I have been a huge admirer of Virginia Spiegel's campaign to raise money for the American Cancer Society, since she started with the original sale of Fiberart Postcards at the Houston International Quilt Festival several years ago. This has been a labor of love for Virginia, her sister Nancy Spiegel Rosman, and the many others who have helped. Having lost my husband to cancer 9 years ago, I wanted to make some small contribution to something that is so close to my own heart, as well as a joyful way to remember my husband and other friends and relatives who have fought this disease. Since fiber art is both my vocation and my avocation, this seemed a perfect match for me. I was honored to be asked to contribute to the Invitational Reverse Auction, and delighted to accept.
Here is Virginia's announcement:
The following ten invited artists will be featured in the 2009 Invitational Reverse Auction of Fiberart to benefit the American Cancer Society:
Natalya Aikens
Gerrie Congdon
Marjorie DeQuincy
Rayna Gillman
Carol Larson
Linda Teddlie Minton
Susie Monday
Judy Coates Perez
Leandra Spangler
Roxane Stoner
Links to the artists' websites/blogs are here: http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html
What a great lineup of artists who each bring a different twist to her practice of fiber art! Each artist will donate one artwork to the Reverse Auction to be held in March 2009. I don't have the exact dates set yet, but, per usual, the Reverse Auction will be three days in March with the minimum donation (made directly to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause) dropping each day.
I thank the invited artists for their great generosity and hope you will support them during the Reverse Auction and by visiting their websites/blogs.
Warm regards,Virginia -- Virginia A. Spiegel
Website http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/
Blog http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/blog/
Garbage, Art, Recycling http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/GarbageDayProject/
Fiberart For A Cause, fundraising for the American Cancer Society. http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/NewFiles/ACSFundraiser.html
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Unifying Threads
(Click on the picture to see it better ...)
We have our new postcard flyers for the Unifying Threads show that will be running at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft from October 26-December 21 (opening night will be 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., October 24).
Mary Ann Littlejohn and Susan King collaborated on the art direction for this card, which incorporates a piece of art from each of the participating artists. I think they did a beautiful job. Each of these artists is a member of the Beyond the Borders art-quilt group in Houston.
You are invited to come to the HCCC and view our work, along with the work of the other artists who will be showing there as well. We are thrilled to be showing during the same time that the Houston International Quilt Festival is in town, so we hope to see you there.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Hotlining Abuse
a quoted email from Andee Wasson ...
Lots of great, easy to understand info on the Orphan Works can be found here: http://adistantsoil.com/blog/?p=4063
What is hotlining?
Senate conservatives are upset that the leaders of both parties in the chamber have in recent years increasingly used a practice known as “hotlining” bills — previously used to quickly move noncontroversial bills or simple procedural motions — to pass complex and often costly legislation, in some cases with little or no public debate.
In order for a bill to be hotlined, the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader must agree to pass it by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote. The two leaders then inform Members of this agreement using special hotlines installed in each office and give Members a specified amount of time to object — in some cases as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill is passed. Critics also point out that hotlining is often done during “wrap-up” at the end of the day — which can occur well after Members’ offices have closed for business — and is particularly popular in the runup to recesses. More background on the abusive use of hotlining found here: http://tiny.cc/eKz41
Republican Steering Committee head, Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) are both against Hotlining; they might be worth contacting. The Senate Majority and Minority leaders who helped push this through last Friday should be properly thanked, I do believe.... to contact Seantor Reid and senator McConnell feel free to use the following comment pages, I did:
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact_for%20m.cfm
Hopefully residents of Kentucky and Nevada will see fit to get rid of both of them at their first opportunity. I doubt that Hatch or Leahy care what you think on the subject, clearly they have favors to repay that are obviously more important than representing anyone or defending your rights to maintain control/ownership of your own art.
Thanks for the references, Andee, and for saying it better than I could!
