Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Heart of Gold

(Above:  Heart of Gold, Digital image on fabric with free-motion machine embroidery, dense hand stitching, beading, and trapunto.  Framed: 29" x 20"; unframed: 22" x 13".  Inventory #4644. $250 framed.  Click on any image to enlarge.)

Heart of Gold is the last piece to be entered into my inventory book in 2019, a year during which I listed 248 pieces.  Sure, forty-six of those were altered cigar boxes made during an art residency with the Osage Art Community in Belle, Missouri.  These were all made at the same time and it seems to skew the final number ... but absolutely none of the dozens of fiber vessels I stitched in 2019 were listed at all.  No matter how I look at it, 2019 was a good year.


(Above:  Heart of Gold, detail.)

2020, however, has every possibility of being even better!  I'm already hard at work on a major piece.  (It has no title yet.  My husband Steve and I current refer to it as "the crazy quilt" because  I am altering an antique one.  It was among four other old quilts purchased at auction for just $20.) 

Beyond this totally absorbing project, 2020 brings about an acceptance into Art Quilt Elements, a solo show at the Monsanto Gallery on the Lander University campus, The Feminine To Do List traveling to two difference museums, three works in SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) global exhibits, Lucy Stone's inclusion in Deeds Not Words (another, prestigious traveling show), and Equality: We Had a Dream touring with A Better World (yet another traveling show).  The Red Carpet Dress will be part of Castaways, an international show bringing awareness to environmental issues.  Plus, there's a show in Carrollton, Georgia, a couple of scheduled workshops and lectures ... but ... also a one-month art residency in Enos Park, a neighborhood in Springfield, Illinois.  

(Above:  Heart of Gold, detail.)

While many other artists might be most excited by the invitational exhibits, I'm different.  I'm more excited about spending four weeks focusing on a new project, an artistic clothesline.  That's my art residency project for the Enos Park Residency.  Naturally, I'll be blogging about the experience.  I can't wait.  I'm leaving in THREE WEEKS!  The dates of this opportunity are January 17th through Valentine's Day.   

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