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Archive for August, 2014

Some Studio Time and an Art Date

Saturday, August 23rd, 2014

syringewriting

I had a rude awakening this week and realized that I needed to get a project done for The Printed Fabric Bee. So I spent some time in my studio this week. It is cooler now so much easier to work there. I did a little syringe writing with black paint.

beeswaxcrayonwork

I also used one of my wood block designs to do some beeswax crayon rubbings. I will share more of this project later when it is finished and mailed to the Queen Bee.

It has been one of those crazy weeks. Monday and Tuesday were left brain, excel spread sheets, kind of days doing my membership work for SDA. Wednesday, I worked at Trinity helping to prepare food for the community outreach meal. I love doing this; it combines two of my favorite things, making food and hanging out with great people. Then, I got to spend some time in the studio for a couple of days.

Sidnee Snell, a local textile artist and SAQA member has an exhibit of her work at the Guardino Gallery in the Alberta area of N. Portland. Sidnee manipulates photos to create patterns to create her beautifully stitched pieces, using hand-dyes.

Sidnee

This piece is from a photo of a rusting bridge.

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This one is called red laces:

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I love the richness of the colors that Sidnee uses and her machine quilting adds a wonderful dimension to the work.

I loved the two pieces she calls sacred seating which are church pews.

Sidneesacredseats

sidneeseatsandcarvings'

The other artist in the show makes wood sculptures with figures in evocative situations. They were very interesting and well done.

carvedwork

sidneeandmorecarving

After our gallery trip, we stopped at the mall and I did some binge shopping at Macy’s for some things for out upcoming trip to celebrate 50 years of wedded bliss.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Wednesday, August 20th, 2014

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Quilt Knit Stitch and More

Sunday, August 17th, 2014

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This was a happy week here in Portlandia. My art quilt daughter, Kristin La Flamme, was in town and stayed with us for a few days and it was the debut of Quilt Knit Stitch in Portland. It is the latest Quilts, Inc show which included more than quilts — knitting, crocheting, fashion shows, etc. It really was a good show, but the attendance was not what was expected. The quilts part of it was much smaller than you see at Houston and there were some exhibits just for this show. One was with a theme of roses since this is the City of Roses. The show will be back next year and I hope it gets more publicity going and the attendance improves.

On Tuesday, I had volunteered to help set up the SAQA exhibit and Kristin came along to help. You can see us hanging a sampling of this year’s auction quilts that were on display. SAQA had two of their special exhibits there: Metaphors of Aging and Text Messages. Many people who had not seen art quilts like this before and they were quite taken with the stories that accompanied them.

On Thursday, we had STASH at Gale’s house and we helped Reva get started tying her huge t-shirt quilt. Here we are, stitching away. It was meditative, but hard on the back.

 

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On Friday, we were off to QKS. Kristin was doing docenting in the SAQA exhibits and I was  intermittently schmoozing at the SAQA table, checking out exhibits and shopping in the vendor area.

It was fun to see our fellow Twelve by 12 member, Terri Stegmiller, who was visiting her aunt who lives here. We were able to get a selfie.

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I bought some dye-painted tencil yarn to knit a shrug for myself. I saw it hanging in my friend, Teresa Ruch’s booth and I had to make one too.

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Here is the yarn that I bought.

paintedtencelyarn

I also bought a set of celtic style alphabet woodblocks. I am going to use these in my next Printed Fabric Bee project.

 

 

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It was fun to stop by Marcia Derse’s booth and look at her fabrics. She does printing and discharging on hand-dyed fabrics and then they are commercially printed. I don’t buy her fabric because I like to print my own, but I love to look at what she has done.She has wonderful colors and designs. She just moved from Ohio to Whidby Island and says that she loves it here in the North West.

marciadersefabrics

On Saturday, we jumped on the street car again and went back to the show to hear Marci Rae McDade, SDA Journal editor, talk about the exhibit she curated at the Hap Gallery, which includes one of Kristin’s Army Aprons. This is a synopsis of the show.

