Taking the Long View

Y-Bridge, Zanesville, OH from park

A great benefit of belonging to Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) is the opportunity to sit and discuss art with other members.   I especially like how quite often such discussions can change the way I look at things.  When working at the SAQA booth in Cincinnati, I had the pleasure to sit and discuss some of the work we saw at Fiber Philadelphia with Sue King and Nysha Nelson.  Both Sue and I had had similar reactions to a piece on display.  We were struck by it, but for all the wrong reasons.

I didn't see any design merit in it, and saw it as merely a gimmicky piece which stayed in your mind for negative reasons (reaction, not statement).  Nysha disagreed.  He said that he first saw it from across the room, a long view of it.  What he saw was a tree-shaped piece with an interesting play of light and darks.  It was only when he got up close to it that he realized what it was made of and some of the other details which served to put me off.

I, on the other hand, had come upon it from close quarters, and I didn't see the positive elements that Nysha did.  Well worth considering.  Certainly enlightening and I came away from that discussion with the thought that I needed to see it again, through Nysha's eyes.

Later, when I was walking through the quilts on exhibition at IQF Cincinnati, I came upon an older woman who was using her reducing glass, otherwise known as a peep-hole from a door.  I exclaimed how brilliant she was to bring it along, especially in areas where you couldn't really stand back.  She grinned and said that she really can't come to appreciate the whole quilt until she views it from far and from near.  She pointed to one quilt and told me I had to look through to see the play of light and dark.  She was so right...I wouldn't have realized how superb the quilter was at giving the piece depth without borrowing her glass because I simply couldn't get far enough away from it.

One amusing thing....the white glove lady hurried over to us and said "I'm sorry, but I have to ask this...with all the new equipment, that's not a camera is it???" We laughed and said no, and the lady explained what it was used for....and the woman had a blank face...I don't think she understood.

I, however, had my dear husband buy me one on his next visit to Lowe's....and now, for all of $3.95, I too can take the long view.

Creative Statements: SAQA OH at Zanesville Museum of Art

Sue King and "Farhrenheit"

Susan Shie, Sue King, Carole Staples, and unknown.

Quilts at Zanesville,.  From left, Kathleen Loomis: Postage 6: Epidemic; Debra Bentley June's Dementia; Frauke Palmer  "Thin Green Line", Carole Gary Staples "Chillin'"


I'm afraid that I didn't get a lot of photos, I intend to take some more when I go back later.


One thing which you can see on the above photograph is that the lighting is a bit odd...I think the cans need to be re-directed. 

 This is going to be short and sweet...it suddenly dawned on me on Thursday, that I was running out of time....2 small pieces to be done by Wednesday (I'd prefer them done and delivered tomorrow); two large works to be done by May 3, and a whole host of other things.....What happened to April? Oh, right...SAQA conference, Easter, and IQF, and Saturday's opening of the Studio Art Quilt Associates Ohio Regional Show at the Zanesville Museum of Art.

It's hard to believe that just two years ago, Sue King asked us to brainstorm as to what we wanted.  Number one priority was a regional show.  Sue, and Shelly Brenner Baird, Terry Ann Hartzell and Kris Worthington managed a herculean task and got Kathleen Loomis to jury our first show.  The Zanesville Museum of Art hosted this show which showcases the works of 27 artists.

My husband, my neighbor and I ventured over to Zanesville for the opening on Saturday which was really fun.  At left you can see Susan Shie, Carole Gary Staples taking a picture of Sue King.  Just in the far left, you can see my little piece.

Dee Dadik and Molly Butler in front of Jancy McClellan-Ryan's "Battles" 

Fiber Philadelphia and SAQA Conference

Martha Sielman, executive director of SAQA  

 Last Wednesday, bright and early, I drove over to Lancaster, Ohio to meet up with Sue King to drive to the Studio Art Quilt Associates conference  in Philadelphia.  The conference was co-sponsored by the Surface Design Association and SAQA with the lectures and panel presentations, opening of Art Quilt Elements AND Outside/Inside the Box exhibitions as well as tours of Fiber Philadelphia preceding S.D.A. workshops which will run through April 4th.  Sue and I got there early for Sue to attend the SAQA Reps meeting, leaving on Sunday so that Sue could return to work today.

I intended to blog from the conference, and a number of people did, but I found that I was usually just too tired or too busy!

It was a lot of fun meeting people who I had "talked with" on the internet, admired their work, or just heard of.  I'm afraid that my head was spinning with new names, faces and ideas.  There's little wonder that one of the public art pieces showed three dragons, one with the pearl of great price....

