Ivette's New Line

Stevie's Artisans Urban Folk Art is pleased to present Ivette Urbaez's Spring/Summer line. Her "Look Book" (portfolio) attached to this posting, is a beautiful presentation of both her silk screen art and her fashion designs. It's a glimpse into a collection that captures floral and geometric graphics, created for any type of surface design. It includes photos of hand printed garments - apparel creations made into functional, wearable art that put a twist and spin on the limitations of more traditional commercial prints.




Ivette pays homage to her home - NYC - by splashing fire escapes over dresses and t-shirts. She further incorporates the hard edge elements of the high-rise city and its underground transit with graphic prints. Another motif Ivette prints on hoodies, dresses and scarves is slithering, intertwined wires and cables. She softens the edginess in other prints with hot-hued roses and tulips, but the roses often have thorns.

Although most of the designs lean toward warm weather wear, the leggings and the two asymmetrical skirts can be worn year round. Ivette and I think this presentation is super and from the positive feedback we've received, lots of people agree.

The skirts, the leggings, the red dress and the multi-colored tulip dress will be offered for purchase on Ivette's page on the soon to be Stevie's Artisans web site. Two of my favorites that will also be available are the "cable" shirt and the "cut-out back " dresses. And I love the cap sleeve t-shirts. Until my site is up, Ivette Urbaez designs are available from the Stevie's Artisan shop on Etsy.

At the Hester Street Flea Market
this summer. Ivette and I noticed
all the babies being pushed by moms, avidly shopping for interesting items for themselves and their babies. So, we ordered a bunch of baby sized t-shirts and onsies and Ivette silk screened red & yellow tulips for the girls and lime and blue fire escapes for the boys. The t-shirts and onsies are cheerful and each has a unique, one of a kind print. They're available on Etsy at www.etsy.com/shop/steviesartisans and eventually they will be available on my web site. They make great gifts.

So, what is Ivette designing next?

Ivette's creativity never rests. She is always sketching or figuring out what to do with odd pieces of fabric. A couple of LA stylists who saw some of her work this summer told us her work practically screams out: Yoga wear line. I've started to wear her leggings in my yoga classes. Ivette has designed lingerie sets and the camisoles could easily be adapted for yoga wear. Her cap-sleeved T-Shirts definitely work in a work-out, lending an urban kick to the Zen ambience. She and I are very excited about the possibilities.

Anita's Memorial Service

We celebrated my sister Anita’s life on October 10, 2010 at a memorial service at her church in Oregon City, Oregon. Over 100 people – family, friends and associates gathered to share their memories in eulogies and many humorous anecdotes, that made clear the huge impact Anita had on their lives.

The following is her bio taken from the program and the obituary I wrote:

Anita Trudeau, 56, a fused glass artist, died of liver cancer September 1 at her home in Oregon City. She was surrounded by her loving family at her death. Born November 19, 1953 in River Rouge, Michigan, Anita grew up in New York City and Venice, California before making her home in the Portland area in 1989.

Anita earned her living as a realtor, tax preparer and for the past 13 years was an office administration and marketing assistant for WealthCounsel.

An ardent feminist, she was an active member of NOW for 10 years and served as president of its Clackamas County chapter for one year. She was a Camp Fire Girl leader for five years, emphasizing cultural and intellectual activities for her troop of young girls, which included her daughter Alyssa. Always socially and politically active (she held an elected position in The Peace and Freedom Party in the late 70’s – early 80’s) she strongly believed in community activism; in the immediacy of local involvement. Acting on her belief in the inherent worth of all people, Anita most recently served as an advocate and mentor for inmates at the Coffee Creek Facility for Women. Anita cared deeply for the women she worked with and was especially drawn to help those who had been forgotten or abandoned by their families.

