Quilt Image at Levine Museum of the New South

Blindsided by Disaster exhibit graphic
illustrates the path of Hurricane Hugo

A few weeks ago I was contacted by Beth Resler Walters. Beth had been searching for hurricane images on the internet when she came across my quilt Hurricane Warning, shown in my last post. With the colors red, black and white, Beth said the image would be perfect for an upcoming exhibit about hurricane Hugo, the powerful storm which hit Charlotte 20 years ago. Working with the Concourse Gallery (which now owns the piece) Beth was able to get a high resolution digital image which was then printed as a full-size super graphic by TPM, Inc. I am very pleased it will be part of the show.

The Greater Carolinas Chapter of the American Red Cross, with whom Beth is associated, partnered with Duke Energy in sponsoring the exhibit which "captures the devastation through photographs donated by the Charlotte Observer."

Blindsided By Disaster, runs through December 6 at the incredible Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E. Seventh Street, uptown Charlotte. A reception will be held Sept. 29 from 6-9 p.m. at the museum. There will be guest speakers, light refreshments, and a cash bar. Admission to the exhibit is free.

My husband and I got a sneak peek during installation.

A very hard-working Dominic Maier,
Exhibits Preparator, Levine Museum of the New South

Working from a schematic, Dominic is very precise.

Photographs donated by The Charlotte Observer

Charlotte Observer photographers captured powerful images following Hugo's devastation.

A super graphic of my quilt 'Hurricane Warning' awaits installation along with the copy block shown below. It will be the last image in the exhibit.

By the way, this exhibit has been led by Red Cross volunteers from conception to completion. I think they did a great job.

Check these links for more information:

http://www.greatercarolinasredcross.org/

http://www.museumofthenewsouth.org/exhibits/detail/?ExhibitId=100


Photo Credit: Bill Guerrant

Subversive Stitchers Guest Blog

Hurricane Warning

Dawn Goldsmith, the creative force behind Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles, recently saw a photo of my quilt Hurricane Warning. Living in FL, Dawn felt the story behind the piece would be interesting and asked me to write a guest blog. It has just been posted and can be read here:

http://www.subversivestitch.blogspot.com/

Getting ready for Barnful of Quilts

Valerie Fox turns her gorgeous barn into an art venue each year for
Barnful of Quilts.

This beautiful pinto currently occupies what will be my stall this year. She's having to spend time indoors due to sunburn on her fair skin (under the white hair).

I'll be participating in Barnful of Quilts again this year. On October 10, quilters and other artists will exhibit their wares in Valerie Fox's huge barn which normally houses award-winning Paso Fino horses. The place is transformed for this very special event, a fundraiser for Waxhaw Presbyterian Church.

I was the featured artist last year, so this time have been given a primo location right where people enter the show. We drove out today and found that at 12' x 14' the space is almost as large as my studio! It also has a window and a fabulous cross-breeze. A truly lovely spot.

One of the barn's beautiful windows.

Photo credit: Bill Guerrant

Note: There's a link for Barnful on my right sidebar. Check it out - it'll be a great show.

What I've Been Up To

Hello, dear readers. This is the longest I've ever gone without posting. Things have been so crazy around here I've had to make a "Martha" calendar. You know, like the one Martha Stewart has in every magazine where she lists everything she has to do - every day - day by day. Mine runs through September 30. Of the six things planned for today, I did two. But then I added two and thought of another, so I won't be too hard on myself.

The important stuff, cardiac rehab and combining two safety deposit box contents from two banks into one, were taken care of first. My new dyes and 50 yards of PFD are still untouched.

I've been spending way too much time on the computer, so my hands are not happy. I rewrote a pattern so it will print more efficiently (less paper), designed a new pattern, wrote a guest blog (details later), ran off lots of copies and.........TaDa! I now have my own line of quilt photo note cards, created at the suggestion of a friend. Thanks, Ann.

Of the seven cards shown above, the center one in the top row is a detail shot and was done through a photo service. The others show full quilts and were printed locally.

