Out & About

2 July, 2018

An unexpected delight: Origami in the Garden at MN Landscape Arboretum

beckarahn2018-07-01T23:25:06-05:00Everything Else, Gallery Exhibitions, Out & About|1 Comment

A few weeks ago I spent an evening at the Bakken Museum as a guest artist. The theme was “art in the garden” and it was held on their rooftop patio. For a project, I suggested that I teach people to fold origami butterflies to go with the garden theme. By happy chance, Minneapolis St Paul Magazine was a sponsor of the event and sent along a case of magazines for us to recycle and make art with. It was a perfect match for my project.

I brought some of my fabrics along that feature origami and recycled paper so I could talk about how I use origami in my art.

At least three different people at the event asked me if I had seen the “giant origami” at the MN Landscape Arboretum. I hadn’t heard anything about giant origami, nobody could really tell me anything more about it, and after that night I sort of forgot about it. The Arboretum is about 45 minutes from my house and mostly off my radar. By chance, yesterday afternoon the concert band that my husband plays with had scheduled to play a concert at the Landscape Arboretum. I almost always go along to listen to his concerts and I remembered the “giant origami” conversations. I thought it might be a little something to look at while the band was warming up.

All I can say is WOW. I am so glad I got there and got to see this exhibition. It was stunning. It is called Origami in the Garden and is a collaboration between Jennifer and Kevin Box, a husband and wife artist team, and several other master origami artists. The pieces are actual folded models cast in aluminum, bronze and steel. There are more than 40 pieces throughout the gardens. It was so fun to walk around and see the glimpse of white “paper” peeking out through the leaves. Lots of things were blooming, the day was lovely, and the pieces were installed in ways that made them look like the garden was designed just to showcase each piece.

Accompanying the outdoor sculptures was an indoor display of some of the models folded and unfolded, miniature versions of some of the large sculptures, paper models and more. Which was also fascinating.

Robert Lang, one of the master artists from the show (who folded this amazing crane; see dorky selfie below) is teaching a class in a few weeks and I signed up. It seemed like an opportunity not to be missed. I am a very beginner folder, but I learn quickly and I know the basics, so I am hoping I can keep up. I am excited! I never get the chance to take classes.

If I didn’t convince you already that you need to go and see this exhibition, maybe dorky selfie number two will help you decide:

18 November, 2017

Where you can find me: Holiday 2017 Events

beckarahn2017-11-18T07:56:56-06:00Everything Else, Out & About|Comments Off on Where you can find me: Holiday 2017 Events

Minneapolis Craft’za

Sunday November 19 I will be at the 5th Annual Craft’za show at the Grainbelt Building in NE Minneapolis. This is my second time there, although I have done the sister show Craftstravaganza for a number of years. This year is the first time it will be 2 days and I will be there on SUNDAY. You can see a little sneak peek of my work on the local Fox9 station on Sunday morning. Four artists did a little demo & interview which will be airing on Sunday morning. (If you have found me here from Fox9, hello!) Find me at booth #58. November 19 • 10 – 4

Bakken Winter Market

On November 25 & 26, I will be at the Bakken Museum for their Winter Market. I have made some special Bakken inspired pieces from art I made with them back when they were a partner on my State Arts Board grant. Have Thanksgiving visitors? Come visit the museum and shop with local artists. Fun! November 25 & 26 • 10 – 3:30

Crafts at Canteen

A tiny little show with 10 awesome artists hosted in a coffee shop that specializes in toast. This quirky show is new for me and should be lots of fun. Just one evening. December 8 • 6 – 10 pm

14 March, 2017

More art making! This time I will be in NC!

beckarahn2017-03-13T21:28:53-05:00Out & About, Spoonflower & Fabric Design|Comments Off on More art making! This time I will be in NC!

Please join us in the Spoonflower Greenhouse for a knitting, crocheting, and sewing social with special guest, Becka Rahn, co-author of the Spoonflower Handbook! Bring your project of choice or learn how to make your own mini origami paper dress with step-by-step instruction from Becka. You can find all of the event details and register here.

I am coming out a day early for my master class so I can spend an evening in the Greenhouse making some art. If you are in the Raleigh/Durham area, please stop by.

23 June, 2015

Footpath and the Midwest Weavers Conference

beckarahn2015-06-23T11:54:43-05:00Gallery Exhibitions, Out & About, Weaving, Felting & FIbers|Comments Off on Footpath and the Midwest Weavers Conference

Footpath. The design for this moebius scarf was inspired by one of the patterns in the WGM’s 75th Anniversary “A Thread Through Time” book. I used the basketweave tie up pattern on page 56 and translated it into a colorful geometric design, created with bits of colored and patterned paper pulled from junk mail and catalogs. I assembled the geometric design, scanned it and created a seamlessly repeating pattern that was digitally printed on to fabric.

