Monthly Archives: May 2014

Get “Dirt-y” Making Your Own Pigments from Soil!

by ceartquilts
Sandy's travel gear-300
Field Portfolio with Sketchbook and Storage Box with Hand Gathered Pigments
Instructor: Sandy Webster
July 11 – 13
10am – 5pm
Students will start by making watercolors from their hand gathered soils. Through hands-on demonstrations we will process our own unique paints using various methods of extracting the color. These will then be ground into beautiful paints to be used on paper and cloth. We will get at least four colors to add to our supplies box. Next a portfolio and renewable sketchbook sheets will be made using book board, decorative papers and Arches 140lb hot press papers stitched with waxed linen thread. Papers, paints, pencils, pens, places for collected objects and eyeglasses …. whatever is needed can be accommodated in these highly individualized portfolios that travel from field to studio. Students will finish with actually using the portfolio/book in the field. (Note: students may also apply these techniques to making tool “cabinets”, jewelry portfolios, travel journals etc, etc.)
Course # 1452325 $385. (materials fee $15.)
(materials list @ registration)
To register, call 360-568-7709

SandyWebsterArtist Sandy Webster is currently working in mixed media. After several years working with basketry as her primary medium she went on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Western Carolina University and her Master of Fine Arts from Norwich University at Vermont College.
She lives with her husband in western North Carolina. In addition to her studio work, Sandy Webster has written articles and served as a juror of fiber-related exhibitions while teaching and exhibiting internationally.
Sandy Webster’s works have been shown throughout the US and internationally. She has been published in Fiberarts Design Books 1V, V, VI; several Lark Publications as well as Handwoven, Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot, and Textile Fibre Forum. Sandy has taught, lectured and juried throughout the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. To see more of her work, visit www.sandywebster.com.

earthen-pigmentsSandy’s book-  “Earthen Pigments: Hand-Gathering and Using Natural Colors in Art“, Schiffer Publishing, can be ordered through Amazon.com

Piecing Abstraction with Pat Pauly comes to B.C.

by ceartquilts
Have you read our latest SDA Journal article on Piecing Abstraction?    Register for a workshop with featured artist, Pat Pauly.  Known for her improvisational technique, Pat uses bold colour and unusual juxtapositions of printed and painted fabric, to create absolutely stunning art.
 
Check out her website: http://www.patpauly.com/index.htm   or enjoy her blog:  http://piecesandresistance.blogspot.com/ 
Recognized as a Quilt National and Quilts=Art=Quilts winner,  SAQA BC has the opportunity to host Pat teach and give her evening lecture coming in October 2014.

PatPauly1

Workshop:  CUTTING UP THE PRETTIES     2 days

$120- current SAQA members,
$140 for all others
Thurs-Friday Oct 9-10, 2014
10 – 4 each day
Brookswood Seniors Centre,
19899 – 36 Ave, Langley, BC
20 participants max
sponsored by SAQA BC
We all have that great yard of fabric that we purchased, made, traded or were given.  But using it up is sometimes the most difficult thing to do!  Sometimes that fabric just does not “play” well with others.  Pat will show you how to “cut up the pretties” to use that special fabric to its best advantage.  So, gather those great and unique fabrics, in combination with other handmade or commercial fabrics, and explore design and colour in some careful exercises that will give you a road map for creating with one of a kind pieces.  Pat will show various design solutions while you learn a new language in design elements.  This class will teach you to embrace and USE the special fabric we love (but are afraid to use) and we will overcome our fear of ‘Cutting Up the Pretties.”  This is a hands on sewing class where we will start a notebook of ideas as well as begin an art quilt using our great fabric.
PatPauly2

Evening Lecture:  WALK ON THE WILD SIDE:  Finding Your Style in Contemporary Quiltmaking

 
Friday, October 10, 2014       7 – 8 pm          $10
George Preston Rec Centre,
20699 – 42 Ave, Langley, BC
Sponsored by SAQA BC
This evening lecture is Pat Pauly’s irreverent look at her own work and career, with its lucky beginnings and twists and turns.  After having diverged several times to accept positions in other aspects of the design profession, she cane back to full time contemporary quilting, where she had started in the early 1980’s.  All is far game for inspiration and comment as Pat presents more than 400 images in the space of an hour; you will never think of the word “quilt” in the same way, again.
Interested?  Registration for the workshop is limited to 20 participants, evening event – 100.     
 
Need additional information?  or to register contact:  Jennifer Cooper      coopernordic@gmail.com 

Whidbey Island SDA “Art for Home and Body” Show & Sale

by ceartquilts

wisdwica_webArtists and designers from Whidbey Island Surface Design (WISD) will be filling WICA’s Zech Hall to the brim with one-of-a-kind fiber, textile, and mixed-media art during their annual Art Show & Sale over Memorial Day weekend.  The show opens on Friday, May 23 with a Meet the Artists reception from 5-7 p.m. The show continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 24 and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, May 25.   Whidbey Island Center for the Arts (WICA) is located at 565 Camano Ave., Langley (www.wicaonline.org/).

Surface design is the creative exploration of fiber and fabric.  WISD artists use a wide-ranging combination of media and techniques to produce fine art and functional pieces that can be hung on the wall, displayed on a table, thrown over an arm chair, or worn on the body.

The works for sale in the show include weaving, beading, basketry, felting, knitting, quilting collage and mixed-media.  As usual, the sale will include an abundance of colorful wearable art and accessories, such as scarves, hats, shawls and jewelry.

A framed mixed-media piece by Laura Stangel Schmidt will be offered in a Silent Auction, which will run for the duration of the show.  The top bidder will be announced at 3 p.m. on Sunday.  The proceeds from the sale of the piece, titled Confluence, will benefit Orca Network.

The professional artist members of WISD regularly exhibit and sell their work in galleries and museums in the Northwest, as well as nationally and internationally.  WISD is the local chapter of the international Surface Design Association.

Visit http://whidbeyislandsda.wordpress.com for more information about WISD and the artists.

Maura Donegan’s “Text-ural” Art

by ceartquilts
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Maura Donegan with some of her 3-D cubes

 

Last week, SDA member Maura Donegan visited the Eastside SDA chapter meeting to share her incredible fiber art embroideries.  Born and raised in Ireland, Maura holds a diploma from the London Cities and Guilds Embroidery program which she started in the UK.  However, after completing her first year, she moved to the Puget Sound region… Luckily, she was able to continue and complete her studies under the tutelage of  Gail Harker here in La Conner, WA.  In 2011, Maura was one of four graduates of the Gail Harker Center to be featured artists at the “Four Embroiderers” exhibition at the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum.

 

imageMuch of Maura’s work features words embroidered with each letter within squares in a grid, like crosswords.   Memory and a historical tradition of handwork in both Maura’s family and women in general are honored in her work.  Some of her pieces are for the wall, while others are 3-D, such as her box of 108 cubes, each with a 6-letter word inscribed on it.  108 is considered a sacred number by several Eastern religions and is the “hyperfactorial of 3, as it is of the form:108Maura invites people to choose a cube from the box and then replenishes with more cubes as needed to maintain the number within.

 

Box of word cubes

Box of word cubes

Maura’s Irish heritage also is seen in some exciting new pieces she is making with machine embroidery on a heavy Japanese paper.  The designs are inspired by ancient art on the megalithic rock tombs that were near where she grew up.  The dense, beautiful embroidery is made with metallic thread, making elegant patterns and webs in the areas she has cut away which replicate the stone-age art.

 

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imageSee more of Maura’s art on her website at http://www.mauradonegan.com