Lots of great, easy to understand info on the Orphan Works can be found here: http://adistantsoil.com/blog/?p=4063
What is hotlining?
Senate conservatives are upset that the leaders of both parties in the chamber have in recent years increasingly used a practice known as “hotlining” bills — previously used to quickly move noncontroversial bills or simple procedural motions — to pass complex and often costly legislation, in some cases with little or no public debate.
In order for a bill to be hotlined, the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader must agree to pass it by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote. The two leaders then inform Members of this agreement using special hotlines installed in each office and give Members a specified amount of time to object — in some cases as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill is passed. Critics also point out that hotlining is often done during “wrap-up” at the end of the day — which can occur well after Members’ offices have closed for business — and is particularly popular in the runup to recesses. More background on the abusive use of hotlining found here: http://tiny.cc/eKz41
Republican Steering Committee head, Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) are both against Hotlining; they might be worth contacting. The Senate Majority and Minority leaders who helped push this through last Friday should be properly thanked, I do believe.... to contact Seantor Reid and senator McConnell feel free to use the following comment pages, I did:
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/contact_for%20m.cfm
Hopefully residents of Kentucky and Nevada will see fit to get rid of both of them at their first opportunity. I doubt that Hatch or Leahy care what you think on the subject, clearly they have favors to repay that are obviously more important than representing anyone or defending your rights to maintain control/ownership of your own art.
Thanks for the references, Andee, and for saying it better than I could!
HIDING THE RABBIT - Orphan Works Bill
Boy, am I MAD! This past Friday, the Senate SNEAKED a vote to pass the Orphan Works Bill, which I (and hundreds of thousands of other artists of every kind) have been fighting for some time.
On Sep 26, 2008, right in the midst of the current financial crisis, this bill was quietly passed in the Senate by unanimous Consent. SHAME on the Senate! As far as I can tell, a record of each representative's position was not kept, which implies to me that those passing it did not want to be held accountable for their vote on this bill.
I am disgusted that our 'esteemed' elected officials found yet another way to pass special interest legislation, hanging small businesses out to dry! By 'hotlining' the Orphan Works Act, with all of Congress busy with the bail-out, this act unanimously passed the Senate without a vote, leaving independent artists at the mercy of big business.
The following is quoted (with permission) from the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog:
They say this "landmark intellectual property bill" will "unlock proverbial attics of copyrighted works" whose owners can't be found. Is that really what all the fuss has been about? No. If that were the case, the problems could be solved with a modest expansion of Fair Use. It's not proverbial closets we fear seeing unlocked. It's our commercial inventories, which would be exposed to potential infringement. And while one Senator pointedly writes that the bill "does not dramatically restructure copyright law", he's right: it doesn't "restructure" it. It merely redefines an orphaned work so broadly that it would let users infringe millions of works as orphans on the premise that some might be.
And why, if the bill is only meant to benefit libraries and museums, have the doors been opened wide for commercial usage?
A Fundamental Change to Copyright Law
For us, the saddest of these postings is on the Copyright Office website itself. http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/
There, Marybeth Peters, the Register of Copyrights, explains that this bill is necessary because the U.S., in trying to harmonize our law with international agreements, has created too many orphans. But that's not the sad part. There are orphans. She's entitled to her belief. And as Register of Copyrights, she's entitled to lobby for a change in the law. But what's sad is that the Register, who we've respected for years as an advocate for creators' rights, has chosen to justify this legislative scheme by mischaracterizing the honest objections that creators have raised in good faith, again and again.
Here's how she summarizes the objections of the hundreds of thousands of artists, writers, photographers and musicians who oppose this bill:
"Some critics [she writes] believe that the legislation is unfair because it will deprive copyright owners of injunctive relief, statutory damages, and actual damages. I do not agree."
