enCHANTment: Installment 1 - Tachi Neputa

My father and I decided several months ago that we wanted to send 2012 off with a beautiful celebration of art and life. The word enCHANTment resounded well in both of our ears so we planned to use the studio space and completely reinvent it into an enchanting world. My process began much earlier than Dad's. I ordered fabric and chose items to make for the show, knowing I would create a Monk's world inside the studio: bedroom, living room and dining room. Dad wanted to build a tarpaper chapel in the center of the studio, but as the show took form, we both began to reference our time in Japan, not when I was nine, but later, in 2002 during Dad's artist residency.

Making of a Tachi-neputa float

An assembled, illuminated Tachi-neputa float

He was living on a ceramics co-op preparing for a show that summer and I came at the end of my college quarter, having spent the year immersed in Industrial Design. I took an internship with the master float-builder in the town of Goshogawara, in the Northern-most prefecture of Japan's main island. Often, I would ride my bicycle down the hill from the ceramics co-op into the town center where the floats were being assembled. I would spend the day papering segments of a large metal armature that took up the entire inside of a warehouse. Once the structure was papered, the other volunteers and I would paint the paper with watered-down inks of every color. The master, Masateru, would paint the more complicated designs - all of his own creation - and when the summer was over, the 60 foot float was assembled with cranes, illuminated by thousands of lightbulbs and paraded through the streets while giant drums and fifes were played and the people of Goshogawara drank, danced and made merry.

From L to R: Armature of illuminated William Guadalupe, armature almost completely papered, William Guadalupe painted with wax and watercolor inks. 

Dad decided to use Washi rice paper as well as wood carving to create his chapel and we planned to create an illuminated William Guadalupe to reside within the chapel. Once he was completed and placed in the chapel, we added the final detail of asking visitors to write prayers or poems or wishes on strips of painted washi to be hung around William Guadalupe's neck and arms. At the opening in Japan, Dad had taken similar wishes and prayers, and tied them to helium balloons and then released the balloons into the night. We brought two dozen white balloons to enCHANTment and hung the first prayers and poems from the balloons and let them rise to the top of the studio's high ceiling for the opening.

This is an illuminated sculpture of William Guadalupe. Patron saint of single mothers, monks in exile, and starving artists. He will journey to the south of Florida next. From there, who knows where he will go? Known for sneaking out of the monastery at night to dance with the Cha Cha girls under the stars, you may see him in a flash, speeding along on a motorcycle, a sheep in each hand, "rescuing" the sheep though the herders would beg to differ.

ArtReach year in review

Through Alys Stephen's Center's ArtPlay, I have been teaching a quilting class at the Woodlawn YWCA as a part of ArtReach, which offers free classes to YWCA residents. This past Wednesday, 12-12-12, we finished up our ten week class with an open house. I am so thrilled at the progress of these women. Sharon, the woman in the far left of the photo, began sewing in April of this year and had never sat at a sewing machine before. She now attends not only the ArtReach class, but Bib & Tucker sessions at DISCO as well. She completed a quilt, the one sashed with purple fabric in the picture and also two pillows. Yesterday we cut out fabric for her to make some Auburn pillows (being a child of U of Al alumni, this was quite a difficult task : ) and she texted me a photo mere hours later of at least one she had completed by hand. She has caught the sewing bug and I couldn't be more thrilled.

Michelle, shown holding the red and pink pillow along with her daughter, Ashanti, also completed a quilt this session and three pillows. Michelle had some experience with a machine, but her greatest asset was her confidence and persistence. When we shifted gears to hand-quilting though, she did not enjoy the change of pace. She likes the speed of the machine and is a whiz at it. Ms. Viola only joined us later in the class and had some difficulty with piecing fabric, but she was determined to create something before the class ended and she proudly displays her pillow in this image. All three women plan to return with ArtReach classes begin again in January. Bib & Tucker will be meeting next Tuesday and I am sure to see Sharon and Michelle along with Ms. Annie, Ms. Jearaldine and Ms. Carol. We have become quite the group as Sharon also brought a sister from her Muslin group, Shannon.

