Bemused, Boggled, and Bedazzled

Several months ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Christine from Abbey of the Arts, an enterprise devoted to the connections between art and spirituality. She found me through a mutual connection at the Grunewald Guild where I will be teaching a couple of classes this summer. As a result of our conversations, she asked if she might use an image of one of my journal quilts in the June 2008 issue of “Presence” an international journal of spiritual direction, of which she is the art director. I got my advance copies yesterday, and was delighted to see that another friend of mine, Carla McConnell has an image of her work in this issue.

At any rate, Christine also asked if I would be willing to be interviewed for her blog. Apparently she posts an interview every Wednesday, if possible. I agreed, and the interview was posted this morning, along with several pictures of my work. Please stop by to read the interview and let me know what you think. I tried not to sound like a doofus, but I have been known to stick my foot in my mouth from time to time!

Hoping you are enjoying Spring!

There is a twice a year quilt show in my town. It lasts only a weekend, and is on the smallish side, as quilt shows go. This morning there were 71 quilts to be seen. Out in the competitive quilt show world, these quilts will never get a ribbon, never cause anyone to gasp over their astonishing technical prowess, never make anyone decide to take a class to learn how to do it. But they are the most beautiful quilts I see all year.

Every Thursday, a group of women, mostly aged 60+, meet at Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland, WA to make these marvelous quilts. They are double bed size, made of 12″ squares of an amazing variety of fabrics, all of which are donated. Anyone who walks in the room is given a task. If they don’t know how to run a sewing machine, they can measure and cut squares. If they are limber enough, they can work on tieing the quilts with colorful yarns.

When the quilts are finished, they are hung over the pews in the church sanctuary for one weekend so everyone can see them, lean back on them during the services, and enjoy their bright colors. Next week, they will be shipped to Lutheran World Relief to be distributed anywhere in the world where people need a little comfort and cheer. They will end up on the ground, hanging from trees, wrapped around several shivering children and maybe a pet or two. They will be used up until they are nothing but tatters. But the love will remain.

If quilt shows gave out ribbons for quilts with heart, every one of these quilts would have big fancy rosettes on them.

Now the quilters are out of fabric. And they want to get back to sewing on Thursday. I’m going through my stash tomorrow afternoon and will take some over for them. If you are doing some studio cleaning this spring, and would like to consider supporting these women in their work, please contact me and I will give you the shipping information. Quilters are the most generous people in the world, and so I thank you in advance for doing what you can.

Hugs, my little chickadees!

After a couple of weeks on the road, I have landed home again, and am comfortably ensconced in my recliner, waiting for the chicken soup to warm up.  Yup.  I’ve got a bug.  I must have picked it up in Portland where I was teaching at the Bead Expo, and it bloomed in Texas where I was visiting my friend, Linda Minton.  When I’m in charge of things, everyone who comes to take a class when they are sick will be required to wear a mask!  Dang it!  It’s just not fair to the rest of us!  Okay, end of rant.  I’ll put the soapbox away and be right back.

I had a great time at the Bead Expo, spent far too much money, met some really wonderful people, and brought home some treasures.   It seems I have as much fun chatting with my favorite vendors as I do in the classroom.  Hmmmm.  Wonder why that is?

Then it was a quick drive home, dump the suitcase, do some laundry, re-pack and off to the airport.  (I really do need to have a word with my scheduling secretary about these fast turn-arounds! LOL)  It’s a long flight to Houston, but worth it to be able to spend time with Linda.  She had coaxed me into coming down for the big antiques festival in Round Top.  So off we went to the hill country for a few days.  Well, holy smokes!  I have never seen so many antiques (and faux antiques) in my entire life!  Linda is becoming the Queen of Rusty Things for her assemblage art,  so we were keeping an eye out for interesting shapes.  I was looking for old postcards and portraits to print on fabric for collage purposes.  (I figured I’d better not get anything I couldn’t fit into my suitcase.)  We also found some stone cabochons to use in our beading projects, and a few just-for-fun treasures.  I came home with a porcelain badger made in the USSR, that was just too adorable to leave there.  A badger!  Who knew!

After a couple of days scouring for antiques, my cough was getting worse, and we decided to go home to Houston a day early.  Good thing, since a storm moved in and we would have been cruising in the rain.  So, back to town and, after a stop at the video store for a stack of movies, we settled in for some beading and quiet conversation.  We went to lunch with Sharon Dixon on Saturday, which was lovely, and a little shopping at a quilt shop and Hobby Lobby, but mostly low-keyed it until it was time for me to fly home Sunday morning.  It would have been great to do some more running around and maybe pursue a more active artistic adventure, but Linda was the perfect hostess and tailored the visit to my waning energy level.

