#and weaves their wool into tapestries that show something different for everyone who looks at them

[malakasaroobie]

Reindeer Headbands_ A Lesser-Known Holidays Staple

Reindeer Headbands: A Lesser-Known Holidays Staple

Christmas is a time for family, friends, and celebration. But what about the little guy in your life? What about the reindeer lover who just doesn’t feel right without a festive headband? Don’t worry, you don’t have to go all out and buy that expensive gift. You can make your own reindeer headband in less than an hour using just a few simple supplies. In this blog post, we will show you how to make these adorable holiday accessories using just a few simple steps. And best of all, they’re affordable too—at only $3 per headband, you can stock up on these fun accessories for everyone on your list!

What are Reindeer Headbands?

Reindeer headbands are a fun and festive accessory that can be worn during many holidays. They provide an easy way to dress up for Christmas, Hanukkah, or any other holiday party. Headbands come in many different colors and patterns, so there’s sure to be one that suits your personality. Some of the most popular reindeer headbands are made from soft plush fabric and are adorned with colorful wool felt ears. These ear headbands are perfect for keeping your ears warm while you celebrate the holidays. Other popular types of reindeer headbands include those that have a pompom on top and those that feature Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer embroidered on the front. There are many different ways to style a reindeer headband, so it’s sure to find a place in your wardrobe this season. Whether you want to wear it as part of your Christmas ensemble or just for fun at other holiday parties, a reindeer headband is definitely a great option.

How to Make Reindeer Headbands

You don't have to go all out and make a giant, festive reindeer headband to celebrate Christmas. These easy, take-along headbands are perfect for a little extra cheer on December 25th! You can even make them in advance and keep them in your stash for when the holiday mood strikes. Materials: -Scissors - Worsted weight yarn (around 100 yards) in different colors - I used red, green, brown, black, white, and light pink (for the antlers) - Tapestry needle - 12 mm safety eyes (optional) - Yarn needle for weaving in ends

What to Wear with Reindeer Headbands

When it comes to wearing festive accessories, one of the lesser-known options is reindeer headbands. These simple pieces can add a touch of holiday cheer to any outfit, and they're also perfect for keeping hair out of your face while you're bundled up in a winter coat. Here are three easy ways to wear reindeer headbands: 1. As an added layer of warmth - If you're looking for a quick and easy way to add some extra warmth to your winter wardrobe, consider pairing a reindeer headband with some thick wool socks or boots. Not only will this combo keep your feet warm, but the overall effect will be reminiscent of those classic Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer images! 2. For a more playful look - If you're looking for something that'll add a little fun to your holiday ensemble, consider opting for a colorful reindeer headband instead of the traditional black ones. This approach will allow you to really stand out from the crowd, and it'll also give your hair a little more freedom to move around without getting tangled up in the band. 3. As part of an accessory collection - Finally, if you're interested in incorporating reindeer headbands into your everyday wardrobe but don't know how or where to start, don't worry! We've got plenty of tips and tutorials on our blog that'll help you get started (and we highly recommend checking out our guide on how to make

Tips for Storing Reindeer Headbands

There are a few tips for storing reindeer headbands to keep them looking their best. Hang them on a loop of fabric so they don't get tangled, and avoid placing them in direct sunlight or cold environments.

Conclusion

Reindeer headbands are a lesser-known holiday staple, but they are definitely worth checking out. These headbands come in a variety of styles and can be used for a variety of occasions. Whether you are looking for something to wear to a festive gathering or just want to add an extra touch of whimsy to your outfit, reindeer headbands are the perfect option.

[the-chattering-tower]

thanks to this post i finally (ages after having given up on it) managed to put together an outfit for my Kind Of Eldritch Shepherd, Khorda

[sombrisaofficial]

The Masked Stranger: A Sombrisa Fanfic (rated T for teen) Sombra x Orisa PART TWO!!

Summary: Sombra and Orisa’s dance is interrupted as the evening takes a turn for the dramatic!! Published for the Holidays in commemoration of the Sombra/Orisa & Mercy/Bastion pact. 

Written by: Mod Brigitte and beta’d by the wonderful Mod Mei!

