HARMONY is a juried quilt exhibit that will take place at the Broadway Gallery in Alexandria, Virginia 6/1/22-8/31/22. https://broadwaygalleries.net
Curators for the exhibit are Lisa Ellis and Barbara Hollinger.
When I read the call for entry, I was excited by both the theme and size limitations.
The theme was chosen in a time when the world was chaotic and we all needed to look for harmony in our lives.
All pieces entered had to conform to 12x12, 24x24, 36x36 or 48x48 finished sizing. The square format of various sizes would make such a unique patchwork installation on the walls of the gallery.
I was totally motivated to enter my work!
As a mixed media fiber artist, I work digitally with photographs, scanned dyed cloth and surface design to express my visual voice.
For this exhibit I was inspired to work with a photo of a rustic old farm truck I had taken in Harmony, CA. – a central coast destination for artists and those seeking peace.
The abandoned relic was proudly basking among the thick grass and trees behind the glass-blowing building. It conjured up sweet memories of the past, bringing me joy and harmony.
I digitally developed the photo intuitively until the elements flowed together, commercially printed on cotton broadcloth, free-motion quilted on eco-felt, painted with Inktense pencils, applied foil and attached it to a 24” square canvas.
I had left 3 inches all around the quilted piece for attachment to the canvas with a heavy-duty stapler. Since it was a bit tricky to do for the first time, I reached out to a member of our group for advise and she recommended videos to watch to guide me. It worked!
LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL! was juried in.
‘She loved the smell of old truck, thick cotton and vinyl seat covers, old gasoline and oil, the smell of country, decades of farmers, workers and families taking trips back and forth to town, up back roads to swimming holes, over fields, through all the weather. She imagined what this truck would have seen if it had eyes and a memory.’ Quote by Glenda Love
The other artwork that will be shown in the exhibit was made a year earlier.
I was inspired to create RHYTHM AND JOY! while admiring the beauty and magical lure of aloe. Music and nature fill my soul inspiring me to create art to depict the changing visual language of our natural world, the seasons of our life. Aloe is resilient, grows slowly and like music survives for generations and can fill you up with happiness.
While listening to Handel’s ‘Water Music’ I digitally developed a photo and scanned dyed shibori cloth until the elements harmoniously flowed together, commercially printed on cotton broadcloth, painted with Inktense pencils, and quilted. Can you feel the Rhythm?
4 comments:
Great post, Mary Ellen. I liked reading the description about the development of the truck piece especially.
I agree with Barbara. The pieces are lovely and I also enjoyed reading your narrative about how you developed the idea and how you produced the pieces.
Thanks for posting MaryEllen. I love the watercolor feel of "Let the Good Times Roll!"It remains very fresh and open despite the range of technical steps you went through to achieve this. BRAVA.
I absolutely love that truck!!!
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