Redefined

Material Matters

Last Thursday, I flew to Ohio for the opening reception for Material Matters, an incredible exhibit of art quilts at the Columbus Museum of Art. It turned out to be the largest summer opening this museum has ever had, with over 1000 visitors in attendance. Here's a picture of me standing on the museum steps.

There are 39 artists in this exhibit from all over the world, selected from former teachers and students of the Quilt Surface Design Symposium. Considering the extraordinary level of talent represented, I was very honored to be one of the few who had two works invited into this show, Knitted and Transformed. Knitted's image was used for advance publicity and I was one of several artists who was asked to record a cell phone audio tour for my work. If you would like to listen to it, call 614-448-5095 and press 321#. There is also an impressive book available from the museum containing all the works included in the exhibit, as well as a great section written by the guest curators, Linda Fowler and Tracy Rieger.

Here are installation pictures of both my artworks from the show. Unfortunately, after taking the first picture of Knitted, I was asked to turn off the flash on my camera, which is why the picture of Transformed is not very good color-wise. I tried to tweak it, but just made it worse, so it is shown here unchanged.

One of the best parts of going to such a reception is the opportunity to meet and talk to other artists, the curators and museum staff. A high proportion of the artists attended, including some of my favorite people, Marilyn Henrion and Kathy Weaver. Marilyn and I are in at least four different exhibits right now.

An interesting side note is that the museum has a large section dedicated to the great American painter, George Bellows, who was from Columbus. One of his more famous paintings is Lady Jean, a portrait of his daughter. As it turns out, I knew Jean when she was an adult. She lived a couple of blocks from my house in Dobbs Ferry, NY and her family was good friends with our next door neighbors. I was just a little girl at the time, so to me she was always "Mrs. Booth". I do recall going to birthday parties at their house and trick or treating there on Halloween.

Resurfacing

I know it's been a while since I posted. I've done a lot of thinking about where I'm headed with my art. This started recently when a fiber art group invited me to join them. After about a week, I realized that I wasn't actually creating my artwork anymore. The group was the final straw that took up the last of my "arting" time. I made the decision that I would withdraw from most of the activities that were keeping me from the work I really should be doing, so I sent my "thank you, but I'm not staying" email to the group a few days ago. I also plan to withdraw from a couple of other commitments that are either taking too much of my time or making me feel guilty because I'm not doing them. They are all related to art quilting, which also goes along with my plan to move more into the general art world.

I must be rebelling against my responsibilities, because I've spent the past few days sewing the seams on my latest artwork. I've been sewing the color run together and I know what I'm going to do with it, but I'm not telling yet.

Last week, I bought a new sewing machine, which is something I thought I'd never do because I have such a good one already. However, after struggling to quilt several of my last projects, I realized my Bernina 1260 wasn't sufficient for all my needs. I intend to keep the Bernina for sewing seams and use the Janome 6600 for machine quilting. Of course, this means I need to rearrange my studio to accomodate another sewing table. If everything goes normally for me, there'll be a cascade effect throughout the entire house and nothing will remain untouched by the time I'm done. The Organizator strikes again.

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In loving memory of Preston Wesley Werner
May 8, 1990 - November 7, 2005
Happy 18th birthday, bud!

Correction

I apologize, but I sent out an incorrect link in my last post. By mistake, I added a "www" in the URL. I have corrected the original blog post, but here's the correct link for any subscribers who tried to get there and couldn't.

http://wernerstudio.typepad.com/color

I know that many of you are experienced quilters and the information I am presenting now might be rather elementary, but I hope you will stick with me. Right now, I'm just laying the groundwork for the information I'll present later.

For those of you who have already visited my new blog and even subscribed, thank you!

Announcing my second blog

I invite you to visit my new blog, called Amazing Stuff about Color and Fabric. It is written more like a book than a blog, so please read the introduction that will explain it better. I still have some cosmetic changes to make, like a more interesting banner at the top of the page and a link back to my main blog (this one), but that will come with time.

http://wernerstudio.typepad.com/color

Once you get to the new blog, you can subscribe by using the Feedblitz icon in the righthand column. As I publish each new entry, the entire contents of that entry will be sent to your email, so you don't need to visit the blog all the time.

I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I am enjoying writing it!

What's going on?

- My work was accepted into two Florida venues for the I-4 Corridor Exhibition. Tangled will be at the Comma Gallery in Orlando and Angled will be exhibited in the Rose Room Gallery at the Peabody Auditorium in Daytona Beach. I don't know the exact dates yet, but it will be sometime in June.

