Posts made in July, 2007
Niki in the Garden
Occasionally a show comes along that so exciting and full of life, color and joy that it’s difficult to fit it into a simple blog post. This is true of Niki in the Garden at Chicago’s Garfield Park Conservatory. Over 30 larger-than-life sculptures by Niki de Saint Phalle are installed in the already wonderful greenhouses and gardens of the park. Besides designing sculpture parks and...
Read MoreLurie Garden
In the middle of Millennium Park is the Lurie Garden. Wandering through the shoulder-tall flowers, I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite Talking Heads song called (Nothing but) Flowers. “This was a shopping mall, now it’s all covered with flowers…” Now that I re-read the lyrics, could be great topic for a quilt. After all it’s got Adam and Eve in...
Read MoreMillenium Park
It was worth the trip to Chicago just to experience Crown Fountain at Millenium Park. Designed by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, the 50-foot tall glass block towers are lit with the faces of city residents and reflected in a shallow pool of water below. At times the faces spout fountains of water out of their mouths, which is what feeds the water below. Further up is the Cloud Gate, a 110-ton...
Read MoreIQA Journal Interview
An interview that I did for the summer issue of the IQA Journal has just been released. You can read it on line at the Quilts Inc. website here. I worked on answering these questions last May when I was doing a lot of traveling on airplanes, because that’s a great place to get work done that you’re avoiding — there’s no...
Read MoreCharlie’s Studio
Somehow I walked out of Charlie Van Gilder’s studio (which used to be a bowling alley- how great is that?) without any really good photos of his finished art. But I love this layout of clay pieces waiting to be fired in the kiln, especially the little dog rolling on his back. Charlie has such a playful imagination that he can work in clay, wood, stone, just about anything, combining the...
Read MoreWood Street Gallery
While in Chicago, we had some time to visit our friends Mary and Charlie at the Wood Street Gallery. It’s a beautiful old house that once had three bars and a bowling alley in it, until Mary enlightened its interiors and garden with her unique artistic expression. The gallery is now open only for private events, and houses mainly Mary and Charlie’s art and studios. Most interesting I...
Read MoreFeng Shui for Artists
Although I don’t know that much about feng shui, I have learned this — face my desk towards a wall and I don’t get anything done. Why? Probably because I don’t even want to sit at it. It always seems to make sense to put a desk up against a wall to efficiently use space, but when my sewing desk faced a wall, I never made anything. When I turned it outwards towards the...
Read MoreFear not Creativity
Christine commented on my last post, “I am currently avoiding creativity for fear of failure,” and I felt I had to respond. I believe creativity is like the old saying, One percent inspiration and Ninty-Nine percent perspiration. And I can say this with authority because I’ve been doing a lot of perspiring in the studio today, wrestling with bundles of fabrics and hot irons ...
Read MoreWelcome to my art adventure blog!
I'm an artist who makes humorous quilts and drawings and shares a studio in an old peanut butter factory with my husband who is also an artist and sculptor. You can also see more of my art at PamRuBert.com
