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Two girls making somethings out of nothings with their hands. This summer we hope to embark on an epic cross country road trip, interviewing all kinds of artist along the way in order to make a documentary about art and culture in America today. OUR KICKSTARTER IS UP AND RUNNING! follow us and stay informed! Instagram: @soapskeptics Facebook.com/soapskeptics.1

Monday, March 31, 2014

Weavings as of March 2014























HELLO THERE!


We have been productive as the winter is coming to a close. Here are some of our newer weavings we thought would be worth posting up on our blog! This isn't everything, but we just wanted to show the time we spent these past few weeks experimenting with color, texture, technique, and most importantly...cabin fever.








At this very moment, Rosie and Andrea are experimenting with weaving into frames, wood, natural materials, and more fibers! 

Stay tuned and keep up with us on instagram to see our updates! :)


@soapskeptics 
#soapskeptics

Andrea and Rosie















Saturday, March 29, 2014

Our Visit to Jenny Jump Farm

Story Time!

As we approached the end of winter, we also approached a wonderful farm in North West New Jersey called Jenny Jump Farm.

An awesome friend of ours, Zach, set up a visit with Joanie and Bob who oh-so warmly welcomed us into their home and taught us some interesting lessons on life, self sustainability, fibers, photography, art, animals, and food. 


The home is decorated wall to wall with art, books, and photographs. Bob told us stories about his friends who are artists and showed us some of their work while we drank hot chocolate by the fireplace. We were taught how to make vegetarian egg-drop soup. All of the drinks and soup were served in ceramic bowls and mugs made by Bob himself!


Joan gave us a tour of the farm, where we met the Jacob Sheep, the donkey and the horse! In the backyard there is a kiln and ceramic studio filled with beautiful and inspiring creations. Joanie was kind enough to show us her spinning wheels, wools, and looms. She gave us a little demo on how to do everything and also let us try spinning our own yarn with her wool. She showed us a collection of blankets, scarves, and weavings she has made in the past with her natural fibers along with hand spun yarn. 


It was such an awesome opportunity to meet such a wonderful, humble, and caring couple so willing to teach us a thing or two and spread good vibes the whole way.


Bob is a wonderful nature photographer, and he took some portraits of us while we were practicing the spinning wheel, to see more of his photography click here.


This experience was a spark that ignited a desire to continue to learn from others and also teach others. It's such a beautiful thing- to meet people with shared interest who are so willing and open to just talk and exist with others! Being human with other humans... 


If you are interested in sheering sheep, Joanie and Bob are having a demonstration in April. More details can be found here.




Thank you to Bob and Joanie!!
And thank you to Zach for inviting us along the ride!!



Peace and Love~

Rosie and Andrea
SoapSkeptics

Hello, New and Old Friends! We are SoapSkeptics....


SoapSkeptics


What's goin' on, folks! Rosie McNeill and Andrea Garcia, here! We are starting this blog as the very beginning stages of what will become an adventure of a life time.

A little about us:

Andrea Garcia is graduating in May 2014 from the School of Visual Arts with a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree in Visual and Critical Studies. That is basically a fancy title for art history, critical theory, and art practices. Andrea focuses mostly on sculpture and fiber arts. Andrea is inspired to make fine art objects by using conventional craft techniques to create both functional and dysfunctional works using fibers, wood, clay, wire, and other materials. Andrea just recently moved back to New Jersey after living in New York City for two years. Although her experience in the big apple was well worth the dollars and chaos, she feels there is something for her elsewhere... now the answer is to be sought, where?!




Rosie McNeill spent the last two years in California and Colorado, working, living, learning, and experiencing life. She has returned to the homeland of New Jersey and is ready to continue on a new adventure. Rosie aspires to be a tattoo artist, but in the meantime focuses her energy into weaving, crochet, and other handy crafts. A little opposite from Andrea's ideas of creating, Rosie is geared towards things with function and meaning such as dream catchers, handbags, and jewelry. She is really good at teacher!




Both artists have reached a fork in the road of life. Where shall we go next?! Should we just be what's expected of us and apply for big girl jobs?! What do we want to be!?

It seems serendipitous that we both moved back to our hometown at the same time after being away for years with nothing but a passion to create and explore the unknown future. We are going to take a risk. We are taking our blank pages and we're going to fill them with experiences and opportunity to grow, educate, and learn. 

SoapSkeptics is just beginning and it is so exciting!
Our short term goal is to travel around North America to create a social documentary. This documentary will be about the diversity in culture and art throughout America. We live in a country with so many ideas of living, what is art, what is culture, what are traditions, how do people follow these ideas, and what are their perspectives on other areas as well as their own. We hope to expand the knowledge of how life is lived. We want to spread life experience to those who have never left their hometowns, we want to share the knowledge of those who have traveled the world. We want to show what art is, how it's made, how it is used, or not used in everyday life. We will take a month out of this summer to execute this project, blog about it, and also create cite specific weavings made out of natural recourses we find in the different towns/cities/villages we pass by. In the end, we will have a DVD and a printed book of the weavings we made across America. 

After this adventure, we have a long term goal to make SoapSkeptics a center for studio and gallery space, and educational classes on craft and DIY's for people who are interested. Of course, we are understanding that life will throw us curve balls and obstacles to climb... this is why this long term goal is not so much as important as our summer adventure to create a Documentary about Culture and Art. SoapSkeptics also has the opportunity to travel to Lijiang, China to participate in a residency to film a similar documentary comparing and contrasting culture between New York City and Lijiang, China. If all goes well, and we receive the loving support we hope to achieve, we would love to take this opportunity for the Spring of 2015. But, we digress.

This blog will be utilized to spread the word of our adventures, along with the things we make! Please keep an eye out for updates on our KickStarter, news, and creative executions. :)






"To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. 
To reach out for another is to risk involvement. 
To expose feelings is to risk rejection. 
To place your dreams before the crowd is to risk ridicule. 
To love is to risk not being loved in return. 
To go forward in the face of overwhelming odds is to risk failure. 
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. 
The person who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. 
He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love.
Chained by his certitudes, he is a slave. He has forfeited his freedom. Only a person who takes risks is free."
-anonymous



Peace and Love,

SoapSkeptics 
Andrea & Rosie.

Follow us on Instagram @soapskeptics