Saturday, October 29, 2005

Saturday in Houston

Well, things are beging to wind down although the noise in the Hilton lobby sure doesn't seem like it! I'm waiting for a table for dinner a lone...a chance to just reflect and think about all the things that have been going on and all the people I have been meeting. What an eventful week!

The quilts are all beautiful. I am so impressed with everything here! I have a piece in Tactile Architecture and a piece in Small Wonders, which I hadn't seen since the spring when it went off to Chicago. I guess it comes home now and Holes in the Castle Wall travels for a little while.

All of the shows here are stupendous. Men of Biblical proportions...with Tristan's piece along with several other names I recognize from the list. There is a wonderful show by an Isralie woman whose work is just staggering...have to get her name down and add it to this list. The I Remember Mama show is wonderful and I got my book which has all three years in it, so it includes my piece from the first year. Katie Pasquini Mausupust's show of her work over the spread of her 30 years of quilting...really impressive. So many things!

Laswt night I went out to dinner with Lisa Chipetine, who is now on the board of directors for SAQA, and several of her friends and went to an upscale Mexican place which was, as they say in Houstonk, Mex-Mex, as opposed to Tex-Mex. That was lots of fun as I haven't seen her for two years.

Spent time down at Art for a Cause where Virginia Spiegle and her sister Nancy are covering the postcards that have been for sale. It is really impressive to see how many have sold and how much money they have made for the American Cancer Society.

Visited with Laura Cater-Woods and chatted about about how her sale of Art for a Good Cause was going...found out she had bought a piece or two of mine...

Took a class with Rayna Gilman, just so I could have a play day and had a wonderful time. Went to lunch with her one of the days.

Met up with Pamela Allen in her Presidential Suite and had wine and chatted and got to know each other in person.

Went to the Tiara Parade and had a blast...descided that mine was about as close to wearable art as I would get. I'll post a picture later.

Went out to lunch with the crowd for Chinese food after the parade.

Met Lirick Kinard, Larkin Van Horn, and tons of other people that I just know by their word and chatting on line. it is so wonderful to be able to connect faces with all these people I admire so very much!

Tomorrow we were leasurily stroll through to see what we have missed with the vendors. This place is so huge...the convention center fills at least two blocks so if you are at one end, it is a long hike to the other end. Glad we are here and can take time to rest up in the afternoon before heading back out!

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Houston

I can't believe that I am really here! Took the day to get here but I'm here!

Every TV in the lobby and bars are tuned to the baseball game and people shout and hurrah at the top of their lungs. Just adds to the excitement.

Tomorrow my best friend, Carol, receives her award for second place in I Remember Mama...so will take pictures and try to get them up.

Preview is tomorrow and then the fun begins!

Monday, October 24, 2005

goin to Houston

I am really so excited! I head off to Houston tomorrow! Am getting everything ready on my laptop so it will travel. My good Friend Carol will be recieving her second place award for I Remember Mama, I'm taking my camera, can blog in the Hilton lobby and have an extra suitcase inside my suitcase. What more could I ask for!

This is my first trip and I am so looking forward to meeting people in person that I have only met via internet. WOO HOO!!!

I'm leavin on a jet plane...don't know when I'll be back again...

Well, actually I do, I return home on Oct 31. Look for posts from the action scene!

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

A Really Cool New Project

I responded to a woman who was seeking textile artists to make art out of some of the panels that were the fences that Christo put up in Sonoma County in 1976. I get my 9' x 6' piece tomorrow. The fabric is fascinating...heavy woven nylon with a grid type weave on it...not ripstop nylon but much heavier. You can pull threads in it, cut it with heat, paint it, and do all sorts of things to it. I have so many ideas floating around in my head about this that I can hardly wait!

Once I finish my projects, the work goes to her and she then sells it with certificates of authenticity, a picture of the fences that Christo did, and info about the project. Then when the art work sells, we split 50/50. I do the art--she does the marketing. She alread has one artist who has done five three dimentional things that are really neat.

This is really exciting! She's bringing it over tomorrow after I take my dad out for his shopping and errands...what a reward for being a nice daughter!

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Working and working

I got home late last night and checked my email to find two emails of great interest.

The first said that my piece "Night Fire" was accepted into the SAQA show "On the Wall: SAQA @ Colorado Springs.This is the first time I have actually gotten into a SAQA show.

The second said that my piece " Distant Views 3" was accepted at Form, Not Function: Quilt Art at the Carnegie. After being declined before, it's nice to get in, finally!

Then today I got an email from a company that sells art in various methods and they indicated, in response to my interest, that they felt my work would be a "great addition" to their sales pieces (of which none are fiber art). So I have the contract to review and to get a CD done and discuss which pieces they will get their hands on.

This coming Saturday I'm off again to Nevada for the "Meet the Artist" at the gallery there. I also have to get a bunch of my finished post cards and 6 x 8" pieces mounted on black cotton duck and stretched onto the stretchers so I can deliver them to Artinsan's International.

The the following week I'm off for my first trip to Houston for Festival.

The day after I come home, I'm off to Modesto for a reception with two other fiber artists, at a gallery at a Catholic High School. I also need to deliver some new work to a gallery in Modesto that has some of my stuff from a long time ago.

