It's Not A Quilt ... Or Is It? Opening Night

The Copper Shade Tree Gallery held it's Opening Night celebration of "It's Not A Quilt ... Or Is It?" on Friday, February 6, 2009 in Round Top, Texas. I can honestly say that "a good time was had by all"!


Above is Gerald and Debbie Tobola's son Tim, with his lovely friend, whose name I'm sorry I've temporarily forgotten!


Sweet Sherry and Steve Yarborough, my neighbors, came up to Round Top to see the show, and are flanking my "EyePod", which tickled their funnybones.



Kay Tobola, above, is a funny and gracious lady who helps Gerald and Debbie with anything that needs doing, during these opening nights. She is a lot of fun!

Jo Sweet enjoys a glass of (?) and conversation with a patron.

Hannah Mallon and Mary Ann Littlejohn join forces for a sip and a giggle.

Owner Gerald Tobola gives my brother Don Teddlie the lowdown on the Arts in a small town and a big world.

Gerald always has a smile for everyone. He is one of the most fun people I know.

Tim and his Dad ... wonder where he gets his good looks from? ;^)

Tim did the beautiful oversized postcards for the show again this year ... thanks, Tim!


Sweet Debbie is hard at work behind the counter, as usual ... I could barely get her to take time to grin for the camera, and by the time I clicked the shutter, she was already back at work!


My dear friends Connie Fahrion, Leslie Tucker Jenison, and Mary Ann Littlejohn. What a group of talented women!


Carol Moore, Me, Leslie Jenison, and Virginia Spiegel. Carol (from Canada) and Virginia (from Illinois) are in Texas for a month's stay at Karey Bresenhan's Great Expectations Creativity Center, as Artists in Residence. I was so thrilled to have them come for the Opening Night. They are both a hoot-and-a-half, and I can't wait to see what they have been working on.

And last but not least, here's a pic that Leslie sent me from her camera ... me, Connie and Mary Ann at the end of the evening.

The art quilts / fiber art from this show can be seen at the Copper Shade Tree through the end of February, and I will also post a few pictures here at a later date.

It's Not a Quilt ... Or Is It?

February 6 marks the opening of Gerald and Debbie Tobola's "It's Not A Quilt ... Or Is It?" show at their Copper Shade Tree Gallery in beautiful little Round Top, Texas. (You can see tantalizing bits of one of my pieces in the postcard above.)

Please come to the Opening Reception on Friday night, February 6, 2009 from 6 to 9 p.m., or any time until the end of February. Gallery hours are Wednesday from 12-4, and Thursday through Sunday, from 11-5.

There will be fiber-art works from 18 Texas quilt artists, including 5 of the original Beyond the Borders art-quilt group. All works will be for sale. Hope to see you there!

When Copper Meets Wood

My friend Sharon and I made an impromptu trip up to Round Top on Sunday (her hubby was working and the day was too beautiful to waste indoors) to see Gerald Tobola's new show, "When Copper Meets Wood", at his Copper Shade Tree Gallery. The opening had been the previous night, and many of the pieces had already been sold, but there was still plenty to see. The combination of the warm glow of hand-tooled and -rubbed copper, some sealed and some patina'd, with the woodwork of Gene Fitzwater, was just gorgeous.

Gerald has never had time to mount his own show in his own gallery until now! He's been so busy showcasing other artists that it's taken him this long to get around to showing off his own work. Believe me, it was well worth the wait! Here's the postcard with the show info, in case you get a chance to go by and see it ...





































Here are some images from the show ...






Bamboo Triptich and 2 Gingkos by Gerald, and Rust & Relaxation by Liz Broussard


Gerald and Debbie with some of the lamps.


A fuzzy picture (sorry!) of a deliciously delicate and intricate "Gingko and Dragonfly" piece that sold on the first day.


Two of my all-time favorite people ... Gerald and Debbie Tobola.

more pics from the Opening

We had such fun at the Opening Reception of the Copper Shade Tree Gallery's month-long show for our Beyond the Borders fiber-art group that I have neglected to post pictures ... here they are, most of them courtesy of Cathy Winter and her trusty camera:


Barbara Jensen


Barbara Jensen, Liz Broussard, Nancy VerWest


Taking a group shot is like herding cats!


Me with two of my pieces ... "She Waits", the beaded icon behind my shoulder, and "Eve II", over my head.


Nancy Dickey


Connie Fahrion and her Guitar Festival fiber-art poster


Another effort at a group shot ...


Liz Broussard and her guacamole coffee filter piece, "Emergence of Spring"


Mary Ann Littlejohn and her Crazy About Round Top piece

Copper Shade Tree Gallery goes live on the Web!

Connie Fahrion, Debbie Tobola, Barbara Jensen, Susan King, Liz Broussard, and Nancy Dickey on the back row, and Gerald Tobola, Linda Minton, and Cathy Winter in the front.

Mary Ann Littlejohn must have been taking the picture!

Ready just in time for Opening Reception of the Beyond the Borders month-long show and sale at our beloved Copper Shade Tree Gallery, our friend Dave Hardin finished the new-and-improved website for the Copper Shade Tree, and went "live" with it on the web, including a very easy navigation system and a shopping cart! You can search by Artist, Category, Collection, etc. It's still a work-in-progress, but it is really beautifully done and easy to roam around. ("Try it, you'll like it!")

