Bessie's Quilt and trip to Craftform 2007

I planned to post a picture today, one of Bessie's Quilt. But, yesterday I had to go to Charleston. I still have one very important framing client there. He's a very important business man, a golf course & clubhouse and real estate developer who has trusted me to do my best work. He's the type of man that requires/demands speed and excellence...and expects to pay for it...always within days of the invoice. I've never pushed myself harder than to please him. For him, I've framed the River Course Club House, the Cassique Club House, three different personal houses, four sales centers on Kiawah Island, the sales center at Doonbeg in Ireland, most of the Doonbeg Club house, his suite at Doonbeg, his office, and the upper school building at the private school attended by his four children. Everything was the "best" money and my talents could provide. It is my honor to work for him. I've also framed and cataloged his entire art collection...all original...valued well over 1.2 million. Yesterday, he needed me to pick up a painting he'd commissioned. I had to rent a truck. It is 6' x 8'. Needless to say, it took all day to drive there, collect the painting, discuss the framing, and drive back home. I will likely write about this experience later...it was unique...a visit to an aging but legendary painter...a glimpse into a studio the likes of which were amazing...the air was full of intrigue, greed, and also touching patience. I got dozens of photos but they're still on my camera.

With all this going on, I still finished Bessie's Quilt in my studio later in the evening. Personally, I've been absorbed with this project....so absorbed that I haven't even mentioned it until now. I only started on Saturday. I don't know why I decided it was time to do this project...it just was time. The vision came to me when I visited the Pickens County Museum, the site for my solo exhibition this coming summer. I knew I wanted a quilt with Bessie Smith on it. I knew how it was suppose to look...a rare thing for me. Honestly, I didn't think I could do it. I almost forgot about it. Then, I read my notes...from the notebook I keep in my purse...which I posted on my blog.

It was time to try a xylene transfer and use the strips of vintage, quilted fabric, and make Bessie's Quilt. I spent every available moment on this...loving each little stitch (yes, it's hand stitched), every single button, all the fabrics, and I even listened to the CD I have of Bessie singing the Blues. It is finished now. I'm thrilled with it and wanted nothing more than to photograph it today to post here.

It's Christmas time, however; and even down-sized, Christmas is more than a little hectic here at Mouse House. A designer dropped off over forty big pictures...all for "stock"...I'm to frame them beautifully...that's the only way I accept framing. I get to select everything...without input from the client. Yes, this is more than a bit arrogant; but, I use to have fourteen people on payroll. I couldn't stand it any longer and forcibly downsized. Now, it's just Steve and I. So, we can be quite selective when it comes to clients. This was work we would happily take in and frame before Christmas...so I couldn't photograph the quilt today.

Tomorrow, Steve and I leave at the "crack of dawn" in order to get to the Wayne Art Center outside Philadelphia for the Craftform 2007 reception. Honestly, I'm a bit nervous...just to be in such a talented group. Part of me is wondering why I got in. Part of me is wondering why I can be so secure about the framing I don't really want to do...but require the income...yet can't manage the smallest degree of self confidence about my artwork. I'll wonder about it in the car. It's almost 7 PM and I haven't started packing.

When I get back, I'll post all the things I've been thinking about:
1) How my catalog and paperwork is organized
2) Manning Williams' studio in Charleston
3) The Craftform 2007 reception and show
4) The Hopper and Turner and Rauschenburg exhibits in DC that we'll see on Saturday
5) Whatever I stitch in the car
and
6) The photographs I still have to take of Bessie's Quilt

Elements in Blue, Alpha and Omega

This is Elements in Blue, Alpha and Omega. It is 9 3/4" x 8"! Wow! I finally remembered to include the size.

Believe it or not, each piece I finish is entered into a catalog, given an inventory number, priced, and includes a brief description of the materials and/or technique(s) as well as the size, unframed and framed (if applicable...and these are all 17 3/4" x 15 3/4" with the framing! If and when the piece is sold, the new owners name and contact information is listed too.

Why I haven't included the size when posting images in the past is a mystery. I've written comments on other blog stating how much I appreciate photos that include something for scale, a quarter or a background on a stone path. I hereby resolve to include measurements on all further posts!

By the way, thanks for all the nice comments about my recently finished books. Comments mean the world to me!

The Good Girl

Quite some time ago I saved the cover of this Godey's Ladies Book from 1864 and gathered all sorts of clippings; but I didn't actually start the project until earlier this week. I hadn't quite figured out how the pages were going to stay in the frame work I'd made. Then, while stitching on the Mask Book, it came to me. Everything else just fell into place. This altered book is now titled The Good Girl.