And then a week and a half later I get to go off to Art Quilt Tahoe to study with Charlotte Yde. That should be lots of fun! The only down thingy is that I will miss my grandson's first birthday but I figure so many people will be there that he won't know and I will see him a couple of days later.

So, in between everything, I am sewing up a storm, ordering disperse dyes because I want to use them, ordering lutradur so I can play with that, ordered a couple of pieceing of clothing for me to wear to Houston and whatever else I can do. I sure sleep well at night!

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

new work

I mentioned mounting my pieces over stretcher bars. These pics show how they look...however, my caveat, the photographs are horrible...If I used a tripod and did it right then maybe I could get them squared up right and the lighting right. Oh well, these are just quickies and I can't get them to the photographer because Bronwyn from Artisan's International just took them right after I had finished them. They are mounted on a black quiltlet which is then stretched around in a gallery wrap to the back and have screw eyes and wire so are ready to hang. They make the presentation of smaller work look really good.




















Above is Cool Waters on a Hot Summer Day...you have seen it previously but this is it mounted.





















This is one of two slot canyons, can't remember the title that I gave it. It includes hand dyed fabric, some of Lonni Rossi's commercial fabric (on the left) and then a piece of hand dyed that I silk screened...I really like this fabric!





















This is the second of the slot canyons...I started this design with postcards and really enjoy it and can see it going much better. These two pieces are mounted on 14 x 16 stretchers. This uses hand dyed fabric and commercial fabric





















Aspens in the Moonlight is also mounted on 14 x 16 stretchers. It is all hand dyed and surface printed fabric.

Got three pieces off to the Grants Pass Museum of Art for their show, got all my pieces off for PIQF, got my piece off for the second round of jurying at the Artist as Quiltmaker show at the New Union Center for the Arts (I've never done this second round jurying thing before where they accept the piece via slides, then you ship it in to them for final acceptance and then you find out if they take it and then it comes home only to go back in May for the show) so we will see how that goes. Got entries off for all the big shows coming up with deadline in October...that is, everything except Fine Focus 06. I've been in 02 and 04 but just did not have anything to send for this one...I've been so busy making postcards for the fundraisers that I just didn't get it done. Oh well, two more years and I can try again.

Saturday, October 08, 2005

The past week and artist's statements

This past week has been difficult for me as I have not had the chance to do much work. Monday and Tuesday and Friday I took care of my grandson who, at 11 months, now wants what he wants when he wants it and is very determined...as well as pretty strong! But he is so funny!

Wednesday I took my dad out and about and went through stuff in the basement and cleared out some but that took the entire day. The only day I had to myself was Thursday and boy did I try to get a lot done then.

Of course, when time is short, nothing seems to work right. I had picked up strecher bars on my way home from my dad's. Started putting them together with the idea that I would take some of my small pieces that I had done on timtex (which had then been sewn to a plain black quiltlet so that the piece would have more presence and decided to wrap them around to the back of the stretcher bars. Well, I had bought some tacks and that was a real pain in the rear and wasn't working very well. My husband brought up two different staple guns for me to use but I just don't have the hand strength to work those. Then he brought up an electric staple gun. The staples just would not go in all the way. Don't know if it was because I was doing something wrong or because my dh had purchased it at a garage sale and that is why it was up for sale.

So here I was with only one day to do some work and nothing was going right. Couldn't get the corners right, couldn't staple, couldn't tack them down and now I had a pile of stuff sitting around and nothing finished. Boo hoo is me.

While I was babysitting Friday, my dear husband spent a bunch of hours running around to find a pneumatic stapler. I am now the proud owner of my very own pneumatic staple gun which will shoot these babies out about a mile! Just one small pull on the trigger and POOOOOF! in goes the staple right where I want it. Am I a happy artist? You betcha! And, then my dh pulled out the air drill so I can drill the holes for the screw eyes real fast and with my pooooffffs of air!

So today I got them all done and really like the way there are. They have a large satin stitch border around the art work which is then on a quilt backing which is wrapped to the back of the frame (stretcher bars). It looks good. Will get some pictures posted.

I had also picked up some stretched and primed canvas with the idea of painting it and them mounting some small pieces directly on them. Next stop is to Tap Plastic to pick up some flamed plexi to mount small pieces on.

I also have a bunch of shadow frames from American frames which my husband has been putting together for me. I have been doing a bunch of 6x 8 pieces on timtex and them mounting them on 8 x 10 black mat board and then I put them in the frame...boy do they really look sharp! However, I am trying to decide if I want plexi on the front or not and if I don't, then I need to order some other metal frames that aren't the shadow box style. Also have to decide if I want to use UV protected plexi or nonglare plexi in them...I guess I could order some of both and see how they work.

Most importantly, I have been working on identification of parts of my artist statement. The work is broken down in to four different sections and I am just writing down the thoughts without making it in to a statement.

The questions are: 1. Who? are you 2.Why? do you make your art 3. How? do you make your art and 4. What? does it mean to you. It is really a great exercise, however, now that I want to find it so I can share the source with you and the other info on writing an artist statement, I can't find it.

It'll turn up and I will share some of my who, why, how, whats with you another day, along with some pictures of these things I have been doing.

TA-ta