Saturday, March 26, 2016

Riverside County Fair and International Date Festival


"Riverside County Fair and International Date Festival No. 1 " 

It's that time of year when the county fairs of California begin to entertain and amuse us with sounds, smells, tastes and thrills. This year I started out by going to the Riverside County Fair and International Date Festival out in the desert community of Indio last month. This is the first county fair of the year and even though it was held in February, it was particularly warm. I'm sure the fair would be too uncomfortable for folks to enjoy later in the year when the average temperature is a cool 110ยบ.

Just 30 minutes east of Palms Springs in the Coachella Valley, Indio is considered the date capital of the world! The groves of date palms lined the fair grounds and gave it a distinctive back drop. I had a lovely conversation with "The Queen of the Dates" Ms. Linda Beal who had grown up on a date farm in town. She graciously described the history and mystique of Indio back in the 40's and 50's and showed me her display of memorabilia. Her tales of residence dressing up during the entire week of the county fair in harem pants and fezzes had me intrigued as she showed me the many photographs documenting this mid-century craze.

The exotic nature of the Middle East, the date palms and the similar desert climate inspired the Coachella Valley to market itself as an exotic tourist destination with an Arabian theme. They even renamed local towns to invoke the Middle East as can bee seen in Thermal, Oasis, Mecca and Arabia. 


The Riverside County Fair and International Date Festival has been in operation since 1947, a relative new comer to the older county fairs around California. Yet it emanates a feeling of timelessness that I strive to capture in this series I've been shooting for the past 2 years. From the camel and ostrich races, to the Arabian Nights outdoor stage and the annual Queen Scheherazade beauty pageant, this county fair showed that it was proud of its heritage and happy to share in the bounty of its agricultural past.

All the worlds a fair,

Julie Green
March 26, 2016


"Riverside County Fair and International Date Festival No. 2"


"Riverside County Fair and International Date Festival No. 3"
"Riverside County Fair and International Date Festival No. 4"
"Riverside County Fair and International Date Festival No. 5"

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Home as Hat: Baby Doe von Stroheim

"Baby Doe von Stroheim" from Home as Hat

EMBROIDERY PATTERNS


"I don't approach fashion. Fashion approaches me!" —Daphne Guinness

For the past few yeas I have been learning how to apply various embroidery patterns to cloth. Not all of these patterns are easy to create on paper but I do enjoy seeing how stiff paper becomes a canvas on which to draw with thread. Basic techniques like the cross stitch, chain stitch, buttonhole, running stitch, stem stitch and satin stitch lend themselves to working on this project and give direction and visual motion to the "hats" I'm constructing.

I'm fascinated by the many decorative motifs and patterns that have evolved worldwide throughout the centuries. Developing out of the necessity of patching and mending precious hand woven fabrics, it was employed as a way to embellish clothing. Embroidery patterns became a mark of wealth as well as rank and social status. Textile workshops evolved to produce high end pieces and gave birth to fashionable masterpieces.

The canvas work I am producing in this series helps to create a dense pattern that almost completely covers the paper, a technique that I think works in this case to build up a color field and a visual play on architecture, space and form.

Just like pulling a rabbit out of a hat,


Julie Green

March 19, 2016












Saturday, March 12, 2016

Home as Hat: Lynn Peril

"Lynn Peril" from Home as Hat

THE HISTORY OF STITCHING AND WOMEN IN THE ARTS


"I don't do fashion. I am fashion." —Coco Chanel

The history of fiber art and its implications for women is a fascinating subject in and of itself. As I sat stitching this picture I couldn't help but wonder home many times this repetitive but decorative act had taken place over the years. Both my grandmother and my mother had taught me how to sew as a young child, and I remember how excited I felt to stitch two pieces of fabric together. Its alchemy was intoxicating. Yet my younger brother was never taught the magical art of sewing and I never questioned why my male counterpart was not introduced to it.

Fiber art has long been viewed as representing domesticity and feminine nature. It has been a vehicle for women to express themselves in the confines of a male dominated social structure but it has also a means of commerce and power. The manufacturing of cloth created an economic force for women in ancient times and became a way to do business outside the confines of the home.

Feminist art began to restructure the way in which we viewed fiber art as "woman's work".  I have always been fascinated with Judy Chicago's installation "The Dinner Party", where she focused on and elevated the history of women in Wester Civilzaton. Combining domestic objects and fiber art, Chicago began a life long narrative championing woman's rights to "engage is the highest levels of art production" (judychicago.com) I have been enjoying site specific public installations of "yarn bombing" on the streets here in Los Angeles. Crocheting light posts and bike racks brings the notion of domestic fiber arts into the streets and engages our senses.

Fiber arts are still a vehicle in which to challenge preconceived ideas of feminism and a way for us artist to reconstruct the narrative of our creations. "Home as Hat" is my connection to the fiber arts and a vehicle for me to explore the notions of feminism through fashion.

A stitch in time saves nine,

Julie Green
March 12, 2016







Saturday, March 5, 2016

Home as Hat: Carla Braswell

"Carla Braswell" from Home as Hat

DECORATIVE THREAD

“Fashion is only the attempt to realize art in living forms and social intercouse.” — Sir Francis Bacon

"What you wear is how you present yourself to the world, especially today, when human contacts are so quick. Fashion is instant language." —Miuccia Prada

As this series begins to expand and solidify, I am very happy that I have chosen to hand craft these images with embroidery floss. This decorative thread is a 6 stranded cotton loosely twisted which comes in a stunning array of colors. It can also be made from silk, linen or rayon.

I am keenly aware when selecting the color thread for each photograph. Symbolically, each color ton top of the black and white portraits are representing the spirit I see in the individual and their juxtaposition with their surroundings. 

The textural and physical nature of stitching onto paper resonates wtih me. The thread gives the images a three dimensionality that I have been constantly trying to achieve in my work. Photography's very nature has always challenged me to break out of its two dimensional confines (see "Modern Merry Pranksters", "Authors in August" or "Bodies of Water" for example) and brings something fresh and new to it's flat surface.

Punching holes into the image almost feels sacrilegious but what emerges is more than decorative, I am literally drawing with thread. I have had to adjust my freehand stitching with the stiffer substrate of the photographic paper since it does not bend or bunch like fabric does. 

Over thousands of years decorative embroidery has been a way for people to express their own style through the materials they select and the designs they stitch into the fabric. Decorative thread has been embellishing our lives ever since, patching and reinforcing our desire to make our world a more beautiful place.

With a tip of the hat,

Julie Green
March 5, 2016