All righty--my new year's resolution is to post at least once a week. There--right out there where folks can see it.
Currently I'm on the last step (well, second to last if you include finishing the edges) of my all-by-hand commission. It has taken longer than I expected, but I am pretty pleased with the results. However, Sharon gets to see it first, so no spoilers here.
I'm also working on sketching an idea a day. Unfortunately, I sketched my first idea four days ago and my second idea two days ago, hence "working on." The sketches are very small (a little bigger than a trading card) and will eventually become whole-cloth quilts of various sizes. This will allow me to focus on the sculptural aspects of the quilting--and make a number of affordable works that will help me refine my technique even more.
I hope to offer Quilting Basics at Heavenly Stitches again this late winter/spring--I'm just having trouble finding a day of the week that I have free for 8 weeks (the duration of the class). I'm on it, though!
Next post: sketch photos and perhaps a little peek at the commission and, hopefully, class dates.
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Saturday, January 14, 2012
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.
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Progress (though outdated) on my commission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 So these photos are a little out of date for me, but certainly progress for you.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!
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!
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:
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.
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.
(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
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.
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:
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!
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
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!
Friday, December 10, 2010
The Art of Education
I volunteered for the Ellis island simulation at my youngest's elementary school yesterday. This simulation was for the 4th and 5th grade classes.
For a week they have been doing in-class simulations of a European immigrant's journey to the United States in the late 1800s - early 1900s. A small group of 5 students per class (15 total) were randomly selected to be 1st class, another 5 second class, and the rest were steerage passengers.
During the simulation the teachers were wonderfully solicitous of the 1st class passengers, helping them move their things, allowing them to talk as much as they wanted while everyone was moving in to place, etc. 2nd class passengers were allowed to whisper quietly among themselves if necessary and had to move their own things and got slightly less comfy chairs. The teachers gruffly told the steerage passengers to hurry up and sit on the floor with no talking at all. My youngest said, "all the steerage passengers hate us because of our privileges." Pretty real, but luckily the "hate" ended with the simulation.
Of course they spoke about this all beforehand so the students knew not to take it personally.
Well, after a week of dealing with fake illness and death, money and food shortages, etc., they "arrived" at "Ellis Island" yesterday to be processed. Their documents all had to be in order, then they had to pass a number of tests. If they didn't walk a straight line or jump rope they got a dot rather than a star. Or perhaps the "medical examiner" detected a rash or a cough--off to quarantine they went. They had to present letters of recommendation, be able to sign their names, have their spelling homework completed to show they would be good workers, etc.
Today they find out who got enough stars to enter America.
The kids have been learning that ships were required to take back rejected immigrants to their original ports, but not anyone else in their family. As a result, a sick child might be sent on the ship while the parent stayed in America because he or she could not afford the return fare, or vice versa. They also heard about the sometimes arbitrary nature of judgments pronounced on hopeful immigrants.
However, they didn't really feel it until yesterday.
This school, Washington Elementary in Kingsport, TN, also has run simulations of colonial settlers that involved students making a list of their 20 favorite people then finding out that those people might be "injured" or "sick" or might even "die" during the course of the simulation as they strove against time limits to "build" houses, "plant" crops, and "survive" the voyage and their first winter. My youngest lost an uncle and an adult friend.
The Underground Railroad simulation earlier this year involved groups with a leader physically trying to sneak by "bounty hunters" from safe house to safe house (some of which had been raided and were no longer safe) and, at the end, trying to run through the remaining hunters to reach "Canada." Only 7 children out of 65 made it, and they really felt the unfairness of it all.
This is education as art. These teachers literally bring history to life and help the children feel empathy for those who struggled in difficult situations.
And this is why standardized testing is not the answer to our education woes.
Standardized testing has led to our teachers being given less and less freedom to creatively engage their students. It has led to minute-by-minute structuring of the school day.
If we retain excellent teachers and retrain or let go indifferent or uninspired teachers, we bring up children who are engaged and curious and actively seek learning opportunities.
The current environment leads to spoon-fed students with little inclination or training for independent study. That loss of initiative and independence is detrimental to their future success, to their ability to innovate and advance when they are adults.
I'm just saying . . .
For a week they have been doing in-class simulations of a European immigrant's journey to the United States in the late 1800s - early 1900s. A small group of 5 students per class (15 total) were randomly selected to be 1st class, another 5 second class, and the rest were steerage passengers.