Word Count: 1,889

 read part one here: https://sombrisaofficial.tumblr.com/post/182195417335/the-masked-stranger-a-sombrisa-fanfic-rated-e

The omnic approached her and Sombra was frozen in place. There before her was a quadrupedal omnic decorated in green and gold. Underneath her trimmings and decorations, Sombra could see she was also tan and brown. Beneath her black mask, her face was painted a bright and sunny orange and yellow, giving off a warm and friendly glow. The omnic had two decorated, lime horns, one on each side of her rounded head; They were draped in flashing lights and crystalized jewelry reminiscent of a flashy monarch. Her metallic plating was decorated for the event in golden markings of African origin, and she had intricate splashes of paint markings all over her body. Fresh carnations and violets were weaved into the expensive-looking tapestry on her back. Her appearance and demeanor were striking! What a magnificent beast of macherinary and software ingenuity! She was very handsome, indeed. 

"Hello." Sombra managed to say. It was all she could manage.

"NGHGNdgngnNNGNghhhh" The mysterious stranger whinnied.

"Orisa, is it? A pleasure." Orisa. Orisa. Orisa. Sombra had never heard a name she wanted to say more of. 

 Orisa's eyes changed to reflect her mood and became curious and blinking lights.

"Oh you'd like to have a dance?" Sombra could hardly believe it. She was ecstatic.

"gHGNHWHHWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww" Orisa stomped her hooves in agreement.

Sombra took Orisa's hands and the two began to move onto the dance floor. The room seemed to move in slow motion as they waltzed. It was a perfect moment that Sombra knew she'd look back fondly on later. Sombra never wanted this to end, however, there was more in surprise for that night than the two had bargained for. 

One minute the ballroom was flush with lights, colors, and sounds and the next it was overcome with darkness and hushed quietness. No one spoke. The only thing that kept Sombra grounded was her fingers interlaced with Orisa's hands. What was going on? 

She felt a sudden bump in the darkness as someone passed by her in a hurry. Her mind started to race. All of these rich people, in this type of setting? But perhaps she had just watched too many telenovelas as of late. This was the perfect place for a robbery or murder, she thought grimly. She let out a shout in protest but whoever it was was long gone. Some time went by. It had to have been a whole minute now surrounded by nothing but darkness. Suddenly, a blinding light sent Sombra's mind spinning. Orisa, startled by the  intense light, backed up.

It was a milky white spotlight that focused directly on where one of the windows used to be visible. A tall, thin man dressed in something of a scarecrow costume called out.

"Nobody move! This is a robbery!" His voice was crackly and loud. 

Called it, Sombra thought. 

The man was holding onto the window sill. He was accompanied by a much larger man wearing a pirate shark costume. It was an Interesting duo, even if their methods of attaining wealth were a bit unconventional. Although, they were certainly prepared for the occasion. The blackout was an excellent idea as everyone seemed to be in a state of panic. She wondered who these masked strangers could be. 

"A robbery by JUNKRAT AND ROADHOG!"

Oh.

"Place all your fancy jewels on that table over there!" Junkrat pointed a robotic arm towards the center of the room, to a table just adjacent to the dance floor. The table was fairly inconspicuous. On top of it was just a white tablecloth and a large swan ice sculpture, surrounded by a shallow bucket. "Earrings, necklaces, watches too! Anything of value put it on that table." He began to tap his peg leg impatiently. "Hurry it up."

Everyone looked around in panic as if they expected security to hurry in to their rescue at any second. But no security, human or ominc was present. Where had they gone?

"And why should we do that!" A man dressed in a solid wool two piece suit spoke up.

"I'm glad you asked" Junkrat chuckled and held up a remote. He made a show with his hands as he fiddled with the device. Roadhog, even through his mask, looked exasperated.

"WAIT! Don't press it! We will do as you say." A woman shouted. She was tall, and slim and dressed in a luxury, floor-length, white Vienna gown. The sleeves of which were lace-trimmed and expertly fitted. Her black hair was done up in a way that showcased her diamond earrings, which she was in the process of taking off. Sombra immediately recognized her as the leader of Russia, Katya Volskaya. "Don't any of you watch the news? They've obviously planted explosives beforehand. These are dangerous criminals." She was the first to set her earrings on the table.

"Why thank you." Junkrat took a short bow, nearly falling off the windowsill. "Now you lot, keep them coming!"

One by one, people hesitantly started putting their valuables on the table. Orisa went besides the table and shook her entire body with a thunderous rumble. Jewels from her horns and flowers from her back fell together onto the table. Sombra realized that she hadn't yet contributed.

