Virginia A. Spiegel

Green
Two photographs that I took at a Coast Guard yard in Homer, Alaska have been accepted to the Eye of The Quilter exhibit to premier at International Quilt Festival – Houston.

Coordinator of the exhibit is Wilma Hart, Vice President of Corporate Projects for Quilts, Inc. Ms. Hart is herself an avid photographer and stated, “Photographs have the power to invoke a lot of feelings in their viewers— everything from unbridled joy and intense anger to sheer wonder and heartwarming poignancy.”  Of course, photos have long served as inspiration for quilters and other artists.  (Case in point:  my latest Boundary Waters photos.)

I don’t want to spoil the surprise of the photos that will be shown, but above is another photo from that same location.  I am always interested in color, in numbers, in texture. The yard was an amazing and inspiring conglomeration of buoys, chain, metal and concrete.

International Quilt Festival – Houston is October 15 – 18, 2009 at the George R. Brown Convention Center.  More information here.

Fiber Art Alliance, a new group to promote the fiber arts, has now added the second artwork from each of its ten artists for the exhibit Natural Lines.

Boundary Waters 43

My artwork is joined by that of Natalya Aikens, Jeanne Beck, Rosemary Claus-Gray, Karen J. Cooper, Jacque Davis, Becky Howdeshell, Karen Shiehl Osborn, BJ Parady, and Laura Stangel Schmidt.

All the artwork may be viewed in a slideshow with size, price and artist statement.

My first artwork for the exhibit, Boundary Waters 42, is now in the collection of Mary Wise.

These artwork are part, of course, of the ongoing Boundary Waters series. I’m very pleased with these small artworks as they are some of my Boundary Waters themes made visible: the passage of Nature’s time, the brevity of human lives, and the beauty and serenity of a unique world narrowed to tree, rock, sky, water.

Morning Song

Morning Song will be available as part of Artful Home ’s Hearts For Anna, an online fundraiser, August 12 – 16.  All funds raised will go to Anna Millea an artist who is fighting breast cancer – again. Anna has been denied insurance, having been deemed uninsurable due to her “pre-existing condition.”

Morning Song is a 7×5″ mixed-media collage.  Materials include hand-painted fabric, screenprinted upholstery fabric, painted and screenprinted paper.  It is actually an irregularly shaped art quilt and is sewn to black matboard for easy framing.

Kudos to CEO Lisa Bayne for creating this event to assist Anna.  If you missed the guidelines to participate as a donor artist, they are here.  You still have time to donate artwork before the August 7 deadline.

I would be happy to share other fiber artwork here before the big event, so do let me know if you are donating fiber artwork.

And mark your calendar for HEARTS FOR ANNA on August 12 – 16, 2009.  Artwork will be sold first-come, first-serve with all items selling for $100 on Day 1, $75 on Days 2-4 and $50 on Day 5. The first 20 donations have been posted in a nifty slideshow here where more information about the auction will also be posted soon.

Reflecting

Yes, it’s that time of year when I take a break from the computer and dash about to various family events. And, OF COURSE, make time to go to the Boundary Waters with my sister in our 17.5 foot Kevlar canoe.  

This is our thirteenth trip since 2003 and I am still excited to go and see what there is to see.  I love everything about the Boundary Waters — the solitude, the partnership with my sister, sleeping in a tent, carrying everything we need for ten days on our backs, and paddling our lovely golden canoe.  You never know if the days are going to be sunny and bright, dark and stormy, calm or windy, buggy or delightfully not.  Or all of these in one day. I’m sure I will have some photos to share when I return.

In case you need your own Boundary Water fix, some places to visit include:

How I unexpectedly came to love the Boundary Waters (even with a Kleenex for a sleeping bag and a child’s PFD) here.

Artwork:  The Boundary Waters Series 
The Portage Series 
Portage artist book

My sister and I after ten days out in September 2008 with photos of rock, wood, water.

The ultimate journal – our tent!

A wilderness “Andy Goldsworthy” photo challenge

October:  Field and Forest

The Surface Design Association Conference begins today and continues through May 31, 2009 in Kansas City, MO. The Members’ Show Surface Matters is at the Belger Arts Center. More information here.

Materials include white cotton fabric, acrylic textile paint, oil paint sticks, pigment ink, rayon thread, cotton embroidery thread, vintage polyester scarf, Lutradur, and velvet fabric.

I am generally impatient to begin and finish an artwork, but I was working on this piece while I had several other big artworks in progress.  So I added a layer a day and let it evolve organically.  You can read more about the creation of this artwork here.

It’s interesting that I unconsciously return over time to the same themes drawn from my love of the Midwestern landscape.  Here is January Fields from way back in 2003:

And this is Four O’Clock from 2004.

I was studying the work of Helen Frankenthaler at the time and wrote, “I am inspired by Frankenthaler’s work and words to capture that feeling in the sky and fields in Nebraska late in the afternoon in March when the sun is slanting down, the wind is blowing like crazy (as usual!) and we are teetering on the edge between the death of Winter and the birth of Spring.”