Fiberlandia

Welcome to Portland, Oregon! I took a trip out to attend SAQA's yearly Convention, leaving April 28th and returning to Rhode Island May 4th. This was my view from room 1558 on the 15th floor of the Doubletree Hilton. I nearly got myself in the door and met up with Co-Rep Sue Bleiweiss and Lyric Kinard for lunch in the Lloyd Center. 

 

This statue carved from marble is a stack of coins and had poetry and words carved all around the outside of the coins having to do with wealth, money and prosperity. Interesting central piece for the entrance to a mall. Inside this typical mall our first sight was a window full of frilly prom gowns. Hilarious. They also have an indoor skating rink in this mall, rather progressive!

We rested after a very light lunch and then got back together for a bus trip to Toro Bravo, a Spanish restaurant specializing in tapas. 11 of us set out and had the best time sharing our food and getting to know each other. I was overjoyed and a little star struck sitting next to Rosalie Dace from South Africa. It was a fantastic way to start the weekend and the bacon wrapped dates were heavenly.

The following day started off with business. The Reps meeting had us busy for a while. After we took a quick jaunt by Max, the transit system, to Powell Books which is a 5 story book store. Joined by Teresa Duryea Wong from Texas, Sue and I perused the arts level of the store. We found her new book on the shelves and she signed them for the store.

Several dollars less and with a few heavy bags we walked back to catch the Max. Along the way a few things caught our eye. I had to take a picture of this 'carpets' sign which was completely retro from the '60s and spinning round to reveal 'rugs' on the back side.

After drooling over beautiful artisan wares in 'The Real Mother Goose', we caught the train just in time to shop some more at the SAQA vendor marketplace where I did some real damage with the gorgeous hand dyed cottons made by Carol Eaton of CT.

The next day, Friday was business all day for me. It started with a lecture and panel discussion with the SAQA international members as they gave us an idea of how things run in other countries. Pictured is Hsin-Chen Lin with her daughter as interpreter and her quilt in front of her. There is a major show in Taiwan next year sponsored by SAQA and I think I will enter pieces into it. There is also another show coming up in Canada, first SAQA show there ever, and I will also be creating a piece to enter for this show.

After attending two wonderful break out sessions with Sue Reno and Lyric Kinard, I started to prepare for the SAQA Maker Space. Run by Kate Themel of CT, it was a fun evening event filled with learning and creating experiences. I was there doing my demo on how fabric markers and pens can enhance a design. Thanks have to go to three companies who provided pens for me to demo with, Tsukineko, Sakura and Jacquard. As you can see by the 1st photo to the right, I was drawing a crowd all night. Thanks to Elizabeth Bamberger of Portland, I had a light box to do demos on and for members to use.

These are my 3 demo pieces which I used to demonstrate the use of pens and markers. 

We all had such a blast and boy was I tired by the end of the night. That did not stop a few of 
us from having a glass of one of Portland's many vineyard wines at the bar while we discussed what was coming up next in our studios.

After lectures/panels in the morning, Sue 
and I set out for our tour day. We started by taking in the orchid show in the exhibition center of the Hilton. Wow, there were some eye popping plants on display, many with big blue and red ribbons.

This one kind of looks like a monkey's face. I just loved all 
the purple spots.






We then took in a SAQA Oregon Regional exhibition called Exploring Layers. It was a well put together show with plenty of eye candy. Seeing quilts always makes me want to get into the studio and work, work, work!

Rift Valley

Laura Jaszkowski, Eugene, OR

After a long day touring around Portland, we took a rest and got ourselves ready for the Spotlight Auction and Banquet. 

I got out my best outfit, along with my turquoise squash blossom and headed downstairs to find the hall brimming with people and a scrumptious buffet set up.

I had made a piece for the Spotlight Auction called Tiny Dancers, pictured on the far left of the photo of artwork for sale. It sold to Kat Larrea of Alaska. Woohoo my piece is going to Alaska! 

This is the one I was lucky enough to 
purchase with a little hovering to ensure no one stole it from me. My spotlight! by Phyllis Cullen from HI is now the second of Phyllis' pieces to grace my studio. I just love my little froggies!

