I’ve had some exceptionally good news as of late, so it is time to update my blog….NEWS as of JUNE 6, 2012.

Three (yes, three….again, see Fantastic Fibers 2012 below) of my works have been accepted at the NEW LEGACIES show at the Lincoln Art Center in Fort Collins, Colorado: GENERATION GAP, BROKEN PROMISES, and ALMOST AS ECHO.  I’m particularly happy to have  ‘…ECHO…’ accepted as this will be its debut in a show other than my local guild quilt show.  It is a mixed media work with two front panels permanently attached to a background panel.  It measures 41″ wide X 25″ high.

    and a detail view         

I very much enjoy working in this intuitive style, piecing fabrics, slicing, dicing, re-piecing and then embellishing with paint and thread painting.  I plan to do more more works in this style, and in fact am working on one presently, stay tuned…

My ‘HALLOWED GROUND,’ a memorial to ‘ground zero’ in New York City on 9/11, has been accepted into IQF HOUSTON’s Tactile Architecture exhibit.  Exhibiting in Houston other than through a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) exhibit is a first for me, I’ve never entered any of my work there before.   I am particularly partial to this work as I actually worked on it for several years (even though it is a small quilt, 27″ w X 25″ h, it was on my design wall for years in various phases), hoping it would find a venue for the ten year anniversary of that infamous day in our history, but there were very few calls for entry to commemorate 9/11 in 2011, so it went nowhere.

  and a detail view  

BREAKING BREAKING NEWS!  I was awarded SECOND PLACE in TEXTILES IN A TUBE 2 show…which includes a MONETARY AWARD!  Another milestone in my artistic journey…..read on, please….

‘IN LIGHT OF…’ is hanging at TEXTILES IN A TUBE at the Riverworks Gallery at Greenville (SC) Technical Collage.  This show was curated by one of my favorite artists in the art quilt loop, Kathleen Loomis.  This is a work originally entitled ‘FLEETING MOMENT’ that was juried into the SAQA A Sense of Time exhibit in 2007.  I always loved how the back of this piece came out and have been trying to find a venue for it as a two-sided piece.  It makes me happy that it found this quirky little exhibit in its second year in South Carolina.

IN LIGHT OF…shown front and back, side by side here:

and a detail  

The guiding theme of TEXTILES IN A TUBE was to require the entire piece including hanging hardware to fit inside a 36″ long X 3″ mailing tube.  This work measures 27″ w X 25″ high and is light as a feather due to its construction – artist discharged cotton lawn on the front, cotton scrim (similar to cheesecloth) on the back and a wool batt in between.  It rolled up perfectly to fit in the mailing tube and will be hung so both sides can be viewed.

And finally, I just received word today that the Lowell Quilt Festival (in Lowell, Massachusetts in early August) is having a special exhibit of ‘BEST OF SHOW’ Guild quilts this year,  so my ‘OH SAY CAN YOU CELL’ may be there this August.  I received five ribbons at my quilt guild, Northern Star Quilter’s Guild in Somers in May, ‘…CELL’ received a blue ribbon in its category and BEST OF SHOW, SMALL (we have two Best of Show awards, for a ‘large’ quilt and a ‘small’ quilt….at 7 feet wide, ‘…CELL’ is not really “small” but I’m not arguing with the judges.  ‘…CELL…’ also received a ribbon for ‘BEST DESIGN’ which pleased me no end.   Please scroll down and visit ‘older posts’ to find photos of  ‘OH SAY CAN YOU CELL’  in my blog.

Three, yes, THREE, of my recent works have been chosen to be exhibited in the FANTASTIC FIBER

GENERATION GAP

S 2012 exhibit at the Yeiser Art Center in Paducah, Kentucky, from March 30 through May 5.  This is a HUGE honor, one work would have been quite sufficient!  This show of 52 art quilts gets mega exposure as it runs concurrent with the famous annual AQS quilt show in Paducah every spring. 

A PATCH OF POSIES

BROKEN PROMISES

I am thrilled that my artist friends Judith Plotner and Wen Redmond are also juried into the show.  

Last Friday night I missed the 9:05 train from Grand Central Terminal to Poughkeepsie by two minutes.  I looked around for a place to sit down – no help from the Information Booth at that hour of the night to ask if there was a waiting room for ticketed passengers.  Grand Central Terminal is one of my most favorite spots on the planet and I’ve spent many hours there over the years, coming, going, meeting friends for dinner, resting after classes, browsing the shops.  The old ‘ticketed passenger waiting area’ had been replaced with an enterprising cafe or bar, and I realized finding a comfortable and free place to sit would be difficult it not impossible.  I sauntered into the main entrance hall (which used to be the original waiting room filled with row upon row of bentwood wood benches), and after some debate with myself, I decided to ignore both the barriers marking the main entrance to the ticketing terminal and the NY City Policeman sitting at the far end totally engrossed in conversation on his cell phone, and I proceeded to make myself comfortable on one of the few antique benches which have been left intact around the edges of the very large marble-floored hall.  

Confident that the policeman did not deem to evict me, I pulled from my bag Spring 2008 issue of Surface Design Association Journal which I’d been given at the SDA lecture I had attended earlier in the evening.  I began turning the pages, enjoying myself thoroughly and feeling very lucky indeed to have garnered a comfortable spot for my, by now, 45 minute wait for the 10:05 train departure…when suddenly, with a start and accompanying goosebumps, I realized that I was looking at a photograph of the very same room in which I found myself presently sitting….the main waiting room of the Grand Central Terminal!  The journal issue focused on floor art and the photo showed a carpet installation by Rudolf Stingel, “Plan B,” in July 2004 – blue and pink cabbage roses adorned and obscured the original antique marble floor.   

I hastened to get my pocket camera out and took a shot of the magazine against the backdrop of the huge hall so I could keep this moment for posterity.  There is no way to calculate the odds of this kind of experience and I am still in awe of the coincidence, a singular experience, indeed.

This is HUGE for me!  Another milestone in my artistic career…..

My work, OH SAY CAN YOU CELL, has been awarded the FOUNDER’S AWARD in the INFINITY ART GALLERY on-line exhibit entitled ‘LAY OF THE LAND.’  

This is an impeccably designed and executed general art venue gallery which holds open calls for work from artists in all mediums.  The award is a ‘portfolio’ on their site valued at $200.  This is exposure on the internet that can lead to bigger and better opportunities.  I am honored and privileged to have my work recognized in this way.   THANK YOU, Infinity Art Gallery!