Confluence - Off to the New England Quilt Museum

The 6th and last iteration of Confluence - work by 5 West Coast Artists focusing on water - opens this week in Lowell, MA, at the New England Quilt Museum.  I have sent the following 8 quilts.   Grand closing event with Artist Walk Through on October 15 at 11 a.m.  At least 3 of us will be there to talk about our work.  Let your New England friends know!

Haida Waters:

 Seawall, Darwin:

Chinook Waters:

 Gyre 11:

 Seafloor (aka: Joolama III):

Roiling Waters:

Sandy Shore:

Night Wave:

Finally Got to Hauser Wirth in LA

This German gallery has opened a branch in Los Angeles in a former flour factory.  A wonderful space brilliantly reconfigured for a gallery.  Feels more like a museum than a show room.  Current (opening) exhibit is women sculptors from the second half of the 20th century.  AMAZING work!!  Vast and powerful.   No photos allowed in the show so just a couple of the  park on site.

Deborah's Exhibit

Click here for more photos.
Linda A. Miller: Of Interest



Linda kindly posted some photos she took of my solo exhibition artist walk through.  Take a peek!

CHROMA up at the JCC

Great turn out for the opening, and visitors have been coming steadily ever since.   Still 3 more weeks to see the entire show - over 30 pieces of my work!   It's been so much fun!!

Appreciated Appreciation

One of my Gyre quilts is touring for the next 2 years with Water is Life which opened at the UN HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, recently and is currently up at the US embassy in Rome.   A pleasure to be involved with a group drawing attention to such an important global need.  They kindly sent the following:

Hanging Day!

This is a preview of some of the 30+ pieces of my work that are now on view at the Alpert JCC (3801 E. Willow Long Beach, CA 90815) through the end of June.  Opening event this Sunday, May 22, from 2-5.  Better photos to come.  Let me know if you want a private artist walk through. This venue is open daily well into the evening so come by if you are in  the area.

Last of Texturizers Round Robin

This is the last piece, eight are now successfully done, and the entire series will be returned to the original makers (in this case Lisa Kerpoe out of Texas).    It's been a lot of fun and with this challenge we have seen just about every way to make texture on textiles represented by the artists.  This one of mine is hooked on linen.  I dyed all the wool, scores of colors!  I will add a curvy band of copper thread across the face and will post that when I do.

Exhibition Announcement

Hope to see you there!!

Let me know if you'd like an artist walk-through.

RENT

I made this art quilt, RENT, from a photo I took last year in Berlin of  rusted metal which had once been part of the Berlin Wall.    There is poignancy in the detritus of human suffering; it continues to resonate with the inner voices of the people who passed by.  In addition to tweaking the photo and having it printed by Spoonflower, I went in with both embroidery and traditional hooking.  I ripped through the fabric to expose its underlying history (represented by the linen and wool).  Of course it refuses to lie perfectly square - too many stories bursting out!

Suspension "Explainer"

My friend Jim Cahill and I made a sweet MP4 (only 1.5 minutes long) which describes in words and images (plus a little Eric Satie to establish the mood)  the installation.   I cannot upload it to Blogger as the file is too big and I don't have the savvy to shrink it without destroying it.  So PLEASE see it on my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1334588432&ref=name

D-Dub

Made this quilt last year for an App Quilt Challenge.    It's an example of my fussy cutting technique.  It was on view at Road to California in 2015 and then went off into the ether never to be seen again!    Thought it was supposed to tour but not a word about another showing.    I'm not particularly worried, just a tad curious...

Visited the new Broad Museum in LA

Bradford:

Murakami:

Deb + Jeff:

Baldessari's Tips for Artists Who Want to Sell

Water is Life - Held over till mid April!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153760925763876.1073742237.57207008875&type=3&pnref=story

 

Texturizers Round 7

We have reached the penultimate round - one more to go.  Again, this is my response to the six pieces I received from the other artists.  And, as usual, I don't feel comfortable posting their work so you can't see how the series are evolving (you could look at their sites to see if they have put up their work -  Cindy McConnell, Carol Nilsen, Barbara James, Jeanne Sission, Priscilla Smith, Connie Tiegel and Lisa Kerpoe).     I over-dyed a piece of cotton on which I'd printed awhile ago.  Then I printed with the gold paints using a couple of different screens.  Next, I appliqued on the vertical strips and the curved ones which I tacked invisibly in place.  No backing on this piece as I'm thinking more about what the final recipient (Carol) might want to do with it and to leave her a lot of options.

Opening at the UN Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland

My quilt Gyre #8 is one of about 40 pieces by international artists which were juried into Water is Life.  The show goes to the New England Quilt Museum once in closes in Switzerland and then tours through 2017 all over the US at the Mancuso Quilt shows.  Pleased and proud to be included in such a socially important exhibit.

btw - Gyres are the many mile wide garbage patches which pollute the oceans of the world with plastic debris;  they will not ever break down completely.      Apparently there is not an animal or plant in the seas which does not contain micro beads from these insidious objects we discard!

I ice dyed the ground fabric then melted household plastics and appliqued them in place.

See the whole exhibit at (copy and paste this address):
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153760925763876.1073742237.57207008875&type=3&pnref=story

Dyeing Wool

Spent a couple of hours today creating an array of reds for my hooking project.  Good old fashioned Cushing dyes.  Where it all began for me: Maine roots and childhood packets of dyes.  Nothing simpler, more instantaneous and rewarding.  My only problem was that I didn't have any white wool so, in fact, these are all over-dyes.

Back in Action

Back from a glorious trip to Tasmania, I've recovered from jet lag and am finding time to do a bit in the studio.    Believe it or not I'm actually testing some old school hooking techniques.   Been trying an array of wools, yarns, etc., and various ground fabrics to work into.  Here's a bit with ideas which might apply to a project I have in mind - yea, a quilt.

Off to Tasmania

Here's who I hope to meet...   (Why do they all look like cartoon characters??  Oh, yea, because animators use them as models!)   All marsupials.

Quokka:

Wombat Baby and Adult:

Echidna:

Tasmanian Devil: