I'm excited that my collage, Cast Off, was selected to be in the juried show of the MA/RI Surface Design Association. Called Fiber in the Present Tense, it'll be held at the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown, MA from March 1 - April 21. A week later, I'll have a solo show of my art at the First Parish Church in Weston, MA. More on that later! Meanwhile, here's the poster for Fiber in the Present Tense. Doesn't it look great?!
Here's my amateur pic of the finished Meadow Study I showed in progress. I'm using it to think about a much larger piece, where the colors would expand into larger swaths of colors, like fields of different flowers within a meadow...
Meadow Study ©2012 Julia R. Berkley 10" sq. x 1" deep. Repurposed fabric on braced birch board.
This will be an abstract collage based on meadow imagery -- what you're seeing is the individual pieces after I've designed the collage, then disassembled it. I'll begin assembling it today, but thought you might enjoy seeing a glimpse of the process. It's all repurposed fabric.
Do you remember the photo I recently took of the woods outside our home? I posted it here and then again as a Photoshopped image, somewhat abstracted. I used it for inspiration for this collage I recently finished. First you can see the new collage, and then if you scroll down, you can see both images side by side. You can see how much it changed, and yet there are similarities, too.
New collage:
Early Autumn Woods ©2011 Julia R. Berkley 20" x 16"
New and repurposed fabric on canvas board.
Side by side:
To see more of my art, please visit my website, Julia R. Berkley Works in Fabric.
I never thought I'd have an Iranian friend. But through my husband's work at the Thoreau Institute, I met a person over the internet who cares so deeply about the world's ideas, words, and art that his love for these things spills over. He contacted Jeff because he's working on a Persian translation of Walden. He reached out to me because my art touches him, and so I learn about him, and about his culture -- the Persian culture. He shares stories about his family, and the poets and musicians he's grown up with. I tell him about our life here. All just little vignettes, but enough to understand what's important.
Ali recently did a post about my art, something which greatly honors me. If you'd like to see his perspective, please visit his blog, Persian Panorama. He loves to meet people from all over the world and would be honored for you to follow his postings or comment on them.
To see some more beautiful photos in Ali's older posts before he was forced to switch away from Blogger, you can go here. I have found that Ali's words are like a balm in an angry world -- he sees the good and continually moves us toward it. I hope you feel the same.
Early Autumn Triptych ©2011 Julia R. Berkley. New and repurposed fabric on 3, 20" x 10" panels.
To see more of my art, please visit Julia R. Berkley Works in Fabric.
I'm not the only one who loves my new iMac with its beautiful large screen -- Caspian can't seem to sleep anywhere else! On-screen is a glimpse of my latest work in progress... soon you'll see pictures of the Early Autumn triptych I finished a couple weeks ago, and then not too long from now, this Early Autumn (1-panel) collage will be finished. Stay tuned, and thanks for visiting!
iMac Love photo by Julia R. Berkley
To see more of my art, please visit my website.
If you'd like to follow me on Facebook, you can like my art page here.
You can make such lovely abstractions -- good for ideas...
Photos ©Julia R. Berkley 2011
One of the reasons I love living here -- what I get to see out my window:
Photos ©Julia R. Berkley 2011
Tonight I had the pleasure of visiting my enlightened neighbors who support the arts. Perry is a well-loved folk singer, and David is a writer who encourages all of us. They had a gathering of a few seriously talented people and I had to leave too early. But while I was there I got to re-visit an old friend, one of my earliest collages. Perry and David were the first people besides my sister to purchase one of my collages, for which I will be eternally grateful. And there it was, looking great against their light green wall on the landing going up to their "second story." Here's that image, along with a new haiku I wrote for it. In case you can't tell, I'm not a poet -- just having fun.
Second Story ©Julia R. Berkley 2008
Through a film of glass
Treetops form a friendly screen,
highlight what's beyond.
To see more of my art, please visit my website at www.juliaberkley.com.
Summer ebbs, leaves crisp.
Sunshine glances twining vines
Bringing rust and gold.
For more information about this piece and other similar collages, please visit my website.
Shown: Late Season Tangle. New and repurposed fabric with yarn embellishment on canvasboard. (14" x 11") © Julia R. Berkley 2011
I'm a fabric collage artist living and working west of Boston.
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