Aullwood: Vita Marie Lovett

Vita Marie Lovett "South Window"  12 2/3" x 9 3/4

Vita Marie Lovett is another "regular" artist at Aullwood's art quilt show.  I wrote about her work in 2010 and in 2009.  I am drawn to her work for many reasons, her fondness for old architecture (especially barns), antiques, and detail.  I appreciate this piece for several reasons:  In the early spring, I can't wait to harvest some forsythia to bring in and have their luscious yellow chase the winter doldrums away.

 I also love the long rays of light which one finds in the early morning and late afternoon.  I imagine that this time is fleeting for her as she lives in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. One of the things I missed the most when I moved to Connecticut from Michigan was the long periods of this "long light" . Because the area of Michigan I lived in was fairly flat, just gentle hills, and the area of Ohio where I live now is flat as a pancake thanks to the hard work of the glaciers, I have longer periods of this light.  Connecticut was just too hilly!  But there are many things I do miss about living in New England.

Vita Marie Lovett "South Window", detail.

Vita Marie drew this image from the south window in her cabin. I appreciate her work because she does not print a photograph on fabric then stitch over it,  but paints a background the color reflected in what she sees, then draws with thread on top of it..often many, many layers to do the detail. Her work is rich and sparkles...and lays flat as a pancake, I think partly because she uses canvas as her back ground.  That strong fabric is less likely to be distorted from all the work she does.

Look at the bottle.....it really seems to be transparent.  Her complex thread work gives it depth and dimension while imparting the impression that it is clear.

Vita Marie Lovett,"South Window" detail.

If you haven't looked at Vita Marie's website, you owe it to yourself to take a visit.  You can see it here.

Aullwood 2013: Jean Liittschwager

"Spawning Salmon" 29" x 36"  Jean Liittschwager $750.00

 One of the first quilts as you entered the Aullwood Nature Center's 2013 art quilt show is "Salmon Spawning" by Jean Liitschwager.  Jean is no newcomer to the Aullwood show, but often exhibits her work at this venue.

I laughed when I saw this piece.....Jean is a 5th generation Oregonian...in a state full of transplants and relative newcomers.  Most of Jean's quilts do not follow this style, but one thing which is very much her style, Jean draws inspiration from her surroundings.  This particular piece is inspired by the Chilkat blankets (or robes) and dance aprons made by the Pacific North West tribes (Haida, Tlingit, Salishan, Tshimshian-Nishga, and Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka).  I think almost every quilter who is exposed to these pieces feels inspired to do pieces along the lines, I know I have succumbed to the pull after seeing them in Washington state.

Here, you see the stylized rendition of a salmon spawning, the eggs are the dots emerging from the bottom of the fish, and the sperm ( and bubbles from the stream) are around it to fertilize the eggs.  The pebbly bottom of the stream is there to receive the eggs.  The sole purpose of a salmon is to reproduce, and once it does so, it dies.  Thus, this is the perfect selection for the show's theme:  Season of life.  Jean combined elements from the Tlingit and Haida cultures.

 Originally, these pieces were made from "cloth" woven from cedar bark, cattail leaves and colored grasses.  Upper classes would have furs as well.  After contact with the Europeans,  wool was introduced and used heavily in the robes and aprons.

Jean took the palette from the cedar/cattail/grass combo for the background of her piece.  The dance aprons and robes often had fringe to add to the texture and movement and Jean's choice here in the fringe and the fabric are close to perfect.

She used suede cloth, cotton and wool with machine and hand stitching.  The pebbles here almost feel like you could reach to them and let them run through your fingers.

Here you can see some of her hand stitching.

Jean has a website where you can see more of her work here.

I was going to include her two other works...but  I realized this is getting a little wordy....so, come back tomorrow to see two more of her pieces!

Aullwood 2013: Suzanne Mouton Riggio

Suzanne Mouton Riggio, "August Moon"

Suzanne Mouton Riggio is another of the "regulars" in the Aullwood Show.  You can see work from other years here,
here, and  here,.  Suzanne's submissions are often small, and these three little gems all measure 11" x 8.5".  I do think of them as little gems.  Several of Suzanne's pieces include telephone poles, partly because this is what she sees and she often is inspired by scenes she sees around her house and neighborhood.

This particular piece tickles my fancy as I have never seen bats do this, usually I see maybe 4 or 5 at a time, but I do like bats, or rather I like what they do....consume vast quantities of bugs which often cause harm to people. I feel that they are maligned little things.  I also enjoy this piece because of the mysterious quality she has captured, and it brings back days when I was  a child on the farm and would sit on the back stoop watching lightening bugs, bats, the sky, and stars. Since I live in suburbia or close enough, there is too much light pollution to enjoy the sights, and I often  escaped our un-air-conditioned home in the country at night by going outside.

