gallery talk on Sunday, March 24 at 1:00 PM. Harriet and I will begin with short visual presentations about our art and then we’ll have a conversation with each other and the audience. The show will be up until April 20th, so I hope that those of you from Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts can get over there to see it. IMAGO Gallery hours: Thursday 4-8 | Friday and Saturday 12-8 | Sunday 11-3

Harriet and I chatted about the many facets of our art that we share – we both make sculpture, use small doll-like figures, present narratives that tell the human story and portray a range of social scenarios from the everyday to topical subjects. Please scroll down to see photos of her powerful and ambitious project. Four of my bas-relief embroidered pieces are on display: Face Time, Cover Up, Whiskers and Displaced.

Face Time
Cover Up
Whiskers
Displaced, 24″ H x 22″ W, 2016

Artist Harriet Diamond’s work “Driven From Their Homes,” is a hybrid installation sculpture and illusionistic scene that chronicles the horrors of the Syrian War and diaspora. As Diamond notes, the work “depicts an episodic journey of refugee people fleeing from the terrible destruction of their home city” to an unknown future. Each figure struggles to cope, to grieve, to endure. “It is a dark scene, but it’s also roiling with life.” Because of the size and scope of this piece, viewers will be surrounded by the scenes as they unfold. All human emotions, from fear to desolation, from courage to heroism, are etched in the faces of these victims of war. It is the artist’s fervent hope that by telling this story the “terrible truth of war” will become “more present and real to us.”

I am blown away by the power of “Driven From Their Home”. There is so much to take in. The figures are constructed of clay and the building structures are styrofoam slabs painted to look like concrete. She has set up this installation in several locations, piecing together the many parts like a puzzle.

If you make the trip to see the show, please know that there’s a great little eatery next door – Eli’s Kitchen. Here are the dates of the show and talk:

MIGRATION
Imago Foundation for the Arts, Warren, Rhode Island
March 14 – April 20, 2019 – Show Dates
Sunday, March 24 @ 1:00 PM – Artist Talk with featured artists Harriet Diamond and Salley Mavor.
IMAGO Gallery is located at 36 Market Street, Warren, RI 02885 – 401 245 3348 – Open Thurs 4 – 8; Fri and Sat 12 – 8; Sun 11 – 3 and by appointment.

To see my current schedule of exhibits and talks, click here.

3 upcoming exhibits

Posted on February 22, 2019 by Salley Mavor

This spring, there will be three opportunities to see my work up close and personal in New England. I wish all of you could see the real thing in 3D, because it’s a totally different experience than looking at photos online or in books. With that in mind, inquiries from curators and venues in other parts of the country are always welcome!

For these three shows, I was specifically invited to exhibit my new topical and political work. That feels affirming, since breaking out of my comfort zone to tackle real world issues has been unsettling at times. And I’m excited that my work is being recognized outside of the fiber art world. I think that in order for fiber art to be taken seriously in the larger art world, it needs to hold its own when viewed side-by-side with other kinds of art. Opportunities to do this are limited, so I’m thankful for the chance to exhibit my work along with a variety of mediums, sometimes as the only fiber artist. That is also the case in the illustration world, where the majority are painters or computer artists. In this broader context, I am viewed as a visual communicator who just happens to use a needle and thread to say something. But one can’t ignore the unique visceral connection to techniques and materials that fiber art offers. I know that stitching is an integral part of my experience of making art, as well as how others perceive it. How one makes art is an important part of the symbiotic relationship between message and medium. In a simple sense, the creative process comes down to individual marks or gestures that add up to something whole, whether it be with brush strokes, body moves, musical notes, typed letters or stitches.

Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion

THE EXHIBITS
Liberty and Justice; The Sweet to Satirical Art of Salley Mavor is moving back home to Cape Cod after its successful run at the New England Quilt Museum. My work will also be shown in two curated thematic exhibits – Migration in Warren, RI and The Art of Cute in Kennebunk, ME.

The amazing sculptor, Harriet Diamond and I are featured artists in Migration, a show about migration, refugees and displaced peoples. The Art of Cute takes a serious look at a powerful aesthetic that is often not taken seriously. My works will be examples of how how cute, combined with other aesthetics, can create meaningful art that is ironic, disturbing, political, joyous, humorous and provocative.

