Austin Fiber Artists Show and Sale at the Wesley Gallery

The Austin Fiber Artists will be celebrating their 3rd Annual Show and Sale at The Wesley Gallery. Opening night reception will be held on Friday, June 25 from 6-9 p.m. The show will continue through Sunday, June 27, 2010. Please stop by and bring a friend. We would love to see you. My entries for the show include Emerald Treasures and Generation Y: Song of Hope along with many other wonderful pieces of art that will be available for sale. Please visit http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=131460140214970 to find out more about this event.

Rainbow Pixel Project

Rainbow Pixel Project measures
60.5" x 39" and is a group collaboration with Kathy York, Leslie Jenison, Connie Hudson, Sherri Mc Cauley, Frances Holliday Alford and Barb Forrister. It was Kathy's idea to come up with 2 inch blocks that were all different in appearance and spanned the whole spectrum of the rainbow, ROYGBIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet). Each block was to be viewed as an individual work of art. Each week we met to show our latest creations. This was an absolutely fantastic way of experimenting with new ideas and mediums. The sky was the limit when it came to types of materials used and techniques incorporated. This quilt consists of cottons, sheers, velvets, ribbons, stitched and painted, needle felted, embroidered, appliqued, heat distressed, hand dyed, foiled, batiqued. You name it. It is probably represented here. I am not sure how many blocks were finally used in this piece but I think the count was approximately 700 2 inch squares. This piece came together so quickly, it was amazing. The first day we met to actually start designing it, about a third of the quilt was pieced together immediately. The last picture shows the back of the quilt before overlaying organza. Kathy did a marvelous job with the photography and it is a show stopper for sure!

Coloring Outside the Blocks: Artists Do Lunch

Artists Do Lunch measures 77.5" x 51" and is a group collaboration with Leslie Jenison, Frances Holliday Alford, Kathy York, Connie Hudson, Sherri Mc Caulley and Barb Forrister. Frances set the plan in motion. We began with a muslin tablecloth which was spread on the table during our Art Bee meetings. We took turns rotating the tablecloth such that everyone had a chance at some point to work on all parts of it. Once the cloth was almost completely painted, it was divided into 6 equal portions. Each of us went home with a piece which we were to further embellish and quilt. We were also supposed to incorporate black and white somehow in our individual pieces to unify them altogether. Additionally, we were to create a symbol that was unique to each one of us and stamp it in various places of our individual piece. My symbol was a leaf which can be seen on two of the headresses with single eyes. I am still uncertain as to how the eyes managed to work their way into the pieces but they certainly have a presence. It reminds me of the saying in Avatar, "I see you." Funny, how we seem to have an influence on one another even when we are in different places. Frances is in Vermont and Leslie is in San Antonio and still the eyes are present in both their pieces. Kind of uncanny! Once the individual pieces were finished, we met again and cut them in half to reassemble them into the final design. We decided a black and white patterned border would further strengthen and enhance the design elements. This piece was alot of fun to make and somehow symbolizes the bonds that we have all forged and the good times we had visiting with one another. It is here where many voices come together as one.