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Archive for the ‘Juried Shows’ Category

No Rest for the Weary

Saturday, September 27th, 2014

GECatNWExpo

Well, I am not that weary, but fortunately, I recovered from my sinus infection and taking care of M & M so that I could keep up with my busy schedule this past week. On Tuesday, I went out to the Expo Center to help hang the SAQA Oregon Show, Exploring Layers. On Wednesday, I was busy, busy doing my left brain SDA work. On Thursday, I went back out to the opening of NW Quilt Expo. I spent a couple of hours at the Columbia FiberArts Guild table, showing some member’s work and promoting the guild. Then, I gave a docent talk for the SAQA show. That is me with my quilt, Walking With Scooter and Mr. C. That quilt has really been getting around.

On Friday, I finally got to my studio to start some clean up and to work on my latest Printed Fabric Bee piece. The queen this month is Leslie Jennison who has asked for Urban Surfaces -think about layered textures of old walls, peeling paint, graffiti, etc., on building walls. I was trying to decide what piece of fabric to use as my base for printing and had an epiphany as I was falling asleep or waking up. (Always get my best ideas, then.) I had done some shibori folds on some cotton scarves that I bought from Darma. They looked horrible – what was I thinking horrible. Here is one of them, dampened and ready to be tortured some more. I will only say that my first step was to paint over the whole thing with diluted black Jacquard DynaFlow paint. I will show the final result in a few days.

 

whatwasithinkingscarf

Intermission: Time to stop, make dinner and go to the symphony.

Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg played a violin concerto by Shostakovich. Fantastic concert.

And, I am back!

While at the quilt show, I found my favorite booth with hand-dyes from Maureen Schmidt – a friend from Sonoma County. I bought two packs of neutrals – one, warm and one, cool. High Fiber Diet has neutral as the theme for next year.

neutralfabrics1

neutralfabrics2

And I also found some Radiance (cotton/silk blend) in colors that will be perfect for the commission I am working on.

 

radiancefabrics

This is the gorgeous nuno felted backdrop that my friend, Maris Cavanaugh, made for the guild fashion show.

marisfeltedbackgroundLast, but not least, I finally got to use my new studio tool – an Oliso Smart Iron.

olisoiron

When it is plugged in, it pops up on it’s legs. When you hold it to iron, the legs disappear, but as soon as you let go of it, up it pops. It has a long cord and it goes off after 30 minutes when not in use, unlike most irons, which last for only 7 -8 minutes. I love its bright sunny color.

This, That and The Other Thing

Sunday, July 27th, 2014

printforpokey

It was a beautiful day today and so, after church and some mega grocery shopping, I headed to the studio to print some fabric for a special project. (seen above)  I don’t have AC there and it is too hot to work there on most summer days.

I found a piece of fabric on which I had done some previous printing – think if was discharged. I used one of my stencils and daubed on some red paint.

pokeyprinting

Then, just for fun, I spatter painted with white paint.

pokeypaintspatter

It was fun to spend some time in my studio. I sort of cleaned up from the quilting frenzy for the blue show.

Speaking of the blue show,  the Blue Picasso Woman was juried in but not the sky blue pink piece. I was not surprised. I rushed that and I knew that the dyed cheese cloth was too centered. So, here is my plan. When I get it back I am going to do a major crop on the top and also some on the bottom and redo the flying geese. I think I can get it ready to enter into a different show.

Before

Before

 

After

After

On Friday, Mr C and I drove my 3 quilts up to Tacoma to The American Art Company for the exhibit which opens on August 16th. I had to add sleeves to the bottom with slats so that they will hang better, I guess. It was kind of a pain.

tacomaquilts

 

americanartcompany

I hope I can get up for the reception on the 16th. The gallery  is very spacious, and I have seen the show in the past and it looked great. Quilt Knit Stitch is happening that week and Kristin LaFlamme, one of the Twelves and my art quilt daughter is coming for the week. She has one of her Army Wife Aprons in a show here in Portland. It was curated by Marci McDade, the SDA Journal editor. Just before that, we are going to CA to hang out with Paige for a few days.

