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| Orthrozanclus Reburrus Terry Aske (C) 2013 |
The paper selected Terry Aske's wonderful piece, Orthrozanclus Reburrus (shown left) to illustrate the article.
Educating the public about art quilts...one reader at a time. Doncha just love it?! :-)
Showing posts with label Burgess Shale Project. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Burgess Shale Project. Show all posts
Saturday, December 21, 2013
In the News
The paper selected Terry Aske's wonderful piece, Orthrozanclus Reburrus (shown left) to illustrate the article.
Educating the public about art quilts...one reader at a time. Doncha just love it?! :-)
Saturday, December 07, 2013
Thinking
My mother used to tell me, "You think too much". I was a pretty serious kid, and still don't enjoy pranks, or most surprises. I wanted (and still want) everything and everybody to be peaceful, happy, contented, gentle with each other, responsible, organized, on time...
Being 'thoughtful' in this way means I also internalize a great deal, which is why I no longer watch movies or read anything horrific or dark. It's too painful.
And it means that till lately I've been making only pretty art. I will still make it, because it makes me -- and often others -- smile. But Mark on the Body has begun, and my first full week -- 8 days of stitching, if you count both Fridays, yesterday and the day it began -- and so there are updated photos on that page now.
Other Work is all over the place!
Yes, the pair was knit from approximately 25 gm of a single 50 gm ball. Buttons were found in my stash but I believe they originated in the bargain buttons at The Crafty Lady, Lacombe. Don't think there are any more, but the shop has several colour variations of that yarn. Lovely stuff!
Being 'thoughtful' in this way means I also internalize a great deal, which is why I no longer watch movies or read anything horrific or dark. It's too painful.
And it means that till lately I've been making only pretty art. I will still make it, because it makes me -- and often others -- smile. But Mark on the Body has begun, and my first full week -- 8 days of stitching, if you count both Fridays, yesterday and the day it began -- and so there are updated photos on that page now.
Other Work is all over the place!
- Three Christmas presents have been finished. I can show you only one -- for someone I'm pretty sure has never looked at this blog:
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| Shepherd's Finger-less Mittens Pattern from Welsh for Rainbow by Brenda Dayne Yarn: Amitola - Lisa Harding - Colour #109 80% wool, 20% silk |
- The Magic Tiles quilt top was finished, with only a pieced border; it's about 45" square. Because the border piecing picked up on the wonky construction of the blocks, I used 2 1/2" strips, cut at weird angles, and joined together with 1" "grout" strips. I had to remember to move one strip up just slightly -- by 1/4" -- in order for them to line up evenly when actually sewn together. See the tip of the right-hand piece of fabric, lying just a hint above the corresponding edge of the left-hand (B&W print) one?
Here's what the top looked like on my design wall before I sandwiched it to a black-on-red wide backing ( from the "Stonehenge" line of fabrics):
Alas, however, the quilting of this piece is on hold for now. It was to be a baby gift for the first grandchild of cousins of mine Back East...but I found out earlier this week that the wee babe was miscarried at 25 weeks. The baby was due this month, so Christmas will be a sombre and tender time for the family this year. I'm told the young couple will try again, so I will bide my time on this one and wait for good news.
- In happier news, I also found out this week that two of the four pieces I'd completed for the first year of the 15 x 15 Group's challenges have been selected to go to Quilt Expo in Beaujolais, France, running April 10 - 13, 2014!! The selections are "Tree Study I" and "To Everything There is a Season". I'm thrilled!! You can see these pieces -- and all the pieces submitted by the group -- on our blog HERE. Click on the Quilt Gallery tab, and you will get a drop-down list of the themes for the year. My pieces are found in "Texture" and "Time".
- Also in good news, a few days ago I received an e-mail from a SAQA member and delighted viewer of SAQA Western Canada's touring Exhibit, The Burgess Shale Project, which is hanging in the library at Turner Valley School till December 11. Her nephews go to the school, so she and her parents drove out at -20 C to visit them and the exhibit. The librarian was effusive about the exhibit's impact on all who'd seen it, and so was our viewer. She gave me permission to post her e-mail on the SAQA WC blog -- and I sent a copy to Desi Vaughan, the SAQA Regional Rep Coordinator. I'm tickled!
