Hanging the Show

This is the official postcard for my show that starts this Saturday. I really like how my piece is front and center. The Delaplaine has seven different galleries and each one is dedicated to an artist, at least for this month. Sometimes they have group shows; last year they had a National Juried Quilt Show, juried by Karey Bresenhan, of Quilts, Inc.

Yesterday with the assistance of three very wonderful friends, I hung the show. This is a lot of work. Thank heavens I planned the layout in advance, so there wasn't any shifting pieces around to make them fit. I had thought about how high the pieces should be hung and wondered - do they all hang with their tops at the same height, or does the height vary with the length of the quilt. While I was a Art Quilts Elements I observed that they hung the work so that eye level was at the center of the quilt and the heights of the tops varied. "Eye level" is defined by various web sites that give instructions on hanging at 58" from the floor. This is definitely not my eye level but I know I am shorter than most people. Using 58" as the midpoint for the quilt, I could figure out how high the top should be, and marked this on the quilt bag.

Once we got familiar with the process and assigned duties, the whole thing went pretty quickly. And we all agreed that it looks spectacular. I will take pictures when I go back on Saturday for the opening reception, 3-5pm. If you are in the area of Frederick, Maryland during the month of May, I hope you can take the time to see the show. And right around the Delaplaine are several antique shops and yummy eateries. You could easily spend the whole day!

Art Quilt Elements and more

This past weekend I went to the opening of Art Quilt Elements in Wayne, PA. I also attended a one day SAQA conference held in conjunction with the opening. Both were excellent.

First, the show. This is becoming one of the premier art quilt events in this country, imho. The quality of entries is reflected in what is selected for the show itself. Fifty quilts were selected from the 600 entries by the jurors Jason Pollen, Deborah Warner, and Robin Schwalb. All have eminent qualifications for their roles as jurors and spoke at the conference. They reiterated things we artists have heard numerous times: have excellent photography, make sure the detail shot relates to the whole piece (in some examples shown, the detail could have come from an entirely different piece), composition and the elements of design are critical, and so on. I could have listened to them for way more than their alloted time. The keynote speaker was Sue Benner and it is always a joy to listen to her speak. Her topic was "Building an Artist Community" and she talked about the importance of having communities, not only for your art, but for your life.

Lisa Chipetine and Sandra Sider spoke about critique and technology and the importance of networking. The last session was small group meetings with AQE artists who were present at the conference. We could learn about their careers, their creative processes, and the particular piece that was in the show. Since there were quite a few of the artists present, it was an opportunity to absorb significant amounts of information. I also was able to put faces to names I had only seen online, always an interesting exercise, since nobody ever looks like what you think they might look like. I met several people who are regular readers of this blog and who gently chastised me for neglecting it, hence this post.

There is a catalog of the show available from the AQE web site for $30 (includes tax, shipping, and handling). It is a well designed catalog and worth getting (I bought 5*) even though catalogs never do justice to the work. You just have to use your imagination to visualize the vibrant colors and beautiful textural qualities in the work.

(* Four of the catalogs are for friends, but you probably guessed that.)

The "more" part of this post involves a new publication 1000 Artisan Textiles by Sandra Salamony and Gina Brown in which I have at least one piece. I haven't received my copy yet and I've changed computers since the original email so I don't remember which piece or pieces were selected for publication. I'll just have to wait and see. It's not just quilts, it's all kinds of fiber related works and it's available from Amazon.

The second "more" part of this post is about my solo show which starts on May 1 at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center in Frederick, Maryland. My work will hang in the Kline Gallery and I plan to have between 15 and 20 works. The opening is Saturday, May 1, 3-5pm and the show extends through Sunday, May 30. Everybody is invited! Hope you can come.

Hidden Agendas ©2008

35" x 42"