Making Art

Art from the heART

2012-01-30T19:08:00.004-05:00

I have lots of crocheted "infinity" scarves in Valentines' colors, along with lots of fiber art, fabric pins and silk scarves. It's an extra special open studios this Saturday afternoon at Western Avenue Studios. Many of us are participating in Art from the heART. You can enter a raffle for gift certificates by visiting various artists and collecting hearts -- all while you're seeing and purchasing great art and Valentine's Day gifts. You can find me in Studio 434 -- I'd love to see you!

122 Western Avenue, Lowell, MA

www.margotstage.com for directions

Shawn's Sisters

2012-01-25T19:44:00.003-05:00

I recently completed the latest of my "Memories in Cloth". Shawn's sisters contacted me to create a piece for each of them from the silk neckties and braces (suspenders) of their younger brother who had recently passed away. Once again I felt honored to do this kind of work, both as an artist and as a human being.

Artistically, the challenge was to create two distinct pieces from the same stash of fabrics. As a human, the challenge was to listen and hear who the person was, to translate that into a visual tribute.

Nikki and Melissa were delighted with the results, which delighted me! When Nikki came to Lowell to my studio to pick up with artworks, she said my timing was impeccable. I paused, not sure what she meant. "This is the week, one year ago, that Shawn passed away. And to receive these pieces now is just perfect." Divine timing, not mine!

Wild Apples

2011-10-21T09:02:00.005-04:00

Tom Chambers: Aground

Last night, we launched the 8th and last issue of Wild Apples, a Journal of Nature, Art and Inquiry. Started 5 years ago by Linda Hoffman, Kathryn Liebowitz, Susan Edwards Richmond and Sophie Wadsworth, this exquisite journal has inspired, captured and transported both its readers and contributors for many seasons. I've had the privilege of contributing as a writer and artist to several issues, and the honor of being on the Board of Advisors. Treat yourself to exceptional beauty and wisdom by purchasing a copy of Wild Apples. Both the new issue and back issues are available at www.wildapples.org

Fibrous Forms at Lesley University

2011-10-19T16:28:00.005-04:00

Fibrous Forms

Works by David Crane and Margot Stage

now until November 6, 2011

Lesley University's Marran Gallery

located on the University Quad, between Mellen and Everett Streets in Cambridge, MA

The gallery is accessible 24/7

Popham beach art 2

2011-09-22T15:27:00.009-04:00

The beach offered lots of seaweed this year so that became the material we worked with to create our installation. The spirals led down to the high tide line, in anticipation of the water's hand in the evolution of the piece.

Slowly, each high tide broke and moved a bit of the seaweed line... we imagine that eventually it will all be erased.

Popham Beach art 1

2011-09-22T13:50:00.007-04:00

Rope is what caught me eye on Popham Beach, Maine this September. All colors and lengths of rope ripped from lobster pots, knotted and tangled up with large clumps of seaweed. I couldn't stop myself from collecting, then did "rope laundry", using this half-submerged log as a drying rack. A bit of art in itself....though all the rope came home with me. Eventually, there will be another incarnation.

Another view at Fruitlands

2011-08-04T19:21:00.007-04:00

Matt Rasmussen, a young man who is working at Fruitlands Museum this summer took these photos of my sculpture Falling. Not only a great photographer, Matt is also studying chemistry at Bowdoin College. Thanks for the great images, Matt!

When you visit Fruitlands, be sure to follow the Sculpture walk map far enough to enter Alicia Dwyer's Dryad Grove. It's enchanting!

Marriage

2011-07-21T13:09:00.010-04:00

My son got married last month! Nick and Megan asked me to create an artwork that would hang in the sanctuary of the beautiful First Parish Church in Bedford, Massachusetts.

The size of the piece was limited to 5' x 3' so that it could also hang in their attic apartment in Somerville, a place with limited vertical wall space.

Here's the piece in progress in my studio.

I decided to also create an installation from birch branches that I cut from downed trees near Alewife in Cambridge -- "marrying" my current 2-D and 3-D art directions and filling the sanctuary space a bit more fully.

As I wrote for the wedding program: Marriage is a fiber art installation created by Margot Stage (aka Nick's Mom). The fabric trees represent Megan and Nick, while the surrounding white birch symbolizes their families and friends who support and celebrate their union.