- As for what's going on in the studio...3-4 more knitted gifts, 2 more miniatures, and 1 more piece for the next 15 x 15 challenge on the theme of "Rhythm".
So...even though it's Saturday, I'm linking up with Nina Marie's Off-the-Wall Friday...and wish you all a fine weekend!
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
The Burgess Shale Project is on the Move!
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| My Little Choia Garden (C) 2013 |
Given that this fall has passed in a blur, I missed the September 30th Press Release featuring a photo of my friend Hanne Seidl's piece, Leanchoilia, but I've redeemed myself by printing off a copy for my files -- and by giving you the link! :-)
Also available on the website is the 2013-2014 Calendar for TREX exhibits. The Burgess Shale Project will be travelling for two years, so a new calendar will be produced next fall. It's only one of fourteen exhibits travelling under the auspices of TREX, which is "...a government-sponsored initiative designed to promote Alberta art and artists through professionally developed exhibitions for use in schools, libraries, healthcare centres, rural institutions and galleries..."
For those of you in Alberta, for the next several months the Burgess Shale Project will be touring schools and libraries in Central and Southern/Southwestern parts of the province. Here's the short list between now and the end of 2013:
- October 9 - November 6: Annie L. Gaetz School, Red Deer;
- November 13 - December 11: Turner Valley School, Turner Valley; and
- December 18, 2013 - January 22, 2014: Bighorn Library, Exshaw.
I'll be updating my Exhibitions tab regularly so folks can follow the exhibit around the province, but I encourage you to download the PDF calendar and check out the Burgess Shale Project when it comes to a location near you!
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Finishing so I Can Start
This week is about finishing.
"Back to the Garden" is faced and has its label and sleeve.
P's "Hunter's Star" is just about finished. Today it gets its border and maybe its quilt design; by the end of the day tomorrow it will be sandwiched and basted.
In the photo at left there are 6 blocks across and 8 down. However, as of last evening, there are 7 blocks across and 8 down. Each block is 6" finished, so that's 42" wide by 48" long. However, there will be a narrow border -- 1 1/2" finished -- all the way 'round, in the blue print fabric, and binding to match, bringing the finished size to 45" wide by 51" long.
Deadline: June 22, when I fly to Montreal!
And yesterday I delivered "My Little Choia Garden" to Patti Morris, the SAQA Western Canada Co-Rep for Alberta, who's curating our next travelling exhibit, The Burgess Shale Project. This is a show of a different sort! Instead of quilt shows and galleries -- at least initially -- this two-dozen-piece exhibit will be travelling throughout Alberta elementary schools, fusing art and science, to teach kids about the Burgess Shale Fossils -- with colourful textile interpretations.
I hinted at this piece while it was under construction, but now I feel I can share it. The pieces are gathering at Patti's home in Red Deer, soon to be picked up the by the curator from the TREX program, which is hosting the province-wide school tour. TREX is run by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts; we linked into it through one of our PAM members, Barbara J. West, A.S.A. There will be cards and a book published as part of the project -- and the exhibit should be travelling for at least two years. It's our fond hope that other parts of the SAQA Western Canada Region will then be able to tap into it and move it through schools in B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Here's the full view of my piece, which at the required 24" square, is on the large side for me:
And here's my accompanying Artist's Statement:
Once I know where the exhibit will be showing, I'll post the information in case anyone is nearby and wants to check it out. I've seen the other pieces Patti's collected so far and can safely say this show will be unlike any other!
As for Starting...Self-directed Summer School resumes shortly...with dye, paint and ink studies first on the schedule. Stay tuned!
"Back to the Garden" is faced and has its label and sleeve.
In the photo at left there are 6 blocks across and 8 down. However, as of last evening, there are 7 blocks across and 8 down. Each block is 6" finished, so that's 42" wide by 48" long. However, there will be a narrow border -- 1 1/2" finished -- all the way 'round, in the blue print fabric, and binding to match, bringing the finished size to 45" wide by 51" long.
Deadline: June 22, when I fly to Montreal!
