Tips for applying quilt facing

 by Russ Little

It's that time of year when there seems to be an abundance of quilt exhibition jury deadlines. For me that means that I need to finish the edges on my back log of "finished" art quilts--quilts that are languishing at the all-but-facing stage. I've been taking a critical look at the way that I've been doing facing, making some changes, and discovering a few things along the way. 

One of the biggest challenges has always been getting good, square corners and managing the seam bulk in those corners. I've shared a few tips in the video below. Who knew that we all need a hammer next to the pressing table?!

John Michael Kohler Art Center Exhibits - Barbara Schneider

 I recently visited the Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI. I wanted to see the exhibit celebrating their 50th Anniversary of the Arts/Industry internship program that they run. This program now has 12 interns per year that come and work for  between 1 and 3 months with the staff at Kohler Pottery to create artwork outside their own field of expertise. It was amazing to see the variety of ways people used the techniques from ceramics in new and innovative ways. Some of those art experiments end up getting incorporated into new ideas for Kohler products. The link below takes you to a description of the program and to see some of the work in progress.

https://www.jmkac.org/arts-industry/ 

As part of the 50th Anniversary Celebration they took an entire part of the building and recreated what it is like to work in the foundry complete with molds for sinks, forms, tools, etc. This space is being used during the exhibit to have by a resident artist to work with the public on an installation while they are there.

Another of the exhibits I saw was by Willie Cole. Below is a description of that exhibit. I was very taken with all the ways an iron can be used to create imagery.   Many of us who have managed to burn cloth will enjoy the images created! The sculptures made of old shoes are also quite fascinating. Until you get up close you have no idea that these angular pieces are shoes.

This solo exhibition of work by Willie Cole, who was an Arts/Industry resident in the Kohler Co. Pottery in 2000, features newly commissioned sculptures alongside a selection of works spanning over three decades.

Cole visualizes the reality that domestic spaces are often tangled with histories of enslaved labor. He uses the visual vocabulary of the domestic sphere—shoes, tools, furniture, for example—to bring forward the grief and intimacy that linger within private spaces.

 

Home Assembly highlights Cole’s refiguring of familiar and frequently discarded objects to confront and demand attention from his audience. His assemblages and prints convey intricate histories and messages, demonstrating the complexities and the commonalities shared in the cultivation of homes and the lives they shelter. Cole frequently uses the iron —burn marks, the ironing board, and the iron itself—as parts of human figures, as protective shields, as the shape of ships that transported enslaved Africans to the Americas, and to commemorate the work of women. Each of the ironing boards are named after the woman who owned them.

Home Assembly honors Cole’s impact on the fields of labor and methodical craft, which are at the core of the Arts/ Industry program.

Although it is a long drive I am never disappointed with the exhibits at Kohler. They are wide ranging and often they devote whole areas of the building to installations of one person's work. They have now built a second location named the Art Preserve that features all of the Outsider Art that they have collected over the years so that it can remain on permanent display.

More about some of the other art on display in another upcoming blog!

Renewal: Inside a National Fibre Art Exhibition by Sue Sherman

This past Sunday, July 7, I was thrilled to attend the opening reception of a new fibre art exhibition called Renewal at the Homer Watson House & Gallery in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The exhibition looked a treat in this beautiful old gallery, which was once the home and studio of pioneering Canadian artist Homer Watson.

Artwork left to right: Poet in Love by Judy Martin, Frosty Fronds by Margaret Inkster, First Blooms by Marie McEachern, Forest Hope by Lori Everett, and Leaving the Dark by Toni Major 

Although I’ve been involved in my share of fibre art exhibitions, this has been a new experience being part of the team putting together a new art exhibition under the umbrella of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA). Many of the members of Art Cloth Network are also members of SAQA – there is a lot of overlap between “art cloth” and “art quilts”, but let me start by telling you the differences in case you are interested:

• Art Cloth Network defines art cloth as “cloth transformed by adding or subtracting color, line, shape, texture, value, or fiber to create a compelling surface”. It may or may not be stitched. 

• SAQA defines an art quilt as “a creative work that is layered and stitched or references this form of stitched layered structure.” Art quilts are usually made at least partially from cloth, but could equally be made from paper or sheet metal; stitching could be done with a sewing machine, a staple gun, twist ties, cufflinks – anything that will hold layers together. 

