Lisa Call

Pam RuBert sent me a few photos of my quilt at Quilt National. Thanks Pam.

Structures #55 at the Dairy Barn:

She said my quilt was front and center when you walked in the front door. Cool! That is the best of show quilt just to the right of my quilt.

I received a copy of the Quilt National Catalog yesterday and was happy to see my quilt made it on another 2 page spread. The color is off in the book – it is glaring primary yellow instead of the more greyed (but admittedly still bright) color that it really is. Oh well. It still looked great and I’m happy to have been published again.

 
In administrative news – my web hosting provider (lunarpages.com) is going to move my account to a different server in the next day or two. I have been unable to read email consistently for a couple months and they feel this move might solve the problems. Personally I think the problem is the IMAP server connection doesn’t like it that I log in from both home and work. But what the heck – at least I finally got them to do something about it instead of telling me over and over again it is not their fault.

So this means two things – 1) my website might be inaccessible for a while (although they claim not) and 2) my email has been really flakey for a few months – I’m going to try to catch up in the next day or 2 so if you sent me email and never got a response – sorry. Hopefully things will behave again soon – it is extremely frustrating not to be able to access ones email.

They’ve posted the Quilt National Awards on the website.

Two of the artists that won awards are from Colorado – Regina Benson and Denise Labadie, both talented artists that I know from my days in Front Range Contemporary Quilters. Colorado tends to be well represented in Quilt National and other national exhibits, I think partly because of groups such as Front Range where artists get the support they need to make their art and are encouraged to grow.

Dun Aengus Stone Fort © Denise Labadie    63" x 71"
Winner of the McCarthy Memorial Award – Quilt National 2007
Printed here with permission from the artist.

Congratulations Regina and Denise! Well deserved.

 
Interestingly I know Regina is also no longer a member of Front Range and neither am I. [Correction 7/9/07 - Regina is still a member of Front Range. Sorry for the mistake Regina.] While the group was wonderful when I was first starting I eventually out grew it. I became frustrated at some of the policies they adopted and the constant bickering between members. I no longer felt I got anything from the group and while I remained a member until a few years ago I had mostly stopped going to meetings by 2002.

It seems to me this group is geared more towards a beginning artist, although I do know some established artists that remain. Maybe I’m just not a group person? I’m not so happy with Studio Art Quilt Associates either as you can tell from my previous posts about their auction policy. I think one reason is there seems to be a tall poppy syndrome tendency in groups like this. At some point this can hold back ones career rather than advance it.

Although not all groups are like this. I created an online support group for quilters, The Fiber Connection, back in 1997. We were all just beginning to go down the path of pursuing quilting as an art and career. Ten years later we still email each other on almost a daily basis, supporting each other in our successes and struggles as we all move forward in different directions and in different ways. If you put us all in a room together we may not be the best of friends but the combination of personalities results in an incredibly dynamic and supportive group. This is the type of group to which I enjoy belonging.

Do you belong to any artist support groups? How does it work out for you?

 
Again – Congratulations Regina and Denise. Check out their websites to see their wonderful art:

Regina Benson
Denise Labadie

 
Now back to the garden – it’s the weekend for yard work and bbqs here in the United States and I’m doing my part to fit right in.

Structures #11    ©2002    47"x72"

Diane Clancy asked to see an image of my Quilt National 2003 quilt (the one on the cover of the catalog). I think the colors are a bit too harsh in this scan of my slide – I think it’s really softer in color but I’m having a hard time getting it too look right with photoshop.

 
 
I was tagged to participate in a couple blog memes this past month and it’s time to respond.

The first meme is the Thinking Blogger Award. Two people nominated me for this – Paula McCullough and Susie Monday. Thank you both so much for the kind words about my blog. I’m glad you enjoy it and you get something valuable from reading it.

For this award I nominate

1) Colin at auspiciousdragon. I don’t understand even 1/10th of the technical photo jargon he talks about but I’ve learned some useful things about photography when I try to understand. And I love his photos of the day.

2) Paul Butzi – another photographer. He writes about interesting topics, many of interest to all artists, and he’s not afraid to speak his mind. I may not always agree but I always have something to think about.

3) Christine Kane – I just started reading this song writer’s blog a few weeks ago but I find it very inspiring – check it out if you want to get motivated and care.

You can read all about how this meme works if you want to participate here. It’s basically a chance to nominate blogs that you find interesting and informative.

 
The other one is a meme where I’m suppose to list 7 random things about myself and tag 7 others to do the same. Both Paula McCullough and Tracy Helgeson tagged me for this one.