So, now I’m home and trying to catch up on email, snail mail, and all such things.  But at the moment, I think chicken soup and a nap sounds pretty appealing.

Cheers, my little chickadees!

The opening reception for the exhibit at the Latimer was a grand success and lots of fun. I arrived early and watched the folks on the reception committee set up food and drink, and then the artists started to arrive. We had the Passle of Passionate Portlanders (Gerrie, Terry and June) with their loyal Posse (husbands) in tow, and the (Whidbey) Island Girls (Jan, Beth and Arlene) with their entourage! All of them submitted to being interviewed before the exhibit opened at noon. The Latimer received a grant to have a CD made to document six shows, and this was the last one they had funding for. The CD will play on a small TV set in the hall during the exhibit so visitors can hear these ladies talk about their work.

Changing our clocks caused a bit of consternation, when the expected crowds didn’t show up at noon. But by 2:00, the place was rocking! Toward the end of the opening, a number of board members showed up, and I had the opportunity to talk with them about the exhibit and how it came about. (I learned from Laurie that they have an almost all new board, so they were on a learning curve.) Then at the end of the afternoon, it was time to do my interview for the CD.

I had taken a few pictures of the exhibit before it was open, but was too tired to do anything about it last night. I’ll see what I can do about that when I land home. In the meantime, both Geri and Terry have posted pictures on their blogs:

http://www.gericondesigns.com/weblog/

http://andsewitgoes.blogspot.com/2008/03/its-good-to-be-green.html

And here’s the link for ordering the CD that Van created of the entire exhibit:

http://www.larkinart.com/exhibits/latimer/index.html

“It’s Good to be Green” is hung and looking fabulous at the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center.  My friend Karen and I arrived at 9 a.m. to meet the “hanging committee”.  Two hours later, we were done and headed down the road for lunch at the Blue Heron French Cheese Factory.  The “lighting guy” was due later in the day to adjust the overhead lights to better show the work.

The exhibit looks great, and the committee had nothing but compliments for both the visual impact and the caliber of the technical aspects of the work.  Hooray!

Karen and I spent the rest of the day driving in the rain to investigate the variety of discount book stores, an antique mall, and the Goodwill!  Then we went to Safeway for provisions and had dinner in our motel room.  It’s going to be a quiet evening of books and beading before we venture out tomorrow.  Hopefully we will have a little better weather.

We are coming into the home stretch for this exhibit, so I can take some time to breathe and reflect and get the news out!

Almost a year and a half ago, I agreed to guest curate an exhibit for the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center in Tillamook, Oregon. I decided to make it an invitational and choose the folks I wanted to participate, rather than jurying the entries and having to tell people I couldn’t use their art. Some of the artists I invited had to turn me down for various reasons, some had to drop out part way through because life happened, but I expected that. What I ended up with is completely amazing artwork by 39 talented people, working in various types of fiber. The majority of the work is 18″ x 45″ quilts. The rest includes weaving, basketry, doll making, beadwork, wood carving, paper making, fabric vessels, and books. I’m going to miss having everything in my fabric room, but I know that the exhibit will be incredible.

The caliber of the work is excellent, the subject matter as varied as the artists themselves. Some will make you laugh and some will make you cry. It will all make you think! If you can possibly get down to the Oregon Coast between March 4 and May 4 to see the exhibit, I encourage you to do so. The official opening reception is Sunday, March 9 from 11 to 4, and a number of the artists will be there.

If you can’t get to the exhibit, there’s still a way to see the work. We have created a CD of the images and artist statements which you can purchase by going to this website:

http://www.larkinart.com/exhibits/latimer/
As you will see when you visit this page, a portion of the proceeds from the sales of the CD will go to help support the Latimer Quilt and Textile Center, a portion will go toward the actual expenses of putting on the show (including helping to pay for shipping the art back to the artists), and the net proceeds will go to Habitat For Humanity. We ordered 1000 CDs, and when they’re gone, they’re gone. So order yours now! And thanks for your support!

MY ARTWORK FEATURED IN INVITATIONAL REVERSE AUCTION
TO BENEFIT AMERICAN CANCER SOCIEY

Ten fiber artists are invited each year to participate in the Fiberart For A Cause Invitational Reverse Auction of Fabulous Fiberart to benefit the American Cancer Society. The artists are: Frances Holliday Alford, Terry Grant, Peg Keeney, Jay Rich, Susan Sorrell, Del Thomas, Larkin Van Horn, Laura Wasilowski, Leni Wiener, and Maggie Winfield. It’s a great honor to be included in this list!