SAQA has over 4,000 members around the world, with around 300 of those in Canada. The organization has been growing from strength to strength over the past 30 years, and has amassed a great deal of expertise in the creation and exhibition of art quilts. The three Canadian regions of SAQA joined together to assemble and exhibit a juried exhibition of art quilts made by members from coast to coast to coast, on a theme of Renewal. Renewal is:

• rekindling, looking to a new future, finding hope
• resuming an activity after an interruption
• repair or recycle of something worn and used
• recovering strength
• renewed cycles of life 

This exhibition asks its audiences: how you observe and experience renewal? 

Renewal was juried by gallerist David Kaye, curator Leona Herzog and artist/curator Brandt Eisner. The exhibition includes 33 pieces of contemporary fibre art selected from over 200 submissions. 

As a regional committee we were responsible for all aspects of the process – writing and issuing the Call for Entry, fielding questions from artists, engaging the jurors, supporting the jurying process, designing and printing catalogues, contracting with the selected artists, finding venues to display the exhibition and contracting with them, arranging for shipping of the pieces to and from the artists, and organizing packing, shipping and unpacking of the artworks as they move from venue to venue. The list goes on – the committee is responsible for pretty much everything about the exhibition. 

As a first-timer working on a nation-wide exhibition, I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but was impressed by how well organized and professional the committee was. The committee had already been going for several years and had previously mounted a very successful Canadian exhibition called “Colour with a U”. A few original members are still there, and the committee itself had been carefully curated by the very capable past chair, Tracey Lawko. Tracey was actively involved in passing the baton to the new members, getting the new Renewal exhibition up and running, and coaching incoming chair Susan Selby.

As a new member, I was impressed by the dedication, expertise and team spirit of all the committee members. Although I didn’t personally have much specific experience in organizing art exhibitions, I found that the project management experience from my earlier career was quite helpful. Like with so many things in life, a committee works best when its members have a variety of backgrounds and skills to bring to the table. We don’t all need to be curators! 

It was also a comfort to know that the SAQA organization was there to provide a framework for everything we did. They provided a dedicated space on their website for our Call for Entry and other information about our regional exhibition. They provided software for members to submit their artwork, and marketing vehicles for getting the word out to SAQA members. In short, SAQA provided the systems needed for us to operate within, a great deal of support to facilitate our success, and the brand recognition of the SAQA name. 

When it all finally came together, it was great to see 14 of the 33 participating artists at the opening reception at the Homer Watson House & Gallery. And many of the other guests were also SAQA members who had come to see the beautiful exhibition and support their friends whose work was featured.

One of the participating artists (not at the reception) was Lynda Williamson who, like me, is a member of both SAQA and Art Cloth Network. Lynda’s piece Passing On, pictured below, was a gorgeous, airy creation of rust dyed organza and linen.

I have long been a fan of Tracey Lawko’s work, ever since the day in 2017 that I saw her inspirational solo exhibition at this same Homer Watson House and Gallery, when I was debating whether to become a serious art quilter. Tracey’s piece Harbingers, shown below, is exquisite, and the image is completely made of thread!

This next photo shows two pieces. Rise Again by Susan Avishai is a pair of wings you can stand in front of for a great photo op. They are a great interpretation of the Renewal theme, being made from pieces of cast-off men’s shirts. Tri-colour White is by Kit Vincent. You may have seen and admired her fabulous work in photographs, but in person it takes on a whole new level of interest with its texture and dimension!

Below is Find Your Way by Maggie Vanderweit. It depicts the sea wall at Galveston, TX, which was being put to the test by Hurricane Beryl around the time of the exhibition opening. Maggie added a window to entice us to look up into the sky, in her inspirational interpretation of the Renewal theme.

This adorable piece is Bovinity, by Mita Giacomini. It is made from a variety of fibres using her unique surface weaving technique.

