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Archive for the ‘SAQA’ Category

Getting Up to Speed

Tuesday, September 27th, 2016

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Just a quick post to let you know what I have been up to. First, I am happy to say that I am getting stronger every day. I can get back up the hill to the condo faster and without stopping to catch my breath! I can stand up from the sofa faster ad easier each day. My backaches are subsiding. That is great progress for me.

Above you see the house that I created from the blue moon quilt.Here is the original – kind of boring. I love it as a 3-Dconstruction.

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It was on display with other fantastic 3-D objects at the Oregon SAQA conference. Our Blending Poetry and Cloth exhibit is on display there now at the Salem Historical Center. I loved getting reacquainted with my Ode to aTree quilt.

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That was an all day affair, and the next day, I took myself to the NW Quilt Expo to wander amongst the quilts and do some retail therapy. I love Marcia Derse fabrics and I selected these from her new line. Love the greens! I also picked up some thread and needles from Superior Thread.

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The big news is that I am moving my studio next month to a place a bit larger where I can have a design wall that I can stand back from. It will be a shared space with my daughter Lisa who needs a place to do her fine art painting. More about that as we progress with the move and setting up the space to accommodate both of us.

On the Road to CA

Thursday, July 14th, 2016

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Here we are in California for the night. We really enjoyed the trip in the new Mercedes, such a difference from the Prius which we did not like for long trips. I made it to the Grants Pass Art Museum and even walked up the stairs which went on forever. I took the elevator down. Photography was not allowed but I snuck in a couple of long shots.

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I had to get a close up of Terry Grants Camas Prairie, which I love. The quilt next to it is by Cynthia St. Charles. It has lots of wonderful surface design.

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I got to see two views of my new knee when I checked in with my Surgeon this morning.

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Ok, it has been a long and busy day for me. Time to crash

Feeling Motivated

Monday, March 28th, 2016

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We had a really nice Easter week-end and I am feeling pretty good, right now. I am managing my pain quite well, sleeping all night and looking forward to May and a new knee. I am also feeling some creative mojo creeping into my brain. I stopped in at my studio and picked up these fabrics last week. I want to make my SAQA 12 x 12 donation quilt using the fabrics I bought from Elin Noble mixed with some of my hand dyes. I have a preliminary layout:

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I also have a great idea for a larger quilt that I would like to get done before my surgery. The plan I have would allow me to do a lot of the work while sitting at my work table here at home, in my ergonomic chair. Standing for even short periods is very difficult for me.

Yesterday was a great family day. We had Easter brunch at Stephanie’s. She made her traditional cinnamon rolls shaped like a lamb, quiche, salad and bacon. Then the whole family showed up here for dinner. I planned a menu that would not require me to be on my feet a lot. I made roasted salmon, potatoes and asparagus. Clay made a salad. Since Steph’s birthday is later this week, we decided to celebrate yesterday. I made her a special cake with all her favorite flavors in it – a butternut squash spice cake.

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It was Paige’s 4th birthday on Saturday and we were sorry to miss spending it with her. I stole this photo from her mom’s instagram feed. Isn’t she adorable?  I did get to facetime with her and sing happy birthday.

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Her present isn’t quite done. I have the back of the Pooh sweater done and am starting the front.

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So, life goes on here and it is not too bad.

Day 17

Thursday, December 17th, 2015

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I have had a busy couple of days. Yesterday was the PDX SAQA holiday lunch at Elizabeth Bamberger’s home. Always a fun time, sharing food and fellowship with members. Before I left, Kristin La Flamme stopped by to drop off something and asked if she good photograph her Migration Story piece in my condo hallway. It is a totally wonderful piece about her personal migration story as an Army Wife. It will be in the SAQA exhibit at the Textile Museum in DC.

