The OPENING RECEPTION for Gardens & Vignettes is this Friday, August 2 from 5 to 9 p.m. at Isadore Gallery, 228 N. Prince St, Lancaster, PA. The show will feature brand new landscape paintings by Dorothy Frey and embroideries, painted plates, paintings and works on paper by me, Heidi Leitzke. I am looking forward to seeing all of the things I have been making together, on one wall, mostly because I am curious how all of the different ways of making art I have been exploring will talk to each other.
Bouquet, work in progress
Scribbles and Tangles
For the past year, I have loved watching the reverse side of my embroideries become a tangled map of threads as the intricate images emerge on the front. Recently, my goal has been to allow some of the chaos to seep from the back of the linen onto the front. The result in this recent work-in-process in a denser, more scribbled image. Though a minor change, any small shift in the studio can feel heroic and experimental in the moment of making. (A few weeks from now, I will probably think it is too dense and too chaotic and shift back to an even tighter image.)
Bridgette Mayer Gallery
in exhibits
One of my recent embroideries, Glimpse, is included in the current exhibit at Bridgette Mayer Gallery, a benefit exhibition for Philadelphia's Ballet X. I am looking forward to seeing all of the artworks tonight, at the preview reception. The show opens to the public this Friday, July 12 from 6 - 8:30 p.m. Many of the works in the show are by my fantastic artist friends, including; Jay Noble, Dorothy Frey, Janell Olah, Sarah Noble, Matthew Mann, Mark Brosseau and more.
Plate Two, 2013, hand painted glaze on pottery
4 reasons why I started painting on plates
1. I love functional art objects.
2. I wanted to make something quickly, to oppose the slow and deliberate process of embroidery.
3. Stanley Lewis was always telling me to trying painting on objects like vases and rocks.
4. I am getting ready for a show at Isadore Gallery with Dorothy Frey, opening in August, and I decided that I wanted to see the visual contrast between painted plates and my embroideries on the gallery wall.
Slow and Steady...
I continue to sneak up to my studio whenever I get a few spare minutes. Since the new year I have completed two embroideries. Certainly not meeting my one new work per month goal, but two new works in three months is not too bad, I'll take it.
I am still thinking about Thomas Bewick and the idea of the Romantic Vignette. I also really love how the reverse side of the embroidery is a tangled web of threads, I am thinking about how I can bring more of that chaos and energy to the front.
Tying Knots, 2013, embroidery on linen, 9.5 x 10.5 inches
Tying Knots, verso
Altoon Sultan
in context
Altoon Sultan, Four Diamonds, 2013, hand dyed wool on linen, 10 x 10 inches.
Sunday afternoon stitches
Tying Knots, embroidery on linen, 11 x 11" - work in progress