Philadelphia Seasonal Banners Finished!

Philadelphia Gold and White Seasonal Banners by Kristen Gilje

Kristen painting

I've just finished and mailed 3 pairs of seasonal banners for Shaeffer-Ashmead Chapel, Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. They are silk dye on crepe-backed silk charmeuse, 16 feet long and 45 inches wide.

Green Banner from a Ladder

My husband made a wooden stretcher frame to those dimensions and added legs. We put it in the living room/adjacent room after moving the couches out, and lived around this big project for many weeks. I was only able to imagine them hanging, since they were horizontal, and had to get up on a ladder to see the whole thing as best I could.

When they were finally done I brought them downtown and hung them from a high railing. It was the first time I could see them how I had imagined them, vertical...and I was very pleased. It's hard to make something so large without having a good perspective on it until it's done.

In Perspective

Philadelphia Purple Season Banners by Kristen Gilje

Philadelphia Green Season Banners by Kristen Gilje

Now I'm waiting to see how they fit into the chapel space. Hopefully I'll have gotten the architectural proportions just right, and they will be neither too big or too small. Just have to wait and see...

If you'd like to see a picture of the Shaeffer-Ashmead Chapel and more on the process of making these, go to
the blog I set up to communicate with the people in Philadelphia:

Color for the Chapel
http://chapelbanners.blogspot.com/

Winner St. Dunstan's Stained Glass Design!!

Magenta and Green Fremont Glass will be color base for design

Fremont Antique Glass samples next to my design

I got word last weekend that St. Dunstan's has chosen my design for their stained glass window!  So two days later I met Joe Hester, who is heading up the stained glass project, at Fremont Antique Glass Co. in Seattle, where they make beautiful colored glass and send it all over the world. Above you can see my design next to glass samples we are looking at.

Jim Flanagan and assistant at Fremont Antique Glass Co.

Joe Hester looking for Amber

 It's a fun place to visit. The glass is made right in front of your eyes by master blower Jim Flanagan. He has several assistants that help him with the production.


On the right you can see Joe looking for amber glass, and Jim the glass blower in the background near his big kiln. 

Still looking for Amber

St. Dunstan's Stained Glass Window Competition

 

Well, here I am, one of 3 finalists for a stained glass window design. The contest is for a window in St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church in Shoreline WA, just north of Seattle. The congregation is making the winning window themselves, under the direction of Joe Hester...The above photo is my final entry, after the critique that the congregation of St. Dunstan's would need more detail so more people could be involved in its making. The entry I originally submitted was a very simple design. See below:

 

The basic idea is seeing the Light of God in everyday life, in this case through the trees. My inspiration was a photo of the window itself, through which I could make out the branches of trees that were really there. 

Here's a picture of the window in the church. 

Here's a link to the prospectus:

http://grunewaldguild.com/news/stained-glass-design-contest

and here's a link to St. Dunstan's church:

http://sdchp.org/

Wish me luck!!

Working in a Series: "Metamorphosis"

"West Coast Lady Becoming I" 28x22 Kristen Gilje

 Understanding nature as a source of inspiration is important to me. A bush drawn from my own imagination usually lacks the inexplicable beauty and grace of living leaves all searching efficiently and together for their sustenance from the sun. One looks like a cartoon, the other like a dance choreographed by gods.  In this series I search for the construction of the beauty of a butterfly wing. What is beauty? What is harmony and grace? Why is nature such an incredible source that artists return to again and again? Why is human imagination not quite enough?  In the series "Metamorphosis" I am looking for the construction and the underpinnings of beauty and grace.

"West Coast Lady Dissolving" 28x22 Kristen Gillje

 All the butterflies I've used for subjects can be found here in the Pacific Northwest. They are used as inspiration, and not literally represented. Again, I tried to distill in my own way their beauty to understand it better. Sometimes that meant color-coding different design aspects of their wings in my own color language. 

Mostly I am amazed by these beautiful little creatures, their symmetry and brilliant colors and shapes. They surprised me as their designs meshed so harmoniously with the images of Celtic cross and labyrinth.

These pieces are all painted on silk, with silk dye. I like that the material I'm painting on is produced by the butterflies themselves!

"West Coast Lady Becoming" II 28x22 Kristen Gilje

Working in a series has been very helpful. I've explored several ways to express one idea, changing color, changing backgrounds and geometrical elements. Each variation has a different result.You can see this above.