Suzanne Mouton Riggio "August Moon", detail.

I also enjoy this piece because she included the glitter of lightening bugs...those are the little circles.
Suzanne highlighted the clouds in the sky, the moon and other areas with silver Sliver thread, which is notoriously difficult to work with.  The highlighting really give the effect of the moon's light on all that it hits.

Suzanne  Mouton Riggio "August Moon", detail

Suzanne often, or dare I say usually, uses commercially printed cottons.In the case of "July Family" she actually printed a little of her own.  Suzanne was aware that she had a hawk family nesting near her house, but she had never been able to see all of them, but hear them calling to each other .  One day her daughter happened to have her digital camera with her and saw them preening n the telephone pole...the same one as seen above.

Suzanne Mouton Riggio, "July Family"

She Photoshopped them and printed  out the hawks on fabric.  She made the rainbow by using oil-paint sticks on tulle, then pressing the arcs out between paper toweling to remove the excess pigment.  She used milkweed down to make the little blips in the sky.  Beads composed the bits and pieces of equipment on the pole.

I can really relate as there is a pair of red tailed hawks which nest near me, and I hear them calling, see them spiraling in the sky, but in the eight years I have lived here, I have yet to see their young.

Suzanne Riggio, "July Family" Detail

Suzanne  Mouton Riggio "June Flowers."

I can't help but think of the old song "June is Bustin' Out all over" from the old musical "Carousel" (if you aren't familiar with it, I will include it at the end).  This really shows Suzanne's penchant for using commercial cottons, and she often cuts out elements to combine to make her images.  The title of this piece is "June Flowers" (so she's covered June, July and August!).

Here's what Suzanne had to say about it in her description:

When June arrived, the whole place burst out in flowers.  Roses climbed trellises.  Flowering vines made it up the pole.  And butterflies arrived en masse.

To enhance that blossomy feeling, I used floral calicoes to fashion the house,  roof, and gutter.  The binding also has that floral feel.

Suzanne lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin.  Unfortunately, she does not have a web page, but many of her quilts are on the web from other shows and it is worth a google image search.

Suzanne Mouton Riggio, "June Flowers"  detail  ©2013

June is Bustin out all over

Once again, I am also participating in Nina-Marie Sayre's "Off the wall Fiber Friday.......even if it is Saturday!

You can see other participants here:  

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Have fun!

Oh yeah..the last day for the Aullwood show it Sunday, August 25....in other words TOMORROW! so if you haven't been and are from the area, tomorrow is the last day.....although I will be working my way through the rest of the quilts here for a couple of days.

Aullwood Art Quilt Show 2013 Ann Diller

Ann Diller, Yellowstone Hotspot, 20.5 x 39" NFS

Tonight I fear, I am going to have to keep this a little short....I'm a little bushed after working too hard in the garden! So while I intended to cover more than one artist, tonight you are just going to have to settle for one, and come back tomorrow for more!

Ann Diller is another fellow Miami Valley Art Quilt Network member who lives just south of Dayton, OH.  This last winter she went on a ski trip in Yellowstone and this is one of the scenes she saw....not only humans seeking the geothermal area, but bison (buffalo) foraging where they might be able to find grass under the snow cover.
Ann called this piece "Yellowstone Hot Spot" which just tickles me for the play on words...hot spot becuase of the geyser, and hot spot for the mammals..human and otherwise.

Ann really handled getting the atmosphere down well, and this is not something I would say she has a lot of experience with....Ann tends to do a lot of flora, so this wonderful play of mists/gases/ etc. is a step beyond....at least from what I have seen of her work, and to be fair, I haven't seen a lot lately as I have been missing meetings.

Just look at how the geyser shimmers.  She used layers of sheers.  Her trees were done with perle cotton with bobbin drawing (putting the perle cotton on the bobbin and working upside down---from the back so that the perle cotton lays on the front), and paint.

The trees are called "bobby sock trees" and I had to look that one up.  The lodge pole pines have shallow root systems and take up a lot of the minerals which then stay under the bark. As the pines die, the bark at the bottom peels away revealing the minerals which have deposited right under the bark, looking white, as if the tree were wearing bobby socks.  Apparently, the National Park Service  doesn't use this term anymore, but it is still really fun.

