Patterns

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It seems to me that every year, I'm drowning in work right around Christmas time. I work myself to death, so that I can take a few days off. I spend the vacation totally exhausted and overwhelmed and usually either Robb or I get sick. Holiday cards don't get sent out. I feel like a slacker, when in fact, I'm working like a maniac. I've been working twelve-hour days, lately.

At the moment, my studio is in the midst of a wallpaper-creating frenzy. We are doing a new show by the playwright Sarah Ruhl, which is set in a very over-decorated Victorian home. My intern Mike and I have been creating stencils for ages, and on Friday, I printed this batch of wallpaper.

Each of the panels measure eight feet by six feet. I'm about three-quarters of the way through the printing process in this photo. I actually love this stage of the printing. You can see the pattern starting to emerge.

And the lack of pattern creates a fascinating pattern as well.

Comments

Lisa said…
Have we been living in California too long? That no-pattern-pattern thing sounds suspiciously like a Zen puzzle.
Gina said…
Duuuude, no..... that's just the pattern of your internal vibe becoming visible to us all....
Anonymous said…
One of the most sanity saving decisions I ever made was to stop sending holiday cards. Just too much for me.

Your wallpaper is fascinating. I love the pattern that is evolving. Really lovely.

Happy New Year!
Laura said…
Just the thought of an overdecorated Victorian home with all that horsehair stuffed furniture and trinkets stashed everywhere makes me break out in hives.

Cool wall paper though. I like seeing how the scenes are created.
Lisa said…
I worked on an opera, once, that had an actual horsehair sofa as a prop.

Now, I'd read about these things (Laura Ingalls Wilder, anyone?), but I never could picture what kind of textile was made out of horse's hair.

I was really surprised to see that the fabric was woven horse's manes. It was a strange, hard-wearing fabric, with a variety of colors running through it.

And, yes, it was every bit as slippery as I had imagined.
Anonymous said…
That process looks fascinating and labor-intensive. My great-grandmother had a horse-hair stuffed couch that weighed a TON, each cushion weighed as much as one of my modern chairs. Everyone who ever slept on it said the same thing" best nap they ever had".
Anonymous said…
Uh... what does the theatre have against regular wallpaper? I love what you're doing, I'm just curious why you have to do it.
Marm
Lisa said…
Because the "real" stuff costs $500 a roll.
Anonymous said…
Hey Lisa and Robb-

I figure you will continue to be sick-prone for 1 to 2 years yet, since thats how long you were told it would take to get the hepatitus fully out of your system. Look at it this way- you both are now even farther along in your recovery, with the start of the new year, 2009.

Any new years resolutions? Mine is to avoid making piles of crap everywhere, which for me is like not breathing.

Annalisa, Gary and our cats
spinnity said…
Hey -- a new Sarah Ruhl play? I think I have tickets to see that @ Berkeley Rep. Once more we are connected!

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