During the simulation the teachers were wonderfully solicitous of the 1st class passengers, helping them move their things, allowing them to talk as much as they wanted while everyone was moving in to place, etc. 2nd class passengers were allowed to whisper quietly among themselves if necessary and had to move their own things and got slightly less comfy chairs. The teachers gruffly told the steerage passengers to hurry up and sit on the floor with no talking at all. My youngest said, "all the steerage passengers hate us because of our privileges." Pretty real, but luckily the "hate" ended with the simulation.
Of course they spoke about this all beforehand so the students knew not to take it personally.
Well, after a week of dealing with fake illness and death, money and food shortages, etc., they "arrived" at "Ellis Island" yesterday to be processed. Their documents all had to be in order, then they had to pass a number of tests. If they didn't walk a straight line or jump rope they got a dot rather than a star. Or perhaps the "medical examiner" detected a rash or a cough--off to quarantine they went. They had to present letters of recommendation, be able to sign their names, have their spelling homework completed to show they would be good workers, etc.
Today they find out who got enough stars to enter America.
The kids have been learning that ships were required to take back rejected immigrants to their original ports, but not anyone else in their family. As a result, a sick child might be sent on the ship while the parent stayed in America because he or she could not afford the return fare, or vice versa. They also heard about the sometimes arbitrary nature of judgments pronounced on hopeful immigrants.
However, they didn't really feel it until yesterday.
This school, Washington Elementary in Kingsport, TN, also has run simulations of colonial settlers that involved students making a list of their 20 favorite people then finding out that those people might be "injured" or "sick" or might even "die" during the course of the simulation as they strove against time limits to "build" houses, "plant" crops, and "survive" the voyage and their first winter. My youngest lost an uncle and an adult friend.
The Underground Railroad simulation earlier this year involved groups with a leader physically trying to sneak by "bounty hunters" from safe house to safe house (some of which had been raided and were no longer safe) and, at the end, trying to run through the remaining hunters to reach "Canada." Only 7 children out of 65 made it, and they really felt the unfairness of it all.
This is education as art. These teachers literally bring history to life and help the children feel empathy for those who struggled in difficult situations.
And this is why standardized testing is not the answer to our education woes.
Standardized testing has led to our teachers being given less and less freedom to creatively engage their students. It has led to minute-by-minute structuring of the school day.
If we retain excellent teachers and retrain or let go indifferent or uninspired teachers, we bring up children who are engaged and curious and actively seek learning opportunities.
The current environment leads to spoon-fed students with little inclination or training for independent study. That loss of initiative and independence is detrimental to their future success, to their ability to innovate and advance when they are adults.
I'm just saying . . .
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
I'm on TV!
I joined Morgan King in the studio of Johnson City (TN) channel 11's Daytime Tri-Cities today this morning and had a great time. I met P. Buckley Moss, savored some exquisite truffles from Jan Charles the Thrillbilly Gourmet, listened to the dulcet tones of a barbershop quartet from Appalachian Express (they couldn't have chosen a better song), and gave an interview re: my artwork.
It was good fun, particularly since Morgan gave himself a chocolate handlebar mustache partway through the show (after he had touched the quilts, thankfully!). Everyone was very friendly and helpful and next time I'll remember not to turn completely sideways! :-) Oops, there I go being sideways again! :-) Dang--did it again!
Sushi with a friend for lunch afterwards, and looking forward to collaborating on a piece with P. Buckley Moss, and then doing a little more quilting on the piece I'm working on topped off this fabulous day
It was good fun, particularly since Morgan gave himself a chocolate handlebar mustache partway through the show (after he had touched the quilts, thankfully!). Everyone was very friendly and helpful and next time I'll remember not to turn completely sideways! :-) Oops, there I go being sideways again! :-) Dang--did it again!
Sushi with a friend for lunch afterwards, and looking forward to collaborating on a piece with P. Buckley Moss, and then doing a little more quilting on the piece I'm working on topped off this fabulous day
Monday, November 22, 2010
Work as Art
Well, I've completed two weeks of working in the gallery at the Downtown Kingsport Association as part of my exhibit and I like it. A lot! As I wrote to a friend, "You (or at least I) get a lot more done and slack a lot less if you (or I) know someone could walk in and witness either your remarkable industriousness or your deplorable sloth at any moment!"
