Day 18 of the Drawing Challenge

September 21, 2012 | dodington

“Just a doodle” was requested by the Drawing Challenge today. Here you go:

marker and pen doodle mandala — Just a doodle, marker and pen on paper

Residency in review: part 5

April 26, 2012 | dodington

I wanted to share with you a picture of some of the pillows I sewed to look like books for the library cart.

pillows that look like books — book pillows

Along with the pillows I made a silkscreen in the same manner I’ve discussed before on the blog. The design was inspired by a page from a book in the elsewhere library that I have re-located to live on the cart and be read by kids visiting the museum.

making a silk screen — making the silkscreen

I printed the design on some of the book pillows as either pages or covers.

While I was at it I also printed a tote-bag:

elsewhere residency silkscreen printed tote bag — tote bag for sale (profits to elsewhere) at elsewhere collaborative shop

Residency in review: part 4

April 25, 2012 | dodington

Below are some close-ups of the puppets I made as part of my library cart. I asked the staff at elsewhere if they were an animal, what would it be and then made an animal-puppet version of them. The results were: a badger, a duck, a turtle, a mouse, an owl and a one-eyed brontosaurus:

hand puppets in puppet theatre, elsewhere, greensboro, nc — hand puppets in the puppet theatre nook

hand puppet of a one-eyed brontosaurus — one-eyed brontosaurus

Residency in review: part 3

April 20, 2012 | dodington

Here is the sewing workshop at elsewhere, where I spent a lot of time. Can you find me in the picture?

jessie dodington in the sewing workshop at elsewhere, greensboro, nc — where's waldo in the sewing workshop?

This is the newly painted cart with my sewn puppet-theatre curtains:

library cart in elsewhere, greensboro, nc — Puppet theatre!

and here are the puppets I made sitting on the newly-sewn bench cushion. We have a mouse, a duck, a turtle, an owl, a badger and a one-eyed brontosaurus – in that order.

hand puppets at elsewhere, greensboro, nc — hand puppets in the theatre

Residency in review: part two

April 19, 2012 | dodington

Here are some pictures from my first week at elsewhere: my artist talk and project proposal – in that order.

jessie dodington giving artist talk at elsewhere, greensboro, nc — Artist talk

jessie dodington project proposal elsewhere greensboro, nc — proposing my project with parrot friend

Residency in review:

April 18, 2012 | dodington

It was a wonderful five weeks in Greensboro, NC!

I got caught up in the flow and didn’t post as much as I anticipated so I think I’ll take this week to share little snippets from my residency.

Let’s start with a few pics of a mural Zada Tagli was working on at the Greensboro IRC (The Interactive Resource Center: assists people who are homeless, recently homeless or facing homelessness reconnect with their own lives and with the community at large.)

Here are some images from the first day of work on the mural – the day that I worked with her.

picture of mural at greensboro irc — Mural in beginning stages

zada tagli working on mural at greesboro irc — Zada Tagli at work on mural

My project, the boss and bear claws – aka the best week ever.

March 26, 2012 | dodington

Hi folks!

This past week at Elsewhere whizzed by! My project is a re-invention of the library cart! This little nook on wheels is a part of a “traveling menagerie” (see here). But its home is in the ceiling-high living library of elsewhere. It has a puppet theatre, shelves for books and a bench with cushions for lounging. A seriously day-dream gem of a spot!

Here are some pictures of the cart before I began my work:

photo of library cart at elsewhere cooperative — Front of cart with puppet theatre

photo of library cart at elsewhere, greensboro — Back of cart with bench and bookshelves

So, I’m imagining Elsewhere as an indoor park, which it really is in so many ways. I’m drawing upon my past as a park guide, interpreter and naturalist and drawing upon the wild aspects in elsewhere to make this space sing.

My first step was to strip it of the miscellaneous fabric and pictures that were haphazardly fastened to it, fill its nicks with putty and sand it down with help from the building curator, tool-wielding diva extraordinaire Jen.

jessie dodington sanding a cart at elsewhere greensboro, nc — Power sander!

This is where I have to take a moment to tell you I’m wearing an inside-out Bruce Springsteen t-shirt that I bought at his recent concert in Greensboro. That’s right folks. I saw the boss in concert and my life is now complete. (Mother, my shirt is inside out on purpose, to protect it from getting paint on it of course.)

Meanwhile I’m collecting books and items from elsewhere’s collection for display and contextualization on my cart.

It’s been a great week and I’m happy to say It only got better when I came to use the internet at the Green Bean coffee shop. Here I discovered they have bear claw pastries – quite a favorite treat of mine from Saturdays at the farmers’ Market growing up.

eating a bear claw pastry — Mmmm. bear claw.

Have a happy Monday everyone!