Patty Hawkins' words of wisdom

Patty Hawkins' session on her artistic path was one of the break out sessions at the SAQA conference. Patty was full of energy and enthusiasm as she spoke about her "Art Odyssey". She gave some very good information as well as making us laugh, ooh and ahh.

Patty is a kind and generous woman. She gave us lots of information about how she worked. She emphasized that welcoming any newcomer to the art quilt community was important. Although she had been working in water color for 15 years, when she found art quilts, she knew that was how she wanted to work in the future. Patty said that when her work was first accepted to Quilt National and the American Craft Museum, it gave her a lot of confidence in her work.

Patty's work has been accepted into Quilt National seven times, and three times into Quilt Visions. Anyone who is that successful is full of experience and good methods!


The first thing she recommended for advice on design was to "Simplify, Exaggerate and Repeat". If you look at her work you can see exactly how she does that to make work rich in depth and feeling. She creates her fabrics using screenprinting, dye and shibori methods. Her aspen trees are repeated in different sizes, and the leaves and other elements are also simple, but repeated to great affect. The Red Tori Gates piece uses the red gate, repeated over and over in a simple, but striking composition.  Patty was inspired to make a series of quilts after her visit to Japan. She was awarded the trip when she won the Quilts Japan prize in 2006 from Quilt Visions.

Patty recommended that the artist play to a theme that you are passionate about, and listen to others suggestions. We've all heard suggestions from others and thought they weren't useful. Patty said she might not like what she hears, but she tries them out anyway, and finds her friends are often right, and the piece is improved through their feedback.

Putting lights and darks next to each other was another tip she gave, as well as adding a tiny bit of complementary color to lead the eye around the composition. Patty does fused collages, and often uses tulle over parts of them. Sometimes she sews shapes on the tulle, and then cuts some of them out, creating a negative shape.

After having an hour with Patty, I would love to take a workshop with her. She is so talented, friendly and giving. Please visit her website and enjoy her work!

Enjoying time with SAQA colleagues

The SAQA conference in Santa Fe was jam packed with information, inspiration, networking and good times. This year there were 3 break out sessions, with enough time between the sessions to network, and catch up with friends. We had a banquet with a key note speaker, a cocktail party with a silent auction, and lots of meals and laughs.

The conference is a high light of every year for me. I don't live near many SAQA members, so I don't get an intense experience on a monthly basis. Attending the conference helps me feel I'm with people who love what I love - and they also happen to be very friendly and kind to each other.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to post about some of the things I learned and/or experienced at the conference in Santa Fe. For now, I'd like to say thank you to the organizers! Here's a photo that shows some of them:

L-R Bill Reker (SAQA shipping expert), Deb Cashatt (a huge volunteer and organizer of the auction at the conference), Kris Sazaki (vice president of SAQA and a Pixelady with Deb Cashatt), Martha Sielman (executive director and writer), Sandra Sider (behind Martha and present President of SAQA), Mary Pal (special exhibitions coordinator), Leni Wiener (exhibition committee chair) and Linda Beach (board member). Desiree Vaughn isn't it the photo, but she was the main conference organizer and had everything running smoothly.

The keynote speaker for the banquet on Saturday night was Geoffrey Gorman. He was smart, knowledgable and funny. Just the right mix of quirk and sincerity. He makes wonderful animals out of found objects and has a lot of experience in the art world. Geoffrey has been an artist, artist representative and had many other roles in and out of the art world. One of the things he said that stayed with me was "Our lives are transforming all the time, and so is our work". A good reminder that we don't have to keep producing the same thing - our art can grow and change as we do.

He described himself as an aggressive marketer of his own work, and always expresses to potential collectors that he's doing the best work he's ever done. He recommended that we know our work, its premise, and our market.

Geoffrey has some video's on YouTube that give you a quick look at his work, and give a sense of his humor and perspective on life. Take a look when you get a chance - his animals are full of life.

His work is in 6 galleries around the country, including the Jane Sauer Gallery in Santa Fe. Judith Content, one of my favorite fiber artists also has an exhibit there, and spoke to us on Saturday afternoon. I'll save that for another post!

First acceptance of 2013!

I wanted to start 2013 off with lots of energy and plans so I've entered 3 exhibits in the past two months. I'm still waiting to hear from one, but did have 2 quilts accepted to the Connecticut SAQA region show "Local Color". The show will premiere on May 4, 2013 at the Western CT State University, and then travel to at least 2 other venues. I'm honored to be a part of this show because the CT region has some excellent art quilters, so I'm sure it will be a beautiful show.

Although I live in Massachusetts, Connecticut is my second region, and I try to attend a meeting at least once a year. It's a very active SAQA group with informative meetings and friendly artists.

