Large Stained Glass XC

(Above:  Large Stained Glass XCI. Framed: 63 1/4" x 23 1/4".  Layers of polyester stretch velvet fused to recycled packaging felt with free-motion machine embroidery and unique melting techniques.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

After finishing Large Stained Glass XC, I immediately got to work on this one! I really like the six-pointed star in the central circle plus the fact that I used almost every color of polyester stretch velvet in my stash!

(Above:  Detail of Large Stained Glass XCI.)

Another great thing about making these pieces in my new location is the oven vent which blows all the fumes from melting polyester to the outside world.  I'm still wisely wearing my ventilator mask but I don't have to brave the elements any longer.  There's also no wind sapping the temperature of my soldering irons.

 

(Above:  Detail of Large Stained Glass XCI.)

 

Melting inside was important this time.  Why?  Well ... it was cold and rainy outside and I really needed to get this piece done!  Steve and I planned to deliver it to the Grovewood Gallery last Friday.  Friday was the first day of the annual Arts and Crafts Conference in the Omni Grove Park Inn ... just next door to the gallery.  Thankfully, I really wasn't rushed or dodging bad weather!

 

(Above:  Detail of Large Stained Glass XCI.)

 

Steve and I had a great time looking at all the Stickley and Roycraft furniture as well as the work of various contemporary artists who still work in the Arts and Crafts style of yesteryear. There was a gorgeous, antique green ceramic vessel ... with a $16,000 price tag but there was also a little, wooden carved bear for $10.  Almost every booth included beautifully stitched table runners. Lusterware and hammered copper caught my eye.  One area was filled with Japanese woodblock prints.  Between sterling silver jewelry and wrought iron chandeliers with stained glass panes, there baskets and leather bound books and even carpets.  Below are just a few of the photos I snapped.

 

 

Large Stained Glass XC

 

(Above:  Large Stained Glass XC.  Framed:  63 1/4" x 23 1/4".  Layers of fused polyester stretch velvet on recycled black packaging felt with free-motion machine embroidery and unique melting techniques.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

When I created the first four pieces in this large format, I never thought they would sell.  I needed them for my installation Blues Chapel.  That was way back in 2006.  (Click HERE for the second blog post I wrote!  It includes a photo of those first four Large Stained Glass fiber artworks!)  The facts of the matter are that I started this blog because I wanted to hold on to that early installation, share it, have a place on the "world wide web" where it might live forever.  At the time, I thought that Blues Chapel would be the best work I'd ever make.  Little did I know that there would be other installations, an ever widening range of artwork in my future, and that twenty years later I'd actually need to make more in this series.

 

(Above:  Detail of Large Stained Glass XC.)

There were two Large Stained Glass pieces at the Grovewood Gallery just a month or so ago but both now have permanent homes.  I was asked to "bring more"!  It's always a good day when one's gallery requests more work.  It meant that I needed to get to work!

 

(Above:  Detail of Large Stained Glass XC as seen from an angle.)

I always make two when approaching this large size.  Why?  Well ... for this work, Steve has to cut a 60" x 40" piece of anti-reflective UV glass in half ... 60" x 20".  Half is for one piece, but there's no great way to store the other half!  It's up to me to make two at a time just to prevent a big, expensive piece of glass from getting accidentally broken.

In Box CDLXXII, donation to the SAQA Spotlight Auction

 

(Above:  In Box CDLXXII.  Approximately 7" x 5" and mounted to 10" x 8" white mat board. Click on image to enlarge.)

For the past few weeks I've had an item on my "to do" list which just didn't seem to get done until today.  This procrastination was unintentional because I really am in debt to SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Association).  I've learn so much from this international organization and have had several pieces accepted into their global juried shows.  I've written for the quarterly Journal (and was even paid for my writing!)  In the past, I've been a speaker at the annual conference.  Truly, I get much more out of my membership than I pay for!  Every other year, the conference is an in-person event.  This year, it is virtual but every year there's an on-line fundraiser called the Spotlight auction.  Art quilters all over the world contribute pieces that are put into provided 8" x 10" pre-cut mats (though mine is submitted "open" on the same sized mat board.)  Every year there is a deadline too.  Of course I wanted to donate but I almost missed the deadline.  Thank goodness I buckled down and finally made this piece!  

The Degenerate Art II Exhibition

 

(Above:  The Caution Tape Entry to the Degenerate Art II exhibit at Stormwater Studios in Columbia, SC.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

I'm well overdue with the blog post but, honestly, I've been busy and more blog entries are soon to be written.  For now, however, I'm happy to report that the Degenerate Art II exhibit at Stormwater Studios in Columbia has seen plenty of traffic and sales!  It was my honor to be invited as the area's guest artist.  Why was I a guest artist?  Well ... apparently last year's show was by invitation only.  I was invited and created several pieces and my Reasons for Tears installation.  That show was also quite a success.  Jasper Project, the organization sponsoring this show were overwhelmed by local artists who weren't invited but would like to have been. They decided to make the second show a juried one ... only for artists living in the Midland counties of South Carolina.  I don't live there anymore. Yet, the group wanted an installation and knew I could create another one.  Thus, I was asked and became the "guest artist."  

