ThreadLines 2008 deadline approaches

June 5, 2008

It’s fun to get snail mail these days when most everything comes by email. The best part is looking at all the beautiful stamps and interesting postmarks.

The entries are starting pile up for the ThreadLines 2008 exhibition. Tomorrow should be another heavy day for the mailman, since it’s the final deadline. I told him not to worry, next week should be much lighter. He said he still likes our building best, because it has a friendly dog.

Do you recognize your stamps?

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What did I say at the Lux?

April 9, 2008

Can’t remember really. Something about how I used to draw and do digital art, but missed the joy and funkiness of the handcrafted object, and so began to combine my drawing with making quilts. Also, how I was inspired by the mis-matched patterns of old-time patchwork quilts, and tried to preserve that kind of spontaneity and humor in my own work.

And since I was standing in front of this quilt, (thanks for this photo Robert Duncan:) I used it to explain how I enjoy putting memories of objects and people I love into my work. For instance, on long road trips I often eat those little white powdered donuts you buy at the gas station. So when I made this quilt, I was thinking about how the aliens had been on a really long road trip to get to Earth, and gave them some white donuts and Tang for the trip.

Photo of the opening by Lisa Call who gave a good talk (read her funny version of her road trip with sharks) about her own work Fencing In or Keeping Out and since she was curator for the show, about the other artists — Deidre Adams, Joanie San Chirico, and Jeanne Williamson. The Lux is a great art center with 20 year history, and the show looked great. Here’s a photo gallery of the whole show on Flickr.

Filed Under exhibitions, other artists, quilts | 6 Comments

Distinctive Directions postcards

March 24, 2008

Postcards are going out for our Distinctive Directions show that opens at the Lux Center for the Arts on April 4. The cards look sharp — lucky we have Deidre Adams in our group to design them!

The DD show and Lisa Call’s solo show at the Lux open one week after the grand opening of the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, so if you wait until April, you can see Nancy Crow’s show and Quilts in Common at the IQSC and our shows at the Lux. A double dip trip!

Filed Under exhibitions, media | 5 Comments

Working in a Series with Distinctive Directions

January 26, 2008

I’m excited to be part of a small group of artists including Jeanne Williamson, Joanie San Chirico, and Deidre Adams who will be showing at the Lux Center for the Arts, in Lincoln, Nebraska, April 4-26, 2008. Lisa Call who is the curator for the show will also have a solo show at the Lux called “Fencing In or Keeping Out.”

Lisa has built a website for the group called Distinctive Directions, with an accompanying blog where each of us will be posting about our art. The first topic of conversation has been “working in series,” since that is the unifying thread between all our work.

I often learn things about myself when I’m asked by others to write about my work and inspiration, so I was glad for the poke. Here’s a quote, but for my full post about working in a series go here.

“For me, creating a series was never my intention. It was more that I was looking for a personal visual language to express my insecurity and anxiety about contemporary life, as seen through my oddly humor-tinted glasses.”

Filed Under Inspiration, exhibitions | 1 Comment

Solo Show at Driskill Gallery

January 20, 2008

Contemporary Art Quilts by Pam RuBert
January 22 - February 13, 2008
Driskill Gallery
Jester Learning and Performance Center
Southwest Baptist University, Bolivar, MO
Gallery hours: 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., M-F
Gallery Director: Dianna Callahan 417-328-1651

Although it was short notice, I was happy to be asked to do this one since I hope to have more solo shows in the future. It’s a beautiful gallery adjacent to the fine arts department and inside a performing arts center.

The gallery is sort of an L-shape configuration with glass walls on one side — allowing visitors to the performing arts center an almost full view of the artwork when the gallery is locked after hours.

Looking at Deidre Adams website yesterday made me realize that websites are wonderful for show for showing art, but seeing a photo of a real-life installation can re-frame how we perceive what we’re seeing in an internet gallery. Scroll down to the very bottom photo of this series to see one.

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Hanging a Solo Gallery Show

January 18, 2008

Last night as I was packing up quilts for my upcoming solo show at the Driskill Gallery, I was thinking one is easy to roll up and ship to a show, but sixteen is a lot to handle. Then I got to the gallery this morning, and I remembered why I started making art quilts in the first place. Not many other art forms can fill a whole gallery with just a couple of funny-looking burritos.