Aullwood Art Quilt Show 2013 "Seasons of Life" Deb Bentley

If you have been following my blog, you know that every year I share the art quilt show at Aullwood Audubon Center in Englewood, Ohio.  It was started quite a while ago by some of the founders of the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network, a Dayton, Ohio area art quilting group to which I belong.  Fiber artists from across the country submit pieces and it is usually a pretty strong little show.

This year, the theme was "Seasons of Life."  Unlike past years, it is a smaller show.  I think I counted 27 pieces, but most were small....in fact Pam Geisel's series of 4 matted in 5" x 7" frames, the fiber part only measured 2.5" x 2.5".  Here's the shot down the gallery.

As usual, I'm going to start with the local people, largely because it is easier to get permission to share them....I often wait quite a long time to get permission from other artists.

First up tonight is Debra Bentley.  Deb has two pieces in the show, "Spicebush" and "Grandpa's Farm."

A couple of years ago, Deb bought a spice bush to plant in her yard and while doing so, she discovered a spicebush butterfly caterpillar.  She captured it and raised it through it's life cycle to butterfly in her house, and released it.  She now has many species of butterfly in her yard, but she chose to represent the life-cycle of the Spice bush butterfly here.

Deb used a lot of  hand-dyed and batik fabrics in order to make her quilt.  It is also highly dimensional.

Here you see the egg on a leaf (the pearl).

Next comes the caterpillar shown here wound into a leaf. Deb stuffed and hand colored the caterpillar to make it realistic.  The leaves and flowers are made separately and applied in order to give it more dimension.  The first stage is a small brown caterpillar,

Which then grows into a larger yellow and green version.

It then forms a chrysalis.

From the chrysalis emerges the wonderful black and blue spice bush butterflies.  The flowers and the butterfly are heavily thread painted.

Deb does a lot of volunteer work at area nature centers.  She also spent a lot of time observing nature as a child and it has stayed with her. I laughed as she said that she thinks of this as cute, and that she doesn't usually do cute.  My amusement comes from the fact that "I don't do cute." is a common comment I make....just ask any of my friends from the Wallingford, CT Quilting group, The Heritage Quilters.

"Grandpa's Farm" uses a photograph of Deb's grandfather and a neighbor working on his farm in Fletcher, Ohio, and anyone who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s on a farm in the Midwest can relate.  She combined it with fabics on which she employed a variety of surface design techniques.  She uses both commercial batiks and printed fabics as well as materials she has dyed and manipulated.

She wrote:  "I enjoyed visiting them and feeding the  the chickens and geese, and gathering eggs.  My grandpa took me to feed corn to the cows and I helped my grandma sow and gather seeds.  I was too young to understand why they had to eventually give up their farm.  Farmers are at the mercy of nature and although they have bad years, they also have very good ones  This quilt portrays the ups and downs of farming.  There are good harvests and failed crops, drought and rain  flooded fields.  This quilt celebrates the Ohio farmer's persistence and perseverance in the face of natures extremes.

My art begins with my love of nature.  I marvel at the tenacity with which the cycle of life continues through every adversity.  I try to capture in fabric and thread the colors and textures, the lights and shadows, the joys and sorrows of life.  The common thread in my work is the delicate balance between humanity and nature and the sense of renewal that oneness brings.

 Once again, I am participating in Nina-Marie Sayre's Off the Wall Fridays....even if I am so off the wall, I'm posting on Sunday instead.   This is the first of several posts on Aullwood's art quilts, so please do come on back

Go over to Nina-Marie's and catch more work by other fiber artists.

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Getting ready to approach a Dayton Metropark Quilt..the wonders of Daylilies

Do you ever get focused on something an become sort of obsessed with it?  Well for several weeks I was going to write about  my last failed class, but I wanted to work it through on line....and could I find the drawings? Noooooo.

So, here I am.  Bear with me...my fingers are numb and it is very hard to type..I make all sorts of typos and I hope I catch them all.

The Miami Valley Art Quilt Network is getting ready for it's third series of art quilts inspired by the Miami Valley.  This time, we will be doing quilts inspired by the rather extensive Dayton Metro Parks.  There are many....but I have been to only a few.   Since it is sort of hard for me to get around, especially on uneven ground, I decided to go with a shot I already had.  This is a meadow  Englewood Metropark, right across from the Aullwood Nature Center. I took it a couple o of years ago when i still walk well.  My daughter was out running, and I went along to shoot photos.

These are common day lilies, Hemerocallis fulva, usally called "ditch lilies" in the Midwest.  They are escapees, originating from Asia, but they were brought over by the early colonists.  Bright and cheery, they are not true lilies at all, but take their name from the lily shaped flowers which last only for a day.  They have tubers, not bulbs, and the tubers, as well as the flowers are edible.  I've eaten them...not exactly one of my 'must haves" although I suspect deep frying the buds would probably taste pretty good as I have not much much that deep frying doesn't make something more edible.