"What have you there?" A familiar voice sounded besides her. Angela peeked over her shoulder. "I only had a watch. It wasn't cheap but I could live without it."

"I have a necklace." Sombra touched the necklace gingerly before admitting. "Well, it's borrowed."

"Ah." Angela hardly reacted. "Ah, well."

"Ah well is right. I better put it up." Before Sombra had the chance to reach the table, the lights went out again. This time, the people in the ballroom stayed silent.

When the lights came back on, around thirty seconds later, the scene was notably strange. Eyes darted around the room and people exchanged quick words to ask if anything was different. From higher up, even Junkrat looked confused. So the second blackout had nothing to do with them...

A scream interrupted throughout the ballroom. Besides the banquet table, a person, finely dressed in a sequined piece with matching gloves and a feathered boa had fallen to their knees - which were nearly covered in tall peacock-printed boots with four inch heels, pointed at the toes- the person’s face warped in anguish. 

 "S-She's dead!" The person screamed out.

"Who?" A tall Italian man ran to the person's side and looked to where they were pointing. He was dressed in a chic two piece black suit, with an omnic tech chest piece engraved near the front giving the suit a dignified but innovative look. His silver shoes only complimented the whole piece more. He shouted out. "Paramedic?! Is there a doctor here? A woman's fainted!"

Within a moment, a crowd had gathered besides the banquet table. Even with her heels, Sombra could barely see past the looming heads. But she could see Angela Ziegler make her way to where the passed out body lay cold. A woman in a white dress lay slumped against the table. It was Katya Volskaya.

Angela pressed her fingers against Katya's wrist, then listened against her chest. With one disheartened look, Angela looked where her watch would be before sighing and asking a bystander for the time. "Time of death, 10:10 pm" She stated.

The crowd, as well as the two thieves who were in the middle of robbing them, were speechless. There was an uncomfortable air surrounding the ballroom. Moments later, the lights flickered, and a generator sounded. Heavy metal sheets slid down over the windows and Junkrat and Roadhog were forced to jump down below, landing shakily. The detonator remote Junkrat was holding felt out of his reach and hit the floor, shattering into irreparable pieces. He frantically tried to gather the remnants but was unsuccessful. 

"The security has been restored!" Someone shouted. "We've gone into a lockdown!"

"With a murderer!?" A woman screamed.

"And with thieves!" Angela shouted and pointed. "Someone apprehend them!" A crowd began to swarm the two men and soon they no longer posed a threat.

Suddenly Sombra realized how very alone she was. She clasped her hands and looked around the room, looking to see if Orisa was okay. She was standing at the far end of the buffet table next to the stacked tea cakes and champagne.

"Orisa." Sombra whispered. "Orisa!" She waved her hand in front of Orisa who seemed to be in screensaver mode. Suddenly Orisa's eyes focused on her.

"Glad you're okay." Sombra said casually. Her mind was buzzing a mile a minute, but she didn't want Orisa to worry. "Crazy, huh? A murder."

Orisa shook her head up and down and let out a neigh and Sombra knew. She knew it was impossible to keep everything bottled up around Orisa. Sombra could be herself around her and Orisa would understand. It was unreasonable to keep blocking everyone out from how she was feeling. She couldn't let anyone know how really vulnerable she was, but with Orisa she could. "Alright." Sombra said as she ushered Orisa to a more secluded spot.

"Truth is. This is more than I bargained for," Sombra begain "-I'm not even supposed to be here. When the cops show up it's going to be hard to keep a low profile while they investigate everyone. Dios mío, I shouldn't have come tonight." 

Orisa whinnied and turned her whole body to face her, quizzically.

"But I'm glad I did." Sombra confessed with a sigh. "It was nice... meeting you."

Orisa whinnied, a long series of electronic chirps and whirrs. Orisa was right, she didn't always have to keep up her facade of a person who had all the cards. Sombra was glad she had someone now who could know her. Just through her words alone, Sombra could tell Orisa was an intellectual. 

"Thank you." Sombra brushed a piece of stray hair behind her ear. "Would it be alright if we stay here for a bit before facing the others again? Can we stay, just like this?"

