Powers of Ten Infinity Scarves!? Aye! It just makes sense.

Here we go!  After some time away from making product for the holiday markets, I have restocked my infinity scarves. There are 12 patterns to choose from.  All scarves are made from 100% organic cotton knit fabric that has been digitally printed with elements derived from my Powers of Ten series and hand-sewn by me here in my Denver studio.  Check out my shop if you are interested.  Spring should be nice time to wear them.

Also, I've been working on a new line of surface designs that I look forward to sharing with you in the near future.  In the meantime, I hope that you are all well and enjoying the slow shifting season. 

New Fabric Sculptures - LURES!

Best in Show at Design After Dark's CAST 2014!!!

This past weekend the "Design Council of the Denver Art Museum had its tenth annual incarnation of Design After Dark, an annual winter party and fundraiser benefiting the Department of Architecture, Design & Graphics at the Denver Art Museum". 

My husband Mathias has been participating in this event for six or seven years now.  He continuously makes the most amazing pieces for the auction and it always inspires me.  This year, for the 10th anniversary, I too was invited to participate along with eight other artists and designers.

The event was wonderful, and hey, I won Best in Show!!!!!!!  I even got this neat-o ribbon.

New...'Powers of Ten' Pillows

The last couple of months have been busy making goods based upon the patterns in my Powers of Ten series.   These are 19" x 19" feather-fill pillows created from my surface design collections Crystals, Flotsam, Lilypads, Branches, Pinwhickle and Ropes.  Each design is digitally printed on a linen/cotton blend fabric, with a linen/cotton backing fabric and piping.  All have a zipper closure.

I'll be selling them this weekend at the Horseshoe Holiday Market here in Denver.  It's from 10am to 4pm Satruday at Pavilions.  It would be great to see you there!  I'll also have them for sale on my site soon.  Stay tuned.

Happy Holidays!

New Business Cards

While working on repeat pattern design for my Objects in Place series, I was inspired to produce new business cards.  I had them printed through Moo, and I'm thrilled with the result. 

The initial patterns were drawn with templates and rulers and colored in with colored pencils.  I then scanned the images and created seamless repeat line-work using Illustrator.  Here I played around with color, and as you can see there are multiple palettes for many of the patterns.  They are printed on a heavy card stock with a matte finish (the Luxe option at Moo).

Upholstery Re-design Underway of Marcel Breuer's "Wassily" Chair

About two years ago I purchased an old Wassily Chair frame at a thrift store in California, and since then I've been thinking of ways to return the chair to a usable piece of furniture.

The "Wassily Chair" was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1925-1926.  It is also known as the Model B3 chair and was created while he was the head of the cabinet-making workshop at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany.  Inspired by Breuer's love for his own bicycle, he created the frame of chrome plated tubular steel.  The original upholstery panels were made of canvas, but later productions used leather.

Wassily" chair, 1925
Marcel Breuer (American, born Hungary, 1902–1981)
Chrome-plated steel, canvas upholstery

Building upon the concepts and materials of the Eames Rocker that I transformed last year as part of BMoCA and Design Within Reach's White Space event, I've created my own lacing once again to weave upholstery panels in place of canvas or leather.

The project is still in progress, but should be done in a few days.

Ottomans Created as Part of New "Vogel Vau" Furniture Line

I recently began collaborating with my husband Mathias Leppitsch on a furniture line for a newly founded company called Vogel Vau, a design collective that is composed of us and our two good friends Sabin Aell and Randy Rushton.  Our first project is a set of three nestling ottomans.  I created the textile design which was inspired by my recent Powers of Ten series and Mathias and I worked together on the overall furniture design.  These ottomans stack one on top of the other and also nestle close together.   They are currently being exhibited as part of Design By Colorado's exhibition that is being held at the McNichols Civic Center Building in downtown Denver through April of 2013.

See more here.

Eames Molded Plastic Rocker Transformed through Upholstery

As part of the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art's White Space event, sponsored by Design Within Reach, six artists were invited to transform the Eames plastic molded rocker.  I chose to upholster the chair with hand made lacing that I made from some black and white plaid fabric. I loved thinking about the relationship between art and design and hope to work more with furniture. There is something so honest about working with form and function. The other participating artists were: Sabin Aell, Allan Andre, Donald Fodness, Alvin Gregorio and Xi Zhang.

The Process: Templates were made and attached, holes were punched to mark the drill hole locations, holes were drilled and the weaving implemented.

​See more here.

Pattie Lee Becker transformed Eames chair (process)

Pattie Lee Becker transformed Eames chair (process)

Pattie Lee Becker transformed Eames chair (process)

Pattie Lee Becker transformed Eames chair (process)

The finished piece:

Pattie Lee Becker-transformed Eames chair

Pattie Lee Becker-transformed Eames chair

Pattie Lee Becker-transformed Eames chair

Pattie Lee Becker-transformed Eames chair

What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours

Last spring I was invited to exhibit at RMCAD in their small Rude Gallery.  The space is 15 feet by 8 feet with 12 foot tall ceilings.  I wasn't sure what I wanted to investigate for my new body of work, but by July I had decided on tornadoes.  Growing up in Kansas, I have always identified with tornadoes as they were a constant force every year that brought curiosity, fear and excitement to the late spring and early summer days.  The sky grows dark and ominous, turns to a moody grey green, then a stillness and the storm breaks in.  Great thunderstorms with vast lightning would streak across the skies and there was a real sense of being alive.

As tornadoes swept across the US in unprecedented areas this year, I felt that my personal identification with them was somehow shifted.   "What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours" is a new series of artwork that explores these thoughts.  The Rude Gallery exhibition contains a large tornado sculpture based on one of my drawings.  Exhibition dates are August 26th through October 7th, 2011.  A painting, drawing and printmaking exhibition of the same title will be held at Naropa's Lincoln Gallery in October.

THE SCULPTURE

The sculpture "What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours" is made of steel, wire, wood, fabric, fiber fill, paint, sand, hand made rope, papier mache and fur.  Mathias Leppitsch donated so much time in helping me by welding the armature, problem solving potential issues, assisting in the planning and install and in general making sure that I kept my cool as time ran out.  Major thanks goes out to him.

Sewing:

Pattie Lee Becker, What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours (process), 2011

Pattie Lee Becker, What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours (process), 2011

Pattie Lee Becker, What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours (process), 2011

Pattie Lee Becker, What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours (process), 2011

Pattie Lee Becker, What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours (process), 2011

Concrete Stair Construction:

Installing:

Pattie Lee Becker, What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours (installation), 2011

The finished piece:

Pattie Lee Becker, What I Thought Was Once Mine is Now Ours, 2011