What did I say at the Lux?

April 9, 2008

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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.

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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.

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International Quilt Study Center and Museum

April 8, 2008

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While in Lincoln, I was able to sneak over to the new International Quilt Center and Museum very early in the morning before the sun rose, because I had heard the new sculpture in front of the building was beautifully lit.

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The sculpture by Linda Fleming is called “Reverie” (daydream) is wonderful to walk around and through — lots of different viewpoints and even some matching fantasy chairs inside the structure.

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The museum itself is another work of art designed by architects Robert R.M. Stern of New York. The wall of glass front facade wraps about interior gathering spaces, exhibition rooms, and will house the world’s largest collection of quilts. Currently and through the summer exhibits include: Quilts In Common from the museum’s collection and Nancy Crow: Cloth, Culture, and Context which traces the development of Nancy Crow as a studio artist.

Lisa and I also got a chance to see another beautiful exhibit of quilts by Michael James in Lincoln’s historic Haymarket District. You can see a slideshow of James’ “The Life in a Day” series of quilts based on abstracted photographic imagery on the Modern Arts Midwest gallery website here.

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Framing Work for a Group Show

January 27, 2008

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Getting ready for a group show I’m part of that will open this Friday at the Waverly House of Contemporary Craft, I’ve been trying some different ways of framing smaller pieces. The figurative pieces are sewn to stretched canvas and framed. This one is called “Cell Cat on a Date.”

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Solo Show at Driskill Gallery

January 20, 2008

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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.

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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.

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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

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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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Illustration Friday: Stitch

January 17, 2008

60min_stitch1.jpg I drew this guy while watching 60 Minutes. It doesn’t work very well to draw people on tv who are in sit-coms, because they all seem to look alike, but news shows have more interesting faces.

Thanks to Jane for getting me motivated to try turning a drawing into a stitched piece. How could I have been about to pass up this week’s Illustration Friday theme?

I almost got the fabric cut and stitched in an hour (sixty minutes — ha ha, get it?) The back is almost as interesting as the front…

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Bemis Center Art Auction

December 6, 2007

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I’ve been doing some small experiments lately to more closely bridge my drawing and work with cloth. This is a shoe I sat next to at the Bemis Center art auction a few weeks ago, a great place to see and draw lots of characters.

Based in Omaha, Nebraska, the Bemis Center is an artist-residency program in a historic downtown building with great galleries for exhibitions and community out-reach programs, and right across the street from Jun Kaneko’s studios and upcoming creativity museum ( a link to our visit there last year) and (and day two.)

auction2.jpg The art auction was the slicked operation I’ve seen in a long time. It was packed, there was great food, open bar, and three sections of silent auctions, a buy-it-now room, and the live auction. It’s well supported by artists, because the artists can set their minimum, get 50 percent of the selling price (same as a gallery), and the Bemis provides education about the artist and unique creative experiences for many.

auction4.jpg Of course the top dollar part was the live auction. If attendees wanted to keep the party going, they could stay noisy in the buy-it-now room, and still watch and bid over a big-screen closed network. In fact all the key staff were wired for communication, and before the end of the night, the silent auction items were labeled and bubble-wrapped for taking home. (update: just found out the auction raised a whopping $440,000!) auction5.jpg

We bought a James Surls linocut, and something really big that we’re going to have fetch with a truck, so more adventures coming….Thanks Russ for the photos. Since I was so busy drawing, I didn’t have time to take any myself, except for this one. Uh, make that a truck and a trailer!

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Six Pages in Quilting Arts Magazine!

December 2, 2007

qa-magazine.jpgWowee, the new Quilting Arts magazine is out, and I think it’s the best issue ever. The emphasis that QA has put on publishing articles about sketchbooks, concept and design development, and innovative techniques has made this the go-to magazine in the art quilt world.

And as usual, the excellent photography makes the articles even more delicious. Judy Coates Perez has an article about a new technique she’s developed, Vicki Hallmark has an article about using space-age materials, Frances Holliday Alford has a yummy recipe for bead soup. And Sara Lechner’s article makes me crave a needle-felting machine (scroll down her blog for a gander at her glass house studio!

Of course, I may also be a bit biased about the issue, because PaMdora got a whopping six-page spread! Thanks Patricia Bolton for creating and growing a great magazine. And thanks Cate Coulascos Prato for writing such a nice article.

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Filed Under media, quilts | 21 Comments 

The Design Ramblings of Pam RuBert

November 8, 2007

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Haven’t done much creative work in the last couple of weeks other than draw my brain with my sewing machine. Then I drew/painted it with my new Caran D’ache watercolor crayons as recommended by Joanie (actually she recommended the crayons, not drawing my brain.) I was thinking of calling this “Radioactive Brain” or maybe “Thinking of You.”