It was a beautiful ceremony, shining with love, and filled with blessings for Megan and Nick!

Northeast Prize Show 2011

2011-05-24T20:53:00.005-04:00

I'm thrilled that my piece Waters of March # 3 was accepted by juror Theodore Stebbins for the Northeast Prize show. Stebbins is curator of American Art at Harvard University's Fogg Museum, and selected 111 pieces from over 700 submissions. He wrote about the show, "I was, truthfully, amazed at the quality overall. I found more honesty, more love of art, more beauty than I had a week before among the five hundred booths at the Chicago Art Fair." High praise, indeed!

Northeast Prize Show 2011 can be seen through June 16th at the Cambridge Art Association's two galleries. Kathryn Schultz Gallery at 25 Lowell Street and University Place Gallery at 124 Mt. Auburn St. www.cambridgeart.org for more information. My piece is at the University Place Gallery.

Enjoy!

Art in Nature at Fruitlands Museum

2011-04-27T15:31:00.007-04:00

From now until mid-November you can visit the fabulous Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, MA and enjoy this outdoor sculpture show on their 210-acre landscape. I'm thrilled to have 2 pieces in this exhibit -- Falling and Pod Veils.

It was a cold and windy day in March when David and I installed Falling.

Fruitlands curator Mike Volmar helped me install Pod Veils -- we were both on extension ladders leaning against the pine bough, so no photos of that act!

Here's a link to an article about Art in Nature in the Metrowest Daily News. And when you visit the show, don't forget to vote for your favorite sculptures!

http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/arts/x511177534/Accentuating-the-excellent-at-Fruitlands-Museum

Fibrous Forms: Bereft

2010-11-28T15:57:00.013-05:00

The sixteen pieces that comprise Bereft each represent a person I knew (or a person that someone I love knew) who passed away between February and July 2010. The title "Bereft" and the concept evolved from an email exchange with Gillian, who's partner Bobby died quite suddenly of pancreatic cancer. These pieces, created with fiberglass window screen, fabric,thread and beads, simultaneously commemorate and celebrate each individual spirit.

Fibrous Forms: Untied

2010-11-28T13:53:00.009-05:00

After creating a commissioned piece entirely from silk neckties, I was left with a big pile of "tie innards" -- strips of cloth in shades of white, ivory, sand. In the middle of one night, an inspiration came to me to use accordian folds and then string the folded fabrics together on a piece of red embroidery thread. Once in a while a red bead snuggles in a fold. I made this piece with the hope that the shadows would add another element to the whole -- and it worked!

Fibrous Forms in full

2010-11-23T09:24:00.005-05:00

We had a fabulous time creating Fibrous Forms at the 119 Gallery in Lowell. Here are two views of the full room, with images of individual works to follow shortly. Photographer and friend Adrien Bisson took these fabulous shots. Click on the image to enlarge.

Fibrous Forms

2010-10-14T16:26:00.002-04:00

My husband, David Crane and I are getting ready to hang/install our 2-person show, Fibrous Forms, at the 119 Gallery in Lowell. This is an incredible opportunity for us to work together, and for each of us to push our work outside its usual boundaries. David has been using wood in "fiber-like ways" and I've been making 3D pieces with cloth. Together we're doing an installation from pussy willow branches off the tree in our backyard, and another using crocheted threads and strips of wood (that's our postcard image). The show runs from October 19 - November 13, with a reception October 30 at 3 pm. Hope you get a chance to stop by! Directions and more info at the gallery's website www.119gallery.com

Ties That Bind

2010-04-19T21:42:00.003-04:00

Another opportunity to create art as a memorial came my way recently. Lauren wanted a piece made from her late husband's silk ties, more than sixty of them! She wanted a landscape and the intention was to hang the piece on a curved wall (the "silo") which houses a spiral staircase in their home in the Berkshires. When I sorted through the ties, they fell into seasonal categories, so I proposed a landscape that would "move through time" -- beginning in autumn, into winter, with the promise of spring at the end. Here's what I was inspired to create. For a closer view, double click on the image.