Well, those are all real issues, but they've never been our focus. We've made our case clearly, simply and often. Our objection goes to the heart of the matter. Here it is, as one of us expressed it in his opening statement at the Small Business Administration Roundtable, August 8:
"The bill's sponsors say it's merely a small adjustment to copyright law. In fact, its logic reverses copyright law. It presumes that the public is entitled to use your work as a primary right and that it's your obligation to make your work available. If this bill passes, in the United States, copyright will no longer be the exclusive right of the copyright holder."- From "Orphan Works: A Hobson's Choice for Artists," by Brad Holland August 8 2008
And in case the point needed elaboration:
"This exclusive right matters to artists for three reasons:
Creative control: No one can change your work without your permission;
Ownership: No one can use your work without your permission;
Value: In the marketplace, your ability to sell exclusive rights to a client triples the value of your work.
http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/08/orphan-works-hobsons-choice-for-artists.html
The Orphan Works Act passed by the Senate Friday explicitly voids that exclusive right as expressed in Article 9 of the Berne Copyright Convention:
(1) Authors of literary and artistic works protected by this Convention shall have the exclusive right of authorizing the reproduction of these works, in any manner or form.
(2) It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to permit the reproduction of such works in certain special cases, provided that such reproduction does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.
(3) Any sound or visual recording shall be considered as a reproduction for the purposes of this Convention. http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/9.html
There can be no responsible argument that the Orphan Works Act is consistent with Article 9 of Berne. None. Simple reason: the Orphan Works Act does not limit exemptions to an author's exclusive right to "certain special cases." Case closed. There are many other reasons to object to this terrible bill: it violates the entirety of Article 9. But we only need to make this single point to show that it's a radically new copyright law.
Hiding the Rabbit
The key to the Congressional magic act has been to hide an anti-copyright rabbit in an Orphan Works hat while misdirecting attention to a tedious debate about "reasonably diligent searches," injunctive relief and statutory damages. Meanwhile, the secret of the trick has been simple: redefine an orphaned work as "a work by an unlocatable author." This new definition would permit any person to infringe any work by any artist at any time for any reason - no matter how commercial - so long as the infringer found the author sufficiently hard to find. Since everybody can be hard for somebody to find, this voids a rights holder's exclusive right to his own property. It defines the public's right to use private property as a default position, available to anyone whenever the property owner fails to make himself sufficiently available. This is a new definition of copyright law.
The headline on the Copyright Office website should read: In the United States, Copyright Will No Longer Be the Exclusive Right of the Copyright Holder. This headline would at least have the virtue of candor.
On March 13, the Register of Copyrights testified before the House IP Subcommittee. On page 1 of her testimony she said:
"Every country has orphan works and I believe that, sooner or later, every country will be motivated to consider a solution. The solution proposed by the Copyright Office is a workable one and will be of interest to other countries." http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat031308.html
You can bet it will be of interest to other countries, because the copyrights of other countries can now be orphans in the U.S. too. The Copyright Office and the Senate have thrown down a gauntlet to the world. Write your congressional representatives today and tell them not to follow.
-Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
TAKE ACTION: EMAIL CONGRESS NOW
Tell the House Judiciary Committee not to adopt the Senate version. We've supplied a special letter for this purpose:http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321
Thanks to Gloria Hansen, Ann Flaherty, Andrea "Andee" Wasson, and the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog for giving permission to reproduce portions of their writings about this issue.
On Sep 26, 2008, right in the midst of the current financial crisis, this bill was quietly passed in the Senate by unanimous Consent. SHAME on the Senate! As far as I can tell, a record of each representative's position was not kept, which implies to me that those passing it did not want to be held accountable for their vote on this bill.
I am disgusted that our 'esteemed' elected officials found yet another way to pass special interest legislation, hanging small businesses out to dry! By 'hotlining' the Orphan Works Act, with all of Congress busy with the bail-out, this act unanimously passed the Senate without a vote, leaving independent artists at the mercy of big business.