- My favorite contemporary art gallery asked if I would be interested in curating a quilt exhibition for them. Of course, I said yes. The artistic programs committee is meeting sometime this month and I'll have more information after that. The list of art quilters I want to invite keeps growing in my head. Thank goodness, it's a large (and wonderful) space!

- In the next week or so, I plan to launch another blog. When I began teaching traditional quilting years ago, I was asked to teach a workshop on color and fabric. I didn't choose fabrics using any of the common methods, so I analyzed what I did and came up with a new system that was easy to learn and produced a great quilt every time. At one point, I started writing a book, but never finished because I was no longer teaching or making traditional quilts. This blog will be a great place to record my ideas and it will read like the book I originally envisioned. I will cover both traditional quilting/commercial fabrics and art quilting/hand dyes/surface design work. Right now, I'm setting up the blog's structure and will start adding entries in the next couple of days. I'll let you know when it's ready for visitors.

- I've been working on Evolved recently and added a couple of items to Posted, the bulletin board. One of the items I added is a small artwork I created to be one of my contest prizes.

The rest of the story

In my last post, I wrote about an antique wool quilt that was given to me by Roger Shimomura, the painter. Yesterday, Sara Farley, a quilt historian who lives here in Wichita, came to my house and examined the quilt. She felt the it dated back to at least the early 20th Century and maybe even the late 1800s, but wasn't sure because wool quilts are difficult to date. I gave her the quilt and she is planning to show it to Barbara Brackman, probably the top quilt historian in the U.S., for her opinion.

I wrote to Roger today to tell him this information. In a very interesting twist, both Roger and Barbara live in Lawrence, KS just a couple of miles apart and he even knows her. I don't know what will happen to this quilt, but Roger and I agree that it's now in the right hands.

Old quilts never die, they just get passed around

Last week, when I attended the Kansas Art Commission artist fellowships reception, I met Roger Shimomura, the world-reknowned painter who received the Master Fellowship in Fine Arts. He told me that he was going to send me an old quilt that he purchased at an auction 25 years ago in Lawrence, KS when he was teaching at the University of Kansas. The quilt had been in a box ever since and I think he wanted to find it a good home. I haven't done anything with traditional quilts in about ten years, but I knew more people in the field than he did, so I told him to send it along and I'd figure out what to do with it.

I received the quilt today and discovered it was made from wool fabric and hand pieced. Lines of herringbone embroidery stitches highlight the stitching lines and the outside edge. The blocks are 10" square. However, you can also see that the quilt is in poor condition and the insides are showing. Blue ticking fabric is peeping through the biggest holes, so I suspect that the quiltmaker used an old coverlet inside as batting. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this quilt dates back to the 1800s.

Since I am not an expert on old wool quilts, I called Sara Reimer Farley, a well-known quilt historian who lives here in Wichita. She will be coming over on Thursday to see it in person. If she wants the quilt, she can take it home with her. A quilt like this is a little piece of history and belongs in the right hands.

Fellowship awards ceremony

You are getting two long posts today because yesterday, I traveled to Topeka to receive my Mid-Career Artists Fellowship (Fine Art) from the Kansas Arts Commission. They held a wonderful reception for the recipients and I want to tell you about some of the interesting people who I talked to. There were many others and I hope that I don't hurt their feelings by not including them, but I have to stop the list somewhere before everyone falls asleep, like in a college class right after lunch.

- One of my State Senators, Les Donovan, was there with his wife, Cissy, to hand me my award. I was honored that they took the time to be there for me, as I was the only fellowship winner from the Wichita area. I was so impressed by their graciousness and intelligence.

- Pauline Verbeek-Cowart, who received the Masters Fellowship in Fine Craft, is a tremendously talented weaver who teaches at the Kansas City Art Institute. Many people know her from the Surface Design Association. Talking to her came at a good time for me, because of a question I had regarding SDA and the fiber art exhibits associated with their biennial conference. She was the perfect person to ask and I had an opportunity to get to know her at the same time. That was almost worth the trip all by itself.

- Melissa Gregory, who works in the office of Governor Kathleen Sebelius. I have a quilt hanging on the wall in the governor's office right now and Melissa knew exactly which one it was. Coincidentally, she "long distance" commutes from Wichita and her Wichita house is one that my husband and I had looked at when we were buying a home almost 20 years ago. We distinctly remember that house and have even talked about it a few times since.

- Barbara Nelson, who co-owns the Strecker-Nelson Gallery in Manhattan (Kansas), probably the most respected contemporary art gallery in the state. Her husband and gallery co-owner, Jay, was on the selection panel for the awards. Barbara and I first met in 2001, when she was kind enough to host a meeting of Kansas Art Quilters. I was president of KAQ at the time. I'd love to get to know Barbara better, as I remember her gallery/home as being jaw-droppingly amazing, which says a lot about the insides of a person.

