The idea was to include day and night, winter and summer, mountains, plains and ocean in one piece!
My goal was to express the sacred beauty and presence of God I experience living in this varied landscape. Wearing this stole in our Green Season rites and rituals in our churches is a way of expressing gratitude to the Creator for such a wonderful home. My hope is to see this sacredness celebrated in our churches.
The seed for this stole design came from a painting I completed in 2006, celebrating life at Holden Village in the North Cascades. Can you see in the two vertical strips, one yellow and the other purple, one summer and one winter, the start of the design?
This is the third year in a row St. Marks has commissioned me to make a banner supporting their annual theme. This year’s theme, “Who is My Neighbor,” I’m particularly happy to be supporting.
My assignment was to take inspiration from these places:
The hymn “Jesu, Jesu, Fill Us with Your Love”
ingoring the traditional boundaries that keep people apart
Dan Erlander’s drawings from his book “Manna and Mercy”
He Qi’s painting “Peace Be Still”
My calligrapher friend Laura Norton designed the lettering. She always does a beautiful job. [email protected]
The design for this piece came very quickly, it was the first sketch I made. . I was indeed inspired by the simplicity of Dan Erlander’s paintings, and even more so from He Qi’s art, where color and shapes are strong and flat.
Detail “Who Is My Neighbor
I actually “quoted” some passages from He Qi’s figures, (like I did from Picasso in the painting “Abu Graib and the Twin Towers: A Lesson from Picasso” see image below) Because I was playing with He Qi’s style, I made a note of that right on the piece. I gave credit to him on the banner, writing in the signature area “In the style of He Qi”. That’s the turquoise bar on the bottom left side of the banner above.
It’s interesting learning from other artists this way. I went to Picasso when I was trying to do a painting about war, torture and other atrocities of Abu Graib. You can see easy references to Picasso’s “Guernica” here, all through my piece.
So I gave credit to Picasso in my title, which then has a double meaning. Picasso instructed me in art, and he instructs us all in the terror of war.
He Qi, thanks for teaching me about the power of simple flat forms and color to tell a powerful story.
Extraordinary Lutheran Ministries director Amalia Vagts commissioned a set of banners that can travel to different congregations. ELM has developed a logo for their organization and a logo for a program contained within ELM, called “Proclaim”. My job was to combine those two logos into one design for one banner, and to create a second companion banner out of the “ELM” logo alone.
Kristen Gilje working on Proclaim ELM detail
Here are the two logos I combined:
ELM logoProclaim Logo
On the left is how I chose to combine the two logos into one:
Proclaim ELM watercolor sketchELM watercolor sketch
and here on the right is the companion banner.During the designing process Amalia and I were in contact so I could have her input and feedback, and incorporate any changes required.
Once we agreed upon the design the next step was to transfer it to the silk. Instead of drawing on the silk I drew the design on a large piece of paper the same size the banner was to be. I did this our the attic, which is my future studio!
Kristen drawing Proclaim ELM design in her studio-to-be
As I write this my husband Kristofer is framing in skylights and a picture window (facing north) and getting ready to insulate the attic space. This will make a wonderful studio, and it’s hard to keep from moving in before it’s finished!
After drawing the design as big as the banner I stretched silk onto a wooden frame, then put the drawing under the silk. I could see the lines of the design through the silk, and copied these lines onto the silk with a resist.
Kristen applying wax to lettering after lines of design are transferred, working in the dining room of our old house (that’s another story)
Now it’s time to put some color on the banner! I usually start with the lightest colors first, then move to the darker ones. The biggest challenge with this painting was to keep any dye out of the area to remain white.
Starting to paint the image
And the following picture is of the completed painting. Next: the silk painting must be steamed to set the dye, and then I’ll cut the bottom to create and inverted arch shape. The last step is to hem the banner and add a sleeve at the top. There’s quite a lot of work to do after all the painting is completed, but at least you can see what the banner is becoming.
Below you will see that the wax is still on the lettering. The wax will burn off in the steaming process, and will look much whiter. I’ve cracked the wax in the lettering to let some of the blue dye into the letters. This is similar to a batik effect, and ties the lettering visually into the piece. Otherwise the lettering looks like it’s not truly a part of the piece.
After I remove this one from its wooden frame to go into the steamer I’ll stretch a fresh sheet of silk over it to start the companion ELM banner. I’ll post that one for you to see when it’s ready.
How humans interact with the natural environment is a theme that runs through much of my work. I combined this theme with my love for drawing and painting the human figure in three oil paintings of nudes enjoying the wilds of the North Cascades. These paintings were recently juried into the 11th annual “Unclad” art exhibit in Stanwood WA.
If you’d like to see these three paintings, click on this link that will take you to the Unclad Art site where all the work is shown. http://www.uncladart.com/2012-artwork . The artist are arranged alphabetically, so find mine on the second page.
Better yet, come and see it in person!
Join us for the 11th annual UNCLAD Art Show
October 12th – 14th, 10 am to 5 pm
at the Floyd Norgaard Cultural Center
27130 102nd Ave NW, Stanwood, WA
Admission: $5 suggested donation
Featuring over 150 artworks — all nudes. Paintings, sculpture, photography, glass and a great Gift Shop. Artists from across North America!
*************************************** Special Event: Saturday, Oct 13th, 6 pm to 9 pm:
Wine & Cheese Night with Vicki Artimovich
Hold on as acclaimed historian and travel guide,
Vicki Artimovich, takes us on a wild adventure
through the colorful history of the Nude in Art.
Tickets $10 – reservations recommended. Call 425-359-7974
****************************************** MISSION
Our mission with UNCLAD is to create a beautiful art event that engages people in the world of art and inspires artists to push forward.
Please help us by sharing this site with your friends.