The following is quoted (with permission) from the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog:
They say this "landmark intellectual property bill" will "unlock proverbial attics of copyrighted works" whose owners can't be found. Is that really what all the fuss has been about? No. If that were the case, the problems could be solved with a modest expansion of Fair Use. It's not proverbial closets we fear seeing unlocked. It's our commercial inventories, which would be exposed to potential infringement. And while one Senator pointedly writes that the bill "does not dramatically restructure copyright law", he's right: it doesn't "restructure" it. It merely redefines an orphaned work so broadly that it would let users infringe millions of works as orphans on the premise that some might be.
And why, if the bill is only meant to benefit libraries and museums, have the doors been opened wide for commercial usage?
A Fundamental Change to Copyright Law
For us, the saddest of these postings is on the Copyright Office website itself. http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/
There, Marybeth Peters, the Register of Copyrights, explains that this bill is necessary because the U.S., in trying to harmonize our law with international agreements, has created too many orphans. But that's not the sad part. There are orphans. She's entitled to her belief. And as Register of Copyrights, she's entitled to lobby for a change in the law. But what's sad is that the Register, who we've respected for years as an advocate for creators' rights, has chosen to justify this legislative scheme by mischaracterizing the honest objections that creators have raised in good faith, again and again.
Here's how she summarizes the objections of the hundreds of thousands of artists, writers, photographers and musicians who oppose this bill:
"Some critics [she writes] believe that the legislation is unfair because it will deprive copyright owners of injunctive relief, statutory damages, and actual damages. I do not agree."
Well, those are all real issues, but they've never been our focus. We've made our case clearly, simply and often. Our objection goes to the heart of the matter. Here it is, as one of us expressed it in his opening statement at the Small Business Administration Roundtable, August 8:
"The bill's sponsors say it's merely a small adjustment to copyright law. In fact, its logic reverses copyright law. It presumes that the public is entitled to use your work as a primary right and that it's your obligation to make your work available. If this bill passes, in the United States, copyright will no longer be the exclusive right of the copyright holder."- From "Orphan Works: A Hobson's Choice for Artists," by Brad Holland August 8 2008
And in case the point needed elaboration:
"This exclusive right matters to artists for three reasons:
Creative control: No one can change your work without your permission;
Ownership: No one can use your work without your permission;
Value: In the marketplace, your ability to sell exclusive rights to a client triples the value of your work.
http://ipaorphanworks.blogspot.com/2008/08/orphan-works-hobsons-choice-for-artists.html
The Orphan Works Act passed by the Senate Friday explicitly voids that exclusive right as expressed in Article 9 of the Berne Copyright Convention:
(1) Authors of literary and artistic works protected by this Convention shall have the exclusive right of authorizing the reproduction of these works, in any manner or form.
(2) It shall be a matter for legislation in the countries of the Union to permit the reproduction of such works in certain special cases, provided that such reproduction does not conflict with a normal exploitation of the work and does not unreasonably prejudice the legitimate interests of the author.
(3) Any sound or visual recording shall be considered as a reproduction for the purposes of this Convention. http://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/9.html
There can be no responsible argument that the Orphan Works Act is consistent with Article 9 of Berne. None. Simple reason: the Orphan Works Act does not limit exemptions to an author's exclusive right to "certain special cases." Case closed. There are many other reasons to object to this terrible bill: it violates the entirety of Article 9. But we only need to make this single point to show that it's a radically new copyright law.
Hiding the Rabbit
The key to the Congressional magic act has been to hide an anti-copyright rabbit in an Orphan Works hat while misdirecting attention to a tedious debate about "reasonably diligent searches," injunctive relief and statutory damages. Meanwhile, the secret of the trick has been simple: redefine an orphaned work as "a work by an unlocatable author." This new definition would permit any person to infringe any work by any artist at any time for any reason - no matter how commercial - so long as the infringer found the author sufficiently hard to find. Since everybody can be hard for somebody to find, this voids a rights holder's exclusive right to his own property. It defines the public's right to use private property as a default position, available to anyone whenever the property owner fails to make himself sufficiently available. This is a new definition of copyright law.