A long-time, active member of the Atkinson Memorial Church in Oregon City, Anita said she was drawn to the Universalist Unitarian community because of its professed beliefs in equality and openness and its inclusiveness to all colors, races, creeds and sexual orientation. Her daughter Alyssa confirms, “She taught me tolerance and acceptance of all. She was always there for me, and also for her step-children and the children of friends. Mom always stepped up to the plate.”

A love of travel and streak of adventurism featured strongly in Anita’s life. During the late 1970’s she lived in San Miguel de Allende, a Mexican city noted for its artists’ community. In 1979 she went to Puerto Rico for the Pan American games. She coursed through the games on her roller skates, selling T-shirts with her original silk screened designs. In 1976 she took a cross country road trip with her boyfriend and 2 large dogs, a trip she considered one of the most memorable experiences of her life.

Anita loved Hawaii – she was always drawn to beaches and the ocean. She said one of her great pleasures was “to soak up the sun and feel the waves rolling over her body.” Besides loving the beaches of California, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, Anita longed to explore the Greek Islands, Italy and Cuba with her daughter, Alyssa.

A polymath, Anita explored and developed expertise in various fields from gardening (which included raising chickens and bee-keeping, long before they were popular activities) to the physical sciences, especially astronomy and physics. She was an accomplished artist who worked in the fabric arts: silk screen, knitting and quilting. She developed as a ceramicist working at the Sofia Center in Portland but felt her best work was her latest work in fused glass art.

Our Aunt Bert, who was at Anita's side during her passing, regretted she could not attend the memorial. This is her remembrance of Anita:

The first time I met Anita was at a family wedding. We were meeting for the first time because I am the missing aunt who was finally reunited after 58 years with Anita’s mother, my sister Maria. But that’s another story and this is about Anita.

At our first meeting I thought Anita was a little shy. She held herself tall with dignity and quiet reserve. The next time, I met Anita, January 2009, was a sad time. Anita's mother, my sister Maria, was dying and was in the care of family and Hospice. During that difficult time I saw how Anita worked with her sisters in caring for her mother and how she also helped put together the final arrangements for their mothers viewing, rosary and Mass. A “hands on person,” Anita laid out the art work for the program for the services. It was at this time that Anita was beginning to feel discomfort and pain, and a couple of months later she was diagnosed with cancer.

I next saw Anita at her mother's memorial, held on Memorial Day weekend in May 2009. Anita was ill but she worked with her niece Kimberly and her sisters Stevie, Joie and Zoralie to prepare food, flowers and a lovely service for family, friends and many of Maria's clients from her tax service business who attended. Even in her illness, Anita exuded warmth and serenity.

And the last time I saw Anita and Alyssa, was Anita's last week. That was when I truly came to realize the person Anita was. I discovered and came to know her through the many people who visited Anita to say goodbye. Some were wonderful friends and many were associates who had participated with Anita in charitable, services to others. I learned about Anita's love and respect for all humanity, nature, animals and most of all, her family.

In her last week Anita was surrounded by friends who cherished her, by family she loved and who in turn loved her beyond measure, and by her sweet adored daughter, Alyssa. It is my belief, that Alyssa is truly Anita's greatest legacy. When I found my sister and her daughters my family grew and I had more love in my life. But with that love came some heartache too. I am blessed to have known Anita for as long as I did. I love you Anita and always will. Until later, your Aunt Bert

I'm sorry I didn't say these following words at the memorial but I wanted to add that I'm the person Anita visited on her cross country trip with the boyfriend and the two large dogs. She just showed up at my house in Connecticut and it turned out to be a really great visit.

A few years ago Anita and I discussed Asian art - she loved it and I just didn't get it. When she was dying and we were talking about this and that, I told her about an exhibition of a Japanese artist - a potter and silk screen artist - whose work just knocked me out. It was so beautiful. Anita smiled and sweetly reminded me, "See, I told you."

Anita knew a lot and she was extremely accomplished as an artist and as a business woman. I am so excited about her fused glass art. I feel her collaborator, Mike must find a way to channel her ideas and presence and continue making beautiful glass.

