Let's Get Soft on Fiber Arts...

 

Join me for a gallery visit! A celebration of a wide array of textile art is on display at the Thomas Center Gallery in Gainesville, FL, until July 23. The pieces included in the juried exhibition were created by more than 40 local fiber artists. This sweet vintage doll dress really took my fancy right off the bat. It's full of hand embroidery and beads, and is the creation of Judy Ellen Keathley.

Even the exhibit title is created with fiber- it's lace stretched over an embroidery hoop and the letter outlines. The exhibit is curated by Katy Lemle and Anne E. Gilroy.

More vintage textiles were used in several pieces. This is "Somebody's Doll Clothes", again by Judy Keathley. I'd say, "Somebody's been visiting antique shops, and really scored!" I see hankies and vintage cotton prints along with the doll clothes.

This was a happy surprise, and yet hand-tied flies certainly make good use of filament, fiber, feathers, and you name it! The work of Erin Hyde and Alex Burnett was on display and there was even a video running, showing the art of fly-tying. You can take a look at She Ties Flies here.

More vintage textiles and trims are found in Judy Ellen Keathley's "Rick Rack" quilt. I think I'd like a peek at the artist's vintage textile stash!

Jacquelyn Cubas made all of these Handmade Dolls using felt, sequins, fabric and trims. Very detailed! Behind her dolls, you can get just a glimpse of another exhibit also running with Soft. It's the work of Eddy Mumma, a Gainesville artist who was wheelchair bound and a prolific painter. His story is an interesting one you can read here.

 

Several talented members of the Fiber Art Bee (FAB), a group that's part of The Quilters of Alachua County Day Guild, had pieces on display. This fiber floral collage "Anniversary" quilt was made by Celeste Beck of Goatfeathers Studio. It includes a framed fabric photo of her and her late husband, so it is all the more special.

This eye-popping quilt (only two blocks pictured here) is by the color-loving FAB member Merri McKenzie. She ice-dyed the fabric for her "Florida Sunrise" quilt. It kind of makes you want to dance, doesn't it?

FAB member Gretchen Brooks has mastered the art of making fiber vessels. This beautiful "Yellow Vase" has lots of hand-dyed cottons along with a variety of yarn and fibers. 

Linda Krause employs many fiber techniques in her art quilts. She's a nature-lover and combines a love of photography in her pieces. Linda, also a FAB member, began this piece with a photo and then used paint, Inktense pencils, dyes, markers and both hand and machine quilting in "You Should See the Other Guy...".  A little nature-loving, quilter humor there.

More nature, more color- just what we love! "Jewel Beetle" is the creation of FAB member Candace McCaffery. Candace always WOWs us with her fabric dyeing, use of paints and nature themes. 

Linda Henderson made "Improv Blues", a Modern Quilt based on the traditional Log Cabin block.

This tropical beauty was made by longarm quilter Pam Mitchell in the One-Block Wonder style. Her quilting enhances the complex hexagons in the design.

"Milky Way Dream" (top), "Carnival Dream" (center), and "Cirrus Dream" (bottom) were made using acrylic paint, inks, and metallic thread by Sylvia Montesinos.

And one more vessel- this time a paper cast made using hand-made mulberry paper and fiber. "Spiritus" was crafted by Amy Richard. Good thing it's behind glass- I so wanted to touch it.

There- we took a fun field trip! There was much more to see in the Soft exhibit, and several of the pieces were very large installation-type displays. The Thomas Center itself is worthy of its own post. It's a large, Spanish-style building that began in the early 1900s as SunKist Villa, a private residence; became the renowned Hotel Thomas; then became an educational site; and now houses city offices and the gallery (read the history on the site linked above). If you love architecture, you'd enjoy all the impressive details preserved in the various rooms. It's lovely.

Taking Flight...

 Have you ever seen a Rosy Moth? The real one is even more colorful and pink than this stitched one, which is hand-painted and stitched. Artist Lisa Goddard was an instructor for Making Zen, a free online stitching retreat and this was her project. It was such fun to make, and like many of the small projects I'm drawn to, it makes use of all those bits and pieces collected over years of sewing. I'm pretty sure another moth is taking shape in my mind right now. If the free retreat is offered again, I recommend enrolling. Many instructors offer tutorials and projects in an array of stitching methods.

And sticking with the theme of flying things, who wouldn't want to sew a housefly? These are so cute you would not want to swat them I'm sure. Anne Wood Handmade offered a free "House Fly Rag Doll" tutorial and template that will have you stitching rather than swatting flies. Our Fiber Art Bee decided to make a whole swarm and send them to a sewing friend who is under the weather. One member found an old-fashioned metal-screen swatter and engineered a way to attach the whole swarm to present to him with our best wishes. The blue fly at the upper right is named Splatz and was gifted to me by Celeste Beck of Goatfeathers Studio, who also could not resist making more than one fly. I made the others and they are as yet unnamed. The furry-bodied guy in the lower left was started by a member but not completed. She gave it to me and I finished the job. Houseflies are pests? I think not.

