Catching Up

Things have just been hopping around here lately! What have I been up to? Let's see...

I've been teaching...

 

Altered Surfaces - rust dyeing, stamping, discharging, and gelatin plate printing

(Here Deb and Lynn show off their awesome creations!)


Silk Scarf Dyeing...

I've been making clay buttons...

which have now been glazed and fired and I need to go pick up :)







I've done 2 festivals...

One the weekend of the hurricane and one the weekend it turned cold and rained! LOL! Yes, outdoor festivals are a hit or miss kind of thing. I can't say that it's been a highly successful adventure yet, but it's been on my list of things to try and I want to do a few more before I make a final judgement on their feasibility as part of my studio business. I don't like the unpredictability of the weather...


After all, gallery exhibits are climate controlled! I've had two openings in recent weeks...

"Courage"               
This is a traveling exhibit curated by my friend Kathy Brusnighan (seen left). A gift to the community, these inspiring and encouraging pieces debuted at Circa Gallery in Asheboro, NC on Sept. 15 and will be exhibited in hospitals and galleries throughout central NC through the end of 2012 where the exhibit will conclude at the Center for Creative Leadership. For more information on the exhibit and a schedule of locations visit Art With Purpose.

We all had a great time at the reception! Thanks Circa Gallery for hosting us!

 

(my piece is in the lower right..."Consider the Lillies (Even When the Sky is Falling)" hand dyed fabric collaged to canvas with dimensional flowers)







"Faces"

 
 Another fun reception! This show is at Sawtooth in the Davis Gallery and will run through November 17.





My pieces from L to R:
"Rest" and "Relaxation" (stacked)
"Sam"  (daughter of a longtime friend)
"Faith", "Kay Oss", and "Clara T." (whimsical)
"How Do You See Me?"  (interactive, changeable piece)
 

I've been hard at work on a memorial commission piece...but I can't show it yet...


The boys and I enjoyed an evening at the Dixie Classic Fair. My favorite part...the fancy chickens!

And of course, there have been lots of soccer games...

And baseball games, including a FUN! trip to Myrtle Beach for a tournament at The Ripken Experience!



Well, that's it in a nutshell!
(Did I mention I love coffee?)

:)

Woo Hoo!!

"Rising Above Adversity with a Clear Conscience" (seen on the right) just won 3rd place in "Uncommon Threads", a juried fiber arts exhibit at the Davie County Arts Council!!!

The award came with a check! That's a first for me. A fun first.

:)

Honored

It was thrilling enough just to have been juried in...now this (scroll down the page on the link, you'll see what I mean). I'm speechless!

:-)

PAQA South

I'm exhausted and energized, all at the same time!

Friday was the opening reception for ArtQuilts:transitions and day one of the PAQA South Spring Conference, held at the Durham Arts Council in Durham, NC. The day began with a visit to the Somerhill Gallery which has, among other fine things, an exquisite offering of art glass. From there we went to the Golden Belt art studios, which is part of a green renovation of old textile mill buildings that have been converted into live/work spaces. Way cool...makes me want to move to Durham! These are some of the studio spaces...

After lunch we all headed over to the DAC for the first workshop by Doug Kenyon on copyright law. This has been a hot topic on the QuiltArt list for some time now and in the wider art community as well. In addition to practicing intellectual property law Doug also teaches at NC State University School of Design.

Next was Elizabeth A. Taylor, CPA on record keeping, business management tips, and IRS compliance information for artists. Elizabeth has 30 years of experience in this and presented a lot of good information. Then is was time for the opening of the exhibit!

This was a big weekend in Durham for art...Friday night was Third Friday and Saturday and Sunday were the days for Art Walk, a city wide art event. Attendance at the DAC was tremendous...close to 300 on Friday night alone! Our own Deborah Langsam was interviewed for a TV appearance...

I was honored to have my piece hanging beside Nancy Cook's three pieces from her Seed Play series...they are amazing! It was great to spend time with the artists who were there and also to see in person some pieces that I had seen previously on the web. This is one of the best art quilt exhibits I've seen and these photos are just a snippet of what's there. If you are anywhere within a reasonable, or even unreasonable, travel distance, it will be worth your while to go! Good crowd, press coverage, beautiful gallery space...it was a terrific event. The day finished with dinner at Taverna Nikos....YUM!!

Here are Karen Lee Carter, Lyric Kinard, and Janine LeBlanc strolling through the plaza on the way to dinner. There were lots of people out and about, and even though I felt completely 'touristy' I couldn't help but snap this photo...the Brightleaf Square plaza space was full of great energy...an inviting space to hang out and enjoy the evening! Durham is definitely a city worth spending time in.

Saturday morning started with a casual show and tell time. There is such a diversity of inspiring work in this group! Everything from painterly realistic to interpretive to abstract...and one of the most unusual recycled materials used in a great piece by Ann Flaherty (hop over to her site and ask her about it!)

