Fishman's Rainbow

Our last morning in Chicago was brief but we did have a few hours before we had to head to the airport. Both Jim and Jack had work to do so I did what any passionate needleartist would do...

I looked online for any needlework or fabric shops near our hotel, found one, bought a big cup of tea and set out to walk the 1.5 miles to Fishman's Fabrics...

Fishman's Fabrics was established in 1903 and prides itself on building relationships with quality mills around the world in order to offer a full range of textiles:  cashmeres from Scotland, wool suitings from Italy, linens from Belgium...even American-made wool felt.

And the silks!  I couldn't believe the RANGE of colors offered...every color of the rainbow...in every TYPE of silk.

Dupioni galore...

Silk linings, silk charmeuse, silk shantung, silk chiffon, silk crepe, silk velvets...



Silk satin and silk habotai...



Silk organza and silk taffeta...

I have never, in my life, seen such ample offerings in every TYPE and COLOR of silk.  I was floored.

One large warehouse floor to be precise...

And to think that in the past they used to have THREE floors PACKED with fabric.

It's incredible the degree to which our fabric stores have limited their stocks in the last three decades.  Even on my trips to New York, I often leave without having found the right color or the right cloth.

Fishman's range is a breath of fresh air; a real find for someone looking for breadth within categories.

And I didn't take a picture, but the range of upholstery and designer fabrics is just as impressive.  And leather!  I haven't seen so much leather in one place.  Of course, I haven't really bought leather...but Fishman's could get me started.  And did I mention, the quality linings for vests and ties...?  And the clearance wall?  Most clearance bolts were $5-$10/yard...!

And more good news...they love online orders and the minimum cut is 1/8 yard.  A great resource when you are searching for a particular palette.

In the entryway, I enjoyed reading a bulletin board full of vintage ephemera about the store:  news clippings, letters from famous customers, magazine covers, etc...

I love a shop with a history and a shop that loves its customers.

The rainbow shines bright in Chicago, my friends...

And it's at Fishman's Fabrics.

Though your pot of gold might take a hit.  Just warning you.

Needlework in Portraiture at The Art Institute of Chicago

While in Chicago we had about two hours to tour the Art Institute of Chicago.  Though they currently have a Picasso exhibit, we decided we didn't have time to see that as well as the rest of the museum.



We chose the rest of the museum and it did not disappoint.

There were many impressionist pieces in the permanent collection and they were displayed in a showroom bathed in natural light.  Yay!  Since photographs were allowed, I was able to capture a bit of what I saw that day.

Two Sisters (On the Terrace) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881.   Oil on canvas.

Taking pictures allows me to foucs on specific areas of a painting that tend not to be available as images for sale in the museum gift shop...The vividness of this painting is unbelievable.  How is that Renoir was able to use such a riot of color without it appearing garish and overwhelming the composition?  What is off-setting the color that gives the work balance?

There's so much light in Renoir's work.  In photography, light absorbs color.  I wonder if that was his trick?  Maybe some of you art majors or painter friends have a theory.

I'm tempted to do a piece explosive with color just to see what would happen...

As always, I am overjoyed when I find paintings of sewers, knitters, embroiderer, lacemakers, etc.  And this museum had a good number of them; two were by Renoir.

Renoir had a blue and purple color party in this painting of a young girl sewing...

Young Girl Sewing by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1879. 

I'm not sure I would have ever thought to bring so much blue into the flower arrangement since there aren't that many naturally occurring flowers in those particular shades.

That being said, the preponderance of blue with undertones of violet, helps to bring the girl forward...

The following painting isn't a girl at all but a picture of Renoir's son at age 5 or so sewing.   I've read that Renoir liked the color of his son's strawberry blond hair so much that he wouldn't allow him to cut until his son's school required it at age 7.

I remember when Jack was about four, he wanted to stitch so I gave him a hoop, needle and thread.  He sat there for an hour or so making big stitches in all different colors.

It was the first and last time he has stitched.

Another portrait of a stitching woman is this one by Jacques Louis-David...

Madame Pastonet and Her Son by Jacque-Louis David, 1791/92.  Oil on canvas.

It turns out that this painting isn't quite finished because it's believed that the political views of the artist were in conflict with his patron.  Hence there is no needle in Madame's right hand and the background is incomplete.

You barely notice the babe in the cradle off to the right.

Next up is probably my favorite "needle" painting of the day,  most likely because there is a bit of mystery to the work.

It's called Hesitation and the artist's suggestion of a title leaves the viewer to play a role in interpreting the story...

Hesitation (Madame Morteaux) by Alfred Stevens, 1867.

This painting is by Alfred Stevens, a Belgian painter who spent most of his life in Paris.  He was known for painting aristocratic women in  elegant and enticing backgrounds.  He often liked a bit of mystery, capturing his subject at a particular moment in time.

At first I thought this woman was listening at the door and her hesitation was her resistance to walk through it...But on further study, I noted the bit of pink paper that had been slipped under the door.  Hmm...

Like Stevens' other works (see a gallery of his works here), the background detail is impressive as we are treated to a work table spilling over with tapestry wools, one skein having dropped to the floor as she stood up...

The detail is so well done that we can see that the needlepoint design is of Chinese influence, very appropriate for the late 19th century.  We can also see the mess of thread ends on the back of the work.

It appears that there were quite a number of portraits painted in the 19th century showing girls/women who were working some type of needlework.   Young aristocratic ladies were expected to be accomplished at many of the domestic arts, needlework being one of them and portraits showing their endeavors helped to sell that brand.  

You can see hundreds of other examples of needlewomen in portraiture in Gail Sirna's book, In Praise of the Needlewoman.  It's currently out-of-print but you can find used copies around the net.  I love to use it as a guide for what paintings are housed in which museums...

