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 Center Art Quilt Show: Suzanne M. Riggio, Ann Diller, Priscilla Stultz

Suzanne Mouton Riggio, Wauwatosa, WI, "Louisiana Mud," 22" x 17" $1,250.

Ann Diller, Dayton, OH, "Blue Bayou," 18.25" x 23.5"  $200.

Priscilla Stultz, Fairfax, VA,. "Morning Mist," 28" x 32"  $450.



So...this was an experiment....do you miss my narrative, or are you tired of seeing me prattle along? 

Aullwood 2011: Debra Bentley and Fran LaSalle, Suzanne Riggio

Debra Benley Isle Royale Sunset

Debra Bentley and Fran LaSalle are the last of my Miami Valley Art Quilt Network (that's Ohio...do they HAVE vallies in Florida??) cronies who entered the Aullwood show. 

Debra has been working on a series of loons.  Many, if not most, of her work is done on a nature theme.  Not surprisingly, she told me that as a child she and her siblings would sit and study artwork (primarily led by her mother I think) and were also informally taught by her father and other relatives who were naturalists.

Debra has taken many trips to Isle Royale National Park, an Island park off the tip of Michigan's upper peninsula right int he middle of Lake Superior.  Isle Royale is famous for its wolf population and for all the other wildlife you can see there.  Loons are some of Deb's favorites.

Debra Bentley Isle Royale Sunset

I hope you can see in this detail the amount of thread work she put in on it.  The threadwork gives a really nice textural effect.  The size of this piece is 33.5" x 52".

Fran LaSalle also does a lot of natural themed work. This is her Something Fishy II.  Fran has used dimensional work in her seaweed.  Fran's piece measures 24" x 28" and is priced at $500.

Suzanne Mouton Riggio April Showers, 12" x 8.5"  $625.00

Suzanne Mouton Riggio "April Showers" detail.

Suzanne Mouton Riggio is from Wauwautosa, Wi.  I always have to point that out because it is so much fun to say.  Suzanne was inspired by the drenching April showers to make this little piece.  She took a photograph and worked with it in Photoshop until it seemed as if it was seen through sheeds of rain coming down.  She painted the sky and used Sulky Silver Sliver thread (a sort of hollographic thread) to quilt it in order to give the impression of the rain   coming down.  She also used tiny sequins sporadically on the surface which gives a nice effect.

I love Suzanne's artist statement, mostly because I feel the same way.  In it, she says  "My quilted art creations   -really quilted tapestries-- of personal symbols and observations reflect my passion to search, understand and record the world around me, especially the beautiful, the hopeful and the historical. 

My art represents a major transition in my life--from a long career in music to one in visual arts.  I am driven to express myself, to tell stories and to leave a cultural imprint of my time to my children and grandchildren.  I simply must create.  I choose the ancient fiber form of quilting as my medium because not only is manipulating fabric a tactile pleasure, but also there is in quilting  a real sense of connection  between maker and viewer."

Well said, Suzanne!

Aullwood: Suzanne Mouton Riggio a lesson in perseverance

Since I have been working so hard lately in the garden trying to get it to look its best by this coming Saturday (my daughter has decided to have her senior pictures taken in my garden....at a time when it isn't its best because of drought and a gap between the summer bloomers and the autumn glory), I thought I'd share Suzanne Mouton Riggio's Garden Gate.

This particular piece isn't like much of what I have seen of Suzanne Riggio's work. Suzanne, who lives in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin doesn't usually create pieces which are as traditionally based as this...and when I read the artist statement, I understood why.

Suzanne has worked years on this piece. I don't think I could say it as well as she has, so I'm going to include her statement here:

"I had not been quilting for long when I decided to do a garden quilt with a wrought iron gate in front of it. It was such fun finding all the flowers and leaves, then organizing them so that the larger were in the forefront and the smaller in the distance. Prior to quilting, in order to show the garden in early morning with fog in the distance, I painted silk for the background in graduating greens and emphasized its depth by meander stitching the distant foliage in greens from light (farther) to dark (closer).

I chose green rat-tail to be the iron gate. The longest stretch of time in the making of this quilt was the hand couching. I kept the work in a tote bag that traveled with me to doctor's offices and hospital rooms where I got a few stitches in while I was waiting to be seen or while visiting my heart patient husband. After 12 years, I was hospitalized for spinal surgery. A lengthy convalescence enabled me to finally complete the couching.


The binding proved extremely difficult too. Because I was now a parapalegic, I used my right hand to work the foot pedal of my sewing machine and my left hand to manipulate the fabric. In spite of using the zipper foot, I was unable to close the gap between the outermost rattail and the binding. Yay for perseverance and stitch ripping!"

Unfortunately, Suzanne doesn't have a website per se or a blog, but she has exhibited widely and has had several articles written about her. You can see one of her pieces here. You can find more by Googling her name.

Her piece is 26 1/2" square and you can see it here hanging with the other garden like quilts in the Aullwood Nature Center's exhibition hallway.

Like Suzanne, my quilting is my constant companion in doctor's offices and hospitals...and other places, including waiting to be seated at restaurants. I just can't stand to not have my hands going. :)