Aldrich Museum

Last Friday my small weekly quilt group took  a field trip to the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, CT.  We specifically wanted to see this cardboard sculptor by artist, James Grashow.

Grashow has worked primarily in paper for the past 40 years.  The piece, Corrugated Fountain, was inspired by the famous Trevi Fountain in Rome, Italy. After being exhibited at three indoor venues, Grashow had it installed outdoors at the Aldrich, where the weather elements would eventually destroy it. You can read more about it here.

Remember that all pictures are clickable to see a bigger view.

This picture, taken on Nike's iPhone (low resolution) on the opening day shows a portion of it in its full glory.

After the installation we had two weeks of dry weather and then a weekend of rain.  This is the state in which we saw it. The bouquet of roses was left by the artist.  Although he knew it was going to disintegrate, he didn't expect it to happen so soon and was saddened by the process.  Thus the rose memorial. It took four years to make this piece; I guess I would be sad, too.

Here you can see even more of the destruction.  The exhibit is up until May 12.  We've had more rain since our visit, so it would be interesting to see what it looks like now.

Art Squared

This Sunday is the opening of our latest FANE show at the Mahopac Library.  I was happy to have my quilt chose again for the postcard.  That's mine on the upper left. If you're in the area, please stop by.  We'll have wine and other goodies and some great art.

Brown Planet progress report

If I would only stay home once in awhile, maybe I'd get more done on this behemoth, I mean quilt.  If you've been following my blog you would know that this is a collaboration between Kathy Loomis and me.  I blogged about it here. She designed it and started the piecing and I am finishing it and will do the quilting.  It is huge (about 7 1/2 ft. wide) and involves some very tricky piecing.  The top half of the semicircle is now pieced.  Each row is a new challenge, but I am plugging away. I used up most of the little dark pieced sections I had made and will have to make a lot more before I continue. I can also see where I'll have to recut some of the big pieces, again.

I thought I would get a lot more done since I was home all day, a rarity.  But I photographed a quilt for my SAQA Porfoloio entry and that took forever for some reason, made a pie for guests who are coming over this evening, and this and that. I don't know where the time goes. I didn't get to my studio until late afternoon.  The rest of the week and weekend are pretty full so I don't think I'll get much done. Slow and steady wins the race. Stay tuned.

Wordless Wednesday and Sign of the Week

Put a Bird On It

In Portland, OR, where my son lives, there is a tongue in cheek expression that "if you put a bird on it, it's art". There is a very funny video here from the TV show Portlandia, which pokes fun at the city.

On Saturday I spent the day with three friends in the charming little town of Kent, CT, about an hour's drive from here.  I had often driven through it on the way home from somewhere and had often said that I'd like to go up some day and send the day visiting the shops and having lunch. So we took advantage of the gorgeous warm Spring day and did just that.  The shops were terrific, where we did our best to help out the economy and then we had a scrumptious lunch. 

One of the shops had an eclectic array of goods and we spent a lot of time ooohing and ahing.  But I also had to chuckle about how many things had "birds on them", bowls, dishes, pictures and these delightful metal birds that insisted on coming home with me.  They each hold a tea-light candle, which I thought I had at home, but I seem to be out.  

Dali Museum

I was asked where my Wordless Wednesday picture came from, so I thought I would show you some more pictures from this amazing pace, the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL.

Here's part of the outside of the 20,000 square foot building, in itself a work of art, that houses an impressive permanent collection.  We took a docent tour, which I would highly recommend to help you understand his often bizarre art. Our docent was incredible! 

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The spiral staircase leading to the second floor was a reference to his use of the chambered Nautilus and the golden ratio in his work. There were so many things in the museum store (fabulous) that featured the Chambered Nautilus and I couldn't resist buying a great t-shirt.  (Looks much better in person.  It has 3/4 length sleeves and a V neck)  It was the glass ceiling at the top of this staircase that you saw on Wednesday.

All of the grounds were interesting, too.  This tree had strips of paper on which patrons had written things,

Here's that famous mustache.

And the famous melting clock.

