Serendipity is the art of making an unsought finding.
- Pek van Andel
I am an open for adventure person willing to see what happens when I say yes to an invitation, when I walk through the next door...  You can imagine my excitement when I was contacted by a sponsor of the art show who revealed he was quite taken by my  Dressing Gown to Filter Out Bad Chi.
In fact he said he had gone back to look at my wearable art object more than once and wanted to know if I was going to attend the First Friday Open Gallery in Rochester that week.

Dressing Gown to Filter Out Bad Chi

shown here at the Rochester Contemporary Art Center (RoCo) & The Surface Design Association present 28 artworks that expand the definition of fiber art
http://www.rochestercontemporary.org/mediaroom_fiber11.html

We did meet at the gallery and spoke for the better part of an hour about the process and concept behind my artwork as well as my journey as an artist.  Content with that discussion he asked if I would be agreeable to his visiting me in my studio space in my home in Clarence, NY.

  It is impossible to get to know me without breaking bread with me so I invited him to arrive in time for a small meal we shared my al fresco on my deck as we spoke.

 Here of some of the images he shared with me from our meeting on May 27th 2011.

Sanctuary -
steel wire, wool yarn, bees wax, burning with fire, paper pulp, rust, my hair, a paper wasp built a nest in my sanctuary

Hat with floral elements made from up-cycled used paper coffee filters.

silk screen patterns

talking about the process

how my vision will manifest in my art work

Here I am sharing the vision with Rome for my new collection of art work which will include silk screened images on used coffee filters.  Some of the works will be garments as a metaphor for people along with a variety of 2 -D and 3-D art works.

These series of images caused me to blush when I saw how deeply I was willing to share my emotions for this new collection.

Samples of experiments with the casting molds of my form that will eventually work their way into my art work at the appropriate time.

Special thanks to Rome Celli for capturing and sharing these  images of  my passion and creative energy in my studio.


Since this is the begining of a rather large on going art project up-cycling used coffee filters I would appreciate anyone willing to help me gather materials.   Simply dump the used coffee grounds, preferable into a composting container, then store the used filters in a water proof bag.  Perhaps the freezer would be a good place to prevent molds and keep the odors down until you let me know it is time to pick them up.  I do all the washing and ironing of each filter.

Your help is deeply appreciated and you will have a vested interest in my art project. Location of gallery where this work will be show will be announced at a later date.

Have a Very Creative Day,   Carol

Please visit us on Facebook @ Rice Rafferty or Rice Rafferty.com

"One should always treat others as they themselves wish to be treated."

Hero in Me

 "One should always treat others as they themselves wish to be treated."  Hinduism: 3200 BC, From the Hitopadesa-

http://www.thegoldenrule.net/quotes.htm 

Luke 6:31 Do unto others as you would have them do to you.

What if the relationship brakes down or communication gets lost in translation???

 

  There is also an old adage which says,



"He who owns the gold makes the rules." http://www.womensgroup.org/gold_20000311.html

In both saying we are talking about " GOLDEN RULES "
Have you ever thought about what is your point of view?

Do you see life as an opportunity to bring good into you own life and others or do you see life as an opportunity where the winner takes all ???

• How much time do you spend "grooming" others?
• Do you care about anyone aside from " Numero Uno" ?
• Is everything you do rewarded by monetary gain?
• Do you have the feeling you can never have enough money or goods ?
• Have you learned that it takes a really steady hand to steer a lot of goods ?

I was watching an interesting program about the effects of STRESS on the health of members in relationship to their social pecking order.
 Dr. Robert Sapolsky has dedicated over 30 years watching social standing and the effects of disease on the living body.   He is shown here speaks with an interviewer from  Linked In focus on Stress   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtjU0-dOTLM

He found that members higher up on the pecking order, having power and little to do, can take great delight in picking on the lower members of the group, namely females and subordinate males who will not fight back. 

 While this may be great FUN for the BIG MONKEY it can bring on STRESS followed by DISEASE in the member who are being pushed around.

 To see the entire broadcast about stress
http://www.pbs.org/stress/

Remember your reality is seen from your point of view. 
If you would like to see community pecking order in action go visit you local zoo Monkey House.

