Questions for Curators: Jamie Fingal

Jamie Fingal

1.  What are your goals for yourself as an artist?  Design quilts, patterns, fabric, stencils, curate quilt exhibits, collaborate with other artists 2. What changes do you see coming to the art quilt world? I see a sort of union happening between fiber artists, traditional quilts and the modern quilt movement, with the acknowledgement of how similar we really are with fabric and thread.
3. Curating these exhibitions has to be an awful lot of work. What motivates you to do it?  The work always shines through, and seeing what artist create with fabric and thread is something to be shared.  We both enjoy the process, and working as a team is always better than working alone. 4.  What did you do in your former life (before Dinner @ Eight)? I made quilts, entered juried shows, painted watercolors, Girl Scout artist, and put together quilt exhibits, and worked with friends on public projects.

5. What do you enjoy most about putting this exhibit together each year?  One of the best parts for me is bringing everyone together at the table for the Friday night dinners.  I miss Festival in Long Beach so much, because of this one amazing thing.  We'll always have Houston! 6.  What is most important to you in curating a show like this?  To show amazing work, with all kinds of styles, colors, and subjects. 7. How do balance time spent creating and promoting your exhibits, and time for your individual creative endeavors?  Through the deadline process. For example, the artists profiles, I give myself a deadline to get them all done in a certain amount of time, in between my current schedule. That is pretty much how everything works right now. If I can't do something, Leslie can step in to help me, and vice versa.  Social media helps us to promote our exhibits, and we can both do that. This is when technology really works well. 8. How did you two meet?  We connected through an online group - the Quiltart list in 2002.  We met in person at the Tiara Parade at Festival in Houston in 2003. We were part of the Journal Quilt Project.  Through a series of dinners, tiara parades, exhibits and online conversation we became very good friends.
9. Do you ever totally abandon a project and if so, at what point do you know it’s a lost cause?  When I know that it will not photograph well.

10. What grabs you first, color or composition?  Color and Contrast 11. When did you start quilting? 1981

12. How long does it take you two to decide on a theme each year?  a couple of months.  It's not a constant thing.  We run a few ideas via texting or email.  We think of how broad or narrow the theme is. How it would translate. 

Bonus Question
How do you gently tell someone that their work wasn't accepted without causing them to feel defeated and quit. How do you also encourage them to keep going and try again?  These are the letters we don't like to send.  It is important to us, that we word them for each person, not just a form letter.  And anyone can ask us why their quilt didn't make the cut, and we will give a thoughtful critique.