And yesterday I delivered "My Little Choia Garden" to Patti Morris, the SAQA Western Canada Co-Rep for Alberta, who's curating our next travelling exhibit, The Burgess Shale Project. This is a show of a different sort! Instead of quilt shows and galleries -- at least initially -- this two-dozen-piece exhibit will be travelling throughout Alberta elementary schools, fusing art and science, to teach kids about the Burgess Shale Fossils -- with colourful textile interpretations.
I hinted at this piece while it was under construction, but now I feel I can share it. The pieces are gathering at Patti's home in Red Deer, soon to be picked up the by the curator from the TREX program, which is hosting the province-wide school tour. TREX is run by the Alberta Foundation for the Arts; we linked into it through one of our PAM members, Barbara J. West, A.S.A. There will be cards and a book published as part of the project -- and the exhibit should be travelling for at least two years. It's our fond hope that other parts of the SAQA Western Canada Region will then be able to tap into it and move it through schools in B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Here's the full view of my piece, which at the required 24" square, is on the large side for me:
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| My Little Choia Garden (C) 2013 |
And here's my accompanying Artist's Statement:
"Even shown in dull greys and browns on the RoyalOntario Museum website, the pre-historic sponges, Choia carteri, struck me as cute little critters. At the very most, these sponges were no more
than three inches (7.62 cm.) across. To
me, they look like little umbrellas, with their radiating spines made of spicules that they used for absorbing
food from their watery environment, as they hovered over the ocean floor. I thought I’d show a garden of them, large
and small, nestled on the sand at the feet of a visitor to the pre-historic
‘sea-side’. That inspired me to write
this bit of doggerel for my Artist’s Statement:
My Little Choia
Garden
If I could sail the Cambrian Sea
In a flat glass-bottomed boat,
What creatures therein would I see
Below the waves afloat?
Choia hover on the sand
‘Round monsters of the deep,
Sifting water through their spines
Although they look asleep.
If in a Cambrian tidal pool
I dipped my toes (Beg pardon!)
Then perhaps I’d ‘range the Choia ‘round
To make a pretty garden.
Materials: commercial cotton and
batik fabric, cotton thread, polyester thread, recycled woven blanket of
unknown origin, DMC © #5-wt perle cotton, poly-cotton batting.
Techniques: rough-edge appliqué,
machine quilting, hand embroidery.
Dimensions: 24” x 24”
Inspirational Sources:
·
Wonderful Life, Stephen Jay Gould, 1989;
·
Royal Ontario Museum
website re: Choia Carteri: http://burgess-shale.rom.on.ca/en/fossil-gallery/view-species.php?id=39&ref=i&
·
“Octopus’s
Garden” – Richard Starkey (Ringo
Starr), 1969 – recorded by The Beatles on their album, Abbey Road"
Once I know where the exhibit will be showing, I'll post the information in case anyone is nearby and wants to check it out. I've seen the other pieces Patti's collected so far and can safely say this show will be unlike any other!
As for Starting...Self-directed Summer School resumes shortly...with dye, paint and ink studies first on the schedule. Stay tuned!
Monday, May 20, 2013
Just a Hint
With iffy sunshine and threatened showers most of today, I've been working on my SAQA Western Canada piece for our next travelling exhibit, The Burgess Shale Project, in which participants render in textiles, fossils from the Burgess Shale excavation.
Though I'm not prepared to give you chapter and verse just yet, here are a few sneak peeks at mine...
Happy Victoria Day to my fellow Canadians! :-)
Though I'm not prepared to give you chapter and verse just yet, here are a few sneak peeks at mine...
Happy Victoria Day to my fellow Canadians! :-)
Friday, May 17, 2013
What's My Name and Where Do I Live?
That's sort of how my week has been...steady and full...and a bit hard on my brain. The simple reason? Lots to do, lots to learn, lots to work on, lots to finish...
After cleaning out my studio, I cleaned the "Messy Work" counter in my back room. It's the place where I store my geraniums over the winter, and my seeds, and work on dye baths etc. With the geraniums back out in their outdoor homes for the summer, it needed a good wipe-down and re-organization. Pookie had been digging at the plants so the counter needed a good scrub, and my aging philodendron needed dealing with. In the end, I cut it back, put 3 cuttings in water, and composted the rest. I repotted another plant, put it in a hanger so the Pook-ster wouldn't dig it, et voila! Isn't this nicer to look at and work with?
