Annamaria, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt....and a computer crash!

(Above: Annamaria, A Grave Rubbing Art Quilt. Crayon on silk rubbing, vintage linens, buttons, hand and free-motion machine embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)

There was a horrible sound....like something small and metallic flying into a spinning fan. It was followed by the unmistakable smell of an electrical fire. The computer is now dead....well....not everything. The key board, printer, monitor, and the exterior box are fine. The "mother board" (whatever that is) and the "hard drive", however, were fried. Fortunately, we backed up just about everything a week ago. We've lived through a catastrophic computer failure before. We'll live through this one too. Besides, we have an older model upstairs and I have my laptop.


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

In the meantime, I've finished Annamaria, a Grave Rubbing Art Quilt. It is the first time I've ever included the name and dates. It is also the first time the rubbing came from a relative's grave....well, not a "blood relative". Annamaria was my Aunt Margaret's sister. Aunt Margaret married my Dad's older brother, my Uncle Mathias....for whom my elder son is named. (They had no children.)


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

The grave is in the little town of Udvari, Hungary....a place I visited with my Mom, Dad, and sister Wanda this past summer. I'll post the photo of the grave and the porcelain photo that appears above the chiseled letters in a week or so....after the new computer is in place.


(Above: Annamaria, reverse. Click on image to enlarge.)

I remembered to take a photo of the reverse. Some of these vintage linen pieces were given to me by Connie Akers in Texas.

I also remembered to shot a photo of the last quilt's reverse:

(Above: Deep in Dust, reverse. Click on image to enlarge.)

I'm also finishing up a few new In Box Series pieces.....but forgot to snap a photo of the first one before it made it into the frame.....so.....


...here's In Box LXXVIII....leaning up against a magazine rack inside our front door...the door to our business, Mouse House!


(Above: In Box LXXIX. Click on image to enlarge.)

I've got one more to solder and melt....then I'll post it. Inside my studio, I've begun making large faux-stained glass pieces again. The "In Box" series and the faux stained glass all go to the Grovewood Gallery in Asheville where I'm lucky enough to be represented! They've just added a new page on their website announcing my work as a finalist in the NICHE Awards!

(Above: In Box LXXIX, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

Forgotten Links!

Sometimes when I sit down at my computer to blog, I forget half the things I wanted to post! In recent weeks, I've forgotten to include a few special links....

....like being featured on Dawn Goldsmith's amazing Subversive Stitchers: Women Armed with Needles blog in an article called "Good Advice from a Real Professional Artist". (Okay....I didn't exactly "forget" this! It just appeared over the weekend!) THANK YOU DAWN!

.....like an article that appeared in Grove City, PA's Allied News written by staff writer Katelyn Struthers entitled "Artist Makes Name Weaving Others' Stories". It's basically a "local girl makes good" sort of narrative about my solo show in Charleston. Okay....there's a few errors! I was not born in Slippery Rock, PA....but we moved there when I was entering the third grade and my parents and two sisters still live there. Also....my husband is not a "Lenz"....that's my maiden name! Otherwise, it is a charming story and I am happy that people in my parents' hometown can read about the art I've made!

.....like my Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Time Flies being included in the on-line SAQA exhibition called "Marking a Passage of Time". The show was curated by Alison Schwabe. The nice slide show of pieces is HERE. My piece (as a detail shot) can be viewed outside the rotating images HERE.

...like having CYBER FYBER, my studio, my art, etc. mentioned in a great blog post about Gallery 80808/Vista Studios' upcoming 20th anniversary show. CLICK HERE to access Tom Starland's article! THANK YOU TOM!

....like being named a 2011 Niche Award finalist in the category of decorative fibers. I'm still not sure what this means, but one of my pieces is supposed to be on display in a booth for the Niche Award finalists in conjunction with the Buyers Market of American Craft...in Philadelphia...with the "winners" announced on February 18th. The Grovewood Gallery just added a new page to its website for this news!

...like my Leaf Dress being featured as the Halloween post on the Haute Nature: Reuse, Reclaim, Reimagine blog.

THE INTERNET IS WONDERFUL!