The headline on the Copyright Office website should read: In the United States, Copyright Will No Longer Be the Exclusive Right of the Copyright Holder. This headline would at least have the virtue of candor.
On March 13, the Register of Copyrights testified before the House IP Subcommittee. On page 1 of her testimony she said:
"Every country has orphan works and I believe that, sooner or later, every country will be motivated to consider a solution. The solution proposed by the Copyright Office is a workable one and will be of interest to other countries." http://www.copyright.gov/docs/regstat031308.html
You can bet it will be of interest to other countries, because the copyrights of other countries can now be orphans in the U.S. too. The Copyright Office and the Senate have thrown down a gauntlet to the world. Write your congressional representatives today and tell them not to follow.
-Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
TAKE ACTION: EMAIL CONGRESS NOW
Tell the House Judiciary Committee not to adopt the Senate version. We've supplied a special letter for this purpose:http://capwiz.com/illustratorspartnership/issues/alert/?alertid=11980321
Thanks to Gloria Hansen, Ann Flaherty, Andrea "Andee" Wasson, and the Illustrators' Partnership Orphan Works Blog for giving permission to reproduce portions of their writings about this issue.
Friday, September 26, 2008
65th Anniversary
It's hard to believe that anyone could stay married to the same person for 65 years ... but my Mom & Dad have done it, and done it with class. We're celebrating this weekend with friends and family.
This is the shadowbox my sister Suzanne and I concocted (with long-distance advice from Der Craigle). The box itself was somewhat worn, so needed refinishing and a little touch of gold to brighten it up.
(Back of shadowbox ... I love this funny picture of Mom "begging" Dad to marry her. Click on the image to see it larger, and read the captions.)
Above is Detail 1: Spectacles with pictures of Dad & Mom adhered to the back of the lenses with Diamond Glaze. Both the spectacles and the little booklet were stitched to the fabric picture before it was glued to the backing of the box.
Above is Detail 2: a miniaturized copy of the dance booklet for Dad's Senior Ring Dance at Texas A&M ... just before he and Mom were married. (The dance was for the Class of '44, but was held in '43.)
Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad ... we love you.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
A Birthday Postcard
Here is my gorgeous fiber-art Birthday Postcard from my friend Liz Broussard, named "Shattered & Scattered". Besides the beautiful stitching, the sewn binding is made from painted coffee filters! Thank you Liz!
This time I'M a winner!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
The WINNER of the Name-That-Show Contest!
Since the 2008 Journal Quilts Exhibition is a juried show this year, we wanted to be able to see all the rest of them in an on-line show (on the QuiltArt List). We wanted a new name for all the wonderful quilts that either didn't get finished in time for the deadline, didn't get juried into the big Houston show, or just wouldn't be able to be there for whatever reason.
I posted a contest with a "Fabulous Prize" on the QuiltArt List for the winner of the naming contest ... and I got to choose the winning name! It was so much fun ... I received many, many entries ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous ... all of them lots of fun to read. Diane Ferguson was the hands-down winner. As soon as I read her entry ... "Braving the Elements" ... I knew it was "the one".
Then I had to scurry around and find a "Fabulous Prize" to send her! I knew it needed to be something quilt-art related, but also wanted to add something fun and funny ... so Sebastian the Sock Monkey entered the picture. Combined with a yard of my own hand-rusted cotton fabric, this was the perfect "Fabulous Prize".
(http://yarngoddess.wordpress.com/). Here is what I Commented on her blog.
Diane, congratulations again on choosing THE best name for our on-line exhibit of Braving the Elements!
Sebastian is one of my vintage sock monkeys who has been in my collection for at least 20 years. Although beloved by me, he didn’t get along so well with the other sock monkeys (and one sock kitten). He tended to sneak up behind them and bite their tails, sometimes leading to midnight mayhem that I would discover (and have to clean up) the next morning.
