Monday, October 15, 2007

Blog Action Day


Other lovely, talented and concerned artists - please check out what's on their hearts and minds today:

Jeanne Williamson
claudine’s sketchbook
Virginia A. Spiegel
And Sew it Goes
ZQuilts
Kim Ritter Blog
Winnowings
adventures of a mixed media textile artist
BJ Parady Fiber Art Notes
cat in the batt
Little Cottage in the Woods
Blog Action Day on Environment « WeirSewFineStudioNotebook
Gerrie Congdon - Art Quilt Gallery
Colorful Thoughts
Artquiltist - Artquiltist Journal
Red Shoe Ramblings » Blog Action Day
southeastmain
the crazy atom orbit
The scattered ramblings of a cluttered mind

The earth - beautiful, but in pain. If our so-called leaders (and it hurts to even use that term) would open their eyes and ears to the truth...their idea of being green involves spending that green paper on war and making sure that only the wealthy get more of it.

The signs are everywhere. We are not taking care of what we've been given.

What's easy?
*bring your plastic bags to a local food pantry (and put some food in it)
*who needs to wait for St.Patrick's Day to wear green?
*the three r's - reduce, reuse, recycle - we fiber types are good at this!
*don't purchase any more plastic water bottles - I save the ones I have and use them when pouring dye onto fabric, or re-filling/freezing them to to keep food cold in my son's lunch bags.
*a friend eats lots of yogurt in those quart containers and saves them for me. perfect for mixing dyes.
*you spend way too much money on those pre-packaged veggie trays with multiple compartments, so you might as well use them as bead and button keepers. nice snap on lids.
*if it's too cool to throw out, put it into a collage.
*keep a pile of computer printer paper that is clean on one side. use that side for printing drafts.
*when it's nest making season, place some piles of threads around outside.
*hug a tree - c'mon, you know you can do it!!!

What can you do today?

Monday, October 08, 2007

Scenes from Artscene part 1 - Art at Emmanuel















Me and Bobbie McGee...no, just kidding! This is the beautiful and talented co-curator Bobbie Walter and myself at the opening last Friday evening. What a night! Everyone was blown away by the art created by church members. In total, there were 10 of us, which I thought was wonderful for our first exhibit.

The Walker Hanging System is phenomenal! Moulding up against the ceiling~poles that slip on and off easily and can slide from side to side where you need them to be~three different types of hardware that can slide up and down to accomodate different types and sizes of artwork. This includes special hardware for hanging textiles!











































Our little "pop art" section...my "Zipper Study" quilt is in the center.
















The boutique~set up by Andrea Mahan: wearables, assemblages, candle holders, small art quilts, postcards, mosaic bowls. Beautiful and so artfully arranged.














Here we see co-worker and friend Roberta and her sister Sally checking out "The Leaves" - one of my ceremonial ruanas meant for the wall. If you click on the image, you'll see an interesting piece of art to the far right, and here's the story: At 11 pm. the night before the opening, Bobbie, her husband Lenny and I were getting a bit goofy. With setting up the room, we found fabric sample cards from when the room was renovated this past summer. Well, Lenny decided to hang them up. Andrea put a label on it that read, "Found Item" with the price of $10,000 (guesstimate of what the renovation cost-wrong-3 times that amount I think...
Anyway, we watched as people viewed the art on that wall, and came to that piece. Much laughter along with quite a few strange stares. Will it stay through to the end of the exhibit? Sure, why not?


The plans are to keep this exhibit up until the end of October. The good challenge for us now: what's next? No one wants to see these walls bare.

Scenes from Artscene part 2 - the solo exhibit

First, the food...Kiki and staff of Movable Feast put on a feast. Oh, and there was the wine tasting also. I was happy.



Part of the exhibit, a sort of tribal wall. One of my multiple surface design ruanas draped on a birch tree branch (my walking stick now leads a double life). To the right is a small quilt called "Bursting with News" -
Up in the right hand corner is my "Bella Luna" piece (see a previous post for a closeup). What's off to the right of the display is a very unique coat rack that resembles a tree.

My shirt is one that doesn't get out in public very often. It's the Kenenbi top pattern from Sewing Workshop. I had altered the neckline a little. Talk about purple galore...brocades, dupioni, printed border fabric from Bali.

I realize that this isn't much to show you. Neither of my men were able to be there (work and theater committments), so I didn't have any one to take pictures. When I go to visit my art there, I'll take a few more shots, okay?

Monday, October 01, 2007

Another Rite of Passage - First Homecoming














It was homecoming weekend at Jason's school, but that's not where he was...

He went to Catherine's homecoming at her school. Thanks to her mom Cindy for taking these pictures.

I was working Saturday night, so I couldn't be there (sob). But...I did get to pick out her corsage...

Last night we finally had a chance to talk about the restaurant they went to and the dance afterwards. I think they had a great time...