TEXTiles exhibit at Kryder Gallery

I got up to the square to visit Kryder Gallery this afternoon.



The finishing touches were being put on the exhibit, TEXTiles, by Jeff Kryder and his art intern from NGCSU. The exhibit will hang from August 1 to September 18; opening reception will be this Saturday, August 2, 1-3 p.m. Maybe I'll see you there!

Here are quick photos I made today of the works in the gallery, posted in no particular order. We five artists in the TEXTiles show (Diane Getty, A.K. McMillan, Peggy McBride, Pat Williams and Tommye Scanlin) have put together an interesting collection of works, I feel. I've known all these women for decades and have found all to be very creative. Each of us has gone in different directions with fiber and fabric work through the years; the complexity of image and depth of concept for works have increased steadily as we're maturing. I invited all four to participate in my "month of May/art a day" process and they took me up on it. We maintained a private blog to share images and thoughts throughout the month--turned out to be a great way to nudge each other along, give mini-critiques, and much encouragement. I found it to be extremely inspiring to work with these women...and to get to introduce some of them to each other. Although I've know each of these incredible people for years, not all had met before the May adventure since we live in different parts of the southeast.

The postcard for the exhibit says:

TEXTiles: woven, rendered & constructed

TEXTiles is a group show of works by five artists who interpret life experiences in fiber.  Many works incorporate text to convey personal narratives.  The show includes entries from the artists' recent month-long collaborative journal on their creative processes.

Works in the exhibit range from straight forward tapestry (Pat's work) to tapestry/mixed media (me) in the woven offerings.  Diane Getty and Peggy McBride both present fabric collage and assemblage; Diane's work uses mostly hand-painted fabrics that she enhances with stitching (both hand and machine stitching) and, in one piece, small objects.    Peggy recycles fabric, metal, paper and other objects while creating her works, several of which are in relief or are three-dimensional.  A.K. McMillan has handmade books in the show, most of which include images as well as her own writings.  Most of the works from both A.K. and Peggy began during the "month of May/art a day" activities.

The opportunity Jeff Kryder has provided for us to exhibit our works is just wonderful!  I wish him much success with his small gallery here in Dahlonega.  The next show he has in the works is a juried photography exhibit, to hang during the "Atlanta Celebrates Photography" month coming up in October.  The theme is "Love vs. Fear" and if you're interested in submitting works, the prospectus for the show is found at this link.

Exhibition coming up: Mining the Surface

I'll be delivering a tapestry later this week for an upcoming exhibition in Atlanta.  Called "Mining the Surface: New Sensibilities in Art Textiles," the exhibit will be held at Swan Coach House Gallery, 3130 Slaton Dr., NW, Atlanta, GA, August 7-September 20, 2008.  I was quite thrilled last week to get an e-mail from the gallery director with the proof of the post card and find my tapestry as the image selected to be on the face of it!  This was one of the pieces rejected for the ATB7 show--but I'm very happy to have it with me now, and to have had it selected by the curators for this Atlanta exhibit.  

R & R (recover and recharge)

Southern Highland Craft Guild Fair, summer edition--overview of one side of the arena of the Asheville Civic Center and booths set up there.  The concourse was also filled with booths.  This was one of the largest Fairs ever, with over 200 craftsmen participating.    This was the 61st annual fair.

Diane gets her demonstration space ready early last Thursday morning as we're about to begin our four day experience.  She and I were set up side by side in the center of the arena.

So here I am, ready, willing and able to talk, talk, talk about tapestry!  Lots of people stopped to watch and chat.  And I wish I'd kept a note of how many people told me that they appreciated getting to see the demonstrations!  The small loom in front of my larger loom was used occasionally when there were children who were really curious about the whole process.  Maybe some budding tapestry weavers will develop from those who worked on the small loom.

This young weaver spent 15 or 20 minutes working with her weaving.  

So, all in all the Guild Fair was great fun--a wonderful time to share what I love to do with young and old.  Having the chance to spend four days with a dear friend wasn't bad, either.  Diane arrived home safely and she's busy with her R & R in Baltimore.  I'm just about to begin mine here in Georgia after spending a hectic day on Tuesday spent hanging a new exhibit.  

Five fiber artists are joining forces for a show we've titled "TEXTiles" -- at Kryder Gallery in Dahlonega, August 1-September 18.  Three of us  with works in the show (plus one husband), worked with Jeff Kryder to install the pieces.  Jeff and his staff will finish the details and the opening will be on Saturday, August 2, from 1-3 p.m.  

The exhibit includes tapestry, mixed media fabric, handmade books, an wonderful sculpture in rusted metal and fabric, as well as the collaged torso below.  I have enjoyed working with these four friends with this goal in mind and Jeff has been great to work over the past couple of months as the exhibit has come together.  

Here's  a photo AK (one of the artists in the exhibit) took of Peggy and me in one part of the hallway while we're installing the works; yes, Peggy is usually in that particular forward motion!  And, me--stretched to the limit--again, as usual!!

Phew! The Guild Fair is over! But what a great time...!

Diane and I had a great time showing and sharing about our processes during these past four days.  We talked to lots and lots of people, gave information that may be (we hope) helpful to folks about what we do.  Diane is as obsessed with her work as I am with mine--it's 9:43 p.m as I'm posting this from our  shared hotel room and she's still working with some of the fabric painting that she wants to complete before the end of the night...it has to be dry before she flies off to Baltimore tomorrow.  The photos here are of Di drying some of the painted fabric with the hotel hair dryer and also of others laying in the tub on a sheet of plastic.  Can you say "Obsession?!?!?""  But, then I can't throw too many stones, can I?

