Redefined

My favorite quotes

I keep several quotes posted on the wall above my closet doorway in my studio, so I see them whenever I look up from my worktable.

The first quote is from Grandma, in the Family Circus cartoon.
"If you're afraid of making a mistake, you won't make anything."
I like this quote because it reminds me that it is easy to freeze up, thinking that evrything I make has to be absolutely perfect. I often learn a lot from my mistakes and sometimes the lack of perfection is what makes the artwork extra special.

The second quote is from Jean Cocteau, the writer and filmmaker. "How do you become a successful artist? Amaze me!" When I read this, it reminds me that it's difficult to gain recognition as an artist and my artwork needs to have the "wow factor" in order to make my work stand out.

The third quote, which is my favorite, comes from Jerry Garcia, the guitarist from The Grateful Dead rock band. I changed the quote a bit because the original was written from the standpoint of a band with multiple members. Here's my version. "You do not want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only one who does what you do." I do not make art quilts the same way that everyone else does and this reaffirms that I am on the right track.

What's your favorite art-related quote?

Creating a color run

I got tired of working on Evolved and put it away for the moment. It's such a time-consuming project that I have to stop working on it periodically and do something else for a while. Here's what I did this weekend.

Many of my projects are composed of long, skinny quilts that use color gradations along the length and I thought you might be interested in how I create them. This time, I cut 4-1/2" widths and 2" widths from each fabric. The narrower strips are typically used in my bindings.

This is what I call a color run. I usually begin by pulling hand dyed fabrics from my stash and placing them in the order I want them. I don't always use all the colors. If you notice, there is no purple represented here. Once I have created the "first draft" using hand dyes, I go into my stash of commercial fabrics and use them to fill in the gaps. The prints add a lot of interest and helps me to use up the ton of commercial fabric I own. I have to admit that I bought a few fabrics this weekend and it's been so long since I went into the local quilt shops that they barely remember me anymore. The face is familiar, but...

You might notice that I start and end with a black-background fabric. A closer inspection shows that the leftmost fabric is actually an extremely dark green and the one at the right is an extremely dark red. By taking the color run from dark to light and back to dark again, I can still make the colors flow into one another if I want to make the piece twice as long by joining the ends. I also make sure there is at least on white fabric somewhere in the run for sparkle, which can be seen here between the greens and blues. If I had wanted to, I could have taken the middle of the yellow section all the way to white, but chose not to

What do I plan to make with this? I'm not quite sure yet, but I have a couple of ideas. I just needed to get back to bright fabrics for a little while to feed my color addiction. No matter what I make, I know that it will look good, because if they look right on the design wall when displayed this way, then they look good if they are mixed up, too.

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.

How to hold an Art Party

Every so often, I hold an Art Party for my family or friends. It's a lot of fun and is always successful, so I thought you might be interested in knowing how I do it. I'm a fiber artist, so many of these materials are already in my studio. If you prefer to work in other materials, I'll give you an alternative at the end.

The whole process takes about 3-4 hours from start to finish, so plan accordingly. Materials you need:
- An inexpensive painting canvas for each person. The type I use has the canvas glued onto a cardboard and is primed (gessoed) for use by either acrylic or oil. A good size is 11" x 14".
- Acrylic paints. You don't need to buy more than a few colors. If you can find an inexpensive set meant for students, that works well.
- Cheap paintbrushes, disposable cups for water, disposable plates (I use the styrofoam kind)
- Wonder-Under fusible web (regular strength). Buy several yards at the fabric store. This stuff is nothing more than a web of glue, sprayed onto a release paper.
- Small amounts of interesting novelty yarns. If the yarn is sparkly, has "eyelashes" or texture, all the better.
- Colored glitter is nice, if you have it.
- An iron, protected surface to iron on (like an ironing board) and parchment paper (available in the plastic wrap aisle at the grocery store).
- Inexpensice mats and frames.

