New Beginnings

HAPPY  NEW  YEAR to all!! 

   

We will be in India until mid January.

Stolen Artwork

 I have had four pieces of my artwork stolen BY the Art Factory in Paterson, NJ.  I, and the other members of Confluence, participated in that gallery's Sept. - Nov. 2013, International Textile Exhibition.  There was a lot of strange behavior going on like no proper opening, almost no Facebook or website postings of the show, and then we were told that the whole thing had come down several weeks early.  But they did not return the work until my co-curator (Inga Buell) and I called and emailed numerous times.  At that point they sloppily wrapped the work NOT in our original packing materials and sent back most of it.  Several pieces came with damaged frames, etc.   But three of my mixed media embroideries and one textile lamination have never been returned to me.  We have called and emailed countless times since Nov. 16, the purported closing date.   They do not respond at all and I have filed a police report, not an easy task in another state from the one in which I live, and am also filing a complaint with the NJ Attorney General's Office.   This has been excruciatingly painful and I therefore want to warn any and all artists NOT to show their work at the Art Factory.  The owners are David J. Garsia and Donata Anna Garsia.

The missing pieces:

Fresh Water Salmon:

  

   

 SeaTangle #1

 

SeaTangle #4

Trash Overboard 

 

Atoll

This is an as yet unfinished piece that I started in the Sue Cavanaugh workshop I took in Ohio a couple of months ago.  She taught us, and showed us, her amazing 3D shibori quilts.   I stitched and tied and dye painted then ripped the whole thing into pieces.  Now I'm in the process of stitching it to a ground fabric and starting to embroider it.   Off to get more creamy white silk threads.

My holiday gift wrap!

 This is my first attempt to do wrapping paper with Spoonflower.  Just got the rolls and they are putting a smile on my face.    Enjoy!!

Corrections, Please

This is the fifth module for Chroma:Red.  It refers to all those student essays I KINDLY corrected with non-threatening green ink.  But I always secretly wished I could really say what I  meant with the power of RED!!

Some Eye Candy . . .

Arctic Summer is a paper and ink collage I did last year and it is the basis for five subsequent pieces done in fabric by myself and four other artists.   It will be on display in Whittier, CA,  in January-February 2014.  Details to follow.

Algae is a brand new piece that is made by piecing fabrics, many of which I dyed myself.  Once stitched, I added a lot of antique lace and other embellishing threads for movement and texture.    It's 18" x 24".

Gone for a Couple of Weeks to Australia

Fabulous trip!  The opening of the Oz Quilt show in Canberra was worth the trip in itself.  I saw A LOT of amazing textiles including drop dead gorgeous tapestries by Valerie Kirk (thank you, Valerie, for jurying my piece into the exhibit!), but my  fav is below:  "Perhaps Renewal" by Marianne Penberthy.  The essence of Australia's landscape. Haunting.

Shibori Samples

Here are a few examples of shibori I made in the Sue Cavanaugh Workshop I just completed at the (Nancy) Crow Barn in central Ohio.    The workshop was fabulous and Sue is inspirational.  Not sure yet how I will incorporate the techniques into my own work, but they work well for large and 3D so I know they will pop up soon.

Chroma:Red

I have been working on the Chroma series for about 16 months.  Chroma:Red is the fifth panel.  They are all about 6 feet tall and 44 inches wide.  Here we can see the modules of Red which I have recently finished.  Two more are in progress at the moment.  There will be eight modules making up the panel.  These are Fire, Hearts and Texture which explores the range of what we call red.  Many more images of the completed panels are available to be seen on the blog if you scroll back to summer 2012.

Official Announcement

Here's for the show in Canberra to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canberra as the capitol of Australia.  Willy-willy - my art quilt - and  I will be winging our way over later this month.  Can't wait.  Tell all your Aussie friends!

8" x 8"

This is round three of the round robin challenge my workshop group has had since we met for a month at FiberFly Studios last spring.  I pieced the underlying quilt block then made a copy of it on printable voile.   I'm so proud of everyone for continuing to do their pieces!

Sparks are Flying

This is the piece - 36" square - I sent off to Illuminations, the 2013 Art Cloth Network exhibition for jurying by Bruce Hoffman.   Let's hope he likes it!  There is a hidden layer of silk satin underneath the panels.  It was so cool to see how two different kinds of silk took the same dye using the same fold pattern.    It's called Sparks for obvious reasons.  Ooops!  I forgot to mention in my Artist Statement that it is foiled, too. 

Confluence in Paterson, New Jersey

Haidu Waters at Vision Gallery in Chandler

Here's the announcement; stop by if you are near Chandler!

Ice Flow St. Pete

I've waited a couple of years since my visit to both St. Petersberg, Russia, and St. Pete, FL, to make this piece.  While it is cold and snowy in the former, it was actually the visit to the latter which really inspired this quilt.  The chunks of industrial glass which create part of an exterior wall at the Chihuly Glass Museum are captured here in fabric and paint. 

Willy-Willy

Off to Australia, both Willy-Willy and I, in October.  Willy-Willy (the name for the swirling wind funnels which act like tornadoes) will be on view at the National Museum's upstairs gallery from the end of October into December in Canberra, Australia, along with the work of leading Australian textile art/quilt makers.   I'm the only American with work in the show.   Lucky me!!

Las Laguna Gallery

If you will be in or around Laguna Beach in the next few weeks please swing by this gallery which will have two of my embroideries: Flotsam and Jetsam, among many other small works.  Check their website for opening hours.  Let me know if  you stop in.

Dye Day

Six of us spent Sunday at Susan Willen's house dyeing up a storm.  Here are some samples from my stash.  The first five photos are of work I completed on Sunday, done very precisely as can be seen by the clarity of the crackle.  The next day I did more of a general immersion dyeing to use up the left over dyes and those samples are much muddier as is expected.  All will, I'm sure, find their way into future art quilts.  Keep a look out!

Schuylkill River

This is my Art Cloth Network 2012 piece which is part of the touring Inspirations series going to Evanston, Illinois, and San Jose, CA, this fall and winter (see side panel for dates).  The "inspiration" was the experience of seeing all that gorgeous trash in the river after flooding.  The piece is recycled bubblewrap and other plastics.