Monday, September 18, 2017

Order Personal Iconography: Graffiti On Cloth!

We are pleased to announce the publication of an exhibition catalog for "Personal Iconography:  Graffiti On Cloth"!
Here are the details:
Title ID: 7565470
ISBN-13: 978-1976304040

And the book cover:
Cover art by Judy Coates Perez

Loris Bogue is the editor of this lovely book.  You may order your copy of the catalog here!

If you are so-inclined we would love to have your review on the amazon site.  The reviews elevate the visibility of the publication!  Thanks in advance.   

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Artist Profile: Jamie Fingal, co-curator

Jamie Fingal
Orange, California

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? Oh my, a whole bunch, and I helped come up with this theme. Go figure. I was overthinking it. I could hear Pokey Bolton saying to me KISS - keep it simple stupid. I looked around my studio and a light bulb went off. There is a quilt on the design wall from Quilt Market with my new line that had most of my personal icons on it, so I did the next best thing - I added more to it to create my quilt for d@8. Brilliant!  It's so me!

2. Describe your studio space?  My happy place is in an industrial park and it's basically one giant room like a concrete shoe box with a bathroom, a truck door and two doors in front for great cross ventilation. I can spread out wherever I am working and the best part is that i don't have to clean up. I throw everything on the floor when I work, even paint. Everything is on wheels, so I can move everything around to suit my needs.  

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? The Visions Quilt Museum in San Diego - "Funny Bone" exhibit - I have four works. Now until, Wisconsin Quilt and Fiberart Museum in Cedarburg, Wisconsin "In Death" exhibit and a piece traveling with Threads of Resistance exhibit. 

4. Do you ever work in a series?  I have in the past, but not so much anymore because I seem to be on the same vibrant color whimsical path as a fabric designer and a contemporary quilter.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I love to garden, grow food and flowers, cook, entertain, be with my family, binge watch tv shows, swim, draw and read.

Monday, September 11, 2017

Artist Profile: Leslie Tucker Jenison

Leslie Tucker Jenison
Co-curator
1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? I had to do a great deal of thinking about what imagery best represents an overall theme in my work.  I settled on shapes that represent both natural and man-made elements.

2. Describe your studio space. I am fortunate to have a newly-renovated studio which includes both design and “wet” work areas inside my home.  I was able to re-think this space in a manner that is very specific to my needs as a contemporary quilt artist and fabric designer.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  Exhibitions include “Threads of Resistance” at the New England Quilt Museum (& traveling), “Your Brightest Life: A Tribute to Yvonne Porcella” as part of “Sacred Threads” (traveling), and the “Personal Iconography:  Graffiti On Cloth” D@8 exhibit.  'In Death' exhibit at the Wisconsin Quilt and Fiberarts Museum. Work will be featured in 2 episodes of “Fresh Quilting”, a PBS show that will air in the coming months.

4.  Do you ever work in a series?  I enjoy working in a series, and have several that tend to be re-visited periodically when I have more information or ideas to contribute.  There are specific challenges that arise from working inside a stated set of parameters.  Sometimes, setting a few limitations is a great way to push the creative envelope.  I find that I have more ideas than “room” inside one piece and that is often how a series begins to take shape.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I am an avid traveler, photographer, cook, and gardener.  I always have a book nearby.

Friday, September 8, 2017

Artist Profile: Valerie C. White

Valerie C. White
Denver, Colorado

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? I had several ideas to to express the theme, the challenge was to select just one. I have long admired the work of Jean- Michel Basquiat  this work was my humble attempt to honor him.

2. Describe your studio space? I'm always looking to improve my space,this year I tried to add a stackable washer/dryer, combo the wiring and duct work was just too expensive. I'll continue to use the portable until i can figure out a better solution.
3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  The summer issue of Art Quilting Studio Magazine, The Lawerence Art Center in  Lawerence,Kansas and the National Center For Atmospheric Research  Boulder , Colorado.
4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I find working in a series a great opportunity to fully express an idea or subject. For me a series establishes a cohesive body of work. This current exhibit motivated me to consider expressing additional work using written language as a mark making opportunity. I expect to create 5  pieces in this new series in what I'm calling "Conversations about America". 

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I'm an avid knitter and belong to a great knit group, as fiber folks there are always great discussions about yarn, fabric and knitting stitches.

