Z is for Zipper

                                                           The lowly Zipper. Or is it?

      

         Like most things I post about, the zipper has a glossary all it's own to describe it's various parts.

                              We take them for granted but it really is a marvel don''t you think?

A recent exhibit that I featured in my X post 2 days ago at our local community college museum , "Extreme Fibers", had a few pieces that were all about the zippers.

 A close up of the above piece. Looks like a upholsterers nightmare. There were 250 ft of zipper in this project.

There have been a lot of wearable art pieces made of zippers showing up at art fairs in the last few years.

                  Next time you get dressed think about that little marvel that holds it all together.

I have honestly enjoyed the A to Z Challenge & the pressure it created to come up with something every day for a month. I plan to be back next year. Until then I hope all who visited my excursions into artistic topics will keep viewing. I wander to all sorts of strange places.  Thank you coming along for the ride.

Yellow is the Color

This is an easy one for me. I love yellow, in all its forms. 

My living room walls are Desert Caravan by Behr. This picture doesn't do it justice.

                              Ochre is at the top of my list in the yellow department. Rich & earthy.

Yellow makes you think of Spring

 

Forsythia. These are popping everywhere in my neck of the woods right now. 

                                                              Who doesn't love daffies?

Short & sweet & springy today. There's my shot of sunshine for you.

Experimentation is Good

OK, I'm cheating again. eXperiment does not start with X, but there is an X in it, so I say it counts.

I could have gone with X-ray. I work in a medical office, an orthopedic specialty practice, hands to be exact. I'm a medical biller, so xrays are part of my every day world. I have pictures of some nice chunks of metal in my own body that make for interesting stories. Maybe next year in the A to Z challenge. Now I've got you curious, right?

But instead I'm going with a topic more in keeping with my theme of artistic dreams. We recently had a fantastic exhibit at our local museum, Extreme Fibers. The participants were all members of the ISEA

The International Society of Experimental Artists. I like a group that leaves their content completely open! I'm fairly sure this might be a group I need to join.

Kathy Brady is a local artist & a friend who is a member. I love her work which blends clay & hand made paper. I invite you to scroll down and click the thumb nails for a larger view of her pieces.
Dawn Walden's basketry caught my eye. Upon further investigation I found The Friends of the Porkies. This would be the Porcupine Mountains State park in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. She is one of their instructors in the park. They have instructors in the park? this is worth checking out. They have an Artist in Residence program? Takes us all the way back to my first A to Z entry.

 
                        Stitched paper jewelry by Luis Acosta who lives in the Netherlands.

 

I could go on & on but I'm off on a little road trip to visit friends and see 2 art exhibits.
The Secret Life of Paper of Helen Hiebert's work in Kalamazoo. She definitely has been pressing the envelope (no pun intended) in experimenting with paper her entire career in paper arts.

. Then on to  to see the FAN exhibit at CMU, Central Michigan University.  Fiber Arts Network is another group that promotes experimentation in works in fabric.

I'll be reporting from the road tomorrow for Y.