Connection by Tea Okropiridze, winner of the Shayna Heisman Simkin Award.
Created on a simple frame loom over a period of months, the tapestry above was awarded top honors in the September all-media exhibit. Juror Joann Moser said Connection by Tea Okropiridze was a “tour-de-force” of woven art.
We asked Tea — who is also teaching a two-day Tapestry workshop and weekly class this fall — to tell us about the process of creating this strikingly detailed and richly textured piece. More photos and details in our Q&A, below.
What’s your creative process — how do you go from an idea, to dressing the loom, to a finished product?
Tea Okropiridze: Creating tapestries is a long process, and it all starts from paper and pencil. My first step is to always create a small size sketch/painting as a main idea and concept for a tapestry. However, my sketch almost never ends up the way I envision it at first. During the creative process some new ideas come up and one simple brush stroke can change the final image and dictate the creation of the rest of the composition. Continue reading Q&A with Award Winner Tea Okropiridze
Placing a completed piece on the community sculpture. Placing a completed piece in the community puzzle art project.
If you like community art, fun projects, ice cream, and good weather, last weekend was your weekend!
It was a spectacular weekend for The Art League, with great turnout for our art projects and record-setting sales at our Ice Cream Bowl Fundraiser.
On Saturday and Sunday at the Alexandria King Street Art Festival, The Art League’s corner was the place to be – with gorgeous handmade ceramic bowls, refreshing artisan ice cream from Artfully Chocolate, and engaging community art projects. We had a huge crowd this year — in fact, we sold over 1,250 ice cream bowls! The bowls were made and donated by Art League ceramics instructors, students, and artists, and all the proceeds are going to our ceramics department.
As always, the huge selection of original art at a great price and for a wonderful cause generated a lot of interest, with most buyers struggling to decide exactly which bowl to get. Everyone who bought a bowl also got a ticket for our raffle prize, a huge bowl made by our ceramics department chair, Blair Meerfeld.
By the way — if you were inspired by the beautiful ceramic bowls you saw this weekend, Blair’s Jumpstart in Ceramics workshop is coming up this Saturday. You can register for the one-day workshop (only $45) here.
Art League instructors were also on hand to direct community art projects for artists of all ages. In the Torpedo Factory, Lisa Schumaier and company got their hands dirty making a papier-mache Frida Kahlo “Capgrossos” head. And at Market Square, Steve Prince created three larger-than-life, puzzle-piece versions of icons Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Participants could contribute their vision to the collective art project by choosing a piece for their painting, drawing, or even mixed-media art. On Sunday, Prince silk screened t-shirts for young artists with a special Art League design.
Thanks to our volunteers, ceramic artists, supporters, patrons, and to Steve Prince for this hugely successful weekend! We’ll see you next year.