Orisa whinnied. Sombra pressed their foreheads together and they stayed silent. As the night went on, people started to sit in groups on the floor. There was a rumor that the police were on there way and everyone should sit tight but as minutes dragged into hours, uncertainty slowly turned into an icy fear.

Sombra and Orisa continued to share a corner. Orisa had circled twice and seated herself on the floor by a pillar and Sombra leaned into her metallic flank. She leaned up against Orisa and listened closely. Somewhere deep inside Orisa, she could hear mechanical whirring and the soft clicking. A mechanical heartbeat, she thought. Sombra wondered if while sitting this close, Orisa could hear her own heart beating. A deep blush spread over her face. 

Orisa kept quiet for as long as it took Sombra to calm down. Five minutes past... then ten. Sombra felt her eyelids grow heavy as she let her mind drift to sleep. An hour must have flown by peacefully because she was suddenly awakened by her cellphone. There was an incoming text from Gabriel.

Gabe!! He was okay!!

Sombra gave the text a quick read.

 'The police aren't coming. On the right is a grand staircase, you need to come to the second floor library now. You're in danger.'

[caveartfair]

Inside the Magical and Relentlessly Creative World of Beloved Artist Kiki Smith

Over her four-decade-long career, artist Kiki Smith has made sculptures of body parts, tapestries depicting animals and the cosmos, and drawings of wolves and women—a strange confluence of the corporeal and the fantastic, with distinct feminist undertones. Smith is known as a leader of the downtown art scene that emerged in Manhattan throughout the 1980s, and many of her pieces have a dark fairy-tale quality—as if they could illustrate pages from the Brothers Grimm. I expected for the artist herself to have a bit of magic about her.

So I was surprised, on a recent visit to Smith’s East Village apartment, to watch her scratch at a piece of plexiglass for over an hour with hands tattooed with little turquoise dots. It was a rainy Tuesday afternoon, and Smith was working on a print for an upcoming exhibition at the Deste Foundation in Greece. Each dutiful scratch emphasized just how banal and unmagical the process of artmaking can truly be.

Kiki Smith works on a tapestry in the studio in her East Village home. Photo by Daniel Dorsa for Artsy.

Smith said that the scratch marks would ultimately result in multiple prints and sculptures of a capricorn—the mythical figure with a goat’s body and fish’s tail that is also the artist’s astrological sign. Indeed, she’s known for her seriality, spinning concepts and images into one work after another, until something new piques her interest. Her sources of inspiration remain in flux, but Smith’s work itself tends to revolve around the body, death, mythology, and nature. Rumpelstiltskin may have been able to weave hay into gold, but there’s no alchemy to Smith’s practice: just hours of making, year after year.

When I visit Smith, she’s in the midst of multiple projects in addition to the Deste show, among them an exhibition entitled “Murmur” at Pace Gallery (through March 30th). She’s still finalizing the details.

“Sometimes I have things that I want to do,” she says breezily. “But in general, I just go through the space, and then that tells you what to do.” She sounds laissez-faire, and there is a level of unpredictability to her planning: One venue might inspire a full body of work, while another might require a grouping of previous series into a new conceptual whole.

Plans for Kiki Smith’s solo exhibition “Murmur” at Pace Gallery. Photo by Daniel Dorsa for Artsy.

There’s little art in Smith’s studio, so she shows me an image of a sculpture, bound for the Pace show, on her phone. It’s a jagged, triangular black form with multipoint stars emerging from the surface. It looks like a fallen-over Christmas tree: simultaneously stark, rough, and hopeful.

“That’s a wave,” Smith says. It doesn’t resemble any wave I’ve ever seen. Yugoslavian World War II monuments, called spomenik, inspired the shape, she says, showing me a picture of one of these, too, on her phone: two craggy stone hunks that emerge from the earth parallel to each other, then fan outward.

“I just think those sculptures are very beautiful,” she says. “They’re culturally very different from how we make memorials.” The water was a particular draw for Smith.

“Water holds memories,” she says. Her explanations, like her work, are often simultaneously lyrical and opaque.

Kiki Smith, Wave, 2016. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Smith was born into an artistic family. She was born in Germany, where her mother, Jane Lawrence, was working as an opera singer. In 1955, when the artist was one year old, her family moved to New Jersey, where she spent the remainder of her childhood. Her father, Tony Smith, was an artist, known for his own monumental black sculptures. He rose to prominence in the mid-1960s, and curator Kynaston McShine included him in “Primary Structures,” the Jewish Museum’s iconic 1966 show on American and British Minimalism. He also showed at the Venice Biennale and multiple Whitney Annuals (the predecessor to the Whitney Biennial) during his lifetime.

