Exhibition: Crochet Mandalas and Stories of the Heart, by Lisa Daehlin, April 7-May 31, 2023, Teachers College, Columbia University
Exhibition: Crochet Mandalas and Stories of the Heart, by Lisa Daehlin
On View: April 7-May 31, 202
Location: Offit Gallery, Gottesman Libraries, Teachers College, Columbia University
Opening Reception/Artist’s Talk: Thursday, April 20th, 2023; 4:30-6pm
Related Workshops: Thursdays 4-6pm, April 27th, May 4th, May 25th, 2023
Info on the Teachers College, Columbia University website https://library.tc.columbia.edu/news/content/2023/new-exhibit-crochet-mandalas-and-stories-of-the-heart-by-lisa-daehlin.php
“Crochet Mandalas and Stories of the Heart contains pieces, some made with yarn from my own collection; some incorporating yarn and stories from other people I have met as the thread of life weaves itself along life’s way. It is my hope to include a mandala for each of the “communities” in my life: the Chinatown knitting classes that I teach, yarn shop where I work, Teachers College knitting community, Minnesota knitting group, Norway (land of my ancestors) knitting groups, etc. An extended idea is to travel this exhibition to some of those locations at a future date.
These Mandalas are a developing body of work. Originally (20 years or so ago), I had made a couple of them as teaching samples for my classes in the fiber arts (at Cooper Union). Designed to show the math of a flat circle, the imagery of one was purely geometric, and the other, more organic. These crochet samples have followed along in my teaching materials for years. In February of 2021, as I sat in the window of an NYC yarn shop doing a #LovePeopleBeKind Knitting Residency, I began a new generation of my mandalas which used the naturally increasing factor of the heart shape as a design and math element. Playing with those geometric and organic lines, the imagery is changing and growing. Hearts and Roots and now some Flowers seem to be winnowing their way through my hook and hands.
Some of the mandalas use the interplay of two colors in their imagery. An extended idea that is developing shows similar imagery (hearts and sinews and various shapes, bursting out from a central point), but now on a field of concentric rings of color. Each of these bands/rings of color is made of yarn from, and represents, a different person and a glimpse of their story. This “yarn with a story” is donated by various users of yarn (those who knit, crochet, weave, etc). For these versions of the mandala, I take a photo of them handing to me the gift of the yarn to tell the ‘story’ of the yarn.”
– Artist Statement
ARTIST BIO –
Lisa Daehlin is an artist, educator, performer, and alumna of Teachers College (Music and Music Education, MA 2012). Lisa’s artistic identities as a singer and a stitch wielder often blend together in her performance of art song on the concert stage, in cabarets, and in windows of yarn shops. One such example of these interdisciplinary endeavors, her OperaKnit Cabaret, periodically rears its head in various incarnations (including as an online weekly cabaret for the TC Communityduring the shutdown of 2020). She free-lances for the fashion industry and retail design. Her designs can be seen walking the streets of Manhattan, gracing the pages of numerous publications, including: Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits, Knit.1, and Knit Simple, magazines as well as featured in the books Vogue Knitting Lace, Vogue Knitting: Ultimate Hat Book, and Vogue Knitting: Shawls and Wraps (Sixth and Spring Books), and in Lace Style, Bag Style, and The New Tunisian Crochet books (Interweave Press). Over the past two decades, Lisa has taught at several venues including: 92NY, NYPL, The Cooper Union, The Creative Center, Newark Museum of Art, PS122 Gallery, Harlem Knitting Circle, University Settlement, Vogue Knitting LIVE, and the American Folk Art Museum in New York.