1. Set up a painting table. Each person squirts some paint on the disposable plate. You can use several colors and paint them onto the canvas in a mottled pattern. You may want to water down the paint just a little, if it's too thick. Tell them to cover the canvas in any way they want, with any colors they want. I suggest that you do not leave large blobs of paint, because the canvases need to dry in a reasonable period of time. Don't obsess about this stage because the paint will mostly be covered with other stuff by the time you're done.
2. Cut the Wonder-Under (W-U) into large pieces. Water down some acrylic paint and paint the glue (textured) side that has the webbing on it. It's better if you paint in the lengthwise grain of the paper. Metallic paint works really well. The paper will crinkle as it dries, then you will be able to peel the Wonder-Under off the backing paper. You can do this step ahead of time and have it ready.
3. This is the bast part... go out to lunch or dinner together! While you are gone, the painted canvases and Wonder-Under will dry.
4. When you return, heat the iron and show everyone what to do. First, tear off pieces of the W-U webbing (without paper!) and lay them on the painted canvas. You don't want to cover the entire surface. Place a piece of parchment paper underneath and another one over everything to protect the ironing surface and the iron. Iron on top of the parchment (press down, don't wiggle it, no steam), which will melt the painted W-U onto the surface of the canvas. Let it cool, then gently peel the parchment away.
5. Decorate the surface any way you want with bits and pieces of yarns, ribbons and other materials. Use glitter very sparingly. Cover with parchment paper and iron everything down. The W-U is glue, so it will all stick.
6. Continue this process until you have the canvas the way you want it. You can layer on more W-U, if you want. Actually, the acrylic paint will soften with the heat of the iron and small items will stick to it, too.
7. I like to take a fan brush and accent over the top with a little metallic acrylic paint. Use sparingly!
8. Mat and frame each piece.

I am always amazed at how beautiful each artwork is when completed. I've never seen an ugly one yet! If you do not want to use yarns and W-U, then paint the canvas as described. Instead of W-U and fiber materials, use specialty papers, torn into pieces and paste them down using acrylic matte medium, which acts as a glue. No iron is needed. You can paint over the top of the papers, in order to create interesting layers.

Have fun!

Becoming a "Real Artist"

Years ago, I read a science fiction story by Bob Shaw, called "Light of Other Days", that introduced me to the concept of slow glass. The glass was supposedly engineered to slow the light passing through it, so what appeared on the other side of the glass was, in essence, a view of the past. The slow glass could be made in various "time thicknesses" (I made up that term, but it describes the effect). I often think of people as slow glass, especially children. You put something into them and it might not come back out again for many years. One reason that you can usually tell work of young art students is that the slow glass isn't very thick yet. The experiences haven't built up inside them sufficiently to provide the depth that you see in the work of more mature artists.

Much of the time now, I feel like very thick slow glass. All the thoughts, feelings and sights that have passed through me are now reappearing on the other side and you can see them in my work. I see the Art Deco and Victorian influences from my New York childhood. I see science and technology, a remnant from my former professions. I see the highest highs and the lowest lows of my life.

Being self-taught, there are times I feel like I'm swimming in a sea of artists who have their MFA degrees. They know how to do everything from charcoal drawings to massive bronze sculptures. They can critique an artwork while blindfolded, even with both hands tied behind their backs. They are fluent in Artspeak and know how to dress in an appropriately creative manner every day. I already have a Masters degree (in audiology) and have no desire to go back to school again for that length of time, so I have to ask myself whether an MFA would improve my art over and above what I'm already doing. No, it wouldn't, because I don't want to have my work graded by someone else. This is my journey and I'm the only one who can tell if it's right.

In 1999, I made a very conscious decision to leave traditional quilting and explore art quilting. That description worked for a few years, but then it dawned on me that it wasn't the quilting part that was important anymore, but the expression of ideas. The quilting became the vehicle for that expression because I already knew the techniques and it was a very versatile medium. It was about that time that I began to think of myself as an artist. Not as a quilter or as an art quilter, but as an artist. This is how I feel inside of me now. I look at the world differently than I did before.

I suppose I could be doing something else with my life that would be more profitable, but my art continues to emerge from me at the strangest times. That slow glass is finally revealing everything what's been inside, but it's coming out all mixed together. It doesn't really matter whether I have a fine arts degree or not, because this is what I've become. I think I'm finally a Real Artist.

The mystery is solved!

We have our final winner! Terry Grant correctly guessed that the two words at the top of the bulletin board say "Art Department". I started making the sign for it today and you can see it in the picture, but it isn't finished yet.

The whole project looks pretty boring right now because the only colorful thing on the board is the scarf in the Lost and Found section. It should only get better from now on, as everything else that I plan to attach is going to pop with color. It's better to use "boring" as a backdrop if you plan to have a lot of color in the artwork.

Congratulations to Karen Stiehl Osborn, Jeri Riggs and Terry Grant, the winners of my contest, and thanks to all of you for participating!

