I thought it was time to share what I was doing. This cactus art quilt is just in the beginning of it’s journey to being completed. I plan to resize and move the cactus plants around to make it a better composition. This has been a slow process since the pictures I took in the high desert. I am still considering adding some other elements such as line drawing of baskets. This is something I have done on the other recent quilts such as Portland Through Runners’ Eyes.
I have just added some new art placemats to the gallery so take a look. Below is just one of the exciting examples.
One of my pieces has been juried into SAQA Oregon’s show, Oregon: State of Diversity II. I am very pleased and excited to be part of this event. The show will travel throughout the state during 2012 and 2013. SAQA Oregon has had a wonderful response to the first exhibit, and they expect that will translate to more viewers and more venues for the current collection. I look forward to seeing the show, and will post locations and presentation dates as the information becomes available. The exhibit will debut at “Stitches in Bloom” in Silverton at the Oregon Garden in January 2012, and will travel through 2013.
After taking part in the Susan G. Komen, Race for the Cure in Portland this past summer, I decided to make another art quilt featuring runners. So far, I have the back completed. I collected number placards from several participants (some pink, to recognize “survivors,” with those in white ones for “supporters”). I also included my own. The top for the quilt featuring runners is now in progress.
The Fairy Candle art quilt was inspired by a class I attended with Jane Sassaman on Abstracting from Nature. It has been an interesting project, and I look forward to doing more with this process. The design comes from a picture of a skunk cabbage that I took some time ago. I really like the process, and am quite pleased with the results.
My Night Riders art quilt is experimental, using black batting for the background. The texture gives it an interesting look.
Now that summer is over and things have started to slow down, I have been able to focus on some “work-in-progress” that have been in progress for too long. I am still working with bikers and runners, and look forward to doing more on theme.
My Portland art quilt now has a name: Portland Through Runners’ Eyes. Included in this blog is a peek at the back of the quilt, as many have asked what I did with the reverse side. I gathered number placards from runners, received when they participated in a run or race. I had many saved from my running days in Japan, but as this art quilt was an Oregon original, I wanted to remain that way. Working on this piece has inspired me to experiment more with such placards, from both biking and running. More to come in the future!
Announcing a big event at the Singer Hill Cafe in Oregon City! A new High Fiber Diet Show entitled, “NW Vibes” will be opening at the cafe beginning August 2nd.
An Artist Reception will be held from 5-8 PM on Aug. 5th, with live music provided by “The Sale,” beginning at 6PM.
The NW Vibes show presents 21 new art quilts and examples of wearable art, including a piece by Bonnie Bucknam, best-of-show winner of the 2011 Quilt National Exhibition.
Singer Hill Café’s “Fundraiser Friday” will donate 25% of profits made from food and beverage purchases to HIgh Fiber Diet.
Singer Hill’s art gallery will be open for viewing during normal business hours (Sunday 8:AM to 5:PM, Monday, 7:AM to 6:PM, and Tuesday through Saturday, 7:AM to 8:PM)
For information on gallery sales, contact Karen Grondin at (917) 207-2354.
High Fiber Diet is a fiber-art group affiliated with the Columbia FiberArts Guild of Portland. Its members include fiber artists and surface design teachers, authors and professional art quilters.. The High Fiber Diet blog is available at http://hfd-highfiberdiet.blogspot.com. There you will find a list of the most recent shows and a membership roster with links to individual websites and blogs.
I am excited to say I was juried into the Women’s Caucus for Art/San Diego on line show. It is a nice exhibit so take a look and you will find two of my art quilts. They are Flauna and Paper Plastic, Think About it.
OREGON: STATE OF DIVERSITY This Oregon SAQA exhibit is currently traveling throughout Oregon. We have had a wonderful response to this show, and we expect to attract more viewers and more venues for our next effort, OREGON: STATE OF DIVERSITY II, which will be traveling in 2012-2013.
Oregon: State of Diversity
July 2011 – Sisters Public Library, Sisters, Oregon
October 2011 – Quilt Country, Corvallis, Oregon
November – December 2011 – Latimer Quilt and Textile Center, Tillamook, Oregon
Quilt by Catherine Beard
A color catalog of the 2010 SAQA Oregon show, Oregon: State of Diversity, is available for $8 plus S/H. Email gfrench@rosenet.net to order. The exhibit features work by Oregon SAQA members Karen Bates, Suzy Bates, Catherine Beard, Christina Brown, Bonnie Bucknam, Lynda Christiansen, Betty Colburn, Gerrie Congdon, Quinn Zander Corum, Betty Davis Daggett, Sheila Finzer, Georgia French, Terry Grant, Karen Hanken, Jill Hoddick, Laura Jaszkowski, Nancy Kibbey, Kim Lakin, Shirley MacGregor, Karen Illman Miller, Sara Shayne Miller, Shirley Jo Rimkus-Falconer, Deanna Robinson, Vera Rogers, Sheila Steers, and Jean Wells Keenan
I am happy to say my art quilt “Celebrating Gloom: The Worst Day of the Year Ride” was juried into the High Fiber Diet’s traveling show for 2011-2012. Scheduling for this exhibit is still in the planning stage. You can learn more about High Fiber Diet on their blogspot http://hfd-highfiberdiet.blogspot.com/.
