Virginia A. Spiegel

The winner in the drawing for this book is Vicki. Congratulations!  Thank you to all who left comments.

Occasionally Sterling Publishing sends me a Lark Craft book about which I just have to plead ignorance.  OK, I attended a felt workshop one time and have the mat, the pipe, the bubblewrap.  But it’s not something in my every day repertoire.  But I read the book and I have some opinions, so here goes.

This is a wonderful book if you know more about felting than I do.  I can tell that the author, Catherine O’Leary, has a new concept going and is being very generous in sharing it. In brief, she “prefelts” pieces using the nuno felting technique (felting wool fibers through woven fabric) with a gentle hand until the piece barely holds together, cuts elements from these prefelts, forms another piece for felting with the prefelts and a backing, and lastly turns the entire collage into one big piece of gorgeous fabric with a final, more intense, felting.

Personally I was lost with the whole batt as backing for prefelts or for building a piece since I kept thinking, “Like a quilt batt???”  Could I just buy that and use it or ???  But those of you who have done nuno felting before will not be washed ashore on that tide of confusion and ignorance and will delight in this book.

Even I enjoyed the second chapter (there are only three plus a gallery and glossary) that takes you back to the basics of composition:  Shape, Color, Texture, Design.  The examples are visually stunning and the author isn’t afraid of color, innovation, or taking a chance. By using a variety of colorful fabrics in the nuno felting process, Catherine introduces wild colors and shapes to her pieces.  I especially enjoyed the section about repurposing and upcycling.  How clever to use button holes as design elements with prefelts or wool fiber threaded through them before the final felting.

The author shares basic shapes for the final fabric that work in wraps and tops, but I think felt clothing is one of those things that you celebrate for what it is and you either love it or not.  Because face it, gorgeous texture, great styling and yet you basically still have a square or a triangle wrapped around a non-geometric human body.

I imagine her felt work causes a stir wherever it is shown or worn.  Huge lizards, strings of fish, all-white garments – there is so much to admire and study in this book. Go for it, you lovers of felting!

The book has 127 pages and, of course, Lark Crafts usual crisp and clear photography.  It retails for $19.95, but you could find it at the usual mega-online bookstores for under $13.

I’m happy to pass this lovely book along to a felter.  Just leave a comment by November 11 and I will draw a winner.

I love it when a book crosses my desk and

1. I actually think, “Here’s something new”

followed by

2.  I need to go online and look at more of this good stuff.

The book is PUSH Stitchery:  30 Artists Explore the Boundaries of Stitched Art.  OK, call me easy, but I love books that some lovely book designer actually thought about and decided to do something a little different for the cover reflecting the contents. The front cover of this easy-to-hold book (6×9.25″) features an arrow cutout revealing some the artwork below.  So you just know the contents are going to be something different.

Go and check out the website of the curator, Jamie Chalmers, a.k.a. Mr. X Stitch.  Once you are there, scroll down, scroll down and you are sure to hit some stitching that will make you look twice.  This book does the same and you can lay on the couch and really study it. I think most fiber artists benefit from at least a small dose of OC-ness.  How I admire and marvel at the artists who make works with meaning while spending LOTS and LOTS of time building the work one stitch at a time.  From the loneliness of urban crowds to the effect of popular culture on young women, these artists aren’t afraid to look around them and express an opinion through their work.

Stitch demands closeups and this book provides. But the part I really enjoyed (face it, as I do with any book) is Mr. Stitch’s Q&A with the artists.  Revealed is how the artists themselves describe their work, their inspiration and subject matter, why they chose stitching as a medium, and many more topics that inform, rather than detract from viewing the work.

Sassy and provocative (perhaps a bit like Mr. X Stitch himself), this book’s content is matched by its lovely design.

Hardcover, with 175 pages, PUSH Stitchery retails for $19.95.  You can find it for about $13 online.  While you’re searching about, please note (as I did) that there is also PUSH Paper.

I’m categorizing this blog post under book reviews, but it’s not really.  I was asked by the University of Texas Press to do a blind review of the book proposal and was delighted upon its publication to find my Fiberart For A Cause mentioned in the book.  So in lieu of a review, please consider this a little overview of why this book is not just for Texans.

