Want to present? The deadline has been extended to Monday. See application form on the website at www.tedxsanantonio.com.
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Quilt Festival Advance
Here are the exhibits and courses I'll be participating in at the International Quilt Festival this fall in Houston. The catalog, for viewing only, is available here. My "offerings" are at numbered items #465, 523, 811.
The International Quilt Festival Houston 2013 will be:
October 31-November 3, 2013
George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Texas
An Exquisite Moment
Sponsored by Havel’s Scissors
Presented by Dinner at Eight Artists
Co-curated by Jamie Fingal and Leslie Tucker Jenison
Artists whose works are in this exhibit were given just this prompt: The unfurling of a flower; a hummingbird in flight; a magical moment shared with a lover or friend; the birth of a child; a personal milestone; the realization of a dream; a treasured memory. From it, they created a quilt showcasing an “exquisite moment” of their own. See the results here!
SAQA: Text Messages
Sponsored by AQS, Lark Crafts, and the National Quilt Museum
Text messages have fast become one of the most popular methods of communication in the world. In this exhibit, artists have free rein to explore the many facets of what they mean—from the obvious connection to modern technology, to works comprised solely of actual or implied writing. The unifying theme will be text on quilts.
Artist Development Classroom, coordinated by Lesley Riley, focuses on the business of quilting and features Jo Packham, Morna McEver Golletz, Julie Moberly, Lois Hallock, Susie Monday, Jamie Fingal, and Judy Coates Perez.
I'm really excited about participating in this special section of courses:
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
Developing the quilter (you!) is as important as improving your quilting skills. Choose from a variety of classes, lectures, and panels to help you take yourself and your quilting to a new level. Coordinated by Lesley Riley.
#138. THE SUCCESS OF PASSION JoPackham
#153. THE BUSINESS OF THE STUDIO JoPackham
#171. CONQUERING PROCRASTINATION JulieMoberly
#244. PUBLISH YOUR PATTERNS FOR PROFIT MornaMcEverGolletz
#254. Panel Discussion—IN PRINT: MEET THE PUBLISHERS Lesley Riley & panel
#260. Lecture—PINNING FOR PROFIT: PINTEREST TIPS, TOOLS, AND TRICKS MornaMcEverGolletz
#272. BRANDING—DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM? JoPackham
#346. TURN YOUR CREATIVE PASSION INTO PROFIT Morna McEver Golletz
#381. CRAFTING AN IDEAL DAY: MAKE MORE QUILTS AND HAVE MORE FUN JulieMoberly
#426. NAVIGATION—CHARTING A COURSE TO YOUR SOUL Lesley Riley
#451. Lecture—CREATE YOUR PERFECT QUILTING SPACE LoisHallock
#523. THE iPAD ADVENTURE: ART, ORGANIZING, PHOTOGRAPHY, AND MORE FOR QUILTERS AND MIXED-MEDIA ARTISTS (hands-on) SusieMonday
#555. MAKING TIME FOR MAKING QUILTS Lesley Riley
#731. HOW TO BE SOCIALLY (MEDIA) ACTIVE AND STILL HAVE TIME TO QUILT JamieFingal
#762. WEBSITE? BLOG? OR BOTH? Judy Coates Perez
#811. MEET YOUR iPAD:A SURVEY OF APPS, APTITUDE, AND ARTMAKING Susie Monday
THURSDAY AFTERNOON EVENT • 2:00-4:00 P.M., MIXED-MEDIA MISCELLANY $25
See what this exciting event is all about! Almost 20 teachers at separate tables around the room offer continuous demonstrations of particular techniques and methods that can take your quiltmaking and/or crafting a step further. Enrollees receive a booklet consisting of one- page handouts from each teacher. Circulate around the room informally getting lots of new inspiration. (I'm one of a number of demonstrators here.)
Susie Monday—Photos on Fabric
Make your own “printable” fabrics and explore the creative options with fusible paper- backed webbing and your own art designs.
Today's cards remind me...