There are twelve individual pages with collages on both sides. The images are from the original 1864 book, several late 1890s books, a 1919 newspaper, a couple early embroidery transfer patterns, World Book Encyclopedia Year Books from the late 1960s and early 70s, and several issues of London Illustrated News from the 50s and 60s. I stitched on each page are various times...sometimes free motion and sometimes a pattern. Collecting the adages and rules of etiquette was a blast.













(PS...I've been receiving several readers from a "closed" blog called Expressive Books...if anyone can let me know what's been said, I'd appreciate it....hoping it is positive!)

Elements in Blue, Savior

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I spent a glorious day in my studio...totally alone and very productively working on a project I'd set aside months ago. I thought I'd be working on a new altered book...instead I'm finishing an old altered book. With any luck, it will be completed during another glorious day...all day...in my studio, tomorrow!

In the meantime, Elements in Blue: Saviour got done. It is headed, along with the rest of the series to my solo show in the Pickens Museum this summer.

Book of Masks

Tags, postcards, ATCs, "inchies", journal quilts, challenges, on-line tutorials, Esty, distant learning programs, swaps of any kind, and fabric books are some of the many, mysterious but utterly fascinating things to which I've been exposed through blogging. Most are very, very tempting. I've tried rusting material and even written a tutorial. I've finally put some of this newfound knowledge to use. I made a fabric book....and thanks to those of you who offered suggestions and lead me to further investigations!

Mostly, Doreen G's formerly lost fabric that turned into two beautiful postcard inspired me...plus all the snippets of embellished fabric leftover after cutting up backgrounds to make Christmas ornaments. It all seemed a shame to waste. Doreen stitched strips of material to a background and created a beautiful, colorful whole...so I followed her lead. I went on and embellished it from both sides and decided it was a book cover.


At first, I made paper pages using the leftover text. It isn't any ordinary text. It had been the printed pages of a 1957 French publication featuring chromolithographs after the earlier sugar-lift aquatints by Picasso...all to illustrate a modern look at the mid-18th c. naturalist, Georges Buffon. A framing client/book dealer had me dismantle the volume and mat and shrink wrap the images for resale. He said I could keep the rest...the few pages of text...enlarged reproductions of Picasso's handwriting with a few linear drawings. I knew I would use this "paper" one day. (By the way, this dealer is also an art client...he and his wife own one of the large African series pieces, Warrior.)

Something was wrong. The pages just weren't "right" for the cover. The cover was colorful, textural, and needed something more "straight forward". I set these aside and am now making another book, Buffon, Picasso, and Me. (Images will come later!)

I don't know why I remembered the masks I had transfered onto muslin and the stiff, heavy "stuff" I bought. I think the "stiff" material might be a type of Lutradur. I'm not really sure. I bought it at Hancock Fabrics...I think. Of course I didn't make a note of it. I painted it with silk paints and embellished it with a fine layer of wool rovings.

WonderUnder (Bond-a-Web) was ironed to the reverse of each mask but I stitched around each one too. I thought I was done, but something was missing. It was a pretty little picture book without any words or reason. Since I've done so many other African inspired work, I have a file of research....including the names of some tribal masks (most are simply called by the tribe had created it but others are named for mythological beings.)

It took all day on Saturday to stitch the names on the pages...burying the stitch within the thickness of the page...never going all the way through. Now, it's done. Thanks Doreen for the inspiration...the start of my first fabric book. Again, thanks to everyone else who offered much needed advice!

Festival of the Trees 2007

(Additional photos on my Family Blog.)

(Above: Alex and his girlfriend Erica at Festival of the Trees, an annual charity event benefiting Children's Hospital.)


(Above: The event is spread throughout the spacious lobby, atrium, and ballrooms at the South Carolina State Museum...so above is a bar under a Fiberglas replica of a pre-historic giant white shark.)

Alex and I have been donating to the annual Children's Hospital charity event, Festival of the Trees, for six or more years. It is very special because Mathias had skull surgery when he was only six months old at Children's Hospital. He was released on Christmas Day. At the time, there were only four beds in ICU. Now there are 18. The event raised over $216,000 last year...plus, the gala is WONDERFUL...black tie (expect for handsome teenagers!). St. Joseph's choir serenades guests into the event. There a mimes, harpist, two bands, excellent food and drinks, photo ops with Santa Claus, and plenty of wreathes and trees available by silent auction. The evening truly ushers in Christmas for us.