This shot sort of makes me think.  I think it needs a few more lilies, although I like the wild grape and other 'weeds" growing along the edge.  I will do some drawings..

While they are invasive species, they are easily killed by round-up, or by digging so you get all the tubers...if you are patient, not terribly difficult...and by no means as hard to do in as Japanese honeysuckle or Japanese Bittersweet....or kudzu ...or a variety of other nasties.

Here, you can see them growing in a ditch not far from me on Nashville Rd.  I think this is the most significant patch I have ever seen, and I wonder if it wan't given a little "help" from  the owner.  The ditch is a drainage  ditch. The tall stuff behind the one with the barn in it is elderberries.

I find these very cheery, and when you find a patch with some chicory blooming in front...it is just spectacular...the soft blue of the chicory and the orange of the day lily is just fantastic!

Of course, I have lots of day lilies in my own garden, and in the spring when I am giving divisions away, and can't remember what I have planted where....I usually shrug and say well, it is probably a dark maroon one, or an orangy one.....but mine are not your run of the mill orangy ones....

I'll be sharing a few with you as it is day lily time....although day lilies bloom in my garden from late May through the end of September.  Even though my friend Martha pooh-poohs them because they get scruffy looking after they bloom (you need to pull the dying vegetation on them), I just love them.  They do so well in my hot, clay, full sun kissed beds....and while they are in bloom..well. they just delight me...dark ones with green eyes, orange ones which are practically fluorescent,  watermarked ones, ones with toothed edges, pink ones with shaded maroon centers.....what fun!

Lots to cover in the next weeks.....and I hope to show you this as I work, along with Aullwood's show, the MVAQN Redux and a bunch of other things....

Bear with me....I will disappear for days as the drugs wipe me out three days after chemo, but I will be back....and forgive the slip of the fingers.

Quilt National 2013: The Oscars for the Art Quilting World

Quilt National 2013 opening, Dairy Barn, Athens, OH

I have been planning to go to the opening of  Quilt National 2013 for quite some time.  I have had it on my calendar for ages. While I  have been to every Quilt National since I moved to Ohio, I've never been to the opening.  Someone who is not a quilter asked me what it was, and the best I could come up with was that it is the Oscars of the Art Quilting world...only it is held every other year and there are only three judges rather than being judged by all your peers.

The quilts are judged from digital images submitted by the artists, but they are chosen blind.  The jurors are given the name of the work, a detail, dimensions, the artist statement and materials.  No names, although for some artists, their style is so remarkable you would have had to have had your head stuck in a paper bag not to recognize their work.  You cannot have shown the quilt anywhere, an it must not have been published anywhere---online, in blogs or on Facebook.  Even if someone from a guild or something has seen it and taken a photo without the artist knowing and put it up on the web, it can be disqualified.  851 quilts were submitted from artists in 44 states, five Canadian provinces and 16 foreign countries.  Only 85 were chosen.  It is not unusual to try for years to get in. Quilt National is one of the oldest art quilt venues and these rules keep the show fresh and exciting.

I was especially excited to go as I was going to meet Brooke Atherton and Del Thomas there for the first time, even though we have corresponded for quite some time.

This year's show was visually spectacular. I found myself looking intently at each quilt, close up and from a distance, even though close up at the opening was often difficult for the number of people present.  Line, color and form rang out and spoke to you.  I honestly felt that this is the best show Quilt National has put together of the ones I have been able to attend.

In general, I felt the show to be well balanced.  I did not find any quilt that my reaction was "What WERE they THINKING????"  The jurors were Linda Colsh, Judith Content, and Penny McMorris (who does not have a website other than Electric Quilt which she started, but is well known in the quilting field for having hosted and early PBS show on quilting as well as authored several books).  I was interested when someone (Martha Seilman?) suggested that the trends represented included a strong emphasis on neutrals, graphics and the utilization of digital photography in the works.  I don't remember anyone saying it, but I would also add mixed media in the works.  I really was puzzled by the "neutrals" comment because while I recognized the graphic quality of the works....my reaction was the wonderful richness of color and texture in the show.
When I went back and tallied the pieces (as best I could) neutrals DID out number the brightly colored pieces.

Abstracts (both pure abstract and abstract realism) were strongly represented, outnumbering the more realistic works by quite a bit.  However, we don't know what was submitted, and I think this tends to be over emphasized.  Strong pieces, works with great merit, whether they are realistic or abstract are what should be in the show, and that is precisely what I saw.