LIBERTY and JUSTICE:
The Sweet to Satirical Art of Salley Mavor

Props and characters from “Liberty and Justice” animation

Liberty and Justice: The Sweet to Satirical Art of Salley Mavor
Cotuit Center for the Arts, Cotuit, Massachusetts
March 2 – April 20, 2019, Opening Reception – Mar. 2, 5 – 7 PM
Artist Talk – “Sweet to Satirical”, Sat., April 13, 2019 at 11:00 AM

The exhibit is an opportunity to see a wide array of works by fiber artist and illustrator, Salley Mavor, who has recently added political satire to her repertoire. She uses small dolls as a metaphor for living in a safe controlled environment that has been taken over by outside political forces. The exhibit features a collection of photographs of scenes she created in a doll house and a stop-motion animated film, which satirize the Trump administration. The original dolls and props used in the film will also be on display. Although Ms. Mavor’s foray into political art is the centerpiece of the show, the exhibition also includes original embroidered children’s book illustrations and other artwork from earlier in her 40-year career. The inclusion of these pieces tracks the evolution of her artistic journey from “innocence” to tackling real world issues.

The exhibit will include the following:
18 enlarged photographs from the Wee Folk Players series of satirical cartoons (including the doll house set), 13 minute stop-motion animated film – Liberty and Justice: A Cautionary Tale in the Land of the Free, Display of 3-dimensional characters, props and scenery from the animated film, A collection of earlier work from “the innocent years” – children’s book illustrations, Self Portrait: A Personal History of Fashion , Rabbitat and Birds of Beebe Woods.

MIGRATION

MIGRATION
Imago Foundation for the Arts, Warren, Rhode Island
March 14 – April 21, 2019 – Show Dates
Friday, March 15th @ 6:00 PM – Opening Reception
Sunday, March 24 @ 1:00 PM – Artist Talk with featured artists Harriet Diamond and Salley Mavor.

Sculptor Harriet Diamond and Salley Mavor are the featured artists in this group exhibit about migration, refugees and displaced peoples. Four of Mavor’s bas-relief embroidered pieces will be on display – Displaced, Whiskers, Cover Up and Face Time.

THE ART OF CUTE

THE ART OF CUTE
Brickstore Museum, Kennebunk, Maine
May 1- August 31, 2019
Curated and produced by the Illustration Institute

The Art Of Cute takes a serious look at a powerful aesthetic that is often not taken seriously. The exhibit is organized into three sections: Normative Cute, Applied Cute and Meta Cute and will explore why we are drawn to that which is cute and how its impact is felt in life, in design and in art.

A selection of Salley Mavor’s topical and political work will be displayed in the Meta Cute or “beyond” cute category. This part of the exhibit explores how cute, combined with other aesthetics, can create meaningful art that is ironic, disturbing, political, joyous humorous and provocative.

Still from “Liberty and Justice” animation

Bed Book Peek: North America (part 3)

Posted on February 16, 2019 by Salley Mavor

In this Part 3, I will describe making all the miscellaneous elements in the children’s bedroom. Part 1 was about the little girl and her bed and Part 2 showed the baby, the crib and the dog.

Update: Signed copies of My Bed can ordered in my shop here. 40 pages, 9″ x 9″, words by Rebecca Bond, pictures by Salley Mavor, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-94906-5

The scene will be included in My Bed, a book about where children sleep around the world, with each spread depicting a different culture and living environment. The story is written by Rebecca Bond and will be published by HoughtonMifflin in 2020. Here are links to posts showing other finished illustrations for the book:
Holland, South America, Japan, India, Afghanistan, Russia, North Africa and Iran.
To see a list of all my books, click here.

Besides making the figures, my favorite part of creating an illustration is filling the artwork with elements that help develop the characters and tell their story. Most of the spreads in this book show the children’s environment both inside and out. In this one, the wholly interior scene was an opportunity to indulge my passion for miniatures, from the wall paper to the lampshade. Making objects in relief is a lot different than rendering mini replicas of furniture for a doll house, though. Since the maximum depth I have to work with is 1 inch, everything is pretty flat and is made to look more sculptural than it really is.

