Tips and tricks for finishing art quilts with a faced edge

I've just posted a new how-to video on faced edge finishing for art quilts in the resources section on my website. Check it out.

https://russlittlefiberartist.com/how-to/2022/7/28/how-to-finish-an-art-quilt-with-a-facing

Fond Memories of Good Company by Merill Comeau

A combination of recovering from an overwhelming schedule and living in the isolation of the pandemic has caused a shift in my impulse to make -- my conceptual underpinnings and the imagery I employ reflect my current sense of absence and presence.  Missing from my days is a consistent active engagement with others; present in my days is an increased awareness of my immediate environment.  The continuity in my practice is my love of working with repurposed fabrics, needles, and thread.  My interest in using traditional techniques in a new ways also endures.

In my ongoing project Fond Memories of Good Company textiles once used in my dining room and kitchen bearing the marks of food preparation and consumption are deconstructed then reconstructed into a patchwork ‘tablecloth’ which is then embroidered with outlines of tableware.  Infill stitches surround forks, spoons, and plates in a variety of styles evoke a possible record documenting the countless numbers of meals prepared and served.  

Hopefully, as we manage CoVid infections, we will return to shared meals with good company!                                                             Merill Comeau

In process: Fond Memories of Good Company by Merill Comeau

 Nick Cave Exhibit by Barbara Schneider

I recently had the opportunity to see the Nick Cave installations at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Nick cave exhibit MCA.

From the website: Chicagoan Nick Cave (American, b. 1959), an artist celebrated for projects that blend community building with vibrant works of art across disciplines, including immersive installations, textural sculptures, impeccably crafted fashion, and dynamic videos and performances. Highlights of the exhibition include never-before-seen works, including a continuation of the artist’s popular Soundsuits series with the premiere of Soundsuits 9:29 and a mesmerizing, site-specific installation, Spinner Forest, comprised of thousands of kinetic spinners that will hang in the museum’s two-story atrium and fourth-floor lobby.

Cave came to prominence as a visual artist almost twenty years ago with his dazzling, sculptural Soundsuits, and works in Chicago as an activist, educator, designer, and performer. Nick Cave: Forothermore gathers all of these aspects of Cave’s work into the artist’s largest museum survey to date. This immersive journey through Cave’s distinct bodies of work is accompanied by an exhibition catalogue designed with Cave’s partner, Bob Faust.

Nick Cave: Forothermore is an ode to those who, whether due to racism, homophobia, or other forms of bigotry, live their lives as the “other”—and a celebration of the way art, music, fashion, and performance can help us envision a more just future.

It was a fascinating look at many aspects of his textile/installation work. More is definitely more in his work. Several of the sound suits were on display and you can find a million interesting details in each one.

The entire surface of this piece is made of silvery buttons.

I was not as familiar with his work with found objects but they are quite lyrical and beautiful and then the more you look the more the underlying message comes through. (Sorry the photo is not as good as it could be)

 

This photo is taken looking out over the lobby where a million twisting, turning metal pieces are all moving at once.  When you look closely you see that the design is of guns. 

There are several video segments about Nick Cave on Art 21. (link here). They give you a sense of the artist and how he creates his work and what influences him. 

The exhibit at the MCA is there until October 20, 2022 just in case you get to Chicago and want to see it.  It was wonderful to get to an exhibit and be inspired anew.

Summer Exhibition, Royal Academy of Art by Lorraine Ross

 Summer Exhibition

The Royal Academy of Art, located in Piccadilly, in the heart of London, has championed art and artists for the past 250 years. It has been and remains to be a home of world class exhibits from around the world.

Since 1767, the Academy has hosted an annual summer exhibition, the world's largest open submission exhibitions. The Summer Exhibition represents what is happening in the art world right now. It features work created by well known artists to emerging artists, including "wannabe" artists like myself.

This year the theme was Climate. I began to think of all the devestating climate effects and changes that are being reported around the world. In Western Canada we have been plagued by forest fires which have been exceptionally destructive. Towns have been razed and mountain sides have been stripped of vegetation. The secondary effects are that areas directly hit by the fires have then been subjected to flooding and mudslides. The winds have carried smoke and toxic pollutants from constructions in an easterly direction, resulting in air pollution and health concerns.

When the call was posted, I had a canvas dropcloth on my table that showed me a smokey sky with clear patches. Perfect start! I bumped up the blues and added a base colour of orange and red at the bottom for the fires. The fire was completed with stacked sorbello stitch.

I received notification that my piece Forest Fire was accepted into the short round ( 4000 pieces) and I hand delivered it in May. In June I was notified that it was selected as a final piece for hanging (1500 pieces). 

I am still in shock and disbelief that I have a piece hanging in this exhibition and that it will be viewed by thousands of people.  It is such an honour and I am truly humbled by this opportunity. 

The Summer Exhibition can be viewed online.   se.royalacademy.org.uk.

Please check it out, there is much to see.

Lorraine Ross

Held Harmless

Held Harmless is a series of smallish pieces (18"-28") I developed during the Pandemic. Each started as a paper collage I photographed, tweaked in Photoshop, and had printed onto cotton.  Once I received them, I spent weeks hand stitching each one. The stitches are used to draw the eye towards certain areas, emphasize portions, connect, play with color and create continuity between elements.

These have been terrifying, infuriating and deeply saddening times.  The tiny movement of my fingers with the floss was a meditation which grounded me and fed me.   The pieces capture all of these emotions and more.

Here are #2, 6 and 7  (See more at https://www.DeborahWeir.net)