- John Divine, a commissioner on the KAC board. He chaired the selection panel for the visual arts awards this year, which is the first time I'd seen him in about 25 years. We used to work for the same branch office for IBM, but he was based in a city 90 minutes drive from me and I only saw him occasionally during that time. In fact, I was surprised he remembered me at all, but I guess Jill Rumoshosky isn't a name you hear every day.

- Roger Shimomura, who received the Masters Fellowship in Fine Art, is a world renowned painter. In 2000, when I received a Mini-Fellowship from the KAC, I attended the selection meeting and one of the panel members made a comment that changed the course of my art tremendously. It took me years to figure out what that comment meant, but I eventually did. When I told Roger about this, he did not recall whether he had served on that panel because he's served on so many over the years, but thought the comment was something he would be likely to say. Whether he has any memory of that moment in time, I do remember it and that's what counts. You never know the impact that your life has on other people, do you?

General update on various and sundry things

I'm surprised that no one has guessed the two words that will be at the top of the board. I can tell you right now that it has nothing to do with zoos or animals, other than their mention in the last bulletin board item I posted on my blog (which is something of a pun, considering the artwork's name). I suggest reading the last two bulletin board items again. They have major clues in them. If these two flyers are found together on the same board, where would it likely be located? It would be read by people with similar interestes and I acually passed by two boards just like them on Friday evening. No, they weren't in grocery stores, because I'm far too lazy to shop that much, even for food.

Mea culpa, but I don't have another "clue" bulletin item to show you this time. I promise to have one in my next blog entry.

I spent several days this past week putting together an exhibit proposal. The Surface Design Association has a textile conference every two years in Kansas City, Missouri and many of the galleries there host fiber art exhibits in conjunction with it. KC is only about a 3-1/2 hour drive from me, which is practically next door by Midwest terms, or spitting distance if you're a really good spitter. I know that many talented artists from all over the world will be throwing their hats into the ring for exhibits too, but it's always worth trying. You never know when the Magic Exhibit Fairy is going to bless you and I figured I would get the experience of applying, at the very least.

Sigh, I was hoping for a repeat, but I didn't get into Quilt Visions this year. I had entered Laced, Dispensed and Prepackaged. Maybe that bodes well for getting into Quilt National in some finely-tuned karmic balance. As it turns out, I was recently invited to exhibit a piece or two in a show in Texas, and it must be part of that Twilight Zone karmic thing. This was the third invitational exhibit that contacted me within three weeks. I normally get about one every couple of years.

I had a short discussion with the Steckline Gallery director about a piece I wanted to put in my solo show. It might be considered a controversial work in Kansas, so I wanted to clear it with her first. I started this project ten years ago and haven't finished it yet, but I think this is going to be the proper time. It is an 18-foot long by 12 inches high timeline of the universe, from the Big Bang to current times. It is named Evolved and if I don't finish it in the near future, I am going to have to add a foot or two onto the end to compensate for all the extra time I took to make it. Of course, I have friends who predict the end of the world will happen if I ever finish this, because it's been a work in progress for such a long time.

What you are seeing in the picture is the section right after the Big Bang, where galaxies and planets are forming. Right now, this is quilted, but I still need to bind the edges and then embellish the surface. My experience with making Portable Picnic made me realize that my old "picture quilt" skills were worthy of resurrection, if not on a fulltime basis.

Speaking of Portable Picnic, it will be coming home in the next week or so and I will need to do something with it since the tableware will be going home to my collaborators. My current plan is to make some new table items myself and rename the work Picnicked. Yes, it's spelled with a "k". I looked it up.

Win an original artwork!

I started my next project, but it was stalled for a few days because my sewing machine was in the shop. Heaven help me, I had no more excuses, so I cleaned the toilets. No wonder I quilt, if that's the alternative.

The Contest

I am announcing a contest open to everyone who doesn't already know the answers (and I know who you are). The first blog reader who correctly gives the right answers to each question wins a piece of this artwork. It will be mailed to you, postage paid, around the end of September, as I intend to exhibit this artwork as part of my solo show.

There are three questions and the correct answer to each one wins a prize (one prize per person). Leave your guesses as comments on this blog, so they are time-stamped. I will continue to post pictures of this project as it progresses. You can guess the answer to any of the questions at any time.

The Questions

1. What will the quilt be when it is completed?
2. What is the name for this artwork?
3. There will be some text incorporated into this project. What will it say?