One of the members in High Fiber Diet, Bonnie Bucknam, just won Best in Show at Quilt National. It is an honor to even get into this show, let alone win. Congratulations Bonnie!
I finally have this art Celebrating Gloom – The Worst Day of the Year Ride work finished. The title really tells the story, but here is some additional information. The Worst Day of the Year Ride, which takes place in February, and attracts about 4,000 hardy and adventurous individuals. Participants log about 18 mile, coursing through the streets of downtown Portland. Food, drinks, and moral support are provided along the way. To get a feel for this unique event, take a look at the bike ride site.
I just returned from a wonderful month in India. My husband and I were on a Rotary Friendship Exchange. We spent one week with a family in Aurangabad and another week with a different family in Solapur.
While with these families I was able to visit places where fabrics were made, dyed and printed. I was also able to purchase some great fabric scraps from a shop, and am thinking how I might use them in my art work. The beautiful saris and the use of vibrant colors everywhere in India are a feast for the eyes. There is color everywhere!
I have posted some pictures – one of place where fabric is made, and one with me digging in the scrap pile in a shop. That was an experience, as the shopkeepers couldn’t understand why I wanted the scraps.
Fabric with camel
The new news is that the manhole quilts have been shipped to Tokyo, Japan. As I mentioned before, they will be on display during the Japan Ground Manhole Association’s 10th anniversary celebration, and ultimately will be given as presents to special guests. The Association has offered one of the quilts to Alice Gondenker in consideration for her efforts on this project. She is the journalist who wrote the article on manhole covers entitled, SO, WHAT THE HECK IS THAT? She responded that she would be very pleased to own one. Alice has an interesting web site dealing with Japanese topics and a new post on the manhole cover quilts. Since I lived in Japan for four years, I really enjoy reading her articles.
Three of the quilts – Uncommon Will, Tamari and Kamaishi City were featured in my book, Treasures Underfoot. A forth quilt –Surface Tension– was remade in a smaller version, quite similar to one in the collection of the LaConner Quilt Museum, in Washington. All four can be seen in the About section of my web site.
This is a close-up look at the latest art quilt in progress. I had some paper towels that were used to mop up paint, and had very interesting patterns, so I saved them. I am incorporating them in this piece. It seems to be working out pretty well, after applying two coats of gel medium. They are still very flexible and workable. If you look closely, you can see them. Stay tuned for the finished result.
I have been making more placemats, and have posted several on my site. Look under New Placemat in the Placemats. I will be putting more in as I complete them, So, stay tuned!
Now for the final chicken quilt. This is the second quilt created for the Tactile Expressions “Full Circle” challenge, the intent of which was to see what happens when an image is passed from artist to artist.
The challenge rules for the first quilt required a fixed-size 35″ X 28″ piece. I was presented with a picture of a tea pot. But what I saw in the picture was the outline of a chicken, and I elaborated on that theme in the two resulting quilts required for the challenge. I traced the outline of the image based upon the teapot chicken. With the first quilt, I got carried away and made it a bit too large.
The second quilt came out more in line with the size requirement. Once again, I assembled the chickens with many tiny pieces of fabric. and applied fused applique and yarn in the rest of the work. I stamped the background fabric, and machine-quilted the entire piece.
I now have a name for both quilts: Scratching I and II. You are looking at the second effort, Scratching II.
I would like to share a little of what the students accomplished in my Buenos Aires workshop. The students were very enthusiastic, and good quilters. We made placemats using various design methods and ideas. They played around using Broderie Perse, then moved on using shapes in different ways. In the end they experimented with using Notan as a possibility for designs. These designs were used place mats. All produced wonderful, creative designs. Here are some examples.
Shapes and Notan in progress
Estela Loitegui and her Notan shapes
Maria Giardini and Gladis Vega with their shapes and Notan almost finished.
Estela Loitegui and here work
Teresita Leal and her work
I was fortunate to attend, and participate in, the second international Argentina quilt show, entitled, Segundo Salón Internacional de Quilts, which is being held between 15 and 27 March, in the the community of Vicente López, just to the north of Buenos Aires. The venue for the show is the beautiful Romulo Raggio Museum, a truly impressive setting in its own right. The show’s coordinator, Teresita Leal, did an outstanding job of hanging the artwork and seeing that everything was in order. For such a young community of quilters, I was a truly impressed by the effort and expertise evident in the show. There were entries from Argentina, Brazil. Spain, UK, Uruguay and the United States, featuring both traditional and contemporary quilts. Below are a few examples of quilts on display at the show. There are two places where you can find pictures of the show www.buenosairesquilting.com.ar and www.pachworkycia.blogspot.com. There will be more pictures of the exhibition soon on these sites.
WordPress camp was an interesting experience. I was locked up on the 16th floor in the center of downtown Portland with a fantastic view. The lock-up was because it is a commercial building and not used on the weekends and they don’t want a bunch of geeks roaming around. So, they took us up in the morning and let us out in the evening. All food etc, was brought in. Not bad. I learned a lot about what to do to my web site and blog, but most of it was over my head. The more I learn the more questions I have. In the end I hope my site will look better and so will my quilts. The people were a very talented interesting group.
