30 January 2014

Inspiration lies in the deserts of California

After a wonderful week of classes at Road to California, I joined my hubby for a trek across Southern California. My last class was a super fun day of painting fabric with Mickey Lawler, so where else does one dry their freshly painted fabric but at Joshua Tree National Park.
Our rented Escape Camper Van gets a lot of second looks and even more thumbs up! I feel like I am living the '70’s all over again! 
This photo of a breathtaking sunset was taken over the Anza-Borrego desert and will be fodder for even more painted fabric!

25 January 2014

“In the Dark of Winter Fibrearts Exhibition” - Anne Robinson, Big Interval, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Anne Robinson has several pieces in the the following exhibition:

“In the Dark of Winter Fibrearts Exhibition"

J. Franklin Wright Gallery

Civic Centre, Port Hawksbury , NS

Jan. 27- March 14, 2014


Quilting, weaving, felting, rug hooking, knitting, spinning, and needlework 
                 www.phcivic.com/ Click on J. Franklin Wright Fibre Exhibit

20 January 2014

Our Journey to Houston - Fiona Oxford, Waverly, Nova Scotia

Fiona Oxford travelled this fall to the International Quilt festival in Houston, Texas and spent some hours volunteering in the SAQA  booth. She tells us about her exciting trip..

Our Journey to the International Quilt Festival, Houston

Along with members from Mayflower and Mariners quilting guilds, I ventured off to Houston 2013.

I thought it a great time to go since a local Nova Scotian quilter by the name of Christina Belding had her "Jewelled Diamonds" quilt chosen as the signature quilt for Houston. Congratulations to Christina! Her quilt was everywhere, from show pins to bags, and it was beautifully presented. It also looked great hanging in the Show Room!
A number of us took classes, shopped at the merchant mall (too much fun!!) and took day excursions to Galveston and San Antonio.



On one of the days I was able to work at the SAQA booth selling books and answering questions about the SAQA show. The quilts displayed were under the categories "People and Portraits" and "Text Messages”. No photos were allowed, so the only one I have is of the front of the booth where you could purchase SAQA books, thread and sign up for membership. They were also selling 12x12 art quilts for $250.00 to help raise money for SAQA and they were selling like hot cakes!
The show was excellent and I met Martha Sielman who is the executive director of SAQA and a very nice lady as well! I was really inspired by the wonderful quilts and feel strongly that the art quilt is a wonderful form of expression. I hope this year I will try make a 12 x 12 quilt per month.

Happy Quilting to all and all the best for 2014.
Fiona Oxford

17 January 2014

Member Profile - Heidi Wulfraat, Lakeburn, New Brunswick

We would like to welcome Heidi Wulfraat, our newest member of SAQA Atlantic! We asked Heidi to introduce herself, so in her words...

For me, coming to work in fibre arts has been a happy marriage of my academic studies in Animal sciences and my early exposure to visual arts.

I grew up roaming the great expanse that was my father’s photography studio. His business occupied the basement level of a huge brick building on Monkland Avenue in Montreal. While my father staged backdrops, lighting and composition, my mother helped with administrative details in the office. Quite literally, I spent all of my preschool days absorbing the open space, the creative air and the entrepreneurial work ethic that played out in front of me.

Home was on the West Island of Montreal, seemingly far from the fast paced inner core. The then rural edge of suburbia provided the great outdoors, gardens and animals, animals, animals. Cats always, dogs often, a never-ending parade of orphaned birds, as well as rabbits, frogs, salamanders, and so on.

Textiles were prevalent as well. With a European heritage, my brothers, my sister and I were all trained in needle tapestry. All the while my live-in grandmother was occupied in the creation of extraordinary embroidery work from which she had once made a living, providing for herself and her children upon arrival in Canada.

This was the formative mix that eventually led to London-Wul Fibre Arts. Fibre production allowed to me to raise animals in a no-kill, no-sell environment, fed my appetite for textiles and provided me the opportunity to once again spend my days in a studio. My studio!

I have worked in hand dyeing, spinning, felting, and knitting for many years. I have doodled and sketched and painted always. More recently, I have been drawn to quilting in quest of a more graphic textile medium. Without background, I leapt into quilting via the City and Guilds of London under the tutelage of Laura Kemshall. This was a singular experience for me, a new path. 

At present much of my quilted work is experimental. All incorporates very personal elements, some evident and others more elusive. 

My life and work are guided by nature.
“Escape” - Hand drawing as well as photo transfer. Hand and machine stitching.

“Factory Girls” - Image transfer, piecing, applique, machine stitching
                                     “Carnival” - Whole cloth, hand painted, applique, free motion

“Carnival” - detail

13 January 2014

Reminder of an Important Opportunity for all SAQA Members

SAQA 2014 Anniversary Trunk Show
Open to all SAQA Members

Join SAQA in celebrating our 25th amazing year with your trunk show submission! This traveling exhibition asks SAQA members to create a 10" x 7" art quilt that showcases their artistic expression.

The 2014 Anniversary Trunk Show will premiere at the 2014 SAQA conference in Washington, DC, and then travel all across the United States and around the world.

A group of quilts from this exhibition will be chosen by jurors Linda Colsh and Margaret "Peg" Keeney to become a permanent part of the collection of the National Quilt Museum in Paducah, Kentucky.

Submissions for the 2014 Anniversary Trunk Show must meet the following criteria:

*Quilted pieces must have three layers, and measure 10" high x 7" wide (25.4 x 17.8 cm) in a PORTRAIT orientation. All embellishments must fit within the 10" x 7" size. 
*SAQA will mount artwork on a 12 x 9" black backing board. 
 *Quilts could travel for up to three years. They must stay with the Trunk during the entire exhibition period. 
*Participation fee is $10 to cover cost of materials and return shipping. 
*If you wish your quilt to be for sale, please indicate its price on the entry form. 
*Due to the constraints of international travel costs, SAQA will not be insuring this exhibition. An insurance waiver is included in the form.

Quilts are due no later than Friday, January 31, 2014 to the SAQA 2014 Trunk Show Coordinator, Eileen Doughty.

Full details and link to the entry form may be found here: http://www.saqa.com/members.php?ID=2419  

 

06 January 2014

Christmas Fibre Art - Nancy Elaschuk, Moncton, New Brunswick

Sometimes Christmas gifts are wonderful pieces of fibre art from good friends..


This year I was the recipient of this beautifully stitched sketchbook cover by Nancy Elaschuk.
Using felt and fabric paint, silks and batiks, and those shiny threads I so love, she stitched feather motifs, straight lines, swirls and curls over the surface. 
How lucky can one girl get?

01 January 2014

What’s on your wall? Penny Berens, Granville Ferry, Nova Scotia


Writing a journal has never been part of my daily routine, so it was quite a surprise when two years ago I decided to start a stitched journal.
The plan was to stitch a row every day just recording the passing of time.

But it wasn’t long before I felt the need to record daily events such as the day we had my Handy Hubby’s golfing buddies and their wives round for dinner


or the day in February the redpolls returned.

After two years of daily stitching I have amassed quite a few yards of hand stitched daily life!  Recently I have been wondering if this should be my last year; but I would miss it, so it will probably continue. 

My purpose in starting was to make my art more personal and in that I have succeeded for it is certainly well entrenched in my daily routine and in my psyche.