Once the counter top was spic and span, I covered it with a section from a retired plastic shower curtain. Front and centre right now is my old cutting mat, back-side up, which is useful there if I'm using sharp implements. On the left is my small collection of gardening books, brought out for the season, plus left-over seeds, and not-yet-planted seeds. On the right (out of vision) is my container of clothespins, which I use in the summer when I get to dry clothes and fabric outside on my drying rack. (Still trying to figure out where and how to mount a proper clothesline.)
Monday afternoon on the way back from my Usual Monday in Lacombe, I succumbed to the lure of P.J.'s Plantation (my local nursery) and bought my bedding-outs and a few new perennials for my flower beds:
With no frost in the forecast for the foreseeable future, I planted all but 3 perennials and 3 tomatoes. These will be planted this weekend -- the "May Long" (aka Victoria Day Holiday Weekend), Canada's first official weekend of "summer".
In the studio I've been going back and forth between my two current projects: "Back to the Garden" for 15 x 15 , and a 24" square piece for SAQA Western Canada's next travelling show, The Burgess Shale Project. Both are due by month-end or shortly thereafter. The 'garden' theme has suited both in different ways. I'm not sharing about the BSP right now...but will do so when it's been turned in for exhibit. Then 'All Shall Be Revealed'! :-)
However, "Back to the Garden" is taking shape, with stars and stardust being applied, thus:
I'm still playing around with photo programs on my new laptop, so I apologize for the quality of this one. Here's a bit of detail from that upper left corner:
There are star sequins beaded on, and very tiny gold beads scattered throughout for the star-dust. I have in mind to use hand-dyed silk to stitch tiny seed stitch on the lower portion, the "Garden" part. And maybe some butterflies...we shall see if they pass the audition. :-) Not too sure how I'll edge it, but I think it's calling for a facing, don't you?
Wednesday and Thursday have been knitting days. On the former, I had several hours to occupy while I waited for a friend at her ophthalmologist's office -- and managed to get half-way to the heel of the second sock in a Plain Vanilla pair for my elderly cousin D, whom I'll be visiting in June. I'm using a 'manly' colour-way in navy, blue, and tan self-striping yarn -- 4 fadig Strato Color by Regia -- which has lived in my stash for some time now. Yesterday I got the rest of the leg done, plus the first row of the heel...in the long quiet gap between mad flurries of customers in my first day on the job at The Crafty Lady.
I also learned how to enter new inventory (a new shipment of jewel-toned 'ruffle' yarn -- Red Heart's Metallic Sashay. It's so delicious I might have to make one of these scarves after all.), to run the cash register, and to create price labels (for a shipment of wood and horn buttons and shawl pins, also yummy!).
My skills in making change while conversing with a customer have been refreshed (I worked in a bookshop in Calgary between 2005 and 2008)...as well as how to serve multiple customers on a tag-team basis.
And...I wound 4 of seven skeins of yarn on a ball-winder that needs to be mounted on a higher counter! Lori, the manager, spelled me off for the other 3 skeins, plus 2 more for another customer later in the afternoon.
By 5:30 p.m. I was definitely ready for home! It was fun, though, and I came away with a list of projects/techniques to work on:
The blessing of today is that it's rainy (at last) so I can curl up with my beading and knitting...sifting and sorting new experiences, new information, new ideas...again remembering...
Why don't you 'set a spell' and listen along while you catch up with some other artists? I'm linking this -- for the first time in a few weeks -- to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday. :-)
After cleaning out my studio, I cleaned the "Messy Work" counter in my back room. It's the place where I store my geraniums over the winter, and my seeds, and work on dye baths etc. With the geraniums back out in their outdoor homes for the summer, it needed a good wipe-down and re-organization. Pookie had been digging at the plants so the counter needed a good scrub, and my aging philodendron needed dealing with. In the end, I cut it back, put 3 cuttings in water, and composted the rest. I repotted another plant, put it in a hanger so the Pook-ster wouldn't dig it, et voila! Isn't this nicer to look at and work with?