Sewful Halloween

I spent thirteen hours in Woodlawn last Wednesday - Halloween - and it was a lovely day. I began the morning at the YWCA's resource center teaching my quilting class and then the two students and I moved over to DISCO to keep working. Michelle and Sharon made great progress on their quilts, though Michelle was a bit flummoxed by the hand-quilting after becoming a sewing machine master. She wasn't in class today because I believe she was getting the cast taken off her ankle, but I joked with Sharon that perhaps she had given up on the quilting class now that she couldn't use the machine any more. As soon as I'm able to get some walking feet for the machines, I will happily show the women how to machine quilt. Personally, I'm a fan of hand-quilting. I enjoy making the quilt tops with the machine and then slowing down a bit with the running stitch, a slim needle, a large spool of thread and some scissors.

 

 
Around 3pm Michelle left us and Sharon picked her son up from the school around the corner and we were joined by Ms. Carol. Sharon took off her quilting cap and put on her loom knitting cap and Ms. Carol taught her how to finish off a hat with the loom. My friend Brittany, owner of Molly Green Boutique, stopped by with her 11 year old fashion student Bradford and he showed everyone his fabulous fashion sketches. Bradford has been learning some basic sewing skills from Brittany and Ms. Carol taught him how to make the Hexies, which have become a Bib & Tucker Standard: master the hexie, and you'll master anything.

 
 

 

 

 




Sharon and her son left and Mariam arrived. She and I worked on her To Kill A Mockingbird homeword and once she was finished, we joined the hexie-making group for a little while. Before I knew it, it was six o'clock and time to take Mariam home. I got back about fifteen minutes before Craft Club was to begin. It was the first meeting of the club and we spent more time imbibing than we did crafting, but my intrepid club co-creator, Theresa, managed to work on her bookbinding project despite our gabbing. Tonight marks our second meeting and we've planned an impromptu crochet session. I now spend two days a week in Woodlawn having something to do with a sewing machine and it feels mighty fine.

   

   

108 pillows hanging from the clouds

Tré Lilli wears many hats. This summer, we wore the Art Festival hat and we wore the Custom Order hat and I am very happy to announce that I'm practically finished with all of the custom orders from this summer's festival season. It's been quite the learning curve and now I'm trying on a new hat: the Home Furnishings hat. This holiday season, I'm trying my hand at textile and home furnishing design. To begin with, I've designed 48 pillows that will be showcased at a collaborative show with my father the first weekend of December. Our show is titled EnCHANTment and I am very much looking forward to unveiling the latest from the Tré Lilli studio. Until then, here's a little taste of what's to come...

One step closer

It has been my intention since beginning the Inglenook bee with Ms. Annie to create a sewing co-op or a Sew-Op in Woodlawn where members of the community can come and sew. The facility would house around 20 machines that would always be out and available for women to come work on at their leisure. The Sew-Op would provide workshops and classes on quilting and garment-making and eventually would become a sort of cottage-industry sewing factory in Woodlawn. I've been reaching out to all sorts of community leaders as well as writing grants to move this vision along. While we work to have our own home, we've been extremely blessed to find a benefactor in DISCO. The Inglenook bee stopped by yesterday, October 23rd, along with a woman from the quilting class at the YWCA in Woodlawn (a program supported through ArtPlay) and we had our first meeting as Bib & Tucker Sew-Op in our current home at DISCO. It was a wonderful afternoon and we discussed putting together a holiday sale to raise money for our cause. We had so much fun yesterday that we met again today to work on our products for the sale: quilts, aprons, pillows, bags and more. Stay tuned for details on the sale. And what a monumental step we've taken. We have a home, we have a home!

Sharon sewing the sashing onto her squares for her very first quilt.