First Thursday on Main Street and DEEP IN DUST, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt

(Above: Keys for the City, a storefront window installation. Click on image to enlarge.)

The rain held off enough for lots of people to enjoy the monthly "First Thursday on Main Street" art crawl....including the storefront window displays at the old Tapp's Department Store. There were fire twirling performers, a graffiti art exhibition (at Frame of Mind), some great politically inspired paintings (at Anastasia and Friends), and a well received one-night-only art sale with demonstrations (inside the Tapp's building). All the windows, which will be on 24/7 view through the end of the year, LOOKED GREAT!


(Above: View to Keys for the City from the sidewalk on Main Street during the "opening" celebration, November 4, 2010, a "First Thursday" art crawl. Click on image to enlarge.)

My corner window unit could have used more light but I wasn't willing to risk a citation from the fire marshal or tax the old wiring in the building by plugging in an extension cord and a bunch of clip-on lights! The darkness, however, surprisingly meant my photos were much, much better. Reflections were kept to a minimum! So....I've posted a bunch of photos further below. Generally, I don't post this many, but most of these keys were collected by my Dad. I want him to see how beautiful they were at the opening reception.


(Above: Deep in Dust, Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. 36 1/2" x 23 1/2". Crayon on silk grave rubbing, vintage linens and lace, hand and free motion machine embroidery. Click on image to enlarge.)

In the meantime, I've finished another piece in my Grave Rubbing Art Quilt Series. This is called Deep in Dust. The rubbing was made in the Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC. The actual tombstone was quite wide and the epitaph appeared in only four lines. Of course, I split each line into two when creating the rubbing. While stitching, I thought I'd somehow made a mistake.


(Above: Deep in Dust, detail. Click on image to enlarge.)

"Withering" isn't spelled "withring".


(Above: One of the photos of the tombstone from which the rubbing was made.)

I checked my photos though...and in 1802 someone chiseled it in without the "e". Since then, an apostrophe was drawn in its place...but not carved into the stone. Thus, there is no indentation. I left my quilt the way it originally appeared! I forgot to snap a photo of the quilt's reverse....I'll add it later!


(Above: Deep in Dust, detail, click on image to enlarge.)

And now....more photos from the "First Thursday on Main" monthly art crawl and my Keys for the City storefront window installation. Click on any image to enlarge!


Above: Keys for the City. The view from Main Street.


Above: People looking at the installation.


Above: The view from the side window facing Blanding Street.


Above: Detail of hanging keys and one of the doors.


Above: People enjoying the one-night-only sale and demonstrations inside the Tapp's Department Store.


Above: Fire twirling performers on Main Street.

Keys for the City, an Installation

(Above: Keys for the City, a store front window installation. Click on image to enlarge.)

The sculptural door units covered with framed and unframed keys came back from my exhibition in Charleston to the old Tapp's Department store display window. All the tagged keys from the same exhibition were also used....plus more than three times the number of tagged keys which I made last month. That's easily over 900 tagged keys....and, unbelievably, I could have used even more!

So....what have I been doing with all these keys? I've been reconfiguring the work into KEYS FOR THE CITY, an installation. This is all part of a major project to turn the former department store at the corner of Main and Blanding Streets into a new arts complex. The store has been closed for several years. This is a great initiative to revitalize the Columbia downtown area. I've included the "official" information from the organization's Facebook Page far below...just under the arts complex logo. To see more about this project, just CLICK HERE. Brenda Schwarz Miller is spearheading the entire thing and even took several of the photos on this blog post. She's doing a terrific job....and providing opportunities like this for lots of local artists, including me.

To start with.....

....this is the Tapp's Department store....corner of Blanding and Main in Columbia, SC.

Above is "my corner window". I hung some of my chiffon banners inside (also from my Charleston show). These are free motion embroidered with "decisions" and blocked people's view for the past three weeks and while I worked inside over the past weekend.

Above: Another photo of "my window" with the hanging chiffon banners. Click on any image to enlarge.

Over the weekend I started hanging over 300 tagged keys using #4 fishing mono-filament.

Above: Another photo of me hanging the keys. The window came with a great grid attached to the ceiling. I hung approximately eight keys from each "square" in the grid. It took over seven hours total.....

