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First, the job posting--since i've been such the gloom-monger about theatres closing in the news, i'd feel remiss if i didn't help propogate this *excellent* job opportunity. No less than four former colleagues have forwarded it to me, and to be honest, if i weren't planning to operate with the Triangle as my "home base" for at minimum five more years, i'd apply in a heartbeat.
Essentially, budgetary restructuring has resulted in a change-up at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, MN. They used to have a separate painter/dyer and crafts artisan/milliner--two jobs, two employees. Now though, they're combining those two positions into a single one. The Guthrie is a heavy-hitter in regional theatre, with it's brand-new (as of 2006) facility featuring three stages, on which they produce a range of productions from musicals to Shakespeare to new works and world premieres. They do between 7 and 13 shows a year, including an annual Christmas Carol and usually at least one touring show. Working there would mean a wide range of different works, with world-class designers, directors, and performers.
You can read the full job posting here, if you're interested. The job's through their local IATSE so figure on union benefits and payscale.
* * * * *
Last month, Peace College in Raleigh hosted the North Carolina 2009 Quilt Symposium, and--being a huge fan of all areas of fiber art, particularly quilts--I headed down there to check it out.
I think i'm especially drawn to the medium of quilting for the same reasons i'm drawn to the profession of crafts artisanship. Quilting comes from a rich panoply of histories, its techniques and styles couched in such a diversity of cultures, from the solid geometry of the Amish tradition, to the graphic strip-piecing of Gee's Bend, to the intricate complexity of Hawaiian applique. It's both an art and a craft, a blend of skill, inspiration, and practicality, and is usually the province of women artists. It can be improvisational or mathematical or both, and--like theatre--engenders collaboration and community.
Isn't the cooperative nature of a quilting bee, a round-robin, or a block-swap similar, conceptually, to a theatre production? Groups of artists come together to coordinate the production of quilts, to gather in guilds for inspiration and collaboration. At the Symposium, rarely did i see a work produced by only one pair of hands--most all involved at least two artists (one who pieced the top and another who quilted the layers), often more. And like theatre artists, quilt artists seem particularly drawn to participating actively in their communities through their work, holding benefit raffles for local charities or creating works for specific causes (such as making comfort quilts for hospitalized children or valor quilts for returning soldiers).
The Symposium was so extensive, I'm going to split the coverage into two posts, the first of which will be images of wearables, accessory design (there was a handbag competition and silent auction), and what they categorized in their competition breakdown as "Studio Art"--free-form wallhanging-scale works often featuring 3D elements or specialized techniques like photo-transfer. The second post (probably coming tomorrow) will focus on larger-scale works which often utilize traditional patterns or specific recognized styles of execution. Admittedly, i didn't come close to photographing the entire thing--there were hundreds of pieces on display. I didn't stick to "ribbon winners" or anything either; i took pictures based on the criteria of whether i felt inspired to respond to an artwork or some element struck me as worth documenting.
Peace College itself was a striking setting for the symposium--it's a beautiful historical liberal-arts women's college, an intimate campus of striking old architecture and classical gardens of shade trees and foliage in bloom.
( Read more... )
Essentially, budgetary restructuring has resulted in a change-up at the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, MN. They used to have a separate painter/dyer and crafts artisan/milliner--two jobs, two employees. Now though, they're combining those two positions into a single one. The Guthrie is a heavy-hitter in regional theatre, with it's brand-new (as of 2006) facility featuring three stages, on which they produce a range of productions from musicals to Shakespeare to new works and world premieres. They do between 7 and 13 shows a year, including an annual Christmas Carol and usually at least one touring show. Working there would mean a wide range of different works, with world-class designers, directors, and performers.
You can read the full job posting here, if you're interested. The job's through their local IATSE so figure on union benefits and payscale.
Last month, Peace College in Raleigh hosted the North Carolina 2009 Quilt Symposium, and--being a huge fan of all areas of fiber art, particularly quilts--I headed down there to check it out.
I think i'm especially drawn to the medium of quilting for the same reasons i'm drawn to the profession of crafts artisanship. Quilting comes from a rich panoply of histories, its techniques and styles couched in such a diversity of cultures, from the solid geometry of the Amish tradition, to the graphic strip-piecing of Gee's Bend, to the intricate complexity of Hawaiian applique. It's both an art and a craft, a blend of skill, inspiration, and practicality, and is usually the province of women artists. It can be improvisational or mathematical or both, and--like theatre--engenders collaboration and community.
Isn't the cooperative nature of a quilting bee, a round-robin, or a block-swap similar, conceptually, to a theatre production? Groups of artists come together to coordinate the production of quilts, to gather in guilds for inspiration and collaboration. At the Symposium, rarely did i see a work produced by only one pair of hands--most all involved at least two artists (one who pieced the top and another who quilted the layers), often more. And like theatre artists, quilt artists seem particularly drawn to participating actively in their communities through their work, holding benefit raffles for local charities or creating works for specific causes (such as making comfort quilts for hospitalized children or valor quilts for returning soldiers).
The Symposium was so extensive, I'm going to split the coverage into two posts, the first of which will be images of wearables, accessory design (there was a handbag competition and silent auction), and what they categorized in their competition breakdown as "Studio Art"--free-form wallhanging-scale works often featuring 3D elements or specialized techniques like photo-transfer. The second post (probably coming tomorrow) will focus on larger-scale works which often utilize traditional patterns or specific recognized styles of execution. Admittedly, i didn't come close to photographing the entire thing--there were hundreds of pieces on display. I didn't stick to "ribbon winners" or anything either; i took pictures based on the criteria of whether i felt inspired to respond to an artwork or some element struck me as worth documenting.
Peace College itself was a striking setting for the symposium--it's a beautiful historical liberal-arts women's college, an intimate campus of striking old architecture and classical gardens of shade trees and foliage in bloom.
( Read more... )
