Thursday, June 28, 2012

78 RPM


(Above: 78 RPM, 3D found art assemblage. 45" x 20" x 20". Click on any image to enlarge.)

While my husband Steve is in England watching our elder son dance, I'm stuck here at Mouse House, running the shop but also working in my "home studio". I carved out this space last October for exactly times like this (but I didn't really start making anything until December!) There's no sense in piddling around or playing on the computer when not otherwise busy but unable to go to my normal studio ... a mile away at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios. So ... I have a "home studio". Also, this is the perfect place for work that requires all the hand tools needed for 3D found art assemblages. Mouse House already owns everything I need.


(78 RPM, detail. Click on any image to enlarge.)

Almost everything I use was purchased at Bill Mishoe's auction. Most of it needs a little TLC, a few screws, a tab of glue, and plenty of imagination. The little red table, the root beer box, and the doll chair were all rather dull but had the potential for great patina. I lightly sanded them and then applied thick orange shellac to the table and chair. For a contrast, the box was only treated to a thin coat of cherry stain.


(Above: 78 RPM, detail.)

Attaching the tonearm to the chair took a lot of work. The tone arm support isn't flat on the bottom. I drilled holes and sanded until it could be screwed in place. I also took apart "the sound box" ... which is the circular enclosure at the end of the tone arm. I wanted it to look like my skein of ecru pearl cotton thread was curled up inside and running out where the needle should be. There was a problem though! The hole for the needle doesn't go through to the inside ... but I was able to make it look as if it did.



(Above: 78 RPM, detail.)

The #3 skein of ecru peal cotton thread runs down the front of the piece and into an old red tea tin. I can also place this tin on the ledge of the table instead of the floor. The tiny quilt square under the chair is a scrap donated by a friend. It was made from strips of vintage men's silk ties. I put a piece of recycled black felt underneath and added the blanket stitching.


(Above and below: 78 RPM, details.)

Attached to the back of the chair is an interesting device. The front side (showing below) converts "inches to miles" and "centimeters to kilometers" using the tiny rolling wheel at the bottom. I don't know how this device actually works or what it is for ... but it seems totally operational. The back is a compass. It does not work. I'm very happy with this creation. There's something magical about combining fiber with parts and pieces from the past.

Monday, June 25, 2012

Squares of Sand and good news!


(Above: Squares of Sand, set of nine fiber pieces. Each is 11" x 11". Hand and free-motion machine embroidery on recycled painter's drop cloth. The photos were taken using the floor at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios as a background. I generally shoot my artwork while it is hung on the gallery's white walls ... but there wouldn't be enough contrast. Thus, I attached my tripod horizontally to the top of a ladder and shot against the floor! Click on image to enlarge.)

Over the weekend I finished a set of nine pieces based on abstractions of sand on Key West beaches. They are headed to an August solo show at Frame of Mind, a fancy eyeglass shop on Columbia's Main Street that is also a popular alternative art space. The show is called Sun and Sand. My intention was to pour clear epoxy over the surface ... but I got scared!


(Above: Squares of Sand IX. Click on image to enlarge.)

I need this work! There are walls to fill! I can't risk ruining it with a hair-brained idea! So I've started two other, similar pieces and hope to experiment with them next weekend. If it works, I can always pour epoxy over these nine later!


(Above: Squares of Sand V. Click on image to enlarge. There are two more examples at the end of this blog post.)

Each piece is stitched to a piece of acid-free mat board which is glued to a "strainer". There's a wire for hanging attached to the strainer. (A strainer is simply a wooden frame that doesn't really function as a frame. It is very similar to a "stretcher bar" for oil or acrylic paintings ... except that "stretcher bars" are cut and joined for small wooden slats/"tightening keys" to fit into the inner corners and thereby expand the outer dimensions while increasing the canvas' tautness. A strainer doesn't have this feature; it is in a fixed, permanent position. I built my strainers from the frames that used to house my Decision Portrait Series. Forty portraits are going to Quilt, Inc.'s big international quilt festival this November. The others are going into storage. The frames are now being "recycled".


(Above: Dolls, a series of photos from Edinburgh's Children Museum. Click on image to enlarge.)

