My Quilt Is In The Current Group...

of the SAQA Auction.

Today (Wednesday, September 28) all the art quilts on pages 3a and 3b will be priced at $350 beginning at 2 pm EST. Tomorrow they will go down to $250. There are some beautiful and unique quilts in this grouping! Even if you are not bidding, check them out. You'll be inspired and amazed at what can be done with fabric and stitching.

One More Orange Quilt

Here's another quilt I made for the 12x12 orange theme. It's called Overflowing.

After I finished it, I felt like I hadn't used enough orange. So, I made the hibiscus for the official 12x12 orange mosaic. I like them both. They're very different, don't you think? I wrote more about the process, inspiration and materials on the 12x12 blog. Check it out. There are some detail shots there too.

MLK Memorial

After days and days of rain last week (and only barely recovered from Irene the week before), both the kids soccer games were cancelled last Saturday. So, we ventured into DC to see the new MLK memorial.

 Below, you can see the quote on one side of the memorial, "out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope." (And the Washington Monument in the distance.)

Then you can see here, how the stone with the MLK sculpture appears to have slid out of the mountain section at the entrance. I really like how this emphasizes that quote.

There are several quotes throughout the memorial grounds. Here's one of my favorites.

The quote on the other side of the figure has been the subject of controversy.

I don't feel particularly strongly about the misquoting of that set of words, but I do find the controversy interesting and a good subject for study and contemplation. There are other controversies about the memorial, most notably the $800,000 in fees charged by the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation for the use of King's image and words on the memorial. I might not feel strongly about the quote, but I do feel strongly about those fees. I think it's awful.

Another controversy... of all the quotes engraved throughout the memorial, which would you MOST expect to see? It's not there.

I am sure there was controversy about the Lincoln Memorial when it was built. They ran out of money building the Washington Monument and stopped construction for years. It might be interesting to study the history of the various memorials and monuments at the mall. Mostly, I just truly hope that the new MLK Memorial becomes a place where people of all ages from all over the world and might come and see Martin's strong, determined, hopeful face and read his wise words and feel called to action.

Winner Winner

Remember the give-away from last week... this inspiring new collection of art quilts and quilters titled "Masters: Art Quilts Vol. 2."

The Random Number Generator kicked out number 38...

 

and that was Connie!

 

If you didn't win, you could easily place an order! I know you won't be sorry.

SAQA Auction Donation

The SAQA Auction kicked off yesterday! I am honored to have a piece in the group of art quilts that will become available on September 26. Mine is titled Purple with Lotus.






Here's what I wrote for a detailed statement.

This fiber collage incorporates several of my favorite motifs and techniques including hand embroidery, original surface designed fabrics, sheer overlay and edge treatments. The lotus image adds a translucent layer over the main composition creating additional texture and tones. It is created with tulle and free motion stitching. The composition is a balance of order and linear elements mixed with free form stitches and the unfolding petals of the lotus. The design extends to the edge of the art quilt. Three sides have a fused binding with stitches and fabric over small sections. The fourth side has a zig zagged edge.
 
 

I am still exploring the idea of sheer silhouettes created with tulle or other translucent fabrics. (I wrote about this technique for Quilting Arts In Stitches Vol. 2.) I can totally imagine picking more flowers and more color ways and creating a collection.


I hope you'll check out the quilts in the SAQA auction this year. It's a great way to support fiber artists and an excellent organization.

The auction works in a pretty unique way...

On the first day of each section's auction, the price for each piece in that section is $750. The next day (at 2:00 Eastern), the price drops to $550. The third day, it drops to $350, then $250, then $150, and finally $75.

The first section will begin September 12th at 2:00 PM Eastern.
The second section will begin September 19th at 2:00 PM Eastern.
The third section will begin September 26th at 2:00 PM Eastern. (This is where you'll find Purple with Lotus and many other great quilts.)

Manoa Falls Hike

I'm still catching up on many pictures and wonderful adventures in Hawaii. The hikes were my favorite part of the trip.

We saw some wild chickens in the rain forest.

The kids loved that!

Manoa Falls was an easy 1.5 mile hike to an amazing waterfall.

 Lovely trees, ferns, leaves and shadows.

Benjamin created several imaginary ninja challenges along our hike -- rock climbing, stream jumping, bamboo sword fighting, climbing through mazes of vines...

 So spare, simple and beautiful.

Isn't this branchy archway so fun?!

The beautiful falls...

