France (store fronts)

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Toulouse, France

We’re home from a wonderful trip to France, where we spent the first week gallivanting through Provence. Then, we piloted a rented barge along the Canal du Midi from just outside of Toulouse to Argens. Over the past couple of days, I’ve been culling through 1000+ photos, grouping them in my usual collections of windows, doors, streets, misc., etc. I thought I’d start the tour with the iconic images of French store fronts. I’ll be posting more photos over the next few weeks and will be sure to feature Polly’s adventures, too!

Des Baux-de-Provence, France

St. Remy-de-Provence, France

Des Baux-de-Provence, France

St Remy-de-Provence, France

Avignon, France

Marseille, France

St. Remy-de-Provence, France

Elsie Marley goes to Concord

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Salley Mavor

I’m pleased to let you know that an original fabric relief illustration from Pocketful of Posies will be part of a special exhibit at the Concord Museum in Concord, Massachusetts this fall and winter. My contribution is the double page spread of “Donkey, donkey old and gray” and “Elsie Marley, shes so fine, she won’t get up to feed the swine”. I thought this would be a good opportunity to revisit this piece and show some process photos about adding the border.

First, here are the particulars: Oct. 10 – May 3, 2015 ~ Good Night, Sleep Tight: Art from Children’s Literature will feature over twenty original illustrations from classic and contemporary children’s books woven around the themes of bedtime, dreams, and lullabies. My old friend and college mate Beth Krommes will also have an illustration from one of her wonderful books in the show.

I will also be signing books at Author and Illustrator Day on Dec. 7th at the Conc ord Museum, Concord, MA. This event is held in conjunction with the annual exhibit, Family Trees: Celebration of Children’s Literature.

After the illustrations were photographed for the book, I needed to make them presentable for their next life as framed works of art. I cut out pieces of felt to make a border and embroidered them with my initials and the date. Although it took 3 years to make all 51 pieces, I treated the collection as one work and dated each piece 2010, the book’s publication date. Then, I stitched the felt scene and border onto a stretched piece of upholstery fabric. And last, but not least, my husband Rob built wooden shadow box frames for all of them, which you can see here. See posts about making more of the borders here.

Polly’s packed and ready

Posted on September 28, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Polly’s going on another adventure tomorrow! It took the better part of a week for her to figure out what to wear on this trip. She’ll only have one outfit, so it has to work for everything. Polly looked through her clothes from Antarctica, Ireland, California, China Town (San Francisco) and Cuba, but they were not right for this trip.

Polly decided to get something new that was a little more practical and nautical; a simple blue skirt and striped top. An acorn cap beret fits nicely on top of her head, too. Among other things, she’ll be helping navigate a barge along the Canal du Midi in southern France. There will be so much to share when she returns in a couple of weeks!

To keep up with new posts, 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.

“Picking Peas” repair job

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Salley Mavor

“Picking Peas” fabric relief 1986

Do you ever think about how your creations will hold up in the future? Recently, I learned a lesson in the importance of using quality, archival materials. Back in 1986, when I made “Picking Peas”, I didn’t think about those kind of things. I used wire that was the right thickness and was not concerned about what kind of metal it was. It’s my style to use materials I find around, instead of buying everything new. Over the years, using found materials has helped me explore new ways of working. Odd pieces of this and that have pushed me to make bolder design decisions that I would otherwise have made if I just used thread and cloth. But, I learned that if you want your artwork to last beyond a few years or even a generation, you should be more careful about what kind of materials you use.

This summer, I borrowed the “Picking Peas” for my show at Falmouth Museums on the Green. When I picked it up from its owner, I noticed that some pea vines were an orange brown color instead of green. The owner hadn’t noticed the change, but I could see that rust had reared its insidious head! It didn’t help that the piece had been hanging for almost 30 years in a house right on the ocean, with salt air flowing through every open window.

It was clear that something had to be done before the corrosion spread further and parts started crumbling apart. I promised the owner that after the show was over, I would fix the damage before it was returned. This is my first experience with textile conservation, so I proceeded slowly and cautiously. I worked on one section at a time, peeling the pea fence, one side at a time and removing the rusted wire vines. I decided to take the dry approach, and vacuumed away any fine particles. Luckily, the background was made of dark upholstery fabric, which held up pretty well and camouflaged the stains a bit.