Thursday, September 7, 2017

Artist Profile: Suzan Engler

Suzan Engler
Houston, Texas

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? Meeting the challenge and staying true to my personal style was the greatest challenge.
2. Describe your studio space? My studio is my refuge and my happy place.  If it had a refrigerator and restroom I would never leave!
3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? My work is on display at International Quilt Festival Houston, Festival of Quilts - Birmingham, United Kingdom, The Texas Quilt Museum, and the Copper Shade Tree Gallery, Round Top, Texas,  where my work is featured in the Changing Gears exhibit.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist?  I work in a series of series. I single series can become boring to me. 

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I strive to do everything with my own brand of creativity. I sew garments, crochet, and paint with watercolor, acrylic, and encaustic.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Artist Profile: Robbi Joy Eklow

Robbi Joy Eklow
Third Lake, Illinois

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? After exploring several design ideas, I decided to dive into my “leftover bin” and use some parts from other quilts as a starting point. I found the lovely petals and couldn’t remember why I had set them aside. I worked with them and did remember the stumbling block but I was already moving in another direction. The leafy border on the outside edge was also a good solution to a problem I was having with the space outside the flower.

2. Describe your studio space?  I use one bedroom in my home in Illinois for my “dry studio” (domestic machines, fabric storage, ironing, working wall) and another bedroom for storage of my quilts. And part of the basement holds my APQS Millennium longarm. We are leasing a loft in Omaha, in the Market District and I’m moving into studio space at the Hotshops. I think my longarm and other machines will move there, so I can use it and teach classes there. My small studio in our loft is just the second bedroom, but it has an amazing view out the window, a lagoon, with modern sculptures, and a waterfall. It’s wonderful and I think it will give me some design ideas. The Hotshops space will also be fun, there are lots of other artists there. It’s not so far from the Quilt Museum in Lincoln.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I have been working in a series for over 15 years, I can’t remember which year I started. I keep exploring other ideas and then fall back to the series, to solve a problem in the next quilt, that I couldn’t in the last. I feel like I’ll stay in this series until I have it perfected. Then maybe one more. My last series was of quilts that had a lot of overlapping and transparent images of vases and other vessels.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? My husband and I got a sailboat a few years ago, a 1985 Pearson 303. It’s small, and old, but it’s a beautifully crafted boat. The Pearson brothers literally started building fiberglass boats in their garage. Remind you of anyone? Anyway, we love the boat and sailing on Lake Michigan, from Waukegan harbor. It’s very good to get out there and just sit on the deck by the mast and look at the water rush by. I come home with ideas.

Tuesday, September 5, 2017

Artist Profile: Virginia Greaves

Virginia Greaves
Roswell, Georgia

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you? The majority of my work is in portraits, so when I received the theme for this show, I was perplexed. In order to create a portrait with iconography, the best interpretation that I could find was through tattoos. I have a family member with several, and she puts a lot of thought into each one, In reality, they are little windows into her personality. I do not have tattoos, but if I were to get one, I would probably get a raven, which is on the arm, and the moon was added for balance. I felt that the piece needed the balance of it on the upper back near the shoulder. Models are often an issue, and I am always available, so this is a self-portrait. The graffiti in the background was a nice rounding out of the theme, and it added to the personality of the piece to have it in the background.

2. Describe your studio space? My studio space is in a large room in my house. It has a lot of natural light with two large windows. There is a bookcase for books, one table for extra sewing machines, and another table for cutting. I have a large craft table in the middle of the room that can fold into a small space or be expanded. It has a cover for ironing when I’m working with large pieces. In the back window, I have my Janome sewing machine in a Koala cabinet. Directly behind it, I have an ironing board with a large, padded piece of plywood to expand the ironing area. When I’m quilting a large piece, I bring one of the height adjustable tables over and put it behind the ironing board, and I put the other one to the left of where I’m sitting. I have a closet where my older work is stored and my fabric is stashed.