A jazz musician, Timothy Marquand said, "When a BIG PERSONALITY, a BIG SOUL dies, it leaves a huge empty space and you have to fill that empty space with beautiful things..."


Anita leaves a really huge space so let's keep looking for beauty.

Lots of beauty.

Tribute to Anita

I lost my sister Anita Trudeau on September 1. Anita had been battling cancer for over a year and at the beginning of August we thought she would have another treatment that we hoped would perhaps, buy her another year. But her liver cancer had progressed too far and she could not tolerate nor be helped by another radiation treatment.

At the end of August her daughter Alyssa, my sisters Joie and Zoralie and I, nieces and nephews and many of Anita's friends gathered to say goodbye and ease her through her final passage. Her last days were wonderous and at times filled with hilarity as well as sadness. Her beloved JD cooked scrambled eggs for her - the first eggs his chicken Rocky had laid. Her beloved Mike shared with her a last taste of a wonderful micro-brewery IPA. Joie, Zoralie and I cooked like crazy and filled her home with the aromas of meals she loved, and she nibbled here and there to savor our gifts to her. One gorgeous day she took a last walk through her garden and the next night we carried her out to watch the stars from her back porch. She even attended one last service with her fellow Unitarians. She knew she was going to be the subject of the sermon and she wanted to hear what her minister was going to say. Who could blame her?

Anita died in her home surrounded by family and friends she loved and who now miss her terribly. The next day Alyssa, my sister Joie and her daughter, Kimberly and I picnicked on Mt Tabor Park, overlooking Portland. We drank a bottle of Oregon pinot noir, shared wonderful memories and I took notes for the obituary I would write for the local newspaper. It was a sunny, crisp end-of-summer day which Anita would have loved. The only thing she would have loved more would have been a day at the beach.

Update on Stevie's Artisans

Sorry, I've been away for such a long time. Lots to catch up on.

To recap from my last posting: I left selling in a "brick & mortar" store format and unfortunately, the Hot Saturday idea just didn't pan out either. During the past summer I experimented selling through various, other retail options and outlets: street fairs, flea markets and shopping parties. In June, I set up a table at a neighborhood street fair - the Smith Street Fun Fair. The crowds were huge, the day was broiling hot and I had a fair amount of sales and lots of positive feedback. (The above image is of baby t-shirts and onsies printed with Ivette's screen art.)

I spent a couple of Sundays selling at the Hester Street Flea Market on New York's Lower East Side, although the financial return wasn't as good as for the Smith Street Fair. Ivette and I also had a couple of "shopping parties" at my home. Friends and acquaintances gathered in my living room for wine, cheese & crackers and shopping on a couple of Sunday afternoons. I mean, what's better than wine and shopping?

We'll definitely do a shopping party right after Thanksgiving. Maybe wine and pie instead of cheese & crackers.

As for online sales - Etsy has been okay, not great, just okay. For those who have noticed, I confirm that my own website has been a disaster. Completely MIA. I hired someone to design my site - paid him - he put up a rather incomplete presentation, then he took it down and disappeared. Yikes! Thankfully, my son was able to put up a temporary page so I'd have some credibility.

Good news - finalmente! Russell Borne, my niece Alyssa's boyfriend, is a graphic artist and web designer and he is going to build a site for Stevie's Artisans. It will have a store front (goodbye Etsy) and it will be fabulous. Russell is amazingly talented.

So, coming soon! The Stevie's Artisans website where you will see and be able to buy the work of Ivette Urbaez (screen art fashions), Teri Scaduto (quilts), Anita Trudeau & Mike Sweek (fused glass), Elizabeth Ortiz (mobiles and jewelry), Diana Pucci (jewelry) and Naemeh Shirazi (cameo collection, shown above).

Hot Saturday

Hot Saturday at Linger Cafe and Lounge presents fashions by Ivette Urbaez

(photos of dresses by Ivette above and details of Hot Saturday below.)