So poor little Sebastian had to go. I’m so glad he found a good home with you. He is very friendly to frogs, turtles, lizards, and horned toads (if you can find any of those anymore!), but you would be wise to keep him away from any other sock monkeys. He’s a trouble-maker!
Oh yes, the rust-stained cotton fabric was made in my back yard, with some rusty old horseshoes, under the watchful eyes of some very confused mockingbirds. You have two shades of rust, due to the fold in the fabric.
Again, congratulations on your winning name! And THANK YOU!
(Diane, I "borrowed" the picture of Sebastian on the rusted fabric from your blog ... it was so much better than the one I took! I hope that's OK ...)
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Floating Downstream on the Planet Jupiter
Floating Downstream on the Planet Jupiter, 6"x4", also started as a needle-felted base, with hand-dyed cheesecloth, ribbon, yarn, and wool. The little Venusian girl was separately beaded as a doll, then attached to the base. She is vacationing on Jupiter, serenely floating downstream, dreaming of a Venusian boy.
New Beginnings
New Beginnings, 4"x6", is an encrusted piece on a painted background. An original design created from a Photoshop-manipulated photo of a flower from my back yard, it ended up looking more like an egg than a flower. Either way, it reminded me of "new beginnings".
The Gift
The Gift, 4"x6", is a combination of two different projects. The original beaded doll on wire was created separately, and I had him on a little doll-stand. The background was needle-felted natural dyed shredded bark, and originally had an entirely different purpose. The two seemed to "fit" together, and became "The Gift".
The Lizard Constellation
The Lizard Constellation, 6"x4"is a painted background, beaded around a beaded button. Larkin Van Horn (http://www.larkinart.com/) taught me to bead a button, and this is a very dimensional piece ... one of my favorites.
Deep Currents
Deep Currents, 4"x6", is also a caged face cabochon. This face is ceramic rather than polymer clay, and has been in my "stuff stash" for several years, so I don't remember where I picked her up. Her veil was created with size 11 and 15 seed beeds, and surrounded by stacked beads. Almost all of the deep sea coral is made up of stacked beads, with a few Swarovski crystals thrown in for sparkle. The surface is a hand-dyed silk chiffon.
A Lunar Blessing
I thought I would add the rest of my 2007 Bead Journal Pages. This one, "A Lunar Blessing", 4"x6", started out as a machine-felted postcard. My friend Betty let me play on her embellishing machine one day, and I had a ball! After the piece was felted, though, it languished in my sewing room for want of a focal point. Once I came across the little polymer clay moon-face, I thought caging her at the center of the moon would be a lovely addition. I used my hand-dyed silk chiffon as the moon-beams, with a spattering of tiny beads added as stars.
Friday, August 15, 2008
She Waits
"She Waits", 4x6", is one of my first caged cabochons that I was entirely pleased with. I'm happy with the effect of the seed beads creating a sort of veil over her forehead, and I think the color scheme goes well with the beautiful ceramic face, given to me as a gift by my friend Larkin Van Horn (http://www.larkinart.com/). (She's also the one who taught me to "cage the wild cabochon"!)
Here's a side view, so you can see how dimensional the piece is.
And here it is framed to 14" x 16". This is the only one of my beaded pieces that is currently for sale ... through the Copper Shade Tree Gallery (http://www.coppershadetree.com/), or here's a direct link to my page on their website ... http://tinyurl.com/6hcxd6.
What Would Nancy Do?
"WWND?", 6x4", was a piece I started as a textural experiment, using different sizes and shapes of beads. Coincidentally, I made and wore the little "WWND" beaded pin to a quilt-art meeting where I knew my friend Nancy Dickey (http://www.nancybdickey.com/) would be. I wanted to both tease her and honor her for her fine, meticulous beading work. Then, once that joke was done, I decided to incorporate the little pin into this Bead Journal Page. It's not exactly a work of art, but it was a lot of fun, and took many, many hours of beading fun.