Resources:
https://lisadaehlin.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Artist/Lisa-Daehlin-Artist-231292376923366/
(Photos: Flash Rosenberg)
(Photos: Flash Rosenberg)
Photos: Flash Rosenberg.
https://lisadaehlin.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Artist/Lisa-Daehlin-Artist-231292376923366/
(Photos: Flash Rosenberg)
Songs of Love and Contemplation (and some cats… and goats…)
soprano Lisa Daehlin
Sonja Thompson pianist
In-Person & Virtual Concert Series / Music at The Interchurch Center, NYC
475 Riverside Drive (@120th), New York City – free admission
Concert In-Person Wednesday, November 17th 2021, 12:05pm
and viewable online soon thereafter on Interchurch Center’s Youtube Channel
Soprano LISA DAEHLIN has performed numerous operatic roles including Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera), Fiordiligi (Cosi Fan Tutte), Tatiana (Eugene Onegin), Angelica (Suor Angelica), Madame Lidoine (Dialogues of the Carmelites), First Lady (Magic Flute) and the High Priestess (Aida). Maestro Richard Woitach cast her to sing the role of Wellgunde (Das Rhinegold), and as his soprano in the concert Woitach and Friends 3-1/2.
In New York City, Lisa performs frequently at St. Paul’s Chapel, Cornelia Street Café, and The Players Club. European concerts in Italy, Germany, and in Scandinavia as an invited singer for the International Edvard Grieg Society in Bergen, Norway. Recent programs include Raining of the Heart, December Songs, All About Eve, Songs of Renewal and the Spring, Move Into the Light, and Transcending Exotic: Embracing Familiar. Her concert repertoire focuses extensively on Norwegian, French and American Chanson, Cabaret and Art Song.
Though known for her rendition of “I’m a Stranger Here Myself,” Lisa is no stranger to the cabaret stage, having performed incarnations of her show From Classical to Cabaret: The songs of Poulenc, Porter, Satie, and Weill in venues as varied as the underground club to the concert hall. She has sung Dorothy Parker songs in the Algonquin’s Oak Room. She has performed the music of Stefania de Kenessey at City Center and with the Annabella Gonzalez Dance Theater at Lincoln Center. The recording project for that company is now used in the performance repertoire. Lisa produced and directed OperaKnit Cabaret at Performance Space 122 (PS122, NYC), and her one-woman show Twisted Stitch: Songs of Love and Knitting was featured in the Classical to Jazz Festival at Cornelia Street Café (NYC), weaving together songs of Edvard Grieg, Franz Schubert, Maury Yeston and a world premier cycle of songs by Stefania de Kenessey.
Recently awarded a Masters Degree in Music and Music Education from the Teachers College of Columbia University, Lisa operates a private voice studio in New York City. www.lisadaehlin.com
Pianist SONJA THOMPSON. Minnesotan Sonja Thompson enjoys a varied career as a chamber, church and theater musician, conductor, vocal coach and educator, having received her formal education at the University of Minnesota and The Juilliard School. She has spent decades improvising, collaborating and developing new works for the stage, forty years in Church Music (organist/choir master,) and twenty-seven years in higher education.
Performing credits include chamber music and Art Song as well as new music, Music Theater/Opera, and programs that mix genres and styles. Notable collaborations include mezzo soprano Raehann Bryce Davis, bass Simon Estes, and Norwegian performers Tine Ting Helseth (trumpet), Marianne Hirsti (soprano) and Bodil Arnesen (soprano). She has performed for the International Grieg Society in Bergen (Norway), the Oregon Festival of American Music (Eugene), the Victoria Bach Festival (TX), New Dramatists (NY), Florida Grand Opera, and live radio shows and cruises to Norway and the Caribbean with “A Prairie Home Companion”. In the twin cities she has worked with the Schubert Club, Bridge Festival, Alexandria Festival of the Lakes, Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota, Source Song Festival, VocalEssence, The Lied Society, Frank Theater, Nautilus Music Theater, Theater Latte Da, Open Eye Figure Theater, History Theater, Opera 101 Theater Company (co-founder/Music Director, 1991-1996), Skylark Opera, Minnesota Opera, Minnesota Orchestra and The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Current and upcoming projects include a recording of piano music by David Evan Thomas; Longest Night: a Fantasia with Bradley Greenwald (Dec. ‘21/Open Eye Theater), Contes mystiques with Maria Jette (Dec. ‘21/Plymouth Congregational Church); La Boheme (Jan. ‘22/Theater Latte Da), and several new works of music theater for Nautilus Music Theater, MN History Theater, Theater Latte Da and others.