I'm very remiss in reporting this wonderful development, but have been recuperating from the rush of getting ready for the show, including a lovely beach-retreat with my traditional quilting friends. Now I'm back "in the groove" and hope to post a bit more regularly.

Thank you Dave and Denna Hardin, for the website and all the help at the Opening Reception, and thank you Gerald and Debbie Tobola, owners of The Copper Shade Tree Gallery, for the wonderful venue for our artwork.

Copper Shade Tree Gallery Opening

Our Beyond the Borders art-quilt group had the opening of our month-long show at the Copper Shade Tree Gallery (http://www.coppershadetree.com/) in Round Top, Texas this weekend, and it was an unqualified success. Here are a few of the pictures from the Opening Reception, more to follow when I get jpgs from friends' cameras.

Of course this is my favorite picture ... Karey Bresenhan attended the opening and I got this picture of the two of us together. Karey was beautiful and charming as always, and I was glad to meet her assistant Pam at last (although I don't seem to have a picture of her!)


Nancy Dickey


Sara Sissenwein and some of her fellow Retreat-ers came to the opening


Rex Watson and Nancy Dickey


Susan King


Admirers of Jo Sweet's delicate thread-paintings.


Rex Watson


Ann Schaefer and Connie Fahrion


Ann talking with Mike & Connie Fahrion


Kay Tobola, a fun and funny lady (Gerald's sister-in-law) who helped out during the opening weekend.

Beyond the Borders - Art Quilt Exhibition, 2008

Last night I received the postcards for our upcoming gallery show. Tim Tobola did another beautiful job on them.

The reputation of Gerald and Debbie Tobola's Copper Shade Tree Gallery has been growing in leaps and bounds, in the two brief years since its opening. We're very excited and honored to be associated with them. http://geraldtobola.com/coppershadetree.htm

Here's a look at both the front and back of the postcard:





You are invited to the opening! But if you can't make it that night, I hope if you are in "the neighborhood" ... the quaint little town of Round Top, Texas, halfway between Houston and Austin (which is evolving into something of an artist's colony) ... anytime during the month of February, you will stop by and see our art quilt exhibition.

Demo Day at Copper Shade Tree Gallery

On Saturday, December 1, Gerald and Debbie Tobola had a Demo Day at their Copper Shade Tree Gallery (http://geraldtobola.com/coppershadetree.htm) in Round Top, Texas. They invited Patricia Daugherty, Jerry Potenza, Dave Hardin and me to spend the day demonstrating our various art techniques to the patrons of their gallery. It was a cool, windy day, and the Christmas Parade brought out lots of folks for the day, so it was a lot of fun.

Above is my little demo table with my beads. Along with my Bead Journal Pages that I'm doing for Robin Atkins' Bead Journal Project, I also brought a few of my beaded dolls to show ... "The Fishwife" and "Red Hot Alien Mama". "Tiny Dancer" is just visible inside the polymer clay-covered box.

Above is Dave Hardin with one of his smaller, portable looms. He makes gorgeous scarves on this little loom (I have two of them myself).

Jerry Potenza, above, did some beautiful leatherwork, and both Patricia and I were also interested in his vast array of specialty tools. He displays and sells his work in the gallery as well.

Patricia Daugherty, above, is demonstrating her method of "mokume gane" in polymer clay. She had lots of admirers, and even made some sales of some items she hadn't intended to sell!

Patricia and Denna, near the end of the day. Denna was sweet enough to go home and make up a poultice for my bee sting ... thank you so much, Denna! (I thought of posting a picture of my sting, but it was too gross!)

After Demo Day was over, Patricia and I drove out to Dave & Denna Hardin's A Light Unto My Path Retreat (http://www.alightuntomypath.com/) to see the new patio gate that they had had specially made from the bottoms of old wine bottles. It is gorgeous! I made Dave stand in front of it for a picture.

Fresco II Sold

Gerald Tobola of the Copper Shade Tree Gallery (http://geraldtobola.com/coppershadetree.htm) called this evening to let me know that my "Fresco II" has been sold ... Yay! Now I feel more confident in going forward with this series. My next one is in a similar style, but with a very different subject matter. Here's "Fresco II", as sold:


See my July 5 entry for more images ... and wish me luck for the future of this series!

A few more from the Gallery Show

Adorable Cathy brought pictures from her camera to the last BTB meeting, and generously shared them ... so here are the last of the pics from the Beyond the Borders show at the Copper Shade Tree Gallery in Round Top, TX.


Above, I'm standing with Gerald Topola, gallery owner, and Susan King, the day after the Opening Reception. (Notice my "fascinator" hat that I just had to buy from neighboring gallery owner Marilyn Barbour.)



Here I am with "Dragons Need Love Too" (along with the Journal Quilt Book in which it is pictured). I was so thrilled that a local artist bought this piece, and she and I have since become friends!


Explaining the "finer points" of my mixed media piece, "Midnight at 20,000 Leagues".