Sheila Finzer 

Sunday morning was the wrap up of the weekend. A panel of Oregon artists gave us an overview of how they work. Very inspiring!

And then....I had the ultimate pleasure of meeting up with a high school 'bestie', Teenamarie Callahan who I last saw at her wedding as she and her new husband left to start their life in the Pacific Northwest. Our screeching and whooping in the lobby of the Hilton alerted everyone that something special was happening. Teenamarie and I spent the day catching up in a way that emails just can't touch. With the backdrop of Multnomah Falls, two best friends found each other again.

On the plane ride home, in the early hours of the morning, as I took in the beauty of Mt St Helens, Mt Hood and the Columbia River, I found myself smiling with gratitude for the events which had just transpired during the past 5 days. New and old friends, inspiring work, educational experiences, all wrapped into one wonderful conference. 

Now....I get to transform that inspiration in my studio. 

Full Calendar

Spring has sprung in a very big way! The calendar is getting very busy and I am being a very busy bee in the studio as well. 

Let me begin by officially posting the news that Angelina's Eggs was accepted into the SAQA exhibition 'Balancing Act'. It will be showing for the first time at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, TX this fall and then traveling to both Chicago and Portland. I have also heard that my piece, Mariposa, which is still out on exhibit with 'Butterfly Whirl' will be travelling to Houston this fall as well. I will have two pieces showing in Houston! Boy do I wish I could go. Not in the cards this year.

SAQA MA/RI had it's first quarterly meeting here in Rhode Island at Blaine's Sewing Center in Cranston on March 28. We invited quilting guild members here in the state to come check out one of our meetings and Sue Bleiweiss, Allison Wilbur and myself provided demos of ways to finish an art quilt and on free motion stitching. Thanks have to go out to Blaine's for letting us use their facilities and machines and to Bernina who provided the machines. It was a great meeting and great way to start off the year for SAQA here in MA and RI.

The only time to breathe was Easter weekend because it started to roll again with the start of MQX in Manchester, NH. This was a wonderful large show full of vendors and amazing quilts. I didn't take or teach any classes but they were going on all weekend. Perhaps next year I will apply to teach. I got to see one of my favorite art quilts of late, which I watched being created online last year by very talented, Andrea Brokenshire. Titled "A Passion For Purple", this clematis is the most amazing job of both painting and stitching that I have ever seen. Kudos to Andrea for winning two ribbons and a Janome Memory Craft sewing machine. I was just tickled to see it up close and personal.

I didn't even get to blink before returning the next day to northern MA for the opening of 'Seasonal Palette' which is a SAQA juried invitational exhibition with the theme of the seasons. Sue Bleiweiss, co-rep for MA/RI SAQA filled in for Martha Sielman and led a walkthrough of the exhibition currently on view at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA. The show was inspiring and physically gorgeous with all pieces having been constructed the same size. 

Each artist also included a journal of their process which was fascinating. I could have spent hours just perusing the journals. Below are a couple of my favorites, as I am a lover of all things full of color and drama. 

On the left is a detail of Autumn Celebration by Benedicte Caneill from New York and on the righi is a detail of Reflections of Summer by Jenny Hearn from Johannesburg, South Africa. If you are in New England you might want to make a trip to NEQM before July 26 because this is one very amazing show.

Well the calendar continues marching on. This Friday, April 17, I will be up in Worcester, MA at the Sewing and Quilting Expo. I will be helping to man the SAQA booth, #812, all day with other MA/RI members. I will be bringing the SAQA MA/RI Trunk Show with me to display. Come by and say "hello". On April 25, SAQA MA/RI is sponsoring a lecture and photo shoot for registered members with professional photographer, Joe Ofria. Joe has been photographing fine art for over 34 years in the Boston area and will be speaking to our members about how to successfully use a point and shoot digital camera to get quality photos of your work.

Then it's off to Portland, OR for me on April 29 through May 4 for the SAQA yearly Convention. On Friday, May 1 from 7-10pm, I will be providing a demo on the use of fabric markers to enhance art quilts at the SAQA Maker Space at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton in Portland. This whole extended weekend promises to be so much fun. I will be posting from Portland, hopefully, with lots of pictures and updates of what is happening.

