Author: Chandler
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Suffragist City
I woke up this morning after the first full night’s sleep in over a month, and celebrated by breaking the recent routine of studio-studio-studio entirely. I ignored the computer, bundled up, and headed down to the state capitol in Oly for a once-in-a-century party. One hundred years ago today, the state of Washington approved an…
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Grand opening
Photos by Sarah Christianson The show is all set up, and the book is officially out in the world. Many thanks to the enormous crowd of folks who descended upon the opening last night—and to my amazing friend Sarah Christianson for providing every kind of emotional and practical support I can think of.
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The big reveal
It’s getting harder and harder to keep the secret these days—the Rainier book is almost done, and I’m just dying to show you. But I don’t want to ruin the surprise for T-town, so I’m going to keep it under my hat for just a little longer. But after over two years of being under…
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Fabric Feminists, part two
By now you’ve figured out that I have a thing for stitched lettering; and since I’ve already rambled on ad nauseum in the last post, I can keep this one a little shorter. And anyway, I somehow neglected to take any process photos for two of these. Oops. The knitted broadside was such a success…
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Fabric Feminists, part one
While I’ve been hiding away, wrangling my 900-pound gorilla, Jessica has been cooking up something pretty great. Thanks to her hard work and the wonderful Brian Hutcheson‘s invitation, we are pleased as punch to announce our first-ever dual exhibition! Feminist Wiles: Jessica Spring and Chandler O’Leary Now through November 5 Ted Sanford Gallery, Charles Wright…
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Holdouts and harbingers
Somehow I’ve managed to tear myself away from the massive pile of drawings a couple of times in the past two weeks—once for a quick trip to the wonderful Olympia Farmers Market to pick up a few things. (Look, fractal geometry!) Okay, maybe “few” is stretching the truth a bit, since one of those items…
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Turning
I don’t need the calendar to tell me that fall has arrived. For one thing, the enormous garden spiders are back, guarding our house and reveling in the rain that’s come early this year. For another, when the sun finally came out, and the skies cleared, the air was suddenly crisper, thinner, fragile in its…
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Nose to the grindstone
Lately I’ve spent nearly every waking minute of each day with my face an inch away from the drafting table. Let’s step back, and stretch out a bit. My studio is often a sea of papers—an occupational hazard—but these days the swells have consisted of pencil snapshots for my Mt. Rainier book. Dozens, and dozens,…
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Blue ribbon morning
Judging by the chilly rain that’s suddenly arrived, the rapidly diminishing daylight and the maples that are already starting to turn, summer is officially over. But maybe it’s all those years I spent going to the Minnesota State Fair, because the end of summer has always got me dreaming of still-hot days and fried food…
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On a Mission
As autumn approaches and the inevitable rainy season knocks at our doors, Jessica and I are dreaming of the sunny skies of Arizona—where the not-so-sunny SB 1070, the state’s contentious new immigration reform bill, was signed into law earlier this year. At every turn, controversy pricks underfoot and looms overhead—with no easy, clear-cut answers in…