Rock-N-Roidery

Interview with Nanette from Mud Flap Grrrl Designs- tattoo inspired hand embroidery!


UCU- How did you get started with your craft?

Nan-I have always sewn and drawn since I was a kid. I picked up embroidery (again, I found an old shirt I had done back when I was about 10) to keep my hands busy. I tried some of the patterns you could purchase but they weren't what I really was into and didn't really express my sense of humor and style. So after modifying a few of them I thought "I can draw better than that" and just started drawing up my own designs. My style is much more drawing with thread than fancy stitches. The words and the design are the most important thing. You definitely understand me when you see my work!










UCU- Are there specific ways you plan ahead for a show of this size?

Nan-I work my fingers to the bone. Hand embroidery is pretty small scale and time very consuming, so I have to work long hours to fill a both, even a small one. I make sure I have plenty of my steady sellers on hand but new items too. Not just for customers but so I don't get bored either!
I also have to take care of all the practical stuff, like making sure I have enough business cards ordered & how I will display everything.











UCU- Are there any new items we will see at this summer’s show?

Nan-Yes! I have a couple of new designs that I am very excited about. I also am now making purses! I am embroidering on the fronts and making the bags out of vinyl. I love them, but they are pretty labor intensive. I ventured into clothing at the xmas UCU for the first time and that was really successful, so I will have a lot more at the Summer show.













UCU- Any vendors you look forward to seeing?

Nan-I always love seeing my old friends like Thea Star & Ester Garcia but am looking forward to other crafty friends who are in the show this year for the first time like Kim Kaliber.









check out more Mud Flap Grrl Designs at her website

Spooky Mama's Creations- Behind the scenes

Interview with Alicia aka Spooky mama creations. Spooky Mama's creations will be available at our UCU summer show August 1st and 2nd.


UCU- How did you get started with your craft?
SM-I started by making gifts for my friends and they loved them so I thought that other people may enjoy them as well.









UCU- Are there specific ways you plan ahead for a show of this size?
SM- I start by thinking about what type of items that I want to create and then I find the raw materials that I need and then pace myself so that I am not trying to create 30 altars a week before the show. I am constantly creating new things, it's a bit of an obsession ( but in a good way).








UCU-Are there any new items we will see at this summer’s show?
SM-I am trying to make many affordable items that are cute and will liven up your house but won't kill your wallet.



















UCU- Any vendors you look forward to seeing?
SM-I am looking forward to seeing what goodies Kalliber will have created and well as what creepy/amazing things Sara from Devout Dolls has made and the beautiful jewelry from Lyndsay from Idle Hands Designs!














To view more of Spooky Mama's work please visit her
website

Meet our new intern!

Ali Schiek has come all the way from the "other Washington" to intern with us for this summer's Urban Craft Uprising show. This means she has all day to go around town talking to people about the show to help make our first summer show a real hit. SO let's give her a big welcome and see why she choose to come to Seattle for UCU.


UCU- You are now in school for art. Tell us about your major and what your favorite aspects are?

Ali- I am going to be a senior at the Savannah College of Art and Design, in Savannah Georgia. I am majoring in Fibers, and am creating a woven portfolio. My recent projects include combining dying, rusting, weaving, and crochet into mixed media functional and non functional items. I really want to continue exploring media, and do some sort of installation with the forms and designs I create.




UCU- Why did you choose to come out here to intern with UCU?

Ali- After countless hours of searching the web, magazines, and talking to my professors about places to intern this summer, I bumped into UCU randomly online and felt it would be a good match. I am very social and have always been a natural event planner and networker, all of which contribute to UCU very well.
And traveling across the USA seemed like just another adventure I would love to try!




UCU- What are your goals for helping to make this show a success?

Ali- Getting more people to attend the show, of course! UCU is growing fast, and I would love to have a record high of attendants this year. Running around the city rustling up people to come is a great way to sight see as well.





UCU- What are your favorite aspects to big craft shows?

Ali- Honestly, the craziness of it all. I love watching and partaking in people crowding together buying and selling cool handmade crafts. You get great inspiration as well, and great connections. You never know who you might meet that might connect you to the job of your life, and since I am a senior I need to think about my future job career, ahhh scary!





Check out more of Ali's work at her website

Tiny Repetitive Motions and Fiber Arctic

Check out a couple of art shows that our beloved president, Moxie, will be participating at. First, she'll be at Bluebottle Art Gallery along with artist, Dan Robson. The show opens Thursday, June 11th. You can now view all work online and make purchases here.