The lampshade is embroidered felt, with wire stitched to the top and bottom rims for structure. I added dangling seed beads to give it some personality. As you can see, the shade is just half a circle, with the flat back sewn to the wall. The lamp is a miniature turned wooden pot that I sawed in half and painted.

Even the kid’s drawings on the wall are embroidered on felt. Chain stitching is my go-to method for forming lines.

This is the first time I’ve made a basket with silk ribbon. In the past, I’ve woven them with thread wrapped wire, like the egg basket in Pocketful of Posies. Like the lampshade, it’s made in relief (about 1/2″), with a flat back. I really like the silk ribbon made by Silk Road Fibers. I used it other scenes for this book, including the palm fronds in North Africa.

I made blocks to fill the toy basket by coloring square wooden beads with different colored magic markers. It’s important to find parts with holes, so you can sew them in place. Just like with painting doll heads, I strung them on a pipe cleaner for support.

Then, I sewed the basket to the background fabric.

Through the window, you can see a thread wrapped tree branch. It’s inside a balsa wood box that I sewed in back, behind the background fabric. I’ve used this method in other scenes where I want to show receding depth. It’s a way to make use of the hidden space inside the stretcher.

This little toy car reminded me of the pins I used to make.

I may have reached my mini limit with this purple bear.

I hope you enjoyed taking an inside look at making this scene for My Bed.
Part 1 is about the little girl and her bed and Part 2 shows the baby, the crib and the dog.

To keep up with new posts, please subscribe to this blog. Your contact info will not be sold or shared. If you’d like to see more frequent photos tracking the projects in my studio, please follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram

Bed book peek – North America (part 2)

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Salley Mavor

In part 1, we were introduced to this little girl in her cozy bed and quilt. In this part 2, I will describe how I made her baby sibling sleeping in a crib and her pet dog lying on a rug. Part 3 will come next, with photos of all the miscellaneous elements in the bedroom.

Update: Signed copies of My Bed can ordered in my shop here. 40 pages, 9″ x 9″, words by Rebecca Bond, pictures by Salley Mavor, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-94906-5

The scene will be included in My Bed, a book about where children sleep around the world, with each spread depicting a different culture and living environment. Here are links to posts showing other finished illustrations for the book:
Holland, South America, Japan, India, Afghanistan, Russia, North Africa and Iran. To see a list of all my books, click here.

When making the baby’s head, I was faced with the dilemma of how to deal with the bead hole on top. Normally, when making a doll from my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk, the hole is covered with hair or a hat. But in this case I wanted to paint on the hair. So, I glued a small scrap of black felt inside the whole, which blended in with the painted bead surface.

I must say that it felt strange to lay the baby face up, instead of on their stomach, which is what I did in the 80’s with my kids. But, that’s what you’re supposed to do now for their safety. This is just one example of the kind of things that come up when you illustrate a children’s book.

The head, foot and bottom of the crib are made of wood, but the sides are formed with wire, wrapped in embroidery floss. I love using wire for detailed touches because it’s cooperative and strong at the same time. I’d say, when you can’t figure out how to get something to hold its shape, use wire. I use non tarnish beading wire in a variety of gauges and Soft Flex wire for straight lines or wide curves.

I made a black and white mobile-like contraption from beads and wire to hang over the crib. Have you noticed the black and white products for newborns? The reason is that that the sharp contrast of black and white is easier for them to see when their vision is still blurry. So much for pastels.

Now, let’s look at the dog making process. If you follow the other posts about animals for the book, you’ll see that I use pipe cleaners to form their basic shapes. I wrapped the dog’s legs with wool tapestry yarn, so the color and texture would blend with its wool felt body.

For my illustrations, I make all of the parts in shallow relief – characters, animals, furniture, architecture, foliage and everything. After the parts are made separately, they are arranged and sewn to a background fabric. For photographic and framing purposes, nothing should stick up more than an inch from the surface. With that in mind, this dog was made to lay flat on a rug. It didn’t have to be able to stand up or have its back viewed.

I then covered the legs and formed the body and tail with felt.