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.

Evolved - Part 6

The Earth, as it is today, appears in the center. The other human accomplishments shown here include a beautiful vase (representing the Asian cultures), clocks and the telescope. The navy blue area represents the formation of the United States. The bottom picture shows the Old West. The cowboy on the right is telling a tall tale about the future, when a middle-aged woman puts their picture on a quilt and writes about them on her blog. Unbeknownst to him, the other cowboys are taking the opportunity to sneak off and short sheet his bedroll, because they think he is so full of baloney.

In the last picture, you see the end of the timeline. Yes, we've finally gotten to the present. Agriculture and farms are at the bottom and to the right of that, Neil Armstrong is walking on the Moon. The fabric above the Mount Rushmore heads is some I purchased during the year 2000, which is probably why it has the number "2000" printed all over it. In the lower right, you have computers, the Internet and modern cities.

This brings an end to our little tour of history. If you want to know what happens next, you'll have to stick around and see for yourself.

This quilt has been a work in progress for ten years. I finally finished quilting it and trimmed it to size. I also attached a black facing strip to the top and bottom edges, to stabilize them. I am currently embellishing the Big Bang with lots of shiny stuff. By the time I'm done, it'll be renamed the Big Beautiful Bang.

Evolved - Part 5

Here's the Ice Age as it looked about 75,000 years ago (Greenwich Mean Time). I drew the caveman and cave paintings freehand and was afraid that they wouldn't look right after I quilted them, but they do. Notice that the caveman is sitting outside on the frozen ground without any clothes on and he's banging a couple of rocks together. A wolf is right behind him and he doesn't seem to notice that, either. He wasn't exactly the smartest guy in his clan, which is probably why everyone else is selling their ice cave and moving to a more upscale forest further south.

The Ice Age ends, as do sabertoothed tigers, wooly mammoths and people who sit naked on the ground in the dead of winter. They are replaced by smarter, better-clothed people and other types of animals, such as poodles and potbellied pigs.

This takes us into the final section of the quilt, which covers the wide range of human accomplishments, although I completely forgot to include a reference to the Ronco Pocket Fisherman. Maybe next time.

The third picture shows the domestication of grain, the wheel, ocean-going vessels (the mast will be applied later), the Egyptian civilization and money. Somewhere along the line, as I was transferring the image to fabric, the coins lost their faces, so I'll have to draw them in myself. As you've seen, I'm not very good at drawing, so they may end up looking like smiley faces instead of the Emperor Nero.

The flying monk with the homemade wings is Eilmer, also known as Oliver of Malmesbury. In 1010 C.E., he jumped off of a building and successfully flew to the ground. Other men had tried to fly before, but Eilmer attached the wings to his ankles and was the trick that worked. Unlike the other so-called "tower jumpers", he lived to tell people his name. I'm not making this up.

Evolved - Part 4

Back at the palm trees again. I just discovered that palm trees didn't actually appear until 80 million years ago (mya), even though I placed them here around 250 mya. Big oops, but it's far too late to fix the problem. You'll just have to imagine that some scientist from the future discovered time travel. When he tested his machine and went back to the beginning of the Triassic Period, he happened to have a coconut stuck on the sole of his shoe, where it inadvertently fell off and was left behind when he traveled back to the future. The coconut sprouted and this little stand of trees was the result. Thankfully, it was wiped out when a tornado happened to touch down in that very spot 249,999,997 mya and the proper timeline for palm tree evolution was restored.

Finally, the dinosaurs appear and frogs try very hard to stay out from underfoot. The pterosaur is easy to see, but there's also a little white bird to the right, midway between the orange and green dinosaur heads. I plan to add another bird or two later.

Flowering plants appear and the T-Rex is happy that they do. If you notice, he is stalking the orange dinosaur. The T-Rex, named Chad, intends to pick a few flowers and offer them to the orange dinosaur, Dave, thus confusing Dave and throwing him off-guard long enough for Chad to make his move. Little do they know that their one-on-one is about to go horribly awry, as a gigantic asteroid (the red ball) streaks through the sky and hits the Yucatan Peninsula. I will add the asteroid's fiery tail later.

On left side of the third picture, you can see the scorched earth and darkened skies that were the collision's aftermath. Sadly, Chad and Dave did not survive, but Chad's bones were dug up a just few years ago and they are now on display in a museum labelled with the name of "Sue". I guess that finally explains why he wanted to pick flowers for Dave.