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During the show and tell yesterday, Mary Ann McCammon, showed us this quilt made by women in Kenya where she taught a workshop for women suffering from obstetric fistula. This is a cause that Marianne has taken up and she does lots of work for the Fistula Foundation and her own artwork often references the problem. This is a third world problem where this problem is not addressed as it is in most modern medical care. This quilt, which has lovely story embroidery, will be auctioned off. I really admire Mary Ann for her work with this organization.

After SAQA, I was off to the dentist to get a needed check up for my impending knee surgery. So, I have that out of the way. And then, I crashed.

Today, I met my STASH friends for lunch and some sloshing around in the rain visiting some shops in the Portland Alberta area.

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I found my daughter, Lisa’s, latest fabric line at the Modern Domestic store:

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At the knitting shop, nearby, I bought this angora yarn to make an infinity scarf. I love that chartreuse and gray combo.

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Tonight, Lisa and Clay took us out to dinner and then to a Baroque music concert at Trinity. What a gorgeous concert with solo voices that sounded like angels. The orchestra played the old renaissance instruments. So tonight, I am feeling mellow and happy having had wonderful fellowship and food and music. Tomorrow, I have to get some work done.!!

 

Modern Art Kimono

Wednesday, August 19th, 2015

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We had a very interesting talk and showing of kimonos at our local SAQA meeting today. Lorenz Hermsen collects kimono and haori from the early 1900s, concentrating on kimono that was inspired by modern artists. Here is what he says on his website:

The first quarter of the twentieth century, especially the Taisho Era (1912-1926), saw Japan’s interest in Western art and culture increase dramatically. Japan was entering the modern age, and with that came greater ease of travel, a flow of information, women entering the work force, and, for some, a departure from traditional Japanese values.

During this time, kimono remained the mainstay of clothing for women. While their structure did not change, their surface design began to reflect increased contact with the West, as some designers looked to Western art and design for inspiration. These ‘modern’ kimono represent a melding of traditional Japanese sensibilities with new, Western–influenced ideas. They are also valuable as objects of art, as these kimono designers were not mere copiers, but creators of original art synthesizing East and West.

Movements such as Arts and Crafts, Impressionism, the Vienna Secession, Art Nouveau, Cubism, Expressionism, Futurism, Art Deco and Constructivism are recognizable. Many of the major modern artists are represented, such as Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Paul Klee, Raoul Dufy, Marc Chagall, and Joan Miró, as well as important textile designers of the era—William Morris, Sonia Delaunay, Ruth Reeves, and others.

I just loved seeing these kimono and the fabrics. I was totally unaware of these textiles and I was mesmerized.

The haori up above was probably inspired by the work of Chagall. Here is a detail:

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What blew my mind was how this was done. It is a form of ikat weaving called meisen. Here is what I found on the web regarding meisen:

Meisen was patterned using chemical dyes that were mixed with rice paste and applied through stencils on to warp (vertical) threads woven with temporary weft (horizontal) threads. After application of the dyes, the latter were unravelled and discarded and the true wefts woven in. This was a speeding up of the traditional kasuri (ikat) technique, by which sections of yarn were hand-tied or compressed in certain areas to prevent the colour penetrating when the skein was dipped in the dye bath. The new method produced the characteristic blurred outline of kasuri, but also allowed for the creation of more complex designs, particularly when a system for stencil-printing wefts as well as warps was developed.

This was a lovely indigo kimono:

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And a detail of the very modern print.

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And another:

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And detail:

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I loved the colors in this one, that looked art deco to me:

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Here are some details of kimono and haori:

This piece was inspired by impressionist trees.

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I just loved the wacky orange and black graphic lining in this one.

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This was a very modern design done in the old shibori method. The colors were wonderful.

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He also brought lots of kimono fabrics to sell.

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And even though I fell in love with this one, I did not buy anything. Those who have been around a long time must know how hard that was for me as I used to use a lot of vintage Japanese fabrics in my work.

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I am slightly immobile again since by other knee is in lots of pain. It is a week of meetings, High Fiber Diet last night, SAQA today and STASH tomorrow. I delivered my tree quilt to SAQA today. It will probably be traveling for a couple of years.

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