Smith began her artistic apprenticeship earlier than most of her peers: Along with her sisters Seton and Beatrice, she helped her father in his studio from a young age. In 1974, she enrolled in Connecticut’s Hartford Art School, yet she dropped out after just three semesters and settled back into Manhattan. Smith says she was around age 24 when she decided to become a professional artist.

“I didn’t know what else to do particularly. I liked making things,” she says.

Portrait of Kiki Smith in her New York home and studio. Below the couch, archival boxes store rubbing and templates from past work. Portrait by Daniel Dorsa for Artsy.

She joined an artist collaborative called Colab (short for Collaborative Projects Inc.)—Tom Otterness and Jenny Holzer were also members—and she worked odd jobs. Still scratching at the plexiglass between moments of eye contact, Smith says that one of these jobs, working as an electrician’s assistant, led her to consider life, art, and the body anew.

“Electricity is like a pulse,” she says. “Our bodies are electrical systems. Everything is going positive, negative, positive, negative. That gives you the chance to change your life. It’s not a continuum.”

The delicate work required a meticulousness that remains evident in her practice, and the insights it offered into power and the body worked their way into Smith’s first solo presentation, “Life Wants to Live,” at the alternative performance space The Kitchen in 1982. It honored women who’d fought back against male assailants—and killed them.

“If you made one thing and could really be satisfied, then you could stop and do something more interesting than sitting in your house scratching things.”

Smith sourced headlines about such incidents from the New York Post, then painted them on gauze. The feminist movement was still wrangling with how to deal with violent men and pornography, and fracturing as they disagreed about both issues; Smith’s work tapped into the zeitgeist. She recalls Andrea Dworkin speaking out against pornography—a topic that can still polarize the feminist community. Smith herself once handed out Valerie Solanas’s 1968 publication “The SCUM Manifesto,” which called for men’s destruction, at a former Lower East Side community center called Charas.

“They kicked me out because they said that it’s reactionary,” Smith recalls. In general, she now advocates for a gentler approach to life. “If you can avoid extreme anything, it’s probably better,” she says. “But not everyone is afforded that.”

Smith included her own body in the show via a series of X-rays she made with her friend, David Wojnarowicz—another major downtown figure, who received a posthumous Whitney retrospective last year. The pair visited a medical testing lab in Brooklyn (run by Marvin Numeroff, who was also a gallerist), turned on the machine, and captured themselves beating each other up. She remembers Numeroff telling her afterwards: “You should have been wearing shields for your genitals in case you want to reproduce.” “It was like, ‘Oh, thanks for telling us now,’” she says.

Kiki Smith, Untitled, 1989–90. Courtesy of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Reproduction itself was very much on Smith’s mind: She first visited Numeroff’s lab to look at sperm. “You’d look at them under the microscope,” she says, “and it’s so extraordinary because it’s just like life, teeming, moving.” Later, she made hundreds of lead-crystal sculptures of sperm (Untitled, 1989–90).

Years of body-part art followed: terracotta ribs, an iron digestive system, a glass stomach, a plaster pregnant belly. In 1988, Smith’s sister Beatrice died of AIDS; Wojnarowicz succumbed to the illness in 1992. Many have drawn connections between these profound losses and the work and exhibitions that Smith put out in the years that followed. But Smith downplays the deaths’ influence.

“You experience it privately, the loss of a person,” she says.

Smith says that she does think about presence and absence in her work. She also made panels for the AIDS Memorial Quilt (a massive public project, initiated in 1985, that commemorates those affected by the disease) for both her sister and Wojnarowicz.

Portrait of Kiki Smith by Daniel Dorsa for Artsy.

Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, Smith examined the body not just as a site of external violence, but as a vessel that could betray its owner. An untitled, red-ink-on-paper work from 1988 resembles a dismembered, bloody corpse hanging from the wall in pieces: torso, legs, and arms all dangle separately. Another horror film–worthy piece, Blood Pool (1992), is a wax, gauze, and pigment sculpture of a nude woman curled up on the floor. The glossy, uneven, red-and-yellow surface gives the appearance of a figure stripped of its skin. Its arms, sans hands, fold into its legs. The sculpture’s rawness and vulnerability make for a cringe-inducing viewing experience.