Hap Gallery is pleased to present Fail-Safe: Discomforts Close to Home, a group exhibition of contemporary textile and fiber-based artists curated by Marci Rae McDade. The show features a range of art forms made with seemingly safe and comforting materials from everyday life that are loaded with incendiary content. Each object reflects an aspect of anxiety, discontent, and longing in the 21st century, from poverty and racism to mortality and digital disconnect. These potent works compel viewers to take stock of the world today as we collectively contemplate our futures.

On Saturday night, Marci hosted a reception at the gallery so Mr C, Kristin and I went down on the street car. I really enjoyed seeing the show. Such a variety of work. I got a couple of photos. This is of Marci and Kristin, with her apron on a manikin in the back. It is knitted from undershirts that her husband wore during his deployments. You can see a better photo of this and more of her work in the Army Wife series, here.

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I loved this piece that was thread painted and the pieces were hung to give a 3-D effect.

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I also love an exhibit of miniature clothes hand sewn from clothing of deceased people. They are done as a memorial for loved ones to keep. They were exquisitely done.

And so that is what I have been up to. Kristin left at 3 am this morning and now it is quiet around here and I am trying to catch my breath before the next big event in my life.

Wordless Wednesday

Wednesday, August 13th, 2014

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That Was Fun!

Monday, August 11th, 2014

paigeslide

We had some precious bonding time with that adorable child. She is beautiful, charming, mischievous and the epitome of the strong willed child. She loves being in the center of the action and insinuating herself into whatever conversation is going on around her. Walking back from dinner one night, she kept trying to get our attention by saying, “Hey, I’m here!” She thought the six adults were ignoring, as we chatted on our walk back to the house.

A couple more pics of her – one afternoon, she dressed herself up in her boots, backpack and hat, ready for a hike. So we marched around, singing, I love to go awandering!

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She eats like a farmer. She loves veggies and fish is her favorite protein.

paigeatbrunch

I don’t know how the three of them manage their crazy life. Jayme is currently spending a month in a trial residency program, learning what it will be like next year. She is working in the neonatal intensive care unit at SF General, which is walking distance from their house. She puts in 12 hours on most days, with one day off. She is taking fewer days off early in the month so that she can come to Bodega Bay on Labor Day week-end to help celebrate our 50th anniversary.

While we were there, we stayed at a flat on their street, house sitting and cat sitting for their friends. The cat, Alice, is 18 years old and requires meds morning and night. She was very shy until our last day, when she finally warmed up to me.

alice

I was finally able to snag a copy of my prolific daughter, Lisa’s, new book, Art, Inc., in which she interviews successful artists and the ins and outs of the business side of being an artist.

artinc

I love this dedication!

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On Saturday afternoon, Lisa, Clay and I went to the American Craft Council show at Fort Mason. Here I am with one of my brilliant daughters.

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I thought a lot of the work was very pedestrian and some was downright bad. I did see lots of gorgeous, but very expensive wearable art that I would have loved to walk off with. I ended up buying this ring which I just love. A silver tape measure!

 

 

newring

 

 

 

I ran into an SDA acquaintance, Lynn Pollard who is dipping paper into indigo and making these lovely prints.

indigopaper

I know I promised more photos of the show, but was not that inspired or I was too busy shmoozing to take photos.

On a sad note, on our drive home this morning, we got a call from Scooter’s vet telling us that he had had some kind of serious episode on his morning walk. He vomited twice and then collapsed and was totally out. The young man who was walking him had to carry him back. She thought it could be a seizure or perhaps he has Addison’s disease, which is not that uncommon in Poodles. I cried most of the drive home, but we got to the vet hospital and he was fine. So he is home with us now and we are waiting for test results to come tomorrow. If it is Addison’s, it can be treated with prednisone and monthly shots.

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Tomorrow, I am going to the convention center to help set up the SAQA booth at Quilt Knit Stitch, the new Quilts, Inc show debuting later this week. It is going to be a busy week. I am looking forward to having Kristin LaFlamme, my art quilt daughter, come to spend the rest of the week with us on Wednesday. She has been staying with Terry Grant and visiting her Mom in Eugene.