One of the panel discussions on Friday was Elizabeth Barton, Sandra Sider and David Revere McFadden's presentation on the Jurying of Art Quilts Elements 2012.  It was especially interesting as we attended the show for the opening later that day.

One comment that Mr. McFadden made was that none of the quilts were particularly innovative.  He said he wanted to see quilts which used fiber optics...or other things...

One thing which I was mulling around after his statement was when does innovation become gimmick?  Why push to use new materials, if it doesn't SAY anything?

Perhaps it wasn't earth shattering, but it was a piece I liked very much and wouldn't have thought of doing on my own is this piece "Twisted", by Diane Nunez (please put a tilda over the "n" ).   Diane quilted the strips of fabric, put grommets in the top, twisted them and inserted metal rods.
  Diane is from Southfield, Michigan and I like how the space between the pieces of fabric is just as important as the pieces themselves....the negative space gives some balance.  It seems like the theme of many pieces in this show, as well as in Fiber Philadelphia, were exploring shadows within the pieces, something I have been thinking about recently as well.

I'm looking forward to seeing Diane again at the IQF show in Cincinnati in a couple of weeks...and you back here tomorrow....

SAQA OH and especially Sue King and Carole Staples ROCK!

Saturday,  the SAQA OH (Studio Art Quilters Association's OH branch) held a "parlor meeting" in West Chester, OH hosted by Carole Gary Staples at the West Chester public library north of Cincinnati.  Carole and OH Rep Sue King did a wonderful job. 16 art quilters gathered for a potluck lunch, show and tell, discussion of future plans, and to view "Stitched".

I must admit, I was a very rude person as Deb Bentley would make a comment about the movie and I'd say "Ohh! just wait what comes next."  Or, "get ready for this part, pay close attention."  I was  bad because this was the fourth time I had seen the movie...so I apologize to all others attending.

I had had the pleasure of meeting Carole Staples in January at the parlor meeting that Maria Elkins hosted.  Her works are joyous.  This particular piece she made for a breast cancer awareness exhibition.  The two smaller pieces she is holding in the shot above are ones which she has been making by improvisation.  She reaches into a basket of scraps and pulls out pieces to work with, not making patterns, but just composing as she goes.  I love them because they are so full of joy.

Sue King, seen here at left, has only been the Ohio representative since last year and she's been doing wonderful things.  It is really a pleasure to talk with her.  She's been working on a series of quilts done from photographs taken for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) documenting the Great Depression here in Ohio.  You can see her work here, and she is opening a solo show this week:  Re-Imagining Color and Tradition at the Southern Campus of Ohio University located in Ironton, Ohio. The exhibition takes place in the OU Art Gallery located in the Dingus Tech Building. The opening reception will be held at 6:00 PM on Thursday, June 23, 2011. The show runs through July 14, 2011.

My photos are sparse and of rather poor quality.  I'm afraid that the chemotherapy I'm on is heavily affecting my eyesight which is extremely blurry.  I had hoped to spend more time looking in depth at the rest of the works that people brought in.  Maria Elkins, another SAQA member who was there covered many of the pieces on her blog which you can see here.

I am really enjoying my membership in SAQA.  I only joined last year, which is a real pity.  When I lived in Connecticut I ran into Martha Sielman the executive director of SAQA.  It must have been in the last 1990s and she encouraged me to join.  I was greatly embarrassed..I didn't have a studio, for heaven's sakes I sewed on the dining room table...and artist???  Hmmm...while I did my own thing in quilting and rarely could follow anyone's directions (I wanted to do my own thing which was sort of a problem for some of my teachers who I took classes from)...I hardly considered myself an artist.  I was a mom...and a museum curator and a wife....and....I keep on wondering where I would be now if I HAD joined when Martha suggested it..

This last picture is of fellow Miami Valley Art Quilters Carroll Schleppi on the left who is a recent joiner, and Debra Bentley on the right who joined at about the same time I did.  They are holding one of the loon quilts Deb is doing in a current series.  I was very distracted at the end of the meeting.....All of a sudden I was getting really horrific floaters.   Deb asked me if I had had flashes of light as well, which I had when I came into the meeting at about ll am....based on her experience it could have been a detached or torn retina which scared me pretty well.  Carroll and Debra drove me to Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton where we sat and continued to chat until the doctors pronounced that I only had a vitreous detachment which is the least damage which could be done.  I admit, the floaters (dark shapes caused by the leakage) are quite large and distracting until I get used to them, but at least it isn't more severe damage.  Quite frankly, I'm really tired of my health dramas and would rather just quilt!