To be inspired
To tell my story
Consider small steps
Be fruitful, multiplying effects
Beach Drift
It's been a week since we've been back from Cozumel, the most beautiful beach I've ever been on -- well, maybe excepting the "free" beach on the Mediterranean below the little Cinque Terre village of Cornelia. I had never been to a Caribbean beach before where one could walk out the door and into the water where swimming was like being in an aquarium with the incredible colored fish. We stayed, thanks to friends with a club membership, at the beautiful El Presidente Intercontinental. The beach was white sand with little palapa shelters, the reef was pristine and not so deep, so the fish were really easy to see. Wish I'd had an underwater camera, but memories will have to do!
Today's CARDS, What I made of them...
For those in my Inspiration is in the Cards Joggles class, this is an example of how I use (interpret) the cards I pull for a given work session in the studio. If you've taken a previous workshop including these creative cards, you may have your own process and practice, please feel free to share!
Card #1: This is pretty obvious! I think this was a contribution from a sister artist in a workshop (no signature though!) and its a wonderful web of creativity and the message: A new look at creativity. I can choose to look at the day's obligations (some catchup work on courses, book design and household chores) with the same sense of creative spirit I sometimes restrict to my studio art work!
This card is a reduction of a magazine collage -- something we'll get to in week 2 of the workshop. Shrinking a design often makes it much more interesting!
Card #2: FOCUS! Block out all the distracting noise that's whirling around the edges and put my attention to what really matters. Getting these chores out of the way so that I can move on to something more fun!
This card is full size collage using magazine and computer generated images and ring binder sticky "donut circles." (Can't remember what those little stickers are called right now, since I rarely use them for their original purpose).
Card #3 - Saguaro cacti -- Hmm, a prickly subject -- Maybe that's the message, to guard against being too prickly. Or from a positive direction, to take time to make my own shape, find my own way in what may at time feel like an unsupportive environment -- though in reality, it's just what I need.
Another reduced collage from map and antique illustration reproductions.
As you can see, I use these cards as ways to start little mini conversations or meditations with myself. Here's the explanation I posted in my first workshop week today (P.S. It's not too late to join the workshop, lessons can be done at your own pace after you download the pdf each week).
But first -- what are these cards and why do I make them?
I started making Inspiration Cards about a decade ago, and included making them as part of my annual Artists’ Journey/Artists’ Journal January Workshop at El Cielo in 2007. The practice grew from several different inklings and impulses:
- I had used Tarot cards and other similar decks when I wanted a kick-start to a project, or felt blocked in my creative studio work, all to good effect. It seemed like asking the universe for a little randomly selected guidance was a good practice for me -- along with actually GETTING TO THE STUDIO .
- I am a collector of ephemera -- birthday cards, letters, pieces of brochures, maps, bits of shiny foil and package wrappings -- that I just can’t seem to toss out. To tame the collection, I figured out that if I made my own little mini collage cards using the otherwise PILED UP bits and pieces, I could transform the collections into something useful, and give myself permission to throw about the leftover bits. Self and sanity preservation.
- Once I started making cards with others, they became a swap tradition among those who take my classes, like artist trading cards, but bigger! I use regular 3” by 5” index cards as my template/final size -- though as you see, my process often means making a larger collage and shrinking it!
Inspiration is in the Cards
Are you ready to shake off the doldrums and put your imagination and make-it-instincts into gear? I know I am! This has been a month of vacation (delightful) and health restoration (not so much fun), but I am ooching back into full fledged boogie -- with a few cautionary words of self talk about not overdoing! However valuable the down time, it means I need a little jumpstart to get my creative juices going again -- it all seems really hard (I've got too much to do, where to start?), maybe a little pointless (Oh, why bother, what difference will it make?) and, listening to myself, more than a little whine-y (I don't want to have to get started again, why is this so hard?).
Thus this task of completing the written online version of INSPIRATION IS IN THE CARDS comes at a very opportune time!
This Friday starts that new online course with Joggles. The four weeks of instruction are based on a course I teach here at El Cielo occasionally, and one that I've taught with great success at the International Quilt Festival in Houston a couple of times. Here's the scoop:
What gets you going in the studio? (Be it a back bedroom, kitchen table or dedicated workroom..) Susie Monday shows you how to make Inspiration Cards and how to use them as art work prompts, creative jumpstarts and mini-art gifts for friends. The four week class takes you through collection and collage activities, photo-editing and word-smith fun to make your collages even more interesting, the use of an all-in-one printer or copier to "finalize" your cards, and suggestions for how to make Inspiration Cards part of your artist's path.
