Arts in Education

The classes have begun!

I am one of the artists participating in an Arts Council grant program coordinated through Associated Artists in Winston-Salem which brings workshops into area middle and high schools. So far I have visited Jefferson Middle and Atkins High with "Fabric Is Your Paintbrush - Using Fuseable Fabric to Create Visual Images." It has been so much fun! The students designed their own expanded squares and then transferred them to fabric. Here are some of the results, and I think you will agree, they did a terrific job!

Cool, huh? I was impressed with how well everyone listened and participated, and I also got to see some of the things they have been working on in class. There are some talented kids out there!

This program is such a good thing...I remember how important my art classes were when I was in grade school. In large measure I can thank my high school art teacher Mrs. Wonderly for directing me along a creative path and my math teacher Mrs. Tillman for teaching me the aesthetic beauty of geometry...these two subjects were the foundation for my college studies and my career development. Arts and sciences combined...I'm glad to see arts are alive and well in our schools! And thanks to the Arts Council and Associated Artists, I'm able to contribute in some small measure...who knows, there may be a future art quilter in there somewhere!

Change of Scenery

This is where I spent last weekend And the views aren't even the best part of it....
The best part is that I was on a quilting retreat! Twice a year about 20 of us head to the beautiful NC mountains to Montreat and sew until we can't see straight. It is the MOST fun, and one of the times I put aside art quilting and go back to my roots of traditional piecing. I caught up on my Block of the Month blocks and worked on my Christmas quilt blocks...now there are 36 of them...each with 29 pieces. I also enjoyed catching up with everyone and seeing what they were working on, and of course as usual there were great things going on. Didn't sleep much...but that's not the point!

Monday I got to continue my traditional quilting at the 3rd grade Old Tyme Day at my children's elementary school. Complete with prairie dress and bonnet (what we do for our kids!) and several of my quilts - including one that is about 100 years old - I told the students about quilts in Colonial America and let them stitch on a whole cloth in a hoop stand. The cool thing is that the boys were as into it as the girls were and it was hard to get them to stop when it was time to move on to the next station! There were lots of fun hands on things for them to experience, like candle making, tin smithing, weaving, and there was even a horse so they could learn first hand about transportation back then.

Tuesday I jumped back to interior design and did a space plan for one of my corporate clients who is reallocating space on their second floor.

Wednesday I was up and out at the crack of dawn to teach fabric fusing to two art classes at one of our middle schools as part of an arts grant program. It was fun and I will be headed back there tomorrow to finish things up. I'm hoping to be able to take some pictures or their work to post. I will be working with 2-3 other middle and high schools as part of this grant.

Tomorrow evening is the opening reception for the invitational exhibit Reflections: Politics and Religion in Art where my piece "Temptation" is showing. This is at the Salem Fine Arts Center on the campus of Salem College...if you are local and want something fun to do come on by! It's free and open to the public.

Saturday is our turn to host our dinner group..."Grub Club" as it is called, which is made up of 6 families (12 adults and 14 children). We have been gathering monthly since all of our children were small...it's lots of fun and lots of good eating! This weekend it will be a traditional Thanksgiving feast. And by Sunday, well, by then I plan to rest! Right after I get up and teach Sunday School... :-)

Change

I watched last night's events unfold with a sense of hope that perhaps we have finally reached the point in history where we can look past the color of a person's skin and come together as what we ALL are in essence - humans, sharing this one planet we have to inhabit. Change has come. It's a new day!

Regardless of where your vote was cast, it's time for each of us to move forward and make a better future...for the sake of us all.

Hangin' Around

'Tis the season to be exhibiting...thought you might want to see where I'm hanging around, so to speak:

Just about to come down is the PAQA South Member's show ArtQuilts:reflections which has been at the Page-Walker Arts and History Center in Cary, NC. Have a look here at the virtual exhibit put together by member Janine LeBlanc...I'm in Gallery 3 with two pieces. (Be sure and look at all of the show...they are all amazing pieces!)

Opening soon is The Piedmont Arts Association's invitational Art of the Quilt exhibit curated by Linda Fiedler and Tina Sell, where I have two pieces. This show will run from Nov 7 - Dec 27 in Martinsville, VA.

I also am included in three upcoming art exhibits...first is Fall for Art, a one night event of Associated Artists of Winston-Salem where I am a juried member. This event will be held at the Winston-Salem BMW showroom on Nov 2 from 6-9PM. I have one wall piece in this event and also have a solo booth with my vessels, journals, purses, and other small works. It will be a fun evening! I am hoping for good sales...but anything not sold will be available in the AAWS Gallery downtown after this event.

Next is an exhibit at Salem College in Winston-Salem by women artists, Reflections: Politics and Religion in Art which will hang in the Salem Fine Arts Center from Nov. 3 - Jan 30.

And the last one I will mention today also comes with the news that I've been accepted as a member into The Cosmic Cow Society , an art group based in Greensboro, NC. They had posted a call for applications and I just couldn't resist...the sense of humor in the name got my attention! I have this thing for cows...goes back to my childhood farm days...but I digress. Anyway, we will have our first show as the new group... Natural Bliss: Instinct and Inspiration will hang from Dec 4 until Jan 5 at Maya Gallery in Greensboro.

I continue to be amazed by the doors that keep opening for me...I am having the time of my life and I am truly blessed!

Progress - Interior Design

I got a call from the painter today and the condo project (more here) has paint going up on the walls!!! I made a site visit recently when the drywall was up. That's when things start to happen more quickly and where what had long been in my mind and only on paper takes recognizable form...it's exciting to me, even after all these years in the business, to see on site what I've seen in my mind's eye...and for everyone else to start to see the reality of what they've entrusted to my design. It's just too much fun! I'm not posting pictures yet...I'm saving up for the reveal, so stay tuned....

Blog Action Day 2008

Being relatively new to blogging I was not aware until just now that today is Blog Action Day, a day for bloggers to all focus on the same topic: POVERTY, aimed at stirring a world-wide discussion and focus on this inexcusable problem. Inexcusable, that's my opinion. We live in a world of abundance tarnished by an ever present sense of greed. It's so easy to turn a blind eye and step over the person in need on the way to wherever we think we deserve to go, gathering more than our share along the way. How much better off the world would be if we all practiced what we learned in preschool - SHARE. Such a simple concept, even a child can learn to do that. Why is it so hard for us "grown-ups"?

So I will turn my thoughts today to my own actions..... Where do I see unmet need? What will I do about it?

We can all do more. It's a responsibility, and approached with the right spirit, it's a privilege.

Taking Flight

First a "J" Then a chrysalis...check out the metallic gold dots!

Then TA DA!!

Isn't she beautiful? (Yes, I know it's a she because of the wing spots and the longer body...see the 2 dark dots on the wings next to her tail?)


Like joy unexpected, I looked over at the bug box today and there was a beautiful, newly hatched Monarch butterfly just hanging there. I missed her coming out party...I always do. But that's OK. The fun part is getting to hold them and take them back outside. So that's what we did, and another year's cycle of life has revealed itself to us. I'm keeping watch over the other chrysalis (what's the plural of that word?) in the garden...we spotted three today. Meanwhile, back in the bug box we have moved in one of the Swallowtail caterpillars. I can't wait to see that one transform!