Soft Sculpture: Transforming Fabric Scraps
That bolt of red velvet was what started it all for me - I was captivated by the endless possibilities of textures, colors, designs, and weights that could be created with fabric but what would I do with each piece?
I first fell in love with textiles when I was just 16, working as a fabric specialist at the now-defunct Rag Shop. That bolt of red velvet was what started it all for me - captivated by the endless possibilities of textures, colors, designs, and weights that could be created with fabric. And I was completely in awe of the people who could sew and bring those possibilities to life.
Over the years, my love affair with fabric led me to collect scraps, samples, and bolts, which I've been hauling around and storing away. But even with my large collection, the thought of cutting into the fabric always filled me with apprehension and fear of wasting it, especially if I didn't have a plan or the skills to sew it up properly. So, I just held onto my collection, waiting for the right moment.
When the moment finally came in 2022, I sat down to create my first soft sculpture - a flower. The design process for my soft sculptures is less structured and more about feel. I don't use patterns - I just cut the fabric and figure it out as I go. It's a method that works for me, even though I've had a difficult time committing to cutting the fabric.
I have a lot of fabric in my collection, and it's easy to feel scared about using up the full pieces that I have. But I remind myself that there is tons of fabric in the world, and that helps me overcome my apprehension. With each piece that I create, I'm gaining more confidence in my ability to cut and shape the fabric to create something beautiful.
Soft sculptures are typically made using supple and non-rigid materials such as cloth, foam rubber, plastic, paper, fibers, and similar materials. Artists like Claes Oldenburg and Yayoi Kusama popularized the art form in the 60s, creating large-scale fine art pieces that were not meant to be touched.
My soft sculptures are different. I aim to engage your sense of touch, which is why each piece is created with a different textured fabric. From a soft, plush velvet to a rough, burlap-like material, I want to bring a new dimension of sensory experience to my art. With each soft sculpture, I'm learning more about the possibilities of fabric and creating something that's not only beautiful but also tactile and engaging.
When we moved to upstate New York, I was enamored with the variety of flowers and colors. Each season had something different - purple crocus then yellow daffodils and tulips, then the forsythia and then the lilacs. I love flowers but have not been the most successful with growing them. As you can probably tell, I'm a "throw the seeds to the wind" kinda person. Anyways, I had been working on another collection about flowers from another planet using colored acrylic plastic. I cut the plastic and turned them into hanging flowers. It's still at its starting phases, but it inspired the soft sculpture flower.
Creating soft sculptures with a tactile twist is a way for me to explore the possibilities of fabric and bring a new sensory experience to my art. Each piece is a labor of love, and I'm excited to continue experimenting with different textures, colors, and designs. Who knows where this journey will take me - all I know is that I'm happy to be surrounded by my beloved textiles, creating something beautiful and engaging for others to enjoy.
From Potter to Patient: My Journey with Wheel Throwing
Making the decision to step back from wheel throwing was pretty dang hard. It meant giving up a big part of my studio practice and rethinking our entire wholesale catalog.
It's been five years since I started my journey with wheel throwing. Over the years, I've created hundreds if not thosands of beautiful pieces that I never could have imagined. But last year, my passion for pottery hit a breaking point. My hands and wrists could no longer handle the pressure and stress of the craft. At the end of each day, I'd wrap my hands in ice or soak in a hot bath just to relieve the pain. As the year went on, I started to experience numbness in my fingers and a weak grip.
Making the decision to step back from wheel throwing was pretty dang hard. It meant giving up a big part of my studio practice and rethinking our entire wholesale catalog. But, my health had to come first. I couldn't continue down the path of pain and injury. So, I made the difficult but necessary decision to limit my time on the wheel and find new ways to express my creativity.
This change has been a challenge, but it's also been an opportunity for growth. I've had to get creative and find new ways to incorporate my love for pottery into my work. I've started experimenting with hand-building techniques and incorporating other materials into my pieces. It's been a journey of self-discovery, and I'm excited to see where it will take me.
My experience with wheel throwing has been both rewarding and challenging. It has taught me the importance of taking care of my body and finding balance in my studio practice. I may have had to step back from the wheel for now, but my passion for pottery will never fade.
Hand-built Ceramic Jars
Pottery Highlights: Custom Child's Tea Set
Check out this one of a kind Tea Set that we created
Hey there! Welcome to "Pottery Highlights" from Wild Bower Studio, where we celebrate the art of handmade pottery. We're proud to share our passion for pottery with you and showcase our unique creations, including stunning custom children's tea sets. In this series, we'll take you behind the scenes and share photos and stories about our creative process at Wild Bower Studio. From the techniques and materials we use to the moments of inspiration, we'll give you a glimpse into the world of Wild Bower Studio's handmade pottery. So sit back, relax, and let's explore the beauty of handcrafted pottery together!
Do you have a BFF that you've known since you were in first grade? Well, we do and let us tell you, our childhood was filled with dolls, tea sets, and endless imaginative play. Recently, we stumbled upon some of our old tea sets from the days when sunflowers, carrots, and roses were the height of tea set fashion. And, that got us thinking about creating something special for our dear friend.
Meet our first Custom Child's Tea Set, designed for a young girl (our best friend’s daughter) who loves to play pretend and host tea parties. She’s a great host and we thought she could use an extra special tea set .This set was created with the goal of making playtime even more fun and imaginative. After all, who says tea sets have to be boring and delicate?