Week 1: What are Inspiration Cards?
Learn about Inspiration Cards and how to use them with lots of examples from Susie and her former class participants, then assemble and organize your collage materials -- paper, packaging, magazine images and photos, fabric, trims and more -- and start to work. This week's lesson includes five design assignments that use your right-brain intuition, intentions and goals and your left-brain analysis of composition and color schemes.
Week 2: Collage Alterations
Photography your designs and send your collages though a variety of photo-editing and alteration experiments using on-line tools and websites on your computer. If you have an iPad or other smart tablet or smart phone, you can also use some suggested apps to make other interesting alterations with editing, filters and collage options.
Week 3: Card Making from your Images
Using an all-in-one copier and/or ink-jet printer, you'll learn to size and reduce your collages and finish your Inspiration Cards. Susie details options: printing on different papers, tissue paper prints incorporated into paper cloth, printing on fabric to make stitch-able cards and more. Add embellishments to make your cards even more scrumptious!
Week 4: Inspiration Cards as Ritual, Routine and Reward
How can you use Inspiration Cards in your studio and art-making life. This lesson will take the cards full circle with suggestions for how to make them (and their creation) part of your art life, as well as some suggestions about ways to organize, share and continue this practice. You'll also get links to some art-making inspirational videos (by famous and not-so-famous artists from around the world) that have inspired Susie in her own work and creative life.
If you want to join along, sign up at Joggles, purchase and gather the SIMPLE supplies (Barbara sells them on Joggles, so you don't even have to shop around), and then PLEASE join the conversation either here on the blog or on the Joggles forum. (It's easier to use than it appears at first!) The real fun will commence when we try a MAIL IT ON exchange sharing copies of our cards with others in the class who wish to participate -- and doing some "add-on, pass-it-along" assignments, too. Hope to see your on Joggles.
Digital designs will be another fun part of the course -- both on the computer or on an iPad or other tablet.
My Dig-Deep Button is Broken
This post is scarcely original. It's informed and inspired by Brené Brown's writing in The Gifts of Imperfection. I've been recovering the past 10 days from, primarily, an overuse of the Dig-Deep Button, masquerading as Big-Bug gastroenteritis.
Brown, whose work I discovered through a Houston TEDx talk on YouTube several years ago, is a sociologist who researched shame and vulnerability -- and all the things that go into those very human conditions of spirit, mind and body. Last winter I took a workshop, Hustle for Worthiness, from a couple of therapists here in San Antonio who have been trained by her, and, like those kinds of things should be, it was an eye-opening experience for me and my sister-travelers. I started reading this book a few days ago, when I was flat on my back in bed and sleeping about 18 hours a day. And, while I don't really suffer often from what I ever thought of as "perfectionism," I did recognize myself in these pages. I think it is very difficult in our culture for any of us to escape completely the "what will other people say, think, imagine....blah blah blahs."
This particular passage hit me between the eyes, from The GIfts of Imperfection:
I found myself pushing the Dig-Deep button about a month ago, soldiering through a bad cold without really stopping, then a intense week of teaching and producing a workshop with Central American Youth Ambassadors, and then buying and closing on a new little studio house in San Antonio (with about three mountains more of paperwork, records to track down, financial details than I had ever expected). Came the first of June, I was still coughing, fatigued and stressed from last-mnute details for the SDA conference, and looking at hanging the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center exhibit, getting my work to another exhibit, and leading a study tour for the conference.
I hit the button again. And ended up Saturday afternoon in the emergency room with intensely severe stomach pain, apparently a very bad viral gastroenteritis attack. So, they said, go home and recover. I was better, sort of, and Monday I went to hang the exhibit. OK so far. Wednesday I led the tour, OK so far (but lots of Dig-Deep button-pushing going on). On Thursday I was back in the emergency room, and with this bout, though not as severe as the past, had a CT scan to rule out anything life threatening. Nope, just that bad bug on the rebound.
Consequently I missed my nephew's wedding in Los Alamos AND the SDA conference and slept those 18 hours a day. I'm just now climbing out. Obviously, I'd let the blog posts go and most everything else! I think I may have learned this lesson once and for all. The Dig-Deep Button is not worth the time of day, literally.