Knitting Residency at Northfield Yarn Shop
Various photos from Lisa Daehlin in Knitting Residency at Northfield Yarn Shop, May 2021
Visit my “Lisa Daehlin, Artist” page on facebook to read more and see more of the yarny and scintillating photos.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Artist/Lisa-Daehlin-Artist-231292376923366/
Lisa Daehlin is at Northfield Yarn.August 5 at 10:22 PM · Northfield, MN
In May, I did a #KnittingResidency at the magical place known as #NorthfieldYarn Life got pretty busy those last few days, so I didn’t get around to posting final photos of the #Mandala that I made that month. Here, you can see what the window display looked like then, and how it’s now updated to add a mandala fresh off the hook (so fresh, in fact, that it’s not quite finished, shhhhh, let’s keep that entre nous. Maybe no one will notice 😉). The mandalas that I’d been making prior to May featured #hearts emanating out from the center starting point, but working in pink and red (the yarns i use in the #LovePeopleBeKind #Crochet #Hearts). The idea grew so I would incorporate scrap yarn from various knitters and crocheted who find their fiber home at the shop. When I arrived, my suitcase was to the brim with the red and pink yarn. Added to those hearts bursting in the foreground is now a #radiant background, stitched by my hands and with yarn left over from various projects made by other hands. It’s a peaceful and lovely collaboration of materials. As I typed a message about this newly made one, the gifts that spellcheck keeps on giving provided yet another gem. I had intended to say “fun working with color”, but it ‘corrected’ to read: “fit writhing with color”. Go figure. And, I LIKE it.
#TapestryCrochet #SurrenderDorothy socks.
August1,2021 – Sunday morning….just arrived to one of my favorite places. NRC to sing for chapel. Some #Dvorak, some #CatStevens. I have a blessed half hour in the morning air to sit on this bench, drink my tea, perhaps do another round on the current #mandala #tenkebenk #TeaEarlGreyHot — with Lisa Daehlin, Artist and LisaDaehlin,Singer at Northfield Retirement Community.
Lisa’s #KnittingResidency at Northfield Yarn
[ Re-blogged from Northfield Yarn Shop at https://northfieldyarn.com/blogs/blog/artist-lisa-daehlin-brings-her-lovepeoplebekind-project-to-our-shop-window-in-may ]
Artist Lisa Daehlin Brings Her #LovePeopleBeKind Project to Our Shop Window in May
by Laura Haave May 05, 2021
Artist Lisa Daehlin brings her #LovePeopleBeKind hearts and circles to Northfield Yarn this month!
Find her in our shop window, stitching a mandala, from noon – 4 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, May 7 – 22.
Swing by, wave hello, pick up a free crocheted heart, spread the love.
Artist’s Statement
Circles, encircling, outwardly whirling, these patterns seem to repeat themselves all around us. We, too, are part of those circles. Ours crossing over into those of others. Perhaps in these times, even more than before, we are reminded of what our bodies and spirits know: we are connected by the circle of humanity, and we miss each other during this time of distance.
While my project of hearts and mandalas has been with me for a number of years, it has become informed more deeply by the events of the past year. Bringing more sharply into focus how we feel and what we think of when we are alone, asking ourselves how that might differ from being at one. The movement of the hands when doing “fancy work” (as Grandma called it) serves as a massaging of our hearts and a soothing of our souls. One of the gifts of this difficult time of distance has been time of turning inward. The balance to that inner spiral is the outward spiral of the mandalas I am crocheting.
This “knitting residency” project (which, spoiler alert, I would love to do all over the world, yarn shops, street corners, parks, hearts of humanity) started at Knitty City in NYC. The idea of bringing some spot of brightness to a street of the city temporarily slowed and dimmed by the tides of our times. I had one idea of what it would be, but, as with many things in life, the process teaches us what it intends to unfold. The process of being in the store window, making crochet hearts and handing them out to passers by, waving to people as they burst into smiles (thankfully, we can see smiles in the eyes). All this and the constrictions of the space, I found myself bringing in a music stand to support the mandala as it grew. Round and round, with the red bird of inspiration on my head to keep me centered (perhaps a bit off-kilter, but centered nonetheless – haha!). Of course, the hearts found their way into the mandala… how could it be any other way?