Here’s my list:

1) When I was in elementary school my best friend, Kelly, and I spent many of our recess hours in the library drawing. I stole my mom’s set of expensive prismacolor colored pencils and we would spend hours and hours drawing. For a while our favorite subject was machines – lots of colorful conveyor belts and such to do things like diaper a baby.

2) We also used to make art in our school desks with layers of glue and magic marker (until the teacher caught us). We made found object art from the boxes and containers in the trash can and we were particularly creative when making potions with anything liquid in the house (do not put Drano in a plastic container full of lotion and other misc bathroom liquids – just a little helpful warning).

3) Kelly went on to major in architecture with an art minor. I went into computer science. She was clearly more tuned into our natural leanings than I was.

4) In the early 70’s my family bought a cabin in the mountains in New Mexico. We spent a lot of time up there without electricity or running water so we did all sorts of random things to keep ourselves entertained. We built a club house (fallen logs marking out a square with stumps for our seats – not very high tech). I don’t recall what we did in this club but I remember I did make us a flag and fancy tablecloths where I sewed pockets onto pockets. I’ve always loved fabric.

5) Although I refused to sew in my middle school home ec class. I insisted I only wanted to take the cooking portion of home ec (I recall a breakfast of lucky charms so I might not have excelled at that either). Kelly and I brought in doodle art posters and just colored with magic markers during the sewing portions. To this day I still don’t know how we got away with that. Do any of you remember Doodle Art?

6) I only took art 1 semester in high school and I can’t remember it at all in middle school. I know I loved it in elementary school so I wonder why I didn’t choose to take more art classes.

7) I didn’t take any art classes as an undergrad but in graduate school I took a couple of ceramics mini course at night. That was a blast – I made a big eyeball – unfortunately it didn’t survive the firing. This little 2" one here is the prototype and even on it a few eyelashes fell off. I didn’t quite have the skills needed to pull that off. I love reading Cynthia Guajardo’s ceramics blog as it sounds like such a fun process.

 
For this 7 meme – from what I can tell most people have already participate in this. Hm. I was late to this game for sure. So I’ll try these folks (if you’d like to participate please tell us 7 random things about yourself and then tag 7 others):

1) Diane Clancy – a relatively new blogger with a ton of energy and great ideas.
2) David Castle – a water color artist that does the most amazing work. We both see similarities in our work – and yes David – we do need to pursue a collaboration!
3) Jeanne Williamson – another relatively new blogger that paints her quilts – wonderful work.
4) Joanie San Chirico – a long time friend from thefiberconnection.com – very talented soft painting artist.
5) Kit Vincent – another long time friend from thefiberconnection.com – although we first met in Ohio at a Nancy Crow workshop. She makes killer beats and tulips.
6) Olga – I love Olga’s insightful blog and her fiber work.
7) Cathy Kleeman – another long time friend from thefiberconnection.com – she works very hard at her art and it shows – wonderful work that deserves to be in Quilt National.

Apologies for anyone that tagged me and I missed it – I haven’t had much time to read blogs this past month.

Structures #55 ©2006 33″ x 74″

 
Quilt National 2007 opens tomorrow evening in Athens, Ohio and I’m sad to say I will not be in attendance. My piece, Structures #55, will have to take notes and let me know how it goes.

Quilt National is akin to the Academy Awards for artist/quiltmakers. At least to many folks. As with everything in life not everyone agrees. But it is billed as one of the top notch shows for art quilts and it is one of the very few that I will enter.

I continue to enter because they print a very nice hard covered catalog of the show and there is so little written about art quilts that these catalogs chronicle the history of the movement in a way that very few other sources can come close to. While the catalog lacks much critical writing on the contents of the show it does at least document the work and what the quiltmakers thought about their work. I want to be part of that history, so I enter the shows and this is the third show in which I’ve had work accepted. The image to the left is of the catalog for this years show. The cover image is a quilt by Susan Shie.

The first time I got in, in 2003, was probably the most exciting. I was pretty sure I had made a really good piece and I just had a feeling I would get in. Then the quick response rejection postcard arrived and I was really bummed. I hadn’t entered the show in years because I didn’t have any work I felt was of the caliber needed to be in the show but that year I was sure I had something. I got over the rejection and then a few days later an email arrived informing me I had been accepted. I didn’t believe it and emailed the director to confirm. Sure enough they got ahead of themselves with the postcards and my piece, Structures #11, was definitely in the show. I was absolutely thrilled.

