Sean Scully the Shape of Ideas at the Philadelphia Museum of Art by Diane Hricko

While I have never seen Sean Scully work in a textile medium his paintings, prints and pastels are totally inspiring for me and have strong quilt references. He is constantly exploring compositional arrangements of the stripe. His color is fabulous, rich and deep, and whether the pieces are physically large as these are .

or small the impact remains monumental

This is a great show and full of inspiration. I was also very intrigued to Scully use Procreate on the ipad 

as a drawing tool, something I played with a bit this past fall. 

The show is up through July. Don't miss it.

Dianne Koppisch Hricko

The Migrant Quilt Project Comes Home by Mary Vaneecke

The Migrant Quilt Project memorializes migrants who have died seeking refuge in the US.  Every year, the Project recruits a volunteer artist or organization to create a quilt made from clothing abandoned by migrants along the border near my hometown, Tucson.  Each quilt carries the names of those whose bodies have been identified, or the word 'desconocido' ('stranger' in Spanish) for those whose remains are unidentified.   

My contribution to the project covers the fiscal year 2015-16 and honors the 144 people whose bodies were found at the border that year.  It features an image of Virgin de Guadelupe, and a silhouette of Fr. Eusebio Francisco Kino.   Fr. Kino was the first European in the area that is now Tucson, and is in my view the first border crosser here.  Creating this work was a humbling and sobering experience.  

Desconocidos, by Mary Vaneecke

The Migrant Quilt Project is back in Tucson, Arizona after a tour around the country that included venues in Massachusetts, Michigan, Illinois and Washington D.C.  The exhibitions drew national attention and were featured in articles in the Associated Press, New York Times, LA Times and the Washington Post.  

The Arizona Historical Society recently acquired the entire MQP collection, which is on display now through February 2023.  The exhibition is the first chance for the public to view the 2019-20 quilt, 

For information on the current exhibit, click here. 

To see more of my work, click here:  www.maryvaneecke.com 

A Preview Of My Work In The Harmony Exhibit by Mary-Ellen Latino

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?

Mary-Ellen Latino

melsrun2000@gmail.com

www.highinfiberart.com

 

See Three of Barbara Schneider's Sculptural Works

 

Fine Line Creative Arts Center

37w570 Bolcum Rd

St. Charles IL 60175

May 12, 2022-April 2024

Yolanda Sanchez's 'Come Slowly--Eden!' Comes to Kathryn Markel Fine Arts Gallery

We congratulate ACN member Yolanda Sanchez, whose works on paper are included in her exhibition Come Slowly--Eden! at Kathryn Markel Fine Arts May 12-June 18 in New York City.  

Yolanda writes about the exhibition:

"Flowers have long been a central theme for me and are evidence of my deep-rooted relationship to the natural world, informing my overall approach to image-making.  On the heels of my recent solo textile exhibition, “The Earth Laughs in Flowers,” in which I explore the light and color of my immediate natural environment through native flora, I now continue this thematic journey in paint.  It is the color but also the sensuousness of nature that I endeavor to suggest in both my paintings and textiles.  I am interested in the joyful, playful, or even spiritual properties of light, and believe strongly that we shape the world around us through our perceptions, awareness, and attention.  I would like to offer an invitation to awaken to beauty and delight, to a moment of contemplation, below the line of thought.  My current series of paintings reflects a light-hearted, fun attitude, if even, at times, a bit wild and bold."

You can view some of her works on canvas at the gallery by clicking here.

Good time to share some GOOD news from FiberFlyStudios (Deborah Weir)!

The following pieces are on view now:

Held Harmless #6 is at the Blue Line Gallery in Sacramento, CA, in the SAQA Northern California regional exhibit called Forever Changed.  I made a paper collage, had it printed then hand stitched to connect and emphasize elements of the design.

 Shibori Dye Day is a trompe l'oeil piece I made from a photo I took then stitched to make it pop.   It does fool the eye as it has a REAL shibori piece on the surface and no one knows if the blue is the indigo or the sky!   It's on its way to Visions in San Diego.

AbEx Next Gen was just accepted into the Oz Quilt Network's biannual traveling exhibition.  It will tour around Australia into 2024.   This is the "next generation" of a large mixed media piece I did a couple of years ago - I photographed a small portion of it, tweaked it till it came back to life and then printed and stitched it.

"Making Noyes" Collaborative Mural Installed by Maggie Weiss

In the summer of 2019, I began collaborating with students in various camps in my studio building. Over 90 local children ages 6 - 16 years eventually contributed to the recently installed artwork at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center here in Evanston, IL.  

Young artists created their self portraits with hugely diverse approaches, using fabrics prepared in advance. See if you can find the two with a side view; there's also a pirate, a skull, several minions and emojis as well as a cat among the many wonderful faces. With these in hand, I developed a collage design that showcased their unique work on a 6' x 4' canvas. Some of the students also created collaged houses or mono-printed background fabrics, depending upon how much time we had together. Using all of the components, I then added hand cut silk lettering on the surface of the Sun and the Moon describing the many activities for individuals, families and children that are available here. After several tries I was able to accurately depict the building itself. Evanston Quilter Amy Parker quilted an  undulating grid and I later bound the edges. I used Robbi Eklow's binding/facing method which creates corner flaps on the back of the work.  These add stability to the hanging mechanism and cover the hanging bar as well. Before installation, I Scotch-guarded the surface. 

On 25 March, 2022, the completed mural was hung and revealed to the public for the first time. The work radiates with the spirit and energy of all the young makers who participated and they can come and see their work any time. What a pleasure it was to facilitate bringing their work and voices to the public! 