I got addicted to my 8' high, 12' wide black felt design wall VERY quickly. Currently I have my newest finished piece (based on the Quebecor/Press area of downtown Kingsport that currently is being demolished) hanging on the wall:
as well as a work in progress that I started about a year before we moved (that'd be 2007):
The opening went well Nov. 4, but I was too busy hanging out with folks to take pictures. There were never so many people that I couldn't chat with everyone, but there were no breaks either. Thanks so much everyone who attended. And for those of you who couldn't attend, here's what the gallery looks like:
At the end of the room you can see my workspace. The right-hand wall is the main display wall (the left-hand wall is primarily windows, but I'll have photos hanging there by the Dec. 2 reception), with "The Truth As I See It," my new "Further Up and Further In" (photo coming soon), "After the Storm II," silk art fabric entitled "Dichotomy," "Contemplating Madness," another new piece called "A Matter of Perspective" (photo below), and a grouping of small work (also below).
The DKA has asked to extend the exhibit until the week of Jan. 3, which I am happy to do.
Jessica Fischer of the Kingsport Times-News wrote a lovely article on me and the exhibit. Thanks, Jessica! And I'll appear on Channel 11's live Daytime Tri-Cities on Dec. 7 (show begins at 10 a.m.)
I got addicted to my 8' high, 12' wide black felt design wall VERY quickly. Currently I have my newest finished piece (based on the Quebecor/Press area of downtown Kingsport that currently is being demolished) hanging on the wall:
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| Structural Artifacts: The Press I (detail below) |
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| This was the first "After the Storm" quilt I started. Since then I've completed three others. |
The opening went well Nov. 4, but I was too busy hanging out with folks to take pictures. There were never so many people that I couldn't chat with everyone, but there were no breaks either. Thanks so much everyone who attended. And for those of you who couldn't attend, here's what the gallery looks like:
At the end of the room you can see my workspace. The right-hand wall is the main display wall (the left-hand wall is primarily windows, but I'll have photos hanging there by the Dec. 2 reception), with "The Truth As I See It," my new "Further Up and Further In" (photo coming soon), "After the Storm II," silk art fabric entitled "Dichotomy," "Contemplating Madness," another new piece called "A Matter of Perspective" (photo below), and a grouping of small work (also below).
I will host another reception on Dec. 2 and should have made significant progress on the "After the Storm" piece by then,
The DKA has asked to extend the exhibit until the week of Jan. 3, which I am happy to do.
Jessica Fischer of the Kingsport Times-News wrote a lovely article on me and the exhibit. Thanks, Jessica! And I'll appear on Channel 11's live Daytime Tri-Cities on Dec. 7 (show begins at 10 a.m.)
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Beautiful, interesting, and unfortunate
I was in DC this weekend and on Sunday went to the Smithsonian's Natural History Museum. We came in the back door, so one of the first things I saw was this:
This is part of the hyperbolic reef project. You can see more about it at the Smithsonian's site, including a video of the project's founder giving a presentation for TED.
It's hard to tell since I went in tight with the photos, but this installation rises well over my head.
Absolutely gorgeous. Also visited the Human Reunion exhibit. It was a wonderful exhibit, and despite a few occasions of theory being presented as fact, I learned lots of new things I didn't know before, and got to visit a gallery of reproduction prehistoric art,
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| This looks like a study to me, with the artist working progressively on form and detail. |
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| I love the abstractness of this one, but I'm going to do what all abstract novices do and say that if I let my brain relax it looks a little like the prehistoric Venus form. |
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| Not my favorite, probably simply because the poor kangaroo's been shot in the bum. |
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| The signage said this was swimming elk or deer (don't remember which), but again, this looks more like a study to me. |
And rendered myself as a Neanderthal.
I'm warning you, it's not pretty--although maybe another Neanderthal might thing otherwise.
Oh, and don't mind the glasses.
They did get the grey hairs right, though. :-)
Friday, October 22, 2010
Getting Ready
I haven't accomplished a lot of stitching or felting recently but I have done a load of desktop publishing to get ready for my exhibit at the Downtown Kingsport Association's gallery.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Speaking of Trees . . .
Yesterday we went to the Eastman Recreation Area at the bottom of Bays Mountain in Kingsport, TN (where we live). There's a great little stream there--lots of rocks to walk across--as well as scads of gorgeous trees. There are so many varieties.
