Summertime Music

I do not know where the summer is going, time seems to be flying by.  I have been loving every hot moment of it, I am nowhere near ready for a change in seasons!

My brother flew out from Reno the last weekend of June, and we went to the Salt Lake Arts Festival.  It was the first time I've been in all the years I've lived here, and I'm sorry I waited so long.  We had fun walking around looking at all the vendors, and trying out the food offerings.  All of my photos are his, taken with his fancy new Fuji.

Michelle doesn't look too happy here- but I think she had a good time!

I loved the scrap metal sculptures from one vendor--

The glass garden was another high point.

The festival includes performance art, and one that we saw was unlike anything I've ever seen before.  It was an Australian group called Strange Fruit, two women and two men dressed in nineteenth century (sort of) clothing.  Their entire performance was done standing on very tall, flexible poles.  There really are no words to describe it, but it was entrancing and highly entertaining!

They interacted with each other, interacted with the audience, and told a bit of a story to a variety of music.  The entire time, they were swinging back and forth on those poles.  Judging from some of the contortions I saw, they all have incredible core strength!  

The setting was also an amazing backdrop to their performance.  That blue sky and the lines of the library building just added to the ambience.  By the time it was over, I had a crick in my neck from looking up, but it was worth it.

The highlight of the evening, however, was a performance by Angelique Kidjo, and African singer that I have followed for twenty years.  I love her music, and she gave an amazing performance!

She came out in full African dress, with a turban, but within a few songs had lost the turban--

She had a wonderful band from all over the world.  Most looked to be her age (fifties), but her percussionist was a young man originally from Senegal.

It was a lively and interactive performance in a small venue, the best kind.  Before her final song, she invited the audience to come on stage with her, and it was filled!  She sang one my my favorite songs, 'Tumba', while those on stage danced around her.  It was just incredible!

It was an amazing end to a fantastic day!

Fallow Time

I don't think I've gone almost two months without posting since I started blogging in 2005.  It has been a fallow time for me creatively- not only was the muse not communicating, I didn't even miss her much.  I'm hoping that is changing- I do have some significant happenings on the horizon.

A few months back I signed up for Weeks Ringle's Designing Modern Quilts class on Craftsy.  I've taken several others, but hers is heads above the rest.  It is not a project based class, but one with real meat for those who want to do their own design work.  She made one point that has really spoken to me recently- you need the space, emotionally and mentally, to design.  I just haven't felt that I have that space for the last couple of months.  I'm still trying to figure out what I need to do to regain it, but in the meantime, I'm trying to at least show up in the studio.  I have the next week off from work- it would be nice to accomplish a few things!

On the family front, we had a lovely Christmas with more family here than we've had for a number of years.  Michelle was beside herself- it was really fun experiencing Christmas through the eyes of a child again.  Here she's modeling one of her new outfits, including those cute pink cowgirl boots!

The girl does like her bling!!

I did do a little bit of dyeing a few weeks ago.  When we got our first big snow storm, I couldn't resist doing some snow dyeing.  Instead of starting with white fabric, I decided to try overdyeing some dogs.  I was really happy with the results- I like them much better than other fabric I've dyed this way.  It also helped me get rid of most of the dyes I've had sitting in my small frig since early last fall.

 

I also got a quilty Christmas present- a small sewing/embroidery machine.  It is nice and lightweight, perfect for sewing on the road.  And the embroidery module looks like it will be a lot of fun!

 

It fits nicely where my serger sits- so I will just swap them out, depending on what I'm working on.  Once I'd done some samples on the embroidery, I decided to add a design to the corner squares on Michelle's pink quilt.  For a small machine, it really does a lovely embroidery.

 

On the backing, I embroidered her name.  No question who this quilt belongs to!

 I've also started quilting my Tangled Textiles piece, hopefully I will get it done tomorrow.  The reveal on those pieces will be in January- so no pictures until then.

On another front, my art quilt group will be part of a show at the Woodbury Art Museum, opening January 14.  The museum is connected with Utah Valley University, although not located on campus.  It will be up until early March, and I'm excited to have a chance to show some of my work closer to home.  If you are in the area, come take a look!

