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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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Karlee Porter's quilt, The Royal Huntress, challenged and stretched her skills. She wanted to push herself as a fiber artist and wanted the quilt to gush radiance and elegance. We think with over 1 million stitches, 2000 crystals and beads, and 450 hours of work, she achieved her goal. Did we mention this is a wholecloth quilt?
Learn from Karlee in Show 2607.
TheRoyalHuntressbyKarleePorter - 36 Pieces Non-Rotating
TheRoyalHuntressbyKarleePorter - 100 Pieces Non-Rotating
TheRoyalHuntressbyKarleePorter - 300 Pieces Non-Rotating
TheRoyalHuntressbyKarleePorter - 36 Pieces Rotating
TheRoyalHuntressbyKarleePorter - 100 Pieces Rotating
TheRoyalHuntressbyKarleePorter - 300 Pieces Rotating
Original Photo: Mary Kay Davis
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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.
ShimmeringSymphonybyKarleePorter - 35 Pieces Non-Rotating
ShimmeringSymphonybyKarleePorter - 99 Pieces Non-Rotating
ShimmeringSymphonybyKarleePorter - 300 Pieces Non-Rotating
ShimmeringSymphonybyKarleePorter - 35 Pieces Rotating
ShimmeringSymphonybyKarleePorter - 99 Pieces Rotating
ShimmeringSymphonybyKarleePorter - 300 Pieces Rotating
Original Photo: 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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No Apologies by Laura Loewen and others (see names on sign below), of the Boulder Modern Quilt Guild, was featured in the Group & Bee Quilts category at QuiltCon 2020. Their goal was to create a spontaneous and cohesive quilt that was not "planned out." We think they did a great job.
Photos by Mary Kay Davis
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Ricky has been reading chapters of his book, Lizzy Albright and the Attic Window, online and now he's created a playlist so you can follow along on Lizzy's adventures more easily.
Look for the Lizzy Albright quilt fabrics, designed by Ricky (Benartex), pattern book, and online video lessons this year.
For now, pre-orders of the hard copy of the book are available at www.rickytims.com.
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Take a walk with Susan K. Cleveland through her special exhibit, Pieces Be With You: Quilts by Susan K. Cleveland, at AQS QuiltWeek in Daytona Beach 2020. Learn how Susan made a quilt that didn't fit the rules of a contest... and what she did to make it fit those rules!
Watch Susan here at TQS in:
Show 109: Susan Cleveland - Piping Hot Curves!
Show 1001: Susan Cleveland - Masterful Miters and Perfect Prairie Points
Show 2308: Susan Cleveland - It's Hip To Be A Modern Dresden
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