Ok.  I saved the best for last.

As I walked through one of the lesser galleries, I was stopped dead in my tracks by this painting...

Shoe Shop by Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones, c. 1911.

It was most certainly an Impressionist work but I had never seen it before.  And, it was painted by a woman.  Yet...

I had seen the Women Impressionists exhibit at the Legion of Honor a few years ago and never heard of this artist Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones.

It turns out that she studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in the early 20th century and began painting and selling her work as a teenager.  Even though she was young, her paintings sold for about $50,000 in today's equivalent and she won many awards.

Following an exhibition in 1907, the New York Times dubbed her the "Find of the Year" after stating that her painting, The Porch, was the most unforgettable canvas in the show.

And check it  out, there's even a woman embroidering in the foreground...

The Porch by Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones,  1907

By 1913, a hereditary mental illness had claimed her and she wouldn't paint again until 20 years later.  Though there wasn't even a wikipedia site for her, I was pleased to find a biography written in 2010 that I hope to read.

All of her early paintings are of contemporary, urban scenes of women shopping, reading, or caring for babies.  To see more of her wonderful paintings, check out this blog post showing her work.

Well, that's it for my little art tour.  Happy day everyone!

The Cityscape of Chicago

Jack is a junior in high school this year so it will be time for him to apply to colleges next Fall.  Last week, we started our first round of college tours by heading to Chicago for Spring Break.

The temperatures were still fairly chilly but the crisp air, the blue skies and white clouds made the miles of driving seem effortless.

We covered four schools (U of Chicago, Northwestern, U of Wisconsin, U of Michigan) in three states but kept our home base as Chicago.

Wow.  What a city!  Having never been before, I was grateful for some travel tips from blogging friend Carol (thank you!) and we made the most of our short time there.

Each time I adventure afield,  I tend to take whatever thoughts, ideas or projects that are top-of-mind with me.  This time, I brought my palette of grays and my focus on reflections and mirrors...all of which led me to look at Chicago through those lenses.

First of all, there's this captivating sculpture in Grant Park called Cloud Gate which is commonly referred to as 'The Bean'...



The artist was inspired by liquid mercury when creating it and I can see why.  No matter which way you looked into this sculpture, you were rewarded with an everchanging, panoramic view...

Which delighted and enthralled no matter where you stood...



This pic is taken from underneath the Bean looking up...you can see Jack's red hat and me standing next to him in the center circle...Jim's is bottom center outside the inner circle.

The artist really did a phenomenal job of creating a piece of interactive art.

We were mesmerized.



And I had a great time photographing views of Chicago through the curved, reflective surface of this Bean.



There's an openness to Chicago that allows for each building to breathe and tell its story.  Whether viewed as a cohesive city skyline or as individual buildings, the sky gives the town a fresh, open feeling that is unusual for such a large city.  It was marvelous.

And talk about a palette of grays...

Honestly, I have never really felt that modern cities (and I mean "modern" compared to the cities of Europe) are all that beautiful with their chrome, glass and steel.

This visit changed my mind.

We climbed to the top of the Hancock building to get a birds-eye view of the city.  We each went our separate ways...me, taking pictures of the city...

Here's the Navy Pier...



And Jack, sitting in one spot and thinking about whether or not he'd like to live in this city...



About 15 mins later we both realized that we hadn't seen Jim.  We went on a search and Jack found him on the floor with his back against the wall...



Jim is afraid of heights.  See how his fist is gripping my bag?

Jack was encouraging him to "Get up.  It's not so bad."



And Jim, just answered, "Yes, it is.  I'll stay right here, thank you very much."



He did get up eventually and go inside to read Chicago's History on display.  Once absorbed in that, he relaxed and enjoyed the visit.

The next day, my thoughts would return to city structures when we visited the Art Institute of Chicago and I saw this painting by Georgia O'Keefe, The Shelton with Sunspots painted in 1926 .

 Even though the building is in NYC, O'Keefe was playing with the concept that sunspots remove color from buildings...and in this painting, the building appears as if it has a hole in it.

O'Keefe spent only one year at the School of the Art Institute as a student but Chicago did have an influence on her and many of her paintings are on display there.

All of these views of cities and skies and sunlight reminded me of a class I had taken online through the Shining Needle Society *many years ago by Betty Chen Louis.  Betty Chen Louis had designed a Cityscape of NYC on Canvas which she had taught at the ANG National Seminar in 2003 (?)which I have always admired...

Copyright Betty Chen Louis

I had never had a chance to study with her since my Mom was ill when she came to teach at our Guild.

The real brilliance of her design didn't really strike me back then but it does now.  I appreciate how tricky it is to use all of the many shades of gray in translating a reflective, living city scene.

Yesterday, while looking for something else, I found the kit I had started from her online class, Cityscape Hearts in Black and White...

There it was, having been tucked away in a bag for years.

 And all of a sudden I have a renewed interest because now I feel a kinship with Betty.  I too, have stood there in a city and thought about the light, the reflection, the shades of gray...and how I might choose to stitch the scene.  I get it now.

See.  Unfinished projects are important.  And you should never feel guilty about having them.  Sometimes they just need to incubate until the time is right.

At the bottom of the instructions I noticed that another blogging friend, Sue Dulle, had helped Betty with the compilation and format of the written instructions.  I smiled at the serendipity of it...another connection.  I wouldn't "meet" Sue online until a few years later.  (Waving at you Sue.)

And there you have it.  Cities, reflections, grays, steels, light and dark...

All firing off synapses in my brain from one college-hunting trip to Chicago.

* Here's a link to the Shining Needle Society Yahoo Group.  Feel free to request to join the group so you can receive notifications of upcoming classes.  They offer all types of great classes.