I remade the vines, this time using copper jewelry wire and wrapped them with embroidery floss. I did my best to cover the rust stains.

I added the glass peas and plastic leaf beads to the vines.

This is how it looked after everything was put back together. You can hardy see the rust stains, which blend in with the brown background fabric. “Picking Peas” is now back with its owner, hanging just around the corner from a beautiful view of Vineyard Sound.

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

Hither and Yon travels 99 miles

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Earlier this week, we tied Hither and Yon onto the truck and drove 99 miles northwest to its next location in Harvard, MA. To make sure it made the trip in one piece, I wrapped the more delicate, dangling parts with fabric and duct tape. Linda Hoffman, Old Frog Pond Farm’s owner and exhibit coordinator had selected a tree to install my piece. It was at the beginning of a fork in the wooded path, making a natural spot to entice people to walk in the direction of Hither and Yon.

Linda took Rob and me around her amazing property, which includes acres of lovely lily pad ponds, orchards and woods. Her annual sculpture walk at Old Frog Pond Farm was the inspiration for this summer’s Portals and Passageways exhibit at Highfield Hall in Falmouth. Linda and I both had pieces in the show and met at the opening in June. That’s when she asked if I’d like to be a part of her event this fall. I told her that I’d love to and offered Hither and Yon, if the schedule worked out. Well, it couldn’t have worked out better. We took it down one day and installed it in its new location the next day. Despite being outside all summer, the piece is in very good shape. You can see a video about the making of Hither and Yon here.

I encourage everyone in the Boston area to make the trip out to beau-colic Harvard (the town, not the college) to see this show! I hope to meet some of you at the Opening Artist Reception on the 21st.

Around the Pond and Through the Woods ~ Sculpture Walk at Old Frog Pond Farm, Harvard, MA. Opening Artist Reception, Sept. 21, 2014, 1- 5 pm. (I’ll be there!), Open weekends, 1 – 5 pm until Oct. 5.

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.

Closeups: leaves

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Salley Mavor

With autumn quickly approaching and the leaves close to falling from the trees, I thought I’d put together a group of leaf closeups. These images are all details from Pocketful of Posies illustrations. If you already have the book, you can have some fun picking out which pages they come from. The first image is about life size, but the others are blown up so you can see the stitching better. And yes, it’s all hand done. I’ve also got a leaf theme going on my Facebook page this month.

Wedding dolls: Max and Beth

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Salley Mavor

My friend Terry’s son Max got married a few weeks ago. Over the years, Terry and I have worked together on so many fun projects, including these: wedding cake, baby quilt and community quilt. So, Terry and I conspired to make a special surprise for the wedding couple.

I couldn’t wait to make little Max and Beth dolls for the wedding cake. Max and Beth met when they both worked as engineers at the Jet Propulsion Lab in California. Since they helped design parts for NASA’s Mars Rover, it became their obvious prop. Terry found a set of Lego directions for making “Curiosity” and enlisted the help of Max’s cousin to put it together.

Beth’s dress was one of those strapless jobs. Way before the wedding, Terry sent me a photo of the gown, so I could replicate it in miniature. The biggest challenge was to make a smooth transition between the doll’s felt torso and floss wrapped arms. Usually sleeves or shoulder straps provide a break that hide any raw ends. You can see a couple of stitches on the top, where I fastened the top in place. I don’t know how real life women can wear this style, without the help of magic! In this close-up, her felt chest looks a bit fuzzy, hairy even. But that’s wool felt for you! Fortunately, it’s not so noticeable on the 4″ doll size.

I’m glad that Max insisted on wearing a blue blazer and khakis, which gave the wedding a relaxed Cape Cod feel. They both looked spiffy!

Before we go any further, I want to mention that my upcoming how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures ( March 2015) will have many examples of wedding cake toppers for you to make. You can see other wedding dolls I’ve made here.

