Abstracting the West

In January I wrote a post about some pieces I was working on in response to an upcoming call for entry.  The pieces were finished before the end of 2015 but the call for entry didn't happen until spring.  I didn't want to say anything about these pieces until I knew if there were going to be restrictions about posting artwork that was accepted.  Happily, my work was accepted into the show and there are no restrictions, so I'm free to share.  

The Laramie Art Quilters group is hosting a show titled Abstracting the West.   The show will be on exhibit at the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site, which is part of the Wyoming State Parks system. The facility is best known for housing Butch Cassidy during his only stay behind bars. An historic treasure in Laramie, WY, the park welcomes over 29,000 visitors each summer. Their new exhibit hall will house Abstracting the West from July 1, 2016 until September 30, 2016.  The reception for this show will be on June 30th.

These three pieces came together so easily for me that I began to wonder if they lacked legitimacy.  It's funny how we can come to feel that "real" art only happens where there is a struggle involved.  I'm choosing to see this experience as an indication that this type of mixed media stitched work is what really makes my heart sing.  It is hard to tell from the photos, but there is more paper than fabric in these quilts.  

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Colorado: Harebell

42" x 30"

(sandstone, blue sky, sunsets, wildfires, India Paintbrush, purple mountains, wildflowers)

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Colorado: Aspen

42" x 30"

(Colorado forests of aspen and pine)

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Colorado: Columbine

42" x 30"

(columbine flowers, aspens and pines, mountain lakes, starry nights)

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Colorado: Aspen - detail

(In this detail image you can more clearly see the white organza applique that I used to create the focal images in all three pieces.)

Urban Rhythms Show

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Earlier this year I created this piece, titled All Dolled Up.  This is theoretically part of a series, the first of which is my piece Reflections.  I have in mind an ongoing series about feminism.  All Dolled Up explores the ways in which women feel obliged to remake themselves into perfect dolls in order to be "good enough" in a society that worships youth and has very narrow and unrealistic ideals of beauty.  The number 10 on one of the mannikins probably speaks for itself, but I thought I would explain that the other numbers on and around the other two mannikins are the first several numbers in the Fibonacci Sequence.  I'm no mathematician so I will just say that these numbers represent a ratio that is often seen in nature and is considered visually pleasing.

I'm a bit behind the 8 ball in sharing that this piece was,accepted into an art show being held at the Art Gallery at the DPAC and Backstage Coffee.  The venue is a nice cafe at the Denver Performing Arts Center, which is a really high profile venue for all the artists involved.  There are a lot of high quality pieces hanging in this show.  Between the great food at the cafe and the wonderful art on display I'd say it's very worth checking out!

Theme:  Urban Rhythm

Urban:  in, relating to, or characteristic of a city or town.

Rhythm:  Movement or variation characterized by the regular recurrence or alternation of different quantities or conditions.

The Art Gallery at the DPAC and Backstage Coffee is located at 1000 14th St. 1B-1, Colorado.  The show will hang from April 24th through July 10th, 2016.

Above & Beyond Exhibition

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I'm exited to announce that my piece "Reflection" was accepted into the SAQA Above & Beyone Exhibition which opens at the Lakewood Cultural Center on January 22nd.  The LCC Main Gallery is a really nice venue for an art show and I'm certain that the pieces on exhibit will be excellent.  This show is all about the vast variety of techniques and approaches that art quilters are taking with their work.  I submitted "Reflection" because the techniques include an image printed onto silk with my home computer and printer, unusual materials such as Lutradur and acrylic paint and fabrics that I had designed and either dyed or painted myself. This medium is so exciting and versatile, which is why I love it so much!

Mixed Media Collage

Last September I took a workshop with Deborah Fell.  The workshop was a blast, and while I'm not sure I learned anything new in terms of technique, I did seem to get a lot of inspiration and I came away feeling like I had "permission" to do some of the work I've always wanted to do.  At the workshop I got started on several different pieces, but no where near finished on any of them.  When I got home I continued to work with one piece in particular.  I mostly took apart what I had begun at the workshop and revamped the whole thing.  Something about this process really spoke to me and I completed this piece in record time.  I began with color washes on a piece of canvas.  Then I collaged papers and fabrics on top with glue.  These collage items were created in a frenzy of mark making and painting until I had two tons of materials that I began randomly tearing up.  So fun!  When I had a collage I was happy with I added batting and backing and began stitching.  There is more paper in this "quilt" than fabric, and quite a few layers in some places but I had no trouble stitching it.  I love everything about this process and I'm thrilled with the result, although not so thrilled with the photo, LOL!  Here is the final piece.