Kiki Smith, Blood Pool, 1992. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Installation view of Kiki Smith, Untitled (Red Man), 1991, from “Creature,” at The Broad, 1991. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of The Broad Art Foundation.

Kiki Smith, Glass Stomach, 1985. © Kiki Smith. Photo by Ellen Labenski. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Smith looked beyond humans to animal bodies, as well. In her 1990 work Dowry Cloth, she stitched together patches of sheep wool and human hair. Hanging on the wall in a loose rectangular shape, the highly textured, unevenly hued piece resembles a dirty tapestry. In 1994, she met a scientist who told her “how many mammals were projected to be extinct in the next 40 years. I thought I should rather pay attention to that,” she recalls. Smith visited Harvard and began making drawings at the university’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. Over the next few years, she sculpted blackbirds and wolves, incorporating them into prints and drawings, as well.

Kiki Smith, Woman with Wolf, 2003. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Kiki Smith, Head with Bird I (Side), 1994. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Academics interpreting Smith’s work have alternately viewed the animals as symbols or allegorical figures, as attempts to unite the human and non-human natural world, or as invocations of savagery. Yet Julia Bryan-Wilson, who wrote about Smith on the occasion of her 2018 exhibition at Haus der Kunst in Munich, opts for a different reading.

“Much of Smith’s art with animals introduces a queer uncertainty around sex difference,” Bryan-Wilson writes. After fixating for so long on gender and sexuality, she suggests, Smith opted to represent life in a way that transcended the binary.

Smith herself is more expansive and less prescriptive about her approach. “I think about animals in a much more abstract way than they might experience themselves,” Smith says. “I don’t think about their gender very often.” Yet she tells me that she did, recently, make a sculpture of mating deer—her old interest in reproduction and new life seeping into her contemporary practice.

Kiki Smith, Rapture, 2001. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Kiki Smith, Born, 2002. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Kiki Smith, Geneviéve and the May Wolf, 2000. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Installation view of Kiki Smith, “Kiki Smith: New Work,” at 142 Greene Street, New York, 1995. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Kiki Smith, Crows, 1995. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Kiki Smith, Deer Mating, 2018. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Lilith, 1994. Kiki Smith San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA)

Kiki Smith, Untitled, 1992. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Meanwhile, Smith was also creating small sculptures and drawings of women. They faint, entangle themselves in stars, and sit with their arms wide open in offering. Altogether, they create a kind of benevolent coven. If Smith separated organs from bodies in her earlier work, now, she was creating not just whole bodies, but entire feminine communities. In two bronzes, Born (2002) and Rapture (2001), Smith sculpted nude women conjoined with animals—a deer and a wolf, respectively. Sans clothing or intricate detailing, the figures look less contemporary than archetypal: part of a mythological brood of feminine spirits that includes characters both biblical (her 1994 sculpture Lilith resembles a nude woman mounted on the wall) and earthbound (an untitled work from 1992 resembles a crouching woman with outstretched hands).

Portrait of Kiki Smith by Daniel Dorsa for Artsy.

Spinners, 2014. Kiki Smith Pace Gallery

The way Smith discusses her practice is more happenstance than strategic. She tells me, for example, that it was “opportunity” that led her to begin making tapestries in the 2010s. Artist Don Farnsworth, a director of the Oakland-based studio Magnolia Editions, visited Smith and asked her if she’d be interested in working in the medium. Smith took on the challenge and ultimately created 12 vibrant tapestries, filled with blue skies and oceans, yellow grounds, and pink birds. She says that it offered her an opportunity to stretch outside of her typical size and aesthetic.

“I never thought I could make a picture so big,” Smith says. She adds that it was also an opportunity to make works with color, something she doesn’t frequently do.

A selection of the tapestries is on view at Florence’s Uffizi Gallery through June 2nd. Congregation (2014) merges many of Smith’s most significant interests in thread. The composition features a nude woman sitting atop a tree trunk, a web of branches emerging from her eyes. The spindly network also connects to a deer, squirrel, owl, and bat in the background. On the ground beneath lies a banner sprinkled with starry shapes. Here, Smith depicts a very literal interconnection between the female body and nature. Sky (2012) positions a nude female body curving into the star-filled night sky.