The Decision Portrait frames were also recycled for these 35 images of dolls. I took them in Edinburgh's Children Museum. It will be the first time I've ever displayed my photographs as "straight photographs" ... as "art"! They will surround the giant canopy made from vintage and antique doilies and household linens that I'll be creating in my upcoming August art residency at the Galesburg Civic Arts Center, Galesburg, Illinois. (Yes ... this means I'll miss my own show opening at Frame of Mind. My husband Steve gets to "be me" for the evening!) Steve is currently in England watching our elder son dance. I'm stuck at Mouse House ... but at least some of the work has been framing my own photography!


(Above: Held Together By a Thread. Antique quilt fragments, recycled felt batting, vintage tablecloth backing, hand stitching. 24" x 24". Click on image to enlarge.)

I also got some very good news this weekend. Held Together By a Thread was accepted into the SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) juried exhibition I'm Not Crazy. Juror Sue Reno (whose work I very much admire) selected only twenty art quilts from a field of 128 created by 86 different artists. The show is being curated by Kathy Nida who blogged about the acceptances with a full list of the artists and quilts HERE. The traveling exhibit will be shown from August 2012 until May 2012 at Mancuso Quilt shows. I'm honored to be part of this.


(Above: Squares of Sand II. Below Squares of Sand I. Click on either image to enlarge.)

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Acceptances!


(Above: At Rest in Arkansas. Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. 16" x 17". Crayon rubbing on silk collaged with vintage household linens. Hand and free motion machine embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)

I'm thrilled that At Rest in Arkansas is going to Material Voices: An Exhibition of Small Quilts at the Ayer Lofts Gallery, Lowell, MA. This is a juried exhibit and a partner with the Lowell Quilt Festival. The show runs from August 8 through August 26, 2012 with a reception on the 11th from 1 - 3 PM.


(Above: Held Together by a Thread, art quilt. Antique quilt fragments, recycled felt batting, vintage tablecloth backing, hand stitching. 24" x 24". Click on image to enlarge.)

I'm also honored by have a piece in the upcoming SAQA traveling exhibition I'm Not Crazy. Juror Sue Reno selected just 20 pieces from a field of 128 created by 86 artists! The exhibit will be shown at Mancuso quilt shows from August 16, 2012 through May 5, 2013.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Sun and Sand ... and why I both LOVE and HATE email!


(Above: Sea I. Collage of painted canvas appliques on a painted canvas substrata stitched to recycled acrylic felt. Click on image to enlarge.)

On the 2nd of January I blogged about my single-word New Year's Resolution:
Change.

I wrote about joining new groups and experimenting with new, hair-brained ideas outside the normalcy of my comfortable (though generally messy) studio. I planned to carve out a "home studio" for 3D assemblage artwork. I also committed to a solo show at a local, alternative art space on Main Street ... an exhibit of "new" work, the results of some of this "change".


(Above: Sand I. Free motion machine embroidery on recycled painter's drop cloth and recycled white acrylic felt. Click on image to enlarge.)

Well, the show is this August. It is called Sun and Sand. It opens on "First Thursday", August 2nd, at Frame of Mind, a specialty eyeglass shop. The work is currently in progress and is a reflection of my art residency last March at the Studios of Key West. Also, I spent lots of time in Key West just looking at the vivid, tropical colors ... wondering why the water was so brilliantly rich in super-saturated shades of turquoise, mint green, teal, cerulean, cyan and even shadows of deep lavender.


(Above: Sand I, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

It's the sun! It's the sand! Light reflects and bounces off the shallow, white ocean bottoms. The prism of colors is intense. I wanted to capture this sensations in new ways ... with new materials ... with my promise for change. I was also working on a very large grave rubbing art quilt called Circular Churchyard. I brought a used (but carefully washed and ironed!) painter's drop cloth for the reverse. It looked just like the sandy beaches. It triggered a "hair brained idea" ... THIS IS MY SAND!


(Above: Detail of the reverse of Circular Churchyard, a grave rubbing art quilt. The material once was a painter's drop cloth. Click on image to enlarge.)


(Above: Sand II. Free motion machine embroidery on recycled painter's drop cloth and recycled white acrylic felt. Click on image to enlarge.)

The drop cloth was much larger than the 86" x 53" piece needed for the art quilt. I ripped it into smaller pieces: two 24" x 24" squares and nine 11" x 11" squares. (There's still more drop cloth left!) My idea: enhance this "sandy" looking material with texture that emulates the beaches of Key West. So far ... the nine small works are completely stitched with free motion embroidery. I'm half way through adding thousands of seeding stitches, French knots and straight stitches by hand. With luck, I'm going to pour clear epoxy over each one for the impression of "water".


