Hooray!!

I just open a letter from Piedmont Craftsmen and it says: "Congratulations. I am pleased to welcome you as a New Exhibiting Member of Piedmont Craftsmen. The Standards Committee reviewed your work, along with that of the other applicants at the 2007 Piedmont Craftsmen's Fair Object Jury, and we're pleased to offer you Exhibiting Member Status."

I'm breathing a big sigh of relief right now. Becoming a member of Piedmont Craftsmen has been a long-standing goal of mine -- and I've been rejected at two other applications in the past! While I felt my work submitted was as strong as I could present at this point, putting work up for review by a jury still makes me nervous. I have great respect for the work of other members of Piedmont Craftsmen, several of whom make up the Standard Committee. Yet I also understand that opinions and tastes differ, as well as knowledge about tapestry technique. So, to have approval given to my work by members of this group gives me a good feeling about my direction.

The new members will be exhibiting in March of 2008 in Winston-Salem. Don't have the exact dates yet but I'll be hoping to have a couple of new smaller pieces ready by that point.

ALSO, I spent an extremely fun evening last night with two "old" college buddies and two "youngsters"--daughters of one of my friends! We met as freshmen at North Georgia College in September of 1965. We all three roomed together, in some configuration, over the next couple of years before I transferred to UGA. Then Beth and Fran spent their remaining years at NGC as roommates. We've all turned 60 years old this fall and this impromptu birthday celebration was just great!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving day...this seems a better time to take stock of things than New Year's Day. So, let me think about what I'm thankful for this year...

I'm thankful for the health and safety of my loved ones; so grateful that the second Iraq tour is over for my nephew. Second, for the kindness, understanding and support of friends and family--those who are near and also those who are distant. Third, for a fine cat who shares his life with us.

I'm also grateful to have had a productive year in both my art making and my teaching--and for the new studio space. I was happy to sit in the yard of the studio yesterday, under the ginkgo tree and to be showered by the glorious yellow leaves as they fell.

I'm very thankful for the rain that came last night...hoping we'll see more of it today. The drought here is very bad and any moisture is so welcome.

We're going to my sister's house for the Thanksgiving feast. My contributions are Mother's famous freezer slaw, applesauce of Yates apples from Noel & Patrick's trees (yummm!), and steamed carrots. These tap the extent of my cooking abilities--I'm sure everyone will be very thankful for all the other goodies that'll be found at Deb's house!!



The year held a major loss, however--the death of my Mother-in-law. She suffered so much pain and so many complications as she completed her journey on earth. Yet, she was a model of compassion for others. She always was interested in everyone--generous, thoughtful and concerned. She was a person of grace and I'm grateful to have known her. Much of what my husband has become as a person was learned from her and I'm very thankful for that.

I photographed the black walnut tapestry before taking it to Winston-Salem. I'll send the digital image to one of the companies that converts to slides...in fact, I may try several to compare the slide quality. The company I used before was very quick, the slides pretty good (as good as my digital image), and inexpensive. I don't think I'll have time to have a professional photographer shoot the piece before the deadline for ATB7 so will need to try to get slides done on my own.

To shoot, I stapled a gray background to the garage door, the light was shaded, and I used a tripod. However, the day was breezy and the right side had blown forward a bit--I didn't realize how much effect that was having until I downloaded the photos after my mad dash to deliver the work last week. So, my selvedges look not so good at the lower edge...the work is really much straighter than it appears (so, this is the point where the juror would have to know the inside of my mind rather than what he/she might be seeing!) This is the reason I will re-shoot once the Piedmont Craftsmen Fair is over, this upcoming weekend.

The garage offered a good place to shoot--cement driveway to put the tripod & camera on along with wood door to staple and nail into. I could have solved the breeze problem with a bit of masking tape to the back side of the tapestry, if I'd been aware of the problem. One more lesson to learn about pushing deadline details until the last minute!

One of my NGCSU students on Halloween! She is indeed a "Superweaver"... I have a great class this semester. We meet from 5:30 to 8:20 p.m., twice a week. The semester is nearing the end and everyone has lots remaining to do!

This young woman is taking her third class and has been exploring multi-shaft summer & winter weave. She's also been dyeing warps.

The other advanced weaver has her Senior Show on display currently. Her emphasis was lace weaves, as used in function in tablecloths, napkins, place mats, runners, and a large curtain. She's also explored dyeing of warps during this semester.

Enrollment for spring semester, an upper level class, is at 9 now. There will be one or two who drop by the beginning of the class, but I may also pick up one or two more. The administration has approved the purchase of five more looms from another university that's scaling back on its weaving program. If that does indeed take place, I'll have looms available for both beginning and upper level students during the same semester.

I delivered my work to Piedmont Craftsmen on Thursday; the jury takes place on Friday, the 16th around 2 p.m. I'll be attending the fair to demonstrate tapestry on Saturday and Sunday, and also be in the group applicant booth for a stint or two during the weekend. I'll pick my work up at the end of the fair. I'm not sure how long it will take to learn if I've gotten accepted into the organization.

Link to Piedmont Craftsmen is:

http://www.piedmontcraftsmen.org/

Clipping ends at the new studio! I'm happily working here now. I turned in the keys for the other place on Wednesday last week, Halloween--appropriate, I guess. Today will be devoted to the black walnut finishing, including a trip to a fabric store somewhere to find twill tape to stitch the velcro onto...thought I had enough for the width but DON'T! I have plenty of velcro but didn't realize I was out of the twill tape. Since I can't find that in Dahlonega I'll be making a trip down the road.



A few shots of the new place--two are from the center room where I have a small work table, the Tissart loom and the new/old Ruthie loom. The first room has a fireplace, bookcase and small sitting area--as well as a wall of shelves for yarn, the 60" Leclerc Gobelin style loom, a two four shaft floor looms--a small Macomber and a 36".

The Tissart and a view of the corner of the first room with the small Macomber floor loom.

View of the nice, soft chair I found at a local antique mall last year--along with the bookshelf and front door through which I hope to greet many visitors!