Below you will see the changes color makes in two versions of the same design. Both have their beauty but one expresses my idea most clearly: "Painted Lady II"

"Painted Lady II"28x22 Kristen Gilje

Painted Lady I" 28x22 Kristen Gilje

"Tiger Swallowtail and Friends" 28x22 Kristen Gilje

 I was happy with each of these two of the Tiger Swallowtain the first time around so made only one of each.

"Tiger Swallowtail " 28x22 Kristen Gilje

In the following two, "Life Cycle", my first attempt is closer to my vision than the second attempt. 

"Life Cycle I" 28x22 Kristen Gilje

"Life Cycle II" 28x22 Kristen Gilje

Tiger Swallowtail, Viceroy and California Sister" 28x22 Kristen Gilje

In the last two I played with changing the size and format, by making a larger "banner" painting the second time around. The larger one is nice because it is hung free from a frame and is blown by any little breeze. 

"Anise Swallowtail" 28x22 Kristen Gilje

"Anise Swallowtail Journey" 80x22 Kristen Gilje

I'm not done with the idea of understanding the beauty of nature, of disecting it and putting it into my own shorthand, of playing with the geometry. We'll see where this leads to next...

Designing new stoles

Cross, Earth, Spirit

I've been designing some new stoles for people. This one is an adaptation of the St. Andrew's stained glass window I designed several years ago. I've had requests for gold and white stoles...

With the following butterfly stoles I think I'll add some gold to the background. Hard to leave so much white when a person could use more color.

Butterfly and Celtic Knot

Butterfly and Celtic Knot

Brush stroke technique

Here's a fairly simple style for the gold/white theme. 

Herald of Change

 This would make a good Advent stole.

New Silk Painting

North Cascades Waterfall by Kristen Gilje

Just completed a new silk painting 7 feet by 55 inches for a Canadian couple in Vancouver. It's for their entryway. I took a design I made maybe 10 years ago and revamped it...It turned into a project I really enjoyed.

Plymouth Group: Painting by Consensus

 

Ever think about painting by consensus? It worked pretty well this fall at Plymouth Church in Seattle. 14 of us painted 16 banners all in one day. Yes, there was a lot of planning beforehand, and that helped it go very smoothly. Now Plymouth has Advent banners adorning their worship space that they have helped design, and have painted themselves.

 I gave general color suggestions, and expected that great variations would happen as individuals put themselves into it. People need a frame of reference, but then it's important to back away and let them take off in their own directions. Following are some results:

Plymouth Group Project: Advent 2010

"Magnificat" Kristen Gilje

This fall was time for Plymouth Congregational UCC Church in Seattle to get all their art-types active in a project for Advent. We made 16 banners, 7.5 feet by 22", together, with their involvement from the conception to the hanging. This post describes the project development. In the next you'll read about the actual workshop.

The first step was to do some heavy duty text study for this Advent season. I selected 4 of the 12  texts that will be used, and facilitated conversation about each one. After taking notes on our conversation I went home and did some drawing. What you see following are peoples' comments on the texts, and final preparatory sketches. When we all agreed on the designs I put only the lines of each design on the silk. I made four copies of each design so we would have 16 total banners.
We sellected a date to get all the painters together in Seattle, and spend one full day painting. It was a lot of fun, and we got them all done with some time left to clean up really well.

"Swords into Plowshares

Isaiah 2:1-5
Week 1
     Our discussion group the first Sunday we met gravitated more than I expected towards this text. We spent a long time talking about it. We visualized a path up the mountain, leaving the swords in a pile at the bottom, and returning to the plows at the top. We talked about letting go of swords, which is risky. We talked about going to the people who use the pruning hooks to be taught by them, about war machines and shepherds. It became apparent that no one knew what a plowshare was or what it looked like. 
   By the second week I had found pictures and definition of "plowshare." It is the steel blade that cuts the earth on a plow.

     My vision is the sword twirling and falling in space, changing form until it becomes a plowshare. 

"Swords into Plowshares" Kristen Gilje

Magnificat Luke 1:46b-55 Week 3

  Words I heard from people regarding this scripture passage last Sun. were: comforting, not about being privileged, available to everyone, Soul magnifies the Lord, Magnifying glass, rejoicing because a teen girl is pregnant, counter-culture, blessed, hope, positive, Mexican Guadalupe image, refugee, immigrant, life is hard, lovely, universally ordinary lovely, joy, humble, culture of dance, revolutionary

John the Baptist

Matthew 3:1-12
Week 2

 For the second week in Advent we have been looking at the proclamation of John the Baptist,  especially verse 10, "Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees: every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." John's proclamation seems at odds with the chosen theme, "Visions of Peace", but we had been talking about Martin Luther King saying "no peace until there's justice", and from our own people, "how burnt do we have to get, to change?"