....but the look was exactly what I'd envisioned!

On Sunday night (Halloween), I finally took down the chiffon banners.....

....and swept the carpeting....

....and scattered/arranged the remaining tagged keys on the floor, near the window, where their tags can be easily read from outside.

Above is another local artist, Amanda Ladymon and her fiance Eric Stockard. Amanda also has a most interesting fiber sculpture in one of the other storefront windows. Eric (along with his father) is a co-owner of S and S art supply, which is located about a block away. We are all looking forward to the First Thursday art crawl, which is the official unveiling of the storefront window project at Tapp's. I'll hopefully have more photos.

Yet, the person I most wanted to see this installation was my Dad. Easily two quarters of the keys in this installation were collected by him over years and years. Yesterday, my Mom and Dad came through town on their return from a time-share in Hilton Head.

Above: My Dad's reflection in the window. He's looking at all the keys that once opened doors in his life. There's a lot to reflect upon.....all the keys are tagged....."Key to Happiness", "Key to Wisdom", "Key to Success"... or love or respect or knowledge or faith....etc. I hope people seeing the installation reflect on these qualities....for themselves and for the city and for the future of this arts venture.

Above: Main Street reflected into KEYS FOR THE CITY.

NOW .... To change the subject entirely .... to Halloween at the stroke of midnight ... just as All Saint's Day begins ... the exact hour between the "sacred and the profane" ... the perfect time to burn all the petitions that hundreds of people deposited into the provided Plexi-Glass box during the past two showings of Blues Chapel ... at the Denton Arts Council's Gough Gallery last November through January and at Gallery 80808/Vista Studios in February. (Links to each exhibition!) My Altar for Forgiveness encouraged people to write their petition and put it in the box. The sign promised that I would burn them at midnight on Halloween without reading a single word.

Thus....we put them all into the hallow tree stump that marks our "pet cemetery" in the backyard.

Steve (and his assistant Max, one of our three cats) lit the match.

Everything caught fire.

It all went up in smoke.

Finally, we worked for about fifteen minutes to extinguish all the embers by dousing the ground and stump in pond water. It was a lovely, lovely evening and a special way to remember my exhibitions during the past year. It was also a time to send our prayers up to heaven for the coming year.

Finally.....the logo for the Tapp's Center for the Arts and the information about this project!


Join us at Tapp’s to meet artists, view original artwork and enjoy live demonstrations and local music. This month The White Mule will be providing food and a cash bar! We are excited to join Frame of Mind, S&S Art Supply, Columbia Museum of Art and others in this rapidly growing, creativity-filled event series. Our first event at Tapp’s on October 7th was fantastic! We hope that was only the first of many artful events to come!...
This month we will “Reveal” the Window Installation Series! Local artists, art groups and businesses will use the Tapp’s windows to create a unique installation of their artwork. This month featured in the exterior windows are Susan Lenz, Amanda Ladymon, Molly Harrell, Mathew John, Amy Windland, Kimberly Bookman, Porter Dodd, Sandra Carr, Southern Pottery and Corley Mill Artists Group. And in the interior windows are Pat Stone, Jefferson Vimana, Alex Smith, Half Moon Pottery and Nancy Kauffman. The windows will remain on display for two months to promote the Tapp’s Window Installation Series and the participating artists.
Other exhibiting artists include: Whitney Lejeune, Jamie Blackburn, Ellin Baskin, Charlotte Lindsey Gaskins, Carolyn McLaughlin, Jean Bourque, Vanessa Bussey, JJ Casey, Cheryl Coble, Brenda Schwarz Miller, Sam Compton, Carol Anderson, Tam Hicks, Jennifer Ghelardini, Benira Sutphin, Val Zaba, Sue Shrader, Rachel Thomason, Howard Hunt, Carolyn Cobia, June Tucarella, Bryce Dixon and Rachelle Brundage.
Also, outside in the “Plein Air Studio” at Tapp’s Plaza get a live view of a clay sculpture demonstration by John Sharp ad a wood turning demonstration by Kirk Miller. Inside Carolyn McLaughlin will be demonstrating “gourd-burning”.
Music for November will be courtesy of Johnny Cromer.
For more information on this or future events at Tapp’s please contact Brenda Schwarz Miller at (803) 609-3479 or email brenda@realworldartisans.com. Become a Facebook fan of Tapp’s Arts Center Project!