By the end of the gala, my tree had a $250 bid...not bad. I valued it at $400...which is one of the least expensive ones in the event. Yet, I don't go out and solicit businesses for hundreds of dollars of gift certificates. I had 40 fiber ornaments valued at $10 each. The bidding actually stops on Sunday at 4 PM. People attending the gala can "guarantee" their bid at 75% (or thereabout) of the value. So, someone had to bid at least $300 at the gala in order purchase my tree/end the bidding/prevent the bidding from going until Sunday. Alex's tabletop had a "gala take-home" price of $110. It sold that night for $130. Steve returned to the museum on Sunday to check the prices. Unfortunately, whoever bid that night had withdrawn their bid. My poor tree only had $100 on it. Steve bought back the tree for $125. Shadow, our cat, is thrilled to have it back in our living room. I'll likely sell the ornaments at the Artisan Center or maybe trade them with people who understand the value of something that isn't "made in China" and bought in Atlanta at the wholesale Merchandise Center. I can reuse the tree and some of the ornaments again next year. (I've got a new idea already...lots of tulle and pointe shoes...a very "ballet" themed tree.) Don't get me wrong. I'm not the least bit disappointed. There were over 250 items available. It is a very good cause, a fabulous evening, and a tax deduction!




(Above: Ten Thousand Villages is a fair trade chain with a retail outlet here in Columbia. They donated a unique tree made of baskets each year...accompanied by dozens of gift certificates for additional purchases.)


(Above: A row of "table top" decorations...Alex's Blues piece is just visible.)

(Above: The strangest theme...Pirates of the Caribbean Christmas tree!)

Thinking Positive

Sharing good news on my blog is a wonderful thing. There is always such nice, supportive feedback. Thanks to everyone who has sent congratulations for my recent successes. At the same time, I don't want to give the impression that "everything" goes well all of the time. It doesn't. In fact, in real life, I tend to focus on the negative and discount the positive. This is an attitude I'm trying to address.

I've returned to writing Morning Pages...from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. I went through this process during the summer of 2005. It changed my life, let me believe in myself and taught me to say, "I'm an artist". So, I recently picked up the book and serendipitously turned to a chapter on dealing with criticism. This happened within a week of finding a blog post about my solo show at Francis Marion, one in which the author suggested I was bored with my own work. While I acknowledged her many compliments, I fixated on the one, inaccurate offending sentence. This is not how I want to react in the future. This is not how I want to accept the negative...especially when it is covered in so much goodness.

So....
I wasn't accepted into Center of the Earth Gallery...

But....
The email came very quickly after mailing the material! I've applied to only two other galleries. The first application was months ago and I didn't even get a message that the materials were received...not a word. The email message was very complimentary and suggested galleries in the Charlotte area that might be interested.

I think I'll focus on the positive. There's been so much of it lately that it would be a shame not to enjoy it; and, I think I'll follow up with the new lead!

Materials: Hard and Soft

Strata XI was accepted into Materials: Hard and Soft, a national juried fine craft exhibition to be held in Denton, Texas. In past years I was rejected. I kept trying though because the juror(s) are different every year and are always top-notch...and they print a catalog! Hurrah!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

THE FOLLOWING POST IS A SUMMARY OF THE MORE DETAILED POSTS WITH ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS FOUND ON MY FAMILY BLOG. I HOPE PEOPLE CLICK HERE TO ENJOY THEM!


My friend and fellow artist Ellen Yaghjian took this photo of me last Friday night in my studio. I was all dressed up in order to attend the first anniversary party at if ART Gallery but I was getting a little work done first...wrapping rusted nails with variegated yarns and tagging keys. Ellen insisted on taking the picture; she said the view captured me perfectly!


This next morning I headed to St. Helena's Island, a sea island near Beaufort, South Carolina...in the southern part of our state. I had been accepted into a juried art show that was part of the 25th Heritage Celebration, an event focusing on Gullah and Geechee culture. There were three categories: 2D (painting, pastels, drawings, etc.); 3D (sculpture); and mixed media (basicall anything else). I won the first prize in mixed media for Black God XXIII.


There's only one road to St. Helena's and it was closed from 9 - 10 AM for the Heritage Day parade. I had to park about a mile away and hike in...but my parking place was beside Ease Chapel, a structure built in the 17th c. that burnt down in the late 19th c. and is simply preserved as a ruin of oyster shell stucco surrounded by Spanish moss covered live oaks and magnolia trees.