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BOP Abstract 2015

2013: More catching up!

In April 2013 I took a workshop with the amazing Sue Benner .  The workshop was all about abstraction and we were asked to bring some examples of artwork from another artist we admired.  Sue showed us images of artwork done by past artists who had used artworks they admired as inspiration for further abstraction studies.  The artist I chose for my inspiration was Lynne Perrella.  This was my first workshop with the Front Range Contemporary Quilters and I was hugely intimidated by my fellow students and Sue herself.  In spite of that I had a wonderful time and learned more than I could have hoped to in a few short days.  At the end of the workshop I had two very incomplete pieces of art, but seeing as I would be jetting off to Connecticut three weeks later I was not able to continue working on these pieces when I got home. The workshop in CT with Lynne Perrella and Michelle Ward was one of the best things I have ever done and also left me with unfinished artwork.  I spent the summer working on those pieces and then along came the workshop with Katie Pasquini Masopust and more incomplete art.  Well, I'm happy to say that I have now finished all the artwork I started in these various workshops.  At the end of the Sue Benner workshop my first piece looked like this:

And now it looks like this:

The photo does not do it justice as you cannot really see the lovely sheen of the silks and the sparkly organzas.  My best friend made the little polymer clay faces for me and I just love them!  Wow, putting these photos together is an interesting instruction in photography!  Hmmm.......  

The second piece that I began at that workshop looked like this when I got home:

Sorry for the blurry and off color photo.  Knowing it was nowhere near finished, I did not put much effort into taking a good shot.  I was pretty excited by this piece as it was quite a departure from my usual stuff and I liked where it was going.  After practicing on other things to explore monoprinting and quilting options, I ended up with this:

One of the most important things I learned from the three workshops was that I tend to be much too literal.  I am now exploring ways to take things further and to expand on my original concepts.  Invaluable!  Each of the pieces I began in a workshop last year has led to other pieces of art and more ideas.  I learned new techniques and made friends and I can't wait to do it again in 2014.

Far Away Places Workshop

In May I flew to Connecticut to take the Far Away Places workshop with Michelle Ward and Lynne Perrella .  These two amazing women have been my mixed media heroes for years.  It's hard to believe that in a very short span of time I got to take workshops with the artists whose work I most admire.  Far Away Places was about imagining some distant exotic locale that spoke to your heart.  Some people chose Russia, Morocco, or a fairy garden.  I wanted to play with elements of Gothic European architecture and Indian opulence.  Michelle was our instructor on the first day and we worked on these accordion books.  Let me just say that Michelle is a stenciling wizard!  She also designs amazing stencils and she brought a huge pile of them and let us use them.  Another wonderful artist, Margaret Applin , was also taking the class and she let me use some of her great stencil designs as well.  Michelle's demonstrations and instructions were like a light bulb going off in my head.  Until I got to work, at which point the light promptly blew out.  Sigh.  I get in my own way so badly.  However, I was by no means the only person who did not get their project anywhere near finished.  I love the colors and shapes I've got going here, but I'm kind of stuck on what to do next.  Here are some better views of the front and back panels:

On Saturday Lynne took over teaching and we worked on these long banners.  I ended up working vertically, so maybe mine is more of a panel.  Lynne showed us how she uses Portfolio Oil Pastels to color faces and other elements in her work.  Both Lynne and Michelle make great use of stencils and masks.  It was so fascinating to watch Lynne demonstrate.  Here is my banner as it looked at the end of the day:

Getting this home in a suitcase without getting is creased was a challenge!  One of the things I love about Lynne's work is the rich color and busy-ness.  There is so much going on in her work.  Endless small details to peruse.  After taking this class I can look at her work and understand better how some of it was accomplished.

On Sunday Michelle and Lynne taught together.  We started by making a grid, either by collaging pager or painting, and then added other collage elements on top.