3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? I have a piece in IQA’s World of Beauty exhibit in Houston October/November. I also curate a local exhibit at an art gallery in Marietta, GA, The Art Place, and will have work included in that show September 7th-29th. I have a piece that will be highlighted in the September/October edition of Machine Quilting Unlimited, I have an interview in Art Quilt Collector issue 8 that will be available in late August, and I wrote an article that will be in Be Creative that will be available in late January 2018.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I have been making portraits of people and animals since 2006. It has been a tremendous learning journey as I have learned how to refine my skills, and each new piece teaches me something new. I have reached a point that I’m comfortable portraying an accurate representation of a person in fiber, and I’m now exploring the finer points of portraiture, the things that make a portrait successful, such as posture, facial expression, composition, background, and accessories.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I enjoy photography, and my Instagram account shows a fascination with landscapes, sunrises/sunsets, and cloud formations that are very different from the portraiture that I explore in fiber.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Artist Profile: Sherry Davis Kleinman

Sherry Davis Kleinman
Pacific Palisades, California

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?  I found the theme a challenging one to settle on an idea.  Thinking about the act of “making marks” as the basis for my art, I followed that path to create my Sampler Reimagined.  Historically needlework samplers were created by girls and women to learn and express themselves.  I wanted to create a 21st century sampler using alternate materials (recycled black out curtains) and making untraditional marks with traditional hand stitches to create a personal piece of art.  
 
2. Describe your studio space?  My studio is on the ground floor of my home with a big window looking onto the street, formerly a bedroom for my oldest daughter.  I do use other spaces in the house (mainly my dining room) for cutting and ironing.  Being empty nesters, my husband and I do fill up any empty spaces with our current past-times.  Lucky us!
 
3. Where can people see your work in the next six months?  I have a piece in New Legacies:  Contemporary Art Quilts in Ft. Collins, Colorado until end of August.  In addition to Dinner@8 exhibit at the Quilt Festival, I have 2 pieces juried into the World of Beauty.  I am in 2 episodes of Quilting Arts TV Series 2000 (10th anniversary edition) and 1 episode in Series 2100 in January 2018, both featured on PBS stations and for purchase through Quilting Arts TV.

4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist?  Yes working in a series is a benefit to me creatively; one project builds upon the previous one.  I have created series that are figurative and bird related in recent years.  Currently I am  exploring creating pieced and stitched canvas, abstract painting, and leaving exposed seamed edges on the RIGHT side.  My Sampler Reimagined is the 3rd in my series.
 
5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy?  I read blogs (textile, art, sculpture—really anything art related) and visit galleries and museums.  My 3 adult daughters are all artists and we often inspire each other’s passions, a cross pollination of sorts.  I am part of a textile group who meet monthly for “show and tell” and lunch in each other’s homes.  

Friday, September 1, 2017

Artist Profile: Deborah Boschert

Deborah Boschert
Lewisville, Texas

1. What kind of challenges did this theme present to you?
I was excited about the theme from the moment I heard it! I love working with iconography, which I often call personal symbols. The biggest challenge was that part of me wanted to make another bowl quilt -- my last two Dinner at Eight art quilts have included bowls, but I couldn't get the ladder out of my mind, so this year's Dinner at Eight include several ladders, but no bowl. 
2. Describe your studio space? I work in what is designed to be a den or office in our home. It's right off the front entryway behind French doors, which is great for mostly hiding the creative chaos often happening within. I have a small sewing area in one corner. If I'm working on a larger quilt, I move my machine out onto the dining room table. I have two tall shelves with materials, tools and supplies organized in plastic shoe boxes. A counter height table (originally made by my husband's cousin for us as a wedding gift) is my main work surface. There's a red love seat that I often share with my dog, Lincoln.
3. Where can people see your work in the next six months? In addition to my Dinner at Eight quilt, I have two other quilts at Festival in Houston: one in the judged show and one in the special exhibit A Matter of Time Textiles. You can see me and lots of my quilts at Craft Napa in January and I send out a newsletter twice a month that always includes new work. Sign up here. http://eepurl.com/jU1n9
4. Do you ever work in a series?  If so, what benefits or challenges does this present to you as an artist? I suppose you could say I work in a series. I feel more like I work in my own personal style and that my body of work includes many materials, techniques, colors and symbols that make it clear it's all made by me. I've recently been creating pairs of quilts using the positive and negative shapes cut from one piece of fabric. This is a new direction that feels much more like exploring the idea of a series.

5. What other activities do you engage in that “feed” your creative energy? I don't really have other hobbies that are particularly creative, but I have lots of hobbies that generate inspiration that I bring back to the studio. I love to travel and take photographs. I love listening to podcasts about interesting people doing interesting things. I like to explore the children's book section at my local library looking for innovative, humorous and beautiful artwork.

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