(Above: Sand II, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

As shown here, the two larger pieces are now completely enhanced with free motion machine embroidery and touches of watered down silk paint sprayed from a mister. The shrinkage was an entire inch! Each one measures 23" x 23" now. I mounted them on acid free mat board cut slightly smaller than 23" x 23". (Mounting via running stitches straight through the mat board). I glued the mat board onto a wooden strainer and then installed them into "floater" frames.


(Above: Sand II, view to wooden strainer support.)

While I'm not sure that these are "great" pieces, they are interesting studies in texture, a departure into the realm of abstractions, and really do fill my desire to CHANGE my normal approach to art making. I promise photos of the nine 11" x 11" squares as they are completed. The hair-brained idea for epoxy will certainly be a departure for my studio practice ... and likely a fun, sticky mess!


(Above: My studio with six 17" x 17" squares of primed and painted linen canvas drying on the floor. Click on image to enlarge.)

So ... on to the other work for the exhibit. Although the show is called Sun and Sand, I'm not going to make work about "the sun". The idea is to make work showing the sun's reaction on the sea ... all those intense colors. Together there's a juxtaposition of the monochromatic and the ultra-chromatic ... exactly what makes Key West vivid!


(Above: Roll of primed and painted canvas made during my March artist residency at The Studios of Key West ... waiting to be cut into wave-like shapes ... also showing is part of Sand I leaning up against the wall! Click on image to enlarge.)

Well in Key West, I painted a partial roll of primed linen canvas ... with all the colors I saw in nature. I didn't worry about "proper painting" or elements of design, balance, focal points, or principles of art. I just smeared paint happily across the width and then added circles by using whatever round objects I could find as "stamps".


(Above: Wave-like shapes cut from painted canvas.)

I knew I was going to cut up this "raw material" for "quilting" ... but not just any quilting! This is yet another hair-brained idea. Why invent ways to apply paint to cloth? Isn't linen canvas also cloth? Hasn't "painting on canvas" already been discovered, refined, and done for years? Can't I just stitch using this material? Well, the test sample seemed to indicate this could work ... so I cut six pieces of canvas from a new roll ... all 17" x 17" and painted them turquoise. I'm still struggling with tension for various threads but stitching the shapes onto the background is great fun. Oh ... there's a piece of recycled white acrylic felt behind each background canvas ... so I guess these are unique art quilts. I'm sure that by the time I finish the six squares I'll have figured out how I best enjoy doing this ... and I've got plenty more canvas! Who knows? I could have even more!


(Above: Farewell dinner with Steve in our backyard. He's now in England watching our elder son dance with Birmingham Royal Ballet.)

I called this post "Sun and Sand" but I also added "Why I both LOVE and HATE email". This post was supposed to be up yesterday. Obviously, it didn't happen. Why? Our email account was hacked. This unfortunate occurrence was followed by widespread outages for AT&T clients using Yahoo email accounts. (Ours is a "prodigy" listing ... but prodigy was sold to Yahoo several years ago.) Of course, AT&T representatives aren't told to admit to widespread outages. They simply "help" clients change their password and then, when email access is still not possible, say "wait an hour and then try again". Yesterday was a vicious loop, calling, changing passwords for both "prodigy" and "att" listings, waiting an hour and starting over again. I spent seven hours and forty-five minutes speaking with seven agents, two tier-one level on-line chat agents, and finally a tier-two level on-line agent who admitted to the outage and the fact that there was no estimate on the time needed for repairs. Each agent was required to follow a specific protocol which included changing my password a total of TWENTY-ONE TIMES. Email was restore just past midnight. Moral of story: CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD before this happens to you. Use a password that is very, very strong (a long combination of upper and lower case letters with numbers) and don't open a forwarded message (even from a close personal friend) that doesn't have some personal line in the message!

I love email. The older I get, the worse my hearing becomes. I know I'll depend more and more on Internet communication. I love this blog and my website. I have found friends on Facebook and shared photos on Flickr! I even like Pinterest (though I'm not a member). I love technology ... but after yesterday, I can easily say I HATE IT TOO! Thankfully, I don't have to work a job that requires me to use a name I can't properly pronounce, say knowingly useless things (like, "Let's change your password again"), and end conversations insincerely with "I'm sorry for your inconvenience. Thank you for choosing AT&T."