Of course, Brenè Brown has even more wisdom to offer:
Men and women who live Wholeheartedly do indeed DIG Deep. They just do it in a different way. When they're exhausted and overwhelmed, they get
Deliberate in their thoughts and behaviors through prayer, meditation or simple setting their intentions;
Inspired to make new and different choices;
Going. They take action.
What could I have done differently? Not really sure yet, but I think a lot could have done with enlisting more help, choosing the most important things to do, not getting myself so overbooked in the first place, and letting my ego take a bit of a backseat to the realities of time, space and energy.
What are your best DIG Deep strategies?
Stories in Another Language, by Susan Bradley
Susan Bradley, Art Quilts and Fiber Landscapes
Susan Bradley, San Antonio artist, designs and stitches exquisite art quilts that are wonderful examples of her sense of balance, color and form. In the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center Invitational Exhibit, she shows several abstract works, and her very first fused quilt!
In her artist statement, Susan says:
I love the juxtaposition of clarity and ambiguity, the tension between what is and what might be. The Japanese esthetic of asymmetry and simplicity is my natural design bent. Whenever I can, I add text to my work. I love the shapes of fonts and the extra layer of meaning that can be conveyed.
Biography:
I have been making things with fabric since I was 4 years old and began quilting 30 years ago. Initially my work was primarily traditional, though I did design many original garments. In the past 10 years I have focused on more creative wall hangings and now design most of my work, using fabric painted or dyed by other fiber artists. I have won Best of Show in the Greater Antonio Quilt Guild Show twice and have had several quilts accepted in the International Quilt Show over the past 15 years, winning second place in Traditional Pieced Quilts in 2001. My quilt appeared on the cover of GREAT AMERICAN QUILTS 2001 and on the cover of the summer issue of “American Quilter”.
When I am not in my studio, I am gardening, caring for a geriatric and deeply loved followed-me-home dog and serving as the Volunteer Coordinator for the San Antonio AIDS Foundation.
P.S. Don't forget, the artist reception is this coming Saturday 1-3 pm in Kerrville. Hope you can join us to see these great pieces in person.
What Did She Say? fused art quilt in progress!
Tonight, at the Bihl House in San Antonio
You're invited to the Opening Reception of
COUNTERPOISE
Fiberworks by Stacy Elko, Linda Rael & Susie Monday
Saturday, June 1, 5:30-8:30 pm
Dear Friends of Bihl Haus Arts,
Fish Bomb Boats while Vultures perch near by in COUNTERPOISE, the new exhibit of fiberworks opening thisSaturday, June 1, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm, at the Bihl Haus. Poolside blues by Cherry Street Acoustic, and wine and hors d'oeuvres round out this evening of tantilizing tall tales told through fantastical artworks by Stacy Elko, Linda Rael and Susie Monday.
In this exhibit, organized by guest curator by Laurel Gibson, fish become flying bomb-ships embossed with hennaed North African symbols; shamans emerge from embellished skulls and bones that signify rebirth; and La Sirena and other powerful figures emit mysterious messages. Symbols, materials and life experiences create the mythological stories surrounding the viewer.
ABOUT THE ARTWORK:
- Susie Monday’s Grief and Apocalypse #2 are part of a series that utilizes symbolic imagery to explore “the upheaval that accompanies the inevitable death of a parent.” The scale of these works allows the viewer to walk into the life-sized imagery of dismembered arms floating in a mermaid sea above the moon. Chaos erupts in this vividly colored textile ‘painting’ pieced together from dyed, printed, recycled and altered fabrics.
- Fish Bomb Boats by Stacy Elko, constructed of flexible cane and handmade paper inscribed with African iconography, transport the viewer to another world experience filled with wonder, danger and adventure. Reflecting on social conditions through her work with the Peace Corps and the Boys and Girls Club, Elko states, “They engender a mythos that projects fragility of existence with environmental collaboration for survival . . . My art continues the journey of rebirth through building structures that symbolize our ephemeral relationship with the environment and remind us to consider our actions therein.”
- Vulture by Linda Rael, constructed of a vulture’s skull and hand-dyed fabrics, embroidery, beads, feathers, botanicals and glass eyes, embodies sculpture as spiritual totem. These mystical creations, informed by natural surroundings, petroglyphs, and animals and sages, must find their place within the world. “I find this relationship,” Rael maintains, “is more important than ever given the environmental challenges we face this century.” Transported through imagination these powerful works of art move us to confront the universe and fill it with our own stories, mysteries and mythologies, and to weigh the symbolic world against the bounds of reality.