Next, our quilt guild asked us to make felt "word birds" to use as centerpieces for the next holiday luncheon. Each member will get to take a bird home at the end of the event. So there was some more stitching fun!

I was so taken with this Harmony Bird that he's going to stay and live here in the sewing room with me. Believe it or not, I had to ask our coordinator for some felt scraps to make these birds because I have very little in my stash. Imagine that! Not words I use often- Very little in my stash!

Glorious Glass... Part 2

 

We're not done with the wonderful Chihuly at Biltmore exhibit. It begged to be more than one post! The colors, forms, and textures in his glass pieces are beyond description, so feast your eyes.

Looking into the glass sculptures is quite mesmerizing. There are thousands of glass pieces making up the display.

The glowing neon colors are like no glass I've ever seen and the pieces light up beautifully.

And the array of glass plant life forms makes for such a pleasing arrangement.

From tall and slender to twisted and serpentine, the arrangements of the pieces are attention grabbing.

This Mille Fiori installation is the centerpiece of the entire exhibit in my view. The artist's vision was inspired by Mille Fiori- an Italian word meaning "thousand flowers". The garden can be viewed from all sides, and there is much to see. It takes Chihuly and his entire team of artisans to blow the glass forms for installations like this one. If you have 20 spare minutes, here is a YouTube video showing the process of the designs. I hope you're packing your bags for a trip to Asheville, NC, and Chihuly at Biltmore. You won't be disappointed!

Glorious Glass...

 

For this post, my blog will be like a travelogue or a gallery tour. I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Asheville, NC, to visit The Biltmore House and the Chihuly at Biltmore exhibit. Oh my, I love Dale Chihuly glass creations. I've seen them before at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, AZ, and the Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg, FL. But they are worth seeing again and again! Near the entry of the exhibit we saw this spectacular array of colorful Navajo design wool trade blankets, many made by Pendleton Woolen Mills. Chihuly's collection of the vintage blankets inspired the vessels you'll see next. 

You can see the influence of the woven threads that were created with thin glass rods in these cylinders. They are part of his "Navajo Blanket Cylinders" series.

Native American designs of the Pacific Northwest later appeared in the glass vessels when he captured the soft sag of native baskets in his Soft Cylinders series. The shadow on the wall illustrates how translucent these colorful glass cylinders are. From the left are Pyrol Orange Soft Cylinder with Verditer Blue Lip Wrap; Rose Soft Cylinder with Forest Green Lip Wrap; Sun Yellow Soft Cylinder with Green Lip Wrap; and Verdant Green Soft Cylinder with Poppy Lip Wrap. So there's a new technical term for you- lip wrap! Just beautiful and the lip wraps provide just the right color accents.

Here we have Black Vivid Yellow Soft Cylinder with Scarlet Lip Wrap and Black Chartreuse Soft Cylinder with Forest Green Lip Wrap. Even the darker glass allows the light to shine through.

In another part of the exhibit we were treated to Chihuly's Icicle pieces. Each icicle is blown glass and then the individual pieces are assembled into either a tower, like this one, or a chandelier which hangs from the ceiling. Just imagine transporting and assembling these glass structures!

This is Radiant Yellow Icicle Chandelier with Royal Blue Icicle Tower in the background.

Is one Icicle Tower not enough? Are you wanting more? OK then, here are three of a kind- Serpentine Green Icicle Towers. Just amazing. I'll stop now, but there will be a Glorious Glass, Part 2 coming soon. Chihuly's work is so electrifying!

Trash-tastic...

 

Yes, trash-tastic is a made-up word. But still... the Upcycle 2: Turning Waste Into Wonder exhibit is pretty fantastic. It's true especially when you know the art entries had humble beginnings as items that most people throw away! Textile artist Josephine Leyte-Vidal fashioned two jackets. "Fancy Patchwork", left, and "His Jeans and Ties", right- are shown here in front of "Grouper", a wallhanging made from scrap wood and metals. The creativity on display was varied and fun.

Take, for instance, plastic bottles and packaging. They never looked so good. Artist Elizabeth Eichelberger fashioned them into "Ladybug Landing," so dainty and glass-like.

A number of pieces are metal assemblages. Andrew Nichols made "Rapanui" using a shovel head, horseshoes, and rebar. And feathers. Would you say he is fierce or friendly?

I'm always drawn to fish sculptures. This one contains all kinds of familiar objects like keys, license plates, metal roofing, and even a dog's rabies tag. "Ferromagnetic Bass" by Kenneth DeMoliner is mounted on reclaimed lumber.

"Industrial Fowl" is by David Kellner and is formed from metal strapping on a brake pad base. Check out the beak. I had to read the card info to realize it's created with pliers! It's a surprisingly graceful bird given all that metal. The red stickers on the info cards indicate that the piece has been purchased.

A second piece by Elizabeth Eichelberger is "The Tree of Life". She created it using a lampshade ring, copper wiring, and beads from a discarded necklace. Each entrant could submit two upcycled entries for consideration.