About Lisa
Lisa Daehlin is a knitting designer and opera chanteuse. Her project of #LovePeopleBeKind has as its goal bringing the world together in seemingly small ways (one heart at a time) that can grow more plentiful than any we can imagine.
Lisa’s artistic identities as a singer and a stitch wielder often blend together in her performance of art song on the concert stage, in cabarets, and in windows of yarn shops. One such example, her OperaKnit Cabaret, rears its head in various incarnations.
She free-lances for the fashion industry and retail design. Her designs can be seen walking the streets of Manhattan, gracing the pages of numerous publications, including: Interweave Knits, Knit.1, Knit Simple, and Vogue Knitting magazines as well as featured in Lace Style, Bag Style, and The New Tunisian Crochet books published by Interweave Press, and Vogue Knitting: Ultimate Hat Book and Vogue Knitting: Shawls and Wraps by Sixth and Spring Books.
Over the past two decades, Lisa has taught at several venues including: 92Y, The Cooper Union, The Creative Center, Newark Museum, PS122 Gallery, Harlem Knitting Circle, University Settlement, Vogue Knitting LIVE, and the American Folk Art Museum in New York.
Concert at The Interchurch Center – Songs of Water and the Spring – 17march2021, 12noon [ONLINE]
Songs of Water and the Spring LISTEN and VIEW the CONCERT AT THIS LINK
soprano Lisa Dæhlin
Tor Morten Kjøsnes pianist
Virtual Concert Series / Music at The Interchurch Center, NYC
475 Riverside Drive (@120th), New York City – free admission
Concert premiers online Wednesday, March 17th 2021, 12:00pm and remains viewable HERE]
Soprano LISA DAEHLIN has performed numerous operatic roles including Amelia (Un Ballo in Maschera), Fiordiligi (Cosi Fan Tutte), Tatiana (Eugene Onegin), Angelica (Suor Angelica), Madame Lidoine (Dialogues of the Carmelites), First Lady (Magic Flute) and the High Priestess (Aida). Maestro Richard Woitach cast her to sing the role of Wellgunde (Das Rhinegold), and as his soprano in the concert Woitach and Friends 3-1/2.
In New York City, Lisa performs frequently at St. Paul’s Chapel, Cornelia Street Café, and The Players Club. European concerts in Italy, Germany, and in Scandinavia as an invited singer for the International Edvard Grieg Society in Bergen, Norway. Recent programs include Raining of the Heart, December Songs, All About Eve, Songs of Renewal and the Spring, Move Into the Light, and Transcending Exotic: Embracing Familiar. Her concert repertoire focuses extensively on Norwegian, French and American Chanson, Cabaret and Art Song.
Though known for her rendition of “I’m a Stranger Here Myself,” Lisa is no stranger to the cabaret stage, having performed incarnations of her show From Classical to Cabaret: The songs of Poulenc, Porter, Satie, and Weill in venues as varied as the underground club to the concert hall. She has sung Dorothy Parker songs in the Algonquin’s Oak Room. She has performed the music of Stefania de Kenessey at City Center and with the Annabella Gonzalez Dance Theater at Lincoln Center. The recording project for that company is now used in the performance repertoire. Lisa produced and directed OperaKnit Cabaret at Performance Space 122 (PS122, NYC), and her one-woman show Twisted Stitch: Songs of Love and Knitting was featured in the Classical to Jazz Festival at Cornelia Street Café (NYC), weaving together songs of Edvard Grieg, Franz Schubert, Maury Yeston and a world premier cycle of songs by Stefania de Kenessey.