THANK YOU for your interest and support of the arts!
Drawing and Painting the Wild Journal at North Cascades Institute
Amidst the perfect weather of late summer our Wild Journaling workshop went out into the field to immerse ourselves in the grand mountains, meadows and valleys of the surrounding North Cascades.
The mornings were sweater-weather cool, and we hunkered down in our classrooms to practice our drawing and watercolor painting techniques. These skills supported our primary purpose of immersing ourselves in nature and recording the experience in our journals.
Thursday afternoon, our first day, we journaled on the short Peninsula Trail on campus, to test out our resiliency. The next day we traveled by bus with our journals and art supplies 15 miles away to Canyon Creek, rich with mining history. We crossed several foot bridges along a rushing creek to find an old miners’ cabin and barn deep in the forest, and spent the whole afternoon out there. Click on any thumbnail picture below to expand, then follow the arrows:
Sunday was our longest day in the field. We packed into the vans again and drove to a large meadow just under Washington Pass. The day could not have been more beautiful.
My students saw me go nuts with the camera. Here are some of the results. Click on a thumbnail, then follow the arrows. When you get to the end of the first batch, go to the second!
We had spent the 4 days of the Creative Arts Retreat with basket makers and artful mapmakers, and at the end of our time together we laid out our work for others to see.Here’s what our art show looked like:
What a wonderful time! Thanks, everyone, for such a great workshop! Hope to see you next year.
I’ve always liked the idea of the Grunewald Guild as a “sanctuary for art and faith”. When designing these doors for the Guild, I used the Butterfly as a symbol of creation, of creating and re-birth, and of the Creator and all of us creatives artist-types. I used the symbol of the Celtic knot to represent community, and how we create a safe place, or sanctuary, together. The labyrinth is a symbol of the spiritual journey we are all on, in one way or another.
Kristen Gilje, Grunewald Guild doors from inside
This idea fairly presented itself to me as I was at a loss for some sort of direction for this design. These three symbols, the butterfly, labyrinth and Celtic knot,landed on top of each other on my desk as I cleaned out a file full of used and unused symbols and sketches. It’s one of those things that you recognize when you see it; something coming from outside yourself, something unexpected. I used a version of this design originally for two 30-foot long banners for Plymouth Congregational Church in Seattle. You can see that project by clicking here: Plymouth Metamorphosis .
And here is the original silk painting that these ideas grew from:
Sun shining through the glass makes the entry space joyful with color. It will be even better when the tools are put away!
Below you can see where the doors are located. A porch the height of the doors will be built this fall, with stairs on each end. This porch should make a nice place to hang out, to find summer shade and shelter from snow and rain in winter.
New Grunewald Guild entry, under construction
Doors from the outside looking in: Daytime
Grunewald Guild Doors from outsideGrunewald Guild doors at night
Joe Hester and I collaborated on several stained glass projects, some of them very large. This is one of my favorites, perhaps because the project was really a gift to Grunewald Guild from Joe, before he died this year.
Joe Hester was a friend and teacher of mine for many years at the Grunewald Guild. Joe died unexpectedly this year, from a brain tumor. Before he died Joe encouraged me to enter stained glass design contest, several of which I won, and collaborated with me on other stained glass projects. I miss Joe. Thanks Joe, for everything you gave to me.
Joe Hester working with sketch for the glass doors
Carey Institute is on the campus of the University of British Columbia. It’s a beautiful location, on a peninsula surrounded by woods, hiking trails and beaches. I found this out AFTER our class….we were all too busy painting to do much exploring. Although our hosts introduced us to authentic Chinese food and bubble tea.
We had a group of 16 students, some from Vancouver BC and surrounding area, but also some that traveled from Alberta for the workshop.
Carey Inst. Aug 2012 silk painting-32
Alex at Carey Inst. Aug 2012 silk paintingSarah, Carey Inst. Aug 2012 silk painting workshopEdna and Hildie, Carey Inst. Aug 2012 silk painting workshop
Jennifer’s Ice, Carey Inst. Aug 2012 silk painting workshop
We had so much fun and made such good work. Here are 50 pictures for you to see!
Click on one image to make it bigger, then follow the arrows for the next picture. When you are done with the first batch, then go to the next. There are 3 batches!
Here’s a detail from a scarf hand-painted by Emily Wagnitz at our Grunewald Guild Liturgical Arts Silkpainting Workshop.
We had beautiful hot sunny weather at Grunewald Guild this summer. A lovely, lively group of 14 students, from age 12 to ?65? or so, we helped each other make some wonderful silk pieces.
The youngest member of our silk painting group, and the scarf he made. Carefully.
Unwrapping Mary Ann’s piece, Grunewald Guild Aug 2012
Preparations for this 4-day workshop are getting me excited! September is my favorite month to be in the mountains here. The weather is cooler but more predictably sunny, the bugs are fewer, and every plant and animal is putting for a last burst of beauty and wholeness before the early mountain snows and cold winds push them back beneath the surface. High mountain summers are brief and beautiful.
We”ll be brushing up on drawing and watercolor skills in the morning, and using those skills to record our high mountain excursions in the afternoon, the easy way: we’ll be shuttled by van to places our resident naturalists choose for us. When it’s time for dinner we’ll be driven back to the Learning Center for a good meal and a warm bed.
Recently I’ve re-discovered my love of figure drawing. July 6th I was invited to draw portraits of visitors to the Whatcom Museum here in Bellingham, in conjunction with the Ray Turner show “Population.” I brought my easel, a 6B pencil, sketch book and kneaded eraser, and drew 10 quick portraits in 2 hours. I was exhausted but satisfied.
I’ve also been attending 2-1/2 hour life drawing sessions at a local art school, Bellingham Art. Here is one drawing:
