Art – Geeky Girl Engineer

Powerhouse Arts

Posted on May 21, 2023 by geek

Powerhouse Arts is a new arts and fabrication studio and rental venue housed in a renovated power station in Brooklyn, New York, and they hosted an open house today through Open House New York.The building has been completed renovated, but they have left some of the graffiti on the walls from when the place was essentially abandoned, and squatters lived there. The facility now houses several different art studio areas like a ceramics area and print shop. It also has huge spaces that can be rented. The facility is right on the Gowanus Canal, and it has wonderful views of Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Powerhouse Arts located in an old power station

Former steam production area

Downtown Manhattan and the Gowanus Canal can be seen

Former turbine hall

Newly commissioned artwork in the Grand Hall

Graffitti in entrance hall

Kaffe Fassett: The Power of Pattern

Posted on January 7, 2023 by geek

I’m in London, and before traveling here, I heard about a great exhibit that I put on the top of my to do list. London’s Fashion and Textile Museum has a temporary exhibit called Kaffe Fassett: The Power of Pattern. The exhibit explores Fassett’s world, with original artworks from invited makers as well as Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably and Philip Jacobs. It also has textiles works, photographs and archival material to further educate on his work. I love many of his fabrics, and the first quilt I created was with his fabric. Thus, I knew I would like this exhibit.

The exhibit is wonderful. I spent the most time studying the works of art by artists using Kaffe Fassett textiles. They are wonderful, and some of them are just breathtaking. I spent quite a bit of time studying them trying to understand how they were created. They inspired me to want to create my own art although I am not skilled enough yet to create works like the ones I saw. Below are some photos of some of the works that most captivated me.

Haze Kilim; designed by Liza Prior Lucy and Kaffe Fassett, made by Liza Prior Lucy, quilted by Judy Irish

Tickled Pink by Susan Carlson (designed, maker, quilter)

Tickled Pink by Susan Carlson (designed, maker, quilter) [close up]

Garden Reflections by Vicky Wozniak (designer and maker) and quilted by Jamie Wallen

Levitate by Danny Amazonas (designer, maker, quilter)

Levitate by Danny Amazonas (designer, maker, quilter) [close up]

Grevy’s Zebra by Sophie Standing (designer, maker)

Grevy’s Zebra by Sophie Standing (designer, maker) [close up]

Tusker Bull by Sophie Standing (designer, maker)

Gypsy Dancer by Danny Amazonas (designer, maker, quilter)

Mathemalchemy

Posted on June 3, 2022 by geek

I finally got to National Academy of Sciences to see Mathemalchemy before it closes. The exhibit shows the beauty of the art in math, or perhaps of the math in art. I love examining the math in nature and the beauty of it. This art exhibits gave me some ideas for things that are already percolating in my head that I want to make. Possibly because I am really into sewing and quilting at the moment, the Cryptography Quilt was my favorite part. Its construction is impressive.

Mathemalchemy

Yarn and metal shapes

Nautilus

Landscape

Sea life

Seashore

Cryptography Quilt

Curio Shop

Fabric Landscapes

Posted on May 15, 2022 by geek

I have started to just experiment and play with fabric for the purposes of not creating something practical, like a table runner, but art. I have bought fabric, a lot fo fabric really, that I love because the fabric itself is beautiful, but I did not exactly buy it for the purpose of creating something specific. I bought a book “Intuitive Color & Design” by Jean Wells that among other topics discusses cutting fabric without measuring it and just creating.

I wanted to try that a bit with some of the beautiful fabrics I have bought. I started first with a bunch of green and blue batik fabrics. I cut and sewed them in unmeasured strips to sort of resemble a landscape or perhaps something else. I just sort of cut and sewed them in a manner I liked. I then glued the whole piece to a pre-stretched 10 inch by 10 inch canvas.