Just to the right of the dark clouds, you can see Earth. Pangaea has split up and the continents are now drifting apart.

Once things settled down a bit, it was a time of mountain building. Horses and other mammals started to look like modern types. These two are going for a pleasant romp in the moonlight.

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?

Evolved - Part 3

I actually finished quilting Evolved this weekend, but these pictures were taken before everything was done.

The first picture shows the part that comes right after the volcanoes and rains. Notice that you can see the cooled land under the wave on the left.

Now we are under the ocean. Fred (the fat one) and his one-celled friends, Wilma, Barney and Betty, are swimming around in the primordial algae. This is a picture of Wilma from when she was very pregnant and about to divide, spawning cute little Pebbles. Later, a couple of happy little trilobytes, the Barbie Twins, play tag around the plants. Finally, right around 570 million years ago and fashionably late, the shellfish and sponges join the party. They love making an entrance and they never bring a hostess gift. Can you imagine?

In the second picture, you can see a couple of jawless fishes and more advanced marine plantlife. The first land plants appear and the arthropods climb up out of the water. You can't see my arthopod yet because he's going to be created by embellishment later, so you'll have to use your imagination for now. He'll be on the left edge of the black rock. The lungfish is next and more sophisticated land plants appear, like ferns. Up in the sky are gigantic dragonflies. Right now the dragonflies have no bodies, but they'll get them soon. I just couldn't figure out how to applique anything that narrow. Sitting on top of the waterfall is the first amphibian and sunning himself on a rock in the bottom right corner is the first reptile. This is a time of insects, trees and swamps. I'm sure insect repellents would have sold well back in those days. If there were people and convenience stores, that is.

The third picture pans over a little more and you can see the butterfly. I'd name it after my Russian grandmother, Agatha, but then I'd feel obligated to name every single animal that appears after this and there are quite a few yet to come. In the background are coniferous trees and I'll be adding vegetation around the swamp at some point.

At the far right are palm trees. You are now located about halfway across the quilt and 300 million years ago in time.

Evolved - Part 2

I posted this picture before, but wanted to put it in sequence with the rest of Evolved. Here. you can see the galaxies forming on the left and the planets forming on the right. There are places on this quilt where I show the state of the Earth at that time and you can see it in the upper right of the picture, portrayed as a hot, molten ball. This section, like many others, will be embellished with metallic trims, beads and anything else I can think of.

Since I had posted this picture before, here are two new ones.

In the second picture, you can see the molten Earth in the top left. The Earth's surface begins forming because of exploding volcanoes and lava flows. There is one big volcanic cone in the middle, plus two in the background, on either side of it. I will add the explosions on the smaller cones later with embellishment. Clouds of smoke and water vapor emerge from the main volcano and form storm clouds. The clouds begin raining and cool the land.

The third picture shows the clouds, the rain and the oceans forming (see the waves?). Right above the waves, a brand new and much more serene Earth is shown, surrounded by clouds and water.

To the right, you can see one-celled life forming in the oceans. Surprisingly, the atom I mentioned in the last post can also be seen here. If you look at the largest of the one-celled animals, Fred, it's part of his elbow, too.

This takes us up through about four billion years ago. However, you will need to take Daylight Savings Time into account.

Posted and Evolved

Wow, I thought it would be easy to guess the words at the top of the board. Some of the commenters are on the right track with one word or the other, but no one has put it all together yet. Here is the next big clue: most art quilters have never have been around a board like this on a regular basis. Even fewer traditional quilters have been around one.

It may seem like I'm giving up on this project because I've dragged Evolved out of the unfinished project pile again, but that is not the case. It dawned on me that the bulletin board needed to grow over time. It won't go on display until August and  I'm sure that I'll think of many items to post on it before then. Rather than forcing the idea, I'm going to tack items to the board as I think of them. The contest will be wide open until the third question, "What are the two words at the top of the bulletin board?" is answered.

In the meantime, I will post pictures of Evolved to show you how it stands right now. The machine quilting is almost completed, but I will still need to trim and bind the edges, then heavily embellish the pictures. Please remember this is a work in progress.

Here is the Big Bang, the first part of the timeline. It's located on the left end of the 18 foot long quilt. I plan to bead and decorate the surface even more after the binding is on. As with all these pictures, the quilt is 12" high.