Recently awarded a Masters Degree in Music and Music Education from the Teachers College of Columbia University, Lisa operates a private voice studio in New York City. www.lisadaehlin.com
Norwegian pianist TOR MORTEN KJØSNES is an active contributor to the New York music scene as an accompanist, soloist, and chamber musician. He accompanies up-and-coming as well as established ensembles, singers, and instrumentalists. Recent collaborations include legendary Swedish singer Sven-Bertil Taube, Norwegian violinist Arve Tellefsen, trombonist William Lang, and violinist Christian Svarfvar.
Kjøsnes graduated from Manhattan School of Music in 2010, where he studied with Nina Svetlanova. His studies in the U.S. were generously supported by the American Scandinavian Foundation. Earning his undergraduate degree studying with Tori Stødle at the Tromsø Music Conservatory in Norway, he graduated with honors in 2007, one of only a handful pianists to be awarded the top grade in the national censorship. He also held a full-time position as accompanist at the same institution, 2007–08. Additionally, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, Germany, with Ralf Nattkemper. Kjøsnes has participated in masterclasses with artists such as Hans Leygraf, Martino Tirimo, Sigurd Slåttebrekk, and Volker Banfield.
Hello fabulous people!
From my heart to your hands, Knitting & Crochet ONLINE CLASSES. From the comfort of your own home, or porch, or car, or lake cabin, or corn field, or city bus, or wherever you find yourself on the other end of this zoom call 😉
I’m happy to teach any crochet or knitting technique that you’d like to learn. Forms of Knitted Lace tend to be my favorite. Or Broomstick or Hairpin Lace Crochet. Or Tunisian Crochet. Or Tapestry Crochet.
I’m teaching online this semester (and have been since last spring). The online format works so wonderfully well to share the love and knowledge of these art forms.
Currently, I am offering these classes (online, via Zoom) at:
- 92nd Street Y, follow this yellow brick road to 92Y classes
- University Settlement,
- Private Lessons (for one or a group, I’ll arrange them as you like). Depending on your desire and learning style, we can arrange a one-time session, or ongoing lessons, or a
- Zoom Party for Friends (learn a technique, make a group project).
- Online Stitchers Studio, focusing on various techniques (lecture/presentation AND demonstration)
All KINDS of ideas. Email me at LisaDaehlin@gmail.com
Oh, and, by the by, if you haven’t yet seen my #LovePeopleBeKind Crochet Heart project, I invite you to get on the google and check it out. Let me know if I can send you a heart. Am more than happy to do so. 🙂
Overall Class Listing HERE
Find me on Facebook at: LisaDaehlinArtist and LisaDaehlinSinger
Instagram at @LisaSingsNYC
Knitting & Crochet ONLINE CLASSES with Lisa Daehlin
Hello fabulous people!
From my heart to your hands, Knitting & Crochet ONLINE CLASSES. From the comfort of your own home, or porch, or car, or lake cabin, or corn field, or city bus, or wherever you find yourself on the other end of this zoom call 😉
Here’s a wacky image of me in my #KnittingNeedleHeartFascinator to show how I am quite often dreaming yarn-y thoughts and how to spin them into gold (or, maybe silver, diamonds? perhaps circles and triangles,… I dunno…rhombus, anyone?).
I’m happy to teach any crochet or knitting technique that you’d like to learn. Forms of Knitted Lace tend to be my favorite. Or Broomstick or Hairpin Lace Crochet. Or Tunisian Crochet. Or Tapestry Crochet.
I’m teaching online this semester (and have been since last spring). The online format works so wonderfully well to share the love and knowledge of these art forms.
Currently, I am offering these classes (online, via Zoom) at:
- 92nd Street Y, follow this yellow brick road to 92Y classes
- University Settlement,
- Private Lessons (for one or a group, I’ll arrange them as you like). Depending on your desire and learning style, we can arrange a one-time session, or ongoing lessons, or a
- Zoom Party for Friends (learn a technique, make a group project).
