Posts made in September, 2007
Thread Experiments
This project had to be mostly done by Thursday night because we left Friday for a big family wedding weekend. My initial thought was to quilt lines that would echo the shapes of the sand dunes in the background, but I knew this would be difficult to do well. But then I thought of the mysteries of Egypt and hieroglyphs and developed a kind of personal symbolic language to cover the entire...
Read MoreWho’s that girl?
PaMdora, CleoPaMtra, or Nefertari? I’m having way to much fun with this quilt, considering I’m on deadline and have only be able to get into the studio a few hours each afternoon. The Egyptian head dress was hard to make, but still, too fun! Maybe it’s because I’ve always had a fascination for Egyptian art. Here’s the new food pyramid. And since I was concerned as...
Read MoreFood Pyramid Redux
Finally a pot I’ve had on the back burner all summer has started to boil. If you remember, I started another food-inspired project and then stalled out. I thought the problem was color and some of you tried to help me out with lots of comments, thank you very much, especially Del who sent me to photos like this for inspiration. So I struggled with color for a long while (that’s one...
Read MoreThe World of Robert E. Smith
Robert E. Smith, a self-taught outsider artist who has been featured in the Museum of American Folk Art, will be 80 next month. To put together this show at the MSU Art & Design Gallery that spans over thirty years of work, collectors loaned 140 of his paintings for the exhibition. It’s a rare opportunity to become immersed in the wacky and entertaining world of Robert E. One of the...
Read MoreSteven Holl’s Bloch Building
We’re just back from Kansas City and the new Bloch Building, the long-awaited addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Steven Holl is a genius! The addition was so much more wonderful than I expected. As this New York Times review reports, much of the enjoyment of the building comes from the changing light of the translucent building throughout the day, but most dramatic was the late...
Read MoreIcons and Culture
I want to enter a show that’s called Icons and Imagery because I think it’s a great idea for a theme. But the juror is German and the exhibition will be in England. So this gave me pause — the humor and play on words and images that is a big part of my art, would it translate? One of my quilts, Robbery at the Lingerie Boutique just returned from from a touring exhibition that...
Read MoreTaping for Quilting Arts TV
Here I am, a little surprised to be standing by the effervescent Patricia Bolton (Pokey) of Quilting Arts Magazine fame for taping of a guest artist segment for the new Quilting Arts TV that will soon air on PBS. I say surprised because it was a scary trip, through a massive three-hour the-sky-must-be-falling rainstorm that almost made us miss our plane. Luckily Russ took that race-car driving...
Read MoreUpside Down
When I was a kid, I used to practice reading books upside down even though the other kids in my fourth-grade class thought I was weird and made fun of me. You see, I had read somewhere that to be a spy, you needed to be able to read well upside down so you could covertly read papers on someone’s desk while you were sitting on the other side. Since I never got that spy job, I haven’t...
Read MoreToastmasters
Speaking of toast, that reminds me of a story about my niece. Once when she was little, her mother was happily serving dinner to the family. Her mom raised a glass and said, “Lily was such a good girl today, I’d like to make a toast.” Lily excitedly jumped out of her chair, raised her glass, and shouted, “and I’d like to make a...
Read MoreArt or Toast?
Doesn’t it get you down sometimes — bills, phone calls, business, legal mumbo-jumbo, everyday get-under-your-skin, little pesky stuff? I’m about ready to punt the business of art, and just make some ART! or toast, whatever comes first. Can’t help myself, but everytime I finally get a drawing ready and it starts to come out of the printer, I get a thrill seeing it big for...
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