Stevie's Artisans Blog has been MIA for a couple of months. So to catch up - I left the retail store I had been selling from because I'm not sure it was the right showcase for most of the artisans. Then again the economy hasn't been so conducive to lots of buying activity. So, I have been concentrating on building an ecommerce web site which is slowly coming to fruitition. It should be up soon, very soon - I hope.

And, once the web site storefront is up I will have a retail outlet for the artisans I have been working with: Ivette Urbaez, Lis Ortiz, Naemeh Shirazi, Diana Pucci, Aaron Lazansky, et al.
In the meantime...

I recently began working with an incredible Haitian designer who creates very classy and well constructed dresses from recycled umbrellas. Catherine Charlot deconstructs her umbrellas and then constructs the "pieces" into beautifully fashioned cocktail dresses that are fully lined and have intricate overstitching worked into the design. Catherine also works with lots of young designers instructing them in business concepts, promotion and marketing as well as seamstress skills.

This dynamic lady and I have teamed up to promote and introduce the work of emerging artists and designers in fun get-together/networking events that include music and good food. We are calling the events Hot Saturday and we are working with a smart and talented lady, Jessica Pichardo, to produce these events at her cafe: Linger Cafe & Lounge on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. The plan is to schedule the events on a monthly basis. In some cases we'll schedule a trunk sale for the Friday after the Saturday event.

Hot Saturday at Linger Cafe & Lounge kicks off Saturday, April 24 from 7-10 pm with a fashion show presentation of Dominican artist and designer Ivette Urbaez's silk screened fashions. Ivette brands her apparel with her distinctive themes and motifs: Bold Roses, Thorns & Roses and Fire Escapes - edgy, urban and Hot!

The Linger Cafe & Lounge menu will offer Empanadas, Ropa Vieja & Moros y Cristianos (rice and black beans) More taste of Latin culture is provided by the wine and beer selections, including Sangria and the Dominican Republic's own Presidente beer. The "Flavor" continues with Salsa, Merengue and other Caribbean beats. Dancing encouraged.

A raffle will be held to benefit the Collective Hands Foundation: aid to arts education. Donated raffle items include an Ivette Urbaez tote bag, a Kate Designs embroidered bag and a fashion item by Catherine Charlot.

Upcoming Hot Saturday events:

May: Multi-cultural eats and wearable art by Stevie's Artisans: Ortiz, Pucci, Ahn and Shirazi
June: Kompa, good food & upcycling your look with Haitian designer Catherine Charlot and work by father/daughter artists Arturo and Ellen Carranza
July: Hip Hop Culture: Street Art, Break Dancing, Stand-up and Spoken Word

Details in future blogs and eblasts.

See you next Saturday at Linger Cafe & Lounge, 533 Atlantic Avenue, (bet 3rd & 4th Ave.)
steviesartisans@gmail.com
enfo@chfoundation.org

my art...is all about simplicity, serenity and balance. i love shapes, especially lines and curves and the moods they create. my chosen medium is metal...because it flows.

Elizabeth Ortiz


Artists create because they have to. I do believe that. If they have no money to buy materials they use found objects or whatever is at hand. Recycled and repurposed art is nothing new - artsts have recycled forever. One of the most striking works I remember from an exhibition of Cuban artist, Quisqueya Henriquez were photos made very early in her career. She arranged seaweed found at the beach into hexagonal patterns and then created hauntingly beautiful images. A found object - beach flotsam become geometric abstractions.

Elizabeth Ortiz created a mobile - "13 Sticks" - from pieces of wood salvaged from a friend's boat. Another mobile - "Sunday Funnies" - is made from fragments of newspaper comics and "Poetry in Motion" is recycled postcard messages suspended from a copper swirl.

