Share The Love: Pink Sign, Art Opening Fri., 11/21

I'm excited to return to the Bridgeport Art Center, a noted arts venue that will display my Love Sign traffic sign sculpture starting this month.

The center's curator chose Love Sign to feature in a new show called Faceted Fiber, which opens Friday, November 21, with an evening reception at Bridgeport Art Center, 1200 W. 35th St., Chicago. The exhibit runs through Friday, January 2, 2026.

Faceted Fiber focuses exclusively on fiber and textile based artworks, the materials and processes artists use to make them, and the resulting pieces' artistic and aesthetic value (rather than simply their utility). Plan now to visit, as this show is a great way to escape the cold and cozy up to some great artwork.

Come Join Me At The Opening: Friday, Nov. 21

If you're in town, please join me at the opening reception, which happens Friday, November 21, from 7 to 10 p.m. in the fourth floor gallery at Bridgeport Art Center.

I will attend this event - I hope you'll join me. Art openings are fun and lively, and they're the perfect way to hear right from the artists themselves about their work on display. (Openings also are primo for people watching and making new pals.)

About Love Sign

Love Sign began as a crochet project. I wanted to create a statement piece that transcended crocheting's longtime associations solely with sweaters, scarves, and other "useful," everyday garments.

While driving around one day, I saw a classic red stop sign and thought, "What if stop signs could be pink?"

And what if, instead of ordering "Stop!" the sign said "Love"?

So many spiritual traditions (especially Taoism) teach that what is gentle and humble and soft carries far more power than what is harsh and arrogant and hard - and that gentleness overcomes.

Such traditions also celebrate the power of love as a force. Many believe love created all that is. If love indeed is the most powerful thing there is ("Love conquers all"), then what if we set it loose to change the world and all life for the better?

So I ended up creating an octagonal shape from pink yarn and then crocheted the letters "L," "O," "V," and "E" using white yarn and sewed them onto the pink octagon.

After blocking the finished piece, I sewed Velcro strips along the edges, glued the matching Velcro parts onto a specially cut piece of Fome-Cor shaped and sized just like an official stop sign, then attached the crocheted part onto the Fome-Cor.

I could have left it this way, as a wall mounted piece of art, but I really wanted it to be a freestanding sculpture - just like real stop signs.

So I got an official traffic delineator tube with a weighted base and mounted my Love Sign onto it. That required screwing a small plastic sheet onto the traffic delineator and then using Velcro again to attach the back of the Fome-Cor to the face of the plastic sheet.

When I stepped back to admire my work, I was so thrilled to see my vision had taken shape.

Now, Love Sign is a REAL sign - and it stops traffic (and our usual way of thinking) by challenging old ideas and advocating for LOVE.

See More Mixed Media Art

You can see some more examples of my mixed media artwork now in the Mixed Media Art Collection.

You'll find an array of colorful, whimsical, and provocative pieces, from freestanding sculptures to wall art.

About Faceted Fiber

Fiber artist Marci Rubin, who serves as curator for Bridgeport Art Center, created Faceted Fiber to showcase art involving diverse discourse and techniques in creating fiber and textile-based artworks. She especially wanted to emphasize fiber art's aesthetic and artistic value.

As she said, "By reclaiming and celebrating textile arts in the 1970s, feminist artists challenged the established art/craft binary. These inspiring artists employed techniques and actions such as sewing, quilting, macrame, crocheting, knitting, embroidery, rug-making, and basket weaving into their work, thrusting them into the realm of fine art. Artists such as Sheila Hicks, Bisa Butler, Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, and Magdalena Abakanowicz paved the way for the acceptance of non-traditional artistic practices and perspectives."

It's my honor to be included in this artistic lineage, among these artists, by having my Love Sign featured in Faceted Fiber.

Visiting Bridgeport Art Center

Bridgeport Art Center is a multi-disciplinary creative home for artists and other creatives. It occupies a massive historic Chicago warehouse repurposed to house art galleries, artist studios, and other arts related spaces.

Gallery and office hours are Monday through Saturday,  8 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 8 a.m. to noon. 

Bridgeport Art Center is located at 1200 W. 35th St. in Chicago.

To visit, enter on the building's north side off of Racine Avenue and  34th Place. Parking is available on the north side of the building; visitors may be directed to additional parking areas if needed during large or multiple events.

For more information, call (773) 843-9000.