ACN Member Ileana Soto Joins Textile Study Group of New York

 

On the website of the Textile Study Group of New York, you will find a new ‘profile’ of my work, complete with written text and photos.  Here is the link:  https://www.tsgny.org/ileana-soto-profile .  A lot of work went into this profile.  I have a new appreciation of the connections between my former work life as a family therapist and my present-day art life.  Thank you to my two editors!  Please have a look and let me know what you think.   

                                                                                                ---Ileana Soto

Line Dancing with Barbara Schneider

Line Dance, Tree Ring Patterns, var. 26 is 57" x 43". It is an art quilt.  It is created from a photo of a tree stump I took while walking in one of the local conservation areas. I loved the look of the "feathers" in the wood caused by some unknown issue in the tree's past.  These old tree stumps are evocative, for me, of time passing. I wonder at all that has happened in that forest - what has come and gone, what the tree has survived and been used for.  Some of the story gets told in the stump by the markings.  As part of my interest in Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese concept of finding beauty in the imperfect, the old, the decaying, the moment, I find this beautiful.

 

I manipulated the image in Photoshop Elements to heighten color and contrast, printed it out and then thread painted all the black line area to add dense texture and contrast to all the other patterning.  I find the back of the piece quite intriguing as you see the map of that stitching.  It tells you even more about the interior life of the tree.

 

See this piece and more in the Line Dance series on my website:

www.barbaraschneider-artist.com

                                                                      ---Barbara Schneider

Line Dance, Tree Ring Patterns, var. 26, reverse

Line Dance, Tree Ring Patterns, var. 26, detail

Line Dance, Tree Ring Patterns, var. 26

Kenyan Quilt Project by Deborah Weir

 I was lucky enough to participate in the Sister Artist project out of Kenya. I was given the embroidery of the ostrich done by Catherine Akyini. She has been developing her stitching skills through a program supported by the Advocacy Project, an international aid agency. These are marketable skills and she is getting education on how to do so through the program. Once I received the piece I put into an art quilt I designed around it.

As you will see here these are being auctioned at a gala at the Textile Museum in Washington, DC, on March 11 and 12 as a fund raiser for the project. The Advocacy Project has made a fabulous catalog that everyone can access online and then decide what to bid on. My piece is the one with the REAL ostrich feather tail! No ostriches were harmed . . .

Here's a link: https://advocacyproject.betterworld.org/auctions/sister-artists-kenya

                                                        by Deborah Weir

3 Ring Circus by Deborah Weir

Here's the latest piece from FiberFly Studios.  I'm so into 3D work now.  It's more challenging for me as there are so many different and more complex issues.  Balance (literal and visual) was the primary one with this guy. 

Barbara Schneider Explores Desert Variations

Leaves, Desert Variations is a based on photos taken in the desert. It is an art quilt. 54" wide x 30 " high. It was printed on polyester and batted and backed. This low to the ground photo had such striking contrast between the two plants and density of color and texture.  The interplay of the plants is striking.

Leaves, Desert Variations, by Barbara Schneider, 30''h x 54''w