International TECHstyle Art Biennial (ITAB)

by PaMdora on 09. Aug, 2010 in Art, Exhibitions, Quilts

I’m pleased that two of my quilts will be shown soon at the International TECHstyle Art Biennial (ITAB) at the San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum. Skating on Thin Ice will be there, and also my newest work, Tokyo – Wish You Were Hair.

layered cotton fabrics stitched with thread, 65"x50" by Pam RuBert

ITAB is a juried exhibition of work by artists exploring the intersection of fiber art with new information and communication technologies, to be held in conjunction with San Jose’s biennial ZERO1 Festival, the 2010 01 SJ Biennial, which runs from September 16-19, 2010. The exhibition includes 41 works by 28 artists from six countries—including Canada, China, Germany, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For more information and some images from the upcoming show, check out the museum website article.

San Jose Quilts & Textiles Museum, San Jose, CA
August 17 – October 31, 2010
Opening reception is Sunday, August 22, 2-4pm

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Still Sewing

by PaMdora on 16. Jul, 2010 in Quilting, Quilts

This project for an exhibition at the San Jose Quilts and Textile Museum is going slower than I anticipated — partially due to the size of the quilt, but more because of the complexity. There many small details in the landscape that have to be sewn separately, and I have to be careful about which order to sew them so they don’t bubble up or go all wonky.

Quilting in the studio

As always, I am fascinated by the abstract designs being formed on the back of the quilt, so even though it’s slow — it’s an enjoyable process.

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PaMdora & The Doors meet Dorian Gray

by PaMdora on 08. Jul, 2010 in Paintings

My painting for the Open Doors invitational exhibit at the Creamery Arts Center features 7 doors (or 10, depending on how you count people in a group).

The theme of the exhibit curated by painter Stephanie Cramer and underwritten by Dianne Elizabeth Osis, was to create art on doors or about doors, so you can imagine there is a wide variety of two- and three-dimensional interpretations rendered including paintings on house doors, cabinets, coffins, electrical boxes, sculptural gateways and more.

PaMdora and The Doors meet Dorian Gray, 40" x 30" painting by Pam RuBert

"PaMdora and The Doors meet Dorian Gray", acrylic on canvas, 40" x 30"

For me one of the most interesting parts of making art is developing the concept. While getting ready to paint this, I did a lot reading about the characters, and what I call late-night drawing — waking up in the middle of the night and sketching from the subconscious. Anyway, it seemed that I needed to write up something to go with the painting for the exhibit, so I created these footnotes…

(more…)

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A small painting studio is cozy

by PaMdora on 01. Jul, 2010 in Mixed Media, Painting

With one day left to finish my painting for the Open Doors invitational, I had to organize quickly. I wanted to work on my painting by natural light and in the a/c (my quilt studio is not air conditioned.) By smushing things a bit, there was room to set up small painting studio in my office.

The little drafting table was just the right size for the canvas. Conveniently it fits over the top of my old metal accounting desk. A stainless steel bus cart is a great palette-holder, and the wheels turn on a dime — which is great in such a tight space.

small painting studio

Plus with this arrangement, I can turn my laptop around if I want to check some details for the painting. A cozy arrangement indeed! I just might leave it this way for a while. Although I’ve already delivered the painting to the gallery, I won’t show it on my blog until after the opening reception tomorrow night.

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Shoes and Clutter

by PaMdora on 14. Jun, 2010 in Quilts, Studio

I don’t know why shoes are so fun to make out fabric. These are sort of fantastic kimono shoes with Japanese socks. I actually have a pair of these, not so high, but probably can’t fit my fat feet into them anymore. The socks are more comfortable than they look. And they snap behind the ankle.

polka-dot kimono shoe

These flip-flops on a rag rug are the ones that I wore on the way to my worst case of poison ivy ever. And these fancy ones I saw in a catalog – except that I embellished them with color, pattern, and daisy panty hose.

Paris catalog shoe

These days I’m trying to work at least a couple of hours a day in the studio. Sometime more, except for days like this when I had to move EVERYTHING not attached to the walls out so I could get the carpet cleaned. Since my studio is in a warehouse, the carpet gets pretty dirty after a while. So I’m very proud and pleased that it came this clean.

As for the rest of the space — thank goodness for clutter. It helps hide the dust!

Update: I was joking about clutter when I wrote this post late last night, but just now read a good blog post about myths of clutter by organization expert Julie Morgenstern. One line really jumped out at me: “Releasing the obsolete will get you unstuck—by opening up space for something new. It creates the energy, space to think, and time to figure out what’s next.”

clean carpet

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