Artist Profile: Terry Grant

Terry Grant

Beaverton, Oregon

Www.andsewitgoes.blogspot.com

1. How do you describe yourself? Fabric artist, mom, grandma, wife, introvert, story teller

2. What is your creative process?  I start with a sketch, often based on one of the many photos I take, pull fabrics from my stash until I have a color story that works, then working from my sketch I begin constructing component parts, that I can switch around or swap out on my design wall until I am satisfied with the composition. Then all the parts and pieces get fused to a foundation, which I layer and machine quilt. 

3. Describe your studio space.  My studio is a separate, sweet little building on our wooded property, that was designed and built just for me. It is quiet, serene and filled with natural light. I love being there

4. What's your signature style? How long did it take you to find your style when you first started making art quilts?  It took me years to understand my own style! My work tends to be representational, flat, clear and graphic. 

5. Are there artistic endeavors you are yet to do? I just started making hand-bound books. I'm looking for a good class that will teach me more. 

6. Do you keep a sketchbook and/or journal?  Only in a very haphazard way!  My sketchbooks are purely utilitarian with disheveled pages and no attempt at charm, coherence or organization. Most of my working sketches are kept in an overflowing accordion file holder. 

7. Being published is important to artists, so do you have any instructional dvd's, author of books, YouTube channel, have a website with other artists for collaborative projects? I was lucky enough to be part of the Twelve by Twelve International Quilt Challenge (http://twelveby12.blogspot.com/) and am one of the authors of the book that resulted. 

8. Do you teach? What your schedule for September 2016 to March 2017. I am not currently teaching. 

9. Having your work in juried, invitationals, and solo shows is a great way to get your name out there. Where can people see your work?  I have two pieces in our High Fiber Diet show "Making Our Mark " which is currently at the Latimer Textile Center in Tillamook, Oregon through August. The exhibit will be at Keizer (Oregon) Community Center Gallery, November 1, 2016 - December 30 followed by Chessman Gallery, Lincoln City, OR. January 13 - February 6, 2017. I have work in two SAQA international exhibits as well. "Concrete and Grasslands" is currently at the Grants Pass Museum of Art in Grants Pass, Oregon. Additional venues have not yet been announced. "Redirecting the Ordinary" will be at the Original Sewing & Quilt Expo - Fredericksburg, Virginia, September 29 and 30 and October 1, 2016, Original Sewing & Quilt Expo - Schaumburg, Illinois, October 13-15, 2016, Original Sewing & Quilt Expo - Minneapolis, Minneapolis, MN November 10 -12, 2016

10. How many years have you had your work in d@8 exhibits, or is this your first time?  I think this will be my fifth time as part of a Dinner at 8 exhibit. 

Do you have a special memory about Yvonne Porcella? I never had the pleasure of meeting Yvonne Porcella, but her work was tremendously inspiring to me over the years.

Artist Profile: Gayle Simpson

Gayle Simpson

El Dorado Hills, CA

www.gaylesimpson.com

1. How do you describe yourself?  I am a 66 year old artist, wife, Mom, Grandma, and a lucky three- year cancer survivor.

2. What is your creative process?  I first visualize my art piece based on my own photography or mind- gripping graphic subject matter. I never predict the finished dimensions unless I have to conform to a juried specific size. Color and contrast is important in most of my work, but not all.

3. Describe your studio space.  My studio is a downstairs 8 by 12 foot room with great light, storage, and a 6 by 5 foot magnetic design stainless steel perforated wall piece. My husband also made me a two by four platform bed with a plexiglass top that fits around my Bernina 430 QE. I have a garage dyeing- sink.

4. What's your signature style?  How long did it take you to find your style when you first started making art quilts?  I have always created landscapes in natural colors, silhouettes, and graphic compositions. Art quilts were a new medium for me in 2007; maybe it took a year to really embrace the process. I started with machine raw-edge applique; now I prefer whole cloth painted work with stitching, paint and Prismacolor lines added later.

5. Are there artistic endeavors yet to do?  Each year I try to do new themes. This "Patterns" entry was completed before anticipated radiation. I pace myself to complete "wish list" pieces. I want to do a series on feathers, and later, bridges.

6. Do you keep a sketchbook or journal?  I do not journal or blog. I have kept sketchbooks in my earlier painting and drawing career; while they make nice little creative statements, they sap creativity from my actual art quilt projects, so I do not use this approach.