Here's the next section to the right. It shows the formation of the galaxies and the beginning of the planets. I'll continue to post pictures two at a time until I've covered the entire quilt. Remember that you can click on the images to see a larger version.

By the way, a small atom portrayed as part of the planet at the lower right corner of this picture is now part of my elbow. I thought you might notice the resemblance.

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.

What does it say? - You'll get it this time

If this hint doesn't produce a winner, I don't know what will. Here's another item for the bulletin board. If you click on the picture, you'll see a larger image so you can read it.

Remember, I'm looking for the two words that will be at the top of the board, that will explain everything that is pinned on it. The first person who guesses those two words by leaving a comment on this blog wins the final prize.

Today, I attached several "lost and found" items to the board, including a keyring and a lone earring I made. I also attached Jeri's prize, but I'm not going to tell her what it is yet.

Once someone guesses the words at the top, I can start posting some more colorful items. Thank goodness, because this whole brown and white thing is extremely depressing. Right now, I need a healthy jolt of rich, saturated color injected directly into my veins to boost my energy again. I understand that lime green is always a reliable choice, but for a quicker pick-me-up, a little fire engine red can work wonders.

What does it say?

No one has guessed the two words at the top of the bulletin board yet. Hint- the two words indicate the place where the bulletin board is located and the kind of people who would be posting on the board. Another hint- the next flyer I created, which is partially entitled "Changes and Additions" mentions chimps, elephants and small children. What do these have in common?

In case you were wondering, the piece of paper I showed in my last post does not represent the type of prizes I will be giving out to the winners. I promise that the prizes will be a lot more valuable than that! In fact, I will be making small works of art to give away. You won't be disappointed.

Do I have a picture to show you today? I guess not. Maybe tomorrow I'll make something and show you, now that the laundry is done.

We have the first two winners!

Karen Stiehl Osborn from Nebraska, USA is the winner of the first prize. She correctly guessed that I was making a cork bulletin board. I know Karen from the Kansas Art Quilters group and we are on the board of directors together. I couldn't be more pleased that she is the first winner. Her prize will be one of the bulletin board items I create for this project. I will display the corkboard as part of my solo exhibit next August/September, then send the prizes to the three winners.

Jeri Riggs from New York, USA is the winner of the second prize. She correctly guessed that the name for this artwork will be Posted. I met Jeri through art quilting, but she happens to live just a few blocks from the house in which I grew up and she goes past it nearly every day. She is also one of the neatest people I know and a very dear friend, so I'm glad she won the second prize. Yay, Jeri!

There is one more prize to be won. There will be two words of text on the top of this bulletin board (the "title") and you need to guess what they are. The picture shown here should be a real giveaway. The first person who can get their comment posted telling me the two correct words will win the third prize.

I haven't decided yet if this bulletin board item will be made from fabric or if it will stay paper, as shown here, but this is the first draft of how it's going to look.

Good luck!

What is it? - Now you should be able to tell

Since my last post, I covered the raw edge of the quilted piece with binding and did most of the work on the second piece, which looks like wood. I still want to do some more quilting on the newer piece.

OK (drum roll please), here's the giveaway I told you about. I roughly pinned the two pieces to my design wall so you can see how they will look together. The first person to guess what this represents will win my first prize. Leave your guesses as comments on this blog entry. Good luck!

What is it? - Part 3

The quilting is finished! I trimmed the edges and pinned it to my design wall for the picture. It's square, but my camera shot isn't. This quilt now measures 43" wide x 28-1/2" high and I will not be changing the surface anymore, so this is the way this part will look.

I'm also going to include a closeup picture so you can see how closely this is quilted. I used many shades of brown and used up over 20 spools of thread. I think I have now gone officially insane.

The next step will probably be the part that will give you the clue you need to figure it out. I have been loving all your guesses so far! They range all over the place, but they are all intriguing. I promise that this project will start looking a little more interesting soon.

Big Hint of the Day
This is meant to imitate a natural material that we all have somewhere in our home, often in many unseen places.

Keep guessing!

What is it? - Part 2

I'll admit it. It's going to take 2-3 more days to finish the quilting on the mystery artwork, so you may not hear from me till I'm done with that stage. Everything still looks like it did yesterday, so I didn't post a new picture for you today. To make up for that, here's a gratuitous picture of an untitled and unexhibited piece I made about 6 months ago. It's never been seen before outside of my studio.