First of all, cousins Karoline (Karey) Patterson Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes bring sterling credentials to this volume with their long exposure to quilts through their Quilts, Inc. which produces the International Quilt Festivals.  They are further demonstrating their commitment to showcasing Texas quilts through the establishment of the new Texas Quilt Museum.  This is just the tip of the iceberg of their long and serious involvement with and promotion of quilts.

Lone Stars III:  A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1986 – 2011 is valuable for several reasons.  First, it continues their series surveying Texas quilts which began with Lone Stars:  A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1836 – 1936 and continued with Lone Stars II:  A Legacy of Texas Quilts, 1936 – 1986.  That’s right, Karey and Nancy have documented Texas quilts spanning 175 years.

This volume is particularly interesting because of three special features opening the volume.

First is a timeline entitled “A Quarter Century of Change.”  From the opening item (the anti-smoking campaign gaining traction) to the last (the BP oil leak), this timeline describes the social milieu from which the featured artworks sprang.

Second is an essay, “Searching for Texas Quilts in the Digital Age.” This essay notes the wide-ranging changes wrought in the methods of locating quilts and their makers, photography, and printing since the previous two volumes.

Lastly, and I believe most importantly, is the essay, “Texas Quilts:  Bridging the Millennium.”  This essay discusses succinctly, but completely, the many ways Texas quilters and those involved in the International Quilt Festival – Houston have responded to the changes in society and the environment.  Included are the role of quilts for causes, the rise of quilt organizations, the state quilt documentation projects, the growth of the art quilt and art to wear, the ranking of the Twentieth Century’s best quilts, Texas as quilt nexus, the survey Quilting in America indicating that in 2010 almost $2.6 billion was spent by quilting enthusiasts, the establishment of quilt museums throughout the U.S., the acceptance of quilts by art museums, and the virtual quilt world.  The essay clearly delineates how far quilting has come and how it has morphed since Lone Star II was published.

The heart of the book is the curated 200 quilts made by Texans or former Texans.  This was the part of the book I found most beguiling.  Karey and Nancy write in such a personal tone that each quilt and its maker really are given an opportunity to tell their story.  How often do you look at 200 quilts without your eyes glazing over?

Each quilt is given one or two pages with clear, large photos. If a detail shot is given, it is clear and up close.  Listed for each work is the year completed, size, location of maker, style of quilt, source of design, materials used, and primary techniques. A short paragraph contains information from the maker as well as pertinent comments by the authors.

I can honestly say that if you are interested in the development of quilts and the quilt world or just enjoy looking at beautiful works of art, this book is a sensible investment for your library. It is an important volume that captures much about the quilt world while providing the definitive survey of Texas quilts.

Lone Stars III is available from the usual outlets, but save 33% off the list price for either hardcover or paperback by ordering directly from the University of Texas Press here.

Venetian Fire
Fenella Davies
All photos provided by Lark Craft

I just went back and read what I had to say in my review of Masters Art Quilts, Vol. 1 and perhaps I could just say,”Ditto, buy it, buy it now.”  I won’t feel badly if you just go here and buy this second volume featuring forty artists who both pioneered and are pioneering exactly what the potential of an art quilt can be.

Martha Sielman, Executive Director of Studio Art Quilt Associates, has once again done a superb job of distilling in ten pages the who, what, and why of each of the forty artists. Sielman notes in her introduction that she tries to keep her curatorial comments concise, but artists often spoke to her of incidents in their lives that resonate in their work.

I say bring on more of those stories, Martha!  I have Leslie Gabrielse’s book, but I either whipped by it or didn’t focus on his itinerant childhood that may be reflected in the often wistful expressions of the people in his artwork.

The forty artists are from around the world with just over half from the U.S.  I was most intrigued, in general, by the work from artists not in the U.S.  But, hey, blame that on seeing works from artists such as Tim Harding, Jane Dunnewold, Elizabeth Busch, etc. covered extensively and over a number of years in the U.S.

