09.01.10

101 in 1001 {II}: 011 contribute work to a gallery show [completed 08.31.10]

once upon a time, i heard of a contest; it involved tearing across the city to secure a blank tote bag, spending a week reimagining said tote bag, and potentially ending up in a gallery show. i just love tearing across the city for random things (as the people who saw joe and me switching shoes to race across williamsburg could tell you), and i finally had time for a nice and complicated project; i was on this. two fridays ago, i took a cab down to the school of fashion at parsons and grabbed my blank bag.

the raw bag

on saturday i sent esb a rambling email about bags and textile portraits and technique and laura palmer and fashion and david bowie. bowiebowiebowie, she said, and who am i to argue with that? on sunday i got advice and a bunch of linen thread from the ladies at purl soho. on monday i picked up contact paper and blew out a bowie-photo at kinko's for a rough template; by monday night i had a viable source sketch and was a little one-woman sweatshop. a word of advice to you, internet: should you find that you have to embroider a tote bag at some point in your life, go through the extra step of taking said bag apart. i didn't, so i had to do the whole thing upside down and have a lovely pointillist bowie on my right thigh.

embroidery detail

i actually didn't start listening to records as i sewed until thursday night; on friday morning, for my last three hours of satin stitches, i played low (twice), heroes, and the first half of changesbowie. i tub-dyed the whole thing friday morning (per jamie and one of our fashion editors), hid it from steve overnight, and climbed up to the roof to take submission photos on saturday morning. on saturday night i kept grabbing joe's arm. i want to win, i hissed.

L1090053

yesterday i won,

le show

and yesterday evening joe and amanda and i had semi-cold cans of beer at the gallery show. and tiki drinks at painkiller. and banh mi and pho at an choi.

{full project set here}

12 comments:

Celia said...

fuck me, lauren!  you're like the most talented bitch i know.  congratulations on the win (you obviously deserved it)!
xox

p.s. you have no idea how cuckoo i go for tiki drinks.  macadamia nut chi chis are my absolute fave.

p.p.s. fuck yeah, banh mi!

Gracie said...

SO COOL. CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!!!

LPC said...

Oh go you, darling heart. I couldn't be happier for much of anyone. Of course, I don't know anyone else who would embroider Bowie on a tote bag, but literalism is overrated. The affection and congratulations are real. Here is a link for you. My son played this for me last week, clearly anticipating your win. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS4ZW6f89QI.

esb said...

FUCK YES.

did I say that already? also, NICE CHANDELIERS.

Jacob said...

A big Maui wOOt from Megan and me - that is awesome!

rachel (heart of light) said...

Yes! Most awesome tote bag project ever, hands down. Glad that the awesome-ness was appreciated and recognized.

jen said...

you rock, o crafty one.

i had no doubt, ever since you cut your (needlepointing) teeth embroidering debbie harry, that you would go far in this world.

but for reals, in a gallery show? that is awesome. i am in awe.

Amanda said...

If you frame it, does it count as a twofer?

Well done, dear lady, well done.

kidchamp said...

thanks, everyone! this was the first time i'd embroidered (well, not counting the bit on the plush log for last year's halloween costume) and the first time i've ever entered crafty stuff in a contest, so it ended up being kind of a big deal to me that it turned out well. 

lisa, that clip is outstanding; who but bowie could sound that fantastic sitting down, i ask you? 

amanda, i thought about that - but since it's embroidery rather than needlepoint, i think i'm stuck with finishing something else. that's probably for the best. 

babyjo said...

AWESOME!!!!!!  i'm so proud of you.  the tote looks amazing and i absolutely love how it turned out.  hooray you!!!!!

jamie said...

yeah!!!! didn't realize it also filled a 101. rad! well done, well done.

Ma said...

The bag is truly awesome, Lau! Congrats!! 
Hard to explain the feeling you get when your work is accepted into a juried show,huh?  But winning??? you rock!

(Keep your fingers crossed for my show next week!)