The Journey - Dinner at Eight, 2016

This is my 5th year to be included in the Dinner at Eight Artists exhibit at the Houston and Chicago International Quilt Festivals. (One year I was unable to enter, and one year my entry wasn't accepted.) I'm absolutely thrilled that my piece, "The Journey" has been accepted for 2016, and want to thank Dinner at Eight's founders, Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal, for their ongoing commitment to this wonderful exhibit.

The Journey, 40" x 40"
created for the 2016 Dinner at Eight "Patterns" exhibit.

Shadows stretch out from beneath our feet, up toward
something greater. The Journey must start somewhere.

From their annual interview of the artists, I've pulled a couple of my own answers to include here.

Although I'm a visual artist, I get most of my inspiration from literary sources ... songs, stories, and quotations. One of my favorite resources is my 93-year-old mother, who still sings songs from her long-ago childhood ... oftentimes, these songs or verbal snippets find their way into my artwork.

I think of myself as a whimsical artist because I love humor in all its forms, but I also love bold and mysterious abstracts. My style has developed so gradually and has morphed in so many subtle directions that it's hard to pinpoint when I "found" it ... in fact, I'm pretty sure I'm still searching for it.

"The Journey" began as several digitally manipulated photographs, printed on cotton sateen by a printing service, which I then painted, inked, thread-sketched, and machine quilted. I have been using a "faced" method of finishing my art quilts, rather than a traditional binding. Below is a detail shot of the quilt.

The Journey - detail

As Karey Bresenhan's Quilt Festival in Houston grows nearer (only a couple more months!) I get more and more excited about all the fabulous traditional and art quilts I will see. Miles of inspiration, all in one huge building ... I can't wait!

"Peas 'n Honey" goes to Festival

I'm thrilled to have been accepted into the juried invitational exhibit, "Affinity", hosted by Leslie Tucker Jenison's and Jamie Fingal's Dinner at Eight Artists for the 2015 International Quilt Festival. According the rules for entry, the theme of "Affinity" could be interpreted by the artist in any way he or she chose, and I decided to portray my affinity for humor in art.

I've always loved the inclusion of humor, whether overt or subtle, in any form of art. Much of my own artwork reflects my sense of humor, even if it is sometimes apparent only to myself.

For this submission, I wanted to use a favorite old poem by Ogden Nash. It became slightly mangled over the years of oral repetition by my family since its original printing in 1944, but it remains essentially the same ...

I eats my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps 'em on my knife.

Peas 'n Honey, 40" x 40", Silk Charmeuse

Peas 'n Honey, detail

I feel honored to be in the company of these fine fiber artists for this exhibit:

Frances Holliday Alford
Linda C. Anderson
Sue Bleiweiss
Loris Bogue
Deborah Boschert
Cindy Cooksey
Lauretta K. Crites
Diane R. Doran
Jane E. Dunnewold
Robbi Joy Eklow
Suzan Engler
Barb Forrister
Lyric M. Kinard
Susan Fletcher King
Karol Kusmaul
Cathie I. Hoover
Stacy Hurt
Susan Brubaker Knapp
Sandra E. Lauterbach
Jeannie P. Moore
Susie Monday
Rachel K. Parris
Andi Perejda
Judy Coates Perez
Yvonne Porcella
Heather Pregger
Wen Redmond
Cynthia St. Charles
Julie Schlueter
Gayle Simpson
Sarah Ann Smith
Virginia A. Spiegel
Terri Stegmiller
Ann E. Turley
Larkin Jean Van Horn
Valerie C. White
Kathy York
and, of course,
Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison

RITUALS book is now available.

I'm excited and gratified to announce the availability of the catalog for the Rituals exhibit, which is opening this month at the International Quilt Festival, Long Beach, CA., and later to be shown at the IQF in Houston.  Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal (Dinner @ Eight Artists) have once more curated a beautiful exhibit, and Loris Bogue has edited the creation of the book.

Here's a picture of the book cover:

You can order the book here.

Kissing the Cat Goodnight

Well, it seems that other artists are showing their Rituals entries, and of course I'm so happy about the whole experience that I've got to show mine.  Here is "Kissing the Cat Goodnight", for Dinner at Eight Artists' Rituals exhibit.