In the days right before the opening of the show in 2003 I was in Washington, DC taking a class for work about portlet development on the IBM portal (doesn’t that sound fun?). I checked my email during a slow spot and someone had emailed me a link saying “is this your quilt”. So I clicked and there was a photo of the catalog on the page – with my quilt on the cover. I yelped in the middle of class so of course everyone came to look. They didn’t get it and within 3 minutes they were all back in their seats doing their homework. Reality check, the art quilt world is fairly small and computer geeks don’t care one hoot about it.

But first thing I did when I got to the Dairy Barn on opening night was find a book to confirm – and sure enough – there was my quilt right on the cover. That was very cool. The opening was a lot of fun and I went home. And my life didn’t change one tiny bit. Except one day I went to Borders and pulled the book off the shelf and set it in front of all the other books. My 15 seconds of fame I suppose.

 
 
In 2005 the stakes were higher for me getting into the show. The thought in my mind was if I only got in once would that make me a one hit wonder? I wasn’t as confident about the work for this year but I still thought it was good. And it’s not like the odds are all that good to get in – for 2007 only 86 pieces out of 1151 submitted were accepted. But the stars were aligned right and I got in. So did a lot of my friends. I wasn’t going to go to the opening but at the last minute I changed my mind and drove from Denver to Ohio and slept on the floor of someone else’s hotel room. The opening was fun, I hung out with friends and met some great new artists but I drove back home and again my life didn’t change any.

 
For 2007 I was pretty sure I had another good quilt and I’d get in the show. I really like my piece for this year. And sure enough I got in.

I’ve become one of those people that those that have never been in say "How come she always gets in?". I guess now that I’ve gotten in three times I get it. I get in because I work hard, I make a lot of work every year. I don’t ever set out to "make my quilt national quilt". Instead when the deadline rolls around I look at my work and pick out the 3 I’d like to enter. Because I work in a series I don’t have to plan ahead for this, it’s how I work.

When I look at the other folks that consistently get into this show year after year after year I mostly see the same thing. I don’t see people that have name recognition because they are in the in crowd. I see people that have worked very very hard at their art Does the jury recognize their work and automatically pick them based on their reputation, sure maybe sometimes, but they also make really great work, consistently. I think the jury sees strong work, they know the person isn’t copying someone else’s work but they are doing their own thing, so these folks keep getting in. But still as I recall nearly half the pieces each year are by first time exhibitors. It’s not an exclusive club. They let me in!

Okay that was pretty preachy and defensive wasn’t it. Sorry. I once said my goal was to become one of the people others complain about getting into the show each year. Maybe 3 times in a row might not quite qualify but I’m determined that I’ll be in 2009 also. Then I’ll have an excuse for the preaching.

 
I really wanted to attend the Quilt National opening but back in January we did some project planning here at work and because of the cut off for our next service pack I was required to be here to merge our final project into our main code line on the 24th and 25th of May (in human speak this means I had a commitment that couldn’t be broken). I came in at 6:45 this morning with high hopes of being done by midnight and then by some fluke catching a plane tomorrow morning and making it to the opening. But it didn’t happen. I’ll be here past midnight tonight and I still have over 8 hours of work for tomorrow so no opening for me this year. Sigh.

I’m bummed I can’t be at the show this year to visit with old friends and make some new as it’s always an interesting event. Everyone signs everyone else’s book, it’s like signing year books in high school and the only time I’m ever asked for an autograph.

I’m probably not the most welcome in some circles after my post about the Studio Art Quilt Association auction but that’s okay, I’m not looking to win a popularity contest. [SAQA has decided not to auction off the small quilts during the opening dinner but they will still be auctioning them online in June. I don't know if they are going to do something about the issues I brought up, like underpricing the work and hurting the very people they claim to be helping, not marketing the work to a larger audience, and the unevenness of the work. But at least they aren't going to be auctioning the things off in lots. That would have been ridiculous and I'm amazed they ever considered it.]

If you go to the opening I’d love to hear how it goes!

 
Quilt National 2007
The Dairy Barn Arts Center
800 Dairy Lane
Athens, OH 45701
740.592.4981

May 26 through September 3rd, 2007
Gallery Hours
    Tuesday-Wednesday, 11 AM to 5 PM
    Thursday, 11 AM to 8 PM
    Friday-Sunday, 11 AM to 5 PM

Admission Fees
    General Admission–$5.00
    Students/Senior Citizens [65+]–$3.50
    Barn Members–Free
    Children Under Twelve–Free

www.quiltnational.com

Markings #4   ©2007    56" x 55"

For some reason I am extremely tired this evening but wanted to do a quick post. I’ve been talking in a few of my recent posts about my new piece Markings #18 that I started in the Nancy Crow workshop earlier this month. About how the lines are very vertical and much more static than I have been doing with the Markings pieces.