This last week was the Midwest Weavers Conference here in Minneapolis. This is a regional conference hosted every other year in a different city. Our local Weavers Guild were the hosts for the conference and I was asked to teach two technology classes as part of conference seminars, one about marketing yourself online and one about photo editing. The piece above was my submission to the Instructors Exhibit. Since I am only a little bit of a weaver, I didn’t want to have my little pieces on display with the masters, so I decided to go with what I am good at, but with a weaving twist.

Our Weavers Guild is celebrating their 75th birthday this year. As part of the celebration, they put together a book. For years, as I understand it, the guild newsletter included a weaving draft and a tiny swatch of fabric made by volunteers, so in each newsletter, you not only got the pattern, but an example as well. For their birthday, they pulled drafts from the archives and had guild members make contemporary pieces based on those designs and they put it altogether into a book. So I decided to do the same, but with my twist. So, I used the tie up pattern from a basketweave draft and translated it into color. The design was made with paper punches and recycled paper from junk mail, receipts, newspaper and an Art-A-Whirl catalog glued to a piece of black card stock. I call it Footpath because the tie up pattern is the part of the draft that tells you how to tie up the treadles, which are the pedals you control with your feet when you are weaving on a floor loom. So I made this design into a piece of fabric and stitched a cowl scarf to be a part of the exhibition. I love that it is fun and bright; I think I might keep this one for myself. I didn’t get a photo of the finished piece, but that is the printed fabric in the top photo.

The conference was awesome! I volunteered for several days at the Guild to help with their fiber shop and I taught two classes with really wonderful groups of students from all over the country. I met a lot of cool people and the sense of fun and enthusiasm throughout the conference was infectious. Everyone seemed to be really enjoying everything about it. I am so glad that I was invited to be there. Thanks to the organizers, advisors, attendees and volunteers who made it great!

14 May, 2015

This Weekend: Art-A-Whirl and Shepherd’s Harvest

beckarahn2015-05-14T07:52:28-05:00Gallery Exhibitions, Out & About|1 Comment

This weekend I will be doing nothing but art. And I mean literally nothing because I am participating in not one, but two great events and I am spending my time split between the two of them.

First, I will be at Art-A-Whirl, which is a giant open studio event in NE Minneapolis. I am the guest artist in studio 401-B with my friends Ingrid and Eric. It’s my first Art-A-Whirl and I think it’s going to be fun. We are on the 4th floor in the Northrup King Building. There are lots of good signs, just look for 401. I will have all digitally printed fabrics there. I have 3 dresses that are “show pieces” and a bunch of skirts, scarves, ties and hankies that are for sale. I will be at AAW Friday, Saturday after 2pm and for just a bit on Sunday morning.

I will also be at the Shepherd’s Harvest Festival at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. Thanks to my awesome booth mates who are helping me be at both events! This is my 5th year (or something like that) at Shepherd’s Harvest and I will have laser cut jewelry and looms and some new really cute zipper bags featuring all kinds of knitting and fiber puns. I even made a new day-glo pink laser cut loom just for this year’s festival.

13 April, 2015

Thank you to the American Craft Council!

beckarahn2015-04-13T18:40:44-05:00Everything Else, Gallery Exhibitions, Out & About|2 Comments

A huge thank you to all of the artists at the American Craft Council show in St Paul. I was part of a “Hip Pop” pod, which is ACC’s new emerging artists program. They curated pods of 6 new emerging artists and we shared a double booth space at the show. The artists, the shoppers, and the staff were all so enthusiastic and supportive of our pod, I can’t say enough thanks to them. We felt loved!

A special shout out to veteran artists John Jameson, Sharon Rosenthal, Arlene Wohl and Kay Chapman. They were our neighbors at pod #303 and were absolutely welcoming and supportive (and funny when we all started to get a little tired).

I was in amazing company with my pod mates who are all so talented. I am so glad we got to spend the days together and I hope we run into each other many times again.

Matthew Krousey. Matt works in richly textured ceramics that have a strong connection to nature and organic designs.

Nick Lundeen Nick’s jewelry has a sense of agelessness in style and texture.

Betty Jäger Betty’s work has as much personality as she does. Organic, unexpected, lots of sparkle.

Lauren Mayhew Lauren incorporates bold graphic designs into whimsical knit hats. The pops of color with the soft neutrals remind me a lot of her personality.

Elizabeth Pechacek Elizabeth’s work has a sense of fragility with soft colors and fine lines that is in juxtaposition to the classic forms of her pieces.

Betty, Nick, Elizabeth and I will all be at Art-a-Whirl, Matt does tons of shows around town and keep your fingers crossed for Lauren who has a job interview this week. Please say hi to them if you see them out and about in the art world.

Thank you to all of YOU who stopped by to say hi at the booth. I can’t begin to name all of you, but it was so great to see all of your smiles and to get to show off the work I have been doing. Thank you to Rachel for the Advil and Andi for the tea. You are both life savers.

Today I caught up on all of the emails I have been ignoring and feel like I need a nap. What a weekend!