This summer has been very busy and my work has slowed to a crawl. But I did finish the “runners” art quilt. I would really like to explore the runner theme more, along with that of the bikers. As to the quilt, the runners are silhouettes and the background is painted and stamped. I took pictures of some of Portland’s unique bridges, and then used Photoshop to modify them. They were then transferred to the fabric. The process really intrigues me.

For the back of the quilt, I used the number placards runners receive when they enter an event. I am now saving more of these (and scrounging some from runners!) as I love the way they work on the back. To protect the paper numbers, and to make them easier to attach, I used gel medium. I am still working on a name for this piece of art.

I look forward to the end of summer so I can get back to work, and develop more projects around this idea and method.

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.

This press release was given to me to use so I am releasing it now. I am very excited about this. This quilt is the one going to Vietnam and is shown in the blog.

Portland Resident is a Finalist in Regional Quilt Competition
Shirley MacGregor of Portland, OR is a finalist in the Pacific West Quilt Show to be presented August 26-28, 2011, at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center, Tacoma, Washington. The piece titled Paradigm Shift, will compete with 227 quilts and wearable art entries from the 18 US states and Canadian provinces of the Pacific West region: Alaska, Alberta, Arizona, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, The Northwest Territories, Oregon, Saskatchewan, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, and Yukon. Over $25,000 in cash and prizes will be awarded to winners in ten categories.

The producing organization of this contest, the Association of Pacific West Quilters (APWQ), a non-profit organization, was founded in 1992. APWQ is dedicated to promoting the art of quiltmaking throughout the Western US and Canada and, as of 2011, will be presenting this juried and judged quilt exhibition on an annual basis. “We are extremely pleased with the very high standard of the quilts being created in traditional and innovative styles,” says Peggy Sperry, APWQ president. She adds, “From a field of more than 430 entries, 227 were selected. The 2011 Pacific West Quilt Show will be an outstanding exhibition of quilts from our region.”

The Pacific West Quilt Show is open to the public from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm Friday and Saturday, and 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Sunday. For more information, please visit the website at www.apwq.org.

I enjoyed the most wonderful experience recently, the Studio Arts Quilt Association (SAQA) Visioning Conference in Denver, Colorado. It has been long time since I have attended such an enthusiastic and professional conference. It was well planned and balanced, and extremely inspirational.

There were two days of mini-workshops, panels on a variety of subjects, and a fine list of speakers. Side trips included the city of Golden, for a look at the magnificent SAQA “Sightlines” exhibit, and to Boulder, where we visited a few private studios.

Time and again, I heard remarks on how the conference provided such a shot in the arm to our creativity and professionalism. SAQA is a great organization, with many creative and inspiring individuals.

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.

The art quilt that I am doing for Vietnam is ready. I am using our troubled environment to express this theme for Her Presence in Colours X, which will be held in Vietnam in 2012. The theme is Women’s Art – a New Direction in Global Culture.

Paradigm Shift is the title of my art quilt. As we watch our environment degraded with alarming rapidity, and those in charge either unwilling or unable to bring about any meaningful change, it would seem that a woman’s nurturing instincts are needed to avert disaster.

I “recycled” a quilt top provide a base for this piece, added paper towels (used as swabs for a former project), then applied stamps, appliqué and paint.

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One of the quilts I made for my first book Quilting With Manhole Covers, featured the design of Kamaishi City. The city was ravaged by the recent tsunami, with significant loss of life and property. I recently sent the quilt to Japan to appear in an exhibition of the Japan Manhole Association in Tokyo.

Alice Gordenker, who writes for the Japan Times and publishes a blog on life in Japan, has written articles about the manhole covers and my books on the subject. Here is a link to her most recent offering, which shows the Kamaishi quilt and tells of the devastation of the city.

The subject of this art quilt, now in progress, is a “Biker in the Oregon Rain.” I am making it for High Fiber Diet’s Diversity Show. I am hoping to finish it, and the green one, by the end of April. Progress has been slow, but I am getting there.

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

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I thought I would give you an update on the Oregon: State of Diversity Exhibition which SAQA is involved.

The 2010-2011 SAQA Oregon show, Oregon: State of Diversity, is featured at the Heritage Station Museum in Pendleton, Oregon from February 15th through April 9th. The museum is located at 108 SW Frazer, Pendleton. Hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 10am – 4pm. Museum members are invited to an opening reception on Tuesday, February 15th from 5:30 to 7 pm. For further information, contact the museum at 541 276-0012 during those hours.