They look small in the gallery space, but wait — they are amazing exploding burritos! And out pop all the quilts, much to gallery director Dianna Callahan’s amusement…

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Announcing ThreadLines 2008 Call for Entries

January 11, 2008

Finally after months of work on this project, I’m pleased to announce that my local group Uncommon Threads has teamed up with Missouri State University Art & Design Gallery to organize ThreadLines 2008, an exhibition of contemporary art quilts.

Our juror will be Jason Pollen — artist, teacher, and president of the Surface Design Association. Entries will be digital, due June 6, 2008, and the exhibition will be at the MSU gallery from September 5 through 26, 2008.

We are asking for work that is two or more layers, held together by stitching, but no rigid restrictions on materials, so this should be an interesting show. When I designed the logo for the show, I tried to graphically show two different ways that thread can be used, but also tried to stay away from stereotypes or preconceptions people may have of quilts.

We have put together a website that shows photos of the gallery space, background of the juror, and more, and plan to update this site throughout the year. You can download the prospectus and entry form from the ThreadLines website, and I’m hoping that many of you will enter!

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Entering Shows: Breaking it down, Step by Step

January 10, 2008

This is a drawing of my in-basket. I guess I’d rather draw it, than do it!

For weeks I had on my to-do list an item “Send images to Curator.” Actually it was one of several items that have to be done for an invitational show at the Lux Center for the Arts that I’ll be part of this April.

Sounds simple, why was I procrastinating? When I actually did get it done last weekend, here’s some of the nitty-gritty details:

Filed Under drawings, exhibitions, process | 11 Comments

Quilt National (section A) heads to Houston

October 27, 2007

Yesterday was the last day to see Quilt National 2007 in full at The Foundry Art Centre. Today the exhibition will be split into three parts and sent to different venues. The section with my quilt “It’s Only a Leaf” will be at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, October 29 - November 4.

This photo is at the opening of The Foundry opening last September. I look a little frazzled because I was running between events for my brother’s wedding and the show opening. The woman next to me wearing the “Art Saves Lives” pin is Jill Fisher who organizes this branch of the QN exhibition as a fund-raiser for the Women’s Support and Community Services of St. Louis.

And the two people in the frame behind my head are Adam and Eve, who have just realized they may be wearing poison ivy leaves.

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The World of Robert E. Smith

September 21, 2007

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 paintings that we loaned is the basis for this downtown mural, and we won it at the auction to raise funds for the mural. But our painting is better because the artists who interpreted the mural for Robert smashed the painting a bit — ours is longer and skinnier.

But they did pretty much capture the spirit of the original painting. In this detail you can see some of the trademarks of Robert’s story-paintings — famous people like Ray Charles or Santa Claus appear frequently, as does Baby Jane, current events, and personal landmarks from Robert’s memory. If you haven’t already figured it out, Robert has been a major influence on my art.

I love the busy activity and texture of his paintings, the tiny details that you have to get in close to see, but most importantly, the humor of the mysterious stories. This painting that I had never seen before is called, “Mercy Hospital, County Jail.”

Robert sometimes records his stories on tape, attaching the cassette tapes to the back of his paintings. He also writes cartoon books, giving himself titles that he fancies such as “moody artist” or “notable folk-artist.” To see more paintings, go to the Good Girl Art Gallery.

Filed Under Inspiration, exhibitions, other artists | 6 Comments

Icons and Culture

September 14, 2007

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 visited France, Great Britain, Denmark, Austria, and Australia. Weird trivia — a woman from my hometown, called to say she saw it Austria. How small the world is! But at the same time, how big! And I wonder how my quilt was received by the locals?

Two books I’ve read this summer Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking and A Whole New Mind both site the research of psychologist Paul Ekman that indicates facial expressions are interpreted the same around the world. But I know this isn’t true of hand gestures, and what about graphic symbols? Think how the swastika has changed.

The prospectus for the show gives this definition: An icon (from Greek eikon, “image”) is a graphic, image, or picture of some object or actions which elicits symbolic meaning beyond the object represented. It stands for an object by representing some well-known significance or certain qualities. An icon represents something of greater significance than the literal or figurative image. So can any icon be truly universal?

What do you think? And if you’re an artist reading this, do you think your work reaches across cultural boundaries?

