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The Whale by Candy S. Stiffler, of Trappe, MD, was featured in the Small Quilts category at QuiltCon 2020. It was inspired by Charlie Harper, whose work she had never seen before until her friend brought a book of his work to a guild meeting. She was hooked and created her own interpretation of Harper's "whale".
Photos by Mary Kay Davis
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During the Coronavirus outbreak, quilters are in their studios. Laura Wasilowski shares with Alex Anderson what she is doing and takes us all on a tour of her studio and dyeing workspace. Alex shows some of the small quilts she bought of Laura's, Laura displays some of her current work and even shares a song. FUN!
Laura is a TQS favorite. Learn from her in Show 303: Fearless Fusing, Show 1009: "Stamp Out" Fabric, and Show 2109: Inventive Products & Binding Unusually Shaped Quilts.
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Have you been working on a UFO, starting a new project, working with your guild via ZOOM? Quilts, Inc., is looking for your "quarantine" quilts for an exhibit.
Quarantine Quilts: Creativity in the Midst of Chaos:
Exhibition and Book
Size of Entries for the exhibition: Minimum width is 24" and length is 24”. Maximum width is 60” and length is 84”. Each entry must have a 4” (10 cm) finished sleeve or casing sewn to the top back edge of the quilt (please include a .125”/.377 cm ease in the sleeve or casing). Sleeves should be secured with stitching at the top and bottom edge. A cloth label with the entrant’s name, address, telephone number, and email must be securely sewn to the back of the quilt, bottom left side. There is no “made after” date requirement. Please do not submit quilts made from kits. [NOTE: Our juror will be selecting additional quilts from this call to be included in a 2021 book to be published by Schiffer. There is no size or format restriction for those works. All quilts in the Houston exhibition will also be in the book, with separate publication permission forms that will be sent via email.]
Who May Enter: The entries may be the work of one person or more than one person as long as proper credit is given to all involved in the actual completion of the quilt. The person entering the quilt must have been directly involved in the quilt’s creation.
Limit on Entries: You may enter up to 1 quilt per person or group.
Photo/Image Copyright Permission: Entry into the exhibition automatically grants copyright permission for the image of the quilt and/or all or part of the Artist’s Statement about the quilt to be used in articles, ads, promotions, catalogs, books, magazines, websites (including any webcast coverage), blogs, CDs, DVDs, current event news coverage, television productions, online and/or multimedia productions for and about the International Quilt Festival, International Quilt Market, or for and about Quarantine Quilts: Creativity in the Midst of Chaos or for and about quilting and developing creativity. The quilt artist retains copyright to the quilt and will be credited in any usage.
Completed submissions with visuals must be received online by midnight CDT, June 30, 2020. You will be notified no later than July 10, 2020, regarding the quilts to be included in this exhibit along with shipping instructions. If selected, the quilts will need to arrive in Houston no later than August 14, 2020.
Jury: Dr. Sandra Sider, Curator of the Texas Quilt Museum, will select the works for this exhibit and for the book. Her decision is final. Entries selected from digital images are subject to additional evaluation when the actual quilt arrives in Houston. If the actual quilt is found to differ significantly from the digital image submitted for jurying, the selection committee reserves the right to reject the entry and override the jurors’ initial decision. The decision as to whether the difference is significant is entirely the prerogative of the committee.
Length of Exhibit: Quilts will be returned by the end of January 2021, unless traveling.
Selling Your Quilt: You may choose to offer your quilt for sale while on exhibition. If you do, 12.5% of the selling price will be donated to the International Quilt Association (IQA) and 12.5% of the selling price will be donated to the Texas Quilt Museum. Both the Association and the Museum are 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations. Please check with your tax attorney for information on how to deduct the donation.
Visual Instructions: Please read carefully the information for your digital images. (Check Quilts, Inc. site for more information.)
Timeline for Quilt Registration:
Registration open: March 27, 2020-June 30, 2020
Notification by: July 10, 2020
Selected quilts arrive in Houston by August 14, 2020. The selected works should be sent by the participant, at his/her own expense, to arrive no later than August 14, 2020 at the offices of Quilts, Inc. in Houston, Texas, USA.
Quilts returned to owner: End of January 2021 unless traveling. If traveling they will be returned after September 2021.
