Sunday, August 26, 2012

2012 SAQA Online Benefit Auction


I am a member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), a great organization that aims to promote art quilts through exhibitions, education and publication. They are an invaluable resource to me.  I have been inspired through my connection to other artists and have benefited from the work SAQA does to educate museums, galleries and collectors about the importance of textile art. 

Each year, SAQA holds an online benefit auction to raise funds to support exhibitions, catalogs and outreach programs.This year, almost 400 quilts were donated, including one of mine. Here is a sneak peek video of how my piece was constructed.

 

 
The online auction will begin on September 10, 2012 at 2pm EST. The 12x12 inch donated works this year are outstanding. Here are a few of my favorites:  
Rainy Monday, 9AM  
Commercial cotton, no batting.  Raw-edge machine appliqué

The Secret  Linda Colsh  Cotton fabrics printed, painted and dyed by the artist.
Reflections 4
Cotton, organdy, cheese cloth; screen printing, painting, sanding, collage, hand- and machine quilting.
Sizing Up  
Cheesecloth sculpted with PVA adhesive, appliqued to painted buckram.
Entheos Deidre Adams Machine stitched, hand painted with metallic and non-metallic paints; mounted on canvas and stretcher bars.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Red and Yellow

I love the combination of red and yellow together. So eye catching.
















Saturday, August 11, 2012

What are you watching?

People often ask about how I work in the studio—do listen to music, catch up on NPR, watch TV, or enjoy the beautiful silence that can only be appreciated when you have a moment away from your toddler?  While the privacy and silence cannot be overrated—closing the door, taking a deep breath and combining my moment of sanity with some art is VERY fulfilling—I do my best work when I have something going on in the background, be it music or a movie.  

In the studio, I have a TV mounted on the wall on an articulated arm. This allows me to turn the TV to face me when I am working. The screen lines up just over the top of my sewing machine so that I don’t have to strain to see it. I also have wireless headphones which have made it possible to listen to music or hear movie dialog in the studio while everyone is sleeping, something that makes me immensely happy.



While we don’t have cable in the house (long story), we do have Netflix and Hulu.  I get my mileage out of both of them. Right now I am obsessed with art documentaries. Love love love them. I have my Netflix queue filled with them.



This past week I watched Rape of Europa. I found it absolutely captivating and can’t recommend it enough. Seeing images of the Louvre stripped bare of paintings and Michelangelo’s David bricked up to protect it from bombing and looting were eye-opening. Here is a description from the documentary website:

The Rape of Europa tells the epic story of the systematic theft, deliberate destruction and miraculous survival of Europe's art treasures during the Third Reich and the Second World War.

In a journey through seven countries, the film takes the audience into the violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed, and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe. For twelve long years, the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in history. But young art professionals as well as ordinary heroes, from truck drivers to department store clerks, fought back with an extraordinary effort to safeguard, rescue and return the millions of lost, hidden and stolen treasures.

Make sure you watch it.

Of course with this one crossed off of my list I am on the look out for a new documentary. Any recommendations? What are your favorites?

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Back to work


After seeing the RITUALS exhibit last week and attending the festival, I couldn’t wait to get back to the studio to start working again. I am at the beginning stages with a new piece and I am consumed by it. I want to work on it every spare minute of the day and night. This is a good thing. When things are going right, I can’t spend enough time in the studio. I stay up late. I think about my work when I am driving. I talk about it incessantly. Of course when it is not quite working I can procrastinate with the best of them. I want to avoid the studio at all costs. This has been something I have been working on over the past year. Even when I am struggling, I force myself to go “do the work anyway”. I know that eventually I will figure things out. I just need to put in the effort and that means getting into the studio. 


But today, things are going well and I have reached a point where I am in the groove. I am past the early stuff that I don’t enjoy as much—setting up my workspace, washing fabrics, creating patterns for important elements, and establishing the foundation. Today I am sewing, and it is exciting to see things develop. As I start sewing, I get to see if my fabric choices are really coming together. I see what needs tweaking. I stab myself a thousand times on straight pins. And I relish every minute.