Call for artists / crafters for collaborative project

I am starting a collaborative fiber piece that involves the community - not just my local area, but everywhere. I want to collect scraps from everyone who would like to participate and connect them into one finished fiber piece. Traditional fiber arts have long been a source of communication and stress reduction, as in the quilting circles of the past, and current knitting nights, where artists gather to work on a quilt and talk with other artist/crafters. It's not always practical in our busy lives to get together for hours of artwork, so I would like to use technology to reach out and start a visual conversation with other artists and crafters - please join me in this collaborative art project.

When the piece is complete I would like to auction it to raise money for a non-profit that I'm starting that will provide art education and art therapy to children and their families.

"Repair" - mixed media 2012

Here are the participation guidelines:
- send me an envelope with your scrap of fabric, yarn, ribbon, paper... from your current art project or from something else you have been working on.
- Include a 3x5 index card with your name, email, links to your stuff online, and a description of where (what project) your scrap came from.
- by participating you agree to the following:
-- you are donating your scraps and will not get any compensation in return (except the joy of being part of an awesome collaborative art project!)
-- you agree to let me post information about your project and any links to you online that you provide. (I will not post anything about you that you don't want me to).
- there are no costs to participate other than the postage for mailing the envelope to me
- I will post images of work in progress at least once a week depending on participation

you will need to send an email to kelly@kellydarke.com to let me know you are interested and I will send you an address to mail your envelope.

sunrise : fiber, paint, plastic : 30"x50"

6 Degrees of Creativity!

I'm so excited to be one of the instructors in the second edition of 6 Degrees of Creativity! What is it, you ask?  Gretchen Miller describes the program as: "6 Degrees of Creativity will unite concepts of social networking, connecting, collaboration, art-making, and creativity into an engaged global community of artists exploring transformation, social change, and using art for good.  6 Degrees of Creativity will be offered as a self guided 6 month on-line workshop running from July 2012-December 2012 that includes 6 different classes, offered by a group of 6 instructors." 
This is going to be a great experience all around! Stay tuned for more information...

New mixed media jewelry

new fiber work - lots of texture!

I have been working on some mixed media pieces focusing on texture - I have been enjoying this work immensely. I think it is interesting that on the knit pieces you can see through the work - so, the color of the wall it hangs on will change the overall look of the piece. With some of these pieces I intended for the back of the piece to be visible, but not sure how practical that would be...  but the idea that we hide or cover or somehow alter the image we present to the world, but if we could see behind the facade we would find a lot of interesting 'texture'.

Chaos (Red) 13 x 13

Chaos (White) 13 x 13

Comfort 30 x 50

Control 13 x 13

Hidden 13 x 13

Thinking of Mary 30 x 50

Mixed media collage - new work

As I look through my artwork in my studio, some from years ago and some recent, I find myself a little surprised at how it has evolved, yet at the same time it all makes sense. I had always considered myself a painter even though I've always made jewelry, knit or crocheted, and I created collages. When I look at my most recent work I can see all the elements of what I have always done, mostly separately, now together in one piece. I can't help sometimes feeling that I'm breaking the rules or not doing it right when I paint over knitted yarn or put a stack of paper and glue through my sewing machine, but I am really liking the results.