Kissing the Cat Goodnight, 24" x 60"

Please see my previous post for more information and a detail shot.  And thanks again to Moore's Sewing Centers and Havel's Sewing for their sponsorship at the International Quilt Festivals in Long Beach, California and Houston, Texas.

Rituals - Kissing the Cat Goodnight

I'm thrilled and excited to have had my work accepted in Dinner at Eight Artists' juried invitational exhibit curated by Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal.  Here are the guidelines that were set out for the "Rituals" challenge:

"Rituals" An exchange between friends. A handshake. A kiss before bedtime. The artist at work. A sun salutation. The wave before boarding the school bus. A song, a word, a meditation. A habit, a custom. The traditional toast at a gathering. A rite of passage. The sacred moments of the ordinary.   Rituals:  What are yours?

The only other parameters were that the art quilts be in a 24" x 60" vertical format ... an unusual but exciting size with which to challenge myself.

My piece is called "Kissing the Cat Goodnight", and since the premiere of the exhibit will be in July at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, CA (and later at the IQF in Houston), here is a sneak-preview (detail) photo:

Kissing the Cat Goodnight - Detail

This is mostly a wholecloth piece, with a bit of applique and surface design.  I wanted a ghostly look for part of the quilt, so I used several very light washes of gesso over certain areas before quilting.  Both the girl's and the cat's faces were painted before being stitched.

Moore's Sewing Centers is our sponsor for Festival in Long Beach, and Havel's Sewing is sponsoring the exhibit for Festival in Houston.  Please show your appreciation by visiting their websites, when you get a chance.  I know we really appreciate them, for without sponsors, we wouldn't be able to exhibit in these internationally-recognized shows.

Quilt Festival 2011, Part 4 ... some quilts and friends

First, some quilts made by some very dear friends of mine ... in the category of Texas Guilds' Award Winning Traditional Quilts, 2011:

Total Eclipse, by Sharon Dixon

1950's Santa Quilt, by Barbara Wafer; quilted by Barb Knoblock

Flowers in My Cabin, by Shirley Chriss; quilted by Linda Teddlie Minton

Flowers in My Cabin, detail

Flowers in My Cabin, quilting detail

Standing Strong, by Sharon Dixon

*********************************

One night several of us walked to an unfamiliar restaurant several blocks from the hotel for dinner.  It was cold and windy (unusual for Houston!) but we had a wonderful time.

Maggie Winfield and me ... our yearly snuggle.

Best buds Sharon Dixon and Jody Gantz having a giggle ... before or after margaritas?

A tiny glimpse of the huge Food Court at the GRB Convention Center.

***************************
In yesterday's post, I showed a picture of "Alice's Odyssey", a group challenge quilt made by 16 members of the Beyond the Borders art-quilt group in Katy, Texas.  Here are some of the members, gathered at different times in front of the exhibit.

Exhibit placard -- it was a single-quilt exhibit!

Connie Fahrion, Hannah Mallon, Sara Norris, Elaine Connelly, Cathy Winter 

Sitting: Nancy B. Dickey, Linda Teddlie Minton, Ann Schaefer, Cathy Winter
Standing: Cheryl Johnson, Jo Sweet

and here's the quilt again, so you don't have to flip back to look for it:

Alice's Odyssey
Each puzzle piece was created by a different artist, based on a chosen
theme from Alice in Wonderland and conformed to a specific puzzle shape
in order to fit in with the others.  The edges were satin stitched, and the
individual pieces were painstakingly assembled onto a quilted background by
Nancy Dickey.

***********************************
On Friday night, Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison gathered all of the participants they could, of the "Space Between" exhibit sponsored by their Dinner at Eight Artists group.  We had dinner at Spencer's Steakhouse in the Hilton Americas Hotel ... a fabulous (and fabulously expensive!) restaurant worthy of our exalted presence.  We even had the Chef's Table, along with appropriately superb service.  Here are just a few of the more sedate (?) moments of the evening.

Karen Rips and Rachel Parris

Susan Brubaker Knapp & Leslie Tucker Jenison

Frances Holliday Alford & Gerrie Congdon

Barb Forrester and Susan Fletcher King

Jamie Fingal and me

Susan Fletcher King and Judy Coates Perez
(don't hate her for wearing a fur coat ... I think that's Barb's hair on Susan's shoulder!)

The Adorable Deb Boschert and the Inimitable Jamie Fingal debate wine choices.