I recently finished Markings #4 above and you can see how much more expressive and wonky (not that that’s a artspeak word) they are.

I need to study these and think about them.

Here’s a close up so you can see the stitching that holds the quilt together. My normal 1/8″ apart quilting. I’ve used contrasting thread to quilt this piece although I think this doesn’t show up will in this photo and only a bit better on the larger image (click on the image below). I’m really loving the look of the contrasting thread colors on many of these pieces.

Structures #39 ©2006    43"x29"
 

I’m very happy to announce a selection of my artwork is now available for sale on The Artful Home website (aka guild.com).

Please check out my work on my guild artist page.

(hurray!!)

Timber Frame Barn

 
This is another of the timber frame barns owned by Nancy Crow and her husband John Stitzlein. One day I went with John and few other workshop participants over to another section of their property where John is turning some farm land into a wetlands and we drove by this barn. Although I was riding in the back of a pickup truck down a bumpy dirt road I was able to snap off a few reasonable photos of it. I think it’s just a gorgeous building and I loved the color.

 
Thinking back to my quilt, Markings #18, that I discussed a few days ago I look at these details and see there is a lot of potential in a mostly straight line vertical composition but I do need to work on placement of the horizontals. I went back and looked at more of my in process photos of Markings #18 and I saw that during the workshop there was a table in front of my workspace so I never really could see my work full on while there. I have a few ideas on how to fix the composition and I’ll show what I do with it when I get it finished.

I appreciate everyone’s comments on the piece and I was very unsure about posting the unfinished piece knowing I would get suggestions on how to fix it. I generally am not into critique of unfinished work because my brain is doing it’s own thinking about what I want to do with the work and outside comments tend to throw me for a loop. I’m not sure why. I start to second guess myself maybe? But it was really okay this time as most of the suggestions were things I thought about already for how to fix it. Anyway – I’m not sure how much unresolved work I’ll show in the future but I do take “in process” photos of my work and maybe I’ll show a progression of some pieces from not so good to the final resolution.

Before getting to my topic I just had to show the above photo. My lilacs bloomed while I was at my workshop earlier this year. Last year we didn’t get any blooms and this year the plants are covered with blossoms and beautiful. As you can see I’ve never trimmed my bushes and they are about as tall as the house now which is pretty cool. I love spring!

 
I am occasionally asked if I am a member of Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), an organization that promotes the art quilt. I’ve heard rumors that they claim they will eventually have every artist that is accepted into Quilt National as a member of their organization so the last 2 times I was accepted into the show I got a lovely letter from SAQA asking me to rejoin.

I find it interesting that they seem to have forgotten why I left the organization 3-4 years ago as they fail to address the issues I brought up when I left and I wonder why they think I would want to rejoin when I don’t feel anything has changed.

One of my major issues with this organization is that every 2 years when Quilt National has an opening they hold a conference in conjunction with the show. Fine I can see the synergy.

Problem is that SAQA seems to be perpetually short of funds and so they hold an auction of member’s artwork during this conference. I seriously object to this activity (and was very vocal about it) because Quilt National is one of the premier art quilt shows in the country and most of the art is priced at fair market prices and it sells very well. I find it very tacky not to mention completely unprofessional for an organization that purportedly supports art quilts as art to undercut the prices of the artwork. I fail to see how this promotes art quilts but I sure see how it hurts them. Sure it supports SAQA but should that be at the expense of the artist members?

Plus SAQA is only marketing this work to their membership, the conference attendees, plus the artists in the Quilt National show and a handful of other guests. Why, if their mission is to promote quilts as art to the public, are they not holding a public sale of the work. And selling it at comparable prices to what the artists themselves sell their own work?

I was told by a SAQA member, who was disgusted I dare to say something negative, that if I didn’t like the auction I could get up and leave the room after dinner and not watch and it wouldn’t effect me. The behavior of this organization effects all quilt makers because SAQA claims to be THE organization for art quilters. When they behave in this way and undercut the value of our art it hurts all of us. So it’s irrelevant if I watch or not – it still effects me and I’m going to say something.

The reason I bring this up is that SAQA is doing it again. They put out a call to their membership for them to donate 12″ square quilts to be auctioned off at the Quilt National opening dinner next week. Well lo and behold they ended up with over 130 quilts to be auctioned, you can see them on their website here. This is more quilts than there are people attending the conference.

