Sunday, March 27, 2016

Small Things

     Each of the past few years I've made a 12x12 quilt to donate to  SAQA for their annual auction for fundraising to support the group. It is one of their major fundraising events and I'm a strong advocate for them. They have done a lot for me in advancing my confidence in art making and connecting me with other quilt artists. Here is my donation for this year's event. You can read about the auction and purchasing the quilt and others here.
Continuity III
     Unfortunately, it's not a great photo. The camera is acting up and I could not get good resolution. I'm leaving it up to SAQA to get a professional photo of it for their publicity. I sent the quilt in without a photo to meet the deadline. I think I need to get a different camera. I've had it checked out and the repairman says there is nothing wrong with it, but I say there is. I'm hoping to take it to a friend's house this week and take photos with her camera and with mine and compare photos with the same settings as a final check. 
     Also related to SAQA, I volunteered to work the SAQA booth in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, March 19 at the Sewing Expo. SAQA had the Celebrating Silver exhibit on display and the quilts were amazing. We had catalogues for sale and we signed up seven new SAQA members just on Saturday. It was a fun day meeting all sorts of new people and talking up SAQA and its benefits. And to top it off, I received an unexpected thank you gift in the mail from Karol Kusmaul who organized our working schedule in the booth and who worked with me in the booth.
A beautiful fabric postcard by Karol Kusmaul
      My dyes and paints arrived from Pro chemical and dye company so now I need to go out and buy my soda ash and pfd fabric to get started on my Art Cloth Mastery projects. In the meantime, I'm still stitching away at the little purse.
in process
It's ready for assembly now so it won't take long to finish. Maybe I can finish it today or tomorrow. 
I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on their posts so that the artists know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.

Friday, March 18, 2016

How Do You Get Enriched?

     Sometimes I read books or take an online class for enrichment in the arts. But lately I felt like I needed a lot more from someone who is a master at their craft.  So I signed up for Jane Dunnewold's Art Cloth Mastery Class. It lasts two and a half years and involves traveling to her studio in San Antonio, Texas five times and lots of work at home. My first session was last week. I had been busy at home with pre-assignments for the last several months.
     My week there was absolutely glorious because of the other students, the assignments we did and, of course, Jane. She is one of the most spiritual people I've ever met. And so knowledgeable.  We had two lectures every day and worked and worked and worked. My roommates and I had planned to visit a museum and gallery after class time two evenings, but were so exhausted we just went to the closest places to get dinner and came back and did our homework and crashed.
Me at my work station with exercises behind me
Can you see me glowing in the photo above? (Having so much fun.) By the way, the work piece with the bird is not a finished piece; it's just an exercise in layering designs with dye and paint. The studio was so well equipped. Everything was at our fingertips. And right next door was a house that was where we ate lunches that she prepared for us, had a living room where we sometimes sat and had discussions and put work on a design wall and had critiques, and had an amazing library of books we could read while we were there.
On the door frame to the house next to the studio
On the dining room table

wonderful curtains on the living room windows
So now I'm back home armed with ideas and truly enriched. I've begun to order supplies I'll need for my assignments and ready to get started with them so that they will be done for when I go back in October for the second session.
     While I'm waiting for the paints and dyes to arrive, I've begun some hand stitching on a small piece that will become a little purse. I'm trying to do it all by hand as a prototype so that I can have the girls at the Boys and Girls Club where I volunteer make them, too. They want to make purses and they don't have sewing machines. The only problem is the straps. Those are awfully long. I can't see the girls sewing those by hand. Maybe I can sew those at home for them on my machine.
in process
     I'm linking this to Off The Wall Friday where you can find other art quilt blogs. Please make comments on their posts so that the artists know you stopped by. Thanks for visiting.