If you're ever in the area, I would highly recommend this museum and be sure to take the free docent tour.   St. Petersburg is a wonderful city that also has a Chihully Museum.  We did visit, but no pictures were allowed.

Wordless Wednesday

New Book

One of the perks of having a blog is occasionally getting a new book to review. This one The Natural World came in the mail while I was away in Florida and since it takes me so long to get back into the groove I am just getting around to reviewing it. I did peruse it when I first saw it, but didn't take the time to actually read it until this weekend. And what it treat it was!

First, the way the book looks. It has a nice heavy paper cover with an embossed picture of Barbara McKie's "Peacock Pride" quilt. You can feel the edges of the quilt, almost as if a real quilt had been pasted onto the cover. The inside pages are also heavy, glossy, high-quality paper.

This book is the first in a series of books by Martha Sielman about art quilts. This one focuses on art quilts inspired by the natural world, such as flowers, birds, animals, insects, trees, and water. There are profiles of 19 accomplished artists and galleries of work by other talented artists. I was familiar with many of them, but some were new to me.

The individual profiles each have an introduction by Martha and then interviews with the artists telling about their backgrounds and how they work. This was the part that I enjoyed the most. I loved hearing what inspired each artist and their methods of doing what they do. Many of the artist have fine art degrees and/or sewing backgrounds. Some work only with their own hand-dyed fabrics, some use only commercial prints. Some rely heavily on computers, some don't like them at all. Some work in many types of surface design, some use only pieced fabrics. Some sketch out every inch of the design, some work intuitively by putting fabric up on the design wall. Some make complex patterns, some don't. But they all have a love of nature and portraying it on fabric.

I should mention the gorgeous photography. There are plenty of beautiful pictures, some by professionals and some by the artists. I would have liked to see some details, though, and some of the photos were small.

And while I don't have a quilt in the book (boo-hoo), I do have Elaine Quehl's "Unfurling" on page 146 hanging on my wall. It was my purchase from the SAQA auction two years ago and I love it.

All in all, I think it's a great book and a worthy addition to any art quilter's collection.

Art Show Winner

I entered two small pieces in the local Richter Art Association members' show and was so surprised and delighted to be awarded a first place. In previous years they had not accepted fiber. Mine were the only fiber pieces there and I was amused that they chose to group them with pastels and graphic art. I'm not complaining, I took my cash award and ran. Not really; they had a lovely reception with live piano music and refreshments, so I stayed for awhile and chatted with the other artists attending. It was a splendid spring day so there weren't too many there.

You've seen this piece before, "Recapitulation", it was done for a FANE (Fiber Artists of the Northeast) show a couple of years ago. It's a small quilt, 12" x 12" , mounted on an 18" square white artist's canvas. It is made using my hand-dyed fabrics and some Dupioni silk.

Easter Sunday

Yesterday was spent at my niece's as have been the past few Easters. As I've said before, she's a wonderful hostess and a gourmet cook, so it's always a great day. All pictures are clickable for a bigger view.

One of the biggest treats of the day was meeting my newest great-nephew, Charlie. Here he is with my sister, Ruth, his great-grandmother. Isn't he adorable? And check out that outfit, which he kept on all day. He is the best natured, happiest baby that I've met in a long time. He smiled, laughed, waved and went to anyone without a fuss. I don't think I heard him cry all day.

My niece loves to decorate and every year she comes up with something new. These cute arrangements were on the tables, two to each, as part of the centerpieces. Yes, those are real Peeps and fresh tulips. She had a clear glass of water inside for the tulips. All the table cloths were pink, white and lime green plaid, so Spring-like.

Because she had so many for dinner, she had a buffet. Usually paper napkins and plastic utensils are an anathema to her, but when she saw these carrot-like utensil arrangements somewhere online, she knew she had to change her standards. I wanted to get a picture with all the food (delicious!) but Charlie was taking a nap in the room where I had stowed my camera at that time. The table was "L" shaped and went around the corner.

Even the lighting fixture over the table was dressed for Easter.

I hope you all had a happy Easter or Passover with family and friends.