I've already geared this year toward what would in theory include a slow paced, meditative art practice by committing to the slowest type of weaving: tapestry (on my new loom).  Most recently though I've reacquainted myself with printing with natural dyes and I'm hooked.  Here's the thing about these two practices, they are very labor intensive and require an immense amount of patience.  Yet, when I'm in process I am charged with energies that I sometimes forget exist in me.  That's when I know I'm on the right path: I can't sleep, nor do I remember to eat (Both those side effects are usually short lived though, and are actually a welcome change from those same effects coming from a different source, hint: "Whah!")  

The process of printing with natural dyes is complex, and I might add not the most efficient.  So much so that I'm quite sure any natural prints I make will invariably be a part of art installations as opposed to sold as garments or home textiles - I just couldn't put a retail price on them (note this is different from natural dyeing or eco-printing -- those I make to sell).  The process takes weeks to complete!  If a stranger were to ask me how I made the pictured yardage I'd tell them I stenciled natural dyes onto silk.  Sounds simple right?  But first I extract the dyes from woodchips and thicken them with guar gum.  Before that I mordant the silk (a one-day process) and then size it with soy milk that I make from scratch (another whole day).  Then I print (or stencil in this photos' case) the dyes onto the silk and wait for it to dry completely before steaming the entire yardage.  Now I wait at least three weeks for the soy sizing to cure before I rinse it and use it for who-knows-what.  As intense as that is I love every single second and can't wait to start the process over again.  Of course a great way to make the process more efficient is to mordant a lot of fabric at once for future use.

Janna

PS This yardage was only possible because my amazing mom babysat for several days while I made it.  Thank you Mom!

Here are some shots of the fabric I've been working into this month.  There will be a lot more added to this falling sweater, including some subtle leaf prints and maybe even some goldleaf.  The falling sweater was printed with brazilwood and logwood and the full falling series is 5 vertical prints on 136 inches of silk

This finished piece will be shown at Eastern Bloc starting March 30th, 2012

photos by Riley Sparks

Update March 23rd:  Shortly after this post I accidentally ruined this fabric in a contaminated pot.  I was pretty sad at first, but the more I look at the photos the more I think the piece had already been resolved at this point.  So now I'm just glad I have these great photos.  For the show on the 30th I'll be showing the second part of this series which will be a lot different and feature a sound element.

More printing with natural dyes.  These photos aren't out of focus, the prints have just transferred that way, which I love.

Fragments of Education was an site specific installation where I made graphite rubbings of surfaces around Concordia University with which I created a message in code to reveal injustices in the public education system.  I wrote about it here on the blog before it had officially been installed, so now I have photos to share.   

For the installation I invited people to the coded message (made with pigment prints on cotton) by giving them a card which contained the legend on the front and a fill-in-the-blanks on the back (as seen in the photos - but don't enlarge them if you want to decode it yourself).  The website that accompanies this project allows for online visitors to decode it too and has the extra feature of a video hint. Here's a link to the site:  http://fragmentsofaneducation.weebly.com/

I did some line rubbings of my wedding dress which was once my grandma Clara's.  Above are the lines in print form; yet another exploration into my line rubbing series. This yardage will be a the background for a projected video; a story about Clara and I in abstract form.  I had some friends participate in the video as well to represent my community in this time of grieving.

Reinventing one self is a life-long process, as is the evolution of our perception of the world around us, including the people around us.  In this woven piece I explored reinventing one person though experimentation with silk screening on the woven piece in various ways.  As I wove each new version I recorded the words and phrases that came to me.  It was like building characters in a novel;  each time I printed and wove a new version I learned more about who this person was and what they were experiencing.  Often the processes I used dictated those experiences.

Some of the words were:

partier
acceptance
regret
savvy
mysterious
unkempt
slut