Blue and green free cut landscape

I rather liked the way it looked, so then I tried something a bit less abstract. I own several paintings by amazing artists whose paintings are quite literally three dimensional. I have both a pointillism and floralism painting by Sara O’Connor. I love her use of color and the way she literally gets the paint to stand up off the canvas. I also have a painting by Diego Lukezic, which he calls floral sculptural paintings. I think the term is appropriate as the paint stands off the canvas. I used their paintings, or at least the ones hanging on my walls, as inspiration for an experimentation with fabric. I cut and sewed a bit more of a simple landscape as before. Although I used a beautiful pattered batik fabric for the foreground that resembles greenery with leaves and flowers. I then cut, sewed, and sculpted fabric strips to somewhat resemble flowers. I hand stitched them to the landscape fabric, and I also sewed a glass bead for the center of each flower. I then glued it to a 10 inch by 10 inch pre-stretched canvas as before, but for this particular piece, and I glued a piece a batting between the fabric and the caves, and I thought that would help soften any issues with the fabric from the flowers sewed onto the landscape. I am rather happy with the way it came out. I want to play some more with this type of art, but it was enjoyable to create.

Blue and green landscape with roses

Up close view of roses on landscape

Totem Bight State Historical Park

Posted on June 18, 2021 by geek

I visited Totem Bight State Historical Park in Ketchikan today. It contains numerous totem poles, some of which are reproductions and some of which are inspired by older totem poles. Because they are newer, they are still colorful, which helps in understand both their meaning and also what the original poles looked like. There is also a gorgeous clan house, which you can go in. The park also features a short but nice walk through the temperature rainforest and also a beach.

Clan House

Land Otter Pole

Sea Monster Pole

Kaats’ Bear Wife

Kadjuk Bird Pole

Thunderbird and Whale

Trail

Beach area

California State Capitol

Posted on December 2, 2018 by geek

I am continuing in my quest to visit all the state capitols, and I am in Sacramento this weekend, so I got to add California to my list. The history of the building is rather interesting in that they started building it in 1860, but mainly due to lack of funds, it was not finished for 14 years. In 1906, much modernization was done to the building including electricity and central heat and air. [I was unclear when the indoor plumbing came.] Additions and other renovations were done after that. Some of those renovations sounded like they were more “renovations” that probably sounded good to some at the time, but now most of us at least, and cringe at what was done. Then in 1975, they pretty much completely rebuilt the capitol. The shell of the building stayed, but the interior was completely torn down and built back up again. They did a lovely job of rebuilding. The building is gorgeous with wonderful wooden staircases, gilded and painted ceilings and walls, tile floors, and plenty of little touches you just have to explore to find. The state seal can be found in all sorts of places, and many other symbols are subtly placed around the building. There are bears everywhere, including coming out of staircase railing columns. They also restored several rooms on the first floor to their 1906 appearance, so parts of the capitol are a historical museum.

California State Capitol

Rotunda

The senate chamber is decorated with a lot of pink, which is supposed to reflect the color of the United Kingdom’s House of Lords.

Senate chamber

The assembly chamber is decorated with a lot of green, which is supposed to reflect the color of the United Kingdom’s House of Commons.

Assembly chamber

Assembly chamber ceiling

In one of the panels of the assembly’s ceiling, is a grotesque of man’s head and his two hands. It is difficult to see unless you are looking for it, preferably with the help of a tour guide with a laser pointer. It is in a panel with a ring of (what I assume are) prickly pears with yellow flowers. Based on what my tour guide said and my internet searches, it doesn’t seem like the origins and true meaning of the grotesque are clear, but a chubby cheeked man with his hands up in a room where politicians work kind of gives me easy ideas.

Assembly chamber ceiling grotesque

Elevator

Wooden staircases with intricate metal lamps

Wooden staircase

Stained glass ceiling light

1906 Governor’s office

Bear guarding the governor’s office

Fun House

Posted on August 31, 2018 by geek

Every summer, the National Building Museum has its summer block party, as they call it, with some sort of fun structure inside their grand atrium. Past block parties have included The Maze, The Beach, Hive, and Icebergs. This year is Fun House, which was created by Snarkitecture, as a compilation of other creations of theirs. The Beach was one of their creations. Fun House is a house of sorts with a series of room and “yard” structures, each of which feature a different type setting and interactive pieces. I really don’t know how to describe it other than that. I have thus given the areas and rooms various descriptive names to try to describe the structure. So let me take you though Fun House.