My youngest whittled herself a wand, my oldest played frisbee with her dad and grandad, the grands took a short walk, the kids and I popped balloons with the sun and a magnifying glass, I whooped them at tether ball.
Every once in a while we'd hear an enormous CRACK and realized eventually that it was walnut fruits hitting the metal roofs of picnic shelters. Grandpa also found a beautiful hulled chestnut. Life was quiet (except for the ocassional CRACK or POP) and wonderful.
And on our way to the car I saw these leaves. Aren't they cool?
I love the symetry and the asymetry of them. I am intrigued by the almost-but-not-quite right angles, and by how the veins are prominent on the outside edges of the bottom two points and almost nonexistent on the side near the center vein. And I think it's pretty cool how they fit into the rectangular field of my camera so tidily.
I see a work in here. Hmmmmm.
My youngest whittled herself a wand, my oldest played frisbee with her dad and grandad, the grands took a short walk, the kids and I popped balloons with the sun and a magnifying glass, I whooped them at tether ball.
Every once in a while we'd hear an enormous CRACK and realized eventually that it was walnut fruits hitting the metal roofs of picnic shelters. Grandpa also found a beautiful hulled chestnut. Life was quiet (except for the ocassional CRACK or POP) and wonderful.
And on our way to the car I saw these leaves. Aren't they cool?
I love the symetry and the asymetry of them. I am intrigued by the almost-but-not-quite right angles, and by how the veins are prominent on the outside edges of the bottom two points and almost nonexistent on the side near the center vein. And I think it's pretty cool how they fit into the rectangular field of my camera so tidily.
I see a work in here. Hmmmmm.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Duh! Can't see the forest for the trees!
I've been working on a second wool painting. Because I'm a glutton for punishment, I decided that since the first hard and shiny subject worked so well, I should do another hard and shiny subject. And I chose hard and shiny . . . and iridescent . . . and transparent carnival glass. What was I thinking?
The hard and shiny and iridescent and transparent parts are not the biggest problems, though. Carnival glass is also cut glass with lots of facets. And wool roving doesn't really want to do fine detail. But that still isn't the biggest problem. That took someone else to pinpoint, someone who was not invested in the piece. An objective observer. Tony Henson
After I explained my process and griped and winged a little, he said, "So it's sort of like me trying to make a realistic drawing of you on a regular sheet of paper with an inch-wide hunk of charcoal."
Well, yes, it is very much like that. The problem is not any of the difficult things I am tackling, but rather the scale at which I'm tackling them.
So yesterday I pulled the carnival glass off my foam and set up a still life to work on at a large scale.
I'll be doing this on a lovely dark green and blue wool backing I dyed. And once I've been successful in this medium again perhaps I'll retackle the carnival glass. On a much larger scale. Duh!
The hard and shiny and iridescent and transparent parts are not the biggest problems, though. Carnival glass is also cut glass with lots of facets. And wool roving doesn't really want to do fine detail. But that still isn't the biggest problem. That took someone else to pinpoint, someone who was not invested in the piece. An objective observer. Tony Henson
After I explained my process and griped and winged a little, he said, "So it's sort of like me trying to make a realistic drawing of you on a regular sheet of paper with an inch-wide hunk of charcoal."
Well, yes, it is very much like that. The problem is not any of the difficult things I am tackling, but rather the scale at which I'm tackling them.
Thank you, Tony!
So yesterday I pulled the carnival glass off my foam and set up a still life to work on at a large scale.
I'll be doing this on a lovely dark green and blue wool backing I dyed. And once I've been successful in this medium again perhaps I'll retackle the carnival glass. On a much larger scale. Duh!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Englandsickness
So I was going through some photos to make prints for the ArtCrawl a couple of days ago when my youngest walked in. She looked eagerly through the photos then declared glumly that she had Englandsickness--like homesickness but more complicated and expensive to cure.I'm right there with her. We miss our friends and their little town and the grand, glorious, mysterious Dart Moor.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Arts Crawl in Downtown Kingsport
Thursday night (9-30-10) from 5-9 p.m., KingsportARTS (full info and admission @ their website) and downtown Kingsport shops, eateries, and studios are hosting the semiannual ArtsCrawl. This event has expanded significantly in the last six months (along with business in our real city center), so come support the arts in our fair city and see what's hopping in downtown Kingsport.
If you do come, say "Hi!" when you're at the Kingsport Ballet's new digs--I'll be there with the Kingsport Art Guild.