Big Hint about the Mystery Project
I decided to trim the edges, but otherwise leave it as one piece. I also decided not to paint over the top, as it already looks perfect. In fact, it's eerily like the stuff it's supposed to be representing, even from close up.

I already started creating some other parts for this mystery artwork, three of which will become the prizes in this contest. You haven't seen them yet because you'd figure out the mystery too soon. I'm going to make you wait, yes I am.

The next step that I do after the quilting will be the real giveaway.

What is it?

I'm still quilting the same piece. If you click on the picture, a larger image will be displayed, where you can see the texture being created by the stitching. I'm hoping to be done with this tomorrow, but I've been saying that for the last three days.

Recently, I've developed the tendency to obsessively quilt my work and this piece is no exception. I'm not really crazy, I'm just a bad quilter. I figure that the best way to hide my mistakes is to hide them in millions of other stitches. It works for me.

I can't begin to tell you how many spools of thread I have already emptied while quilting this piece. I've probably used up at least 15 so far.

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!

How I make my fiber sculptures

I've created several artworks that incorporate fiber sculptures. The sculptures look exactly like they are made of metal, but when you touch them, you discover that they don't feel cold. Right now, I'm making a tactile sample for an exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art (OH), where I will have two works on exhibit this summer, Knitted and Transformed. Using the sample I am making, I will show you how I made the "metal rollers" for Transformed.

I frequently use foam pool noodles as filler, because they are both lightweight, which reduces shipping costs, and chemically inert, so they will not deteriorate and "gas out" as they age. I have also used other materials, like aluminum foil, to create my basic shape.

1. If using a pool noodle, I cut it to the proper length using a serrated bread knife. It cuts like buttah.

2. Wrap the noodle or basic shape smoothly in about 3 layers of blue painters tape. You'll get the best results using the type shown in the picture. The more layers of tape you apply, the stiffer the outer shell of the sculpture will be.

3. Glue a layer of black fabric all over the blue tape using watered down Elmer's Glue. Trim the fabric as needed to fit the form. You don't need to make it completely smooth, depending on the final effect you want. Make sure everything is saturated, so paint the glue both under and over the fabric. Check during the drying to be sure the sculpture isn't sticking to the table. Let dry completely. The black "crochet hook" on the right is at this stage.

4. I use hand dyed cotton batting as the outermost cover. In the picture, you can see some examples of my hand dyed batting in the background. The best batting to use is Warm & White and you don't even need to prewash before dyeing. I like to use a very dark brown or black color for simulating the look of metal. Glue the batting onto the form, trimming to fit. Use watered down glue, saturating the batting fairly thoroughly. After a minute or two, the batting will soften to the point where you can smooth the cut edges with your fingernail and move it around to some extent. Check during the drying process to make sure all areas are covered. Dry completely. The small brown tube in the same picture is at this stage.

5. Rub several colors of metallic rub-on craft waxes in splotches on the batting.

6. Paint the sculpture with several coats of a water-based shellac. I like to use a "blonde" color. The first coat will be soaked up quickly by the batting, so let it dry thoroughly before the next coat. When you are done, the sculpture will resemble aged metal, but be much lighter in weight.

The finished sample can be seen in the last picture. Now wasn't that fun? Just don't try to display this as outdoor sculpture.

Taking a break from creativity

I haven't posted any entries for the past two weeks or so and, during that time, I also put away the in-progress projects in my studio. I just didn't feel much like being creative for a while. However, I wasn't exactly sitting around, as I've been looking at art, reading about art and doing a lot of hand dyeing, but I haven't been creating or writing anything. Last night, I had a great idea for a new project and the ol' juices began flowing again. Looking back, I think I needed a mental vacation from being creative. CPAs get vacations, why don't we?

Several nice things have happened since I last posted. First, I received official notification that I was awarded a 2008 Mid-Career Artist Fellowship from the Kansas Arts Commission. Of course, I splashed the news all over my website right away, but if I missed mentioning it on a page or two, please let me know and I'll correct the problem. On March 10th, there will be a reception for all the fellowship recipients at the state capital in Topeka where I will receive my check. With the price of gas these days, that might not even cover my travel expenses!

Second, I've been asked to jury a Studio Art Quilt Associates regional exhibition. I'll post more about it when everything is finalized.