Once the counter top was spic and span, I covered it with a section from a retired plastic shower curtain. Front and centre right now is my old cutting mat, back-side up, which is useful there if I'm using sharp implements. On the left is my small collection of gardening books, brought out for the season, plus left-over seeds, and not-yet-planted seeds. On the right (out of vision) is my container of clothespins, which I use in the summer when I get to dry clothes and fabric outside on my drying rack. (Still trying to figure out where and how to mount a proper clothesline.)
Monday afternoon on the way back from my Usual Monday in Lacombe, I succumbed to the lure of P.J.'s Plantation (my local nursery) and bought my bedding-outs and a few new perennials for my flower beds:
With no frost in the forecast for the foreseeable future, I planted all but 3 perennials and 3 tomatoes. These will be planted this weekend -- the "May Long" (aka Victoria Day Holiday Weekend), Canada's first official weekend of "summer".
In the studio I've been going back and forth between my two current projects: "Back to the Garden" for 15 x 15 , and a 24" square piece for SAQA Western Canada's next travelling show, The Burgess Shale Project. Both are due by month-end or shortly thereafter. The 'garden' theme has suited both in different ways. I'm not sharing about the BSP right now...but will do so when it's been turned in for exhibit. Then 'All Shall Be Revealed'! :-)
However, "Back to the Garden" is taking shape, with stars and stardust being applied, thus:
I'm still playing around with photo programs on my new laptop, so I apologize for the quality of this one. Here's a bit of detail from that upper left corner:
There are star sequins beaded on, and very tiny gold beads scattered throughout for the star-dust. I have in mind to use hand-dyed silk to stitch tiny seed stitch on the lower portion, the "Garden" part. And maybe some butterflies...we shall see if they pass the audition. :-) Not too sure how I'll edge it, but I think it's calling for a facing, don't you?
Wednesday and Thursday have been knitting days. On the former, I had several hours to occupy while I waited for a friend at her ophthalmologist's office -- and managed to get half-way to the heel of the second sock in a Plain Vanilla pair for my elderly cousin D, whom I'll be visiting in June. I'm using a 'manly' colour-way in navy, blue, and tan self-striping yarn -- 4 fadig Strato Color by Regia -- which has lived in my stash for some time now. Yesterday I got the rest of the leg done, plus the first row of the heel...in the long quiet gap between mad flurries of customers in my first day on the job at The Crafty Lady.
I also learned how to enter new inventory (a new shipment of jewel-toned 'ruffle' yarn -- Red Heart's Metallic Sashay. It's so delicious I might have to make one of these scarves after all.), to run the cash register, and to create price labels (for a shipment of wood and horn buttons and shawl pins, also yummy!).
My skills in making change while conversing with a customer have been refreshed (I worked in a bookshop in Calgary between 2005 and 2008)...as well as how to serve multiple customers on a tag-team basis.
And...I wound 4 of seven skeins of yarn on a ball-winder that needs to be mounted on a higher counter! Lori, the manager, spelled me off for the other 3 skeins, plus 2 more for another customer later in the afternoon.
By 5:30 p.m. I was definitely ready for home! It was fun, though, and I came away with a list of projects/techniques to work on:
- An entrelac scarf that has languished since the class I took a couple of years ago;
- A worsted weight shawl in Berroco "Comfort" (worsted weight) from the 'on sale' yarns at the front of the shop; and
- An embroidery sampler from "Just Nan", barely begun...Heaven knows when, having been inspired by the fellow (yes fellow) who came in to get supplies for not one but two projects he wants to do from Just Cross-stitch Magazine (which issue, I'm not sure; I saw only the inside of it, not the cover!)
The blessing of today is that it's rainy (at last) so I can curl up with my beading and knitting...sifting and sorting new experiences, new information, new ideas...again remembering...
We are stardust;
we are golden --
and we've got to get ourselves
back to the Garden.
- Joni MItchell, "Woodstock"
Why don't you 'set a spell' and listen along while you catch up with some other artists? I'm linking this -- for the first time in a few weeks -- to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday. :-)
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