The quilts I chose for my cards are, left to right beginning with the top row, Toast with Jam, Moody Blues (detail), His Eye is on the Sparrow, Moody Blues, Hold on My Heart.....Throw Me a Lifeline, Hurricane Warning, and We Fix Broken Hearts.

I'll have a stall at Barnful of Quilts Oct. 10 and wanted inexpensive items to sell. The notecards seemed like just the thing.

For details on Barnful of Quilts, go to: www.foxfamilyfarm.com and then click on Barnful. I'll have more information on it tomorrow.

Salt Water Taffy

Only fabrics I'd hand-dyed were used in this piece -
inspired by traditional log cabin quilts.

Salt Water Taffy
Thus named because of its colors.

I haven't been able to work on this piece for months. I made it a while ago but couldn't decide how to finish it. I've quilted many quilts with embroidery floss and always matched the floss color to the fabric, as in Orange Slice, shown below. This time, I decided to shake it up a bit.

After a few days' rest (I won't bore you with the details of carpal tunnel and trigger thumb) I hope to quilt the border with turquoise floss only.

Many of my quilts are named for food (Mint Frappe' with Tutti Frutti Sprinkles, Shrimp Creole, Salt Water Taffy, Toast with Jam, Orange Slice, Blue Plate Special, Cracker Jax) or song titles (Twist and Shout, Hot Stuff, Little Pink Houses, Hold on My Heart....Throw Me a Lifeline, We Fix Broken Hearts, His Eye is on the Sparrow) which will surprise no one who knows me. Both food and music are great loves of mine.

Note: For this type of quilting use two strands of six-strand DMC embroidery floss and a crewel needle - very sharp with a large eye.

Orange Slice (detail)

Hand-dyed and commercial fabrics, Thai silk.

Rust in the Third Dimension

Altoid Tin

This piece has developed a rusted patina naturally. It was found on the street in NoDa, one of Charlotte's funkiest arts areas.

I've wanted to take my work in a new direction for a long time, to work more abstractly and three-dimensionally with salvaged materials. I've been collecting and finally have a good stash from which to choose.

I grew up with parents who saved and reused everything, so have had to get used to stares from folks who think it's strange that I gather items from the street. But I've adjusted to my dh saying (as I peruse our kitchen garbage can), "Will you please stop going through the trash!"

The first photo is of a rusted Altoid tin. Using Claudine Hellmuth's instructions from her book Collage Discovery Workshop claudinehellmuth.blogspot.com/ I immersed the new tin in equal amounts of chlorine bleach and cider vinegar I'd mixed in an old container. Hours later, nothing had happened. Once I removed the tin, I saw it had a lacquer coating. Sanding it allowed the bleach and vinegar to work their magic.

I was working outside and allowed the concoction to cook for two or three days. I really like the results but to preserve the look I'll spray it with a matte finish lacquer

Tentative plans are for a vertical composition. I'll keep you posted as it develops.

Important Note: Work outdoors with proper ventilation. Do NOT attempt this inside.

New Direction for My Work

I found this adorable photo in an antiques shop.
On the back is the name "Ina"

For some time, I've wanted to take my work in another direction. I want to incorporate digital images, photographs, found objects, collage, etc. with my hand-dyed fabrics and collected ephemera. In order to do so, I'll need a printer with waterproof inks.

Researching printers is like taking an entire fabric stash to a workshop: there are just too many choices! But a little reading has narrowed those considerably simply by eliminating anything which does not use the kind of ink I need. For HP, I'll need Vivera pigment ink; for Epson, I'll need Durabrite or Ultrachrome. Now to make a decision on whether or not I'd ever use a wide-format printer!

Choosing A Palette

I've taught surface design for years. Piles of painted and dyed fabrics created with direct application, resist, sponging, printing, tie-dye and Shibori were waiting to be liberated! This was the weekend to set them free!

Choosing my color palette is always my first step. I have a general concept in mind when beginning, but it may change drastically as I proceed.

Here is a little bit about my process:

1. Let something in your stash inspire you.

Glue stick was applied through cardboard letter stencils and allowed to dry completely. The fabric was then painted with diluted Setacolor transparent paint. I chose this tiny sample as my first bit of inspiration.