The Invitational Reverse Auction will be held online March 10-13. You can see my artwork along with details of how a reverse auction works here:

http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/ReverseAuctionArtwork2008.html

Fiberart For A Cause has donated over $140,000 to the American Cancer Society.

Virginia Spiegel, who is the guiding force behind this effort, is an amazing woman, doing what she can to raise money for the American Cancer Society, and succeeding beyond her wildest dreams. Here is another opportunity to support a very worthy cause and acquire a bit of art at the same time. Don’t dawdle, or you may miss out on one of these wonderful works.

I had a grand time in LaConner last weekend, visiting my exhibit at the quilt museum and lunching with friends who made the trek from Marysville to see the show.  My friend Debra came along (actually, she did the driving!), and so there were eight of us trying to squeeze around a table in the restaurant.  It’s a fun little bakery just down the hill from the quilt museum, and the food is always good.  We talked and laughed and probably made too much noise, but we didn’t care.

The exhibit still makes me happy, and will be up until March 16th.  Ten of the quilts have now sold, and I’m delighted by that.  I found myself looking at the space with a different slant this trip, though.  The Three Uppity Women are planning our next group show, and I found myself mentally ticking off how many quilts in the size we have established could fit into this odd third-floor space.  No rest for the weary, I guess.

Spring is in the air!  Take a deep breath!

It’s been a long, long day, and I’m beat right down to my socks.  But what a wonderful day it was!  Today was the opening reception for my solo show at the LaConner Quilt Museum, and I had a wonderful time!  The museum is housed in the Gaches Mansion, a lovely old Victorian home, three stories tall.  The first floor is used for meetings and receptions, and furnished appropriately for the age of the house.  The dining table was loaded with goodies, but somehow I managed to behave myself!  The second floor houses the office, gift shop, and display space.  The third floor is display space, and I had the whole floor!

The show is entitled “Then & Now”, and is divided into three segments.  “Then: Part One” was five quilts from my strip piecing days, and hung in the stairwell and landing area.  “Then: Part Two” was in the first big room, and was 13 quilts from my Shattered Circles series.  “Now” was in the second large room, and consisted of 24 quilts from my Rocks and Water series and 2 random pieced and beaded quilts.  The Rocks and Water quilts are small, and are mounted on black cotton twill which was then stretched over stretcher bars for hanging.  Mounting the quilts like that really helped to unify that room full of quilts, but was rather a pain in the neck to do all that mounting and stretching and stapling.

Early in the day, it was like a family reunion, as an assortment of my relatives came to lend their support and see the work.  Most of them have only seen it online, and wanted to get an “up close and personal” view.  And throughout the day, friends, students and strangers kept coming in and making wonderful comments about the work.  In addition, some good networking was accomplished and a good time seemed to be had by all.  I think it was the cookies!  <G>  And . . . (drumroll, please) . . .

FOUR QUILTS SOLD!  Yippeeeee!  I keep saying (and meaning it) that the reason to have an exhibit is to have an exhibit and get the work seen.  But it’s a very nice layer of frosting on the cake to actually have work sell and move into someone’s home because they loved it.

Van came and took some pictures of the opening, and maybe I will get them up someplace where people can see them sometime.  And eventually, Van will get my website redesign done and pictures of the quilts in the show will be up, as well.

Meanwhile, I think a small glass of something and a movie are in order.  I definitely need to take my shoes off and get comfortable for the rest of the evening.

Oh, waiter . . . !?

I think we’ve caught up on all the news surrounding the fire early this morning, and have been down to look at the aftermath.  The barn is completely gone, all the way down to the foundation.  The mobile home is gutted and in pieces, with the exception of the new porch and entry that was added just this year, but it’s smoke and water damaged.  There were three cars on the property, and they are all in ruins.  The trees are scorched or down.

The owners of the property are members of our church, and they rent the property out.  The tenant keeps the same sort of weird hours that Van does, so he was awake when the fire started, called 911 himself, and got out without a scratch, but has lost everything.  I don’t know if he has renters insurance.

The lady next door came to thank me for getting her up and out to move her RV, and caught me up on all the news.  Apparently the tenant has gone to stay with friends, and once someone finds out what his status is and what help he needs, the neighborhood will get something going to help him out.  I have picked out a bed sized quilt that I will donate when the time comes.

Meanwhile, I am just so thankful that no one was hurt and that the fire didn’t spread any further than it did.