I have 3 exhibit receptions in August! The Simply Red show is opening in Newport down on the Oregon Coast, the Columbia Fiber Arts exhibit, Fiber Inspirations, is opening here in town at the ArtReach gallery and then the exhibit in Tacoma. Pretty cool!

 

 

Portland in Full Bloom

Tuesday, June 24th, 2014

rosegarden6

 

This morning, we hiked up to the Rose Garden. So happy we did because I think it is at it’s peak, right now. Here are some photos I took today.

 

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rosegarden2

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We saw lots of purpleish roses today. There was one that was like a dark burgundy, but the photo did not turn out.

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We even got to see the Rose Queen getting photographed in the garden.

rosequeen

And this Shakespeare quote.

shakespearerosequote

Really a beautiful place in June.

I finished quilting the blue Picasso woman. She is ready for facings.

picassowomanquilted

In other exciting news, I had 3 pieces selected for The American Art Company’s Twelfth Northwest Contemporary Quilt Invitational. The gallery is in Tacoma. I have always wanted to enter this show, but never had a heads up as to when they were taking submissions. I found out that a friend had entered so on a whim, I contacted them and even though it was past the deadline, she looked at my work and chose 3 pieces to be in the show – Kelp Dance, and my two big aspen pieces. I am really happy that I took the chance and sent that e-mail.

This and That

Tuesday, May 13th, 2014

ridingthermalinverted

 

I spent most of today getting ready for and then checking in art for the Trinity Artists Among Us exhibit – A New Heaven and a New Earth – taken from Revelations. I took a climate change view of this and focused on the earth that we humans are creating. Soaring, above, and Kelp Dance, were juried into the show.

dancingkelpquilted

There are two other fiber artists in the show. Here is some of the art waiting to be hung tomorrow. Reception is Friday, 6-9 pm, if you are in the Portland area – come by for wine, good food, some jazz and art.

NHNEART

 

I have a favor to ask of you. I think I have mentioned in the past that I have made a panel for the Dream Rocket Project. Jennifer Marsh has had this dream and has worked for years to see it come to pass. She wants to fabricate a framework of 42 hoops that will fit around the 363′ Saturn V Moon Rocket, without touching the rocket itself. 8,000 artworks will be installed around this structure to create a temporary public artwork.

She needs some grass roots funding to get this off the ground. You can click on the Kickstarter link and donate as little as $1.00. Every little bit helps. It would mean a lot for Jennifer and her team of artists, that includes many, many school children, to get this off the ground!! Hope you can kick in a little. Thank you!!

Window Seat at PDX

Monday, April 28th, 2014

 

windowseatsign

Today, I got to go behind the scenes at the Portland airport to see the exhibit that my Prairie Fields is in. It consists of 13 or 14 glass cases with and essay by Jim Earl, a literature professor at U of O. In the essay, Earl uses images taken from Google Earth to educate people about the land below them as they fly. I didn’t realize that the complete title contained the phrase – The Art of the Circle Field. In addition to our 3 quilts, there are several Google Earth photos used to illustrate the story. In it, Earl ponders the artistry of the prairie circles – are they intended to be so artistic or is it by chance. Here are some of the photos he selected:

googleearthcircles2

googleearthcircles

Here are Shirley and Elizabeth with their quilts.

elizabethcircles

shirleycircles

And me:

gerriecircles

And the three of us together.

Ladies3

We met the curator in her office and she took us through to the secure area through a back door. We looked at some of the other art exhibits. I have always enjoyed seeing art in airports and so it is quite fun to be part of an exhibit, now.

IKEA is out by the airport so I had lunch and spent some time there picking up some things for the condo. Then, Mr C and I went to the lighting store and picked out a chandelier. We are tired at looking at hanging wires.