 

2014 is looking to be a year full of changes for us.  We should be empty nesters by summer- Shannon has been accepted into a nursing program in Grand Junction, Colorado, and will be moving by April. She's already started the process to get her massage therapy license in Colorado so she can make the move.  Sean is in the last two months of his degree program.  He has no idea where they could land, but we are all hoping he gets a job in his new field shortly after graduation.  Change is definitely in the air!

 

It's Snowing . . . and Dyeing

Our storm, however, wouldn't hold a candle to the Nor'easter that's pounding the east coast.  It's supposed to snow overnight, but I don't think we're going to get more than a couple of inches.  I decided I couldn't wait for the new stuff, so I found some old, icy snow that was clean enough to use.  So this will probably be more like doing ice dyeing than snow dyeing.

After all my experiments with the grays, I needed some color.  Liza Anne brought some gorgeous snow dyes she'd done to the last meeting of the Utah county art quilt group I belong, and they were all about color.  She had one emerald green piece that was stunning.  So we'll see what I get with these.

 Sabrecon red and gold yellow- I think on a couple of Pimatex fat quarters.

 Cerulean blue, and a green made with the same blue and lemon yellow, on Radiance.  That's the luscious fabric that is silk on one side, cotton on the other.  Can't wait to see how this one turns out!

Bamboo/cotton fabric with bright blue and Sabrecon red dyes.  I haven't dyed a lot of that fabric, but when I have, it has been gorgeous.

 A yard or so of Pimatex, with Cerulean blue and lemon yellow.  I swirled this one before I put it in the container, we'll see what effect that has.

A couple of rectangular silk scarves, with Sabrecon yellow and fuschia.

The Sabrecon dyes were gifted to me several years ago- from what I was told, they could be as much as ten years old now.  I figured this was as good a time as any to use them up.

I'm going to throw a couple of pieces of unknown cotton on the bottom of a couple of the bins, just to see what happens.  The bins are all covered in plastic, sitting in my cool studio.  So now we wait.  I figure it will be at least Monday before everything is melted.

I had another lovely surprise related to 'Walk in the Woods', which I entered into the Weaver's Guild show in Salt Lake and had the thrill of winning an award.  I subscribe to an online arts magazine (15 Bytes) that covers the arts in Utah. They have an article on the show in the current issue- imagine my surprise to read a mention of my piece!  They didn't include it in the photo gallery, but it was nice to get a mention.  Hopefully this link will take you to the article- for whatever reason, Blogger does not want to cooperate!
http://artistsofutah.org/15bytes/13feb/page6.html

And, I have the trees section of the second in the series about half quilted.  I am happy with how it is coming along, and already thinking ahead to the next step- the machine embroidery.  I'm thinking of using a heavier thread than I used on the first one- but I'd have to find the thread, and do some samples!

A busy week at work, then the last long weekend of the winter arrives.  I'm hoping to make lots more progress on the trees quilt, and have some gorgeous hand dyes to show off!

I'm linking this to Nina Marie's Off the Wall Friday post- make sure to go over there and see what all the other artists have been up to!

Inspiration

seems to be coming and going with me lately.  I don't know whether it is our off again, on again spring weather or what.  We've gone from the gorgeous warm days I blogged about before to cold, wet, dreary, gray, and in the 40's.  I wish we could have some spring, not just go from this kind of weather to 90 degrees and summer!

My surface design group has a gallery show beginning this week- I don't have anything in it.  Just couldn't seem to get up to motivation or inspiration to come up with anything I thought was good enough.  I did help hang the show yesterday, and it looks like it will be a good one.  It is the same gallery we've shown in before, but he's moved and is now located pretty close to downtown Salt Lake.  I hope the members get some sales!  Anyway, if you happen to find yourself in Salt Lake in late April or May, here's the show postcard.

I decided I wanted to make myself a summer tee from hand dyed fabric, so I cut off a length of the cotton lycra I got when I was in Reno a year ago.  I dyed it the same colors as this scarf, hoping for a similar result.