Judy and her daughter Indigo Perez.  Indigo is a fine artist in her own right,
and always a welcome addition to our table.

Leslie starts us off with the D@8 tradition of "spoonology" ... a fine old art.

Susan B.K. shows us how it's done.

Terry Grant gets it right the first time!

Barb carries it off with aplomb.

Jane LaFazio sets up her spoon

Susan F.K. looks like she's been doing it all her life.

Step 1:  Frances misunderstands the concept.

Step 2:  Frances reinterprets the concept.

Step 3:  Frances shows us how easy it really is.

The end of a long but lovely day.

The Antechamber revealed

It's here!  The book (catalog) for Dinner at Eight's current exhibit, "The Space Between", is now available for ordering at Blurb.com.  Here's the direct link ... you can even preview all the pages.  (Thank you again, Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison, for curating this beautiful show, and thanks to Loris Bogue for creating the book!)

Now that the catalog is published, I can show my entry, "The Antechamber":

The Antechamber, 36" x 48"

The Antechamber is an entryway, a waiting room … the space between.  The space between city and country, stress and tranquility, sophistication and simplicity.   I want to step through this antechamber into that other world.

Materials:  printable silk fabric sheets; silk dyes; cotton, rayon, and metallic threads; iridescent medium; Tsukineko inks.

Techniques:  digital altering, silk painting, machine quilting, hand-painting with inks.

I hope you get to see this exhibit in person, opening at the International Quilt Festival, July 29-31, in Long Beach, California.  If not, treat yourself to the catalog for some wonderful fiber art.

The Space Between - Interview

I was so thrilled to be juried into the invitational exhibit "The Space Between", co-curated by Leslie Tucker Jenison and Jamie Fingal.  And today was my "day in the sun", when I was the featured artist on their Dinner at Eight Artists blog.  Please take a look, then be sure to read about the other artists too ... we are all just fascinating!   ;^)

The Space Between

I was thrilled to learn this past weekend that my 36x48" art quilt, "The Antechamber" had been juried into the Dinner at Eight Artists' new exhibit, The Space Between.  Here's a little sneak preview, just to whet your appetite.

The Antechamber (detail)

The curators, Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison, invited a number of fiber artists to submit their work for the exhibit.  It will first be viewed at the International Quilt Festival in Chicago, sponsored by Moore's Sewing Centers, followed by the IQF in Houston, once a sponsor is found.


My entry for last year, "The Key", is still traveling with their Beneath the Surface exhibit.  It started out in Chicago and Houston, sponsored by Mistyfuse, and will next be seen at the IQF in Cincinnati.

The Key

If you have a few minutes, give yourself a little mini-break and go to the Dinner at Eight Artists blog to read some of the Artist's Profiles that are starting to be posted for this year's exhibit.  Today's profile is by Judy Coates Perez, yesterday's was by Susan Brubaker Knapp, and the first one was by ... drumroll, please ... Yvonne Porcella.  These are all fascinating artists, and I'm inspired by each of them.  Go ahead, indulge yourself, for just a few minutes!  You'll be glad you did.

"The Key" at Quilt Festival

Pamela Klebaum, Sherry Kleinman, Cynthia St. Charles and Linda Teddlie Minton

See the Dinner at Eight Artists blog for more pictures from the Beneath the Surface exhibit.  Once again, thank you, Jamie Fingal, Leslie Tucker Jenison for co-curating, and Iris Karp of Mistyfuse for sponsoring the exhibit.

Dinner at Eight - My Artist's Profile

Thanks to Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison, and their Dinner at Eight Artists, my Artist's Profile was featured yesterday on their blog. Go see it if you have a minute.

They are profiling all the artists who were invited and juried into their "Beneath the Surface" exhibit which will be premiering at Quilt Festival in Long Beach, CA. My 36" x 48" entry is titled "The Key", and here is a detail shot as a teaser.

Accepted!

Fiber artists Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison, along with their Dinner At Eight group, have created a special exhibit entitled "Beneath the Surface" that will debut at the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach, CA, July 22-25, 2010. The exhibit will be sponsored by Moore's Sewing Centers and Brother International.

I'm so excited that my piece, "The Key", created especially for this exhibit, has been juried in, and so I'm giving you a tiny sneak preview of it. This just shows a few inches of the 36x48" piece.

I can't wait to see what all the other artists have chosen to do with the theme, "Beneath the Surface".