Terry was originally going to make a Mars cake for the rehearsal dinner, but decided to simplify things by constructing a non-edible “Mars” stand from an inverted bowl covered with fondant. It was tricky to get the color right and she ended up using beet powder, cinnamon and cocoa. Terry rolled out the colored fondant and made impressions with a celestial patterned sheet of plastic and a rolling-pin, both with raised texture. She then spread the dough over the inverted stainless steel bowl. At the dinner, Max and Beth were totally surprised to see their likenesses lounging on the rover. The pair of dolls also made an appearance atop the wedding cake the next day.

Both the rehearsal dinner and wedding were lovely events. Congratulations, Max and Beth!

walk around Edgartown

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Salley Mavor

The island of Martha’s Vineyard is just a few miles off the coast of Woods Hole, but it seems far away, like a separate, insular territory. People are often surprised by its size, 30 miles long, with a half-dozen towns. We like to drive our motor boat over at least once a summer. This time we went to Edgartown, which usually has moorings available for a few hours and the added bonus of a public launch service that takes you to and from your boat in the harbor.

Each town on the island has its own character, from pastoral to gritty. Edgartown is sort of upscale touristy, with lots of high-end shops and manicured properties. It’s pretty, but almost too well-kept up to feel real.

We watched the car ferry make its way across the narrow channel to Chappaquiddick Island. Imagine having to travel this way every time you want to go to the main island.

That’s Chappaquiddick, where the ferry docks on the other side.

There are bicycles everywhere! Car traffic is bad, so traveling by bike is preferred. It was a beautiful day and we had a nice time before getting back to our boat and heading home across the water. I hope that you enjoy this little photo tour of our visit!

Antieau Gallery in Edgartown

Posted on August 29, 2014 by Salley Mavor

Earlier this summer, I found out that fabric artist Chris Roberts-Antieau opened a pop-up gallery in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard. Having her work so close presented an opportunity as well as the motivation to make trip. My goal was to get there before they close Oct 13th. So a couple of weeks ago, Rob and I picked an absolutely beautiful day to drive our boat across the sound to Edgartown harbor. We easily found the gallery on a quiet side street, not far from the bustling tourist shops.

I first saw Chris’s work a few years ago at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore. I was immediately attracted to her style and design sense, not to mention her use of fabric.

We talked with the lovely woman who’s managing the gallery for the summer, while Chris spends time in her Michigan studio. I can hardly believe how prolific Chris is, keeping the walls here and in New Orleans full of art. We learned that she has the help of assistants, who cut out many of the fabric pieces. Chris picks out the fabric and does the sewing machine finish work, though.

I love her sense of humor and the storytelling quality of her pieces. Her work defies categorization and I can see that she’s benefited from going out on her own and not necessarily trying to fit into the art (or craft) world, quilt world or fiber art world. I also get the idea that she’s focused on creating her own vision and presenting it to the world. Now, that’s inspiring!

“Hither and Yon” Video!

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Salley Mavor

I’m excited to share this new Hither and Yon video that my husband Rob made. It documents the making and installation of my sculpture, which is part of this summer’s “Portals and Passageways” exhibit at Highfield Hall and Gardens in Falmouth, MA. The show will be there through Sept. 7th, so there’s still time to roam the beautiful grounds and see all of the varied interpretations of the theme.

Over the spring, Rob filmed the making of the piece, starting with a scene of me cutting down the naturally bowed tree I found in the snowy woods. During the next few weeks, I called him into my studio periodically to record different stages of the process; drawing out the lettering, wrapping wire with felt, stitching and forming the words. The film ends with a time lapse sequence showing the installation of the piece at Highfield Hall. Rob and I had so much fun working on this video. I hope that you enjoy it!

I’ve really liked being involved with the exhibit and connecting with some of the other artists. I met Linda Hoffman, who invited me to bring Hither and Yon to her Frog Pond Farm in Harvard, MA for her annual sculpture walk, Around the Pond and Through the Woods. It looks like a beautiful property and she’s picked out a couple of trees for me choose from. We’ll be transporting the sculpture on top of my car and installing it soon after the Falmouth show ends. The exhibit opens Sept. 14th, 1-5 pm and there’s an artist reception on Sun., Sept 21, which I hope to attend.