Popham Beach '09

2009-10-31T20:32:00.005-04:00

The beach suffered severe erosion since we were here September ‘08, and this year’s dominant flotsam and jetsam were great tangles of roots (from beach roses, bayberry, pine, sea grass) and sea weed. One of the first things I saw when I greeted the breach was a semi-circle of root tangle embedded in the sand at the high tide mark. It looked like the beginning of a huge nest. Viola! This year’s art installation idea was revealed.

It didn’t take long to find other root tangles to add to the semi-circle, and a full nest quickly formed.

As the week progressed, I watched the tide meet the nest and then recede, over and over again.

With the changing phase of the moon, the high tide decreased, leaving the Big Nest on drier sand.

Later in the week, David and I created a second nest coming out of the dune.

Our final morning (which also happened to be my birthday) I went down to the beach to watch the sunrise. It was a beautiful, still morning and for a while I was the only human within sight.

Then a person with a black lab appeared for a walk. The dog came right over to inspect the Big Nest (and of course leave his mark) and then jumped into the center of the circle. What a gift!

Old Frog Pond Farm Sculpture Walk

2009-09-16T17:27:00.003-04:00

I'm honored to have the opportunity to be part of the Sculpture Walk at Old Frog Pond Farm in Harvard, Massachusetts this autumn. Artist Linda Hoffman is a farmer of organic apples and raspberries. During the "pick-your-own" season, Linda has curated and displayed art around her beautiful land. For "Honey Locust Veils" I collected and strung honey locust pods, mixed with strips of fabric that I printed with the honey locust leaves. I tied them onto pussywillow branches, then attached those to the branches of two oak trees at Old Frog Pond Farm.

Safe Havens on the Edge of Wilderness

2009-09-16T17:08:00.004-04:00

My two-person show with artist Amy Ragus is now open at the gallery at Moose Hill Audubon Sanctuary in Sharon, Massachusetts. Curator Jan Goba did a magnificent job exhibiting my Empty Nests and Great Blue pieces with Amy's plein air paintings. Plus the added attraction of several "real" nests from my collection, and a few birds from the Audubon collection! The gallery is open daily from 10-4. Safe Havens is displayed now until November 2, 2009. http://www.massaudubon.org

Women's Weekend at Western Avenue Studios

2009-03-05T13:56:00.002-05:00

As part of Lowell's citywide Women's Week, we're hosting lots of events this weekend (beginning Friday evening, through Sunday afternoon) at Western Avenue Studios. Full event descriptions and directions at www.westernavenuestudios.com. Art demonstrations, workshops and exhibits. And my personal favorite, "Celebrating Ourselves As We Age". Anne Mulvey and I will be leading a crone celebration for women of ALL ages, to celebrate ourselves and those we love as we grow in age and wisdom! From 3-5 pm on Sunday in Studio 513. Bring yourselves, your mothers, daughters, sisters and friends to share ritual, stories and lots of laughter.

Those chairs to sit on

2009-02-19T16:26:00.002-05:00

Keep your eye out -- the chairs will be displayed in public locations in Acton and surrounding towns this spring, with an online auction scheduled for April. Then on May first, there will be an on-site auction and reception at Powers Gallery in Acton.

2009-02-19T15:57:00.005-05:00

First I unscrewed and re-upholstered the chair seat. Then I spray-painted all the wood black (removing the new seat, of course!)

Next I created the wings from fabric, inserting wire along the edges and stiffening the cloth with a hardener and some glue. Then I attached the wings and viola!

Wing Back Chair: Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes

A Chair to Sit On

2009-02-19T15:38:00.002-05:00

I've been participating in "A Chair to Sit On" -- a project of Household Goods Recycling of Massachusetts http://www.hgrm.org/. This wonderful non-profit organization provides household goods free of charge to individuals and families in need. They wound up with a warehouse full of single chairs (since most people look for sets of furniture) so decided to ask artists to choose a chair and do whatever we wanted with it. I found the perfect chair for my idea...

Into January

2009-01-02T07:21:00.000-05:00

A new year, highlighted by a beautiful new moon! New beginnings... Its bitter cold here in New England, creating ice patterns throughout the land. Even on the windows of our warm home. Wishing many many blessings on our world as we enter 2009.

2008-12-30T21:35:00.000-05:00

Twas the night before New Years Eve

2008-12-30T21:32:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here at the computer with Nick, my son, the computer wiz, who is pushing me to take action and not just talk about it! So, viola. I now have a blog!! No pressure, though.