Recent Trip to Plymouth, UK....with side trips too!

(Above: Jacqui Frost's embroidery from "Good Grief", an exhibition we saw in Exeter Cathedral. Click on any image in this post to enlarge.)

Last week Steve and I went to England. It was a fantastic trip filled with sight-seeing, artistic inspirations, and ballet! I leaked tears while nervously holding my breath while Mathias, our elder son, danced the role of Mercutio in Birmingham Royal Ballet's Romeo and Juliet. His emoting death scene took a full two and a half minutes. It was glorious. His girlfriend sparkled as one of Juliet's friends. The triple bill (which was earlier in the week) was also dazzling with fun (Balanchine's Slaughter on Tenth Avenue) and elegant (Concerto....with Mathias dancing one the lead for the first pas) and exhausting (Twyla Tharp's In the Upper Room to the Philip Glass commissioned score). Of course, there are no photos....it's against the rules and copyright laws....but boy do I wish I had some!

(Above: Embroidery by Jacqui Frost. Click on image to enlarge.)

I do, however, have hundreds of "vacation" picture. I've posted them on "My Family Blog" because this blog is really an artistic journal. Travel is inspiration....but....let's get "real"! If you'd like to look though:

Click HERE to see my post about Cardiff, Wales, including the gorgeous, Neo-Gothic castle interior

Click HERE to see my post about Plymouth, including my quest to find "The Plymouth Rock" (above)
Click HERE to see my post about Exeter
Click HERE to see my post about Buckland Abbey and Lydford

(Above: Another embroidery by Jacqui Frost. Click on image to enlarge.)

So.....I also have photos for use in further work. These are shots of cemetery angels, church angels, great epitaphs, and other images relating to my "Last Words" installation. But, I also have photos about some of the embroidery I found....and LOVED!


(Above: Click on sign to read about Jacqui Frost's exhibition.)

First is the incredible work of Jacqui Frost whose exhibition "Good Grief" appeared in Exeter Cathedral. It touched me; it touched others.


Everything was displayed on nice folding panels.


The delicately stitched handkerchiefs were laced onto narrow metal frames. These contemporary works carried a timeless message. Her website is also great.


(Above: Click on image to read more about Jacqui Frost's exhibition.)


(Above and below: More artwork by Jacqui Frost. Click on any image to enlarge.)


The other location in which I found great artwork was at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport. Concourse E is AWESOME....even though there are no title signs or information about the artists. (I even asked at the airport information desk located in this concourse. The person "helping" me looked stunned by the question....as if he was unaware that the building even had art. He said...."You could look it up on-line".) Any time in this airport would be best spent here....and, yes, the Internet has the information.

I, however, recognized the work of Amalia Amaki at once. Her solo show at the National Women in the Arts Museum in Washington, DC was accompanied by a small exhibit curated by the museum staff. This small exhibit featured female Blues singers and was the catalyst for my Blues Chapel. I loved Amaki's work from the moment I saw it. How could I not love it! The buttons, the ornamentation, the scene of nostalgia mixed with injustices.

Above and below: Work by Amalia Amaki at the Atlanta Airport. Click on any image to enlarge.

Above and below: Work by Amalia Amaki at the Atlanta Airport. Click on any image to enlarge.


I found a new artist to admire in Lillian Blade's Quilted Passages.


This giant Plexi-Glas box enclosed artwork is just outside the elevator on Concourse E at the Atlanta Airport.

(Above and below: Lillian Blade's Quilted Passages.

Above and below: Lillian Blade's Quilted Passages. Click on images to enlarge.


Of course, I've also been working on my own fibers....both during the trip and since returning home. New Grave Rubbing Art Quilts are almost ready for their "photo shots" and I'm also installing "Keys for the City" in the display window of the former Tapp's Department store on Main Street....unveiling next Thursday during the monthly "art crawl".