P.S. I'm tagging this with food and cheese because there's always good nosh!
Monday, September 20, 2010
The Good, the Bad and the Lovely
Well, time passes swiftly and a lot has happened in the past two months. The highlights are these, though.
The Good: WOOT! The City of Kingsport purchased my "Labyrinth" for their permanent collection. It will adorn the new V.O. Dobbins Community Complex. I hope to attend the opening on Friday and will be recording my artist statement for the cell phone audio tour of the public art later today!
"Labyrinth" (c) Cindi Huss.
The Bad: I accidentally felted the commission I was working on. OY! Forgot about the felting properties of the wool batting I was using. How? How could I forget?! Beats me since wool has become one of my major materials. Perhaps fatigue? Perhaps trying to do too many things at once? Perhaps because it was inside rather than on the surface. Anyhow, I've recovered from my initial shock and dismay and have decided it actually is a good thing because I am working on an even more wonderful version of the piece now. (Pascale, you are not alone. Unfortunately, the product has not been transformed into a coordinating rug.)
The Lovely: I got together with a couple of friends last month and we dyed. For two days! And we're going to do it again on Wednesday. We dyed yarn (for the knitter), leotards, tights, and silk gauze (for the dancewear designer), and I dyed wool prefelt and natural woven wool fabric to be backgrounds for my felt paintings.
Also, about three weeks ago, fellow quilter Pam Morris announced that she was done dyeing and ready to quilt up all her lovely fabric, so she was giving away all her dye supplies. For Free! So I drove over to Burnsville, NC, to pick up many containers of fiber reactive dye powder, many containers of mixed dye (poor thing sprained her shoulder before she could use it all up), a small plastic table, and loads of measuring implements, dye containers, rags, and auxilliary chemicals. I really appreciate it, Pam, and will let you know what we do with it!
Also, I'm about to send a couple of quilts and some fabric off to Timna Tarr of Q Tailored Quilts. I haven't plugged her recently, but Timna is fabulously talented and highly reliable, and her services are reasonably priced. I'll post photos when I get the quilts back.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Model City Art Show
Well, the awards for the Model City Art Show at FunFest were announced at a reception last Sunday while I was on the road from Wisconsin to Iowa, but my piece "Wending Onward" won one of the two presentation awards for the most effective/professional presentation of work.
I used a serious amount of stitching at the edges to create a quilted frame. This allows the design to continue all the way to the edge while still creating a visual "stop."
Congratulations to all the other winners:
Margaret Helvey (best in show)
Nancy D. Bilbro (second)
Tony Henson (third)
John Hilton, Rebecca Dunham, Diane Nelson, and JoAnn Wilkerson Lyle (awards of excellence)
Lily Horton and John Denner (student awards)
Thelma Wyatt (the other presentation award)
JoAnn Wilkerson Lyle again (Celebrate Kingsport award)
Roving II also is in this show, and here is its premier online showing as seen in the gallery:
Details aren't up on my website yet, but the background is a piece of fabric I dyed stretched on a frame over cotton duck, and the trees are a separate piece applied to the background. The main tree is needle felted and the other trees are created dimensionally with the quilting.
This is similar to the piece that appeared in the April 2010 Quilting Arts mag, but I wanted to try this presentation with something small so I could decide whether it works before committing to a larger piece.
The show, run by the Kingsport Art Guild, will hang through July 28, 2010, in the Main Art Gallery at the Renaissance Center, 1200 E. Center St. in Kingsport.
I used a serious amount of stitching at the edges to create a quilted frame. This allows the design to continue all the way to the edge while still creating a visual "stop."Congratulations to all the other winners:
Margaret Helvey (best in show)
Nancy D. Bilbro (second)
Tony Henson (third)
John Hilton, Rebecca Dunham, Diane Nelson, and JoAnn Wilkerson Lyle (awards of excellence)
Lily Horton and John Denner (student awards)
Thelma Wyatt (the other presentation award)
JoAnn Wilkerson Lyle again (Celebrate Kingsport award)
Roving II also is in this show, and here is its premier online showing as seen in the gallery:
Details aren't up on my website yet, but the background is a piece of fabric I dyed stretched on a frame over cotton duck, and the trees are a separate piece applied to the background. The main tree is needle felted and the other trees are created dimensionally with the quilting.
