Please feel free to link to this blog or use the handy e-mail tool at the end of each post. However, all contents of this page are copyrighted by Cindi Huss. Reproduction in whole or part without written permission from the author (Cindi) is prohibited. This includes all images unless otherwise noted.

Friday, November 11, 2011

What I Wish I'd Just Experienced

I wish I could say I've just visited this exhibit, but I haven't. However, they have a pretty good online trailer:


I love the internet--I can visit galleries even when I can't and get inspired at any hour of the day or night.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Progress (though outdated) on my commission

Well, I keep meaning to take and send photos right away, but something always happens. So these photos are a little out of date for me, but certainly progress for you.

 

And here's what it looked like when I first basted it. Right now I am adding dimension color, and secret messages all over it with the quilting. Soooooo much fun!


Words to Live By

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.
 --T.S. Elliot

Monday, July 18, 2011

Facing Ourselves

There's a really interesting exhibit at the Main Art Center in the Downtown Kingsport Association right now called "Facing Ourselves" Here are the artists who are involved:

And here is the description of the show:

The Challenge: 15 photographs of 15 artists who create 15 portraits. Any media. Any style. Six by six inches. Period.

The Result:Facing Ourselves, an exhibit of nearly 225 portraits.

Viewing the Exhibit:
  • The source photograph of each artist hangs by the portraits of that artist.
  • Each position in a grid of portraits corresponds to the same artist in all grids.
  • These positions correspond with the placement of  the photos above.
And here's my self-portrait:

(c) 2011 "Cindi Huss" by Cindi Huss


But I don't do faces. I'm not good at them. They're hard and people get cranky when you portray them badly. So you might ask why on earth I committed to make a whole bunch of portraits. Well, you see, like most other things that are good for me, I lay the blame squarely at my mother's feet.

Eating my lima beans and Brussel sprouts. Her.

Cleaning my room. Her.

Taking a shower once a week as a kid whether I needed it or not. Well, OK, that was mostly Dad.

So, fine. My folks were all about bringing me up right and teaching me to do what was good for me whether I liked it or not.

And that's why I took on this crazy project. I learned a lot including that I can, indeed, do faces. I still find it to be a, shall we say, character-building exercise, however.

I also used conte crayon for the first time since elementary school and really enjoyed it and learned that I still have plenty of room for imporvement, but most folks weren't to cranky, so . . .

The installation is difficult to photograph due to the gloss sealer on some of the paintings and the plastic bags on some of the pastels and charcoals. However, you can visit the exhibit on the 2nd floor of the Downtown Kingsport Association (140 W. Main St., Kingsport, TN) through July 28 or see the rest of my portraits and the original photographs we all worked from on my website.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Valley Fiber Life

 
Two or three years ago the talented and lovely Marcia Young started a bit of a blog, Valley Fiber Life, about fiber art and artists in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, and I was lucky enough as a just barely expat of the Valley, to be one of her first interviews. Today Valley Fiber Life has several regular contributors and a broad umbrella for articles about great artists near and far, cool fiber-related videos, fantastic book recommendations, and a whole slew of other resources, including a wonderful free guide for offering critiques by art fabric legend Jane Dunnewold, which started me off on this post.

So the next time you need a hit of fiber fabulousness or a little inspiration to shake of your creative block, drop by Valley Fiber Life.

No animals were harmed and no fiber artists (including me) were paid for the production of this post.


Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Life Rolls Along

My husband always says there aren't as many hours in the day as I think there are. I don't know if that's true--I think the hours just aren't as long as they should be! :-)

I've been working on a commission for a wall hanging. I'm combining traditional applique with shisha mirror embroidery and ralli quilting styles and including motifs that represent everyday life for the family it's going to (as they do in Afghani rugs and embroidery from around the world.

So far I've drafted the pattern: 


dyed all the fabric and sorted and sanded the mirrors:

and finished the applique:



Now I'm sewing on the shisha mirrors. Had to check with the client to make sure she wasn't averse to the number 13 since that's how many mirrors my modified design requires.

I've also had a wonderful time teaching Quilting Basics at Heavenly Stitches Quilt Shoppe in Kingsport. By class this Saturday the students will have created all the main corner blocks in this sampler:

(c) Cindi Huss

This Saturday we tackle the middle block and the fan blades.

I have a great, enthusiastic class and we're having a lot of fun. This is the first time I've used this format (two classes each Sat. with a half-hour lunch in between so the class is 10-2:30 for only four weeks) and it seems to be working out well. I'm glad because the older my kids get the harder it is to find eight consecutive weeks free on any given day of the week!

I believe the next classes on offer will be my Finishing School class and Paper Foundation Piecing, so keep your eyes peeled!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Quilting Basics Class

There's a new quilt shop in Kingsport, folks: Heavenly Stitches. They're new, but they've doubled their fabric selection since November and they have great variety, including orientals, batiks, country, kitsch, traditional, blenders, etc., and they sell and service sewing machines. They also are developing a great selection of notions and batting and I WANT one of their large free-standing design walls that folds up to fit in a 3" x 3" x 15" bag (dimensions from approx. memory, so don't shoot if I'm wrong).

Anyhow, as you can see I'm excited that Kingsport has what is shaping up to be a fabulous independent quilt shop. They also have an amazing classroom . . . where I'll be teaching. So . . .

Quilting Basics
April 16, 23, 30; May 7
10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. (we'll take half an hour at noon for lunch)
The fee is $100 for all four 4-hour sessions, a total of 16 class hours

Boot camp for quilters—but so much more fun! Whether you’ve never quilted before or you want to become more accurate, this is the class for you. Get comfortable with hand and machine piecing and appliqué techniques, paper foundations, rotary cutting, mitered corners, drafting, and templates. Perhaps most important, learn how to troubleshoot and compensate for human error. Do your homework and you’ll leave class with a completed sampler top.

During the course of these four sessions we will cover:
  • Hand piecing.
  • Machine piecing.
  • Basic applique.
  • Paper foundation piecing.
  • Set-in pieces—and how to avoid them.
  • Mitered corners/sashing.
  • Lapped borders/sashing.
  • Block-corner borders/sashing.
  • Triangles and bias.
  • Rotary cutting.
  • Templates—hand vs. machine.
  • Tying vs. quilting.
  • Easing in.
  • Drafting designs, drafting templates.
  • Pinning—when, where, how often.
  • Butting seams.
  • The “swirly.”
You can see my supply list and bio and register here. Hope to see you there!