Looking at this photo, it’s hard to see how the dog’s head was attached to the rest of the body. There is a seam at the neck, but I smoothed the felt fibers a bit with a needle, to cover the stitching. The finishing touch was a stitched fur texture on its body and ears.

Then I stitched a circular felt rug for the dog to sleep on.

After the dog was sewn in place, I added a knotted rope chewy toy, made with beads and perle cotton. Please stay tuned for part 3, which will conclude the series and show all of the miscellaneous elements in the bedroom.

Bed book peek: North America (part 1)

Posted on February 2, 2019 by Salley Mavor

This illustration features a little girl and her doll, tucked in and cozy under a quilt. She’s looking at a book in bed, in her bedroom, someplace in North America. The scene will be included in MY BED, a book about where children sleep around the world, with each spread depicting a different culture and living environment.
Here are links to posts showing other finished illustrations for the book:
Holland, South America, Japan, India, Afghanistan, Russia, North Africa, Ghana and Iran. To see a list of all my books, click here.

Update: Signed copies of My Bed can be ordered in my shop here . Watch this 8 minute documentary about how I created the illustrations for the book.

I’m steadily making progress on the book, with the intention of meeting the deadline in a few months. This kind of work can’t be sped up and just takes the time it takes, kind of like children growing up. It’s important that my art have a handmade quality that shows that a real human being labored over it. If I can’t be in my studio, I stitch during every possible moment – in the car (in the passenger seat) and while waiting for appointments. Of course, I sleep, cook dinner, go to exercise class and even pay attention to my husband. Winter is speeding by too fast, but then I’ve come to the age where it seems like my life is going by in a blur. There’s no such thing as boredom.

The quilt is embroidered with pastel colored cotton flower thread on wool felt. I chain stitched the squares from the outside in, around and around, like a Greek key pattern.

I’ve been using the chain stitch a lot in this book, as a way to fill in areas. After the squares were finished, I noticed that they needed more definition, so I outlined them with a darker purple and rose color.

I made the girl’s body out of pipe cleaners and her head from a wooden bead, using the same basic doll-making techniques that are in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk.

Her doll has the tiniest wood bead head that I could find.

The book she’s holding is felt, edged with blanket stitch and wire to give it form. Otherwise it would be too floppy. I built the bed’s head and foot board of wood, gluing the parts together.

Her room has furnishings, too, such as this chest of drawers.

And there’s wall paper, which I decorated by stitching a vertical leafy vine on gold striped upholstery fabric.

This is the first in a 3 part series about making the scene. There are many more elements to show, which you can get a glimpse of in the photo below. Please stay tuned for parts 2 and 3.

Wee Folk playing cards!

Posted on January 25, 2019 by Salley Mavor

I am excited to announce a new set of Felt Wee Folk playing cards! Aren’t they a perfect way for all ages to enjoy the wee folk? C&T Publishing has just added the cards to their product line, which also includes the 1st and 2nd editions of my how-to book Felt Wee Folk. After selling out earlier this week, they’ve been restocked in my Etsy Shop. I also want to take this opportunity to let you know that I’ve added some doll-making supplies to the shop – wool fleece fairy hair, flower petal skirts and wings.

Wool fleece fairy hair
fairy making supplies

C&T Publishing’s catalog describes them this way:
The popular Felt Wee Folk, created by best-selling author Salley Mavor, spring to life in an imaginative deck of playing cards. Each felt doll is shown in exquisite detail, so their outsize personalities shine through. So cute you will want to play with them all, these popular playing cards make a great gift for crafters and children, but will be loved by all!

• Unique set of playing cards based on Salley Mavor’s much-beloved Felt Wee Folk books
• Adorable characters handcrafted with love
• This set makes a fun gift for everyone—especially crafters, children, and the young at heart

Standard Size: 2.375″ x 3.5″

Retailers please take note:
The cards are sold in boxes of a dozen in an attractive POP (point of purchase) display.

