2013…A Very Good QUILT Year

In reviewing 2013, I found that it was all about quilts…only one painting posted…oops!..so two more quilt posts. In reflecting, I had closed my gallery and returned to the studio full time that year and wanted to explore quilting in many different ways…3D and applied textural elements.

The first post I selected for this retrospective is about the completion of a quilt still untitled. In the post I posed a question about the quilt and was still conflicted about the answer. Who knew that later that year I would title the quilt “CONFLICTED”? I guess it takes a while for me to realize the obvious! This quilt went on the win Best of Show in the ARTrageous Art Quilt exhibit at the Chandler in AZ and is at home in California. This is REBLOG NO. 3:

All Together Now…..Feb 13, 2013

I finally got the wing appliqued to the quilt. I hand sewed it along the edges and it is very secure. I still need to put a hanging sleeve and label on the back…maybe next week! I need to move on to another project to satisfy my desire to create…I’ve got the urge to do a painting. Now that you see the two parts together, you can answer the question I posed in my previous post. Is the nest falling into the flames and the mother bird leaving, or is she trying to fan the flames and protect her young? I can still see it both ways…therefore, no title yet…still conflicted…from the studio

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My second repost is about one of my first 3D pieces. It was accepted into the Neo-Mimbreo show along with some great pieces by other artists in all different mediums…an absolutely fabulous show of creativity in interpreting a theme. Both of my featured pieces have found very good new homes. I selected both of these posts because they are representative of important steps in my development as an artist. My exploration of the techniques used in each of these pieces formed the basis for much of my quilted work that followed. REBLOG NO. 4:

Painting and Quilting in 3D…June 3, 2013

I’ve been painting and quilting, but assembling the pieces in a different way. This year, the Clay Festival has a central theme of vessels. Although most calls are for clay, there is one call that is open to other mediums. The Neo-Mimbreno exhibit prospectus states: “The artist should depict, through two-dimensional or three-dimensional media, their interpretation of a vessel. The work must be inspired by the prehistoric Mimbreno culture of the Southwest.” My quilt, MIMBRES SECTION, used many Mimbres pottery symbols, so I figured I could use those symbols in a different way. I painted and printed individual pieces, or “shards”, using different images, cut them apart and layered them on gray felt and black canvas. I quilted each piece individually and hand stitched them together to “reconstruct” the pieces into a whole. Originally, the shape of the vessel was to be wider, shorter, and sloped inward at the top to a narrow opening. I constructed a wire support system in that shape, but then realized that the “shards” would not easily adapt to the narrowing aperture without darts or pleats…or SOMETHING! I am not very adept at working with a heavy wire cage (and had cuts and pokes on my hands and arms to prove it), so I was not too happy to toss it after all my efforts, but I did. I realized I needed to keep the body of the vessel simpler… with a gentle slope. It ended up being almost three feet tall. I made a lid to place on top of the body and things fit together well…no wire cage needed as a support. I used a stiff interfacing to keep the shape and to mold the top. This detail shot may help illustrate my description.

I submitted this piece in answer to the call…we’ll see…from the studio