 

(Above:  The Degenerates signing board and donation box just inside the Caution Tape Entry.)

This did present me with a unique challenge!  Create an installation.  Well ... I met the challenge and created two!  First was The Caution Tape Entry.  The show's title refers to "the Nazi Party’s 1937 Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition in Munich at which more than 650 pieces of Modernist art were haphazardly displayed alongside graffiti and mocking text labels with the goal of denigrating and ridiculing the art and artists."  My installation cautions people that they are entering such an exhibit!  Right inside the double glass doors is a box for donations and a signing board.  Everyone coming has the option of leaving their name as a "degenerate" (and leaving a dollar or more supporting the Jasper Project.)

 

(Above:  Middle Finger.)

I thought of the signing board shortly after making Middle Finger. The organization allowed artists to submit statements with their work.  This one (like all my other work for this show!) certainly didn't need any additional explanation.  I was thrilled to finally find a use for the skull embellished frame that I have saved for a couple years ... knowing something would finally be perfect of it.

 

(Above:  Trump is a Scrabble Game.)

The first piece I made (within an hour of receiving my invitation to be the show's guest artist) was Trump is a Scrabble Game.  It was made on a Wednesday after returning from the Pickens County flea market where I scored four, old Scrabble games!  Because I now live more than two hours from Columbia, Steve and I were unable to attend the opening reception, but I got a private Facebook message from the nice man who wanted to let me know that this one is now in his permanent collection!

 

(Above:  Democracy Endangered.)

Recently some vintage cross-stitch patterns were donated to my stash.  They're the kind that has little blue printed "X" marked on plain weave cotton.  One was this eagle.  I haven't stitched a counted cross stitch in decades.  I haven't stitched one of these printed cross stitch patterns since I was a Brownie Girl Scout in the first grade ... but I knew I could do something different!  The skull patch had to be ordered because it was "out of stock" at Walmart but it certainly changes it!  I carefully cut the semi-circle mat and then collaged the words using vintage and antique letters.

(Above:  VOTE !  Framed:  21 1/2" x 17 1/2".  Gelli-plate printed hand print with collaged letters.)

While stitching Democracy Endangered, I had plenty of time to think about what else I could make but ... more importantly ... what I really wanted to add to the conversation about our current political situation.  I asked myself if I were just complaining through my artwork.  What could I really do that might make a real difference?  The only thing I could think of was encouraging everyone ... no matter what their political feelings might be ... to VOTE!  So ... when playing around with my new Gelli plate, I used a pattern of my own hand print to print this piece. The paper was fused to thicker watercolor paper and the hand print's outline was free-motion stitched.  Finally, I collaged the word "VOTE" onto it.  Before framing, I scanned it.  By that time, I'd thought up a great installation!

(Above:  The two sides of each voting unit with more units drying on the floor of my sanctuary/studio.)

Last spring Evelyn Kochansky died just days shy of her 105th birthday.  Evelyn was a lifelong democrat, born the year women got the right to vote, and never missed casting a ballot.  Her daughter Ellen Kochansky gave her mother's very full drawer of gloves to me. I used almost all of them for this installation called Show of Hands.  Each one was gelled onto an 8" x 10" piece of mat board with a little sign urging people to vote.  The other side was a copy of my Gelli plate printed hand print.  American Girl pant/skirt hangers were used on the top.  (I originally bought the hangers for my 40th wedding anniversary show!  They were how I mounted the selfies I took in all forty collected wedding gowns!)  It didn't take much time to make sixty units.

 (Above:  Me installing Show of Hands at Stormwater Studios.)

It took several hours to install them in the same hallway that Reasons for Tears once hung! I'm very pleased with this work and hope that people seeing it will remember that the midterm elections are very, very important!  Below are additional photos of the installation.  CLICK HERE for a short video.

  

Mandala CCLXXI, The Girl Scouts

(Above:  Mandala CCLXXI, The Girl Scouts.  Custom framed: 32" x 32".  Assorted Girl Scouts of South Carolina Mountains to Midlands patches and part of a custom tote hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

 It was my privilege to create this mandala for the Girl Scouts of South Carolina Mountains to Midlands from a collection of patches dating from the last decade.  Each patch was stitched in place by hand despite the fact that every one of them had heat-activated adhesive on the back.  That "glue" provided an easy way to attach the patches by ironing them to another surface (like a Girl Scout sash or another accessory or garment).  Basically, today's Girl Scouts really don't have to thread a needle to get their badges and patches in place.

 

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CCLXXI, Girl Scouts.)

