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!

The Art in Fiber, 2013

Some of my very favorite people in the whole world ... Gerald and Debbie Tobola ... are the owners of the Copper Shade Tree Gallery in the wonderful little art-town of Round Top, Texas.  They have nurtured Texas artists since they started the gallery, and gave me my own start in showing and selling.

Gerald & Debbie Tobola

This year, their month-long exhibit, The Art in Fiber 2013, is themed, "A View From My Window" and features 24 Texas fiber artists, including me.  I'm thrilled to have been juried into this show by the renowned Karey Bresenhan, no less!  The opening is tomorrow afternoon, from 2-5 p.m.  If you are anywhere near this little artful oasis situated between Houston, San Antonio, and Austin, it will be worth the trip to see the exhibit and the town.  It is also very near La Grange, where the Texas Quilt Museum resides ... voted Best Museum in Fayette County.

Here are the front and back of the postcard, inviting you to The Art in Fiber 2013 show.  I hope to see you there, sometime between February 2 and March 3.

 

The artists who will have work in the exhibit are:
Marilynn Barber
Pauline Barrett
Anne Berversdorf
Noreen Borys
Andrea Brokenshire
Susan Byrne
Janice Drees
Suzan Engler
Connie M. Fahrion
Barb Forrister
Debbie Geistweidt
Margery Hedges
Susan Fletcher King
Linda Teddlie Minton
Janet Moran
Sona Nast
Heather Pregger
Diane Sandlin
Oscar Silva
Annie Smith
Jo Sweet
Hope Wilmarth
Gay Young