I am also involved in another show at Maude Kerns Art enter in Eugene, OR.
Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR Presents
Fiber “High Biber Diet” and “Loosely Bound”
February 25 – March 25, 2011
Gallery Hours: M-F, 10-5:30pm; Sat. 12-4pmm
For information: (541) 345-1571 or Maude Kerns Art Center

Another show worth seeing is Back to Nature by High Ïiber Diet. This card give you all the information about the show.

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.

More art quilted placemats have been added so take a look. They are under New Placemats on my web site. Hope you enjoy them.

I am excited that the Japan Ground Manhole Association has asked me to take part in their 10th Anniversary celebration.The have purchased four quilts featured in my books, Quilting With Manhole Covers and Treasures Underfoot, and will be showing them at the event.

The interest in my quilts came about because of an article written by Alice Gordenker who is a writer for The Japan Times. She wrote a great piece entitled, “So, What the Heck is That? Manhole Covers.”  Click here to read the article.

You can also visit the Associations site, although it is in Japanese. Click on the buttons and you will find many wonderful manhole cover designs. On the site, you will find a description of the organization, lists its member companies (and their websites), provides basic information on what a manhole is, and links to related sites. There is also information about deaths due to uncovered manholes and unsafe manholes. The colorful box on the bottom right side links to a Q&A about manholes and manhole covers including history, design, etc.

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!

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

At last the chicken art-quilt is finished! It was created as part of a challenge put forth by Tactile Expressions, wherein the participants take an image, interpret it in a different way, and pass the interpretation along to the next in line. It is kind of like the game in which a message is whispered from one person to another in a group, and inevitably the message changes as it is passed along. What came to me was a picture of  a  tea pot. After a while, the image of a chicken appeared, and thus the chicken quilt.

I need a name for this piece of art, so if you have any ideas please let me know.

Below is the chicken quilt followed by a picture of the original picture.

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Time is flying and I am getting ready to travel to Argentina where I will be teaching classes. This has been a very busy summer, so I thought I would let you know what has been going on in my art quilt world.

The INTERNATIONAL WOMENS ARTISTS EXHIBITION USA – AUGUST 2010 at the Littman Gallery – Portland State University – Portland OR, was the biggest event for me. I have said things before about OWCA before but thought I would mention it again.

Here is a little history. “HER PRESENCE IN COLOURS” exhibitions were founded and directed by the guiding vision of Dr. Yuen Chee Ling of Malaysia. Dr. Ling believes that, “The artworks of these exhibitions reflect a cohesive spirit of the women artists and their visions for peace and harmony which will surely contribute towards building a better tomorrow for our future generations.” This exhibition marks the 17th anniversary of HER PRESENCE IN COLOURS, a series that began in 1993 in Beijing. At that time, seven women artist participated. This year, 90 women artists from 24 countries  participated in the 9th exhibition. Previous shows were staged in Thailand, England, Canada, Australia, South Korea, and China. This was the first in the USA. There were 93 women artists of various nationalities who presented their works together at the Littman. Among the 93, 69 were from countries foreign. The theme was, “Reflection on Oneself: Self-portrait” The art works were either literal self-portraits, or one reflecting the individual’s feelings and ideas.

Three other highlights of the summer were presentations of my work at four Portland-area venues:

The Poster Garden “1st Thursday in the Pearl,” a monthly art event in Portland’s Pearl District where. I had one large wall for my creations.

Six Street Gallery “Fiber Arts Festival” in Vancouver, WA (just across the river) where three of my pieces were juried into this show.

The Albina Bank Exhibition, also in Portland’s Pearl District, and held in conjunction with OWCA show, where two of my pieces were juried in.

The Geezer Gallery show Portland, with three pieces juried in.

The Oregon branch of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association) is having an exhibit of OREGON: STATE OF DIVERSITY. This exhibit will debut at NW Quilting Expo on September 23rd and we hope you will be able to fit it into your plans.  http://www.nwquiltingexpo.com

This is a juried show and the first for SAQA Oregon. The Oregon: State of Diversity exhibit will be traveling throughout 2011. I am thrilled that my quilt Bike Oregon is a part of this exhibit.

The Studio Art Quilt Associates, Inc. is a wonderful association dedicated to art quilters. They are having a fundraiser for the 2010 SAQA Benefit Auction which is starting September 20th
http://www.saqa.com/news.php?ID=1423 Take a look at the beautiful art quilts.
To learn more about Studio Art Quilt Association visit their web site. http://www.saqa.com