ThreadLines opening last week was a huge success. The gallery was packed all night long, and the show looks amazing thanks to MSU Art & Design Gallery director Robin Lowe and her staff and of course all the wonderful artists who made and shipped their work. Jason Pollen was there to judge the quilts in person, to award the prizes and to honor us with a exhibition of his recent work.

Here Jason Pollen is talking about the Best of Show by Deidre Adams, as Arleta Johnson, our prize chairman (very important person!) looks on. Told you you should have come to the opening, Deidre! Of course we didn’t know until 5 p.m. that night that she was a winner. Here’s a post about the rest of the award ceremony.

Several artists traveled to the opening, but the prize for farthest goes to Barbara Winoski from Canada. Here she is on the left, discussing her quilt with my friend Sue, who happens to be a seamstress but not quilter.

The Creamery Art Center usually doesn’t get as much traffic on First Friday Art Walk since it’s off the path. But here I’m giving an artist talk right after Emmie and Lettie gave theirs in the Creamery art library. You can just barely see my new quilts from the Wish You Were Hair series through the windows to the exhibition space. All together, I have 20 quilts on display and 11 framed drawings and mixed media collages.

And this is one goofy grin I just couldn’t wipe off my face at the end of the night after surviving a month I thought I wouldn’t survive. Remind me never to schedule two show openings including visiting artists for a two-day workshop on the same weekend as Quilt National deadline ever again. Thanks for the photo Russ — it really sums it all up!

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.

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…

Actually sixteen big quilts was too many for the gallery, so I brought three home. But there are a few odd-sized smaller spaces, so I’m back in studio, looking through some small work. Trouble is, I don’t make much small work.