QSDS Report

I promised a report on the adventure of my first QSDS, and I've started one... that's the best I can do for now.  Sadly I don't have photos to post, since I don't want to post others' pictures or work without their permission.  

The first event when I arrived was the Sunday bus trip to Coshocton's Johnson Humrickhouse Museum where an exhibit entitled "Pushing the Surface, Contemporary Art Quilts" was showing.   They were wonderful, and I was thrilled to be able to view so many great pieces right up close.  I learned that even though I pour over art quilt books for hours, the real thing is 100 times better.   I recognized some of the names in the exhibit like Kathy Weaver, Sue Benner, Nancy Cook and Noriko Endo, and was excited to find out that another featured artist,  Maya Chaimovich was right there with us on the tour.   


The next stop was the Zanesville Art Center, for "Superlatives, Contemporary Ohio Quilts," which was also spectacular, and included such notables as Nancy Crow.  


Our third stop was the Jewish Community Center, to see Maya's solo show, which I've linked above.  Her works are mostly abstract, and based on colors.  I love that most of her material is recycled clothing and other fabrics from flea markets.   Maya turned out to be in my class, and I greatly enjoyed her modest attitude and beautiful work. 


After getting settled into the dorm and meeting my roommates on Sunday evening, classes started in full swing Monday morning.  It was great to finally get to meet Valerie, and to have so much time and access to her help and opinions.  The structure of the class was that we first all did a "template" project which she had already laid out for us.  I think there was a bit of grumbling from folks who thought that was stifling their creativity.  But by the time we were done, all had agreed that it was the only way to quickly learn Valerie's techniques and use them in our own project.  The Acropolis was the subject of the project.  Here's my almost finished piece.

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Back to the present, I'm still sort of floating in limbo not sure what I need to do next.  Other than work of course.  Big deadline at work on July 6, as well as many other not-so-patiently waiting clients.   And then there's wedding planning.  Lots to do there.  


Still waiting for my box from UPS, so I can unpack and reorganize stuff, and get back to work on some of my WIP/UFO's.   I need to pick up my Round Robin for the next round at MQG.

Back to reality

Today is back to reality (work) day.   I had a FANTASTIC week at QSDS.  I don't even know where to begin talking about it.  The people, the shows of amazing work, the class, the classmates and friends...  The IDEAS!

Then I spent a week with dad, which was slow and quiet, and allowed a lot of ideas to percolate. Back at home for Saturday and Sunday, I wanted to spend time with spousal unit and relax prior to the craziness that this week will bring.  It's going to be a very busy week.  I almost said, "stressful," but I need to remember that stress is optional, and I should try to opt out.  It's not going to make anything better to stress.

I am going to be too busy to spend any time on art for at least a week, but I may post a few thoughts about what I hope to do soon.  It's lucky that my tools and equipment are all in UPS transit until at least Wednesday, so I CAN'T do much.  (God, I hope they don't get lost!).  My sketchbook is also in USPS transit, mailed by dad on Saturday.

So in the meantime all I can do is look at these great aerial photos I took and daydream about how to make art with them.  Photoshop? Printing on fabric?  Mapping the layers?

Packing...

I won't be blogging much until I get back from Ohio at the end of June.   I leave Saturday!?!?! Yesterday  managed to pack all my tools, supplies and fabric into an amazingly small box.  I've decided to FedEx it - so I won't have to carry it through the airport and pay an extra $70 for second piece of luggage.  FedEx should be less than that...  I was going to just take a humongous suitcase, but when G. got it out, we found the zippers had been rendered non-functional by some leaking scuba-repair product last trip... sigh.


I still have to do something for the Round Robin and turn it in befoure I go.....  Argh.  It was just too nice out this weekend.  I better save a few items to work with.

Expanded FFFC Post

(I pared this down for the FFFC blog)

I have always loved the Art Deco style, so the hardest part of this challenge was selecting a single subject.  Since I had previously done an art quilt featuring an Art Deco building I decided to focus more on ornament than architecture.  I got out all my books, and also started collecting ideas and inspiration on Pinterest.    One photo that kept catching my attention was this one of the Chrysler Building elevator doors.   I did several sketches and doodles before finally coming up with my idea.  I decided to create a background using contrasting colors like the elevator door but selected a complementary color scheme of orange and blue, which seemed to evoke the posters and graphics of that era, and which were used in  souvenirs and advertisements for the 1939 World's Fair.  


Once again my ideas exceeded my skills.  I quickly had to give up on the curved piecing for the background and fall back on fusing, but as it turned out most of the background seams were covered anyway.   My design just sort of morphed out of the sketches I had been doing, using fountain, waterfall and zigzag motifs.   Once I had the background made I laid a piece of freezer paper over it, and sketched out the design right on the paper, which I then cut up and used as pattern for the blue and orange pieces.  


I tried to quilt it simply with complementary motifs, so as not to detract from the geometry of the design.


I look forward to any and all comments and suggestions.


I hope it's okay to also share my previous Art Deco quilt, "Beacon in the Darkness" which I made for a show here in my  hometown which featured local buildings created by the WPA. (A depression era building program).