Eye of the Beholder
"Eye of the Beholder", 6x4", was created on a base of black ultrasuede, something I probably would not do again. The gold painted lines do not want to stay solid on this material. I also don't like the edge treatment I tried on this piece. However, I do like the "eye", which I purchased from a taxidermist, caged with seed beads, and surrounded with bugle beads.
Little Sun
"Little Sun", 6x4", was painted then beaded. I like the combination of "encrusted" beading for the seed area, and the lighter beading in the petal area, allowing the wash of paint colors to show through. Stacked beads worked well for the seeds, I think.
Desert Tortoise
"Desert Tortoise", 6x4", began as a painted cotton fabric background (Setacolor opaque paints), with the shell created by choosing irregularly-shaped polished rock beads. The desert flowers always seem so brave to me, so they had their say with tiny red sparks of color against the dry landscape.
Carnivale
"Carnivale", 6x4", was my June Bead Journal Page for Robin Atkins' 2007 project http://beadjournalproject.blogspot.com/. It has a base of black sweatshirt fabric, machine-needle-felted with fibers, and embellished with a hand-needle-felted "button". The beads seemed like explosions of light from a fireworks display to me, and so it became "Carnivale".
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Rusty Grove
I can't show the entire piece before it goes into a show at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft in October, but I thought I'd post a "teaser" just for fun. Here's a corner of an art quilt begun with gelatin plate prints, enhanced with hand-painted and -rusted cottons. Hand embroidered, machine quilted.
Art Girls Beading Day
Well we really did have a Beady Day at my house on Sunday ... Honest! Only you couldn't prove it by these pictures. Gloria showed her gorgeous jacket, which was part of her ensemble that won Third Place, as well as Viewer's Choice, in the Rosenberg Cotton Fashion Show. This was fabric that she had hand-dyed, discharged, stamped, and painted. Her finishing techniques are exquisite, too.
Martha is our Tie-Dye Girl, and was checking out some of the pictures Gloria brought back from her Maine vacation with her granddaughters ... some of which we snitched to use as inspiration for fiber art.
Mary Ellen brought her collage piece to finish ... here it is without the edging finish that she added later that day. I think it's beautiful even without the finish! Below is a closeup of the collage by itself.
Patricia asked me to take a photo of the latest polymer clay bracelet I bought from her, for her portfolio. The photo isn't the greatest, but the bracelet is a show-stopper ... literally! I have people stop me all the time and ask me about it. She made it expandable, which is why it's different from most bangle bracelets. The gorgeous colors are achieved by her technique of Mokume Gane'.
And last but not least, we awarded Patricia "Best Laugh of the Day" with this photo ...
... and not a bead to be seen!
Martha is our Tie-Dye Girl, and was checking out some of the pictures Gloria brought back from her Maine vacation with her granddaughters ... some of which we snitched to use as inspiration for fiber art.
Mary Ellen brought her collage piece to finish ... here it is without the edging finish that she added later that day. I think it's beautiful even without the finish! Below is a closeup of the collage by itself.
Patricia asked me to take a photo of the latest polymer clay bracelet I bought from her, for her portfolio. The photo isn't the greatest, but the bracelet is a show-stopper ... literally! I have people stop me all the time and ask me about it. She made it expandable, which is why it's different from most bangle bracelets. The gorgeous colors are achieved by her technique of Mokume Gane'.
And last but not least, we awarded Patricia "Best Laugh of the Day" with this photo ...
... and not a bead to be seen!
Oh my poor Blog!
It's so sad ...
untended ...
and drooping with neglect ...
that my friend Cathy has "goosed" me to revive it ... so here I am to do it. Thank you Cathy, I really didn't mean to be gone for so long!
untended ...
and drooping with neglect ...
that my friend Cathy has "goosed" me to revive it ... so here I am to do it. Thank you Cathy, I really didn't mean to be gone for so long!