The grid part was easy.  I excel at creating backgrounds.  I just get stuck after that, LOL!  At some point I will add a headdress to the woman and details in their clothing.  Below is a photo of my work space at the workshop:

As with the Sue Benner workshop, one of the best parts of this experience was meeting the other participants.  I had so many lovely conversations with total strangers.  I dug deep down into myself and dragged my inner extrovert out into the light and it was so worth it.  This was my first time going to the east coast and most of the other women there were from nearby areas.  A couple of lovely ladies came from Toronto.  Something about taking a workshop draws a connection between everyone for a few days.  Its a wonderful feeling.

Sue Benner Workshop

Well hey there, I'm back!  My life got rather busy for a while but I'm here now to explain some of what was going on.  First of all, I got promoted to a new position at work.  Yea me!  However, I still have to do my old job at the same time until they get someone hired to replace me.  So I'm a bit overwhelmed at work.  I am lucky, in that I don't have to bring my work home with me, but at the end of a workday or a workweek, I'm pretty pooped.

On top of that I have been taking art workshops.  I'm here to tell you that it is totally worth spending the money!  The first workshop I took was in April, with the fabulous art quilter

Sue Benner.  She has been my art quilting hero for a long time and I was so thrilled to get a chance to take a class with her.  The class was put on by the Front Range Contemporary Quilters, of which I am a member.  This workshop was about abstract art.  Sue was incredibly knowledgeable about fine art in general and showed us a lot of great stuff about the development of abstract art.  We focused on the ways in which artists of the past and present have used other artists work as inspiration for their own art.  It was fascinating to see how the other workshop participants approached this idea.  I soon realized that I was taking a much to literal approach to using an image of something as inspiration for an abstract piece of my own.  The results of our first exercise stunk so bad that I won't even show it.  I learned so much from looking at other peoples work.  In the end I started making progress on the piece above but soon realized that I wanted to work with sheers and that Wonder Under fusible just wasn't going to give me the results I was looking for with sheer fabrics.  I decided to put this aside to work on at home, where I have some Misty Fuse.  Here is a detail shot of the part I worked on for a while:

Since I didn't want to continue with the piece above right then and there I started another one (below).  I'm really happy with where this is going.  I plan to make two or three along the same lines so I can try out some different techniques on it, including monoprinting.  I may even print this to both paper and fabric so I can play with it some more.

The rectangles with the black lines are actually paint covered paper towel with black fabric lines fused to it.  I so love to combine paper and fabric!  I took a monumental amount of stuff to this workshop.  Getting ready for it took me two weeks!  When I got home I put away a few things but mostly I just piled the stuff up in a corner and got on with preparing for the next workshop.  I'll talk about that in a separate blog post.

This was my first workshop with the Front Range Contemporary Quilters group.  One of the things I enjoyed most was meeting the other participants.  Everyone was so friendly and helpful.  Some of these women are very experienced and accomplished artists.  We had lovely conversations while working and while sitting together for meals.  A couple of other women on my side of the room were also relatively new to the group and we all got along really well.  We decided to try forming a critique group that will meet once a month.  I've been longing for connection to other people working in textiles and mixed media so I am so happy to have met these people.  Now I feel like I am part of the group and going to monthly FRCQ meetings will be twice as fun.

In parting I have to apologize for the crappy photos.  Since these are "before" photos I didn't worry about setting up optimal photo conditions.  If I wait to have perfect pictures I will never get another blog post done!  When I finish these projects I will work a little harder at photographing them.  LOL!

2nd Place Winner!

I recently entered this piece in the "On My Own Time" art exhibit for State employees.  The exhibit is being shown at the Metropolitan State College, Center for Visual Arts, in the Santa Fe Art District of Denver.  Its a really nice gallery in the major Denver arts district so I am really happy to have a piece of art hanging there for a couple of weeks.  But even better..... I won 2nd place in the fine crafts category!  The competition is a two part deal.  The first part was the current exhibit.  They juried these entries to determine who will go on to the second part of the OMOT exhibit that will hang in the State Capitol building from December through May.  I'm very excited that this piece will be shown in our State Capitol.  My mother took a REALLY bad picture of me holding my ribbon at the reception and since it is my only documentation of the event I will share it in spite of how horrible I look.  I blinked.  Can you tell?

And a close up of the label.  Hey, I'm no where near jaded yet.  Got to document those successes you know!