When I  entered the show, I turned to the right, and I was about 10 quilts shy of the beginning when I ran into Brooke.  She told me that she won an award and was having a hard time keeping still while she took at class at Nancy Crow's Barn.  I had not yet seen her piece, and shortly thereafter, they started announcing the  awards...I had to restrain myself from hollering when they announced that Brooke won Best of Show for "Springfield."

Detail, Brooke Atherrton, "Springfield," Quilt National 2

Brooke Atherton, Detail, "Springfield," Quilt National 2013

Brooke Atherton, detail, "Springfield," Quilt National 2013

I apologize, my photos are few, for one, you are only allowed to take shots at the opening...and I have been having such problems with my hands, that I opted to use my "point and shoot" for fear I would drop my DSLR, and I didn't notice that when I hit the "macro" button, I accidentally turned off the flash...so things were blurry and like Brooke's piece here, yellow from the interior lighting,

Brooke is known for using all sorts of bits and pieces as well as for torturing things by burning and melting.  She uses found objects and in this case she used paper maps, text (including something which looks like it is Welsh or at least written in Middle or Old  English ( a college text perhaps?).

Some of her found pieces are trapped under organza, or wrapped in little packages. She stitches things down by both hand and machine.  You'll recognize the metal "sheath" from the top of a wine bottle in the top photo.  Below you can see bamboo, and bits of annular ware, pottery from the late-18th and first half of the 19th century, her pieces seem to be abraded, either showing water damage or that it has passed though fire.  I also found bits of Native American pottery sewn down...a treasure trove for the material culturist.

On her statement, Brooke wrote
 "The hills are shadows, and they flow
From form to form,  and nothing stands.
They melt like mist, the solid lands,
Like clouds, they shape themselves and go."
--Tennyson

"A little stitching madness to hold an elusive memory"

Not only does Brook's piece have flow, texture, and all the other elements of design, but it starts a conversation with the viewer.  Which Springfield?  It could be any one of the 38 places in the U.S. with this moniker, or the ones in the United Kingdom, Australia, South Africa, Ireland or New Zealand (USA holds the largest number).  Why did she choose to include the fragments she did?  Certainly the Tennyson poem really DOES describe the piece....and what does it say about us? How do we relate to the land? What bits of our souls reverberate and intertwine with the land and memory?

You can see more of Brooke's work at http://www.brookeathertonart.com/ , and of course I've written about her pieces several other times here.  Just put a search up for Brooke Atherton in the blog search engine at right and you'll find earlier posts showing her work.  "Springfield" measures 32" h x 97" w.

Deidre Adams, "Tracings III, Quilt National 2013.60" h x 60" w.

I always cringe when people ask me what my favorite piece is....In fact in this show, I prefer NOT to say...I enjoy and appreciate so many pieces for so many different reasons, often the subject matter calls to me, or the message or political statement resonates with me.  I admit, however,  I am a color and texture junkie....and this is really the show for that!  Line, oh, that scrumptious foundation....

However, Deidre Adams piece "Tracings,  III"  grabbed me because it shimmered....glowed...and as Natalya Aiken said "pulsated."  Oh...ok, so it happens to also be in colors that I love and...it's all about texture and surface design.  Deidre's website is here.

Deidre Adams, detail, "Tracings III, Quilt National 2013

One thing about the show which tickled me was that when  I saw several quilts from across the room, I assumed I knew who the artist was because I thought I recognized their style..only to be surprised an found out it was someone else.  Likewise, I was often surprised to see pieces by other artist whose work I knew, but these pieces were a departure from the previous works I saw.

One which didn't fool me was another wonderful piece by Dianne Firth entitled "Storm"...like the piece I spoke about at Art Quilt Elements at the Wayne Art Center last March.  This one is another fantastic piece where the shadow composes part of the quilt.....Dianne won the McCarthy Memorial award.

You can see the other award winners here.  One of my favorites is the Hillary Fletcher (the first director) "Persistence Pays" Award which is given to the person who tried the most number to tries to get in, and finally was chosen this year.

So many quilts spoke to me, too many to list....well....I could, but your eyes would be bleary. I suggest that you go and see the show if you can and if you can't, at least buy the catalog.  I'll be reviewing that at  a later date.

Quilt National runs roughly from now until September 2, 2013 at the Dairy Barn Art Center,  Dairy Lane, Athens, OH.