Congregation, 2014. Kiki Smith Peters Projects

Sky, 2011. Kiki Smith Peters Projects

During my visit to Smith’s studio, another of the tapestries, Spinners (Moths & spider webs) (2014), lies on a table. It features a murky black-and-blue strip on the bottom, from which thin pussy willows emerge. Higher up, spiderwebs spin across the stalks in light, radiant, outward-reaching threads. Moths flurry in and out of the brush, creating a sense of motion and energy. Smith says the idea for the work began when she started taking care of silkworms for her artist friend Valerie Hammond. She had to feed them mulberry leaves everyday. When the creatures bloomed into moths, Smith took photographs and painted watercolors of them. She merged these images digitally with those of other wildlife, creating a life-sized drawing, which was then replicated in thread.

Smith explains that the scene could never actually occur in nature: Moths and pussy willows develop at different times of year. “They don’t make any sense,” she says of the works.

Detail of Kiki Smith’s home and studio. Photos by Daniel Dorsa.

Detail of Kiki Smith’s home and studio, featuring a print by Hilma af Klint (center). Photo by Daniel Dorsa for Artsy.

Smith isn’t generally interested in naturalistic representations, or a logical progression of her own practice. Instead, she infuses everything she makes with the feeling of the day, allowing interactions, news items, and photographs to provide her with temporary inspiration.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Pace show seems to obliquely address the #MeToo era. Picking up her phone again, Smith shows me a picture of a light blue–tinged, crosshatch-textured sculpture bound for the show. It resembles a three-dimensional drawing of a woman’s face (thin instead of spherical, more scratched into than sculpted), with wave shapes emerging from her eyes, mouth, and hair—rays that suggest embodied sight and speech. It seems like a metaphor for the torrent of speech and thought that women have offered in the past year, as their voices grow louder in both the press and in the U.S. government.

Installation view of Kiki Smith, “Kiki Smith: Murmur,” at Pace Gallery, New York, 2019. Photo by Kyle Knodell. © Kiki Smith. Courtesy of Pace Gallery.

Smith has continued scratching at the plexiglass of the piece bound for Deste in between brief interludes to show images of other work. Eventually, she stops that work and begins whittling away at a small frog. “It’s not a very complicated frog. But I still sit for hours, taking off a little bit of wax,” she says. She’s making some rings for her husband, a beekeeper who lives upstate and wants one for each finger. She’ll place the frog atop one band; another gold band will receive a tourmaline stone. She places a ring in my hand and tells me to feel its heft.

Portrait of Kiki Smith by Daniel Dorsa for Artsy.

Smith says that sometimes she’s not sure what drives this relentless, slow, and measured making. “I think, ‘Oh, you’re just making sure nothing else can happen in the entire day except your attention to the frog,’” she says. Artmaking becomes a kind of time-hurrying spell.

Other times, she’s driven by the fact that each new piece falls short of satisfying her aims. “If you made one thing and could really be satisfied, then you could stop and do something more interesting than sitting in your house scratching things,” she says.

With this, I leave her house, walking downstairs along celestially patterned wallpaper. Passing through her bright-red front door into the rain, Smith’s mystique is still intact.

from Artsy News

[ricowoolonline-blog]

Essentials and Benefits of Knitting

There are many things that you would want to learn, but knitting for sure does not top that list. It is something that you have categorised as “grandma’s thing” in your mind but today, that view is going to change. Knitting is not restricted to just grandmas anymore owing to its widespread benefits apart from having something comfy to wear and snuggle in at the end of a fruitful knitting session.

Also, you do not have to use the scratchy wool yarn. There are plenty other options of really soft brands of yarn that you can use. You can even buy Rico Wool Online as it is renowned for being the softest wool there is! It is great for knitting cute sweaters for babies.

Take a look at the knitting essentials before we dive into its benefits.

Essentials of Knitting

If you are just beginning with knitting, you will require just two things – a pair of needles and a ball of yarn. If you are looking forward to undertaking and finishing a project, you will need a few more items.

So what exactly does an experienced knitter keep in a knitting kit?

A tapestry needle – This is the most basic tool that you are bound to find in any knitter’s kit. A tapestry needle is a large sewing needle with an eye that can easily accommodate bulky yarn. You can use the needle to weave in the tails of yarn that are left out after you bind off a project.