That wasn't how badges were when I was a scout ... and I went from Brownies to Juniors to Seniors ... not quitting until I went to college and had no additional time to participate.  (At one point, I was even an Explorer which was a coed part of the Boy Scouts).  Back then, badges and patches had to be sewn in place.  So despite the gooey underside, I knew exactly what had to be done to make these patches permanent.  (Iron-on adhesive isn't quite as permanent as the manufacturers suggest.  I couldn't risk these from being "picked off" while on display!)

 

(Above:  Detail of Mandala CCLXXI, The Girl Scouts.)

The first thing I did was to sort through a box of patches to find which ones would work for concentric circles around the center.  The center was cut from a Girl Scout tote bag.  After designing the rings of patches, I tackled the corners.  Finally, the little ones (especially those that had no other patch like it) were placed around the edge.  Then, the the stitching started.  All the small ones have an average of a dozen stitches.  Some of the larger ones needed as many as forty. It took days and days to stitch everything down but it was worth it!  The finished mandala looks terrific!

 

(Above:  Mandala CCLXXI, The Girl Scouts as seen from an angle.)

This piece will be delivered to its permanent home next Tuesday!  I can't wait!

Tidal Wave IX

 

(Above:  Tidal Wave IX.  Custom framed: 27 3/8" x 27 3/8".  Found objects and buttons hand-stitched to a vintage quilt.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

After stitching Tidal Wave VIII, I still had quite a stash of random things leftover.  It looked like there was more than enough for another Tidal Wave.  The only way to know "for sure" was to prepare another surface and stitch layered buttons in a tidal wave outline.

 

(Above:  Detail of Tidal Wave IX.)

Sure enough, the wave was covered and the stitching began.  For this piece, I used a totally different substrata.  It was just a hexie quilt top ... never actually "quilted".  I layered it on top of another old quilt.  That quilt was "vintage" only if you think the 1980s qualifies as "vintage".  It was also tattered and rather ugly.  I would never have used it alone for a Found Object Mandala or a Tidal Wave.  Using it under the pretty quilt top, however, gave it a "second life" while preventing me from using brand new batting and backing.  Win-win!

 

(Above:  Detail of Tidal Wave IX.)

Because I position a piece of sheer netting over the surface before stitching down any of the objects, it becomes important to "quilt" the areas without objects.  (The netting protects any threadbare areas and the fragile old seams.)  The quilting integrates the netting with the quilt top.  Lots of people are surprised that there is this extra layer because ... once quilted together ... it is barely visible.  For this piece, I simply stitched a six pointed star into the center of every hexie.  It looks great!

 

(Above:  Tidal Wave IX at an angle.)

I am now snapping photos after hanging each piece on a screw that Steve installed on the side of our home/church/studio.  This wall is north facing and never gets direct sunlight.  Yet it is also beside a very wide open yard.  There are no structures or trees casting shadows.  The indirect light is nice, even, and bright.  My only recent problems were ice and snow!  Two weekends ago, the sidewalk directly under this piece was covered in three-quarters of an inch of hard, slippery ice.  The following weekend, we got almost four full inches of snow!  It's still cold outside but the pavement is finally free of ice and snow.  The pictures turned out well!

Tidal Wave VIII

 

(Above:  Tidal Wave VIII.  Custom framed:  31 3/4" x 31 3/4".  Found objects and buttons hand-stitched to a section of a vintage quilt.)

Tidal waves have been on my mind.  Part of the reason is the fact that my stash of found objects was simply overwhelmed with things that just won't work on a Found Object Mandala.  I need multiples.  Lately, I've been inundated with random things that are simply too cool, too colorful, too unique, and too full of potential to throw away.  All these things work well on a tidal wave!

(Above:  Detail of Tidal Wave VIII.)

Take for instance, the little baseball figures.  I had five sets of them but only used four on Mandala CCXXXV.  The others went into the pile for this tidal wave.  While in Montana for my October art residency, a nice lady donated the plastic ring toss game to me ... but the different sizes and colors just didn't lend themselves to a mandala; they went into the pile for this tidal wave.  People have given my pocket watches and cocktail swizzlers and all sorts of wonderfully strange things that all went into the pile for this tidal wave!

 

(Above: Detail of Tidal Wave VIII.)

In the tub of rubber duckies that Steve bought while I was in Montana were several "non-duckies" ... like the mermaid figure and the plastic frog.  How could I toss them?  I was also given a small Ziploc bag with Girl Scout badges and pins.  Most went into a small mandala that was donated to SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) for their annual benefit auction, but I still had the Brownie patch and the green-and-yellow wings for a junior scout.  As a former Girl Scout, I couldn't throw them away!  Of course they found places to go on this tidal wave!  

 

(Above:  Tidal Wave VIII as seen from at an angle ... literally hanging on a screw Steve installed on the side of our home/church/studio!)

The scouting ephemera now seems almost prophetic!  I just got a commission from the Girl Scouts of South Carolina Mountains to Midlands for a unique mandala stitched using lots of patches!  I'll blog it once it is finished!