I am participating in Nina Marie Sayre's off the wall Fiber Fridays blog tour, take a look at the other blogs here:

http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/

Healing Hands and the Marianist Environment Education Center

I've been in a mad dash....not surprising, aren't I always?  But this time, I really thought I had it under control...ooopsie!  Every year, I try to participate in a local art show held by the Marianist Environmental Education Center at Gallery St. John, (Bergamo) in Dayton.  They hold a mixed media show which is themed every spring.  They have reclaimed land and are restoring it to its natural state after being used as a gravel quarry  and farmland and being sort of a holding area while I-675 was being made.

The education center works hard to teach people how to be kind to the land.

This year's theme is "Touching Earth".  The show will  run from June 5 through June 30, 2013.  You can read more about it here.  

I had intended to make two submittals, but was only able to get one done in time.  This is "Healing Hand Touches the Earth".  I blew up a tracing of my hand, and took a copyright free photo (provided by the U.S. Government. :)  ) and placed it in the palm of the hand.  I then did a foiled healing spiral over the earth.

The concept of the "healing hand" is one which is derived from a Native American design found in pictographs and other artifacts from the southeastern United States.   We don't really know what the hand symbolizes, but Reiki practitioners have taken it for their own and named it the healing hand.  

It is similar to the Hamsa, or the Hand of Fatima, but it is different because this middle eastern hand never carries the spiral.

I took down a boatload of other nature related pieces when I found they were light on entries.  Wouldn't you know, just as I pulled into the parking lot, the clutch pedal refused to come back up......so, that meant a tow to Troy.  I was grateful I was in a safe place and that nothing untoward happened  and that no one was inconvenienced...in fact, I was able to do some paperwork for the show for Sister Leanne while waiting for the tow truck.

But...I discovered I had accidentally left my bag of sketches for Elizabeth Barton's class over in New Lebanon when I went for stitching day on Thursday....and when I got home from MEEC (after an interesting ride in the tow truck), the chemotherapy hit me hard....and I was in bed for three days sleeping.   I am only now sort of among the living.  And I am woefully behind in Elizabeth's class...in fact, I haven't even posted anything...I hope that I'm not kicked out!

The best laid plans of mice and men.......

Sometimes You are Pleasantly Surprised.

Things have been REALLY nuts around Casa Quintana lately....things like flying to Atlanta for a training session 2/7; coming home late afternoon 2/9, going to Erie, PA for something for my husband, coming home, taking care of things (and recuperating  and going for a weekend quilt retreat on 2/15.  Add in there working on Taxes and my daughter's FAFSA report.....and things have just been a tiny bit nuts.

On Thursday of last week, I got a note from a friend telling me about an exhibition to benefit a cancer clinic.  I'm always up for doing things like that..even if I was leaving for the retreat the next day...and that was the deadline for the show.  Add in that they were looking for things which were bright and cheerful....and well...I had to think a little bit.

This particular piece is one I did in 2007 as part of the Kaufman "Life, Love and Hope" challenge which Luana Rubin of eQuilter put together.  This is my submission..and I suppose it is close to being part of a series as it is based on a poster by Alfonse Mucha, just like "In Orchid Paradise."  The title is, "Life, Love and Hope."  When I look at it now, it seems to me to be a bit...simple.  Too simple.  I can't  pull up a closeup of the faces right now, but I think they are a bit pallid....and of course, I don't like the idea that I pulled so strongly from Mucha.  I'd do it differently now.

They were asking for pieces in particular which would be offered for sale....and I thought I would be happy to part with this one...but something in the back of my head said I should check with my daughter to see if there were any of my quilts she was particularly fond of,  as she has never said much about any of my quilts.

Much to my surprise, she said that this was one of  her favorites....Maybe because I had her pose a couple of times so I could get the arm/hand placement correct...something I often have her do. (At first she would balk, but after a while, I think she began to understand what I was doing and was a more compliant model.)

So....I then asked her about the other I sent them....the Sun Fish I showed earlier this month...and to my surprise, she wanted that one too.  The one which she suggested I offer them was my "Voice of the People"  The frog done in the North West Tribal tradition of Button Robes, or robes of power.  Why? It scares her.

So, I hope to get back to working on new pieces....I have many running around in my head..and fabric and pieces gathered....but this weekend was spend working on a traditional bed quilt for my niece who requested this of me....I'm going to have to institute a new schedule!

Trout Rising

 I have been working on finishing UFOs (un-Finished Objects) and finally finished this small piece (17.5" x 12.5").  I started it in 2010 for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge.  I first took grey commericial batik and quilted it over wool with Sulky Sliver thread.  I then took a commercial tone-on tone dot and painted it with Lumiere fabric paints by Jacquard to make the trout's body.