SENDING QUILTS FOR EXHIBITION
Deadline for Receiving Quilts: The selected works should be sent by the participant, at his/her own expense, to arrive no later than August 14, 2020. International shipments should be SHIPPED no later than July 15, 2020 to the offices of Quilts, Inc. in Houston, Texas, USA.
Shipping Information: Complete shipping information will be sent when your entry is juried into the exhibition. DO NOT SEND QUILTS PRIOR TO NOTIFICATION.
Important Special Note to Quilters Shipping from Foreign Countries: While we encourage you to insure your work for its full value for insurance purposes, we must ask you to value it for customs declaration purposes only at no more than $30 (USD). A higher customs value may require an expensive bond that may not be refunded upon your quilt’s return to its home country. Also mark the customs document with “for exhibition and return, not for sale, no commercial value.” We hope you understand that this is for practical purposes only, and certainly does not reflect on Quilt Festival’s estimation of your work. If you wish to claim full value for customs purposes, we recommend that you arrange a carnet A.T.A. for your quilt at your expense. If we incur customs expenses due to a decision on your part to declare the customs value of your quilt as more than $30, you will need to reimburse us for any such expense. If you claim less than $30 for customs purposes, and we still incur customs charges, we will pay those charges in full and will not expect reimbursement.
Insurance: Each work will be insured door to door (from the time you ship it to us until it is returned to you) under the Fine Arts Policy maintained by Quilts, Inc.
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If you are working on a "quarantine" quilt, TQS has come up with a set of "QuiltersQuarantine" labels you can download and use to document your work.
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We just received the quilt basket 1978 stamps and now we have them in the store for everyone for the first time. They come in a fun presentation package, but you can take them out and put them in a frame. They will look great in your studio or they make a wonderful gift to a quilting friend.
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Alex returns to her LIVE teaching. Watch on our Facebook or just click the picture and go to our YouTube LIVE playlist. Thank you for joining, chatting, and your support during these times. Today Alex takes on "Facing a Quilt".
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(Image courtesy of Ann Gibson at Canyon Creek Elementary School)
We begin The Art of Quilt Design Program with the Elements of Design. Elements of Design include line, shape, form, texture, space, color, and value. Think of these terms as the ingredients in your kitchen.
Let's use something we are all familiar with - scrambled eggs. On their own scrambled eggs are tasty, but when you add other ingredients such as butter, salt and pepper, the dish has more depth of flavor and interest. The same principle holds true for your quiltwork. You as the designer should be striving to create a piece that holds the viewers interest by incorporating all, if not most, of the elements.
Let's start with Line. As in the example above, lines can be thick, thin, straight, wavy, curved, tapering or uneven. Lines can create texture, send our eyes moving in a certain direction, create mood, gesture, or outline. When it comes to quilting, the simplest line can be the stitches that hold together the top, batting, and backing.
Gently waving lines
Lines in an orderly formation
Complex lines of feathers, wreaths, twirls
But Line can be so much more! Artist Leni Levenson Wiener (Show 1413: From Film to Fabric - Photos as Inspiration) shares her apporach to line when it comes to capturing a viewer's interest in a quilt.
In art, line can refer to several different ideas. Line can be an actual mark on the surface of the work; it can define or outline shapes or represent the negative spaces between shapes. Line can be literal or implied; either a visual path the viewer takes through your composition or a connection by an invisible thread from values, shapes or colors that repeat to form a pattern and travel across the surface of your artwork. Line can also be the direction of the shapes and elements you use that create gesture and movement in your composition.
Often we hear the expression “to draw the eye in” which refers to the visual path used to guide the viewer through an artwork or to insure the focal point is the most important aspect of the composition. This visual path can be clearly depicted or it can be implied, the eye gently taken along from one point to another by an actual or suggested line. This path can run from the front of the composition to the back, up and down, from side to side, or around in a circular or radiating fashion.
Pinebrook illustrates two principles of line. One is the literal path of the water that leads the eye into the composition, but line is also at play with the trees; the vertical lines they create and the spaces between them are a strong visual element as they are rhythmic and repetitive. (Pinebrook)
Line in the composition can be thick or thin. Horizontal lines imply a static composition where no movement is present. Vertical lines emphasize height and draw the eye up into the composition, while diagonal lines bring energy and movement to the work. Radial lines are diagonals that converge and draw the eye to the point from which the lines emanate, while circular lines draw the eye around the work and back again.