Project Outline:
Create a custom tea set that's fit for a 3-year-old tea party boss who loves cats and unicorns
Make it easy for lefties to join in on the fun
Ensure it can survive a good toss or two (or ten) during playtime
We used a Laguna white midrange clay body and threw all the pieces on the wheel. Trimming was followed by adding handbuilt elements like rainbows, butterflies, and raised areas. The painted pieces were fired twice, and we added some sparkle with gold and Mother of Pearl highlights. The biggest challenges were working with small pieces and dealing with our kiln, which got a little too excited and caused some excessive glaze dripping.
And, because every tea party needs a good picnic basket, we put together a basket to store the pieces, a table cloth, and a few napkins. We even found a few extras at yard sales!
We hope that this custom children's tea set will bring joy and imagination to Pea and inspire others to create something special for their loved ones. After all, life's too short to drink boring tea and have dull tea parties!
2022 Garden Haul & Food Storage
recapping how our garden went this year and our plans for next
This year marked our 3rd on the homestead and our 2nd year of garden! I’m realizing more and more how important it is to know where your food is coming from and it doesn’t get much more transparent than just growing it yourself. It’s hard work but I’ve found a lot of joy in the process and so far each year has gotten much easier (it’s still frickin hard).
June 2022 - The garden has begun!
Before moving to upstate NY we lived in the concrete jungle of Brooklyn with our above ground garden. More and more I’ve realized just how much living there had affected me and my perspective. While energetic and inspiring I always felt not quite right like I wasn’t meant to stay.
It was never my plan to live in the city but I got a sick job that at the time I really loved but jobs aren’t the only reason to be somewhere. Standing amongst thousands of blurry bodies hustling around trying to make a living, find love, find themselves etc was overwhelming for me. So we left and started our next chapter upstate.
Our garden now stands in hopefully it’s forever home and boyyyyyy am I so frickin proud of the it this year. We’ve started to figure out what we really like to eat (kale, tomatoes, squash) and what gets wasted (eggplant, cucumbers, green peppers) along with how we can store food for the winter. And what seemed really daunting last year felt so much easier this year, which I was really thankful for. Currently we freeze, dehydrate and use the water canning method to store our food.
Dehydrating was probably one of my favorites. After a month of drought we finally had a weekend of rain and with moisture comes mushrooms. I was in luck because on our land was a ton of oyster mushrooms ready to be harvested. The ones we couldn’t eat right away were then dehydrated to use for soups and other recipes. Also a fun veggie to dehydrate is squash & zucchini! Scroll down to see what it looks like.
Next year we plan to start our seeds early esp the luffa, which you know I’ve been trying really hard to grow but our growing season is very short. In other news - we’ll be expanding the garden to include a chicken run that is full of fruiting trees, building out water collection and drainage systems, we’ll grow as many strawberries as possible (my favorite jam), finally making hot sauce… and much more. Can’t wait to start planning!
Let me know in the comments what you’re excited to grow or looking forward to in Spring
Last haul of the 2022 season
Dehydrated Summer Squash & Zucchini - great for soups and stews
Homemade Fire Cider for the days we need a boost in immunity or just a little extra flavor in our soups - Recipe
Some of our canned food - mostly tomato sauce and paste
Foraged Oyster Mushrooms - Our summer was so dry soI didn’t expect to see any mushrooms. These popped up at the very end of Summer after a few days of rain. The majority of these were cleaned, cut up and dehydrated for soups and stews.
A day at Dia Beacon!
Maybe you’ve been or maybe you’ve never even heard about Dia let alone their location in Beacon so let me introduce you. Dia Beacon occupies the former Nabisco box-printing factory on the Hudson River. According to its Wiki page Dia Beaon is one of the largest exhibition spaces in the country for modern and contemporary art - wow! That makes sense because the work exhibited takes up a lot of space like this Richard Serra piece below…
Richard Serra
There are individual galleries fashioned specifically for the creations from individual artists like Richard Serra (scroll down), Michael Heizer, Dan Flavin, Louise Bourgeois and more!
When the Land Art artists began they wanted to remove the white wall gallery space from their work, which is why they went outside. Folks like Robert Smithson, Nancy Holt, Agnes Denes, Walter Di Maria, James Turrell explored art in relation to nature and the ephemerality of it all.
A part of me always giggles when I see their work indoors but I’m happy to be walking around it out of the rain.
Dan Flavin (this photo does not do his work justice. A real must see in person)
Robert Smithson Gravel Mirrors with Cracks and Dust, 1968
Mario Merz
Robert Smithson
Dan Flavin
Joan Jonas
Leaf Peeping in Mountaindale
A collection of photos showcasing the beauty of Autumn in our small town.
“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
― Albert Camus
Fallen Beech Tree leaf found on the Mountaindale Rails to Trails
In 2021 we had a quick and mediocre fall. Right as the leaves began to change an enormous storm rolled in. Within a few days most trees were completely barren. It was a pretty strange feeling to be tossed into the visuals of winter so quickly. Thankfully this year was different.
The first year of us living in Mountaindale we collected fall leaves and other plants to press. Once completely pressed we used a float frame to create a first year memory collage.
Take a look at all the beautiful leaves we saw this season and let us know your favorite!
Our studio at sunset right at the start of fall
“Autumn is the hardest season. The leaves are all falling, and they're falling like
they're falling in love with the ground.”
― Andrea Gibson
“He found himself wondering at times, especially in the autumn, about the wild lands, and strange visions of mountains that he had never seen came into his dreams.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Easily one of my favorites - red oak leaf
“At no other time (than autumn) does the earth let itself be inhaled in one smell, the ripe earth; in a smell that is in no way inferior to the smell of the sea, bitter where it borders on taste, and more honeysweet where you feel it touching the first sounds. Containing depth within itself, darkness, something of the grave almost.”
―Rainer Maria Rilke,Letters on Cézanne
Beautiful yellow maple leaf