These are just a few of the pieces in the exhibition. If you want to see the rest, you may wish to consider coming to see it for yourself. You can find a list of all the artworks, along with a schedule of participating venues at Renewal (SAQA Regional) | SAQA - Studio Art Quilt Associates

For more about Homer Watson House & Gallery, you can check out their website at Homer Watson House & Gallery

HOLES: a new technique by Deborah Weir

 I wanted to write a bit about holes.  I’m a big fan of openings as they break up the surrounding space and provide a window to what might lie below.  They give both visual and literal texture.   I’ve burned, drilled, punched, ripped, used the multi-needled felting machine, and applied a heat tool to make openings.  Recently, in a course I took with Debbie Lyddon,  I’ve added rings (metal, plastic, etc.) to cleanly outline the holes.  This is a different look from my previous methods.  These openings are stronger, demand to be noticed and appear more intentional.

The first example is a quilt called CONCRETION.  The righthand upper 2/3 has a flap through which I made the holes.  Each window has a different element visible below.  Concrete is a compound of many materials, and I liked the idea of showing some of these in the layer normally not visible.  This piece also has images of holes which are printed and sewn but not actually open as contrast to the literal ones.

 

HOLEY (H)AIRPLANT is another recent piece that uses holes.  I was thrilled with the piece of canvas I had dyed for the layer below the Lutrador and wanted to make sure that viewers would be able to see it.  So I have stitched the hoops on, cut away the Lutrador and burned any remaining material inside the opening.  I also burned a lot of smaller holes with the heat tool.  I spray painted these outside panels so the hooped holes blend visually to their substrate; then I sewed each panel onto the underlying (dyed) fabric.

So many simple ways of adding depth and interest!

Our Small Local Art Centers Bring Big Fibre/Fiber Excitement and Joy! by Ileana Soto

Tucked quietly into the hills of Mill Valley, CA, below Mt. Tamalpais, with redwoods adjacent and oaks above, is a unique arts center founded by Ann and Dick O’Hanlon in the 1960’s. The O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, www.ohanloncenter.org, is small and thriving, with classes during the week and weekends that range from the visual to the literary, meditative, and performing arts. Their perspective has an “emphasis on the creative process and the continued pursuit of meaning and authenticity through observation, exploration, and experimentation. Rather than a focus on developing or perfecting an artistic product, the focus is on allowing your own perceptions (and explorations) to inspire your art.” This June, I was honored to be in their biennial Fiber Arts exhibit, juried by Carole Beadle. The call’s description encouraged artists to push the boundaries of the medium. The textile artists of the Greater Bay Area responded enthusiastically. My piece is titled: Tremblor, 36" h x 22" w.

Unusual materials ranged from salvaged cardboard, handmade paper, twigs, cordage, twist and cable ties, wire, pounded steel, flax, palm fiber, gut, twine, kapa, macramé, molded tissue paper, plastic bags. Techniques ranged from twining, knitting. felting, weaving, basketry, paper making, paper weaving, encaustic, needle punch, tufting, photo printing, surface design, and mixed media. Forms ranged from flat to sculptural, animate to inanimate: wall hangings, shoes, vessels, garments, and a 10-foot apron that commented through advertisement imagery on decades of sexualized portrayal of women. This summer, this isn’t the only fiber exhibit available in our San Francisco area! At the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles, https://sj-mqt.org/, a thoughtful exhibit, “Printed and Stitched” will be showing until September 3rd. You’ll find my piece, “Warrior” amongst the 53 wonderful art pieces.

A small gallery in Fremont, CA, the Olive Hyde Gallery, is showing their 54th Annual Textile Arts Exhibit. The June 21st opening reception was a homecoming for textile artists and friends. If you’re passing through our area, come see this show. You’ll see 3 of my “FourSquare” pieces that I developed for Art Cloth Network’s 2023 silk exhibit at the Kemerer Museum of decorative Arts. Check out their virtual show at: https://www.fremont.gov/government/departments/parks-recreation/facilities-rentals/community-centers/olive-hyde-art-gallery.

Last, if you venture east to the Central Valley, you’ll be able to see the Carnegie Arts Center’s annual “Carnegie Art Showcase” and two of my voting rights pieces. I include a photo of one of my pieces: "V is for Voting", 30" h x 38" w.

Yes, our small, local art centers have brought big fibre/fiber excitement and joy to our communities! Yours too? By Ileana Soto https://www.ileanasoto.com Vimeo recording of the artist talks at the O'Hanlon Center for the Arts: 2) https://vimeo.com/956181435?share=copy