Wild Fabrications

My FiberWorks group hung our show this Friday at the Newtown Library. Our theme, Wild Fabrications, was interpreted so differently by our members and I thought it was one of our best shows ever. We are a diverse group that encompasses art quilters, weavers, multi-media and encaustic. All pieces were 30" square. We were in a different place in the library this year, the genealogy room, which is no longer used for that purpose. I thought that it gave us more of a gallery space and we were able to move the screens around to our advantage.

Nike with her graphic artist background, always designs our poster and I always have it enlarged and then put on foam core. We decided that I would do a fabric collage around the edges, instead of the colored papers I usually do. I fully intended to cut off the edges when done, but I decided that I liked the jagged edges. I gave them three coats of acrylic medium to make them stiff.

Barbara Drillick always makes the artist statement cards and did her usually stellar job this year.I will make no comments on the quilts but will let each artist statement speak for itself.

The opening for the show is this coming Sunday from 3 to 4 and the show will be up until October 26. Please stop by if you can. You know that everything always looks better in person.

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.

Please click on any picture for a bigger view and perhaps to read the statements better.

Sun #10

The card that I drew for this month's sun was "Use some metal". I was excited because this is one that I had been hoping to get. I envisioned curly rays made out of copper wire.

Welllllll....it turned out to be challenging at every step, but then that is how we learn. I thought I would use either the inside of a soda can or the burnished bottom of an aluminum take out container for the face. Neither worked. No matter how much I tried to get the soda can to unroll, it wouldn't. I glued it to the blue fabric and weighed it down with a few heavy books and all that did was make the fabric curl up with the metal.

I tried burnishing the bottom of the aluminum container and I get couldn't get it totally smooth. What I did use was the lid of the container. It was white cardboard with a silver lining and of course I used the silver side. That worked out great, although anything I used to mark the face would wipe right off, so I sprayed it with a clear acrylic spray.

It was even hard to photograph. That turquoise and pink on the face are the reflections of my turquoise iPhone and my pink shirt.

Here are the true colors shot on my worktable, not head-on.

I used the pleated sides of the container for the short rays. I had sewn the face down about a quarter of an inch away from the edge. Then I was able to tuck the rays under the face to sew them down right next to the edge.

The wires were hand sewn on. The copper springs were hard to do since my thread kept getting caught in the wires. Same thing with the bronzy coils. I painted the eyes and lips with metallic powders mixed with acrylic medium, then more clear fixative on top.

All in all I am pleased with the results. I am all caught up and this is not due until the end of October because of the show my group is putting on. More about that in another post.

I'm linking up with Off the Wall Friday. Go see what some talented people are up to.

Opening Night

Thursday night was the opening for Patterns at City Lights Gallery. I had shown you the postcard for the show here, featuring one of my quilts from the show. I was so pleased when I walked in. My big red quilt, Salsa City, was the first thing you saw when you walked in and the only piece on that wall. The lighting was fantastic and every stitch showed.

My second quilt, City Lights, was around the corner, also the only one on the wall and with the title of the show.

Quilt number three, Twilight City, again on its own wall.

I was the only quilt artist in the show. Gwen Hendrix, also worked in fiber, but not quilts.

Gwen had two large, one medium size and 3 small pieces in the show.

Tim Reimer made these fabulous paintings using spray paint and tape. They were multi layered and his sense of color was stunning. I really lusted after one of his smaller pieces, but my walls at home are full. He had several pantings there, but this one spoke to me.

These were also by Tim. He puts his wet canvas in the rain to get these raised dots then brings it in and adds more paint.

This phenomenal outdoor art was by Liz Squillace. The photo below shows her mockup and painting made prior to her installation. The staircase was right outside the gallery and was amazing.

It was a lovely opening with a nice sized crowd. I got to talk to some very interesting people and I had a lot of positive feedback. I was video taped, something I've never done before and Jane snapped a couple of shots of me giving my talk.

The show will be up util October 13. If you are in  the area, please stop in. The hours are on the card. 

I am linking up, a little late, with Off the Wall Friday.

Presidential Fabrications

As I said in a previous post, my FiberWorks group's theme for this year's show is Wild Fabrications, to be interpreted anyway we choose.....wild fabrics, wild animals, wild ideas, etc. I chose to use the definition of fabrication as a lie or untruth. Anyone who knows me knows how very unhappy I am with our present President. I was shocked that he was elected after all the venom and lies that spewed from his lips during the campaign and even more shocked that there are people who still support him. Every time I see him on television and listen to what he has to say, my stomach turns. I fear for our country with him at its helm.

I have no political affiliations. I am neither Democrat nor Republican. I am not a sore loser who was disappointed that Hillary didn't get in. I am just so upset that he did.

It was quite cathartic for me able to make this quilt. I used quotes by several presidents that were lies or misrepresentations. Trump has the most on this quilt, but in all fairness I couldn't ignore some famous quotes by past presidents.

I printed the quotes onto chartreuse fabric and then fused those to three different green and black stripes or prints. I buttonholed all around them before the quilting was done. The quilting was done by free-motion quilting in the form of words or sentences. They ranged from the silly, such as "Liar, liar, pants on fire" or "It's a sin to tell a lie" to the more serious such as "One lie is enough to question all truths" or "Truth exists, only lies are invented".

Here are few details of the Presidential quotes and the quilting. If you click on each picture You will get a much bigger view.

I used a marking pen that I didn't know existed. It is Frixion, by Pilot. I drew all the guide lines using a yardstick and then wrote all my words. After the quilting the pen marks come out with just a touch of an iron. I was so glad that one of my FiberWorks friends told me about it. I was going to use a blue marker that comes out with water, but was afraid that some of my hand-dyes would run. 

I quilted it by rolling up the quilt from left to right and then unrolling it as I went along.

I took it to the ironing board after each line to re-roll it and start again.

So, tell me what you think. Have any of you made a political statement quilt?  This was my first.

I am linking up with "Off the Wall Friday".