Today Alex and I set up both my tree and his table top decoration at the annual Festival of the Trees, a charity event that raises over $200,000 for the local Children's Hospital. (My elder son, Mathias, had skull surgery at Children's Hospital at six months of age and was released from their care on his first Christmas Day.) There is a black tie gala on Friday night...the night after a major downtown art event called Vista Lights. For Vista Lights, all the galleries and studios throw parties and art openings...including the artist cooperative in which my studio is located. I'm fairly ready for this. Today, we got ready for the gala. Both our donations centered around my Blues Chapel art installation about early, female Blues singers.


The other, major event in our lives is NUTCRACKER. Alex has been part of the local, civic company for seven years. He doesn't even dance...but he's in the opening party scene wearing a tuxedo and waltzing, a rat, and Mother Ginger. He helps move sets, props, costumes, and "stuff" into the theater next weekend. He helps with the "little boys" and he spent the rest of the afternoon rehearsing.

This last picture is of internationally renowned artist Jonathan Green, the keynote speaker at the 25th Heritage Day Celebration juried art show. He signed autographs for over an hour...on his calendars, posters, Gullah Images book, and just about everything else.

Key to Success

The Key to Success!
This piece is 5" x 4", including the box like frame. It is a scrap of embroidery coated with house paint, bleach, and sepia ink onto which a handmade tag, key, and stitching was added. This was stitched to an embellished background, wool rovings worked into wool from the reverse. The plexi is held in place by gild headed brads. The back includes a recessed collage.
Sucess!

Key to Happiness

(Above: The Key to Happiness, front)


(Above: The Key to Happiness, back)

About seven years ago I decided to "become" an artist, specifically, a fiber artist...a creative embroiderer. I had no education, no experience, and had produced no art. I was, however, a picture framer. I framed for lots of artists, went to lots of art openings, and was familiar with some of the "professional" aspects of being an artist. Thus, no matter how ridiculous it seemed for me to embark upon a career without any background in the field, I did have some significant advantages...like a business license, a retail license, wholesale framing, a strong work ethic, a mailing list, etc. I didn't have a resume....just my name, address, and telephone information. This had to change.

I started entering juried exhibitions. The first one I ever tried was the annual miniature show at the Florence Museum in Florence, South Carolina. Only my husband knew I was doing this. It was scary and exciting...potentially embarrassing. I got in! I was awarded an honorable mention! I had my first line on my resume. I've always loved this show as a result.

Now, I rarely create art for a specific opportunity...instead, I look for juried shows into which I might submit my art. Yet, there are always exceptions....like the Florence miniature show. The maximum size is 5" x 4". The framing can be larger....but this year, my framing is part of the art....so The Key to Happiness is 5" x 4" overall.

I'm working on The Key to Success, but I cracked the plexi when installing one of the gilt headed brads....not quite "success" yet! The best part of this is, however, the fact that I've used scraps from my "month of backgrounds" with a concept (Key to....) that I plan to continue with! The background is a piece of fabric/paper...made according to Nikki's tutorial. The fabric is a piece of vintage Chinese silk embellished onto acrylic, craft felt and then burnt (with a few hand stitches worked with a single thread...obviously, I've gone nuts!) The back is a collage that is recessed so that the required "wire" will still allow the small work to hang flat against the wall. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll have "Success".

Elements in Blue, The Dove

I've posted several entries about other art and artists; but, I was working too! In fact, I finished Elements in Blue, The Dove. I also transferred new designs for several more pieces in this series....all to head to Pickens for next summer's solo show.

Center of the Earth Gallery in Charlotte, NC

(Above Kathleen Holmes' Landfall West)

Last Thursday night Bus Stop, a converted house that hosts seasonal art exhibits, had a reception. I popped in for a few minutes, chatted with a few artists, and met Sharon Dowell. She's a very talented painter. Her architectural images are created in unique layers and are very, very good. She is also the assistant director of Center of the Earth Gallery in Charlotte. She described the location as an "urban paradise": a converted main street of a former mill village, a once abandoned furniture store housing three galleries, a historic arts district with a bohemian touch. I had to go.

Steve and I went after visiting the Craft Council show. It was everything Sharon had described and more. I loved the the feel of the place, the lighting, the high ceilings, the way in which older beams met new construction, and how carefully the floor incorporated poured concrete around existing tile. The art on the walls was equally wonderful. The atmosphere was professional but laid back, friendly without being intrusive.

There were no fiber artists represented, but Kathleen Holmes does incorporate vintage crochet into her paintings in a most unique manner. I doubt if I'll be accepted, but I'm going to try. The gallery receives submissions for representation during the months of October and NOVEMBER! I'm sending my package today!