Third, I followed a link to an unknown blog and was delighted to find that it was written by Susan Lenz. In the past, she's left some very insightful and completely accurate comments on my blog telling me how wonderful my work is and feeding my ego to an unhealthy degree. On the blog I discovered, Susan explained that she is curating an invitational exhibit to be held at a Columbia, South Carolina gallery next January. When I scrolled down, I was surprised to learn I was on her wish list for artists for this exhibit. You can read more about the general exhibition here. Of course, I accepted her invitation and I'm honored that she thought of me.

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.

Dinner in the Deuce

Last Friday, I traveled to Oklahoma City for an opening reception at a very special contemporary art gallery called Untitled [ArtSpace]. The exhibit was Dinner in the Deuce, referring to the neighborhood's name, Deep Deuce. All the projects were collaborations, made up of people from different artistic mediums and different physical locations. Considering the logistics of the project and all the artistic egos involved (including my own), the end result was magical. Each dinner setting had a theme and they were all very different from each other.

Portable Picnic was raised off the floor so no one would step on it. The pedestal they used was one of the massive, original sliding doors from the old warehouse building where the gallery is located. We were the only group who didn't have a table, so some visitors assumed that the door was part of our display. It might make the picnic a little less portable if you had to carry the door around, don't you think?

The ceramics were created by Barbara Broadwell from Edmond, OK and the pewter pieces were made by Margareta Grill from Tulsa, OK. I'm really pleased with the the way our work looks together and proud to have been part of this project. Thanks to Laura Warriner and her gallery staff for coordinating such a wonderful exhibit.

Fellowship fun

I drove 620 miles in the past two days, roundtrip from Wichita to Topeka, KS on Thursday and round trip to Oklahoma City on Friday. My finger got tired of resetting the cruise control button as I left the rest areas. In this post, I'll tell you about Thursday.

A few months ago, I applied for a Kansas Arts Commission Mid-Career Artist Fellowship. The Visual Arts selection panel met in Topeka a couple of days ago and I went to watch them deliberate. I won an Individual Artist Mini-Fellowship from the KAC in 2000 and in 2001, I was on the selection committee myself, so I had a good perspective on the process already. The public and the applicants were invited to attend, but I was the only person to actually turn up. I arrived late in the morning because I was #41 on the agenda of 43 applicants (the W name, you know).

When I came in, the director of the KAC, Llewellyn Crain, grabbed me and pulled me into another room. I had met her about a year earlier, so she knew who I was. I was told that I was welcome to observe, but I wasn't allowed to interact with the panel members in any way.

As I walked in the room, I realized I already knew some of the panel members or at least knew who they were. One was Dr. Patricia McDonnell, the director of the Ulrich Museum of Art at Wichita State University. I love this museum, as it's "the" place for great contemporary art in Wichita. Another was Novalene Ross, the former director of the Wichita Art Museum and a true leader in the Kansas arts community. One board member from the KAC is required to be there and conduct the proceedings. This time, it turned out to be a man I used to work with at IBM. We worked in the same branch, but were located in cities a distance apart, so I wasn't even sure that he remembered me from 20-25 years ago. I did not know the other three panel members.

I sat quietly through the rest of the evaluations that afternoon, listening to what they said about each applicant's work. Dr. McDonnell did not vote or comment on my art, citing conflict of interest (she knows me). The comments about my work included:
innovative, original (this was said a lot)
took quilting in a whole new direction
craftsmanship is excellent
sensuous appeal
transcends wearables and bedcovers
very good statement in fine craft

The only negative things mentioned were that my statement was more a biography than a statement and that I had a great resume, but didn't have enough solo shows on it. This is my year to look for solo shows, so if you have one to offer me, I'm yours! I'll even lick your boots, if you want me to, but only if it's done in public and advertised as performance art.

When the scoring was finalized, I was allowed to introduce myself. I absolutely love to hear myself talk, so I also took the opportunity to tell them my positive experience with receiving a mini-fellowship and how my art was tremendously affected by listening to the comments of the panel that year. Being a panel member is a lot of work, so I wanted them to know what an impact they were having on the artists and the ripples the fellowships sent out into the world.

I was allowed to look at the final scores after the process was over, but I was so busy talking to people that I barely got a chance to glance at the sheet before they wanted it back. Out of 19 in my category, I was ranked 5th. However, there are two other (much smaller) groups whose scores will be integrated with ours and they are only giving awards to the top eight. I think I'm on the bubble as to whether I'll receive an award or not, but I won't get upset if I don't. I saw how tough the competition was this year and I know I did well, so I am happy with my ranking either way. The way I look at it, I had the opportunity to have a number of art heavyweights see my work and critique it, plus I had the chance to talk to most of them personally. Forget the fellowship money, that experience was priceless.