7. Do you have any instructional DVD's, are you an author of books, on a You Tube channel or have a website with other artists for collaborative projects?  No. There are not enough hours in the day!

8. Do you teach?  I have taught high school art and elementary school for 19 years. I used to do lectures and workshops for quilt guilds, including IQF Houston for two years in a row and as an artist in residence at Yosemite. The non-smoking lung cancer put the kabosh on all of that.

9. Where can people see your work?  I have 9 pieces and one giant collaborative in a two month "Q6" exhibit at 48 Natoma Gallery in Folsom, CA; the show involves 6 of us including Deb Cashatt and Kris Sazaki from SAQA. 

48 Natoma Gallery, Folsom,CA, September to November, 2016.  

Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild, February, 2017.

Yosemite Renaissance, February through March, 2017.

10. How many years have you had your work in Dinner @8 exhibits?  Four.

Do you have a special memory of Yvonne Porcella?  I have two thoughts. I met her once at Asilomar, and she was a wild thing and awesome. I exhibited next to her last year in Houston and Chicago. It was more exciting because of that!

Artist Profile: Loris Bogue

Loris Bogue
Simi Valley, California
www.lorisbogue.com

1. How do you describe yourself?   Curious.  Someone with a lot of interests.  I want my epitaph to read, "But I wasn't finished yet!"


2. What is your creative process?  I am either inspired by a photo, by a technique, or from sorting through my stash of hand-dyed fabrics.  The resulting work tends toward the abstract, something I have only just realized.


3. Describe your studio space.  One of our four bedrooms has been made into my studio.  I have several white cabinets/bookcases, a large cutting table with drawers and shelves, and a closet outfitted with wire shelves.  One wall is a design wall, which is made of lightweight insulation board covered with white flannel.  I also have a bank of fabric from floor to ceiling in my master closet and shelves full of fabric dyeing equipment in the garage.

4. What's your signature style? How long did it take you to find your style when you first started making art quilts?  I believe my style tends toward the more graphic.  When I look at my work as a whole, I see that I most often use colors in the warmer spectrum.  I can't say how long it took to find my style; I had to discover it in retrospect by looking back at my work as a whole.

5. Are there artistic endeavors you are yet to do?  I have been taking painting classes of all kinds and am trying to find a way to combine my paintings with textile art.  I have also become an art history buff.

6. Do you keep a sketchbook and/or journal?  Periodically I make entries in sketchbooks, but not on a daily basis.  I do save articles on art and artists in large scrapbooks.

7. Being published is important to artists, so do you have any instructional dvd's, author of books, YouTube channel, have a website with other artists for collaborative projects?  No I don't.

8. Do you teach? I'm not teaching at this time.

9. Having your work in juried, invitationals, and solo shows is a great way to get your name out there. Where can people see your work?  Much of my time is devoted to making  pieces for our annual Extreme Quilters show that rolls around every October.  Most recently, I had work in the Uncommon Threads show in April 2016 in Tarzana, California.

10. How many years have you had your work in d@8 exhibits, or is this your first time?  I've tried to be in all eight of the exhibits and have been successful six times!

Artist Profile: Susan Brubaker Knapp

Susan Brubaker Knapp

Mooresville, North Carolina

www.bluemoonriver.com

1. How do you describe yourself?  Fiber artist, teacher, author. Wife, mother, daughter. Journalist, photographer, graphic designer, host of “Quilting Arts TV.” Lover of books, cats, gardens, trees, moss, rust, feathers, insects, fish, stone, pies, chocolate. 

2. What is your creative process?  I start by taking lots of photos, and when I take one that inspires me, I start working, using one of two primary techniques: either fusible raw-edge appliqué, or wholecloth painting, with a lot of thread sketching on the surface before I quilt.

3. Describe your studio space.  My studio was a guest bedroom until I painted it red and my mom stopped wanting to stay overnight with us (she claimed the red color made her feel “like she was sleeping in hell”) and I took it over about 12 years ago. It’s about 14' x 14', and crammed with fabric, old dressers, cutting and ironing surfaces, and a sewing machine cabinet, plus lots of stuff to inspire me. 

4. What's your signature style?  How long did it take you to find your style when you first started making art quilts?  I started out as a traditional quilter (I made my first quilt when I was 10), and started making art quilts about 2006. Most of my work is highly realistic, based on my original photos. It is usually very bright in saturated color, and often is based on botanical themes. I quickly settled in to this style once I started making art quilts/fiber art.

