Visual Soundsuits

Last night I went to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston presentation of Nick Cave’s Soundsuits and I left feeling like I had been taken for a mug by false advertising. The presentation had been advertised as a “Special Artist Performance” and was described as Cave bringing “his Soundsuits to life in a performance/lecture.” The word trickery had led me to believe that the audience would be seeing Cave’s Soundsuits make some noise, my hope had been to see a person wearing one of the suits and hearing the sounds it makes. Instead we were presented with a sideshow of still images with Cave briefly talking about each work and only a few video clips showing actual movement and sound.


Of the few video clips we had been shown I can only remember two of his suits creating their own sounds, the rest had music tracks or musicians playing with the dancers in the suits moving along to the music. It is my opinion that a more accurate title for this stunning series of work would be to call them Visual Soundsuits. The majority of the suits cannot make sounds on their own but are instead quite spectacular to look at and are filled with a visual noise.


Okay enough of my ranting! I hope someday strangers are ranting about my artwork and putting in their two cents on how it should be promoted while critiquing my decisions in the design and titling (it would also be nice to have ten assistance like Cave).


I did not get to work on art last night because of attending the lecture but here are some views of my studio. I cleaned it up a bit before taking these photos, there are usually in progress fabric artworks draped over the drafting and sewing machine tables, and laying on the floor. Not to mention bits of string that get dispersed everywhere.

Works in Progress

Teaching a full day of art to elementary school students is very draining to my creativity and my drive to make art at the end of the day. I have met artist/teachers who manage to work in their studios almost every night after teaching and I think that is too isolated an existence for me. Thankfully there are only a few days left in the school year and I will be able to work on my own art every day!

Here are some photos of two larger works that I have started:

This is how my artwork looks before it is stretched onto the frame.

This work is a commissioned piece that I recently stretched and
will begin painting soon. I recorded the hours it took to finish the
sewing portion of this work, it was almost ten hours of sewing.

Back to Work

After a long break from making art and a year spent experimenting with my artwork I have come to the conclusion that my original fabric paintings are my strongest work. I would really save myself a lot of time and trouble by not second-guessing my ideas. This summer I will be growing my portfolio with sewn and painted fabric canvas. Which I began while still in undergrad, ah if I only knew what I know now. When I was younger …

Here is my first ever sewn canvas, it is all hand sewn and made from other students left over canvas scraps:

This is what the sewn canvas evolved into and it is the artwork that I am pursuing now:

Title: Creation

Dimensions: 40”x29.5”

Medium: Acrylic