- Online Stitchers Studio, focusing on various techniques (lecture/presentation AND demonstration)
All KINDS of ideas. Email me at LisaDaehlin@gmail.com
Oh, and, by the by, if you haven’t yet seen my #LovePeopleBeKind Crochet Heart project, I invite you to get on the google and check it out. Let me know if I can send you a heart. Am more than happy to do so. 🙂
Overall Class Listing HERE
Find me on Facebook at: LisaDaehlinArtist and LisaDaehlinSinger
Instagram at @LisaSingsNYC
Concert Live Stream Thursday 6august2020 4pm EST LovePeopleBeKind… dream, remember, slumber
Thursday 6august2020 at 4pm EST (and in archive for a long while afterwards)
#LovePeopleBeKind Cabaret ~ a concert of Norwegian, French, English Song
Lisa Daehlin, soprano
Sonja Thompson, pianist
Thursday 6august2020 at 4pm EST (and in archive for a long while afterwards)
Songs by Francis Poulenc, Edvard Grieg, Ellen Mandel, Stefania de Kenessey.
Works include the cycle Fiançailles pour rires, and some songs that include references to knitting (but, of course 🙂.
sponsored by the Office of External Affairs, Teachers College, Columbia University
An impromptu (and socially-distant) Stitched HEARTy Pop-Up at Cafe ZUMBRO #LovePeopleBeKind @LisaSingsNYC
#LovePeopleBeKind @LisaSingsNYC at CAFE ZUMBRO Sunday 2aug2020, 12-2pm
An impromptu (and socially-distant)
Stitched HEARTy Pop-Up
(yummy take-out food for sale, & I’m handing out hearts for free)
Sunday 2aug2020, 12-2pm
Café Zumbro
2803 W.43rd St.
mpls, mn
43rd & Upton Ave. So.
Socially-Distant = wear a mask.
All the cool dudes are doing it!
(yes, I AM a cool dude 😉
1st Thursdays at 4pm EST _ LIVE on Vimeo: Love People Be Kind CABARET (ongoing, starting 26mar2020)
Lisa’s Weekly #LovePeopleBeKind Cabaret
NOTE….For the Summer 2020, I’ll be doing this show on the FIRST THURSDAY of the month (June4, July2, August6) at 4pm EST Eastern Standard Time.
It’s turned into a Weekly Gig.. this wacky, but pensive, and music-filled cabaret.
The link to the live stream changes each week (and the performances live in archive), so here I make a handy list for your viewing and listening pleasure:
CURRENT & UPCOMING SHOWS
Thursday, August 6, 2020; Live at 4pm EST
PREVIOUS/ARCHIVED SHOWS (most recent at top of list)
Thursday, July 2, 2020; Live at 4pm EST
Thursday, June 4, 2020; Live at 6pm EST
Thursday, May 28, 2020; Live at 6pm EST
Thursday, May 21, 2020; Live at 6pm EST
Thursday, May 14, 2020; (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, May 7, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 30, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 23, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 16, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 9, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 2, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, March 26, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Hello Friends,
Well, it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) that we are living in a strange and fluctuating time.
During this time of #SocialDistancing, I suddenly find myself having been invited to produce a Weekly #LovePeopleBeKind Cabaret from my Living Room. Wacky, huh? The only pianist is the joint is moi. So.. things are getting creative.. I’m playing a bit, doing some shtick, the more classical aspects of this melange of styles is supported by some backing tracks worked up by some super talented pianists (who knew that Grieg and Poulenc could be done a la karaoke?).
To see PREVIOUS SHOWS, ARCHIVED ONLINE, scroll down past the photo of the leopardy-red-clad lady.. that’s ME…
It’s turned into a Weekly Gig.. this wacky, but pensive, and music-filled cabaret.
The link to the live stream changes each week (and the performances live in archive), so here I make a handy list for your viewing and listening pleasure:
PREVIOUS/ARCHIVED SHOWS (most recent at top of list)
Thursday, July 2, 2020; Live at 4pm EST
Thursday, June 4, 2020; Live at 6pm EST
Thursday, May 28, 2020; (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, May 21, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, May 14, 2020; (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, May 7, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 30, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 23, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 16, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 9, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, April 2, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
Thursday, March 26, 2020 (listen & watch in archive)
lisadaehlin's blog 