Sunday, June 17, 2012

My Blue Grass Roots I ... accepted into Art Quilt Lowell 2012!


(Above: My Blue Grass Roots I. 45 1/2" x 35". Image transfer on vintage quilt with buttons. Hand stitched. Click on image to enlarge.)

While I did not make the art quilt above specifically for Art Quilt Lowell 2012, it happened to fit this year's theme: Music! The juror for this prestigious show was none other than Karey Bresenhan, President and CEO of Quilts, Inc. I just received a congratulatory email from the hosting venue, The Brush Gallery, saying it was accepted! The show features some of the very best art quilts made across Canada and the United States. It runs from August 11 through September 15 with its opening coinciding with the Lowell Art Festival. There's a special artists' reception on Saturday, August 11 from 2 - 4. I won't be there ... but I'd love photos of my piece in this setting! Happy, happy, happy!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Ball Bearings thru Cables, an altered book


(Above: Ball Bearings thru Cables, an altered book. 14" x 9" x 2 3/4". Discarded library tome, old cables and ball bearings, clipped letters from vintage sheet music, found paper, engraved plates, wood, plexiglass, screws. Click on image to enlarge.)

A couple of days ago I receive an interesting invitation from a local artist Doni Jordan. She is spearheading an upcoming exhibition at a new Columbia gallery called Gallery V. The show will be called Volumes: 12 Women Bound by Art. A discarded 12-volume set of Thomas Register of American Manufacturers Products and Services will be transformed into altered book art. I picked up my book, "bearings thru cables", on Tuesday afternoon.


(Above: Ball Bearings thru Cables, an altered book with the cover shut. This is how it looked both before and after the "alterations"! Click on image to enlarge.)

It has only happened once before in my creative life that I was given an instantaneous vision of a completed artwork. It happened before I pulled away from Doni's driveway. I've sort of been playing "catch up" to my own idea ever since ... working fast to capture the vision. Making this was pure joy!


(Above: I scored ball bearings ... thank you Columbia Welding and especially Precision Trucking on Bluff Road!)

Of course, I really didn't know exactly "what" ball bearing are ... that part of my "vision" was a little foggy. I asked on Facebook. Industrial shops along Bluff Road were suggested ... and I headed there on my moped! Yes, the manager thought I was strange. It isn't every day that a middle aged woman pulls up on a moped asking for spare ball bearing for art! I already have an extensive collection of assorted "cables" for another art idea. I raided that stash.


(Above: Ball Bearings thru Cables, an altered book. Click on image to enlarge.)

The pages of the book were removed. I collaged the inside cover with an old lino-cut purchased at auction and with letters clipped from vintage sheet music. The words read: Known as the "Big Green Book", the Thomas Register of American Manufacturers was first published in 1898 by Harvey Mark Thomas. Internet searches eroded the printed volumes' usability. Publication ended in 2006. The database was moved to www.thomasnet.com. Along the inside spine is: Altered book by Susan Lenz Created for Volumes: Twelve Women Bound by Art 2012.


(Above: Ball Bearings thru Cables, an altered book. View from the side. Click on image to enlarge.)

My statement is simple: Susan Lenz seeks a partnership with her materials, their purposes, values, and familiar associations. Ball Bearings thru Cables presents the transformation from print to Internet of a vital, industrial resource.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Skirt! is a Rebel


(Above: Skirt! is a Rebel, an art quilt. Photo transfer on tea-stained muslin, two skirts, hand embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)

I met Karen Musgrave during my artist residency at the MacNamara Foundation in the autumn of 2008. I was at the beginning of my Decision Portrait Series, stitching on Teenage Mother, Atheist, Blood Donor, Death Wish, Tattoo Artist and Kidney Donor. Karen was there to interview the studio manager, Duncan Slade and his wife Gayle Fraas, for Quilters' SOS, Save Our Stories. (The interview is HERE. Duncan and Gayle have three pieces in Robert Shaw's 1977 The Art Quilt, generally known as the first scholarly look at the new medium of art quilting.) Karen came with Elizabeth Cherry Owen, another art quilter with a piece in the same important tome.