These two shadow boxes are made by Rodney Acosta. At left, "The Temple of the Sun" is assembled using a dresser pull, a painted wooden box, plastic and metal figurines, and glass bottles. At right, "The Throne of the Queen Bee" began with a resin home dec curtain holder, a painted wooden box, assorted brass trims, and metal figures.

I had my picture taken by my entry- "Bodacious Graffiti Heart". See the little red sticker? It's going home with a new owner. You can see how I made the heart in my previous post here.

Brick City Center for the Arts is located in downtown Ocala, FL, and the exhibit is still on for a few days next week. Check the link, and call ahead to confirm open hours if you'd like to see all of these entries and more. There's a lovely gift shop section in the gallery, too.

Trashy Vibes...

 

It's time for Upcycle 2: Turning Waste Into Wonder. Our local Marion Cultural Alliance (MCA) is once again sponsoring an exhibit at Brick City Center for the Arts in Ocala, Florida, during Earth Month. The exhibit was so popular last year, that the board decided to bring it again. I entered two projects, both of which were accepted and are on display now. This is the "Bodacious Graffiti Heart" wallhanging. The upcycled materials include the fabric from a discarded blue umbrella, "plarn" (twisted plastic bag yarn) for the hanger, pink foam fruit wrap sheets for the rose embellishments, and a yarn and fiber tassel that includes the label from the umbrella. It was great fun to envision and make!

Here's a closeup of the foam sheet flower that I stitched and gathered. The heart shape is sewn from the umbrella fabric and stuffed with dry cleaner plastic bags. I used fabric and acrylic paint on the umbrella fabric prior to sewing.

My second entry is this "Trashy Journal". The pretty pink floral print is a shipping bag from a fashion retailer.  It's stitched onto a bubble mailer bag to give it a squishy softness. I then decorated the cover with a corrugated cardboard collage from yarn, lace, trims, and a cute girl image cut from fabric scraps. The heart beads on the spine decoration are made from cardboard packaging material. And inside there are "Franken-paper" pages pieced together from security envelopes and other mailers.

Here's a section of the umbrella fabric in process with stenciling and other painted techniques applied.

MCA members who wanted to participate in the exhibit this year were invited to visit Florida Express, a local recycling center and sponsor of the exhibit. I wasn't sure I'd find much in the way of fiber at the site, but I went because I was interested to see the facility. Upon entering we saw these mega-pound bales of shredded materials all compacted and ready to ship to the industries that will turn the material into useful objects. I was impressed with how tidy the facility is.

A mountain of shreds awaits baling.

The assemblage artists on our field trip enjoyed dumpster diving to find their treasures. Hard hats were required for safety. I'll show you what they fashioned in my next post after I visit the exhibit.

The waste trucks back into the warehouse space and drop their loads. Workers then sort and separate what can be shredded from the metal items. It's a well-run operation and was an education that made the visit worthwhile. That, and finding the lonely blue umbrella awaiting its transformation! The workers at the site were all interested and helpful, wondering what the artists would find and make from all this trash. One of them obligingly and carefully cut the fabric from the umbrella frame for me. 

Less is More- Keeping it Simple...

 

Our month-of-February lesson for Fodder School 3 was taught by artist/instructor Jennifer Wilkin Penick. I'm sharing the work I did in her classes here. But first off, I'll offer a bit of info about Fodder School 3. It's a year-long series of classes in mixed media art. There is a new teacher and project each month. During one half of the month, students get instruction in the artist's special and favorite techniques for creating papers and elements referred to as "fodder." 

Then, in the other half of the month, the elements come together in a creative project. The variety of projects and methods keeps Fodder School always interesting. 

Jennifer's lessons focused first on painting and embellishing an assortment of papers we would use in our projects. The lessons certainly helped me to look at paper designs in a different way. We even used magazine paper and old book pages.

Modifying the papers once they were painted was a fun endeavor, and it only added to the many choices we'd have once it came to making our projects. I'm always a fan of recycling the liners from security envelopes, and popping a few of them into the mix became a really nice accent. 

A close look will reveal that the vase in this still-life began as a sheet of music paper. 

Jennifer titled her project Simple Shapes Sampler. Starting with a simple shape and then building a collage arrangement from them was very relaxing and creative. These little shapes remind me of tongue depressors. Pretty simple! 

Floral designs were fun.

And just picture the blizzard of paper scraps generated when we began to cut these pie shapes. Putting them together in colorful wheels was more fun than cleaning up the workspace afterwards.

One flower leads to another. The variations on a theme could go on and on.

And here's the entire project- a concertina book. It's a challenge to photograph one of these as they stretch out across the desk. But you get the idea. 

A feature of a concertina book is that it can showcase a lot of these collages in a small space, and then it folds up nicely. This was such an enjoyable project. Would you be surprised if I told you that I have plenty of little shapes left over with which to make even more delightful collages? It's true!