Artists will also carve out work space - that "room" of one's own - wherever. Artist and jewelry maker Lis Ortiz has set up a temporary workshop within a shop. Several months ago she stepped in to manage a neighborhood liquor store for a friend incapacitated by a stroke. So Lis has been running the store and making her jewelry in studio space she has set up near the store's front window. She hammers her silver and copper and incorporates lovely stones to create her "mobile" earrings.

Lis has recently begun collaborating with another artist - Arturo Carranza, who creates exquisite miniature abstract paintings in acrylics. (Arturo, who will be featured in another posting, also paints portraits on found objects that include pebbles, rocks, rubber balls, newel posts and even horseshoe crabs washed up at Orchard Beach in the Bronx.) Arturo is artfully cutting up his mini paintings into even smaller pieces which Lis then wraps with wire and fashions into earrings - truly works of wearable art. They have real presence even though they are incredibly light.

The "mobile" earrings, like Lis' mobiles have fluidity and movement - a line curving in space and the glittering stones suspended from the silver wires, move with a toss of the head. Some designs are bold; others quite delicate and all about balance.

Check out more images of Elizabeth's work on my website: www.steviesartisans.com

Maria Socorro Valines

I've been MIA for a while - a litttle traveling plus I was down with a stomach virus. I started out in Los Angeles, planning to show Ivette's designs to some stylists and to a friend who would help me develop promotion and marketing ideas. But some "bug" laid me low for three days and made me cancel all my appointments in LA.

So, on to Portland for a visit with my sister Anita, who with her boyfriend Mike, works with fused glass. Stevie's Artisans will soon include their candle sconces, sun catchers, coaster sets and jewelry - images soon to be posted. Then Anita, her daughter Alyssa, Mike and I drove up to Washington State to meet up with sisters Joie and Zoralie who are potters - two more soon-to-be additions to Stevie's Artisans.

The family get-together of four Trudeau sisters, various brothers-in-law and many nieces and one nephew took place to commemorate the first anniversary of our mother's death. We marked the date by cooking a dinner that celebrated her's and our culture. My mother, Maria Socorro Valines, was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico and came to New York with her mother and three brothers in 1936. She was six years and spoke no English. Although she was born a US citizen, she came to America by way of New York Harbor, sailing pass the Statue of Liberty and thus sharing the experience of so many European immigrants before her.

My mother eventually became totally bilingual and was completely American but she knew and remembered discrimination growing up a little Puerto Rican girl in NYC and later from my father's mid-West American family. Her beginnings were harrowing - my grandmother brought her children to New York to escape an abusive husband who beat her in the presence of her children. Mom was amazingly accomplished following the "American success model." She educated herself, worked hard and built an income tax business that served clients in her home state, California, and then eventually from all over the US. Her business began with and continued to serve Mexican-Americans and Mexican immigrants, many of whom she helped become American citizens. She never forgot her roots.

So we cooked a huge Puerto Rican feast. I made chicken fricasee (chicken stewed in a tomato sauce seasoned with onions, garlic, bay leaves, oregano and green olives.) I also cooked arroz con gandules (rice with pigeon peas). And all of us rolled dough and filled pastelillos (little pies) to be fried by another sister. Pastelillos are the Puerto Rican version of empanadas. Anita and her daughter made flan and Joie made a pineapple upside down cake - my mother's favorite and a dessert we always make for any and all family gatherings. As one of our family friends once commented, "If it's a Trudeau gathering, there will be pineapple upside down cake." We toasted mom and ate well. We told lots of stories and it seemed a very good way to mark this first anniversary of her passing.

Ivette Urbaez, Silkscreen Artist & Apparel Designer

An important aspect of my relationship with the artisans I represent and work with has been product development. Sometimes it's a matter of fine-tuning and refining an an artistic idea and sometimes it's a question of suggesting better quality control. I've been working pretty closely on style development with Ivette Urbaez, who produces distinctive silkscreen designs on women's and men's apparel.


