September 18, 2016
Marigold
Pungent, strong and sturdy, marigolds produce shades of true cadmium yellow. Ours, grown with Russell’s rooftop rainwater cistern and pump-powered drip-irrigation system, required seven months of growing from seeds in the studio to our Brooklyn rooftop planters, surviving the summer heat waves. This month, fresh cuttings will be passed through the press onto fabric panels for Marigold, celebrating cultivation, color and cloth.
Useful Marigold links:
Victory Garden
..in fact for all gardeners I recommend plain uncomplicated faith, or if faith lacking, then elementary logic. There is no mystery about gardening, just the wondrous fact that seed time and harvest occur each year, generation after generation, wherever the soil is tilled. If gardeners do their part they can confidently expect the miracle to continue as it has through all time.
From Crockett’s Victory Garden, 1977
In both World War I and II, Victory Gardens were planted to reduce pressures on food supplies and to serve as civic morale boosters. In this highly charged political season, we are inviting a group of artists to create prints on t-shirts in the Victory Garden spirit. Stay tuned for a limited edition portfolio of artist print t-shirts, ready to wear for Election Day.
Purchase Victory Garden t-shirts here
Warp-weighted Loom Blankets
The warp-weighted loom was used in Ancient Greece and in the Viking era, a method of weaving utilizing a simple, vertical structure to produce wide panels of cloth. This summer, I constructed my own loom from trees found in the woods of New Hampshire and made a series of hand-thrown ceramic vessels for the warp weights. Back in the studio, the process of setting the loom up for weaving begins. With wood, wool and clay, we will be experimenting weaving blankets for the winter months ahead.
Tara Geer
The beauty of the collaborative printmaking process is that two working together produce results not possible by one, expanding the thinking and experience of both. This fall, we invited artist Tara Geer to explore and make prints at Russell Janis studio.