It all began when Carolyn thought we might want to collaborate on an installation in her “home” gallery Lost Coast Culture Machine, in Fort Bragg, California. She then admitted a deep-seated need to iron in public, and “Art Laundry” was born…with the support of gallery owners Anne Beck and Dietmar Krumrey.
We visited the gallery when I arrived…
to check the spaces for the installation…
…and then headed back to Carolyn’s studio.
where we considered ideas (thanks Corrie)
discovered Carolyn’s sewing machine didn’t work…
so I turned to work on paper and managed to come up with 18 items in a few days…ALL made on the wonderful paper made by Anne and Dietmar at Lost Coast. They use old clothes, shredded money (that is…money taken out of circulation and shredded by the bank), pampas grass (a non-native invasive plant) and many other things they include in the fibers when they make paper. I found the paper sensational to work on and came home with a suitcase full…soon they will have online sales.
Carolyn, meanwhile, had a meeting or two, grocery shopping, painting the boxes for the installation, plus making a few smaller pieces to go with her 6 “Big Girls” (as I took to calling them)…
and eventually we packed up and headed to the gallery.
I was going to make the small gallery room into “the shrine to plaid” and got to work…
with the final result looking like this and accommodating all of my work on paper and small fabric pieces, plus the Virgin of Guadalupe quilt…and once it was lit it looked pretty great…
meanwhile the big girls went up and so did the quilts…
Carolyn’s ironing area materialized along with her “shadow” on the wall…
the boxes were wrapped and the rugosa rose hips were picked (on a much needed walk/bikeride)
the lighting adjusted…
and we were open for business…and it was too much fun…
the day after the opening I sewed in the gallery for awhile…Anne’s going to finish the “goodbye quilt” and send it along and I’ll quilt it and send it back as a thank you for giving over the gallery and letting us play…and play we did!
If you are in Fort Bragg, Carolyn will be ironing twice a week for the run of the show…!
On The Way 
Was there a reason for your spelling of Culure Machine instead of Culture Machine on the yellow announcement or were you just trying to see if we were paying attention?
Luckily I had nothing to do with it…eek…it must have been a test and you passed! xo
I thought it might have been a play on words, but a Zen flaw is much better. Diane thinks the photo of the wrapped boxes and rugosa is a masterpiece. I thought about my glued envelopes, as in “What’s inside?” Big Girls at the Gallery have a very James Ensor look, especially the skeleton with dunce(?) hat. Yes, I agree, it ;looks as though you had “too much fun.” Congratulations!.
a Zen flaw, I like that.
What a fun adventure! Sounds like you had a great time. Wish we had something like LCCM here in Salem.
Hi, Bonnie. What a great show! So much fun! The ironing board was the crowning touch!
best, nadia
Some well done fun!
The rugosa and wrapped boxes photo would make a good Christmas card photo.
thank you for your “up close and personal” documentation of your show!!! congrats!!!
Fantastic!
Oh I so wish I could have seen this in person Bonnie! It looks wonderful. Meanwhile, missing our PS chats!
wonderful show. love those big girls and your quilts are fab. congrats to you both.
your quilts are gorgeous…and it always sounds like you have a good time!