It didn't work. At all.  So I overdyed it with the blue dye, and liked it even less.  Too blue, too dark.  No problem, I figured- discharge it!  So it went in a Thiox bath, and after that a Rit color remover bath.  That made it even worse.  The red and left, and it was a flat, grayed shade of blue.  What made it even more frustrating was watching the fabric in the bath.  It would turn a lovely shade of yellow, but as soon as I took it out of the bath, it would oxidize and turn back to the blue.  GGrrrrrrrr!!

After posting to a dyeing group I belong to, I decided I had nothing to lose by dunking it in bleach.  I thought I'd gotten something I would like when it turned a lovely shade of pale grayed lavender.  I want to print on it, so I soaked it in soda ash- and it turned blue again!!!  After it dried, though, I decided I could live with the pale robin's egg blue it has become.  I have it laid out on my table, wrinkled and ready to print.  I'm not sure what color I'll use for that.

I'm going to try something I saw in a DVD workshop I downloaded from Quilting Arts recently, and to do it I will need to steal the trash bag from the shredder.  Don't think they will mind!

And, I finally got around to mounting one of my Tangled Textiles pieces.  I painted a canvas, and sewed the fiber piece to the canvas.  Not easy on the hands, but doable.  I'm really happy with how it looks.  I learned for future reference that painting with a brush is a pain unless you want brush strokes, which I didn't.  So I ended up doing it with a simple little foam roller.

I think the dark border adds just the right touch of definition to this piece.  What's even better, it will be easier to hang this way.

I'm trying to get moving on the next TT piece, which needs to be done in May.  I have some ideas, and hope they might even morph into something larger.  Here's hoping for both energy and inspiration!

An Art Date

I decided I needed some mental health time, so I took off Thursday afternoon.  Shannon and I went to a Korean restaurant for lunch, a place I'd been once before.  Korean food bears no resemblance to any other Asian cuisine I've had.  And, all the jokes on MASH notwithstanding- we both agreed, we liked the kim chee, it is tons better than German sauerkraut.

After lunch, we headed over to the BYU Museum of Art.  Every once in awhile they have an extraordinary exhibit, and this was one- Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Art of Islamic Culture.

This exhibit pulls together items from all over the world, and ranging from a few twentieth century works to some pottery and metal items that were over one thousand years old.  There was fiber, pottery, metal, mosaics- it was amazing.

We watched a short video at the entrance to the exhibit.  One of the concepts that I found most intriguing was the idea of pattern within pattern, image within image.  The idea of  multiple layers is integral to Islamic art- multiple layers of images, and multiple layers of meaning.  The work also tends toward the ornate, and for my taste, a little bit goes a long way  But is was all undeniably beautiful.

There were sayings from the Koran painted on the walls throughout the exhibit.  I was fascinated by the 99 ways to name God.  Many of the verses saddened me, leaving me to wonder how some segments of modern day Islam have come from the beauty expressed in the sayings in the museum to the radical views that our politicians seem so focused on.

I have completed the pattern quilting on 'Grace', and it's clear to me I still have work to do.  The flowing lines should be the center of attention on the quilt, and now they seem sort of lost.  So I am going to add more thread to them, to try to add highlights and shadows.  I will probably also try adding color with some Shiva paintstiks, if I can get colors I like with what I have.  I will definitely be making samples for this.

I'm off to made a lemon pudding cake- a lovely sounding low-fat dessert.  Hope your weekend has been a good one so far!

Springville Art Museum Quilt Show

I not only got the binding sewed on and the housework (mostly) done, I snuck out for an hour in the afternoon to see the show at the art museum. It seemed a little smaller this year- there is road construction around the museum, making it harder to get to, and it looked like they are also renovating parts of the museum itself.

There was the usual assortment of traditional quilts, some of which caught my eye- but there were also some that were not-so-traditional. And, for once, I wasn't baffled by the judging. The quilts that got ribbons deserved them, IMHO.

Kaye Evans did this vibrant New York beauty quilt. The colors just sing!



I liked this playful arrangement of squares, and her color choices. This one was done by Lucy Peterson Watkins.



Lisa Brothman, who is in my surface design group, had two quilts in the show. This one really showcases her machine quilting skills.



I'm going to have to go back to the show to get this quiltmaker's name. I loved the textural dimension added by her quilting. I had a hard time getting the colors right on some of these pictures.