When I arrive home I will be joining Sue Bleiweiss and Cheryl Rezendes in jurying our SAQA MA/RI exhibition, 'Art As Quilt' which will open in September of this year at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA. The call for entry for all MA/RI and CT members is open from May 1 through May 31.

Phew! You may be wondering how anything is happening in the studio. It is happening every day. I feel so blessed not to be working outside the home and to be able to be in my studio every day. I enjoy a day off a week to play with my granddaughter, Riley but every other day I spend a good chunk, if not near all of my day playing with fabrics, markers, pencils and sewing machines. Above is a sample piece, in process, that I have done for my demo in Portland on using fabric markers to accentuate an art quilt. There are three of these sample pieces and their step outs being prepared.

COLOR Stories

COLOR Stories is the name I have given to a sketchbook journal I've just begun. I have a page here where I will be regularly posting progress in journal entries with photos of my process as I go along. I hope to 'sketch' several fabric paintings which will become a fabric journal when finished. Each entry I will be adding to the last post to create one long journal entry. I hope to both learn and teach a little about color, composition, value, balance and other elements of art as I create each piece in my own unique way. I'm sure there will be experiments along the way, which adds to the fun. While I hope to gain a fantastic journal at the end, the journey here will be the focus. To follow along with me simply click COLOR Stories, above, where you find the boxes highlighting my pages.

And when I get home from Portland I will be visiting my Exhibition goals again to crack the whip at completing a few more large pieces, starting with Empress of the Pines.

28 Days

Setting goals and achieving them are two very different animals. Late last fall I did some planning with my mentor's guidance. Ultimately I came up with a list of major pieces I want to create this year and a calendar set for the exhibitions in which I wish to enter them. Easy enough task. I have more ideas in my head than time to complete them!

Time is a valuable commodity to an artist. I have learned a lot about what time means to my practice of art. I have never been one to seek the easy or quick way to do something. My art is evidence of the fact that my techniques take a great deal of time. The more time I put into a piece, the more technically sound it becomes. Conversely when the clock seems to be ticking way too fast, I feel the pressure and it often shows in the stitching.

My last piece was drawn, fused and stitched in 28 days. I conceived of the idea years ago but only recently did I see an exhibition come up that was a possible fit; SAQA's Balancing Act. 

My paternal grandmother was a strong woman and a very important role model for all of her granddaughters. She wasn't formally educated, growing up in rural Italy, the daughter of peasant farmers. After immigrating and working a lifetime in this country, my grandfather's social security check was not quite enough to make ends meet. So Angelina found a way to grow the cookie jar. She peddled her chicken's eggs door to door in the neighborhood along with the vegetables from their garden. Now called cottage industry, my grandmother worked hard for that extra cash.

While I had the concept firmly in my head, bringing my beloved grandmother to life was daunting. I struggled with color and fabric choices, changed the drawing, and I even altered my initial concept of having chickens hanging by beads below the bottom edge.

I spent quite a bit of time creating the chickens. I used my fabric markers to flesh out all the feathers.

I even hand stitched the ribs on the feathers, found a wonderful straw fabric and that got the marker treatment too. But as time progressed I found that I wasn't keen on how they looked with the body of the quilt. And time was running very short so I couldn't start over. Sometimes an artist goes down an unproductive path accidentally and WHAM, days are gone!

Geometric or architectural perspective is definitely not my thing so getting the coop put in took some more of my time. Before I knew it I had only one more day to finish and I ended up working all night to finish the border and binding, hand sewing it between sleepy nods of my head. 

I always take that one final critical look at each piece as I finish them and see them hanging ready to be photographed. I always see something I didn't see before and I almost always wish I had more time to alter one or two things.

With this piece, although it is emotionally dear to my heart, there are more than a few things I wish I had more time to correct. A few of those nagging self criticisms can't be altered without starting again. Maybe I am being overly critical because we all do that don't we. I'll know soon enough if it is good enough to be accepted into the SAQA exhibit. I have had a string of rejections, and without jinxing myself, if this one is also rejected, I will know why this time.

ANGELINA'S EGGS

32" x 45"

Completed 2015

Absorbing Disappointment

Two more rejection letters from the SAQA exhibition 'Wild Fabrications' leaves me to internally question, "What do I need to fix in order to get a more favorable outcome?" Knowing that sometimes a piece just doesn't work with other chosen pieces, I still am questioning what it might have been this time. I entered both 'Caught' and a new piece, 'Crazy Eights' and neither were accepted.