C&T Publishing – ISBN 978-1-61745-806-4

bed book peek: camel

Posted on January 13, 2019 by Salley Mavor

I don’t know if I could survive a year without hunkering down in my studio during the cold months of January and February. It’s like a gift of time, when you can focus and get things done, without warm weather distractions. My plan is to make as much progress as possible on my picture book My Bed: Enchanting Ways to Sleep around the World. The summer deadline looms large and no matter what I do, the process cannot be sped up. So, that means stitching in front of the fire in the evening, too. I’m not complaining – this is my happy place! For the past year or so, I’ve been sharing photos of the book’s progress on this blog, with more frequent updates on Facebook and Instagram, which a follower called “a daily dose of eye candy.” The story, which features children in different cultures and living environments, was written by Rebecca Bond and will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2020.

Update: Signed copies of My Bed can be ordered in my shop here. Watch this 8 minute documentary about how I created the illustrations for the book.

Today, I’d like to show how I made a two hump, or Bactrian camel, which will be a spot illustration to go with the North African scene.

UPDATE: I am thankful to Anna from Alaska, who pointed out that African camels are the dromedary or one-hump type, which shows sloppy research on my part. So, I’ve just transformed this guy’s two-humps into one! It’s better to find out now, before the book is printed and smart little kids write in to correct me!

For a guide, I used this wooden toy camel that I made in the mid-80’s, when I went through a period of cutting out shapes on a jig saw.

The legs were made by wrapping embroidery floss around a bent pipe cleaner, just like the dolls’ limbs in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk.

Here, I’m stitching a blanket with fringe to the simple cut-out felt shape of the camel.

The chain stitch is becoming my favorite way to “draw” and “color in” with thread these days.

I stitched the front and back pieces together with a blanket stitch. But before that, I sewed the seed bead eye in place and embroidered the heavy eyelid. The bead is probably set inside a small slit, cut into the felt. Sometimes, I can’t remember exactly how things are done, which is why these peeks behind the scenes are really too vague to be tutorials.

I cut out a felt ear, outlined it in blanket stitch and and sewed it to the head. I like to add details, even in the smallest of figures and thought that a little hair on the head and neck would make this camel more distinctive.

Here’s an even smaller camel, which will be included in another scene in the book. I think I’ve reached my size limit with this one!

bed book peek : duck

Posted on January 5, 2019 by Salley Mavor

Let’s start the new year with a duck. It’ll be a spot illustration in my new picture book, My Bed: Celebrating Children’s Beds Around the World. Each double page spread will have a text panel with a corresponding animal. The duck will appear alongside the scene with a houseboat in Holland, which you can see here.

Update: Signed copies of My Bed can be ordered in my shop here. Watch this 8 minute documentary about how I created the illustrations for the book.

As with the other animals I’ve made so far (elephant and goldfish, parrot and sheep, rooster, cat, camel and bunny. I start with research photos. In this case, I searched for pictures of a classic rubber ducky, with webbed feet. I was so interested in figuring out how to make the feet, that I tackled them first. That turned out to be a mistake because they ended up being too small and out of proportion to the body that came later.

The duck is a good example of how I really work, which is not in a straight line, but here, there and everywhere. My creative process is full of experiments that may or may not end up in the finished piece, but they are essential to getting there.

The second pair of feet (pictured below) are a little bit larger and more neatly defined. It’s not unusual for me to take several tries to get something the way I imagine it. There’s a lot of ripping out and starting over, which is one of the advantages of using thread. For the feet, I devised a kind of weaving stitch that created the webbing between the 3 toes.

The body and wing are made of 2 shades of yellow felt.

The beak was a bit tricky to get to look right and took several attempts. It started with a thread wrapped piece of wire that’s bent into two V shapes for the top and bottom of the beak.

I then stitch the thread wrapped wire onto the head. The round shape of the head is from a wooden bead that is covered with felt, which I forgot to document with a photo. I wasn’t happy with how this beak (below photo) was coming out, so I ripped it out and started over.

I’ve had practice making bird beaks for the Birds of Beebe Woods and the Twitter Bird in my animated film, Liberty and Justice, but it’s like a new experience every time. When faced with a new challenge, I let my hands guide me, trusting that a solution will appear. That’s what keeps it interesting and never boring!

This is the second try at forming the duck’s beak.

After stitching the top and bottom beak in place, I wrapped thread around the wire. I then added a seed bead eye and stitched on the wing.

It looks like I opened up the bottom of the duck’s body to make room for it’s legs. They were the last to stitch in place, with the first pair lingering in the sidelines.