In the front yard, are a series of cushion type benches that spell out “FUN HOUSE”.

Front yard

Fun House itself looks like a house of sorts with a partial ceiling and partial wall. It is made out of lumber, I think, and the front is made out of, or covered in, a polymer-foam type material (similar to styrofoam).

View of front of Fun House

Front and side of Fun House

The front entrance is more of a tunnel dug out of the foam structure.

Front entrance

From the front entrance, you can walk straight into the front hall, which has white sneaker-looking like pieces hanging from the ceiling.

Hallway ceiling

From the front entrance, you can also turn into a cave-looking like area dug out of the foam building material.

Dig room [with random child for scale]

The dig room leads to another room that connects to the entrance hall. This room is characterized by strips of fabric of various lengths hanging from the ceiling.

Fabric strip room to dig room

Fabric strip room

Ceiling of fabric strip room

The fabric strip room then leads to living room, which features rather impractical furniture.

Living room

The living room then leads to an open room with examples of Snarkitecture’s work. This room then leads to the bathroom. The bathroom features a closet door that opens to a shower of sorts which has an air blower blowing tiny pieces of tissue into a sealed area.

Shower

The bathroom also features a tub of plastic balls, which is called the Beach Chair, as it features balls from The Beach. It also has clothes and towels that match the tile wall.

Bathtub

The bathroom then leads to a room featuring the largest marble chase structure I have ever seen.

Marble run

The back porch is a bunch of square cushions, which children happily find new arrangements for, and a roof of giant air filled tubes.

Back porch

Behind the house is a tunnel of sorts that plays with perspective by having the floor slope up and roof slope down.

Backyard

Behind the tunnel like structure is the pool and small kids’ pool, which are small versions of The Beach.

Pool

The upper levels provides a better views of all the structures.

Looking down on pool

Looking down on pool and back of Fun House

Looking down on side of Fun House

The Art of Burning Man

Posted on August 25, 2018 by geek

The Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery is currently showing only one exhibit, which is No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man. The exhibit is amazing. The art is fun and beautiful and huge and completely unique and so many other positive modifiers that would fill a page. The pieces are like nothing I have ever seen before. They are also set in the space in a perfect manner because so many of the pieces are about light, and they are placed to allow that interaction with light.

One of my favorites was Shrumen Lumen, which changes colors and also changes the shapes of the mushroom like figures. It is one of those things you have to see in person. The shadows of HYBYCOZO are relaxing and mesmerizing. I could have taken photos from different angles all day.

“Truth is Beauty” by Marco Cochrane

“Temple” by David Best

“Shrumen Lumen” by FoldHaus Art Collective

“HYBYCOZO” by Yelena Filipchuk and Serge Beaulieu

CHIHULY at New York Botanical Gardens

Posted on October 8, 2017 by geek

I love glass, and I love plants, so a Chihuly exhibit at a botanical garden is definitely something I want to see. There is an exhibit of numerous Dale Chihuly works currently at the New York Botanical Gardens, and it is lovely. Below are photos I took over the course of two visits there.

Palazzo Ducale Tower

Sapphire Star

Sol del Citrón

Red Reeds on Logs

Koda Study #3 with Scarlet and Yellow Icicle Tower in the distance

Scarlet and Yellow Icicle Tower

Persian Pond and Fiori

Persian Pond

Fiori

White Tower with Pink Trumpets and Cobalt-Pink Spears

White Tower

Pink Trumpets and Cobalt-Pink Spears

Glasshouse Fiori

Macchia Forest

Float Boat

Niijima Floats in Float Boat

Neon 206

Cloud Gate

Posted on August 31, 2017 by geek

I’m in Chicago on an extended layover between trains coming back from my trip out west. I spent the day wandering around Chicago, and one the sites on my must see list was Cloud Gate, known more informally as The Bean. This piece of art is lovely to look at, but it is just plain fun to photograph. Everyone there takes selfies of themselves, but really the way it reflects with so many different angles, it is just as fun to photograph everything else.

Cloud Gate (aka The Bean)

Under Cloud Gate (aka The Bean)