Facebook Artists' Challenge

Lynda Christiansen, my friend from the Valley South SAQA group (Eugene), nominated me for the Facebook Artists' Challenge.  By accepting the nomination, I will post three photos of my work on fb for 5 days, and nominate a new artist each of those days.

Before I do my first post, I thought I'd share a nice surprise that came in yesterday's mail:

What a nice-looking certificate!  I think it deserves a frame.

Along with the certificate was a letter from gallery coordinator Janne LaValle, with some news about the In Stitches 2015 show.   Janne wrote

The quality [of the show quilts] placed the practice of quilting into the fine art category, definitely not your grandmother's quilts.  With this impression made, we are happy to announce the In Stitches 2015 theme will be Not Your Grandmother's Quilts.

The timeline will be similar to the 2014 show, with digital entries due in Sept., notifications in Oct., and delivery in Nov. Look for the Call to Artists [Pacific Park Gallery] for exact dates.  

Our goal is to bring arts to the Oregon Coast that will challenge and encourage artistic exploration.

Better put that on my calendar for September and share the news with others!

See my Nov. 7, 2014 post about the In Stitches 2014 show.

Art Quilts at Stitches in Bloom

This weekend is the annual Stitches in Bloom quilt show at the Oregon Garden in Silverton.  Back in Sept., I volunteered to coordinate a special exhibit of art quilts for this show.  With a small but efficient group of volunteers, we met our goal of collecting 25 art quilts (they had to meet the show's required measurement of at least 24" x 36").   We named our exhibit Art Quilt Friends Revisited (last year was the first time for this special exhibit and it was called Art Quilt Friends)

Here are some of the quilts in the Art Quilt Friends Revisited (AQFR) exhibit:

"Effervescent" by Nancy Bryant

by Sidnee Snell

"Industrial Nature" by Erika Close

"Menopausal Aspens" by Mandy Miller

My "Natural Symphony"  (Joanna Price)

"Rhythm in the Landscape" by Jill Hoddick

 

"Where's Elmo?" by Lynda Christiansen

The work displayed inside our booth did not have to meet a size requirement, so we had a variety of pieces from journal quilt size (9" x 11") on up to18" x 36".

collaged floral piece by Jill Hoddick

detail of Jill's floral textile collage

Some of my photos were difficult to crop, so the booth's black drapes are showing:
  

"Glacial Melt" by Betty Davis Daggett

Except for the unevenness of my cropping, I really like Lynda's quilt against the black background:

Lynda Christiansen's "The Bare Tree"

 We included two of my journal quilts from 2005 . . . what?  ten years ago!

    

Unfortunately, we were unable to hang any pieces that were framed or on stretcher bars, such as this  gorgeous landscape by Ginny McVickar:

"Purple Mountain's Majesty"

Here are a few other quilts that were close to our booth but not part of the AQFR exhibit:

"Pachyderm Posies" by Dee Burson

 I'm showing a large version because the original itself was large . . . and fun and colorful.

Finally, a few pieces from Portland's High Fiber Diet group and their show What's Blue to You?

"Blue Ewe" by Pamela Pilcher

"Forget me Not" by GerrieThompson

There's still time to see the show tomorrow!  I'm returning then to see the entire show (including a special exhibit of felted items in another building), and  to take home the exhibit quilts when the show closes at 4pm.

A huge THANKS  to my fellow volunteers Lynda Christiansen, Elizabeth Bamberger, Jill Hoddick, Stitches in Bloom volunteer extraordinaire Mary Goodson, plus all the booth volunteers and participants who loaned us their quilts for this exhibit.