"Pruning the Tree" Kristen Gilje

 Feedback: Sally saw the tree as a  a path, a path of our lives, and how parts of our own lives need pruning. Someone suggested using pruning shears instead of an axe, as people are more familiar with pruning than with using an ax.This is a less brutal way of saying a similar thing, though I think John the B. would say it is a bit watered down.

Joseph and the Angel

Text: Matthew 1:18-25 

Week 4

"Joseph and the Angel" Kristen Gilje

Comments on text and image from Sunday:
Extra-ordinary preciousness of moments (like when angels appear!), preparation for Baby, and how necessary Joseph's participation is, Joseph named Jesus in the text, pregnant with ideas, do we follow? Right direction? Reminder of lineage: "Joseph, son of David"
Great cloud of witnesses, Jesus: the Now of all the past lineage, Magnifying.

Feedback: Joseph more prominent. What is angel's touch like? Simplicity, earthiness of Joseph is desirable.

Plan: Wings will be more defined, Importance will be on Angel touching Joseph, Joseph will be more visible.




 Here it is! The most detailed part, the wings, will be done in gold lines before everyone paints on it....All that's required  is a light blue wash (easy). The faces will take a bit of direction but I think we can do it together. I used the same colors as we're using in the Dancing  Marys.

Puyallup Advent Banner

"Herald of Change"  9 feet by 55 inches Kristen Gilje

The Advent banner I've designed and painted for Puyallup United Methodist Church, Puyallup WA for this season was made to commemorate a woman, recently deceased, from the church. 

For this piece I altered a design already used for another banner, "Summon Out What We Shall Be: Annunciation", adapting it for Advent. I wanted to include natural signs that Advent is here. These signs are the bright jewels of the winter constellations, the dark blue of the night sky, and the bright moon are all natural signs that Advent is here.. Especially on cold clear nights I am reminded we are in the season of waiting, anticipating, regrouping, in the creative dream space of long dark nights under blankets of snow. 

Listen into the deep for the angel to awaken us to new change in these hinge times. 

Grunewald Guild Silk Painting Class 2010

     Grunewald Guild near Leavenworth WA is a favorite place of mine, one I enjoy teaching at every year.

Grunewald Guild Core Purpose
To be a sanctuary for experiencing the Diving through art.

This year three classes were structured around a theme "Welcoming the Year," exploring the church calendar.  Gilly Sakakini from England concentrated on Holy Week, Laurie Clarke from western Washington taught  myriad aspects, historical and cultural, of The Tree of Life for the long green season, and I taught/facilitated "Advent and the Creative Void." Author and ordained Methodist minister Jan Richardson was our keynote speaker and the glue holding all the classes together.

Jan Richardson glues us together

     My students and I explored how many ways the creative process was like the season of Advent, a season of entering the darkness to create something new. Kind of fun celebrating a time of darkness and cold in 95 degree weather and long sunlit evenings.

We explored silk painting as an incarnational activity, birthing intangible ideas from our imagination into the physical realm in order to communicate them to ourselves and to others.

Student Work

    

Pam

We were thirteen students and one teacher/facilitator. Sometimes it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and once in a while someone would break into song. Joyful duets and full choruses accompanied our painting.

Joanna

Harriet

Pam

Jamie's pieces

But mostly people worked. Class time was 9:30 to noon, but many were there before breakfast, all afternoon and when I came to check on things late at night.They produced a lot of work.

Student work

Finished scarves ready for the steamer

Lynn

Ready to roll

 

When the scarves were all painted we rolled them up in paper, hung them inside the above contraption, lit a fire under them and steamed them for 4 hours. This sets the dye to bond it permanently to the silk.

Unrolling the silk after it has been steamed is like opening Christmas presents after Advent. Also like opening a kiln-load of freshly fired pots...a very joyful occasion. 

.Well here they don't look quite as excited as little kids, but really it was fun.

On the last day we celebrated! Our pieces were finished, real, and done, after waiting for inspiration,  struggling with the materials, a bit of muse-whisperings and a lot of hard work. Merry Christmas!