After the interview and lunch, Karen and Elizabeth spent some time looking at my work, discussing my series and the powerful changes such decisions make in life. Elizabeth was still mourning her precious cat. She'd had to put it to sleep less than two weeks earlier. Elizabeth became the Decision Portrait participant for Pet Owner. The stitched words read: I put my cat to sleep. (By the way, it was Duncan who pointed out that my series was, in fact, art quilts! They do have three layers and are held together with stitch! Thus, I started as an "accidental art quilter"!)


(Above: Skirt! is a Rebel, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

Fast forward just under three-and a half years! I've learned a lot about art quilts, had some of mine accepted into international juried shows, and have had several solo shows with the work I've created. I was advised to join SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) and became a "professional level" member. Later, I stumbled upon an on-line group for SAQA members. I lurk. Rarely will I post. There are some "big name artists" posting regularly ... including Karen Musgrave.

Earlier this year Karen was looking for art quilters to create work for an upcoming, traveling exhibition called Women Who Break All the Rules. The pieces were to be portraits of women who decided to "change the world", vertical in orientation, and 24" x 18". Well, since my Decision Portraits are, for the most part, vertical, 24" x 18", and focus on decision in life, I figured that I had enough experience to handle the challenge. I wrote to Karen asking to join. I mentioned my Decision Portrait Series ... hoping Karen remembered them ... as a "reason" why I could fulfill the commitment, be a "good member". For me, volunteering for such an important group was a very big deal ... and more than a little scary. (This group has some really talented art quilters who have years and years of experience and lots of awards ... and written books on the subject. I've really never been an active member of any quilt guild.)


(Above: Skirt! is a Rebel, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

I WAS ACCEPTED INTO THE GROUP! The group's name is CLAW, which stands for Crossing the Lines: Artists at Work! Such a great name! Membership is limited to only twenty artists. The group is to create work responding to Karen's exhibition title twice a year. The first deadline, for Women Who Break All the Rules, is coming up in August.

The first thing to do was "select a woman". Asked around. My friend Margaret Nevill, owner of The Mad Platter here in Columbia, without hesitation said: NIKKI HARDIN, founder and publisher of Skirt! Magazine, a monthly print publication now in 5 market areas and with an outstanding website with 42 market area and book publishing company. I googled her and was totally blown away. "Herstory" is amazing. I could easily identify with "throwing caution to the wind" and starting a business without know-how or capital. That's how Mouse House started. That's also how Mouse House ended and I set off on a journey to become an artist. I wrote to Nikki Hardin and was thrilled when she agreed to participate. We exchanged emails ... model's release, photos, and the perfect words for the quilt ... words that truly addressed Karen's exhibition title.


(Above: Skirt! is a Rebel, reverse. Click on image to enlarge.)

The second thing to do was gather the materials for the art quilt. It seemed like a PERFECT idea to create the work "on a skirt". I needed a skirt that would LOOK LIKE A SKIRT even when flat and only showing the front. It would need to be a solid color so that my embroidered words would be legible. It would also need to be "small" ... after all, 18" is very narrow for half the width of most women's hips! I'm not "big" but none of my skirts would do!

I went to my favorite thrift shop. Sales benefit Pets, Inc. I didn't find ONE skirt; I found TWO! The total for both was a mere $6. Excited, I went to my studio intending to select background fabric. I threw the skirts onto my studio floor (aka "my design board"). They landed one on top of the other. Instantly, I knew exactly what I wanted to do ... my first hair brained idea ... no background fabric, just the two skirts.

By the next day, the piece was nearly finished. During the process I had another hair-brained idea for the reverse. It is a collage of logos, titles, and symbols from the April and May issues of Skirt! Magazine on a piece of vintage damask. As I worked on the collage, the third hair-brained idea occurred: a skirt hanger! Within almost no time at all, the work was photographed and ready to hang ... which is possible "in the round"! I emailed Karen.

Well ... some times I try too hard to impress, too hard to "fit in", too hard to prove my worth. Before emailing, I did know I had a problem. The one corner of the shorter, dark skirt juts out to a maximum width of 19 1/2". Yet, that didn't end up being the bigger issue. For Karen, the skirt hanger had to go. I felt horrible. It was difficult for both Karen and me. Karen generously said she'd compromise on the 19 1/2". I agreed to compromise on the hanger by adding tiny tan loops at the waist ... like those one skirts meant to dangle on tiny hooks on other hangers.