RELATED PROGRAMMING: Fiber Workshops led by Laurel Gibson
- Symbols and Scribbles (fantasy memory pages), June 29 Saturday 1-5 pm. Where have you traveled? Where do you want to go? What do you think it would be like to travel the world? Using symbols of ancient alphabets or your own symbols, we will create travels pages out of mixed media; photos, fabric, paper, glue and paint, thread, etc. All participants will take home the pages they create to apply to a journal or frame on the wall. Feel free to bring scraps of fabric you like, pictures, drawings or memorabilia from previous trips or your favorite places around San Antonio or Texas!
- Fantastical Figures and Mythical Beasts! July 13 Saturday 12-5pm What kind of extraordinary powers would you like to have? Have you ever wanted to be part human and part dragon, or another favorite animal? Using your imagination and dreams as a guide, create a sculpture of a combined human and animal out of air-dry clay and mixed-media objects. All participants will take home a small=scale sculpture. Feel free to bring along ideas, pictures, or a specific material you would like added onto your art creation!
COUNTERPOISE, scheduled to coincide with the Surface Design International Conference in San Antonio, opens with a reception, which is free and open to the public, on Saturday, June 1, from 5:30-8:30, and continues through July 20, 2013. The gallery is open Fridays and Saturdays, 1-4 pm, with extended hours during the conference on June 6-9. This exhibit is funded in part by the City of San Antonio Department of Culture and Creative Development. Bihl Haus Arts (www.bihlhausarts.org), located at Primrose at Monticello Park Apartments, is the only non-profit professional art gallery on the premises of 100% senior affordable housing in the U.S. Bihl Haus Arts sponsors include the WellMed Charitable Foundation, the San Antonio Area Foundation, the Genevieve and Ward Orsinger Foundation, the Shield-Ayres Foundation, and Primrose. For more information, 210.383.9723, or kellenkee@swbell.net
Rosa Vera, Collage plus Painting
Rosa Vera began experiments with adding fabric collage to her paintings at a workshop at El Cielo -- thus I claim a small measure of pride for her continued work in this mixed media format. I can testify to Vera's thoughtful, studied and skillful use of her media since I've seen her at work. The new pieces for the FIber Arts Invitational Exhibit in Kerrville were created especially for the event, and I have no doubt that they will be among the pieces that get attention and remarks.
Here's what Rosa writes in her artist statement:
Coming from a Latino background, my painting is tied to the journey of my family to the United States. I express this through designs, symbols and the human figure, an idea that in my mind’s eye is often tied to the past: memories of my family struggle, and idiosyncrasies of the Latino and American cultures.
I am primarily a figure painter. Human interaction appeals to me. However, I also attach anthropomorphic attributes to birds, especially crows. The inspiration for the crow series is the medieval Spanish saying, Cria cuervos y te quitarán los ojos. As the pieces evolved, the crows began to develop their own personalities and their relationship with each other. I use collage, fabric, gold leaf, acrylic and watercolor to provide more flexibility as well as add to the texture and design of the piece.
Rosa's work is featured in the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center invitational exhibit that I helped curate. The artist reception is Saturday, June 15, 1-3 p.m. in Kerrville.
Woodpecker, by Barbara Attwell
Barbara Attwell, Wild Felt
Barbara Attwell is an Austin artist who makes wonderful 3-dimensional felted work. I find her animals and birds both charming and intriguing, and her more abstract sculptures are delightul, too. It seems to me that with her felt, soft meets shape in a distinctive manner.
Here's a bit from her bio:
Attwell’s current works are centered on the wisdom, beauty and plight of wild animals and plants, through paintings, small sculptures, and towers that offer wildlife habitat. Additional works are funereal – designs of cremation urns and funeral rituals that promote a return to a more personalized experience. She is also known for her wool-felted works, whimsical snow globes, and found-wood creatures that are assembled to be burned during the winter Solstice.
Her markets range from CD cover illustration to museum exhibit fabrication, along with commissions and exhibitions from both the private and public sector. She has a BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Texas, having begun this lifelong adventure with a scholarship to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts School from the 4th to the 12th grades.