5. Are there artistic endeavors you are yet to do?  Yes! Some planned, and probably many yet unknown. Three quilts in particular are itching my brain right now: A dragon; a quilt about my father and Alzheimer’s Disease; and a quilt of my mom flying (she had a recurring dream of flying, and I want to make a quilt of her soaring over her childhood home, wearing her nightgown).  

6. Do you keep a sketchbook and/or journal?  I keep several sketchbooks. I work most often when I am traveling, as there is lots of spare time to draw when one is stuck on planes and at airports. I got into the habit of working in a sketchbook after the Sketchbook Challenge. It’s my goal to one day create more art quilts based on my drawings, instead of my photos. I’d like to make quilts that come more from my imagination.

7. Being published is important to artists, so do you have any instructional dvd's, author of books, YouTube channel, have a website with other artists for collaborative projects?  I have written two books: “Appliqué Petal Party,” and “Point, Clic, Quilt: Turn Your Photos into Fabulous Fabric Art.” And I have five Quilting Arts Workshops available on DVD/digital download: Master Machine Quilting; Master Machine Stitching; Dynamic Quilt Design (on wholecloth painting); Fabulous Finishes (on finishing techniques); and 52 Free-Motion Quilting Motifs and Fillers. 

8. Do you teach?  Yes!

Madeline Island School of the Arts (MISA)
Madeline Island, Wisconsin Oct. 3-7, 2016
5-day workshop: Paint & Stitch
Western North Carolina Quilters Guild
Hendersonville, NC Nov. 17-18, 2016
lecture Nov. 17: Thread Sketch It!
workshop Nov. 18: Thread Sketching: Snowflakes Coastal Carolina Quilters
Surfside Beach, SC

Jan. 16-17, 2017
Jan. 16: lecture, details TBA Jan. 17: workshop, details TBA
Gate City Quilt Guild
Greenboro, NC
Feb. 2, 2017
lecture: details TBA 
Art Quilters Unlimited
Ft. Myers, FL March 3-5
March 3: Start With a Photo: Round Red Barn
March 4: November Leaves
March 5: Paint & Stitch: Peacock Feather
Empty Spools Seminar at Asilomar
Pacific Grove, CA April 21-26
five-day workshop: Wholecloth Painting and Thread Sketching (original work from your photos) 

9. Having your work in juried, invitationals, and solo shows is a great way to get your name out there. Where can people see your work?

Except for d@8, none. I haven’t had time to even think about exhibitions!

10. How many years have you had your work in d@8 exhibits, or is this your first time?  This is the sixth year I’ve had work in d@8 exhibits. Patterns (2016), Affinity (2015), Reflections (2014), An Exquisite Moment (2013), Rituals (2012), The Space Between (2011).

Artist Profile: Sue Bleiweiss

Sue Bleiweiss

Pepperell MA

www.suebleiweiss.com

1. How do you describe yourself?  artist, author teacher

2. What is your creative process? Each piece I create begins in the pages of my sketchbook where I make several rough sketches of the imagery that I want to work with.  Beginning with a small sketch gives me the freedom to explore combinations of the images and colors before cutting into any fabrics.   My small sketches are enlarged into full size cartoons that allow me to adjust the scale of the images and then the actual construction of the piece in fabric begins.

 

3. Describe your studio space.  My studio is on the third floor of my home.  It's about 500 square feet - one side is my office and the other has my sewing machine, workstation, ironing station and all my supplies.  I have a separate wet studio in the basement where I do all my fabric dyeing.

4. What's your signature style?  Whimsical and bright! How long did it take you to find your style when you first started making art quilts?  I started making quilts sometime around 2005 but it wasn't until 2011 that I made the first quilt in the style that I am now known for.

 

5. Are there artistic endeavors you are yet to do?  I've got a list a mile long of things that I'd like to explore!

 

6. Do you keep a sketchbook and/or journal?  Absolutely!

 

7. Being published is important to artists, so do you have any instructional dvd's, author of books, YouTube channel, have a website with other artists for collaborative projects? 

Books:

Easy Fabric Dyeing: solids & tone on tone

Color it! buildings, neighborhoods & skylines

Color it! nature & animals

Colorful Fabric Collage: sketch, fuse, quilt

The Sketchbook Challenge: Techniques, Prompts and Inspiration for Achieving your Creative Goals

Creative Ways with Books and Journals

Creative Ways with Fibre&Stitch

DVDs:

Quilting Arts Workshop DVD: Coloring Book Fabric Collage

Collaborative website:

http://www.artstreetcollective.com/home.html

 

8. Do you teach?  Yes What your schedule for September 2016 to March 2017? 

September 8 & 9, 2016:Arapahoe County Quilters Guild in Denver, Colorado
October 6, 7 & 8, 2016:  Illinois Quilters Guild
October 13, 2016: Trunk show at the Burlington Quilters Guild, Burlington MA
November 3 - 5, 2016  Houston International Quilt Festival
January 12-15, 2017 Craft Napa in Napa Valley CA.