Filed Under Inspiration, exhibitions | 9 Comments

Niki in the Garden

July 20, 2007

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 theatre sets, she was also an actress and model. In a video of her life, she is shown doing a series of large assemblages with paint enclosed in plaster — she used a shotgun to shoot the plaster so the paint would explode across the surface of the piece. What a crazy lady! (and as always, I use the term ‘crazy’ with affection and admiration!)

Phalle is know for her multi-colored Nanas that boldly dance and sometimes even spout water. An exhibit placard explained Phalle’s inspiration, “Nanas are like goddesses to me, even superwomen of the sort, primitive tribes idolized. Perhaps they’re aggressive — that’s what some men think. They certainly know what they want, but they are warm, not mean.”

In addition to Nanas, there are huge totems, alligators you can climb, cats in which you can cuddle, man-chairs for sitting, and an amazing skull lined with a mosaic-mirrored interior complete with bench and delicious pearly teeth.

Phalle’s work is covered with seductive surfaces that are delight to examine closer because the materials are so well composed and crafted.

(click on any thumbnail for a larger view) After just seeing Cloud Gate at Millenium Park, I was intrigued by the coicidence that Phalle’s “Large Firebird on Arch” had a similar, and yet totally different effect. Like Cloud Gate, Phalle’s mirrored surfaces reflect sky and land, but in a fractured, more complex way. (far left detail above)

A couple of pieces in a quiet corner of a garden caught my eye. These pieces are not volumetric like most of the show, but are almost linear sketches in air, filled with small toys, symbols and objects. As in all her other works, Phalle shows a judicious use of color and detail.

Phalle says, “When my lungs were severely damaged by working with polyester, air came into my life. I had to learn how to breathe again, breathe deeply. The Skinnys reflect that change.”

If you have a chance, run, don’t walk to Garfield Conservatory before this show ends on Oct. 31. Plan on not only seeing wonderful art, but pack a lunch (or buy a hotdog for a buck) and enjoy the whole day.

And I haven’t even posted all my photos of the exotic plants and flowers. I’ll leave that to your imagination….

Filed Under Inspiration, exhibitions, journeys, other artists | 19 Comments

Let Us Speak of Love

May 30, 2007

In the words of Prem Joshua, “Tonight, let us speak of love. I can think of no better subject until the day we die.” I’ve been writing a lot lately, and it struck me that artists don’t seem to talk about LOVE very much. Maybe love isn’t one of those good art-speak terms, unless it unrequited love, or sad like that. I was thinking about putting the word in my artist statement, just to see what happens. What do you think?

Anyway, here’s a last few photos from the Quilt National 07 opening weekend — this is the artists’ party on Saturday. Hillary Fletcher, the heart of Quilt National for so many years, used to have this party at her house and make all kinds of fancy homemade cheesecakes. She was much missed this weekend, and now the party is outside the Dairy Barn.

Here’s one of the exhibitors I loved meeting — Judy Rush, and I think she’s got a lotta love in that glass. Okay joking aside, it was great to meet artists whose work I love! I wish I had taken more photos of the people instead of the quilts, because now I’m afraid to post them (I got in trouble last year for posting a QN gallery on-line. Hilary was kind of like a tough mom — even if you were in trouble, it seemed like she still loved you.)

And here’s Peter who walked around all night looking goofy to advertise Miriam Nathan-Robert’s catalog from her retrospective show at the new Visions Art Quilt Gallery. Now if that’s not love, I don’t know what is.

One last thing while we’re on the topic — I took this photo at the Franklin Institute of Science in Philadelphia while we were there to see King Tut. Now this is a guy with a big heart!

Filed Under exhibitions, journeys, other artists | 7 Comments

Quilt National 07 opening

May 25, 2007

Since we couldn’t use the dog scooter, we had to resort to a more traditional form of transportation to Athens, Ohio. I ws totally inspired by the activity and colors of the Southwest planes, and took lots of photos of the baggage being loaded on our plane. Great colors for a quilt, don’t you think?

The Quilt National opening was mobbed. More people than the last show and so many people that you couldn’t hardly see the quilts — see what I mean? I’m going to have to return tomorrow to really see the work because there’s lots of great stuff that I missed.