This is similar to the piece that appeared in the April 2010 Quilting Arts mag, but I wanted to try this presentation with something small so I could decide whether it works before committing to a larger piece.
The show, run by the Kingsport Art Guild, will hang through July 28, 2010, in the Main Art Gallery at the Renaissance Center, 1200 E. Center St. in Kingsport.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
3132 Green Mixing Bowl
Well, I managed to make it to one meeting of the Kingsport Art Guild's June paint out, but it was one productive session. Found a great green mixing bowl (stock or booth number 3132) in the front window in great lighting with a table and chair just the right size to set up my felting. And here's the result:
This is the first time I tried "painting" with felt from life. Didn't know if the process would be fast enough or if it would be nerve-wracking, but it was very meditative and satisfying in the end. The only thing I'd have done differently was lifting the piece from the foam more often--the foam nearly became part of the final work!
It's hanging right now at a small exhibit of work from the paint out entitled Textures and Treasures at the Main Art Center in the Downtown Kingsport Association Building at the corner of Main and Shelby Streets.
This is the first time I tried "painting" with felt from life. Didn't know if the process would be fast enough or if it would be nerve-wracking, but it was very meditative and satisfying in the end. The only thing I'd have done differently was lifting the piece from the foam more often--the foam nearly became part of the final work!
It's hanging right now at a small exhibit of work from the paint out entitled Textures and Treasures at the Main Art Center in the Downtown Kingsport Association Building at the corner of Main and Shelby Streets.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wazzup?
Well, it's summer and there is no such thing as routine for the next two months (and the one month behind us). That means there is no such thing as regularly getting work done, so I'm fitting in what I can when I can and joyfully enjoying my children, too.
When I'm waiting during dance or instrument lessons I'm usually sketching or stitching samplers for Sharon's commission. It took me a while, but I finally figured out that if I do my "draft" on muslin I don't have to rip it out if I don't like the color--I can just change the color and then stitch on the actual piece. So, for instance, here's a little piece I did last week.
I like the shape, but refined how to make the intersections less awkward as I went and tried out some other color combos along the edge.
Now I'm adding this motif to the final product--and I'll have a little mini "study" quilt to sell at some point as well. Muuuuuch better than ripping out stitches!
Had the blocks done for this.
My oldest, who likes things just so and symetrical, finds its asymetry annoying, but my youngest thinks it's swell.
It was to be a king-sized quilt for my bed, but hubby wants another "Almost Amish" quilt, so figured I'd had enough fun with these blocks and put them together.
I am very pleased with the result, particularly as I managed a horizontal rather than a vertical orientation for the first time in, I think, ever. I kept meaning to do a horizontal piece yet it would morph partway through and come out as an exaggeratedly tall and slender piece.
I am using the last two chapters of C.S. Lewis's The Last Battle to inspire the quilting and provide the title: "Further Up and Further In."
I have a couple of other thing in the queue, but Sharon's commission is my top priority this summer, so everything else is more of a back-burner project. She gets to be the first to see that piece, though, so no sneak previews here except the sort that you see above.
When I'm waiting during dance or instrument lessons I'm usually sketching or stitching samplers for Sharon's commission. It took me a while, but I finally figured out that if I do my "draft" on muslin I don't have to rip it out if I don't like the color--I can just change the color and then stitch on the actual piece. So, for instance, here's a little piece I did last week.
I like the shape, but refined how to make the intersections less awkward as I went and tried out some other color combos along the edge.
Now I'm adding this motif to the final product--and I'll have a little mini "study" quilt to sell at some point as well. Muuuuuch better than ripping out stitches!
Had the blocks done for this.
My oldest, who likes things just so and symetrical, finds its asymetry annoying, but my youngest thinks it's swell.
It was to be a king-sized quilt for my bed, but hubby wants another "Almost Amish" quilt, so figured I'd had enough fun with these blocks and put them together.
I am very pleased with the result, particularly as I managed a horizontal rather than a vertical orientation for the first time in, I think, ever. I kept meaning to do a horizontal piece yet it would morph partway through and come out as an exaggeratedly tall and slender piece.
I am using the last two chapters of C.S. Lewis's The Last Battle to inspire the quilting and provide the title: "Further Up and Further In."
I have a couple of other thing in the queue, but Sharon's commission is my top priority this summer, so everything else is more of a back-burner project. She gets to be the first to see that piece, though, so no sneak previews here except the sort that you see above.
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