The eye is a bit difficult...and I'm not sure I got it in the right place, but it is a glass animal eye from JHB Buttons.  The dots on the trout's back are regular washers from the hardware store which  I painted with Adirondack alchol dyes.  I then placed a black sequin over the top and held it with a black seed bead. If you're wondering why I chose to use the washers, we were supposed to use something metal in our work. Since I had just participated in an unconventional materials challenge, I thought these were just the thing for this idea.

I wanted to capture the trout just after it landed back into the water after leaping for a bug....so you have the disturbance of the splash as well as the ripples from the stream.
I then over-laid many bits and pieces of sheers, topping it off with a grey sheer which I pleated and hand stitched to make it go in the right directions.

After all that, I machine quilted it once again with a grey/green  metallic thread.

I hope to do a series on game fish.  I have several ideas for working on various trout and salmon.....and perhaps there's a bluegill and a sunfish in my future.

Once again, I'm participating with Nina-Marie Sayre's Off-the-wall Friday Fiber blog roll.  Take a look at her website and explore all the other wonderously fiberous things.

Knowing When to Fold--Design Element Decisions

 You've seen this quilt before....in a couple of different renditions.  This is my View from the Abyss.  In November, I added some material on the sides in order to make it the right size for an exhibition.  Their minimum size was 30".  While it was 33" tall, it was only 24" wide....so I added panels on the side in order to make it 30".

Then, when I went to enter it in Deux, a Studio Art Quilt Associate's show which was supposed to show a conversation between two pieces, I created this piece, which I called "Progression."  You see, the "View from the Abyss" was supposed to represent depression, looking up from a chasm and related to the way I felt back in 1998 when I was first diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer (for those who don't know, there is no stage V and people with stage IV cancer are given a 10% chance to make it to 5 years after diagnosis).  I was a 38 year old mother of a 4 year old...and I went into a tail spin.

This piece, Progression, was one which related to "Abyss."  Progression is a representation of my reaction to being diagnosed with a recurrence, this time with multiple bone mets.  This happened in 2009, and as I am starting my 3rd year of chemo, I look at life still as golden, but getting narrower and narrower.

Without my telling you this, you wouldn't understand it. This is also probably one of the (many) reasons I didn't make it into Deux.  When  a juror is looking at a piece, it has to speak to them and tell them the story without my narrative.   Obviously, this wasn't done.

Here is "Abyss" in its original form.  I liked the verticality of it and it lost that when I made it wider to fit into the show.  As I looked at it the in preparation for Deux, as well as now, the light area on the left disturbs me...it brings the eye to the outside and it doesn't flow.

I think adding the extra folds of black and taking out the piece improved it, but I don't think that the wider element made it work.

I was preparing the piece to be professionally shot for inclusion in a book and I kept on looking at it in the larger sense.  I had made the appointment to take it in to be shot by a professional photographer because I had a hard time getting this one in focus...and I'm still not sure why, except maybe for my eyesight issues.  The appointment  was for Monday morning.....so last Sunday, while watching Downtown Abbey, I was cleaning all little bits of fuzz, loose threads and cat hair off it...and I decided this wouldn't do.  I needed to re-make it one more time, cutting off some of the stuff on the sides.

So, here it is in it's final form.  I think it is better than the original, and MUCH better back as the narrower piece.

So...what did I learn?  Don't mess with your basic image to "make it fit" into a show...unless you are George Scilliano who famously took one of his miniature paper pieced wonders and re-blocked it into the right size to get into a show.  Go with your basic feeling...if the design feels right, then do it and let the sizes for shows go to the wind.

In addition, don't make quilts just to fit the theme of a show, unless you really really want to make a piece and have been thinking about it and this show just happened to come along.  It is much better to make art which makes you happy and find shows to enter after the fact.  Your design will be much better....and you will be much saner and happier in the long run.

Just curious...which rendition do you think is better and why?

Once again, I'm playing along with Nina-Marie Sayer and am participating in her Off-the-Wall Fiber Friday...even if it is Saturday.  Day late, dollar short that's me!  You can find lots of other wonderful fibery stuff at her blog here.  (  http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/  )

What makes a Good Challenge?

"Sun Fish", started 2006 completed 2008, Batty Binder's Quilt Guild Challenge, Lisa Broberg Quintana 36" square.

I am preparing to host a challenge for the Fast Friday Fabric Challenge, an online yahoo group I have belonged to for several years.  I struggle with the idea of challenges.

Don't get me wrong.  I have done a lot of challenges.   But I am sometimes beleaguered at present with the thought that perhaps I shouldn't do challenges anymore. You see, sometimes I think you can be wound up in doing challenges that you don't do more significant work, or do pieces which improve your body of work, or at least further it in some what.

