Introducing Tent #3

Tent #3

I sure am glad this tent is finally finished. It’s amazing how much more precise my sewing had to be when using black and white fabric, every line is accentuated and every detail shows. I must have sewn the roof on 4 different times. This is the largest of all the tents (4.5′x 5′x8′) and proved to be a valuable learning experience not only due to the fabric but the structure as well. With this tent, I used a different weight ripstop, making the tent soft and light, however the fabric required me to seam all the interior edges which added hours to the overall process. And with the structure being so long, I encountered obstacles with the physics of tension. The next two tents will be smaller, more efficient single-wides. I just had to make this design, it spoke to me. So, three tents down, two to go to hit my end of year goal. (and many many many more to come…)

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Tent Numero Dos

Tent #2

Tent #2

After bringing this tent out of its bag and setting it up for the photo shoot, I felt a bit giddy as I had forgotten how much I loved this tent. It is so simple yet it has a hand full of design elements that make me melt. This is one of the only trailer homes photographed in California (almost all other images come from NC). I took the photo at a time when I had just driven across country to live in Napa and this tent brings me back to that moment of adventure and curiosity of photographing a new land (which is the core concept of the tent phase of the MOVE*ment project). The extra large windows, I believe, embodies that sense of opportunity.

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I Love Watching ‘How It’s Made’

I love watching ‘How It’s Made’, especially if it is an episode showing something being made out of steel.  I think I just like seeing how steel is bent. Watching inspired me to write this blog entry. After a studio visit with a curator, I flipped through a group of images I took while making the MOVE*ment book.  While reminiscing, I found myself thinking about how the project began and the process of conceptualizing, designing and then creating the book page by page.  It all started with a faint vision of how I wanted the book to function and I began the first copy.

The OG….or the original, um G?

Original signature bind

pages glued back to back...that too changed.

nice little string to keep it closed...that changed.

About half way through the assembly of the book edition I remember feeling paralyzed by the stack of 100 polymer prints, 100 vellum screen prints, 130 letter pressed pages, 4 yards of book cloth,  piles of 1/2″ and 1″ folded hinges, and two bottles of PVA that lay out before me. Not to mention the hours that had already been invested in prepping the paper, material decisions, creating the plates for both the polymer prints and the letterpress plates, learning the three different printing processes, cutting and folding each hinge. I now realized I was slightly crazy. Keep in mind, this book was being created and assembled simultaneous to sewing two additional tents.

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This process proved that new ideas can be born from the time spend doing the mundane tasks like assembling 10 of the exact same book.  It was bitter-sweet when the project was complete.  Now cue the anxiety of putting your work in front of people.  So I guess this is my behind the scenes episode of “How It’s Made…in an art studio”.

Mobile Home Tent #1 In Rewind

So tent #1 is done…both the interior and exterior linings…finished. This tent took me just about 2 years to complete. Here is a slideshow of the making of the tent in rewind from end to beginning.  Currently, I have two more tents in progress and am excited to start on the fourth all white one.  At this point I have a goal to finish five tents and look for exhibition opportunities.  Stay tuned and here we go…

They all have thier own bags…

The Photoshoot…

Tent 1 Lacey Haslam Nylon Ripstop, tarp, PVC piping, zippers, 2011

Giving an artist talk at KALA Art Institute on November 10th, 2011

Interior lining with grass green carpet

Installation shot for CASHING OUT exhibition at KALA Art Institute Oct 27th-Dec 3 2011

SFAI Vernissage Treasure Island May 2011

Society 23 Prize exhibition by Jeffrey Songco at Swell Gallery, SF

Society 23 Prize exhibition by Jeffrey Songco at Swell Gallery, SF

Pretty close to finishing in my old studio apartment

The bottom gets sewn on

Finished the huge task of the windows!

Checking out the opening for the windows…can now see in/out

Starting to sew on the windows. Highly anticipated moment for someone who has never sewn before

Intermediate review on a “In Progress” peice

Wrapping to see how this is all going to work together…or not…

fabric now has an entrance.

Pinning to see if this will work out and fit together. So far so good.

The roof is on, hopefully this all works as I saw it in my head.

Step 1, the structure My hands are callused from making all the cuts.

WELCOMEtoTHEblog

Hi,

So glad you are here.  Enjoy