So their initial thought is to put the quilts into lots and sell them off like discarded goods at a farm auction. I don’t think I even need to say what is so insulting about this idea. Okay maybe a little. Image how low the prices could go. The quality of the work they have to auction is very uneven and I shudder to think how the lots might be made (1 good, 2 bad). I believe a professional organization such as SAQA should never sell or exhibit any art that is unjuried and this grouping of work is a prime example of why not. Some of the stuff on that website is really not ready for prime time. That’s fine – we all have to start somewhere, but maybe the spotlight should be held off for some of these artists. Jurying isn’t bad, jurying is about quality and preserving the professional nature of an organization.

I hear the general membership isn’t too happy about the idea of selling in lots so hopefully this is not what will happen.

 
So why am I airing an organization’s dirty laundry in public when I’m not even part of that organization? Because I tried to work from within that organization and suggested that they behave in a more professional manner and it did no good. So I am hoping that by holding them publicly accountable for this debacle they will do the right thing next week and in the future put a lot more thought into what is and is not an appropriate professional and supportive way of fundraising for their organization.

I also have a lot of artist readers that are not quilters. I would love to hear what you think about this situation. Sometimes I wonder if I’m just blowing it all out of proportion. Or do think this is rather tacky and unprofessional also?

As a comparison, Surface Design Association, another fiber related professional organization, seems to really have their act together. They hold a very professional and well regarded conference each year and publish a beautiful quarterly magazine. I don’t see them begging for money or donations from their membership (yes I am a member as I find value in belonging).

 
Well that ought to generate a pile of hate mail for me. Quilters can be a nasty lot at times and I’ve been at the receiving end of it before because I speak my mind. At the Quilt National opening in 2005 someone came over and asked what I did to the president of SAQA because the woman was giving me nasty looks all night. I never saw it and I’ve never spoken to the woman but clearly I am not on the good side of the powers that be over there already so I don’t think I have much too lose.

I think we all need to think about our actions when we donate art. Is it really in our best interest to do so? If we can buy cheap art at auction all the time why bother ever paying full price? I also think organizations need to find other ways to raise money other than by exploiting artists. But that all is another topic for another time. One that is much much bigger than the quilt world and much discussed in art circles.

Markings #18 – in progress

This is one of the quilts I made during my workshop with Nancy Crow this month. I made this piece over the weekend between the 2 weeks of class.

It’s fairly large – I’m thinking at least 5 feet square and probably closer to 6 feet.

I’m not really sure what I think about it yet. I love the colors but the long horizontal line a third up from the bottom seems much too straight and boring to me in this photo. I looks like it needs to be recut with more care taken in making it more expressive. Actually there seem to be a lot of those boring cuts in here.

I made 3 Markings quilt during the workship and this one and one other both have very perpendicular lines, something I hadn’t done in the other pieces. Maybe they seem a bit too rigid to me. So I’ll have to put this up on my studio wall and think about what to do with it.

Although I am pleased I managed to use white and I actually like it so that was a major achievement.

 
All of the pieces from the workshop are like this – not really quite finished – they need a more thoughtful look and a bit of tweaking (one needs a sledge hammer). I found creating in a group environment more stressful during this workshop than I ever have before. Things just didn’t quite click for me like they usually do. I had a few days where things really were flowing well but then I hit a brick wall on one piece and fortunately there was only 1 day left of class as my brain was swimming.

I don’t usually put my unfinished work up on my website as I really prefer for it to be done before I show it to the world. So it seems a bit weird to be putting up this piece before I’ve completely resolved it. But well what the heck.

 
 

"The Barn"
 
 

I got back from my Master Composition workshop with Nancy Crow on Saturday. I had a wonderful time but I’m still exhausted, both physically and mentally.

I ended up making 7 rather large quilts (just the tops – they still need to be quilted) during the workshop so it was very productive and successful. And I got to work with some very dedicated and talented artists. The energy in the room was amazing. The experience won’t soon be forgotten.

 
 

My workspace
 
 
I shared a workspace with Marina Kamenskaya who I first met in 2004 at another workshop at the barn. It was a perfect experience getting to work next to Marina as our work habits, seriousness, dedication to our art and our sense of humor were well matched. I learned about the history and meaning of the Russian phrase "figure it out for three", so it was a cultural education in addition. Thanks for the wine Marina!

I have a lot more to say about the workshop but not right now. My brain is still processing it all and it’s time to get to my studio for the first time since I returned home.