After looking at the duck for a while, I decided that it need more personality. The plain rubber ducky look just wasn’t enough! So I added some details, like the embroidered feather texture and the distinguishing lines on the wings.

2018 – precious to provocative

Posted on December 27, 2018 by Salley Mavor

It’s been quite a year. Thank you for coming along on my artistic journey, which I endeavor to make entertaining, as well as thought provoking. It’s encouraging to know that you are out there, interested in what’s happening at Wee Folk Studio!

To help review the year, I’ve organized a list of all of the posts published on this blog in 2018. They are grouped by topic, including a miscellaneous category at the end. Like my work, the subject matter ranges from precious to provocative. Along with the ubiquitous fairies and Polly Doll adventures, there’s our animated film, “Liberty and Justice” and the exhibit that caused a ruckus. I also documented the process of making a new picture book, “My Bed: Where Children Sleep Around the World”, which will continue into 2019. I hope you enjoy the 2018 tour.

Animation Stage for Liberty and Justice

Liberty and Justice Animated Film
Rob and I spent a year in the basement, making our 14 minute stop-motion animation, Liberty and Justice: A Cautionary Tale in the Land of the Free. We learned as we went, filming over 100 scenes. I made and animated the dolls and props and Rob designed the lighting, operated the camera equipment and edited the film. The movie was completed and released earlier this year. Get a look behind the scenes in the following posts:

Liberty and Justice in process 1/1/2018
All that glitters 2/25/2018
Animated movie logo 4/16/2018
Liberty and justice – the movie 4/24/2018
Liberty and Justice film festival debut 7/7/2018
Costuming despots and innocents 8/5/2018
Liberty and Justice film on YouTube 8/29/2018

Still from “Liberty and Justice” animation

costuming

Gold house

Campaign parade

Lurking in the shadows

filming Wee Folk Studio logo

WGBH Open Studio interview with Jared Bowen

Censorship and the Liberty and Justice Exhibit
It took me awhile to understand that being called a badass is a high form of praise these days. I was as unfamiliar with the term as spellcheck, which automatically underlines it in red, as if it is too hot to handle. But, after experiencing the cancellation of my exhibit because of its political content and the subsequent uproar, I’m enjoying the label, no matter how ridiculous it sounds. Over the past 2 years, I’ve made art that shows a provocative side that has always been there – it just needed a good enough reason to reveal itself. The following links cover the story of the Liberty and Justice exhibition:

Censored 9/6/2018
The show must go on 9/22/2018
Liberty and Justice for all! 9/30/2018
New England Quilt Museum Steps Up 10/12/2018
Happenings of Note 10/20/2018
WGBH Interview with Jared Bowen 10/12/2018

Reaction

Liberty and Justice film

NE Quilt Museum

“The Innocent Years” portion of the exhibit at the NE Quilt Museum

Signage at the NE Quilt Museum

Display of dolls and props from the animated film

Close up from Afghanistan page in My Bed

Bed Book
This year, I’ve focused on illustrating a new picture book that explores varied cultures from around the world. My Bed: Where Children Sleep Around the World is written by Rebecca Bond and will be published by HoughtonMifflin in 2020. I’m really enjoying the process and am falling more and more in love with the children and their living environments as time goes on. The end of the project is near, but there’s still a lot to do before late Spring, when the finishes are due! The following links document the process of making scenes and animal icons that were completed in 2018:

Holland (part 1), (part 2), (part 3)
N. Africa (part 1), (part 2),(part 3)
Iran (part 1), (part 2), (part 3)
Russia (part 1), (part 2), (part 3)
Afghanistan (part 1), (part 2)
India (part 1), (part 2), (part 3)

Persian Cat
Rooster
Parrot and sheep
Elephant and Goldfish

Holland

N. Africa

Iran

India

Russia

Animal Icons

Stitching fairy tunics in the Edinburgh Airport

Ltd. Edition Fairies
Even though I’ve moved on from fairies, I still like to take projects to work on while traveling. So, every once in a while, depending on my schedule, a Ltd. Edition of 25 Fairies makes its way into my Etsy Shop. This year I completed 2 fairies, Honeydew and Petunia. You can see the process of making them here:
Honeydew
Petunia