An Adventure in Art

(Above: Three, small Grave Rubbing Quilts....basted and ready to stitch! Click on image to enlarge. These are the pieces I'll be taking with me to Colma, California....stitching on the airplane and during some of the evenings. Two are approximately 18" x 24" and one is about 20" x 24".)

Last week I delivered four (!) accepted pieces to Palmetto Hands, the only annual fine craft exhibition in the state of South Carolina. Cynthia Bringle, a highly renown ceramist from Penland, NC, was the juror. I was unable to attend the opening on Friday night, but I got a telephone call on Monday morning. I WON BEST OF SHOW! According to the exhibition sponsor who called, Ms. Bringle didn't select one of the pieces....she selected the entire "body of work". Obviously, I am thrilled.

The pieces in the show are: Behind in the Mortgage, Decision Portrait Series; Wrapped Nails with Vintage Ice Scoop; Double Acorn Vessel; and Father and Mother, Grave Rubbing Quilt.

This will likely be my last post until next week. Tomorrow I'm teaching at Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina....part of the MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching) program. It's an all day class with seventeen college students headed into our public schools as art teachers. Lot of fun! I'll make sure they know that fibers belongs in the classroom!

Then, on Thursday Steve and I are head to San Francisco! Steve, ever the discount travel guru, found round trip airline tickets for $217 (including tax) from Charlotte and a downtown hotel for $55 per night! The trip is an ART ADVENTURE. Believe it or not, burials inside the city limits were outlawed shortly after the great earthquake. Later, most existing cemeteries were physically moved to Colma, City of the Dead. Colma boast a population of 1,100 above ground and 1.1 million below! Their bumper sticker reads: Great to be alive in Colma. Three quarters of the land is divided between seventeen cemeteries plus one of the largest pet cemeteries in the country! I can hardly wait to continue my research and epitaph collection in California! All this work is headed to a solo exhibition at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios next February. I'll be showing Blues Chapel and Last Word....basically, I'm building the church and its graveyard!