Living Colour at Lincoln Theatre!!!

To continue from the post with photos of The Veldt, here are photos of Living Colour I took…

I saw Living Colour back in 1988 (I think), at The Brewery in Raleigh. It was a super great, but TINY venue for shows. You couldn’t do any better than that show!!! It was such an amazing performance… it felt like a HUGE rock show, at the same time a very INTIMATE one. It was well worth my eardrums taking a few days to recover!

My recent oversight, however…I didn’t realize that Living Colour was still releasing albums. Plus, being nearly 30 years later, I didn’t really know how well they would still sound! So, yeah… It turned out to be a highlight of my year! You’d never know it wasn’t still 1988 from this performance!!

Only two distinct differences:  Their new bassist is Doug Wimbish. And Corey and Vernon have considerably shorter hair cuts.

The talent in those guys is still immense. I wasn’t familiar with Wimbish, and I’m in absolute awe now. The spectacular sounds he gets from a bass is jaw-dropping.

Also jaw-dropping was Will Calhoun’s drumming and percussion. Just as Wimbish did, a roughly 7-minute segment was his solo, and time to demonstrate his range. I wish I could have gotten more photos of him drumming. That’s the unfortunate thing about photographing from the audience. He brought out an electronic, hand-carried drum at the end of his segment. It was a beautiful sound. And the joy on his face, playing it, was contagious!

 

The show was on Halloween (a Tuesday this year!!) at Lincoln Theatre.

I’m just practicing and having fun with an old camera… hoping to save up and justify my getting an updated one!

 

Glorious hand-dyed silk caftan in my Etsy shop… more to come soon!

Just a quick post… I’m going to be posting some of my other scarves and teatowels up on my Etsy shop in the next day or two.
For now, you may purchase this item, made for the nonprofit-awareness runway fashion show, Couture for a Cause in 2016.

Photo by Marc D. Hunter
Modeled by Camelia Jade

The Veldt !!!

This past Halloween, a rockin’ Tuesday night, I went to go see The Veldt and Living Colour play The Lincoln Theatre! It was a phenomenal show, totally full of energy!

As you can see, I had fun, and had a hard time limiting how many I kept!

I’m crazy in love with taking photos, especially when it’s paired with awesome music!!!!

The equipment I am using is from about 2006.
It’s a Canon EOS Rebel XTi, and I used a 50mm lens for the show’s duration.

Collaboration with Carrie Knowles : “The Inevitable Past”

Carrie is a dear friend and a VERY talented writer and artist! I was really honored that she asked me to collaborate with her on creating a large-scale piece of artwork. This particular piece will be presented at a special exhibition at the Brisbane Institute of Art in Brisbane, Australia, November 11th – 24th.

That means I’ll have my work internationally viewed!! Ha!!

The exhibition pairs her writing with our visual art piece. I would never be able to do justice in describing her story, and recommend you read her synopsis of the story and the accompanying art in her own well-written words.  🙂

To summarize, the piece is to represent the DNA double helix, drifting as if in a breeze. The piece is a continuous 6.4 meter-long (~7 yards) piece of linen, that we worked on in my home studio. Dyeing a piece that large meant getting really creative in utilizing the limited space in my studio. We wound up dyeing 7-foot portions of the linen (the size of my work table), and then shifting the entire fabric over. It took several passes, and 2 days!

We first put soy wax down to represent a double helix image. I have never done batik on linen, and it was a fun experience, since it absorbs wax very differently than silk! Same thing goes for the hand brushed dye that we subsequently applied in shades of red, orange, and yellow.

I rolled the fabric up at the end of each day, and let it “steep” in its dampness. Working with linen meant I needed to use soda ash to activate the fiber-reactive dye, and keep it damp for 12-24 hours. It fortunately requires that I don’t steam it. Apparently, the steam would be bad for the linen. When I dye silk, I don’t use soda ash to activate the dye… as I found out in 2012, before my first fashion show ever, when the soda ash pretty much ATE some of my fabric; so as I took the fabric out of the washer, it literally fell apart in my hands!!!! Instead now, I steam the silk fabric to activate and set the fiber-reactive dye.  It works fabulously, and also removes most of the wax in the process!  Double awesome!

Well, I was super happy with the results of working with linen.  It has such a fantastic, heavy, earthy, but soft hand, and of course the soy wax left no stiff residue!!

If you happen to be in Brisbane, swing by the Brisbane Institute of Arts, and check out this exhibit!! Oh, and send me photos!!

P.S. Carrie has a new book, A Garden Wall in Provence. I certainly recommend reading this!

Work in progress shots…

The whole piece!

Close-up of the embroidered pieces…

Two upcoming Shibori in Indigo dye workshops!

We always have a great time… Come join in the fun!!

There are two days to choose from. Feel free to send me a message with a special request date!

https://www.eventbrite.com/o/kim-kirchstein-14390144798

Shibori in Indigo workshop at my house!

A couple weekends ago, I had a workshop teaching some Shibori in an Indigo dye vat. Honestly, we ALL had more fun than any of us thought we would!!! I’m so grateful for eager participants!!  😀

We had it on our back patio, with a couple fans for a breeze. It wasn’t too bad, actually!!!

I’m planning another on August 5th.
I’d love to open it up to the public, and I LOVE to get to know new people….   But since it’s at my home, I would prefer to keep it to people I already know, and their friends.  I really appreciate the understanding… If you’re a customer I know, a friend, or a friend of a friend, here’s the sign up link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shibori-in-indigo-dye-workshop-saturday-fun-tickets-36379533163

Trampled Mud… my most recent material in Substance Designer

Created in Substance Designer, rendered in Marmoset Toolbag 3.
This trampled mud material, has a trampled field look, complete with puddles, pebbles, and light twigs.
Go see it in Marmoset Viewer at https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Dyb4o

 

Video Game Materials

I’ve been working on a handful of materials for video games, which I created in Substance Designer by Allegorithmic.

I’ve been putting them up on my Artstation site.  Please feel free to “like” my individual pieces and follow me there. Also, I’m always open to feedback on them!!

It’s ever-growing, so please check back soon!

Here’s a preview.

 

What a wonderful event!!

Couture for a Cause 2015 was a smashing success, in so many ways!

The event was fun and vibrant, brought in record-breaking funds for Activate Good! and I’m really thrilled with the two pieces I made for the show!!!

I hope that I did a good job highlighting and celebrating the LGBT Center of Raleigh with my two gorgeous kimonos…

Left Model: Diana Cameron McQueen
Right Model: AnneMarie Brown

Photography: J Clark Images Photography
Hair: TONE Hair Salon
Makeup: Front Row Cosmetics

 

Thank you!! Let’s do even more, and I’ll show you my appreciation!!!

Thank you all so much for your generosity in helping me raise MORE than the required $200 for Activate Good’s Couture for a Cause!

This year, I am designing two looks for the runway that represent and are inspired by the LGBT Center of Raleigh this year.  I truly love the work they do to support the LGBT population in my area of North Carolina, many of whom are dear friends of mine (and yours!!)

As you may know, I design under the name Leopold Designs, and hand-dye the silk fabric that goes into making my garments for the runway.

What I’d like to do is up the ante…. and I want to show you my appreciation for helping me get to a new goal of $1000.  If you help me reach this new fundraising goal, I will raffle off 5 (yes, FIVE) of my hand-dyed Leopold Designs silk scarves to 5 of you!

CLICK HERE for the link to the fundraiser!

Here is a sneak peek at the Couture look’s fabric…

Source: Thank you!! Let’s do even more, and I’ll show you my appreciation!!!