Dayton Landmarks Quilts: #4 Dayton Skyline

Dayton Skyline by Ronnie Doyal

I have dreaded starting this post.  For one thing, it is the largest slice of all the ones we interpreted in fiber.  For another, the person who had the first slice, the one of the far left didn't get it done.  So...it is a little problematic.  In addition, when we hung the quilts at the Schuster, we were at the mercy of the brackets we used to hang them over...there was no fudging to make the quilts be hung close together.  We had to split them into two groups because it would have been too long on one batten...and probably would have required us to use a 2 x 4 in order to support the weight.

So, here are six of the originally planned 7 panels showing the skyline as the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network saw it. When we hang it at the next venues, the two center sections will be closer together.

Kate Burch did the first panel.  I was amused by the fact that so many of the quilters in this group chose to do a pieced background.  Kate's perfectly pieced squares set on point really do give the illusion of a lightly clouded sky from a distance.

When I was looking at the slice photo, I kept on wondering if Kate left us a secret message in script on the trees.


No, it's just shading that she did with her free motion quilting.  I've tried to show you in this closeup below....you still don't see it well.

Ginny Crabtree did this next section. Ginny is one of what I think of as the newer MVAQN members, although I think she joined us about 4 years ago. Ginny has really progressed in her development as an art quilter.

I am particularly taken with Ginny's steeple, and the detail that she used above.




Debra Bentley's section is really fun. I love how she made her sky and the change of shades in the trees. The glass on the building in the foreground is masterful, as is her alignment and handling of the windows in the multi-sided building.
































Sara Lynne Walsh is another newer member of the group, who has moved to the Raleigh/Durham, NC area. Our loss. I love her use of masses....she uses large segments of pieces to evoke the image...and her color choices are always dead on. While I am one to add many fussy details, Sara Lynne communicates her ideas in big blocks. I just love it!  Her choice of batik for the sky is also just perfect.












Pam Geisel IS one to add fussy details, and to do it with superb precision. She usually incorporates traditional piecing in her backgrounds, but she adds elements which are perfectly aligned.















Joan Sterr always does interesting work. She, like Kate Burch, made her sky from squares set on point, but Joan uses pieces with more pattern and value changes than Kate did.






Below is a detail showing the ribbon she used for the metal bits and the prints for her trees and sky.

I hope to get the last segment done before we hang the show at our additional venues.  Tomorrow will be the last slice quilt from the current works.

Dayton Landmarks Quilts: Part II The Arcade

Today, I'm sharing with you two images from the Dayton Landmarks Project undertaken by the Miami Valley (OH) Art Quilt Network.  At left is Ronnie Doyal's view of "The Arcade" a building in downtown Dayton which once held several shops and restaurants.....I have never been inside, and it was closed long before I moved to Dayton.  The few times it has been opened for the general public to go in, I wasn't able to attend.  You can find out more about it here on the Friends of the Dayton Arcade website and here on Wikipedia.

This particular image gave some of our members trouble....While we had specified that the pieces should be 42" long, several members took their drawings in to be enlarged from the "slice" we gave them and asked the photocopy shops to enlarge to 42" and when they got home, discovered that they weren't 42".  So...lesson learned the hard way...never leave the photocopy place without MEASURING the actual dimensions as you shouldn't have to pay if they didn't do what you asked.  I recommend carrying your own measuring tape.

The "slice artists" are from left to right:  Diane Boley, Fran La Salle, Susan Schaller, and Kate Burch. These particular pieces have LOTS of detail.  Unlike most of the other people working on this piece, these artists did see each others work before they were finished.

I was going to show you two pieces tonight...but because the detail on this was so extreme, I decided to show you some closeups and save the other for it's own post.....I didn't want to make it so photo heavy it wouldn't load!

I hope you can see this a bit better.  Of the four artists working on this piece, Diane Boley probably is the newest to art quilting.  One of the interesting things Diane did was to use Angelina fibers in the sky to make it sparkle a bit.