Sharon's first quilt.

The original three: Ms. Annie, Ms. Carol and Ms. Jearldine (fourth from left) and the "newbie", Sharon (third from left)

It took us no time to get started. We were there for less than a minute before all the materials were out and we were working on our first project.

A teacher at heart: Ms. Carol explains loom knitting to Sharon

Fashion's Night Out, Homewood AL 9/6/12

How cute is Molly Green?

The Workroom, design in action

Molly Green displays are clever and conscientious

Brittany, our fearless leader, striking a pose in the all-new Betty Luxe: a mobile boutique

Anna taking advantage of the empty streets to strike an iconic pose

Designer Lillis Taylor of Tré Lilli with her lovely Fashion's Night Out models

Brittany, Lillis and Anna - smiling from a successful night

Designer Heather Williams (right) with model wearing her necklace

Tré Lilli now offering fabric

Samples from the Adelita Fabric Collection

It's been a dream and wish to design textiles for interior designers, quilters, and crafters since the beginning of Tré Lilli, but for many reasons, we've focused on products here in the workshop. After a fortuitous series of events involving our piles and piles of scraps and a creative bunch from a local sewing bee, we are excited to introduce Tré Lilli's first collections of fabric available through Spoonflower.com. Please visit the shop, and definitely share with your crafty compadres!

Tré Lilli's Spoonflower Shopfront - spread the word!

Inglenook Sewing Bee - Back with a Bang

Ms. Annie with her log-cabin quilt, which she's been working on quietly at home for over a year. The entire quilt is hand-quilted. She is almost finished with the binding and was so excited to show it off when we re-convened.  

From left, Ms. Jeraldine (now the president of our group), Ms. Carol, me and Ms. Annie. This was our first day back and we topics of conversation covered a Birmingham Fredrick's of Hollywood that used to sell women's underthings to a man that hid money from his wife in books in their library and when he passed away, the wife gave away all of the books...

Ever since our inception, we've wanted to make something special for the library to hang as a thank you for being able to meet there weekly. This is the beginning of a wall hanging we are making for Inglenook Library.

We have so much fun and take over the library during our sessions. This library-goer was caught in our hen-talk and laughed under his breath more than a few times.

Fashion's Night Out - It's about local, y'all...

A week from today, downtown Homewood, AL is having a block party. We're gonna celebrate all things local, all things beautiful, all things charitable and we're gonna look good while we do it. Leading up to Birmingham's own Fashion's Night Out, I've been working with some of the students from this summer's art camp in Woodlawn to create an image of fashion that resonates with them. The sketch was the only thing provided and from there, the students have spent several afternoons with me in the DISCO space in Woodlawn, working on their mural. As the days have passed, I've watched them take ownership of their design. They began by owning small portions of the canvas, feeling shy about moving away from their one "corner", but as the days have gone by, the image has become more cohesive, with portions being painted over, sometimes by the original artist, sometimes not. 

As of yesterday, the students had mostly completed the garments and were working on their idea for the environment surrounding their icon of style. What began as a prodding from me a week ago: "Where IS this girl?! What is she doing?" has turned into a discussion among the artists. 

"I think she's in heaven" says E.
"Just because she's in a bunch of color? Or are you gonna draw heaven?" says M.
"I don't believe in heaven, or well, my friend says hell is on earth and there isn't a heaven. I don't think that, but I don't know about heaven" says E.

Silence while E puts yellow paint on her large brush and begins to block out a sky at the top of the mural. Below E, M and A (who are in a couple) sit at the base of the mural, working on a mix of light blue, white and purple. They decide, for today, that their icon of style is in the sky, perhaps in heaven, perhaps just soaring above the chaos of the city. It might change completely next week. Regardless, you have one chance to see their completed mural: Sept. 6th from 6-9pm in Homewood.

A wonderful place to work: DISCO space in Woodlawn

Woodlawn students and their icon of style