Creative Life Sampler

  The first weekend in November was the opening of the annual Quilts=Art=Quilts show at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York.  Q=A=Q Opening Night The show includes seventy quilts created by fifty three artists from around the world, including  Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Kuwait, Switzerland, and the US. This is the second year that I've been honored to be juried into Q=A=Q.  It requires a bit of effort to get to upstate New York on opening night; there are no direct flights from our location. So I'm doubly grateful for the support of family who joined me to take in the experience.  This is very different from a large quilt convention. While you can get up close to the work at any kind of quilt show, the more intimate setting of a gallery brings a unique perspective. The environment elevates a quilt to the status of art. I love that there are so many ways to present my work. I know this is a relatively new phenomenon and it reflects changing attitude

Interactive color exhibit at Huntsville Museum of Art-  movable  wheels show color combinations  We've gotten into the habit lately of visiting art museums in whatever city we happen to be in, big or small. What we're finding is there are some real gems all over the place! On a recent trip to Huntsville, Alabama we took in Huntsville Museum of Art . It was just the right size to be able to fit in a visit between other scheduled activities. There were a couple of things that stood out to me. First, with this size museum, they have the advantage of being able to present their collection in easily digestible portions. In other words, the displays are not overwhelming because many pieces are grouped in smaller settings. This conveys a sense of intimacy with the work.  I actually enjoy that kind of staging because it creates a feeling of adventure as well. You instinctively know you're going to be presented with a different art movement, theme, or medium as you move through the

Shifting Contour When last you heard of this quilt it had been saved from the scourge of fabric bleeding. But I never posted the whole quilt. So here it is.  I have called it Shifting Contour because, in my mind, the patterned fabric plays the role of the background on the left side of the piece. On the right side, the patterned fabric moves to the foreground and becomes a solid shape against the cream background. It is an experiment with the concept of negative space. This year our local guild has taken the lead from our parent organization, the Modern Quilt Guild, and focused on a specific topic each quarter. They covered categories which can be found in the annual QuiltCon quilt show: modern traditionalism, applique, negative space, and minimalism.  I found defining these terms has been really helpful, as sometimes it's difficult to identify why a certain quilt is in a category, in which category a quilt "belongs" when entering it, and even how to deliberately incorpo

You know when you make a mistake and you end up thinking " Man, I really should have known better!"? I recently experienced that moment when I took my latest finish out of the wash, hung it to dry, and later found that the backing I used had bled through to the front of the quilt. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if it had covered the entire quilt, but in this case I have a strip of a stronger color on one side of the back: Heartbreaking to think that after all that time and effort, the piece was ruined just because I forgot to turn to the cold/cold setting for the delicate cycle on the washing machine. But then it occurred to me to "put it out there." I posted the problem on Instagram and got back several suggestions. The most popular solution was Dawn dish soap. And I'm happy to report I've met with success!!! It did require some persistence though. First, I tried applying Dawn to the affected areas and then putting it through the wash with a bit of

Here we are closing out August and I find once again that writing has taken a back seat to creating! I have been working diligently to finish these two pieces this summer in order to meet a juried show deadline. I would love to share more about them but I will wait to see if either one is juried in before any big reveals. Suffice it to say that they are direct opposites in terms of color palette and they're both an expansion of my experiments with improvised appliqu é  work. To be honest, I didn't realize how long it had been since I'd written anything. I've been so focused on quilting. Now it feels like I've neglected a responsibility in not keeping up with posting. And that has given me something to ponder.  At this point, we all know that social media can be a big attention hog, whether you're consuming it or actively contributing to it. Blogging, Instagram, all these wonderful tools are great vehicles to share our work. But keeping them fueled for the viewer

If you're not into gardens, or there's just so much sun you can tolerate, there are plenty of indoor galleries to visit at our destination spot. After all we're talking about The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. ( https://huntington.org/ ) The gallery exhibits cover a wide range of art movements, styles, and periods. (In fact this would be a great place to study millinery designs for women's hats. LOL)  This vast collection is not exclusively one of painting.  Many art forms and disciplines are represented. And it's really interesting to have divergent styles to compare and contrast in one visit. We happily stumbled on the American Art Galleries. Walking into this room felt like coming home, with it's nod to American quilts and textiles.   This yarn sewn rug attributed to Hannah Rosina Maynard Phillips stood out to me. Loved the rich colors and the intricate floral design.  Contrast Hannah's piece with this one by artist Cai Guo-Qiang a