For all the Alpha Aggressive out there I have no suggestions because from personal experience you take no responsibility for aggressive behavior.   Please know I am praying for you ;~)



Took My Breath Away



For the vast majority of people who have to deal with the self absorbed be sure to find many positive ways to create stress release and make it part of everyday activities not just once a week or month;

take a walk,
pray
read a good book,
take a long, comfortable hot bath
make something creative, doodle, draw or sketch
listen music, why not dance too
call a friend,
go to a support group meeting such as Al Anon,
buy yourself some flowers or better yet plant a garden
cook and enjoy nutritious organic foods
avoid aggressive people where possible
try yoga, Qui gong or Tai Chi exercise
swim, fish, camp, ride your bike,
or wear a






Dressing Gown to Filter Out Bad Chi

 Kind in mind God is Good and All Things are passing.
   Life grows better and more interesting with experience.



Better with Experience


     Best advice, we all make mistakes, an apology does wonders to heal a broken relationship.
                     Make a continuous effort to error on the side of kindness.

                                              Don't keep the LOVE, pass it around ;~)

                                                 http://carolannricerafferty.com/

If you truly love Nature, you will find beauty everywhere. ~Vincent Van Gogh ~

Recycle, Reuse, Renew ...

This dress inspired by my love of art, cooking, gardening, sewing and all things natural is made entirely of used coffee filters. 

 Working intuitively this project that began in December 2009 was completed in June 2010.  

This dress became a comforting place to for me to play while working on other designs.  It grew into an obsession sewing each coffee filter element to the dress.

In between working with fiber reactive dyes to create colorful work I like to clean my pallet by working with handmade paper in monochromatic natural shades.  It is important to me to be very involved with my materials. 

Everyday I emptied the coffee grounds into my compost pile, rinsed each coffee filter of excess grinds then carefully hung them up to dry.  This dress object is actually made of several hundred coffee filters.  So many coffee filters are sewn into this dress that a portion were lovingly collect by a variety of people including; Kara, Tim, Jomarie and Jake. 
There is a beauty in itself for people answering my call for help to contribute their trash for my Trash to Treasure art project.

 

Image here showing  close up of the dress top.

Each  individual coffee filter is folded then stitched with ecru color floss onto a cotton muslin shift dress.  

Each coffee filter has a unique stain that remains even after it has been washed.  

here is an even closer detail of the luscious layers.

When I completed the sewing portion of the dress I poured hot bees wax over the layers. The wax gives a more translucent quality to paper making it look more like skin than paper.  I also love the sculptural quality of the paper impregnated with the bees wax.

The layers remind me of phyllo dough I use to make the honey sweet, almond pastry baklava. 

 "The Greek seamen and merchants traveling east to Mesopotamia discovered the delights of Baklava. It mesmerized their taste buds. They brought the recipe to Athens. The Greeks' major contribution to the development of this pastry is the creation of a dough technique that made it possible to roll it as thin as a leaf, compared to the rough, bread-like texture of the Assyrian dough. In fact, the name "Phyllo" was coined by Greeks, which means "leaf" in the Greek language."

http://www.kitchenproject.com/history/Baklava.htm

Sometimes when I stare at the dress it looks like the rich, creamy, vanilla Buttercream Frosting I've used to make a special Birthday or a Wedding cake.

Maybe the dress looks like Roses or Peonies ???

Comments from women who have seen images of this dress tell me they don't know if they want to eat the dress or wear it ;~)

Having the dress in my home is a constant source of joy and contentment.  Every time I look at it the inner meaning of this intuitive work continues to unfold the wisdom of this dress.

Added note on September 15, 2010 
 title of this dress art object is
Dressing Gown to Filter Out Bad Chi

It am honored to announce Dressing Gown to Filter Out Bad Chi was juried into the
Northeast Regional Juried Contemporary Fiber Exhibition

 Rochester Contemporary Art Center

April 1 – May 9. If you are able to attend one of the First Friday openings on April 1 and May 6, 6 – 10 PM, we hope you will come and join in the celebration.
The jurying for the
took place on Saturday, February 5. The three jurors reviewed approximately 253 entries from 99 artists and selected 28 works from 21 artists. The accepted artists are:



Marilyn Beal, MA

Jodi Colella, MA

Linda Rae Coughlin, NJ

Cady Fontana, MA

Rebecca Fricke, MA

Meredith Grimsley, PA,

Marilyn Henrion, NY

Tracy Jamar, NY

Pat Klein, PA

Elaine Longtemps, NY

Saberah Malik, RI

Jane Ogren, PA

Carol Rafferty, NY

Michele Ratte, VT

Dana Connell and Elena Shandalov, NY

Adrienne Sloane, MA

Priscilla Smith, MA

Laura Tabakman, PA

Betty Vera, NY

Jeanne Williamson, MA

Vivien Zepf, NY



http://sdamari.wordpress
.com/2011/02/12/northeast-regional-juried-contemporary-fiber-exhibition/