My composition on 'Caught' is a bit bottom heavy but there is good color movement to offset it. 'Crazy Eights' has a wonderful flow, great color contrast and movement, interesting fabric choices and a solid composition. So, other than the pieces not fitting into the show, I am left with two possible culprits. Either my stitching is not as consistently professional as it should be, or my photographs did not read well.

I am still working to get the hang of free motion quilting. Thankfully my Sweet 16 allows me to choose a percentage of the speed it does at full throttle. I have mine still set low at 35%. But I still have issues with my brain working slower than my foot. I wonder if I will ever really get the hang of it. Here are two shots of the background quilting for Crazy of the swirly moon and the still dark sky. 

If you look closely you will see how even though some areas are working well with even lines and stitching, there are wonky lines every so often and occasional uneven stitches. Judges look closely. This is a dilemma for me because the artist in me can envision the work but my skill is not keeping up. Practice, practice, practice, you might say. Well, I have taken years to do just that and it hasn't really paid off in increased skill. 

My strong skill lies in other areas. 

Contrast is a tool I often use.

I've been saving this silk specialty fabric for a long time and with it's likeness to fire was the perfect choice for a border for this fire breathing dragon.

Imagination, draftsmanship, color theory, composition, construction, fabric knowledge. These are my strong suits. I very seldom get stuck in choosing my fabrics. In the dragon I have chosen lots of complementary colors for drama, lime greens and raspberry reds, fiery oranges against the deep blue of the sky, pale yellows and light lilacs in the moon.

Fabrics can also add interest in how they play with light. The wings not only reflect light but are two layers of organza which create moire patterns when cut across the grain and are transparent giving depth to the design. One of the wings is sewn to the quilt only at one edge, free floating over the body, tethered with one stitch and wired along the top.

The wing's transparency is allowing the moon and sky to show through. 

In this shot above, the relief work is more evident and the left wing is showing the curl of it's wired edge. All of these effects took some brain-power to figure out. The quilt stitching was done on the front body pieces with interfacing behind before stitching a tube (below) and filling with fiber fill. The flanges on the head were completely made with a lining and stitched before both fusing and stitching to the background. 

 

I was really worried about whether the background would be strong enough to hold the weight and twisted contortion of the relief work in the front. I used thermal curtain batting as my choice of batting and the end result is that it helped to make the background stiff and sturdy. It crinkles a bit when moved around.

I am thankful for my strong workhorse Bernina, which with a leather needle, sewed through several layers with it's perfect satin stitch to adhere the body pieces. Some of those body pieces, like the tail are hand stitched in key areas and free floating in others.

I did have a photographer take my entry shots. He is a seasoned, but amateur photographer. I may have this one reshot by professional, Joe Ofria, from Arlington, MA at SAQA MA/RI's workshop in April and see if he gets a better result with the relief imaging. My details and full shot follow:

First detail shot

Side detail shot

CRAZY EIGHTS

36" x 46"

Completed January 2015

$2,750.00

I am working on my next piece for a deadline again. It will be my third SAQA deadline in a row since 2014's 'Food For Thought' exhibit. It is a piece about how my grandmother raised chickens and sold her eggs door to door to have extra money in the household. The deadline for 'Balancing Act' is February 28, but I hope to have it completed by early next week. 

As I continue working on this piece I am ever mindful now of the need to keep my stitching as perfect as I can. I wonder if my photographer will render me a great shot. And I wonder if with three strikes you are out or if my luck will come back. Ultimately, an artist can't be thin skinned. I need to just keep making my art and hope for the best. Absorb the blow. Wish me luck.

NEW Year, NEW Work

Busy as a beaver; busier than a one armed paper hanger; busy bee. However you wish to say it, that has been my experience since the holidays ended. My studio is so cold in the winter with glass all around to transfer the cold. Long icicles are hanging off the eaves. The studio is heated on it's own zone but if I turn it up, we go through oil like water. So I am working with cold hands. On what you ask? 