This Friday, Fiber Arctic opens up at Schmancy. Moxie will be joining a group of great artists including Coco Howard, Jenny Hart, Nicole Licht, Bossanova Baby and more. The show will look at how the environment is continuing to be impacted by our wasteful society - looking at the effects it has had on the Arctic using the delicate art of embroidery and needle felting. The opening reception is from 6:00 to 9:00pm Friday June 12th.

The Art of Comedy

The Art of Comedy - Event Announcement

Thursday June 4, 2009
6-9 PM

The Comedy Underground
109 South Washington Street (in Occidental Park)
Seattle WA 98104

The Comedy Underground and Urban Craft Uprising joined forces to bring you The Art of Comedy. This gallery show takes place in the lobby of the world-famous Comedy Underground and features artwork that is either humorous in nature, or made by stand up comedians.

This month we feature the artwork of Jenna Colby.
“Bubbles popping and bare feet.” Ask Washington-state artist Jenna Colby to describe her work, and you don’t just get a string of adjectives; instead, you get a lovely little “word picture” that lets you know just how her art feels.
"Blue Ruin Gallery. Pittsburgh, PA"
View Jenna's work at: http://www.soopajdelux.com/ and soopajdelux.etsy.com

And as always, a barrel-full o the funniest indie crafters this side of the Factoria Mall join us in the lobby of The Comedy Underground to show off their hilarious wares. Support us by supporting them. And they'll support you. Or something. Someone will do something to support someone else. Or everyone will. Or we'll all just have a beer and pay for it ourselves and then go our separate ways. One of those things will happen.

Hilarious Indie Crafters of the Moment:
Ceramics by Urbana

Decapitated Dollies by Scary White Girl Designs

T's by Midairdesign

Underwear by Shesho Designs

Shower Art by Ugly Baby

Shirts, Buttons and Pillows by Man Made Monsters

The exhibit will be followed at 9 PM by an evening of stand up comedy starring two of my personal favorite stand up comics -- Feature: Hari Kondabolu and Headliner: Gabriel Rutledge. You may have seen Hari on Jimmy Kimmel Live or Comedy Central's Live at Gotham and Gabriel was the winner of the 2005 Seattle International Comedy Competition.

Jenna Colby - Biography
http://www.soopajdelux.com/
soopajdelux.etsy.com

Jenna Colby is a self taught artist who has always been creative through different mediums, but decided to focus on painting three years ago. Originally from Ohio, Jenna has traveled and lived in both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, but has called Seattle home since 1999. Growing up in a small town Colby was always fascinated with cities and has been influenced by her travels and the people she has met and observed. “I make it a point to take note and assign a story to the passer by, giving each moment in time purpose and creating color.” After developing and beginning to show her work, Jenna came into contact with the work of artists like Mark Ryden and Yoshimoto Nara. Thinking back, she says, “Their work really moved me. It made me nervous, giddy . . . I’m not sure if there is a word for it. But after experiencing that feeling, I decided that is what I want to do to others. I want to make other people feel that way.”
"Art Star Gallery. Philadelphia,PA"

Jenna Colby's work is clearly reminiscent of Mark Ryden and Yoshimoto Nara--anyway, that's what I thought as soon as I saw it--but is sweeter and more ethereal.
"Urban Craft Uprising. Seattle,WA"

“Bubbles popping and bare feet.” Ask Washington-state artist Jenna Colby to describe her work, and you don’t just get a string of adjectives; instead, you get a lovely little “word picture” that lets you know just how her art feels. Jenna seems to know a thing or two about states of mind. Even her exhibit title—It’s Not Real: Dream Diaries, Secret Messages, and Other Clues from Far Far Away—lets you know you’re in for something special when you view her work. Delicate, ethereal, sweet, Jenna’s paintings capture a curious personality in a brief moment of time ready to take you on an internal voyage. Her take on it is this: “A random passerby on a random day in a random moment has a story to tell, a history, a set of beliefs and intentions, all happening, all true and real, but unnoticed by most.” It is these moments that Jenna freezes in her colorful yet airy portraits of characters who are twiggy in form but bursting with emotion, sensation, and moodiness. That is her intent—to communicate the language of mood. “I make it a point to take note and assign stories to the passerby, giving each moment in time purpose and creating color within supersaturated environments even if the color exists only inside.” Now residing in Bremerton, Washington, Jenna once made Pittsburgh her home for a period of three years: “Pittsburgh woke me up and started me on my way. I have carried the lessons learned in that town with me and although I just lived there for a few years, I feel like I am from Pittsburgh.” And so she’d like to share her work with its residents with the help of Blue Ruin Gallery. Enter into the charmed world of Jenna Colby’s airy, emotional portraits.
"Blue Ruin Gallery. Pittsburgh, PA"