Born and raised in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Ivette hails from a family of artists and craftspeople. Her "screens" have a Latin flavor with her own unique twist. Her major themes include bold red roses printed on black or silver roses on navy or for an edgier look, black on black. Another rose motif she uses is steel gray roses with thorns. It's "Carmen" taken to a whole other level.

Ivette embraces NYC and pays homage to her urban home by splashing fire escapes over dresses and t-shirts. In this high rise city she also prints subway escalator scenes on shirts and tunics. Another motif she prints on hoodies, dresses and scarves is an intertwined mess of cables - Ivette's work definitely epitomizes Urban Folk Art.

I'm attempting to chase the January Blues with a special sale of her apparel Saturday, January 23 from 2:00 to 6:00 pm at Gumbo, a shop in downtown Brooklyn. The address is 493 Atlantic Avenue, bet. Nevins and Third Avenue. Ivette will be on hand to introduce her new and very hot lingerie - lacy tap pants and camisoles - perfect for Valentine's Day gifts.

Check out her web site at http://www.ivetteurbaez.com/ There's also images on my site http://www.steviesartisans.com/

More about how Stevie's Artisans started

I work with such unique artists. I found my Bronx-based artists through the Bronx Council on the Arts. In 2007 I was hired to manage and buy for the Bronx Museum gift shop on a budget that was miniscule by any standards. I seem to remember I was told to start with $5000 for the first year and maybe it would increase going forward. I bought some graffiti books because the Bronx is the birthplace of Hip Hop and graffiti and the Bronx Museum is a museum of contemporary art. That was a no-brainer. I added feminist art books for a feminist art show - essentially trying to build a stock of books that complimented the exhibitions.



Then I turned to the Artisans' Initiative of the Bronx Council on the Arts to obtain gift items for the shop. I met several artists at a monthly craft fair at Hostos College and invited them to place their work at the museum shop on a consignment basis. For other gift items, I reached out to four women graffiti artists who had installed a mural for a feminist exhibition at the museum. They turned me on to women graffiti artists in Japan, Germany and Toronto and I began to carry their work (bags, t-shirts, sticker art, posters, etc.) at the museum shop.



I never intended that the Bronx Museum gift shop would excusively carry Bronx artists and soon the shop included artisans from all over NYC. All the work at the museum shop was diverse and eclectic and that diversity continues in the Stevie's Artisans collection which I started this past October when I left the museum and its shop closed. My one rule of thumb in creating the collection was not to have any of the artists competing with each other. The three jewelry designers I carry work in entirely different mediums and create pieces uniquely their own. However, collaborative efforts are now beginning among Stevie's Artisans: a painter is working with a jewelry maker and a fashion designer is advising a soft sculpture pillow maker. This is good. Thus far the painter/silversmith collaboration has yielded earrings that are mini abstract paintings with sculptural elements - truly wearable art.

Who and What is Stevie's Artisans

I created Stevie's Artisans as a curated collection of museum quality hand crafts and wearable art made by graffiti and fine artists. Stevie's Artisans is actually a continuation and extension of a retail relationship with several Bronx-based artists begun when I was manager/buyer of the gift shop of the Bronx Museum of the Arts. After I was laid off (another causalty of the tanked economy) I expanded the group of artisans I was working with and resumed this retail relationship on my newly created web site: http://www.steviesartisans.com/


I now represent a group of fifteen artists with an eclectic collection of goods that includes hand-hammered silver jewelry, mobiles crafted from found objects, graffiti-painted model subway cars, art for children with a distinctly urban point-of-view, hand-made soaps and candles and hand painted silk-screened apparel.

I plan to introduce the incredibly talented artisans of Stevie's Artisans, show their work and talk about how my interest in folk art snowballed and evolved into my interest in what I think of as urban folk art.


Stevie's Artisans is a brand of hand-crafted, artisanal goods that I call "Urban Folk Art." My artisans create from a hip, urban perspective. The statement is often bold and "edgy" and it is always created with artistry and fine craftsmanship.