Stitch markers – These small rings act like your knitting bookmark and slip on your needles to mark the points in your pattern. Some stitch markers can be clipped directly onto a stitch if you want to mark a spot on the project to attend to later on.

Stitch Holders – A stitch holder greatly resembles a large safety pin. When working on a pattern demands that you set some stitches aside to come back to later, you can conveniently slip those stitches onto a stitch holder.

Row Counters – You may need to keep a track of the number of rows that you have knitted while working on certain patterns. Some counters slip onto your needle and have a number dial that you can change after each row. Some may have an easy click button and also there are smart phone apps available that you can make use of.

A measuring tape – Quite a number of patterns require keeping track of number of inches. A measuring tape will help you in measuring the length of things like mittens and sleeves very conveniently.

Needle Caps – One needs a break while knitting and this is where needle caps come in the picture. You can place them on the end of your needles to make sure that none of the stitches slip off while your project is in your knitting bag. Double-point needles can be transformed into a straight needle by using needle caps.

There are three types of knitting needles available:

·         The classic straight pair

·         Double-point needles (generally sold in a set of 4 or 5)

·         Circular needles

Continue knitting and you are bound to use each kind of needle eventually. Some knitting projects require the use of more than one type of needle.

Usually, circular needles are used for most of your rectangular projects, for instance – washcloths and scarves.

Circular needles are basically two needle heads joined to a cord. They are necessary for undertaking larger projects, for instance – blankets. They are also used in projects that require circular stitching, like a hat or the body of a sweater. These needles differ by needle size and by the length of the cord from 9 inches to 60 inches. People who knit frequently may want to consider investing a in a circular needle kit which provides great flexibility. Instead of purchasing a needle for each project, a kit allows you to customise the length of the cord and the needle size.

Double-point needles are used for smaller projects which are rounded off, like mittens or crown of a hat.

Fortunately, most of these tools are fairly cheap and you can use them for years. So stock up and continue knitting.

Benefits of Knitting

·         Gives you a sense of pride

Not many people have mastered the fine art of knitting. This is exactly why showing off something that you have knitted to someone who has no idea how you managed to do it, is like demonstrating a new magic trick. Everyone is going to be in awe of your newly acquired art and you will be bombarded with compliments. You are sure to get requests for knitting scarves, mittens, sweaters etc.

·         It has effects similar to meditation

Once you get accustomed to knitting, it can turn out to be very relaxing. Simple knitting projects are usually the same few stitching patterns which are to be repeated over and over again. You can easily zone out and make use of your muscle memory and continue and finish your knitting project. The repetitive and rhythmic motion is soothing to the mind and body similar to a meditation session with the added benefit of getting a blanket in the end.

·         It lessens symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress

The rhythmic motions and sense of focus can help with symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress. Knitting requires for you to sit still and knit which contributes towards reducing your heart rate and lowers your blood pressure. So, whenever you start feeling anxious, reach for your knitting needles as it will help in keeping the symptoms at bay.

·         Enhances motor functions

Knitting stimulates the entire brain at once. It stimulates the following aspects of the brain:

·         The frontal lobe which guides rewards processing, planning and attention;

·         The parietal lobe which deals with sensory information and spatial navigation;

·         The occipital lobe which processes visual information;

·         The temporal lobe which stores memories and interprets language and meaning;

·         The cerebellum which coordinates the precision and timing of movement.

Knitting can be the medium to cure people suffering from diseases like Parkinson’s and improve their motor functions. It helps in honing motor skills and distracts from other painful symptoms.

·         It slows down cognitive decline

While knitting contributes towards enhancing your motor function and mood, it also stimulates your brain to keep it healthy. The more you use your brain, the more it becomes healthy and thus functions for a long time. It is seen that adults who engage in craft and knitting are about 30-50% less prone to suffer from “mild cognitive impairment” than those who don’t.

There are plenty of health benefits associated with knitting and they are very beneficial in the long run. So head over to your local craft store and pick up some needles and a ball of yarn. You can even enrol yourself in classes for beginners and get the needles clicking. Make use of technology and learn knitting in the comfort of your home by watching a few YouTube tutorials. It is the best way to save money and also learn at the same time. There are great tutorials on Pinterest as well and in no time you will get a very good hang of knitting.