Fantastic four days...I'll post more photos from camera when I get home; my cable connection to the computer is there...Di brought hers so we've got those shots of hers here.

YIKES!! I'm leaving tomorrow...still so much to do!!

Images being spit out of my printer as I work frantically to prepare story boards for my tapestry demonstration booth at the Guild Fair that starts later this week.

Southern Highland Craft Guild Fair, summer edition, begins on Thursday, July 17.  It runs through Sunday, July 20.  Hours daily are 10-6, Thu-Sat; 10-5, Sun.  The Fair is held at the Civic Center in downtown Asheville and my demo space is arena center.  Diane will be set up nearby for her demonstration of fabric collage.  

I've been working hard over the past week to finish preparations for the four day demo, getting story boards together and working on the weaving.  STILL so much to do...so little time remaining!!  I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon, will stop over at my friends' place in Sapphire, then pick up Diane at the Asheville Airport as she flies in from Baltimore on Wednesday.

Setup at the Civic Center is Wednesday afternoon and it will be very hectic then, with over 100 craftspeople vying for move-in space!  The Guild Fair is one of the best opportunities in the Southeast to see (and buy!) beautifully designed and crafted objects of all kinds.  The Guild is one of the oldest craft organizations in the U.S.  and craftsmen must pass a standards committee review of work to be accepted as an juried member. 

But, an important part of the mission of the Guild, in addition to providing opportunities for marketing and exhibiting, is educational.  The demonstrations that are features of each Guild Fair and also weekly at the Folk Art Center near Asheville are only one aspect of the educational side.  The FAC also houses the archives of the Guild, an outstanding library of books and periodicals concerning crafts, and a exhibits of items from Guild's permanent collection of over a thousand pieces of Southern craft objects dating, some of them, into the 1800s.  There is also a beautiful gallery space at the FAC with exhibits changing several times a year of contemporary and/or historical craft objects from many sources.  Tapestry Weavers South had an exhibit in the main gallery in early 2007 of over a hundred tapestry works by our members--wonderful opportunity to show and to share.

OK, so...enough Guild promotion here!!  And, on to tapestry promotion through the Guild!  Got to finish up and get on the way north tomorrow.

so here's a quick photo of the fiddlehead tapestry...

The Guild fair demo is less than a week away and I'm trying to make headway on the tapestry I'll have at the fair--the fiddlehead one that I've been working on for awhile now...seems like forever but I only began it in June.  But I've been able to get it to the point I wanted before the fair...through the spiral of the two fiddleheads.  I can improvise much easier in background and leaves than through the spiral and be able to talk to fair visitors, as well.

My friend, Diane Getty, who is a wonderful fabric collage artist will be set up for demo near my booth at the fair.  She works in dyed and stitched fabrics pieces in which nature plays a strong inspirational role.  She also has a quirky sense of humor and has a series of what she calls "modern day saints" that include St. Prozac and St. Cell Phone.  Her "Tree of Life" hanging includes many creatures in a profusion of vitality.  Her Guild webpage is here...take a look to see some of her works.

tapestry is moving along OK...not photos yet but soon

Here's a quick post to note that Kathe Todd-Hooker and Pat Spark, owners of Fine Fiber Press, have begun a blog that I've put in my "places to visit" list at the side. Kathe is the list owner of the tapestry list, a great networking place for tapestry weavers. She started the list in about 1996 or so. I've subscribed to it since the beginning and have gotten to know so many people through it. Kathe is also a writer about tapestry and other things; she has several articles and also books published now. Three of her books, Shaped Tapestry, Line in Tapestry, and Tapestry 101 are full of information about different techniques of tapestry weaving. I have all three, have reviewed two of them for other fiber publications, and I recommend them to students. While they aren't in color, except for some in the last book, Tapestry 101, the line drawings and diagrams are quite good and the black and white photos, as well.

SO, here's a plug for Kathe and Pat's new blog, finefiberpress.blogspot.com!

a slide show of some things from the ATA events in Florida

I've included photos of several activities from the wonderful week spent in Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida.  The American Tapestry Alliance events were thoughtfully planned, well organized and thoroughly enjoyable.  I learned so very much during the week, in the workshop I took led by Joan Baxter, seeing exhibits of tapestry, and especially having an opportunity to catch up with old friends--and make new ones.

Here's a slide show of selected things...I didn't photograph everything we experienced.  For instance, the Small Expressions exhibit was nice and the few tapestries included in it were wonderful ones.  Terri Stewart's tapestry, in fact, was awarded first place in that exhibit!  The exhibits in the Conference Center were OK, for the most part...some outstanding works but overall, it was an average grouping of fiber works.  The tapestries that were included were very nice.  In my opinion, the tapestry world has more on the ball than other fiber arts...but could I be speaking from my particular perspective about that??!

Glad to be home again to celebrate the 4th of July

First things first!  Happy 4th of July to the United States of America.  Our small town will be celebrating the 4th all day with many different activities that will appeal to young and old--and those in-between.  My presentation of the flag at my studio is two held in a jar with red, white and blue yarns.  Fireworks at the campus tonight...should be fun if the predicted thunderstorms hold off awhile.  We need rain badly, though, so I don't think it will dampen the festivities too much if it comes.

  I'll be working on editing photos from last week's activities in Florida and post those in the next day or so.  I'm online at my studio, with a new computer--thanks to a visit to the Apple store near Atlanta yesterday and with help from a very nice young Mac man shown here as he packaged up some of my goodies.