The Big Hints

To give you an idea of what you are looking at, I painted a fabric with brown acrylic paints, dark streaks and all. I used that fabric (whole cloth) as the quilt top, with layers of Thermore batting and black wool felt as the middle, then used black Kona fabric as the backing. I am stitching it heavily with brown thread. In the picture, this quilting is partially finished. When the quilting is done, I may paint over the entire top again, changing the color.

Remember, I use quilted forms as if they are raw material in my artwork, so what do you think this is going to be? At the very least, I'll be trimming the edges clean, but do you think I will cut it up and use it in something wild and crazy or will I keep it the general size and shape it is?

Leave your guesses on the comments!

Generic news and preannouncing a contest announcement

In the middle of quilting my latest artwork, my sewing machine told me in no uncertain terms that it was past due for its standard maintenance. That's means I've been without my machine for a few days while it's in the shop. That's fine, because I'm catching up on other, more low priority work, like cleaning toilets and filing paperwork.

Recently, I received notice that Melted was accepted into the SAQA: Up in Stitches exhibit at the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, Kentucky. It will be there from March 8 - May 3. I hope they know that they need to arrange it first or hoo boy, are they in for a shock.

Last weekend, I got a call from Shin-Hee Chin, who is an art professor and talented fiber artist. I was in a four-person exhibit with her last year at The Fiber Studio. Shin-Hee is curating an invitational fiber art exhibit for September to be held at the renovated Opera House in McPherson, Kansas, a one-hour drive north of Wichita. She asked if I would display two or three pieces in this show. This happens to be at the same time as my solo show at the Steckline Gallery, which made me worry a little about having enough work to go around. However, I want to restrict my Wichita show to artworks that have never been seen here before, so I told Shin-Hee that I would be glad to show my work in McPherson. I'll just use work that has been previously exhibited in Wichita, making it available for this show.

Just in case I have any artwork left during that time, I would also like to enter a juried show that is being organized by my friend, Pam RuBert, which will be exhibited in Springfield, Missouri in September. I think I need to make some new work pretty quickly in order to replenish my stores! This picture of Pam was taken at the opening reception for Quilt National last May.

Speaking of new work, I've started a new project and will award prizes to people who can guess correctly about it. The details for the contest will be in my next blog entry, so stay tuned!

A plethora of news and pictures

I found out yesterday that I received a 2008 Mid-Career Artist Fellowship from the Kansas Arts Commission. It's actually not official yet because the KAC board needs to approve the list. However, I find it hard to believe that a majority of the board members would look at the list and say, "Jill Rumoshosky Werner? Oh no, we don't want her to get an award. She's a real creep and we can't stand her artwork. Give that award to someone else." Most of them have no idea who I am, so if they rejected me, it would probably be based on the difficulty factor of my name alone. They might feel it's too long to fit on the 3-foot tall, diamond-encrusted trophy that I'm sure I am going to receive.

Since I attended the selection panel meeting and saw the work of all the other visual arts candidates, I know how tough the competition was this year. They had restructured the fellowship rules and many previous winners were allowed to apply again, so there were a lot of candidates and most of them did very good work. I feel privileged to have been one of the eight artists chosen and I intend to be insufferably smug for the next few days. If it gets any longer than that, stage an intervention and slap me in rehab.

I secretly added some new artwork to my website after getting it photographed by my excellent photographer,  Gordon Bernstein. He makes my work look really, really  good. You've seen most of these projects on my blog and followed their progress, so this may not be a surprise to you, but look what he did with Dispensed. Click on the picture to see a larger version or you can see the detail pictures here.

Another work I had photographed was Laced. I wrote a lot about it in previous posts so I won't talk about this one either, but here are the detail shots.

A smaller piece that I finished recently can be found here. I decided to call it Isolated. I know it's a semi-creepy name, but it seemed appropriate. I guess I've spent too much time in my basement and it's beginning to get to me.

Pictures of Portable Picnic, the collaborative project currently in an Oklahoma City gallery, are here. If my part of this project doesn't sell, I'll bring it home, make my own tableware for it and enter it into shows.

Last but not least is Awarded. I made most of this two years ago, but it never felt finished. I didn't want to enter it into shows, but I did post pictures of it on my website and publish them in the first version of my brochure. I finally realized what needed to be added and had it rephotographed. I added the "War Master" part and the work finally says what I wanted it to say artistically. I have created several human rights related artworks in the past, but never one as political as this one. However, there is another secret meaning  here which I prefer to keep to myself for now. If you know the answer, then you know I consider you a good friend. If you don't know the secret meaning, pump me full of cheap chocolates someday and I might tell you.