"About an Artist: Issa Sabah"

Check out our new video of Issa Sabah. He's an artist from Dubai studying and living in New York City. He discusses his personal perspective on living two separate cultures and being a visual artist as well as a writer. 

Keep up with SoapSkeptics!

@soapskeptics

www.facebook.com/soapskeptics.1

www.vimeo.com/soapskeptics

www.youtube.com/soapskeptics

WE ARE NOW ON FACEBOOK!

SoapSkeptics is now literally EVERYWHERE, except twitter, because, who cares about twitter...

Dream Catcher by Rosie McNeill

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@soapskeptics

vimeo.com/soapskeptics

youtube.com/soapskeptics

About an Artist: Shirley Yu

About an Artist: Shirley Yu

Shirley Yu is a 19 year old fashion portraiture photographer  from Beijing, China who has had very little schooling on the actual subject matter, but has been determined since a young age to be the best. She has interned and assisted countless photographers and has learned so much from her experiences that she has now been published in numerous magazines and websites because of her beautiful portfolio.
In this video, Shirley Yu discusses what art and photography mean to her and also discusses how her background has influenced her work ethic.

To view more of Shirley Yu's work visit: www.photobyshirley.com

SoapSkeptics is making these short films about artists' perspectives on culture and art because we are interested to see how the two subjects influence peoples day to day lives. America is such a diverse country and it is astonishing to see so many cultures and styles coexist, especially since we are located in the tri-state area. Our goal is to road trip across North America August - September 2014 and interview artists of all mediums along the way to discover how heritage, culture, art, and history tie into peoples lives across our nation. 

Keep up with what SoapSkeptics is going to do next!
instagram: @soapskeptics
www.vimeo.com/soapskeptics
www.youtube.com/soapskeptics
soapskeptics@gmail.com


Peace,
SoapSkeptics

Shearing of the Sheep At Jenny Jump Farm

Jacob Sheep Frantically Wondering Whats Going To Happen Next

What a beautiful day it was today on April 19, 2014. The SoapSkeptics gang woke up with the vibrant sun and headed up to North West New Jersey to visit Jenny Jump Farm to help out with shearing the sheep!

Tom's Set Up

Friends of the Jenny Jump Farm traveled from all around the tristate area to work together and get this thing going.

We had an expert sheep shearer, Tom, do a quick, swift, and delicate job at giving all 19 jacob sheep and 1 angora goat nice hair cuts for the hot summer to come. He really knew what he was doing to calm these sheep down and get the job done quickly.

Joanie and Liz led the sheep to and from the barn, to shearing area, to outside. 

Workin Workin Workin

Then there was a whole crew of ladies carrying out the fleeces and picking out the vegetation, dirt, poo, and whatever else these jacob sheep had going on in their fleece (which honestly wasn't much to clean because Joanie keeps them in such good shape), then we sorted each fleece by individual sheep where they will then be taken to be professionally washed and eventually turned into amazing wools of gray, brown, black, and white.

Bundles of Fleece Sorted by Individual Sheep

We also discovered that the left over/scrap fleece that will not be used to make wool CAN BE USED for fertilizer in your garden! So none of it goes to waste at all!

Jacob Sheep Soaking Up The Sun With Their Skin

We were so happy to contribute our helping hands to the farm and so grateful to have met new and wonderful folks who love helping out, talking, and fiber arts as much as we do!

Jacob Is In Our Trunk And We Are Excited

 SoapSkeptics also brought home a new friend thanks to Joanie and Bob~
A four harness table loom! 

Our Fiber Studio Lookin So Good Now That We Have Jacob

We named him Jacob, after the Jacob Sheep at Jenny Jump Farm :)





He will help us make wonderful things, we don't know what yet, but whatever it is, it will be wonderful.
So much thanks to Joanie and Bob for another amazing visit to your farm and home!

Don't forget to follow this blog 

& also our instagram: @soapskeptics 

to keep up with our adventures 

and creations (like what we'll make with this table loom)!

Peace,
SoapSkeptics~

We're Seeing Red

Rosie just finished this adorable little wall hanging

Woven with yarn, pine, and tissue paper

follow more of our 

fiber works on our instagram: 

@soapskeptics

Check Out This One of A Kind Book Handmade by Andrea Garcia of SoapSkeptics

Unique hand made one of a kind Alphabet Book by Andrea Garcia of SoapSkeptics.

Andrea made this book in 2012 when she was thinking about a fun way to create a functional and also somewhat dysfunctional alphabet.

Methods used in this Alphabet Book:

crochet, embroidery, watercolor, ink drawing, sewing, collaging.

Materials used in this Alphabet Book:

yarn, string, japanese paper, burlap, canvas, watercolor, ink

To view more of this book visit www.andreagarciavasquez.com

Feeling the Sunshine and Making New Things

This weekend was too gorgeous, so Rosie and I lived the dream we've been dreaming all winter... Sunshine weaving!

Rosie's working on some crochet rock cozies for rock paper weights!

Andrea's working on an experimental weaving on her frame loom.

Cheers to spring time.

Pondering The Meaning of Life...

HELLO FRANDZ

Peace

~ 

SoapSkeptics

Andrea & Rosie

"About an Artist" feat. Emma Stern!

On April 3, 2014 SoapSkeptics met up with the talented Emma Stern to discuss what roles culture and art play in her every day life. This film is somewhat of a preview of what our cross country documentary film about art and culture will be like, so please stay tuned for more documentaries and updates about the launch of our KickStarter!!

To see more of Emma Sterns work click here 

Keep up with SoapSkeptics & follow us!!

Instagram: @soapskeptics

Vimeo: www.vimeo.com/soapskeptics

peace

~

Rosie & Andrea

Moving Moving Moving Non-Stop Moving!

Things are picking up! We are in the middle of filming/editing our promotional video and proposal video for KickStarter!!

For those who are not familiar with what SoapSkeptics is trying to do, Rosie McNeill and Andrea Garcia are planning a road trip from August 8- Sept 15 to travel from NJ, down to FL, then New Orleans, Texas, New Mexico, California, Portland, and Seattle. Along the way we will be filming, blogging, and making weavings to represent different aspects of our adventure. Our documentary will focus on communities and artists who practice and appreciate all art forms: music, food, painting, pottery, craft, writing, etc. Our weavings will be made out of natural materials found in each city/state we travel through; so by the end of the trip we will have a number of weavings that will each represent a specific location and will be made out of material found in that location.

The purpose of the adventure is to connect with other artists, other forms of art, 

and art communities throughout America and discover the 

meaning of art in the daily lives of these people. 

We want to learn from others, teach others, and gain some insight on how community, culture, and art coexist in North America.
This cross country road trip is just the beginning. If all goes well, SoapSkeptics will go abroad next year to Lijiang, China and create another documentary/body of weavings with a similar concept but a completely new culture to us. Eventually, we would love for SoapSkeptics to become a learning center and studio space for artists to create, share knowledge, and inspire each other on a regular basis.

For this American Road Trip we are trying to raise $5,000 to cover the cost of travel, food, camera equipment, hard drive storage, weaving materials, and post production materials such as DVD's, cases, prints of photographs, and printing a book of the weavings we create across the country.



We are making moves in the next few days:

• SoapSkeptics will become an official COMPANY!
  
• SoapSkeptics will also release our KickStart video on this blog and also on youtube!
  
• SoapSkeptics will be printing out our own business cards!

Please follow our instagram 

@soapskeptics 

& bookmark/follow this blog to see our updates, 

it's happening fast- 

you don't want to miss out!

Much Love and Thanks!
~

Andrea & Rosie
SoapSkeptics

soapskeptics@gmail.com