2. Keep playing with it and adding color.

I next added a few hand-dyed fabrics in orange tones and found it boring.

3. This might take a while. You'll know it when you see it. If your mind is open, the fabric will "speak" to you.

I added more oranges, corals and blues to the mix. A little better, but it still needs "punch."

A master gardener once told me "every garden needs yellow." She was right. The fabrics are beginning to "speak to me", but very softly.

I tried the inspiration piece with greens and other blues. Lame.

The yellow adds a bit of spark but I still don't feel this combination is worth pursuing. Weak.

A favorite piece of cloth is a sop-up rag from a Procion fiber reactive dyeing session.

I like it with the ART cloth, but don't really want to cut into it for such a small piece.

Once again - yellow to the rescue.

After trying the piece with corals, I decided not to use it after all.

4. Sometimes your first instincts are the best. I've decided to go with a mixture of blues, oranges, corals and yellows for my composition. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Still Standing

Exactly one year ago I had a heart attack which, I later learned, came very close to killing me. I am so grateful to everyone for their help and support over these last twelve months: my family and friends, my wonderful doctors, the incredible folks at cardiac rehab, and most of all my dh - who got me to the hospital and rushed me past the emergency room bouncer. Thank you.

Healthy or not, take nothing for granted. Every day is a gift. May you all be blessed.

Quilt Design's Affect on Industry

I saw the Sebastian rug above (C) when thumbing through the Fall 2009 Crate and Barrel catalog. It caught my eye because it's so quilt-like. The description reads: "Sebastian Rug - A modern quilt at a contemporary art show inspired these graphic gridded squares punctuated with freeform, concentric circles." I've seen this design a lot and am not sure where it originated. Interesting.

Matthew's Birthday Book and OBX Pix

I couldn't share this before presenting it to our son Matthew, but this is the book I did for his 30th birthday. The cover photo was taken 11/11/05, his and Suzie's wedding day.

Book cover photo taken by Artie Scott

Matthew and Suzie, my dh and I, Suzie's father, brother and his girlfriend spent all last week on NC's Outer Banks where the weather was fabulous! It was a wonderful, wonderful trip.

Matthew and Suzie in the Atlantic.

Getting ready to kayak to the Pamlico Sound.Matthew loves to cook and made blueberry waffles for all one morning. YUM!

In a brisk wind, Matthew photographs Suzie and their great Dane Darby. Darby loved the ocean!

Matthew and Suzie, bikes and kayaks packed, get ready to drive back to Greensboro.

It was over way too soon and we sadly said our goodbyes. The kids are already planning next year's vacation. Hope they'll be able to spend two weeks at the OBX!

Note: The program My Publisher was used in creating Matthew's book.

Published

The Collection

Waiting for me when we returned from vacation was a large envelope from the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Upper Arlington OH. It contained a catalog of works in its permanent collection of art accumulated over three decades. My quilt, Hurricane Warning, is in the Concourse Gallery there, having been purchased in 2005. Arts Manager Lynette Santoro-Au writes "The collection shows an eclectic mix of styles, media and sensibilities. Such diversity reflects a conscious decision to demonstrate the tremendous pluralism of contemporary art."

The collection includes lithographs, sculpture, stoneware, photography, woodcuts, scratchboard, silk screen and paintings in oil, acrylic and watercolor. I am thrilled to have my piece amongst such fine work.

Along with Mary M. Barnett's Hands to Work, Hearts to God (2003 purchase), Hurricane Warning is the only other fiber art represented.

'Hurricane Warning' is shown alongside Jaiymie Kiggins' 'Nucleus' -
stainless steel, brass and mild steel (purchased 2005).


Hurricane Warning
41 1/2 x 55"

Left: Tom Yano - 'Untitled' - Copper; Right: Charles Csuri - 'Wonderous Spring' - Computer generated image.

Wonderous Spring - fabulous color!

A week's worth of mail also contained yummy magazines.

American Quilter's renewal card showed photos of six of its covers. Among those - spring 2007, in which I was the featured artist.

My cover is on the upper right.
What fun to see it in print once more.