How I make my quilts 3D

A couple of years ago, I received an email from a Canadian quilt guild. The workshop chair had found my website and asked if I would teach a multi-day workshop for them on how to make 3D quilts. Although I love to teach, I had to tell them no because the kind of work I do is not dependent on a particular technique or material. It can't be taught.

In my artwork, the concept is the most important thing, so the pieces can look quite different, even within the same series. Because each piece is unique, I have to invent different solutions to create the effects I want. I start with the concept and then spend a lot of time designing how I will physically execute the idea. There's at least one quilted form in each artwork, but otherwise I don't limit myself in regards to materials and techniques. In addition to artistic considerations, I also have to think about ease of shipping (size, weight, shape) and ease of installation, because they are major influences on the final design, too.

What I put inside the quilt has the most influence on the finished shape. Batting is the soft stuff you put inside of quilts to make them cuddly, but I tend to use many different materials inside the quilts, depending on the needs of the design.

When I want a soft quilt, I use Warm and White cotton batting and have even used this in my freestanding sculptures, such as Discombobulated and Melted. Sometimes, I'll even use another layer of fabric in lieu of any form of batting, if I want to cut down on bulk and weight.

Here are some of the materials I've used to make stiffer quilts.

- Extruded required a quilt that would project out from the wall horizontally for a distance before dipping to the floor. To accomplish this, I used buckram, which is a very stiff fabric that is typically used inside of baseball caps. The design required the quilt to be the stiffest at the top, so I started with four layers of buckram at that point, sandwiched between two layers of cotton batting and, of course, the two outside layers of fabric. As the quilt got further from the "extruder", it needed to droop down and touch the floor, so I removed a layer of buckram every few inches. I was left with one buckram layer by the time it reached the ground.

- I wanted to see if I could make a freestanding sculpture similar to Melted, but easier to install on site, so I made Tangled. Instead of batting, I used a very stiff, thick version of interfacing, called Peltex. This turned out to be less satisfactory than the cotton batting, so I won't use it in this fashion again.

- Plastic needlepoint canvas was used inside the "heads" in Emotional Entanglement. Yes, I hand quilted through all three layers.

- In one of my older Art Deco pieces, Simple Yet Elegant, I created a long, skinny quilt using several layers of heavy duty aluminum foil as the "batting". Silver mesh fabric was used for the outside layers. Once it was quilted and bound, the silver quilt was attached to another, much larger quilt.

If you've been following along as I made two artworks, Dispensed and Laced, I just received the photos from my photographer and I will post them here in the next few days. They are great! Be sure to check back soon.

New Year's resolutions

1. Send my cat to an eating disorder clinic for her bulemia.

2. Write another blog entry that becomes as successful as Top Ten Reasons for Becoming an Artist. Maybe I should write one called Top Ten Reasons for NOT Becoming an Artist, but I don't think it would deter anyone from becoming one. Lack of money usually does that after a few years anyway.

3. Finally get an entry accepted into Quilt National, damn it.

4. Transform my body into Carmen Electra's, but without her taste in husbands.

5. Add a couple of rooms to my studio, including a wet studio for painting and dyeing, plus a large, climate-controlled storage room for the finished work that's piling up. Adding extra rooms might be a problem, however, since my studio is in the basement. Maybe I could dig a secret tunnel through the wall using a sharpened spoon and carve out a few underground caverns.

6. Take down all the traditional quilts displayed in my house. I made them almost 15 years ago, when I first started quilting. I think I can do better now. I've just been too lazy to make something to replace them.

7. Reconnect with all the people I should have sent replies to months and months ago. Yes, I dropped off the face of the earth, but that's no excuse not to send a friendly email every now and then from my current location, wherever that is.

8. Get dressed earlier in the day.

9. Be  discovered by a Big Name gallery owner or museum curator. I want to be the hottest ticket on the block, right after Jeff Koons and Grandma Moses. Offers for solo shows will rain down upon my shoulders and I will need to hire several cute young men to assist me with my paperwork. My work will sell for millions of dollars. Hey, it could happen.

10. Did I mention Carmen Elektra's figure? Change that to Halle Berry's. Same caveat about the husbands, though.