When we… get into the forests again,
We shall shiver with cold and fright
But things will happen to us
So that we don’t know ourselves.
Cool, unlying life will rush in,
And passion will make our bodies taut with power,
We shall stamp our feet with new power
And old things will fall down.
We shall laugh, and institutions will curl up like burnt paper.
D.H. Lawrence
The River, by Caryl Gaubatz
Caryl Gaubatz, Walking Stories
Caryl Gaubatz is another of the invited artists for the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center Fiber Arts exhibit. Caryl is an award winning fiber artist who makes narrative garments. Her work is distinctive because of her exquisite surface design --often created through the use of organic techniques using soil, compost and time -- and her expert and meticulous tailoring and garment design and construction. Caryl will have five garments on display at the Kerr Center
Caryl's Artist Statement
Walking Stories: Narrative Garments:
I design narrative garments: wearable art that tells a story. The viewer may not readily perceive the story but will feel the authenticity & interact on some level much more strongly than if the garment were purely decorative. When the garment is worn, the wearer becomes an unwitting accomplice in telling the story.
Surface texture is enhanced by quilting when it adds to the narrative. Other garments make use of the enigmatic qualities of silk organza.
Environmental and spiritual issues find their expression in my work. My intention is to produce exquisitely crafted soft sculpture that includes the body as its animating element.
Woven Wrappers
Doerte Weber is one of the artists whose work is featured in the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center Fiber Arts exhibit. Here is her statement about the work that will be included:
Every morning I get my local newspaper delivered in a thin plastic wrapper. These plastic wrappers have almost no color, only logo and address of the paper printed in small black letters. But when I started weaving with them, colors became visible and it was like I was weaving a story of my diverse community.
This is the concept I am expanding on: to take something which most people throw away or recycle and reuse it in art, either by itself but mostly with various yarns to accentuate texture.
In weaving with plastic wrappers, I use mostly traditional weaving patterns. They give an assurance of familiarity, balancing the texture and sometimes distorted structure created through the medium of the plastic wrappers.
Kerrville Fiber Art Exhibit
I've been helping put together an invitational exhibit at the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center in the Hill Country town of Kerrville, about an hour northwest of San Antonio. The exhibit opens next Tuesday, so it's about time I put a little bump here about it, right? Time Flies, my friends, Time Flies.
Here's the overview -- and check back daily for some little features on each of the participating artists.
Fiber Art Invitational Exhibit, 2013, Kerr Arts and Cultural Center
Cornels Gallery, 228 Earl Garrett, Kerrville, TX 78029-3634
June 3-23, 2013
Artists’ Reception, Saturday, June 15, 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
How many different ways can a strand of silk, a length of thread, a spool of wire, a twist of wool be transformed from mundane material into beautiful, contemplative, energetic, imaginative works of art? The possibilities of fiber art will be revealed in an upcoming exhibit of work from eleven Texas artists.
Among the work on display: jackets that tell stories, paintings collaged with recycled fabric, plastic shopping bags woven into sensuous surfaces, silk scarves with intricate dyed patterns, animals sculpted from wool felt, landscapes “watercolored” from stitch, and mixed media work that juxtaposes hard and soft, structured and free-lowing. The exhibit will be on display in June at KACC in the Cornels Gallery.
The artists, invited to participate by executive director Debbie Mims and artist Susie Monday, were selected to represent the diversity of fiber art that is being created today -- art that uses traditional and contemporary textile techniques; functional, decorative, realistic, abstract and innovative work will all be represented in the exhibit. The artists include Barbara Attwell (felt 2-D and 3-D work), Susan Bradley (contemporary and landscape art quilts), Laura Ann Beehler (art cloth), April Dominy (fiber jewelry), Robin Early (silk shibori banners and art-to-wear), Naomi Wanjiku Gakunga (metal and fiber jewelry, baskets and wall pieces), Caryl Gaubatz (narrative garments), Susie Monday (textile paintings), Miki Rodriguez (innovative textile art), Rosa Vera (paintings with fiber collage) and Doerte Weber (woven art). Many of the artist will be present at a reception on June 15 to talk about their work and answer questions. The exhibit materials will include artist statements and a “touching” gallery of hands-on samples of the techniques used in the work on display.