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Collage Mania Opens Monday
Get your motors runnin' ... Virginia Spiegel's Collage Mania
http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageMania081.html,
to benefit the American Cancer Society, is opening Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. CST, to run for ONLY two days. See her blog for more info. http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/blog/archives/770 and for some answers to some Frequently Asked Questions.
Here's are some more "teasers" for you ...
Asian Fall by Angie Platten
Creation Story by Joy Hellman
Full Circle 2 by Sherrie Tootle
Get your emails ready to send, and your trigger finger ready to hit the "Send" button at 9:00 Monday (and/or Tuesday) morning! I know I'm excited ... Good luck!
http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/CollageMania081.html,
to benefit the American Cancer Society, is opening Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. CST, to run for ONLY two days. See her blog for more info. http://www.virginiaspiegel.com/blog/archives/770 and for some answers to some Frequently Asked Questions.
Here's are some more "teasers" for you ...
Asian Fall by Angie Platten
Creation Story by Joy Hellman
Full Circle 2 by Sherrie Tootle
Get your emails ready to send, and your trigger finger ready to hit the "Send" button at 9:00 Monday (and/or Tuesday) morning! I know I'm excited ... Good luck!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
IT'S HERE!
Collage Mania Preview Week -- It's here at last!
Sun Please, by Inge Reinholdt
At last, the much-anticipated Preview of all 235 collages created by over 100 artists worldwide, which will be available for purchase on May 5 and 6, 2008! Collage Mania 2008 is organized and managed by fiber artist Virginia Spiegel. Virginia explains:
"Preview Week is a great time to browse through the collages, make your shopping list, prepare an e-mail to send me (note: for which collages you want to acquire!) and ask any questions you may have about Collage Mania and how to acquire the artwork."
FUNDRAISING TO BENEFIT
THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
Virginia and her team of supporters organized Collage Mania 2008 to benefit The American Cancer Society. Virginia is also the founder of Fiberart For A Cause which has raised more than $150,000 for the American Cancer Society in the last several years.
HOW TO ACQUIRE A COLLAGE
Virginia provides detailed information about how to acquire a collage on the Collage Mania Site. It's fun, it's exciting! Preview all the wonderful artwork, make your choices ... and have your email ready to send off on May 5 and May 6! Then you will have not only some fantastic new artwork for your collection, but also the satisfaction of having helped a most worthy cause.
I've got my choices already made ... keeping my fingers crossed that I get at least one of my "first" choices, but knowing that ALL of my choices are wonderful! Dive in, have fun, and help Virginia raise more money for the American Cancer Society.
Sun Please, by Inge Reinholdt
At last, the much-anticipated Preview of all 235 collages created by over 100 artists worldwide, which will be available for purchase on May 5 and 6, 2008! Collage Mania 2008 is organized and managed by fiber artist Virginia Spiegel. Virginia explains:
"Preview Week is a great time to browse through the collages, make your shopping list, prepare an e-mail to send me (note: for which collages you want to acquire!) and ask any questions you may have about Collage Mania and how to acquire the artwork."
FUNDRAISING TO BENEFIT
THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
Virginia and her team of supporters organized Collage Mania 2008 to benefit The American Cancer Society. Virginia is also the founder of Fiberart For A Cause which has raised more than $150,000 for the American Cancer Society in the last several years.
HOW TO ACQUIRE A COLLAGE
Virginia provides detailed information about how to acquire a collage on the Collage Mania Site. It's fun, it's exciting! Preview all the wonderful artwork, make your choices ... and have your email ready to send off on May 5 and May 6! Then you will have not only some fantastic new artwork for your collection, but also the satisfaction of having helped a most worthy cause.
I've got my choices already made ... keeping my fingers crossed that I get at least one of my "first" choices, but knowing that ALL of my choices are wonderful! Dive in, have fun, and help Virginia raise more money for the American Cancer Society.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