- Maggie Weiss, Evanston, IL

 

                                              

I created a class in collaboration with Fleisher Art Memorial and the Philadelphia Ballet called "Fiber Art: Inspired by Dance " By Dianne Koppisch Hricko

 

This past January, I was invited by Fleisher Art Memorial to create and lead a class in collaboration with the Philadelphia Ballet and internationally renowned costume designer Holly Hynes, as part of their community outreach program. This was a free workshop that took place over three sessions where students created textiles made with fiber reactive dyes. The first session of the class, the students were introduced to Holly Hines who spoke to them about her design process and her inspiration.   Each student was provided two fabric pieces to work with , one silk habotai and one viscose rayon and silk, both measuring 75" long. 

Many of the students in the class had never worked with dye medium prior to the class. They were invited to use a piece of music as an entry point for inspiration. I made sure to have sample pieces for the students to experiment with the dyes to see how they responded to the fabrics.

Here are some examples of the students finished pieces. 

By Amy Orr

By Caren Friedman

By Elisabeth Nickles

The next step of the process was to send the completed pieces over to the Philadelphia Ballet where dancers would be photographed while interacting and dancing with the fabrics. This allowed the dancers to explore and help inform “Behind the Stage Door,” an upcoming series of live performances by Philadelphia Ballet II. “Behind the Stage Door” is an interactive multimedia performance that explores the invisible forces that bring the ballet to life. Through a soundscape of diverse voices, original musical composition, dance, film, sculpture, and stage design, the piece illuminates the many personalities and experiences that underlie and make possible the transcendent art form that is the ballet.

Piece by Dianne Koppisch Photographed by Vikki Sloviter 

The photographs of student works will be featured at an exhibit at Cherry Street Pier in Philadelphia running from April 29th through May 24th. 

I really enjoyed the partnership between myself, Fleisher, and The Philadelphia Ballet and hope to have the opportunity for more collaborations in the future.

"It Helps Sometimes To Take the Long View" by Joan Diamond

  “It Helps Sometimes To Take the Long View” is my piece that has been juried into Studio Montclair’s upcoming exhibit called ViewPoints.   The show runs April 23-May 27, 2022. You’re in luck:  the opening is today! 3:00-5:00 p.m.  And if you come you will be treated to the talents of 51 participating artists.   In case you live far from NJ, below I’ve included the artist statement which  accompanies this piece and will explain more to you about the work.

2021. Wool, Silk Noil, Silk Organza, Acid Dyes, Single Use Plastic Bags, Thread. 52"H x 48"W

Like tectonic plates shifting earth’s features, lockdown imposed a paradigm shift in the ordinariness of reality.  Globally, collectively, our nests of normalcy shape shifted, morphed by deadly contagion, violent storms effacing landscapes born centuries ago, and twenty six million refugees seeking shelter in other lands.  Science drew its blood along political fronts.

This backdrop of chaos, isolation, and uncertainty caused me to reconsider my own complacency, my ideas about things precious, and, of loss: of loved ones, but also loss of culture and landscape. The title of this piece references a healing prayer by Shamanistic teacher don Oscar Milo-Quesada.  

Shibori is a technique with which dye records the shape and pressure placed upon a cloth that has been manipulated-crumpled, squeezed, folded, etc.  It is a process akin to the recording of forming geology in that the agents of change are memorialized. Shibori seems an appropriate visual metaphor for the thing that is bigger than our lifetimes:  the passage of time.  Working with what was on hand in the studio, mountain ranges, plastic, and timeless Shibori mix to ask:  are we mindful enough of what we hold dear? 

Detail

The Mourning Project Nears #23000BabyBooties Milestone by Mary Vaneecke

I am so pleased to be able to announce that The Mourning Project, a huge community art project to collect 23,000 pairs of handmade baby booties, is near the end of the collection phase of the project! 

Hand-stitched booties for The Mourning Project.

Hundreds of makers are creating The Mourning Project to witness the grief of parents who mourn the loss of an infant, to raise awareness about the problem of infant mortality in the United States (which has the worst infant mortality rate in the developed world), and to begin a discussion about how we can give American infants the best chance at life.

The Mourning Project is gathering a little handmade elegy, a pair of baby booties, for each American baby lost before their first birthday. The project will call attention to the infant mortality rate in the US and educate the public about science-based solutions to this problem. Our goal is to raise awareness and literally save lives. We have the worst IM rate in the developed world and lose 23,000 babies every year. Other countries have practiced cost-effective treatments for years, so we know what works. We must call attention to this problem to create change.

As one maker wrote, It was a very cathartic project for me and I appreciated the opportunity to make booties to honor our Grandson Maxwell. …I can't thank you enough for heading up such an important project for awareness of infant mortality and for loved ones to make peace with their loss.

Or as another maker, Merle Eintracht put it, My love is in every stitch.

The booties will become part of a 38' by 38' art installation. As of April 2022, we are nearing the collection phase of the project, with only 5 kits of 100 pairs of booties left to be stitched. Partial installations have been viewed at guilds and art centers throughout the country, including Hyde Park in Chicago and Visions Art Museum in San Diego. See a virtual exhibition at TheMourningProject.com. We hope to document the first complete installation of the project with time-lapse drone photography or an animated short documentary to preserve this huge community art project in perpetuity.

Your financial gifts will support creation and exhibition of the booties, video documentation, shipping crates, etc. When exhibitions end, booties will be donated to organizations, like the March of Dimes, that serve infants and loss parents. Click here for a link to our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas, to make an online gift.  

Check out our exhibition schedule and learn more about the issue at TheMourningProject.com. There are still a few kits of 100 pre-cut, embellished booties left to stitch.  Contact me at mary@maryvaneecke.com if you can hand or machine stitch a kit.  Be a part of this compelling project and help save little lives.

detail, The Mourning Project