Exhibit Ends

Today is the last day of my solo exhibit at the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum.  It has been a wonderful experience for me.  I've met some great people, made some new friends, and especially enjoyed working with Beverly Hammack, Norma West, April Carlson, and Jennifer.  I so appreciate the opportunity to hang all my work in one space and have people actually come to see it.

It's going to be a bit of a bummer to have to take it all down, roll it up, and bring it home.  But, let's face it, each piece is like one of my children, so I guess it's time they all came home.

September will be hectic.  I'll have one piece in the competition at the GA Quilt Show and another will be part of the SAQA Regional Exhibit there Sept 19-21.  Then, I have to deliver several pieces to the GA Nat'l Fair in Perry, which opens in October.  I'm doing a Trunk Show for the East Cobb Guild on the 27th.  And squeezed into September is also a 5-day class at the John C. Campbell Folk School in NC.

 I'm taking a drawing class and I hope to break down that wall that keeps telling me I can't draw.  There must be some secret or trick I can learn that will give me the courage to put pencil to paper and produce marks that resemble something.  Surely there's hope--it can't really be something that you're either born with or not, like blue eyes or being double-jointed.  I'm like a kid with all my supplies ready and waiting for the first day of school.  Wish me luck!

I finished a new piece recently and thought I'd share it here.  I call it "End of Day" and it's based on several photos I took of a beautiful sunset here in the country many years ago.  The sky changed color almost minute by minute as we hurried from place to place, trying to get the best shot.  It was all over in such a short time and I don't think I've ever seen another one nearly as spectacular. 

More Pasaquan

My previous blog wouldn't hold all the photos I wanted to share, so read it first, then look at the pics.

This was one of my favorite paintings.

 Notice the blue eyes--they're roofing nails.  This was a life size figure.

 This looks Native American to me--a shield?

The corner of a building.  This place is awesome!  Hope you can see it for yourself someday.

Pasaquan--WOW!

Today, my husband and I visited Pasaquan.  If you've never heard of it, you should check out the website www.pasaquan.com.  It's near Buena Vista, GA--a little over an hour from our house.  We've been talking about visiting for several years and finally, today was the day. 

I'm not a big folk art fanatic, but this place is unbelievable.  Eddie Owen Martin was born and grew up in this very rural area, but left in his teens for New York City.  He returned when he was in his mid forties, having had a vision that instructed him to return to Georgia.  I don't want to say any more about him--don't want to screw up the facts--but he was definitely a unique individual with a drive to create that led him to lay hands on every available surface and enhance it in some way.  I should also add that he was a self-taught artist.

His sense of color was phenomenal.  A lot of his work is outdoors and hasn't been treated kindly by the elements.  It's when you see the work on the walls inside that you can get a better sense of what those outside surfaces must have been at one time. 

He seems to have been influenced by many cultures--African, Native American, Mexican--and many religions.  I saw things that seemed Budhist, Hindu, Christian, Muslim and Native American.  There are numerous images that recur again and again.  Circles are everywhere and many things made me think of space and the planets.  There are many wonderful quilting motifs and paintings that look like quilts hanging on the walls.

To say that I was impressed would be a major understatement.  I took about 150 photographs and could have taken lots more.  We were struck by how the same section of wall or building looked totally different when you viewed it from another angle.  Sooo--I'm posting a few of my photos--enjoy.

 These circles with different designs lined the walkway to the front door of the main house.

 This huge painting covered an entire wall inside--it's a quilt, right?

 Notice the metal work and carved wood around the inside of the window frame and the view outside.

 Don't know what this building was used for, but it had a Japanese temple feel to me.

 Lots and lots of faces--this one carved into the concrete. 

 One wall in the kitchen area. 

 This area had a Budha-looking statue inside on a bench.  Notice the metal work at top.

 Circles, circles, circles--not sure what this building was about.

 Believe it or not, this structure hides a large propane tank.

 Another angle of the propane shed.

 A view from the side and back of the main house.

 Note the feather earring on the statue at left--American Indian influence?

 Loved the design on this upright section.

 Is this a Seminole patchwork quilt?  Check out the metal work on top of the wall.

 A metal clad door.

Girls and their portraits

My two oldest granddaughters came to visit last week and on Saturday, their Mom and younger sister met me in Carrollton at the museum to make the transfer and see my exhibit.  Of course, I couldn't resist taking photos of each of them with their portraits.