When I went back to my studio, however, I just couldn't do it. Why should either of us compromise? I broke the rules for Women Who Break All the Rules. (Yes, I see the irony!) I could "fix" a piece that I liked and didn't consider "broken" or I could make another art quilt. It isn't as if I don't have experience with 24" x 18" portraits. I should have done my second piece the first time around. It took less than three days.

I can't show the finished second piece. Participants aren't supposed to blog or put full images on their website until after exhibits are booked and at least the first show has opened. (I've never understood this strange requirement in the art quilt world ... but it is there and I'm not going to break this rule too!) Suffice it to say, the second piece is called Nikki Hardin and it has the same basic format as all my Decision Portraits. Since Skirt! is a Rebel is no longer part of the show, I guess I can blog it.

I'm happy to say that Nikki Hardin like the work too! This is so exciting! Thank you, Nikki!


(Above: Ed Madden reading from his book of poems, Prodigal: Variations at City Art.)

I'm already mentally working on the next project for the CLAW group. It exhibit will focus on social issues. I've selected my topic: same sex marriage. I'm really thrilled that my friends Ed Madden and Bert Easter are going to help me with this. They've been married for several years. My mind is seeing "hand prints" ... and they are absolutely going to fit inside the 24" x 18" dimensions and have a traditional hanging sleeve on the reverse ... the FIRST TIME!

Thursday, June 07, 2012

A week since my last post ... Decision Portraits going to HOUSTON!


(Above: The forty Decision Portraits headed to Quilt, Inc.'s big INTERNATIONAL QUILT FESTIVAL in Houston, Texas this coming November! Click on image to enlarge.)

I can't believe that it's been an entire week since my last post. All I can say is: I've been busy and time slipped away! (I've also just completed a "secret" project for an upcoming, potentially traveling, exhibition called Women Who Broke All the Rules. My "model" is Nikki Hardin, founder and publisher of Skirt! Magazine. I've been told NOT to post images ... very curious but extremely exciting to be part of a national group of "big name" art quilters.)

So ... what else have I been up to? Well, I've been doing some paperwork ... forty pages of paperwork, front and back, plus information for labels. Why? Well, forty of my Decision Portraits have been curated into an exhibition headed to Quilt's Inc.'s gigantic INTERNATIONAL QUILT SHOW this coming November 1 - 4. I'm very excited. From everything I've read, this is a really, really big deal. Last year's show shattered former attendance records with 60,680 in attendance for the four day event. The show is the world's largest annual quilt show and sale. I am SO HONORED to have my work going to this venue and for the support Quilt's, Inc. has given to me.

I can't wait to go myself. Truthfully, I've never really been actively part of a quilt guild, gone to a big quilt show, or understand most of the ways in which the quilting world or even the "art quilting world" operate. I really don't know anybody either. So, this promises to be an eye-opening experience and a lot of fun ... especially the change to meet other people sharing their love of needle and thread.

So ... here's a list of the portraits that are making the trip:

Adoption
Blood Donor
Buddhist
Cheater
Cold Turkey
College Student
Dealing With Alzheimer's
DUI I
Expatriate
Family Role Models
First Love
For Science
Husband II
Illegal Immigrant
Leukemia Decision
Living With HIV
Mother's Milk
Muslim
On Fighting Cancer I
On Fighting Cancer II
Overcoming Childhood Sexual Abuse, Kristine
On Fighting Ovarian Cancer
Patriot
Personal Appearances I
Poet
Public Servant
Pulling the Plug
Recycler
Results of a Spinal Surgery Decision
Self Portrait
Sister Support
Solidarity
Soul Mates
Standing Up for Peace
State of the Economy
Tattoo Artist
Teenage Mother
Twenty-Five Years Sober
Volunteer
Voter

These portraits are currently being removed from their frames. They will hang like a regular quilt in Houston. My wonderful husband Steve is getting them all ready to be crated. Together, we decided it was time to distribute/store the rest of the 107 pieces. We are offering them to the participants at a really, really low price ... framed or unframed. If you are one of the participants and reading this message, you should receive a message within two days. If you don't but are interested in acquiring your piece, please leave a comment or email me at mouse_house@prodigy.net.

This has been a wonderful adventure, a personal journey of healing, and a great experience sharing these portraits. Thank you to everyone involved ... and especially to those who continue to read my blog!