The exhibit is concurrent with the biennial conference of the international Surface Design Association in San Antonio, and one of more than a dozen fiber art and surface design exhibits on the calendar in the San Antonio/Hill Country region. SDA conference members will receive a special invitation to the exhibit.
A dramatic -- yes modern quiltish -- pattern from geometrics.
This Week's Art App for iPad
Geometric costs $2.99 from the iPad app store.
This blog entry is another chapter in my weekly series of reviews/tips about an iPad app that's caught my fancy. Many of these will get full treatment -- detailed how-tos, project suggestions, lots of photos of work in progress and finished art -- as part of my upcoming online series of workshops. These workshops will include using your tablet apps to plan, design, create and manage your studio art practice -- many of them are available for Kindle, Android tablets as well as iPad. If you'd like to be notified about the workshops -- and other upcoming events -- please subscribe to my newsletter by clicking this SUBSCRIBE link. I am working on subscription services to this blog, but have not quite figured out the new software interface!
This week's art app for iPad is made to order for Modern Quilters -- and pattern junkies of all stripes. Whether you are on the bandwagon of that latest quilting "movement" or not, Geometric provokes way-too-much-fun playtime with stripes, circles, dots and angles. It's a pattern-making app that uses a trademarked group of shapes -- referred to as a font by the designers, whose main business is selling design services.
The interface is intuitive and limited-- basically the patterns are auto generated with just a few "locks" provided to the artist-user. Clicking on the locks alters what does and doesn't change as you scroll through the patterns. When you see one you like, send it to your camera roll, or it may not come along again!
The best way to figure out the locks is to lock all the options and unlock one at a time. Combining locks provides more options. I found the best way to work with this app was to find a color palette and font I liked, lock everything, then unlock SIZE to find the most interesting variations.
Here are the locks and (what it seems) they refer to:
FONT - the basic shape that is set by what you see on the screen, for example triangles. Font is the large general quality of shape, not proportion or "amount".
PALETTE - colors, includes background and foreground shapes, and the palettes are generally broader than what you first think!
SEQUENCE - arrangement of the shape elements, the pattern sequences -- how they fill the space
CHARACTER - the exact shapes, sizes or maybe the "feel" of the design -- I still am not sure!
SIZE - unlock this to vary the size from quite small to fairly large. The design elements are never so large that they don't make patterned repeats
From the app site:
"geometric™ is a powerful pattern generator by creative studio Kapitza.
It puts to use our extensive Geometric pattern font collection to create countless cool patterns by simply swiping the screen. The possibilities are endless. For news and updates subscribe to our newsletter.. All patterns ©2012 Kapitza".
That copyright notice might cause notice, but I don't really think there would be a cause for concern if you used a pattern as a basis for quilting work, with some variation and subtlety!
Two versions of two patterns, with font, size and palette as variables.
Naomi Wanjiku at Southwest School of Art
Don't miss this exhibit in San Antonio! And check out the video that ran on PBS here.
(I have a cameo role in the video commenting on Naomi's work -- and spent a wonderful morning with her at her home/studio/gallery.)
Watch ARTS | May 3, 2013 on PBS. See more from KLRN ARTS.
Inspiration Cards -- Course on Line
I'm teaching this mixed media mini course (just 4 weeks of inspiring assignments and directions) online with Joggles this summer. Check out the site for more specifics and check out Barbara's other workshops as well. There is an online forum included, and I always use the opportunity to share the work of participants on my blog -- and provide some free goodies as well.
This class is scheduled to begin on June 28, 2013. You can sign up anytime between now and then!
Inspiration Is in the Cards
What gets you going in the studio? (Be it a back bedroom, kitchen table or dedicated workroom..) Susie Monday shows you how to make Inspiration Cards and how to use them as art work prompts, creative jumpstarts and mini-art gifts for friends. The four week class takes you through collection and collage activities, photo-editing and word-smith fun to make your collages even more interesting, the use of an all-in-one printer or copier to "finalize" your cards, and suggestions for how to make Inspiration Cards part Tof your artist's path.
Week 1: What are Inspiration Cards?
Learn about Inspiration Cards and how to use them with lots of examples from Susie and her former class participants, then assemble and organize your collage materials -- paper, packaging, magazine images and photos, fabric, trims and more -- and start to work. This week's lesson includes five design assignments that use your right-brain intuition, intentions and goals and your left-brain analysis of composition and color schemes.
