Show Down

The opening of the Victoria College of Art's exhibition and sale was packed on Friday evening - I heard over 600 people were there - and the show also ran throughout the weekend. I enjoyed the raw energy of the atmosphere and the vibrancy of the works in various mediums - there was alot to see! In our textile art area, Dale McEwan demonstrated painting on fabric:

I helped disassemble our class's part of the show today and now I am completely done. None of my art cards sold - but with one week until Christmas and most of my preparations left to do - at least I won't have to buy any!

Brooch

Here's the brooch I made for a friend a few weeks ago, starting with a wet felted base and adding felt, curly wool, embroidered handstitches and machine stitching. The back is green satin with a pin attached. Earlier today I carried on sorting in the studio for a brief time, and came up with a solution of how and where to store my fabrics which will require another weekend, probably, to put into place. I also popped by to the community art show where my quilt is being shown and I learned that it's been receiving alot of interest - people are stopping to really take a look instead of perusing it briefly and moving on. So that was a pleasant surprise!

Opening Night

We were a little late getting to the opening of the community art show that I have a piece in and I was surprised to find it so full I couldn't even get into the door. After the awards were given out I managed to squeeze through slowly, but I'll go again on another day when I can really take in the variety and savour the pieces that resonate. This photo was taken when we went back much later when the crowd had thinned but there wasn't much time left to look before the exhibit closed for the evening. I felt a bit shocked and exposed to see my art quilt hanging amongst the other art, as this is new for me to be in an art show. It seemed as though my quilt was a renegade - on the wall with the others, but also 'off the wall'.

Show Entrance

Today I dropped off 'Making My Mark' to the upcoming Community Arts Council of Greater Victoria show, along with my entry form, labels, fees and artist statement. I imagine that most of the artwork will be paintings, but I did see two other fibre artists entering pieces while I was there. I'm continuing to hand stitch the binding on 'Follow Your Heart' and to add pieces to the current quilt in progress.

Show Time

Yesterday night I attended the opening of a local quilt show that involved a challenge with some members of the Auckland New Zealand Quilt Guild and the Victoria Quilt Guild, who exchanged a selection of fabrics and then created quilts from them. I love how much variety creative minds can come up with! Here is Susan Teece from the Victoria Quilt Guild with her quilt 'A Common Thread'. I sewed the sleeve on my quilt today and plan to sign my name in free motion. I've decided I will sell this one - there's a community art show coming up soon that I will put it in.

Yesterday while I was at the library, I was startled to see a faded book in the quilting section with the nearly undiscernable same title as the first quilt I made - 'Paradise Found'. It has the retrospective works of a fibre artist named Amy Zerner who mixes art materials and fabric collage in her symbolic work. The description of this same-titled book in the preface parallels my intent in the making of my first quilt - to express joy in creation and the multi-dimensionality we live in.