(Pinebrook) image courtesy of Leni L. Wiener
In Headed Home, the converging radiating lines both draw the eye into the center of the composition, but because they are diagonal, they create energy and the perception of movement towards the perspective point on the horizon. In Lizard, it is the fabric used for the sky which creates the repeating circular lines, making an otherwise static composition alive with movement.
Headed Home and Lizard. Photo courtesy of Leni L. Wiener
In Rush, because the silhouetted figures are repeated and dispersed against a contrasting background, they create a pattern; but repetition does not mean the shapes and lines themselves need to be identical, they need only suggest each other. Either way, the resulting pattern serves to create a feeling of rhythmic movement across the surface of the work. Note also how little bits of red and blue are strategically placed, which subtly helps pull the viewer to different points around the composition--the suggestion of an invisible, or implied line. Repetition not only enlivens the surface of the work, it serves as a unifying element.
Rush by Leni Levenson Wiener. Photo courtesy of Leni L. Wiener
As gesture is simply the movement of the human body that expresses an idea, an opinion, or an emotion, line used in figurative art becomes a powerful tool with which to communicate with a viewer. Body language; the tilt of the head, the position of hands, the implied movement of arms can all speak clearly to the viewer.
In The Endless Dance of the Ponytail, the placement and the resulting line of the arms suggest movement, like a dancer, about to reach the peak of momentum. Because the lines of the arms are diagonal, they inherently exhibit more movement than they would if they were in a horizontal or vertical position. The dynamic tension created by the opened space left between the hands becomes the focal point of the work, drawing the viewer up to the peak of movement. Were the hands closed, the closed line would have drawn the eye around the surface and back again and would have cost some of the perceived energy. And you thought lines only took you from point A to point B!
The Endless Dance of the Ponytail. Image by Gregory Case Photography
More ideas for adding interest with Line:
A radial line An orderly line
An implied line
Practice Exercise: Create Your Own Graphic Line Drawing by Deep Space Sparkle
(Images courtesy of Deep Space Sparkle)
Option 1:
On a sheet of plain paper, draw two straight lines across the paper and two lines down. Using your drawing tools of choice, fill in each area with a design. Add color or not. The choice is yours. When you have completed the drawing, add strips of dark construction paper to make the image more graphic.
Option 2:
Make a quilt sandwich with your top fabric being a solid color. Stitch out the lines on the sandwich. Fill in each area with some free motion designs. Don't worry about them not being perfect, this is just a practice piece.
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We continue our feature on quilts from the Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA) exhibit, Layered & Stitched: Fifty Years of Innovation, as featured at the Texas Quilt Museum. The exhibit is described as:
Studio Art Quilt Associates presents Layered & Stitched: Fifty Years of Innovation at the Texas Quilt Museum in Galleries I and III. These studio art quilts, dating from 1968 to 2016, represent the extraordinary range of talented artists working in contemporary quilt art. Featuring a balance of abstract and representational styles, Layered & Stitched includes several foreign artists, with a wide geographic distribution of makers in general. The curatorial vision of this exhibition embraces diversity and excellence, including three-dimensional works. Juried by Nancy Bavor, Director of the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles; Martha Sielman, Executive Director of SAQA; and Dr. Sandra Sider, Curator of the Texas Quilt Museum, who says, "Jurying this spectacular exhibition was one of the highlights of my career! It is an amazing show of historic significance."
The exhibit has also been collected in a companion book as well, titled Art Quilts Unfolding: 50 Years of Innovation by Nancy Bavor, Lisa Ellis, Martha Sielman, and edited by Sandra Sider. The book is described as:
Please enjoy the second quilt from the exhibition by Patricia Malarcher.
Title of Quilt: Iconostasis
Quilter's Name: Patricia Malarcher
Photos by Mary Kay Davis
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Paws Up! by Sheri Cifaldi-Morrill, of Woodbridge, CT, was featured in the Piecing category at QuiltCon 2020. It is a tribute to dogs and cats looking for forever homes and was inspired by her 4-year old Labrador mix, Casey, whom they adopted.
Photos by Mary Kay Davis
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Karlee made this quilt, Shimmering Symphony, in 2011 specifically for the "Create Your Style With Swarovski Elements” design contest and it won 1st place. She was pretty excited about it and writes, "Not only did I win $3,500 in cash, but I also won a brand new sewing machine as well as $3000 worth of Swarovski Crystals! It was such a fun competition and even landed me a spread in my local newspaper!"
Watch Karlee in Show 2607.
Original Photo: Mary Kay Davis
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