Shauna Mooney Kawasaki had two pieces in the show, both playful and NOT traditional. This one is titled 'Center Stage.'



I almost missed this piece, it was hung next to the old entrance area. To say it is textural is an understatement. This was done by Kirsten Barnhill.





I also went out to the newly opened sculpture garden. The garden area was green and restful, but I had to wonder. The sculptures ranged from classic to modern, in all kinds of sizes- there didn't seem to be any sort of unifying element among them, other than they were all the same medium.



I was playing with some settings on my camera for this one, and managed to get the picture I wanted.



Here's a couple of the modern pieces.





While I like the concept of art in the outdoors, the overall execution of this idea just left me cold.

I'm off to church this morning, then hopefully will get the studio cleaned up and the gifts ready to box and ship. Hope your weekend was a creative one!

Moab Art Show

We were at the park before they were officially open this morning- believe it or not, this is the same park we were at in April for the car show!



There was live music all day- here's a bluegrass band that started the festivities off. There were painters, photographers, pottery, and my favorite- all the jewelry. We walked through the whole show before I chose a couple of earrings at one place, and a necklace and earrings at a second. Love them both.

There were a couple of fiber artists. One was mostly wool yarn, felting- some nice stuff. This one caught my eye- she dyed a lot of hats, scarves, and sarongs.



Later in the day, we watched a local drumming group, Taiku Dan. They had both students performers, and adult. I thoroughly enjoyed them.



And, as you can see, the young boy in front of the stage, felt the same as me. He played along with them with his own set of sticks!

After we left the art show, we went and had a late lunch/early dinner at the Moab Brewery. When we came out, the sky was an incredible shade of dark indigo. It was awesome against the red rocks!



We headed home, and watched it roll in against the rim. We saw some incredible lightning strikes on the way.



A little later, it rained hard for all of about ten minutes. All in all, a lovely end to a lovely day. Tomorrow, breakfast at the Jailhouse Cafe!

Back in the Red Rocks

Shannon and I are in Moab for the weekend- it's the annual art show, so it's a good excuse to make the trip again. NOT at night, thank you- we left this morning and got here before lunch.

It looks like it will be a coolish weekend, with some chance of rain. So I hope the artists all have good, sturdy tents. There's the usual assortment of painters, clay artists, photographers, metal workers- and a couple of fiber artists, and one who does dyeing. And, there is an exhibit of art quilts at the museum. So, hopefully I will have plenty of pictures tomorrow.

Hope your weekend is a nice, art-filled one!

Patrick Moore Gallery show opening!

All I can say is WOW- art openings in Salt Lake are a whole different animal than in Provo! We had great crowds, and the show looked fantastic! Polly and her assistants in the Surface Design group did a great job putting it all together.

This is the first room you see when you enter the gallery. Sidney, from my WAQ group, is signing the guest book. Out of the Blue (formerly known as Blue Tsunami) is hanging next to Jalaine's Bumps. Jalaine is also one of the WAQ group.



Here's the room with the food. The photo is fuzzy, but Jan Tolman did the small tree batik; below is is a piece by Patti Pitts. Chris Bramhall did the felted piece in the big frame, and the fiesta colored piece is also by Jalaine Taylor.



Here's a piece in the small room next to the 'food' room. Unfortunately, I can't remember who did it!



This is the largest room. I could not believe how well the fiber and clay pieces worked together!



The Best of Show piece is just to the left of the red outfit on the mannequin. It's Canopy, by Robyn Moriarty Kruppa- she's also part of our WAQ group!

Another WAQ member, Kathleen Deneris, had this piece haning opposite Robyn's. There is no way my photo can do it justice,you have to be close to appreciate this piece.



Sorry the picture is so fuzzy- this is hanging opposite Out of the Blue, in the first room. Patti Pitts did the yellow piece on the left, and Susan Madden did the tree quilt. Love the colors on both of them!



It was a wonderful evening, exciting and inspiring.

Now I am off to do the washouts on yesterdays dyepots, before I head off to Sunflower and Costco to grab some groceries. Results of the dyeing will be posted later!