Well I thought it was about time to finish up a design I first drew in 1995 which was inspired by the story of Peter and the Wolf, music and story by Sergei Prokofiev. I had just seen an article in Smithsonian Magazine featuring the exhibit "A Deck of Cards" and I was so moved and excited by the work I viewed that I knew instantly I wanted to work with fabric. I had no supplies, as you can clearly see, not even decent paper to draw on. I taped 8 1/2" x 11" paper together to create a larger field to draw, put on some appropriate music, and began to draw. What I ended up with is a very complex drawing of the four characters involved in that scene and a sample of the music for each of them complete with their instruments.

I began working the center piece by creating the background of grass, sky and one very rigid tree. I didn't understand about 'take-up' and the grassy area shrunk by a whole inch, frustrating the dickens out of me. I pushed on to sew the wolf out of every scrap of wool I had and hand stitched him down with extra padding to the background. I moved on to create Peter and the bird and two of the musical panels. Again using every scrap of fabric I had, upholstery, velvet, lace, lame, knits, etc. You name it, it's in there! Needless to say it was an epic fail and I let it sit as a UFO for many years as I moved on, having learned some invaluable hard lessons about construction.

In 2010, after having just joined SAQA in September of 2009, I decided to give the wolf a second shot. I entered the Visions Program offered by SAQA which is a program created for artists to set goals and with the help of other artists to achieve them. One goal was to finish "Peter and the Wolf". I redrew (still limited in supplies, I pieced the paper again with tape) both the tree and the wolf. I wanted to make the tree more life-like and gave it some flex. I edited the wolf, keeping the same general shape but giving him a more graphic nature. The sky and grass became two large background pieces.

Peter was drawn separately and made to set into the tree. I Made my background out of two pieces of batik. I added fused branches in reds, russets and golds. 

Then I set to work on the wolf. This time I fused him onto muslin, a technique I now use often. My plan was to satin stitch the pieces onto the muslin and hand stitch the muslin to the background with extra batting under the wolf. I ran into problems. I forgot to add interfacing and many of the curvy lines puckered horribly. I had used a silk/wool blend for the inside of the ears. The iron singed it so that it's white fibers were now an uneven tan. And the hand stitching was impossible around the fine points of his ruff. Ugh, I gave up again not really knowing how to proceed.

In 2014 I became determined to get this piece finished and when I saw the call come out for a SAQA show called "Wild Fabrications" which was all about animals, my wolf, wild and imaginary, seemed to fit the bill. This gave me a deadline to shoot for, which seems to be my only successful incentive. I also had a drawing for a dragon which would be a possible for the same call. So after discussing goals with my mentor I added both quilts onto my list of works to accomplish in 2015 for that specific call for entry.

I remade the wolf from some of the same wools and added some new ones. (I dropped the silk/wool fabric out of the mix this time.) Fusing onto muslin again, this time I fused a thin cotton batting onto the back as interfacing before adding my satin stitches. The wolf's ruff has some extra padding placed with fusible under the wolf before I satin stitched him down to the background. This technique of creating separate segments of a quilt has become a signature of mine, making construction and composition easier for me. Both Peter and the bird were also done in this way and then placed onto the background of sky, grass and tree.

Then came the fun of leafing out the tree. I cut about a hundred leaves or more, fused them, quilted veins and then satin stitched them. The satin stitches have to be done with my Bernina (6" neck) and I couldn't use the Sweet 16. Boy do I wish the Sweet 16 could do simple satin stitching. It took hours more than I expected to complete. Can you say labor intensive!

With the deadline for "Wild Fabrications" quickly approaching and two quilts only partly done, I flew into a rage of sewing, night and day. I ended up pulling another all-nighter to get this one completed with the border and binding so it could be photographed in time. 

The blizzard last week near gave me a heart attack as I was uncertain if the photographer would be able to make it. But he was able to come up to the studio on Saturday morning on the last day of the call. So I was able to enter both pieces for that call and I am now waiting to hear if one of them will be chosen or not.

In my next post I will detail the progression of the dragon called "Crazy Eights"

CAUGHT

32 1/2" x 48 1/2"

Completed January 2015

NFS

Commercial cottons, batiks, wool; fused, extra batting applied behind some pieces to create depth, machine stitched

Photography by Eric Zhang