We took a side trail further up the mountain beyond the falls. We ran into a young man with a back pack and asked him how far it was to the next overlook. He said he'd been hiking since 10 am and then he disappeared on down the trail. It was 4:30 pm, so clearly we were going to have to turn around at some point rather than continue up the trail. We ran into another couple who said there was a huge banyan tree just a bit further up the trail. They turned around there. So we continued through a huge swath of bamboo clattering in the wind, then came upon the banyan.

Then we turned around. Got one more quick snapshot at the falls and continued back down the trail.

I'm sad that I didn't get any snap shots of the shave ice we enjoyed at the little snack bar/restaurant just beyond the parking lot, or the guy who worked behind the counter who had a Lost tattoo, shirt and hat. Or the amazing collection of orchids that were sitting in every corner.

Maine Landscapes

I'm getting ready to work on a new small art quilt --- a landscape, I think. I'm taking inspiration from these images from my trip to Maine.
Remember the green bridge?
This is a path at Sarah's new home.
I love Maine's coastline!
This may be my favorite... with the grasses in the foreground.
No, wait. Maybe this is my favorite (though it's more about he sky and the sunset than the landscape).
Another angle of the green bridge.

Inspiring Give-away!

When seeking inspiration, I love to look at the work of other art quilters. I am amazed by what artists have created with fabric and stitching. It really is a wide-open, masterful, exciting part of the world of fine art.

This new book is a perfect example!

Masters: Art Quilts, Vol. 2 is published by Lark and edited by Martha Sielman who is Executive Direction of SAQA. A couple of months ago, Martha and I had a great conversation about publishing books about art quilting with Lark. (They also published our book Twelve by Twelve: The International Art Quilt Challenge.) I know Martha is eager for everyone to enjoy the works of the 40 artists profiled in the book. Here's your chance!

I'm privileged to give away a copy through the massive blog-hop give-away sponsored by Lark. Check out the full list here. It's almost over... just one more day. (Brenda will offer a book on her blog tomorrow.)

Just leave a comment on this post and tell me who your favorite art quilt "master" is. I'll leave comments open for one week and draw a winning name at random on Sept 15.

Chewing on the idea of drawing

I gave a presentation at the Quilters Guild of Dallas last week. My program was titled "Twelve by Twelve: Inspirations and Adventures from the Art Quilt Challenge." I showed each of my 24 quilts for the themes in our 12x12 challenge. I also showed quilts from each of the other artists in the project. There were a few great questions after my program. I am still lingering over one question and my answer to it. A woman said something like, "I noticed that none of your quilts include realistic images. They are all rather abstract. Why?"

I took a second to think about my answer and then I said, "Because I can't draw."

Ug. I wish I hadn't said that. I did go on to explain that I am really enamored with the shape of things and the way lines play with each other. And I left it at that.

I wish I had extrapolated a little. So, I'm blogging my thoughts instead. I'll include this post in my continuing collection of "ideas to chew on."

I really do love playing with shapes. I love the shape of a house.

I also love rectangles and their many variations.
I like to play with the relationship of one shape with another. They look different depending on whether they are next to each other or overlapping each other. I'm interested in the edge of the shape -- is it cut, torn, sewn or frayed? If I cut it out, did I use a pattern? A wavy rotary cutter or a dull pair of scissors? Each detail in the process has an effect on the final design of an art quilt.

If I were trying to create an art quilt that looked like something realistic, I couldn't play with those details in the same way. Every decision would be serving the image rather than the fabric or the relationship between the elements in the composition. That's the stuff that's interesting to me.

I also like the idea that each shape can be an individual frame for other details. It can be even more interesting when details spill out of their frame.

Beyond shapes and their edges, I love playing with the colors and textures of fabrics. I'm interested in how a stitched line enhances a composition. Hand stitches say something different than machine stitches.

That said, there are occasions when I want to include something that is a bit more realistic. Then I do some research and lots of sketching. It's not so much that I can't draw, or that I couldn't become better at drawing if I worked at it. It's just that my interest lies in other areas. I think some artists, myself included, feel like we have to apologize for our lack of skills in a particular area. But, we shouldn't. I'm reminding myself of that today.

My personal style and the techniques, shapes and symbols I use regularly are things I've discovered over several years of cutting, stitching, fusing, layering, painting and just exploring! I think I'll keep at it.

Orange Reveal Day!

Here is my orange quilt for the last of the colorplay challenges on our 12x12 blog. It's called Hibiscus and is obviously inspired by our trip to Hawaii.
Read a bit more about this quilt and check out the orange quilts from the other 11 art quilters on our blog.