When I made this quilt, I was so focused the story behind it that I didn’t realize what it might look like if you didn’t know the story or read the title. But all evening I got questions about what the crotch shot was about. It’s not about that, it was because I had poison ivy so bad that I just lay on the bed, trying to to let anything touch my legs, not even each other.

If you’re wondering, the pink thing is one of those plastic back-scratchers with a little human hand on the end, just because I think those things are kind of creepy and funny. And in the painting behind the bed, Adam is trying to give Eve a poison ivy leaf, just to put a different spin on an old story.

The award dinner was also packed, and it was fun to see lots of folks I hadn’t in a while, and some new ones too. Luckily I wore a sweater in case the air conditioning was too cold. Unluckily, the banquet was outside in a tent, so it was swelteringly hot.

At these things, it’s fun to go around and get everyone to sign your book, kind of like a high school annual. Susan Shie whose wonderful quilt is on the cover of the new book (it’s also very handsome - order one today!) even drew me a steam-pot to put my poison ivy leaves in! What a hoot!

Filed Under exhibitions, journeys | 9 Comments

Grounds for Sculpture Opening Reception

May 18, 2007

Gosh, I don’t know what I’ve been caught doing, but judging by my expression, it must be bad. I know I’ve been tagged while I was gone, not once but four times. But honestly, I haven’t had time to do any posting since we’ve been traveling to four different states in the last five days. I promise I’ll get to it, Beate, Deborah, Liz, and Larkin…

Actually it’s ironic that one of my Yoga quilts is hanging in this exhibition space at Grounds for Sculpture, because about this time last year I was doing the real thing here on the floor. While the park was closed, of course, and while I was waiting for my next assignment in Russ’s complex installation of neon sculptures. It did give the security guard a start when he rounded the corner and found me upside down on the floor.

Although I decided to let my hair grow out into an appropriate flip-do for the opening, I guess six days wasn’t enough. I did wear a fancy new lace headband though, but apparently black on black doesn’t show up in photos.

It was so fun to look at the other artwork and meet the artists. I was happy to see Jil Weinstock again, after meeting her last weekend in Kansas City. She does all kinds of crazy things with dresses and zippers cast in rubber. This casting is called Halter Garden Gown. I was so inspired, when I got home I mailed her a vintage dress that I hope she can use in her work.

Another artist I enjoyed meeting was Diana Moore. She made this fantastic series of purses out of carbon steel — Remind you of anything? All the purses have subtle imagery of feminine anatomy from various viewpoints. This one is called Holy Purse…

And surprise! The purses all open and some even have keys. I could actually use a purse like this. It looks like it weighs about a hundred pounds, so I could use it to build up my biceps and as a weapon in dark parking lots.

There was also great work at the show by Lia Cook who makes huge figurative tapestries, Leah Poller who makes humorous bed sculptures, and Allen Topolski who makes strange retro-looking appliances that have very mysterious functions.

The only artist who wasn’t at the reception was Susan Taylor Glasgow, but I enjoyed seeing her fused glass work in the form of coffee pots, aprons, and cakes — all made of sewn glass.

This one is called Acme Dream House #2.

What’s not obvious until you move in closer is the depth, detail, rich textures, and seamless (no pun intended, he he) integration of ribbon and glass. What an inspiration!

Oh yeah, I also want to thank all the friends and family who came out for the opening and brought their smiling faces. You made my day!

Update: Since I’ve driving all day (across five states to get to a memorial service tomorrow) I had a lot of time to think about this post. I realized I forgot to say who the person in this photo is — artist Joanie San Chirico who showed up at the reception. Previously we’d only chatted via email, but when she walked in the room, I felt I had known her a long time!

Filed Under exhibitions, journeys, other artists | 6 Comments

keep looking »

ThreadLines 2008 deadline approaches

What did I say at the Lux?

Distinctive Directions postcards

Working in a Series with Distinctive Directions

Solo Show at Driskill Gallery

Hanging a Solo Gallery Show

Announcing ThreadLines 2008 Call for Entries

Entering Shows: Breaking it down, Step by Step

Quilt National (section A) heads to Houston

The World of Robert E. Smith

Icons and Culture

Niki in the Garden

Let Us Speak of Love

Quilt National 07 opening

Grounds for Sculpture Opening Reception

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