9. Having your work in juried, invitationals, and solo shows is a great way to get your name out there. Where can people see your work? 

Brush Art Gallery, Lowell MA

Houston International Quilt Festival, Houston TX

10. How many years have you had your work in d@8 exhibits, or is this your first time? 4

Special Memory about Yvonne Porcella. I had the pleasure of meeting her at Festival in Houston years ago and she was gracious and kind enough to chat with me for a bit once I got passed my star struck, tripping over my words rambling!  She was a beautiful lady with a kind spirit and I and the rest of the art quilting community owe her a huge debt of gratitude for all that she’s done to advance the validity of the art quilt medium and for founding the SAQA organization that provides so many artists all over the world with opportunities to carry the work she started forward. 

Artist Profile Series Schedule

Artist Profile Series
September
6 - Sue Bleiweiss
7 - Susan Brubaker Knapp
8 - Loris Bogue
9 - Gayle Simpson

12 - Terry Grant 
13 - Deborah Boschert
14 - Wen Redmond
15 - Susan Fletcher King
16 - Kathy York

19 - Martha Wolfe 
20 - Linda Teddlie Minton
21 - Stacy Hurt 
22 - Sherry Kleinman
23 - Terri Stegmiller

26 - Lyric Kinard
27 - Karol Kusmaul
28 - Cindy Cooksey
29 - Victoria Findlay-Wolfe
30 - Linda Anderson

October
3 - Barb Forrister
4 - Diane R. Doran
5 - Sherri Lipman McCauley
6 - Cynthia St. Charles
7 - Julie Schlueter

11 - Sarah Ann Smith
12 - Cathie Hoover
13 - Cheryl Sleboda
14 - Valerie White

17 - Lauretta Crites
18 - Suzan Engler

Our special exhibit 'Patterns' will be shown at International Quilt Market (Oct 29-31) and Festival (Nov 2-6), sponsored by Mistyfuse

Accepted Artsts for "Patterns" 2016

"Patterns", the 2016 Dinner at Eight Artists exhibition, is dedicated to the memory of Yvonne Porcella.  Yvonne was a juried artist of many previous d@8 shows and a constant inspiration to us both.  She was an icon of the quilting world in so many ways. Her memory will live on through those of us touched by her talent, humor, and courage. Here's to you, Yvonne!








On behalf of Dinner at Eight Artists, Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison would like to congratulate the following artists whose work has been selected for "Patterns."  

Linda Anderson - On the Same Page
Sue Bleiweiss - Connect the Boxes
Loris Bogue - Please Stand By
Deborah Boschert - Provisions
Cindy Cooksey - The Innkeeper Wore Black
Lauretta Crites - White Lace on Red Velvet
Diane R. Doran - Blossoming
Suzan Engler - Fractal Pattern - Fash Cars, Rainy Night
Barb Forrister - Dance of the Magpie's
Terry Grant - Patterns of Mesoamerica
Cathie Hoover - Tiles
Stacy Hurt - Wanda's Whimsy
Lyric Montgomery Kinard - Mill Wheels VII - Order & Chaos
Susan Fletcher King - Making Coleslaw - Cabbage Alchemy (pictured above)
Sherry Davis Kleinman - Genevieve
Susan Brubaker Knapp - Crystalline
Karol Kusmaul - FiddleSticks
Sherri Lipman McCauley - Triangled
Linda Teddlie Minton - The Journey
Wen Redmond - The Content of the Light
Cynthia St. Charles - Dye Pattern Composition 1
Julie Schlueter - Kaleidoscope 1 
Gayle Simpson - Moon Connection
Cheryl Sleboda - Krackle Eins (Krackle One) 
Sarah Ann Smith - Umbelliferous/Queen Anne's Lace, No. 1
Terri Stegmiller - Purrfectly Patterned
Valerie White - Sacred Stories
Martha Wolfe - Wild Life: Green Heron
Victoria Findlay-Wolfe - Cross Woven
Kathy York - 100 Days/100 Nights