Landscape in Gray
Shulamit Liss

Often books about art quilts veer from featuring dark artworks such as those from Shulamit Liss featuring, “A brooding palette that includes ocher, black, gray, and brown. . . .”  Well, kudos to Martha for writing that lovely sentence and knowing that although the artwork may be somewhat difficult to see in a printed format, it is work that deserves to be seen and appreciated on its own terms.  I would have loved to have seen bigger and more detail shots of almost all the artwork and darker artwork always benefits the most from this important feature.

Le Mantra III: Missing Messages
Mirjam Pet-Jacobs

As in Vol. 1, these are pure quibbles compared to the delight and edification to be found in this volume. I was intrigued by artwork by almost all the artists, but three of my favs’ artwork (Mirjam Pet-Jacobs, Pamela Fitzsimons and Finella Davies) are featured throughout this review. These artists have a very personal vision which they are rendering in cloth in new and unusual ways.

Skin/Earth
Pamela Fitzsimons

You will have your own favorites as there is such an abundance and variety of artwork.  People often misunderstand the motivation of a good juror or curator.  It is not to choose artwork that is personally appealing, but to choose artwork by an artist that clearly shows a mature and developed point of view and expresses that point of view in a way that will make the viewer pause and perhaps re-consider what they know about the world or the medium.  Martha has succeeded for an amazing second time and I look forward to Vol. 3 of this series.

“Twelve by Twelve:  The International Art Quilt Challenge” is officially available March 1 in bookstores, but it already available online here at a very good price.

Two word summary of this review:  Buy it.

I have had the book here awhile, thanks to Lark sending a preview copy, but it has taken this long to work my way through it.  That’s a good thing!  Twelve artists from around the world challenged each other every other month to create a 12×12” art quilt with a theme chosen by one of the members of the group.

Sure the whole group challenge thing has been done before, but what makes this group and their art stand out is the joy and camaraderie revealed in this book.  Each chapter features one of the twelve artworks almost full-page sized and the artist of that artwork writes the chapter.  Running along the bottom half of each page of the chapter is one of the other artworks with a short artist statement.

Either (or maybe I should say either/or) these are twelve of the best artist/writers around or they had a superlative editor in Valerie Van Arsdale Shrader.  Each chapter is unique, personal, useful, engaging, and just down right interesting. I kept being distracted by the other artworks on the bottom half of the pages until I finally worked out a system.

First I went to the back of the book and read all the artists’ biographies.  Then I read all twelve small sidebars listed in the back. The sidebars are full of useful stuff such as Demystifying the Thermofax, On Sketchbook and Journals, and Twelve Reasons to Blog.

THEN I looked at and read about all twelve art quilts for each theme and THEN finally I read the chapter by the one featured artist straight through.  That’s why I gave such a hearty thumbs-up to this book; it’s just full of interesting information and insight.

The chapter written by each featured artist clearly points out both the why and how of working in many different styles.  Some artists looked to traditional patterns, some researched word associations, and some looked to contemporary and historical issues related to the theme for inspiration.  Each chapter points out the richness and detail of the featured artwork that might have escaped our first perusal.

At first glance you might think some of the artwork is a bit traditional to be called art quilts. But it is so disarming to read the artists’ own critiques of their artworks and to see how artists progressed throughout the challenges.  I think Terri Stegmiller said it best, “A major benefit I have gained … is the drive to try and push myself beyond my normal limitations.”

I hear again and again that people just want how-to books.  I beg to differ.  I think many readers delight in insights about how fiber artists work, what their studios look like, how they came to be artists, and their joys and challenges in life and in the studio.  I felt as though I came to know each of these artists through their sharing this two-year-long online collaboration.

Visit the Twelve by Twelve artists’ group website here and their blog here for more information about the group and the twelve artists that include Deborah Boschert, Gerrie Congdon, Helen L. Conway, Kirsten Duncan, Terry Grant, Diane Perin Hock (founder of the group), Francoise Jamart, Kristin La Flamme, Karen Rips, Brenda Gael Smith, Terri Stegmiller, and Nikki Wheeler.