Day Two of the Everything Workshop

On top of the beautifully dyed fabric which the students did last week, today they used paint to print and stamp and otherwise add amazing design and color.  At the end of the day some went in with water soluble media - pens and other colorants - to add more background and begin to tie the elements together.  Some GORGEOUS results and we're only half way through!

Class is In Session

This week I began teaching a four part series at FiberFly Studios on creating an art quilt from start to completion.  Here are a few photos of some of the dyeing techniques we covered: tray dyeing, parfaits, various resist techniques (clothes pins, rubber bands, stitching, etc.).     Next week we'll be printing on these same fabrics and students will continue developing their skills and creating materials for their final project.   So far WAY fun!!

Starting Some Color Studies

4 Day Workshop Coming Up

Dye!  Print!  Embellish!  Finish an Art Quilt!

            Workshop :  4 Days of Hands-on Studio Work

Deborah  Weir (nationally known textile artist) will take  students through all the basic steps to making an intricate, contemporary fine art quilt. 

4 Wednesdays: February 27, March 6, March 13, March 20     from   10am-4pm

Cost: $320 (includes lunches and most supplies).   Payment reserves your spot. Email or call for more details.  Supply list upon registration.    All levels.

At FiberFly Studios:

Deborah Weir    21 Encanto Dr. Rolling Hills Estates CA 90274    310 325-1895   FiberFly@cox.net   DeborahWeir.net    FiberFly.blogspot.com

                                         BrickFielder (from the Fierce Winds series)

Here are some of the specific techniques we will be focusing on:

 1.  Dyeing – Overall, shibori (various techniques), color layering, soy wax resist, over-dyeing. 

 2.  Printing with paint  - Using the Thermofax machine, screen printing, soy wax resist, masking tape resist, sponges, plastic page protectors

3.  Surface Design – Design/color basics, Tyvek, Angelina, handstitching, water soluble lace, synthetics/heat, bleach PEN, painted fusible, foiling, Paintsticks, DecolourantPlus

4.  Putting It All Together – Cutting, piecing, batting, edges,quilting, matt/frame vs. sleeve

Each student will go home with a small quilt and a notebook filled with samples of techniques for reference.         

Flat Earth

This is the start of a new silk piece I'm making for the Quilts on the Wall annual challenge; the theme is maps.   Using fabrics from all over the globe, and the square as a repeating  graphic, I have decided to call it Flat Earth, maybe Flat Earth Theory, or maybe The Earth Really is Flat.  Not sure which is catchier.  Then again, maybe just Walkabout.

Watch the slide show of the GRAND OPENING:

Fiber Forward at the Palos Verdes Art Center in southern California.  100 textile artworks, three exhibits, up until March 17, open daily.  Please come by!!

This free slideshow generated with Smilebox

Palos Verdes Art Center Fiber Forward

A whole team of folks have been working like mad people to get our shows up and running for the Friday opening.  I'm not posting pix yet as I want to wait till the signage is up.  But the show is hung and there are crowds expected for the grand event from 6-8 on the 18th.  (Wine and munchies and maybe some music, too.)  Good news: my workshop on  dye transfer to silk scarves is BULGING with eager students - 16 already signed up and no one has even seen the show yet!!  There's a great preview article about the event in the Peninsula News.       http://www.pvnews.com/articles/2013/01/10/arts_and_entertainment/a_e1.txt



And, for a laugh .  .  .

On Another Subject Altogether . . .

Last of the 12" x 12" Collages

There are five pieces each made by five different artists in response to a collage each of us made last summer.  This is my textile piece based on the paper collage made by Laurie Bucher.  My other four are here on the blog but back a few months.  It was such a pleasure working on this as I've been crazed working on the 3 textile exhibitions I'm curating at the Palos Verdes Art Center (opening Jan. 18 from 6-8  then up till March 17) and this was a welcome break - away from the computer!

Chroma: Orange is coming along

Modules 2 + 3 are done.

Three Fiber Shows I'm Curating!!

PLEASE COME!!   Email me if you have questions.  More about the silk scarf girls' night out wine/munchies in the gallery workshop to follow - February 28 from 7-9.  Click on the images below to make them big enough to read.   Fierce Winds is my solo art quilt exhibition that was up in Western Maryland all summer.

Painting

At last!  I moved out of my studio annex months ago and got a lovely new washable floor in my office.  The easel has been sitting here for at least 2 months and today I finally put paint to canvas.  This was a piece that I started during the summer and it didn't take long to complete it.  I'd been trying to stay away from mixing fiber with paint but this one has paper and I do want to add some stitching to a new piece.  I see some serious texture in the not too distant future creeping into the paintings.  (Not that it hasn't, but this time more intentionally!)

Sand Mandala

Buddhist  monks have been working on this mandala at the local Palos Verdes Unitarian Church all week.  They will be sweeping it away on Christmas to help us remember not to get too attached to material objects.  But . . . they were taking photos themselves!  Can't blame them - it is gorgeous and done completely from memory.

Juarez

This very graphic piece honors the women working in the American factories in Juarez, Mexico, who have not made it home safely.  The dark, mostly unpaved streets, hold terrors, and scores of women have been raped and murdered.  The black graphic in the background is a stylized map of the city of Juarez near the US border. 

Chroma:Orange

I've just found time to start this next piece in the Chroma series and have completed the texture module.    So much going on as I'm curating three shows which open in January and have been shipping work off to multiple venues.  But it is a pleasure to be working on the Chroma series once again.

Jacob's Ladder Winging Its Way to Minneapolis

A giant crate was built to house the 75" long ladder and carry it safely to its show in Minneapolis at the Tychman Shapiro Gallery.  Opens the second week in January.  Here are some pix to give an idea of the scale of this baby!  Naomi Guttman's poetry, written about the ladder and Jacob's dream, are going to be shown with it and her voice will be recorded reading the poems so any nearby viewer will be able to hear and appreciate them.    btw - a 12' marlin was being crated at the same time; hope they didn't switch them during mailing!!!