So since there isn’t much new material here, sort of like when the screenwriters go on strike, we have to either go to reruns or do a highlights of last season recap. Well, Gwen Magee has done it for me. Amazingly, she waded through my blog archives and interviews and complied a big selection of my design rambling she calls The Design Process of Pam RuBert on the Textile Arts Resource blog. She also links back to my forgotten slide-show of a quilt in progress. She’s got a lot of other good stuff there too, so check it out. Thanks Gwen!

Filed Under drawings, painting, process, quilts | 19 Comments 

PaMdora’s in Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion

November 1, 2007

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Switching seasons… gosh Christmas comes quick after Halloween! Just got my issue of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion and there was PaMdora in her quilted, zippered vest.

Actually MEHC asked me for some photos last spring when they started the Top Stitch profile to feature art quilters. Here’s the other artists who have been featured this year. They told me it was only one page, but I sent more photos anyway, and it turned into two. I guess they got that quote from my website because I didn’t write that artist’s statement until summer.

I like MEHC because they always feature artists’ studios and lots of inspiring arts and crafts. Mary Engelbreit is a self-made artist turned publisher, but then I’ve always known about her because she’s from my home state.

I wonder if it’s a coincidence that the next day, Whip Up featured my quilts on their website under quilts with an attitude. Maybe kath red saw the magazine article. Anyway, was glad to see my crazy ideas were again resonating with someone else.

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Quilt National (section A) heads to Houston

October 27, 2007

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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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Finished Quilt

June 8, 2007

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Finishing the quilt is pretty easy after quilting it. It only takes me about an hour and half to sew on the binding which acts like a thin frame around the image. This is called Late Date, and it’s 52″ by 80″. I’ll try to put it on my website soon, which I’ve been working on an updated version for over a month.

Funny how certain themes repeat themselves in my work. About twenty years ago, I did a picture story book that revolved around a group of pantyhose dancing a ballet in a grocery store, and they looked an awful lot like that pink pair laying under the ironing board. I guess pantyhose is just one of those things I love to hate!

toetub.jpg Here’s a closeup of one of my favorite parts before I quilted it. You may not be able to tell but the water cut out of fancy floral fabric. I don’t often use flowery prints, but I just love the idea of turning on the tap and having flowers stream out.

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One Foot Square

April 12, 2007

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The sad truth is — yesterday was the first day since January’s ice storm that I laid a hand (or foot) on my sewing machine. This must change!

Today I finished this small quilt, it’s only 12″ square. I’m donating it to Studio Art Quilt Associates for their fund-raising auction at the SAQA conference next month. I’ve never made a donation quilts because I usually find the format too restrictive. But I like working square, and this format is big enough that I can use images I like. Also I’ve been impressed with all that SAQA has accomplished in the past two years I’ve been a member. Under executive director Martha Seilman and the board, they’re accomplishing tons of stuff, so I’d like to contribute. But most important…. I already had all these spare parts laying around!

I call it “Take me to your Dentist!” (as in Take me to your Leader! from old scifi movies) The zipper was the hardest part because my hand-sewing skills are lame. And I’m not sure the eyeballs turned out right. I made them out of Sculpty so they would be off-center and look a little wacky. But Jan has been emailing me links to how to make eyeballs, eyeballs, and more eyeballs, (I actually like the last one the best), so if I get really ambitious… who knows?

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Cell Baby Quilt

May 4, 2006

Cell Baby has been so popular that I thought he (or is it she?) deserved his own quilt. So I made this little 11″ x 17″ quilt. When I thought of a name for the quilt, I had to laugh. It’s called “Family Minutes.”

It’s been a while since I made anything this small. Next time I want to work small, I think I’ll work Medium!

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Towers of Babble

April 20, 2006

Finally I finished this quilt, or at least turned it in to the museum for the show, so I can’t work on any more even though there are few details I could still add.

The worst was having to stay up all night Monday night. About 3 a.m. I started getting delirious, looking at this huge wadded up thing stuffed under the arm of my sewing machine and thinking, why exactly am I making a QUILT in the middle of the night?! Or maybe it was worse the next day when in a state of fatigue, I tripped and fell down the concrete stairs outside of my studio the next day. Luckily nothing was broken, including my laptop

The sad thing is I still didn’t finish it, and Merrilee had to negotiate another day for me to work on it. But all’s well that ends well, and the quilt is at the museum now and will be hung as part of our group show. And now that I’ve turned it over, I have a great sense of freedom! If you’d like to see a bigger photo (it’s the biggest I’ve done — 57″ x 85″) and more close up details, check out my web site update here.

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