Olivia, who's now 10, was feeling quite the celebrity.  She had seen the poster advertising the exhibit that featured her portrait.  She asked if she would be able to sign autographs.  Sadly, no one asked her to do that--ahh, fame is so fleeting.

Josie, age 9, told me she had chosen a special outfit to wear to the museum.  Check out the footwear--now that's "stylin'".

Sarah, age 5, is so excited to be starting kindergarten next week.  We had to stand her in a chair so she'd be tall enough for the picture.

I was surprised to learn that they had sold all my ice-dyed fabric at the museum, so I've got some more "percolating" tonight and I'll be delivering it on Thursday.  It's another one of my addictive activities, so I'm thrilled to have an excuse to make some more.

There was a couple at the museum on Saturday and since it's not a big space, I couldn't help overhearing a lot of their conversation.  The lady took plenty of time to look at each piece and pointed out to her companion all the details she observed about how it was made, the subject, etc.  It was so cool to listen and know that someone else noticed and appreciated all the choices and decisions that go into the work.  That's one of the things that always intrigues me when I look at other people's quilts, especially the older ones.  I really do feel that a quilt has so much to tell you about the maker, if you're just willing to listen.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to talk to this lady, but, whoever and wherever you are--thank you!  You really made my day. 

I've finished a new art piece for the GA/SC Regional SAQA Exhibit that will debut at the GA Quilt Show and then travel around the country for the next year.  It's based on a photo I took many years ago of two orange butterflies.  I painted the background and used a piece of the ice-dyed fabric for the binding--the colors were just right.

 Now, I'm onto the next one.  It's also based on several old photos I took of an incredible sunset--undoubtedly the most beautiful one I can remember.  Luckily, I had my camera handy that day.  I'll post photos of both pieces later.

Exhibit News & New Addiction

My solo exhibit at the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum in Carrollton, GA continues until the end of August, so if you haven't been to see it, you still have time.  I was there on Tuesday of this week to speak to the Carrollton Writers' Group--a great bunch of people.  I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with them and talking about my work.

I'd guess there were 25-30 people in attendance.  It was nice to see a good showing of men among them.  They are not quilters, for the most part, so it was very interesting to me to have an audience with a different perspective than the usual quilter groups who attend my trunk shows.  They asked lots of great questions and the time passed quickly.  I think the main thing I came away with was that we have a great deal in common when it comes to our different creative paths.  They just express themselves with words and I use images.

I recently did some pieces that are a new concept for me.  My good friend,  Maryanne Aubin, who's a wonderful artist and has her own frame shop, gave me the idea.  She loved the ice-dyed fabrics and we enjoyed sitting together and picking out different things that we saw in various areas of the fabrics.  She suggested that I isolate some of those things and make little art quilts, which could then be mounted on foamcore and matted, ready for framing.  Well, long story short, I now have a new addiction.  I have placed some of the finished pieces at the museum for sale and some at The Front Porch Gallery in Columbus.

These are small.  The size of the actual quilted piece in the top one (called "Cosmos") is 3"x 6".  The middle one (called "Fire Dance") is 3" x 9" and the bottom one (called "Sea Glass", which I added beads) is 4" x 6".  At least, I think that's right--it's close.  The mats are 2-2 1/2".  I'm anxious to see if they will sell because I want to make some more.  I've priced them, starting at $60 for the smallest ones, up to one I did that's 8"x10" + mat for $120.  What do you think?  Is this a worthwhile pursuit?

      

How It's Made

June is jumpin', but I'm working hard to keep up.  Of course the exhibit at the museum continues through the summer.  I went up yesterday to meet my cousin and her friend who came down from Calhoun to see the show.  We had a nice lunch and visit.

The Columbus Artists' Guild show is in full swing.  It opened June 8th and continues through the 22nd at the Illges Gallery at Columbus State University.  My piece didn't get any awards this year, but it's nice to have work in an art show. 

The East Cobb Quilt Guild show is going on through Sunday.  I entered two pieces and received an Honorable Mention for one of them ("Black Hills September").  My friend, Linda and I, along with our husbands (can you believe that?) will go up tomorrow afternoon, see the show, and bring our quilts home. 

I made two new pieces for the museum exhibit.  I put the photos that I worked from in my May 5th post.  Here is one of the finished pieces.

It's called "Best Friends Forever" and is based on a photo by Robin Camp.  This is me and my youngest granddaughter, Sarah.  Does this quilt make my butt look big?

I used the technique I've used before with the trees and background where I cut up zillions of tiny pieces of fabric and place them, piece by piece.  I took pictures as I was working on this one, so I thought I'd give you a glimpse into the mind of a very disturbed individual. 