In the quilting world, challenges are done among a group of quilters.  A challenge is issued to the group, based on any one or number of things: an idea, a word, a size, a shape,technique,  a particular fabric....ad infinitum.  Then, all the people who participate share their interpretation of the theme.

Challenges are particularly useful if you are having a dry period and can't seem to come up with anything on your own.  It is a great jump-starter.  It is also good if you want to experiment and explore other areas of quilting.  I also enjoy the camaraderie and love to see what others come up with.

Having said that, however, I also often run into challenges which make me balk, snarl and regret that I have ever said I would do it.  Most of the time, this is when you have a challenge which has too many rules.  As an art quilter, I tend to be a free spirit and while a few rules are OK, too many? Well, they're just stifling. Take for instance "Sun Fish."

"Sun Fish" started out as a Guild challenge with the Batty Binders.  The concept was great.  The chairman of the challenge issued us all a fat Quarter of the fabric, this fish print I think was by Hoffman.  Then, we played "Go Fish" to create the rest of the rules.  The rules specified how many borders, how many additional fabrics you could add, that you were supposed to use beads or buttons as an embellishment ...and I think there were a few more.

While I liked the "go fish" concept and thought it played into the theme quite well....I struggled as my stubbornness in people telling me what to do in my quilts just aggravated me.  I did learn on this piece...such as why you should use a foundation if you're making these little needle-like rayed borders (I didn't, they stretch and are easily misshapen!).  I was going to add beads...but when I started sewing them on, I just didn't like the look. So...I broke a rule.

"Scotties" 2008, Lisa Broberg Quintana 

This particular quilt was part of an "ugly fabric" challenge.  We were all given a fat quarter of fabric that the leaders deemed "ugly" and we were to use it in a quilt.  The "ugly" in this was the pink and green diagonally printed plaid fabric.  I saw this and immediately thought of the 1940s/50s scotties.  This, however, was the only rule involved.

The Fast Friday Fabric Challenge is a closed group of fiber artists who receive a challenge on the last Friday of the month and are given a week to complete a small piece based on the challenge. "Challenges will attempt to stretch members in their skills and creativity, encourage thinking outside the box, will teach new techniques and concepts. "

I asked the group, as well as the whole Quilt Art message board, what they thought composed the best challenges.  In the past year, the most popular, as well as the ones cited by members as being the best were ones which were rooted in traditional art--such as Gestalt, chiaroscuro, or J. M. W. Turner's use of light, or pieces which were to convey an emotion.   In general, members were looking for pieces which allowed them to express their own ideas and "excited their creativity."  Like me, they balked at challenges which required you to follow too many rules.  Syd Harper said "I need a challenge which is like a dare.  Something which says 'oh, you know you can't do it."  A number of members indicated that they liked challenges which explored different techniques.  

Kathy Loomis has been doing a series on "The Challenge of Challenges" which was a happy co-incidence to my posing the question.  She has several posts on her blog commencing with 12/3/2012.  If you go to her blog, you can see the other posts and click on the additional "Challenge of Challenges" to see where she goes with it.  One aspect that Kathy does is sort of interesting.  In essence, she sees the call for entries for quilt shows as often being challenges as they state the theme.  I have toyed with this concept and indeed have made pieces specifically to fit a show's theme although I am not sure if that is the best way for me to operate. I think that I would rather do pieces which fill my soul and explore areas I'm working on (that is a series) and if I find a show it fits, then put it in.  Sometimes I think I am spinning my wheels creating works just to go into a show.

"In Orchid Paradise," Lisa Broberg Quintana

A few pieces I have done for other challenges:  "In Orchid Paradise" was a challenge issued by the American Orchid Society in conjunction with a local quilt guild and shop.  I created this piece based on a poster by Alfonse Mucha.  It took a second place prize...the green fabric background, the orchid print (which I cut out and fused down) and a small pink polka-dot fabric were included in the challenge fabric packet.

Hoffman Fabrics issues a challenge every year, and while I entered that one once and created one which I didn't get done in time twice, I have never gotten into the show.  Robert Kaufman fabrics used to issue a challenge and I entered it twice, and got in twice (El Ritmo Flamenco and Tuscan Lady Bellingham both got in).  In addition, I also did another Much based piece and entered in Luanna Ruben/Robert Kaufman's " Life, Love and Hope" exhibition which was selected for the show.

I will probably continue doing challenges...but hopefully, I will be a lot more selective and make sure that they continue pushing me down a path rather than diverting me.

This is my post for Nina Marie's "Off the Wall Fridays."  You can see other participants here.