 Fran LaSalle paid a lot of attention to detail and she, I think, got the most of the sculptural pieces on the building.  She did a consummate job at shading and in getting those carvings down. You can get a better sense of her shading in the second image.

Susan Schaller used nothing but Lumiere paints in her piece and did all the "construction" with free-motion quilting...you can see how she handled her carvings in the above image.

Kate Burch's slice was the last on the right, and I think it is interesting how she got the fabric to mimic the mottled effect on the building. I can't swear to it, but I think Kate used the same ombre fabric that Sue DeSantis used in her Carillon piece.

Miami Valley Art Quilt Network at the Dayton Metro Library

Yesterday, Carroll Schleppi, Maxine Thomas, Christine Landis and I hung the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network's show at the Dayton Public Library.  Carlette Baynum, the library's coordinator asked us if we wanted to hold the show now in order to coincide with a special even at the New Lebanon branch on March 12.  Normally, we have a little more time to get things co-ordinated...but I think the show looks pretty good. Nine members of MVAQN have items in, for a total 21 pieces. The show will run from March 2 through April 13. All of the photos on this post are ones Carlette took.

It is an interesting show and might be appropriately named "Old and New."  Some of the artist put in early pieces while mine literally had the sleeves sewing in while waiting to hang.

Here is Chris Landis' "Lone Maple," my "Gold Bars," and Maxine Thomas' "East Meets West Friendship Quilt."   Here's the information from Maxine's label:  This quilt is a rich combination of collage, beading, embellishment, patchwork, appliqué and quilting folding. It is both hand and machine quilted. Hand and machine quilting, charms, and buttons provide further improvisational embellishment.

 

This quilt grew out of my experience in Japan. While there my quilt group put together a friendship quilt using traditional patchwork and with all of the club members’ names in Japanese. When I returned to the US I asked my quilt group to sign squares to put into this Japanese inspired quilt. I now have two friendship quilts one in Japanese using traditional patchwork designs and another in English with Japanese inspired designs.

I think you've seen this one before...but it is my Redwing blackbird....and I have been hearing the spring calls of the birds so I think that my beloved friends will soon be back...

Chris' "Spent Coneflowers" which she did as her answer to MVAQN's Coneflower challenge.

 

Kate Burch did this piece entitled "On Walkabout" in 2008.  Here's her descripton:  

Applique, machine quilted.  Cotton and polyester fabrics; machine embroideries embellished with glass and bone beads; footprints stenciled with Shiva Paintsticks.

This quilt was inspired by Australian commercial prints with Aboriginal designs.  The "walkabout" is an Aboriginal rite of passage in which a youth goes alone into the bush for six months, retracing the paths of his ancestors and recreating legendary historic deeds.

All but one of the embroidered Aboriginal animal and symbol designs were digitized by the artist, guided by copyright-free clip art from Dover press.  One design, the "bush onion," was pre-digitized by John Smigh Gumbula, an Aboriginal artist.  

I am afraid that the present course of chemo therapy is really throwing me for a loop.  My eyesight is blurry enough that I was having trouble threading my needle to put on the sleeve even with a needle threader. In addition, my fingers just don't work right.  They are tender, but the tips are also numb...a strange combination which doesn't make for easy sewing.  After hanging this show, I went home and had lunch then slept for 2 hours; made dinner, then went to bed at 9:30 and didn't get up until 8:30.....most annoying. 

Friend's work at NQA

It's always fun to see someone's work you know at a big show. Two of my fellow quilters from the Miami Valley Art Quilt Network had pieces in the NQA show. Kate Burch did this thread painted and machine embroidered piece called "Colonial Algae (Various Species of Hydrodictyaceae). Kate thread painted over an inkjet printed image of the algae. Her comment is "Pond scum, like people, often reveal their inner beauty upon closer inspection."




Kate has been doing a lot of work with digitizing and doing machine embroidery.














Joan Sterr did this piece called "Tree-ology" as part of the NQA batik challenge.