This is the original photo that I was working with.  I cropped it, enlarged it and printed it on my printer, then taped the pages together.  It's about 30 x 32 inches.

Next, I did a line drawing of the main elements.  Sorry, it doesn't show up very well in the photo.

The next step is to draw a rough outline on a piece of muslin of where the colors change.  This will be the base of the quilt.  I write the value (light, medium, dark) and color of each area on the muslin.  Then, the fun part begins.  I choose fabrics from among my mountain of scraps.  Prints work fine, but stripes or plaids are not so good.  I iron a fusible (I use Lite Steam-a-Seam II) to the back of the fabrics.  I then peel the backing paper off the back side (this is VERY important--peel before you cut) and begin cutting the fabrics into small, odd-shaped and varying pieces.  The pieces are usually no larger than a dime--some are smaller. 

I use 4 or 5 different fabrics for each value.  The values might be light light green, light green, light medium green, medium green, dark medium green, dark green, and dark dark green.  So, you'll have 4 or 5 fabrics of all those values.  You get the idea. I find paper plates to be useful in keeping the different values separate.

Now the really crazy part.  I place the pieces on the muslin one at a time with a pair of tweezers.  I try not to put pieces of the same fabrics next to each other--that's why it's good to have 4 or 5 different fabrics for each value.  Even though it's very tedious, it gives you a great depth of color.

 You can see the effect here of all the bits.  I usually iron the pieces down a little as I go because they can't be trusted to stay in place on their own.  In a pinch, you can still pull them off if you need to, or you can cover them with more bits if an area just doesn't look like you want it to.  You don't want to have too many layers, but this is a pretty forgiving technique, so you can usually fix most mistakes. 

After the bits are in place, but before the tree trunks are put down, I put a layer or two of tulle over the bits and stitch with some invisible thread just to hold everything down.  In this case, I used two layers of gray tulle over the area above the road because I wanted the colors to be more muted to help add to the illusion of depth.  You can still put some bits on top of the tulle if you need to, but you need to always use a press cloth if you're ironing over the tulle--otherwise, it melts.

A little closer view.

I used some larger pieces in the road, then put small bits down for fallen leaves. 

I "built" the figures on a teflon sheet and fused them together.  They are put together in a more conventional way. 

The figures are placed on the background and I'm ready for thread work.  At this time, I iron a piece of stabilizer to the back of the piece to help keep it from distorting when I do the thread work and quilting.  I want to make sure I stitch through any of the bits that are not covered by tulle.

   I use a small zigzag stitch and a matching lightweight thread (Superior Bottom Line) to go over all the raw edges (not the bits, but all the larger pieces in the road and the figures).  I do some thread painting to highlight (example-hair and tree trunks).

A detail shot of the tree trunks and leaves.

Now it's ready to be layered with batting and backing and quilted.  Then, I'll square it up and either face it or bind it.  I like to face the edges because it looks more like a piece of art that way, so I'm doing that more and more.  I'm also leaving off borders for the same reason.

I didn't take as many photos as I should have to illustrate this technique, but I hope you can follow along.  It's not a method that a lot of people would want to do, but I like it and it's actually kind of relaxing to play with all the tiny bits.  



 

 

                                   

"As I See It"

The long-anticipated opening of my solo exhibit at the Southeastern Quilt & Textile Museum finally arrived last Saturday.  It was awesome on so many levels.  First of all, people actually came to see my work.  We had 70+ people to sign the guestbook and there was a steady stream of visitors all day.  I was there from 10 a.m. til 4 p.m.

Family included both my sisters-in-law, two nieces, and 3 great nieces.  Friends from Fayetteville, Columbus, Athens, and Atlanta made the journey to add their support and lots of people from the Carrollton area. 

L to R:  Marybeth Tawfik, JoAnn, and Paula Tanner.  These ladies are part of the SAQA GA/SC Regional group.  Thanks to both of them for their support.

The lady on the left is Joann Dunn, who's with the local writers' group.  I'll be doing an artists' talk for them in July at the museum.  I'm really looking forward to that.

I was very happy with the space and the way I was able to display everything.  I had worried that there wouldn't be enough art to cover the walls, but it worked out perfectly. 

I'm so grateful to the museum and to everyone who helped and everyone who came to see my work.  I hope people will continue to enjoy it, as it will hang through the summer until August 31st.

If you need info on hours or directions to the museum, just check out the website at   www.southeasternquiltmuseum.com