Waterworks now in Edmonton

The Waterworks Exhibit will be up in Edmonton December 17, 2012 to January 23, 2013.  If you are from there, or find yourself in town, please stop by.

 

Extension Art Gallery

University of Alberta - Enterprise Square

10230 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, AB

(780) 492-0166

 

I was able to see the whole thing when it was in North Battleford, SK. I am always astonished to see the scope of art quilting. So many ways to make art!

WaterWorks show

This is the show my Working Water quilt is in...

It says…

Waterworks: Fibre Art Network

a thematic collection of recent fibre art from Western Canada

FibreArt Network (FAN) is a cooperative of self-defined artists based in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the Yukon and Northwest Territories committed to promoting quilting and fibre arts and each other.

Please join FAN for a meet and greet reception

Friday, September 28, 2 to4 pm at Chapel Gallery, North Battleford

Show runs: August 1 to September 30 open daily from noon to 5 pm.

Gallery Closed: August 4, 5, 11, 18, 20, 21, 23, 25, and September 10, 11, 12, 22.

891-99 St, North Battleford 306-445-1757

www.chapelgallery.ca

If you are travelling the Yellowhead Highway across Saskatchewan, do take a break in North Battleford, and check out the FibreArt Network`s art show of quilts.

Line of dyes

I am continuing to explore dyeing fabric. In the Quilt University (QuiltUniversity.com) course I'm taking, this week we were given recipes for the 12 colours on the colour wheel.

That sounds so easy. I am discovering that dyeing is a lot more than recipes. Maybe once I've been dyeing for decades--like I have been cooking, it will be as easy and intuitive. Things just do not come out as hoped for many times. Lots of times the results are close but not quite what I wanted or hoped for.




I am learning NOT to answer the phone, or check my email while it is soaking up the dye, waiting to be turned. Distractions do not help at all!

Oh, this being a beginner again. Not an easy feeling.

Here are the results of my dyeing, drying on the line.

Working Water

I have finished a piece for the FibreArt Network's upcoming show "WaterWorks".

It's blue, of course! and entitled "Working Water". It's about 40" square.

my artist's statement:

It is as it runs downhill that water does its work, whether it is for us humans, or not. Water moving, whether down the stream or lapping on the lake shore, attracts us. We know, deep in our bones, that water is essential for life. Water works within us for our souls.

and here is a close-up of the quilting:

Dyed piecing

I did already use some of the cloth I dyed a couple of weeks ago... in an art quilt called Fields of Colour, referring to both fields of tulips, and the colorfield school of art.

It was fun to abstract the roads and fields into strip piecing... and here's what I came up with.

The quilting is subtle, and supportive of the colour choices. Here's a detail.

Dying cloth

My newest adventure is learning to dye cloth for textile art. I found out that it's a bit like chemistry class, what with measuring as accurately as possible, and getting the timing down right.

I'm looking forward to having fabric that has more nuance to it than the manufactured kind.

My first run of just primary colours came out pretty well. I've added photos of the dying buckets and the end result... So I have red, and pastel red (pink); yellow and pastel yellow (it doesn't have any green tinge that shows on my screen), and blue and pastel blue (well, not really pastel, but lighter). and the one on the left is what resulted when I poured the three dye colours together. it started out a mulberry mud, which I didn't want to go darker, so I pulled it out early--and the red washed out, leaving the blue/yellow mix--which gave a light teal green. lovely actually.

Now I can't wait to try them out on a piece of textile art!

Cherry blossoms galore

The show opened last night, to a room filling crowd. It was great fun to see the myriad ways that others interpreted cherry blossoms, and to meet some of the artists. I only knew two others previously.

There are so very many techniques in art quilting--abstract (mine) to yarn... and I bet I've missed a few. Some of the pieces were tiny, only a few inches by a few inches in size. Others were quite large. Some were three dimensional--fairies! Some had much embellishment; others had very little. And, oh, those embellishments! Again, quite the variety. It's an education just to look, and figure out how they did it.

Thanks to all who came to see the show.