Week 2: Collage Alterations
Photography your designs and send your collages though a variety of photo-editing and alteration experiments using on-line tools and websites on your computer. If you have an iPad or other smart tablet or smart phone, you can also use some suggested apps to make other interesting alterations with editing, filters and collage options.
Week 3: Card Making from your Images
A couple of iPad manipulated photos make these digital cards fun!
Using an all-in-one copier and/or ink-jet printer, you'll learn to size and reduce your collages and finish your Inspiration Cards. Susie details options: printing on different papers, tissue paper prints incorporated into paper cloth, printing on fabric to make stitch-able cards and more. Add embellishments to make your cards even more scrumptious!
Week 4: Inspiration Cards as Ritual, Routine and Reward
Collect your cards and pull one out when you need some inspiration and get-go!
How can you use Inspiration Cards in your studio and art-making life. This lesson will take the cards full circle with suggestions for how to make them (and their creation) part of your art life, as well as some suggestions about ways to organize, share and continue this practice. You'll also get links to some art-making inspirational videos (by famous and not-so-famous artists from around the world) that have inspired Susie in her own work and creative life.
iPad & Art App of the Week
Line Brush is a FREE and amazingly flexible drawing program -- for Apple and Android tablets and phones alike.
The app includes 24 brushes (with a few more optional ones for sale, too) -- some are just simple brushes, others are actually special effect filters in brush form. For example, using the Van Gogh brush over one of your photos as a background or first layer, creates the appearance of a thick impasto oil paint. The Star brush adds a sparkle of tiny stars where ever you use it -- either on a photo background or on a drawing.
Because you can use your photos as a starting layer, you have more flexibility that with an app that is just a collection of drawing tools. However the drawing tools here are awfully fun to use on their own, too. The pen, with different widths available with a toggle, is calligraphic and fast -- has a super smooth feel to it as you work on your screen.
I like Line Brush as a tool on both my iPad and my iPhone, another plus for this handy app. And you certainly can’t beat the price!
Play around with Line Brush and I’m sure you’ll come up with some interesting sketches AND photo editing as well. Draw just with a black pen and your designs are perfect for thermofax images and for use as patterns for screens and stencils.
The interface is both intuitive and complex, but play around and you’ll figure it out as you go. Remember that the “undo” arrow with take you back a step, you can also “redo” a step, and that you can selectively erase or undo with one of the erasers. A few other tips:
- Pinch to zoom or enlarge for detail work
- Tap the screen edges to bring the tools back, if they disappear on you
- Use the “SEND” button to save to your camera roll, or send the image to another drawing app. You can also save to a dedicated Line Brush gallery by hitting the Gallery button.
- Size and opacity toggles control any of the brushes on the top layer. (One limit for some is that you really only have two working layers -- I like this, because with more I get too confused!)
- You can use a photo -- or other drawing or photo of some art-- as a background and then delete it after you have drawn on top of it with your brushes, or you can even change to another image and end up (with some playing around with opacity) with two images blended together.
Screen shot showing some of the many brushes available in Line Brush. The sliders adjust the size of brushes and the opacity of the alterations that you make to the photo. The nice thing is that rather than a photo filter being universally applied to your photo, you can control which areas are altered and you can combine different filter effects on different parts of the same photo (or drawing!)
Altered photo using some of the "brushes" in Line Brush
My Mind is Like...
This fun workshop activity is one of the morning's for a group of Central American Youth Ambassadors. (They are here in San Antonio for about a week, after visits to Washington D.C. and Michigan on a three week tour of the U.S.) And I think it's a fun activity for all of us to do every once in a while.
Start with a little fill up brainstorming: what do you like to do best, what does it feel like when you are doing that fluid, fascinating task? Does your mind work in pictures, words or numbers --- or movements, lights and sounds? Is it neat and orderly or quite a chaotic magical place?
Who is at the controls? What does it look like from the inside out? the outside in? Are there connections and pathways, and what are they like -- threads, roads, chutes and ladders, arrows and directives? Is your mind more like a computer or a bird nest?
These are just a few of the posters made by highschool ambassadors from Central America and the Dominican Republic. What would your mind poster look like?