Blowin' Glass c.2013

Blowin' Glass is one of the quilts that was accepted. It is made of fabric that I made using shibori techniques. They reminded me of blown glass and so I arranged them as if they were a still life on a table.

Blowin' Glass detail c.2013

The other piece that was accepted is "Melting", which premiered at the Taiwan International Quilt show last year. You can see it here. I'm grateful that I was invited to enter this juried show, and look forward to going to see the exhibit in May. Thanks to the organizers and the SAQA CT reps -
Kate Themel, Diane Wright and Catherine Whall Smith, for all their hard work!

Writing on fabric

Recently, there was a question on a list serve about pens or paints that will write in white on fabric. I have used a white pen on my quilt labels for the past few years and really like the contrast of white on colors. Plus, I keep having problems with my printer and fabric, so using my own writing is easier.
A follow up question to my post about the Signo white Uni-ball pen was about its water resistance. I decided to check it out, since art quilts aren't meant to be washed, and I had no idea of its water resistance.
Here are photo's of my test. The first two are the "before" washing, and the second two are "after" washing. I don't see a difference:

I went over each letter a couple of times because the fabric does soak up some of the ink. It works great on dark paper as well. It would be great if they would make it in a larger pen size.

This year's mindfulness reminder

Last year, I received the book "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin for Christmas. It was a surprisingly helpful book. I gained a few insights that were useful for being happier. Rubin has a list of things that she wants to be more mindful of, including "let it be". It sounded like a shorter version of the Serenity Prayer, which I can never remember in the right order. "Let it be" was my mindfulness mantra for the year, and was helpful.
Around New Years, I had been in a bit of a cranky mood, and realized that whenever I had a negative thought, I felt even crankier. So, I decided to use the mantra of "be generous" for this year. It's a reminder to me that when I'm having critical thoughts about someone's behavior that I need to be more generous. For example, the car in back of me is driving too closely. I might like to slam on my brakes and give them a scare, but being generous would be thinking about the fact that they might be very nervous about being late for work, a doctors appointment, picking up a sick child from school - anything that might make someone feel a bit overwhelmed.
I also hope to be more generous to myself! When I'm working in the studio and things aren't going well, instead of thinking I'm a crappy artist and should give up and do something else, I'm going to remember that everyone feels this way during the process of creating, and that it's just part of the process. And probably eat some chocolate to make myself feel better too. Having a mindfulness mantra has been helpful for me, and I recommend it. Leave me a comment if you have had one too - whether it worked, or not!

Quilts=Art=Quilts

I was thrilled to have two art quilts accepted to the very competitive Quilts=Art=Quilts at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center in Auburn, NY.  One of the pieces "Circus Time" had been exhibited in the Artist As Quiltmaker exhibit in Oberlin, Ohio, but the other piece "Going In Circles" made its premier debut at the Schweinfurth. I was really happy it was accepted because I think it is the best work I have done for awhile, and because Jan Myers-Newbury was one of the judges, and I am in awe of her work! Here's an image of Going In Circles:

c.2012 Going In Circles 32" x 38"

detail of Going In Circles

The exhibit runs from October 28 through January 6, 2013. I went for the opening - had to see my babies on the wall - and really enjoyed it. The museum does an excellent job of curating the show, and they were very gracious and welcoming to the artists at the opening.

The museum had sold a few pieces at the opening. I haven't heard if any others have sold, but that's always of interest. If you can get to the show, I highly recommend it.

You can see "Circus Time" here- February 4, 2012 post.

Ego less

Robert Genn's twice weekly letter had this quote yesterday:

 "Artists shouldn't enter competitions until they are tough enough to realize it is only opinion and not a reflection on their worth. It is equally dangerous to lull yourself into thinking you are great just because you place in a show." (Mary Moquin) 

A good reminder that we make art, not to please others, but to express ourselves. The end result should be the the expression of an idea, feeling, thought, along with an exploration of color and composition.

There are so many stories of an art work being turned down by jury after jury, and then being accepted into a prestigious show. The jury, venue and cohort are all variables we can't control. And, as they say about the lottery, you can't win if you don't enter.

Others have written about the thrill of being accepted into Quilt National, and the feeling of "is that all there is?" after the opening. I haven't entered QN, or an IQA show, but I'm feeling like it is time to make that leap. For me, putting the work out there is about 1/4 of the pleasure of creating the work. Hearing someone say they really responded to one of my works is very gratifying - I like that feeling of connection and communication. But it's the time in the studio that is most satisfying. Trying to make an idea come to life is like doing self therapy. I'm mostly talking myself through a problem, and if the result speaks to someone else on the planet than that's an extra bonus. 

Every artist's motivation to create, and exhibit, is probably a little different. If you're an artist, why do you create - and do you exhibit too? Some artists can create just for themselves, and don't need, or want to exhibit.

Robert Genn's site