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Archive for the ‘SAQA’ Category

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How Embarassing

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

This is the body of work that I submitted to SAQA for my application to become  Professional Artist Member. I was denied. I was told that even thought I had “strong work.” my portfolio was not cohesive.

I waited quite awhile before I made the application because I wanted to have a cohesive portfolio. In my artist statement, I said that a big part of my work is creating original cloth from which I create abstract landscapes. I don’t know how to be more cohesive than this. I am open to suggestions, but I will not go through this again.

I also waited to apply until I had fulfilled many of the suggestions for PAM membership — having a solo show, work in national juried shows, work shown in museums, etc. I think I had fulfilled just about all of them. There are many PAMs who did not have to go through this process. They could just pay the extra membership and become one. Now, there is a glut of PAMs and so they are being very selective.

So, I am feeling as if I had the wind knocked out of me. I will get over it, but I wish I had not put myself through this.

Note: I feel compelled to explain my title. I felt embarrassed because so many friends had told me I was a shoe in and I believed it.

Posted in SAQA | 38 Comments »

Inspiration Galore

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Today, I enjoyed a full day of visiting textile artist studios in the East Bay. We left the hotel at 9 am and returned at 5 pm. Above is a photo of Ana Lisa Lindstrom’s live work space. She no longer lives here, but she could.

Here is a sneak peek at one of her gorgeous art to wear pieces that I am bringing home with me. A photo on me later.

Yoshiko Wada and Jean Cacicedo had work at Ana Lisa’s studio, also.

Next, we went to Richard Eliot’s studio. Richard has been head of fibers at California College of Art. he says he makes work for himself and does not care if it sells. I like that attitude. These are rusted pieces stretched on round canvases. He meticulously rusts with steel wool to look like real cellular structures.

After lunch, we went to the shared space of Susan Avila and Candace King – both do amazing work. This is Susan talking about her work.

We then stopped at the home and studio of Robin Crowley who is just now getting her sight back after losing it as a result of two strokes. She did not have new work and as a result of her problems, she is looking at new ways to work. Her husband is a landscape designer and their garden was a delight.

Our last stop was the studio of Karen Livingstone who designs and creates fabrics for designers of clothing and home decor. I loved this piece of shibori hanging in her studio.

To see many, many more photos of the day’s delights, go to my Flickr site, SDA/SAQA set.

Posted in Inspiration, SAQA, Surface Design Association, Travels | 10 Comments »

The Brain is Brimming

Friday, March 19th, 2010

When you are at an SDA/SAQA conference, there will be fabric! But, really, the best part of this conference has been the food for the brain. Our speakers today provided a plethora of inspirational fodder.

The first speaker was Marci McDade, editor of Fiberarts Magazine. She walked us through several exhibitions that have been transforming the face of fiber. Next, was Jane Przybysz, Ex. Director of the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, speaking about what makes Fiber Art. After lunch, we first heard from Stefano Catalani, curator for the Bellevue Arts Museum who addressed, Reinvention or Reassertion?, Fiber Art and the Contemporary Identity Discourse. The last speaker was Kill D’Alessandro, from the De  Young Museum, who took us through the evolution of fiber art at the prestigious museum.

Probably the meatiest stuff came out of the panel discussion with all of these speakers at the end of the day. A lot of discussion around the Q word and should we use it, embrace and love it or leave it behind. Quilts conjure up comfort and mother love and grandma and babies for most people. They just can not equate the word with art.

Back to the shopping. Exotic silks has these absolutely gorgeous iridescent silk scarves for sale. I might have to buy some for printing or discharging.

Here is an overview of our small shopping area.

Ok, now for some photos of friends. Here is my friend Teri with her new red do. She has to start chemo soon and she figured, what the heck!!

Here is one of the Twelves, Karen, with my friend, Deborah Weir, part of the SoCal contingent.

And here are the gadabouts, Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison, curators of the Beneath the Surface show. They have been out and about San Francisco today, missing most of the conference!! They do know how to have fun.

The conference is great, but the accommodations are less than desirable. First, the hotel is pretty far from SF State, the site of the conference. The shuttle system did not work well this morning. Thank goodness, Teri had a rental car so we rode with her. Tonight, the restaurant and the bar were closed in the hotel. We ended up getting take out from an Italian restaurant and eating in the lobby with wine purchased from the front desk. Apparently, when they do not have business men, they do not provide these amenities.

That’s all for tonight!

Posted in SAQA, Surface Design Association | 3 Comments »

Working Smaller

Friday, March 12th, 2010

It was nice to play around with the smaller format this week. It is nice to get the instant gratification my finishing a piece in a couple of days. I played some more with skinny bits for this and then made the commitment and fused it. I let it percolate for awhile and then quilted it this afternoon. It is clickable to see it larger. I am considering using this for the SAQA auction. I am going to do a larger one this week-end – not sure if it will be roots or grass.

Here is a detail:

Have a great week-end. I am wondering if I will get my skinny envelope from Quilt Visions tomorrow. Seems like a lot of people have gotten theirs yesterday and today.

Posted in My creations, SAQA, Scrap art | 3 Comments »

What a Great Day

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

I had back to back meetings today and both were fun and inspiring. First, was the quarterly meeting of Columbia Fiberarts Guild. We had a program which featured members of the guild doing demonstrations and showing their work. We capped it off with a delicious catered lunch.

This afternoon, we had our first Portland area SAQA meeting, with a great turn out and several guests who may decide to join. The highlight was seeing part of the SAQA @20 trunk show. I was excited to see that this group had my piece. It is up there on the left. I used my handpainted silk and did lots of hand stitching. We are going to have our first Oregon juried show, titled Oregon, State of Diversity. To cap off the day, I won this door prize, The Transformations:  Reflections Catalog.

One of the demos today was by a paper collage artist, Susan Schenck, who is not a member of the guild. I loved what she did so much, I thought I would share some photos.

Here is one of her pieces. A detail is below.

She started a collage of this dog photo during her demo.

She has tons of magazine pages sorted by colors. She told me that she is partial to text on color to give more interest and texture.

She uses wall paper for the background because it can stand up to the dampness of the glue. She told me she finds it at yard sales. That is where she gets many of her frames, too.

She does a sketch of the photo on tracing paper and then does the collage under the tracing paper, filling in the background first. She uses a paste glue called Yes!. The old phone book is her pasting station. Brilliant.

Hope you enjoyed sharing my day with me.

Posted in Collage, Columbia FiberArts Guild, SAQA | 5 Comments »

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