There were two more presentations, the first by juror Susan Brandeis on 'Tools for Creativity'...I was busy taking notes and sketching out ideas for an upcoming project, as things she said sparked new ideas. The second talk was by Janine LeBlanc on 'Digitizing Imagery' where I realized I have many things that need to be corrected in the way I store and upload my images! A timely lecture too, as my camera flash has died and it is time to start looking for a replacement.

All in all a tremendously fun weekend!

As I neared home I couldn't help but notice this unusual cloud formation...like a giant eye in the sky watching over my safe return. Inspiration for a new quilt? I think so!

Dimensions

Last night was the opening reception for Dimensions, the national juried art exhibit at Associated Artists in Winston-Salem. From over 400 pieces submitted, 85 were selected by juror Jennifer Coolidge (Executive Director, Museum of Florida Art) and will be shown through May 22. She did an amazing job...it is probably my most favorite exhibit at AAWS so far and the turn out at the reception reflected that opinion. It was elbow to elbow...I'm guessing in the neighborhood of 275-300 people attended. Among the artists in this exhibit are fellow Cosmic Cow member Jude Lobe with 'Mandolin and Friend', acrylic on linen; Jennifer Toft with 'Gardening Progenitor', mixed media; Ralph Henzler with 'Siphon', silver gelatin print; Stephanie Quattrini with 'Lake Hayes, Arrowtown', textile; Pat Spainhour with 'Enfold', pastel (and you should see her encaustics!); and oh yeah, my 'She Stands by the River and Weeps No More' (seen a couple of posts prior to this one). Plus too many other talented artists to name here...so if you are anywhere nearby, it is a must-see show!

Kudos go out to show chair Lee Reynolds and the volunteers who assisted her, to Pat Spainhour for her awesome work in designing the show, to the staff of AAWS for all of their hard work, and to the sponsors who made this exhibit possible: Hawthorne Gallery, Bronson Chiropractic, John W. Byrd Investments, Walter Robbs Callahan & Pierce Architects, Downtown Thai, Mooney's Mediterranean Cafe, and the Arts Council of Winston-Salem.

before the crowd

here comes the crowd

my piece seen through the crowd

Dimensions

Today I packed up 'Eventually You Must Choose' and shipped it off to the Durham Arts Council for the PAQA-South exhibit ArtQuilts:transitions. I always feel a little pang of angst...though fortunately, so far, I've never had problems with the shipping companies. So I trust it will get where it's supposed to and I can't wait to see all the other pieces that will be in that show! The opening reception will be held April 17 in conjunction with PAQA-South's Spring Conference. It will be fun to see everyone and to meet new friends as well.

The next piece that will be heading out into the world is 'She Stands by the River and Weeps No More', which has been juried into Dimensions, a national juried art exhibit at Associated Artists' gallery in Winston-Salem, opening April 2 and running through May 22. This piece first showed in Martinsville, VA at the Piedmont Arts Association invitational Art of the Quilt, and I'm super excited to have it also accepted into a national level art exhibit!! I had a lot of fun with the various techniques I used on this one.

There is bonded tissue paper accented with Lumiere paint, painted batting, double fused fabrics, commercial fabrics, couched yarn, and LOTS of thread painting with a bunch of different threads. The leaves are all dimensional...sewn on by hand at the top tip of each one (I thought I had lost my mind at the time but I love how it turned out!) Have a closer look and let me know if you see her...

Sacred Threads

The good news just keeps pouring in...in my mailbox yesterday was an acceptance from Sacred Threads for my piece "Temptation"......this exhibit will be in Reynoldsburg, Ohio June 17 - 28.

Road trip anyone?

Happy Dancing

Two days of great news! Yesterday I found out that my piece "Eventually You Must Choose" was accepted into PAQA-South's ARTQUILTStransitions exhibit, juried by Susan Brandeis and Jan-Ru Wan. This exhibit will be at the Durham Arts Council from April 17 - June 7 and then move to the Page-Walker Arts & History Center in Cary, NC from June 25 - August 22. I can't wait to see all of the pieces in this exhibit...it will be fantastic!

So, here's a little sneak preview... "Eventually You Must Choose"

This piece was created using my hand-dyed fabric with some from Gone Away Quilting, and some commercial fabrics...plus what seemed like a million different threads. It's a fairly simple piece, but as my friend Jenny put it, misleadingly so. It's all about the place on your journey where you know the road you're on is going to end and you have to make a choice. If you've ever been there you know there's usually nothing simple about that.

And the other good news? Well, today I found out that BOTH pieces I submitted to Associated Artists show "Exposures" were accepted! This show was judged by Cameron Dennis and Terri Dowell-Dennis and works must incorporate at least one photograph or photographic image. It opens this Thursday and runs through March 27. The two pieces I submitted are "Guest In My Garden"...a tribute to the Monarch caterpillars I raise, and "Lessons Learned"...a tribute to my grandparents who taught me two of the most important lessons in life - 'when one door closes, another one opens', and 'get back on the horse again'.

"Guest In My Garden"

"Lessons Learned"

Both pieces are mounted on painted canvases. (Lessons Learned got cropped a bit too much...luckily these two were juried from actual pieces, not photographs!)

Now if y'all will excuse me, I'm going to go turn some cartwheels...

:-)