ArtSake

Jeanne Williamson is a mixed media artist whose work combines printmaking, painting, collage, and sewing. We asked her what she was working on now, and she passed along these intriguing “studio views”:

I really like the plastic orange fences that are used as a barrier to keep people out of danger, by blocking off a construction site. The fences come in many shapes and sizes, and I have been collecting different shapes of them for many years.

To create my work, I monoprint the textures of fences on one large piece of fabric. Then I paint over the printed fabric, to add color or more detail. Often I’ll also add hand stamped shapes, using hand cut rubber erasers. When I am satisfied with the design, I stitch lines using my sewing machine, following the horizontal and vertical grid of the fence.

I’ve been very interested in the grids of buildings under construction, and I have been working to translate different projects in my work. The piece in process in the photo is of a condo project in Natick, MA. Also shown is the actual fence I used to print, which happens to be a green fence, not orange. After I monoprint the fence on the fabric, I hang it to dry in my bathroom shower, before I start painting or hand stamping.

Recently, I’ve taken some larger older work, and cut it up, added more paint, and reassembled it to create new, smaller pieces. The photo with my sewing machine shows a few piles of work, as well as some felted pieces I’ve been creating, one per week.

For more information on Jeanne Williamson, check out her website, blog, and book.

Photo Credits: All images courtesy of Jeanne Williamson

For the past year Jessica Burko has been creating sewn paper quilts. She uses her own photographs, vintage photos, and collected paper ephemera found at yard sales, flea markets, and in trash bins. Let’s take a look-see into her studio.

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Let’s take a peek at what’s going on in Clara Lieu’s studio.

I am currently working on a new series of figures wading in water. The project focuses on the dual nature of water as a substance which can be responsible for sustaining or ending life. As humans, we turn to water as a source of healing and comfort that can be small in scale and intimate. (more…)

What is really going on behind closed doors in the multitude of artists studios throughout Massachusetts? To find out, we thought we’d ask artists to let us peek inside their studios, and tell us what they’re up to these days.

The first to answer the call was Boston-based artist Santiago Hernandez:

Stripes, Flame Jobs and Sacred Geometry

My work has always dealt in different ways with the dialectical relationship between order and chaos, the sacred and the profane. With this new body of work I want to touch upon the possibilities of this intricate relationship from a personal point of view while making use of elements - camouflage patterns, flames, hazard stripes, etc. - taken from popular culture or from my immediate surroundings.

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