Virginia A. Spiegel

Harder Than You Think
44″ x 29″
Photos by Deidre Adams

As soon as I read the prospectus, I knew I needed to enter this exhibit. The call for the WWW exhibit at the Northfield Arts Guild stated:

The web has profoundly changed not only how we communicate, but how we process time and experience.  In the WWW exhibit, fiber and textile artists will explore how communications technology has influenced contemporary life.

I have been thinking since January about how to balance being part of a lively online artistic community with the time needed to think about and actually create art. So the two artwork accepted for WWW are all about the process of seeking that balance – an ongoing conversation with myself that finds expression in these artworks.

Harder Than You Think, detail

I started with white cotton cloth and built up, with layers and layers of screen printing, stylized columns of computer screens framing and  forming a community of sorts.  Once I had the screen structure complete, I added ink, Lithocoal, and colored pencil. It is stitched with rayon thread.  It is definitely one of those artworks that needs high res photos or personal viewing to appreciate all the detail.

I will feature the second accepted artwork, Offline, closer to the exhibit opening on July 8.

The very unique and wonderful Sightlines exhibit will be shown at International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati this week.  Based on an exhibit design by tACTile group, the exhibit features fourteen artists who each made five to eight artworks spanning ten feet. Each artist’s work includes four small linking pieces and a line runs throughout all the artwork in the exhibit. I was honored to choose the fourteen artists for Sightlines.

Whether you are going to IQF or not, I can highly recommend the catalog.  The publication of this catalog was supported by a generous donation from Herb Anhaltzer, “in memory of Mary Anhaltzer, who wanted to put art quilts on the map.”   In 1999, Mary opened “Thirteen Moons Gallery, the first and only gallery in Sante Fe (and quite possibly the country) to focus on the hot “new” medium of the art quilt.”

Each artist has a four-page spread with an image of her complete installation, detail image, artist statement, and artist bio. The artists include: Britta Ankenbauer, Regina Benson, Shelley Brenner Baird, Yael David-Cohen, Linda Colsh, Sue Dennis, Anne Helmericks-Louder, Fulvia Luciano, Wendy Lugg, Kathy Nida, Pat Owoc, Mirjam Pet-Jacobs, Jayne Willoughby Scott and Leni Levenson Wiener.

There is also a foldout section that shows the entire Sightlines exhibit in a linear format – really a fantastic addition to the catalog.

I emphasize in my curator’s statement that I didn’t want artists who conceived of the sightline as a gimmick, but rather those who would be able to subsume it under a larger philosophical statement.  The artists succeeded beyond my wildest hopes.  Check out the catalog, designed by Deidre Adams, here on the Studio Art Quilt Associates’ website or buy it at the SAQA table at International Quilt Festival.

My book will be at IQF thanks to Cathy Neri of Quilting Books Unlimited.  Quilting Books Unlimited will be in booths 727/729.  Cathy will have Wild at the Edges for a special show price of $20.  That’s less than you can buy it on Blurb and way less if you take into consideration that there is no shipping.  So stop by and see Cathy at Quilting Books Unlimited during IQF.

International Quilt Festival will be in Cincinnati April 8 – 10 with a Preview on April 7.  You can see my artwork there in three different exhibits:

1.  Boundary Waters 50
Exhibited in Creative Force, a Studio Art Quilt Associate exhibit.
Catalog available. Juror: Chunghie Lee. Funded, in part, by a $25,000 National Endowment for the Arts grant.

2. Boundary Waters 52 (Knowing)
Exhibited in Beneath the Surface.  Juried Invitational. Catalog available.

3.  Boundary Waters 21 (From the Collection of Carol J. Moore)
Exhibited in 500 Art Quilts. Book available: 500 Art Quilts.  Edited by Ray Hemachandra and Karey Bresenhan.

More news next week about art and more at IQF – Cincinnati.

International Quilt Festival – Houston
November 4-7, 2010

It’s the Olympics of the quilt world with over 50,000 people attending each year. I’m honored to have my artwork showing in these exhibits:

1. Studio Art Quilt Associates’ Creative Force 2010
Supported by a National Endowment for the Arts grant.

Boundary Waters 50
Photo by Deidre Adams
Catalog available from the SAQA Store

2. Beneath The Surface –  Juried Invitational

Boundary Waters 52 (Knowing)
Photo by Deidre Adams
Catalog available.

3. 500 Art Quilts – Featuring artwork from the book 500 Art Quilts

Boundary Waters 21 from the Collection of Carol J. Moore

4.  Eye of the Quilter:  Inspiration – A photography exhibit with the theme of reflections.

This is a sister photo to the one accepted to the exhibit.

5.  Sightlines

I happily served as juror for Sightlines and was honored to choose the fourteen artists.  Each artist was invited to create an installation of artworks featuring a sightline linking all the artwork in the exhibit.  Each artist chose her own themes and created five to eight artworks, including four 8×8″ linking pieces, covering a ten foot wide space. Perhaps the required continuous line provided provocation, both conscious and unconscious, to the artists to focus on time, personal history, and memory.

Hardcover catalog with six-page gatefold showcasing the exhibit as it will be shown is available.

Please note that Clairan Ferrano is the Managing Curator of the exhibit.  The tACTile group of Australia introduced this concept to SAQA with an exhibit entitled eyeline.

It’s not very often that you can say a catalog in the art quilt world is actually unusual, but this one is. The Sightlines’ exhibit catalog is 64 pages, hardcover, with 6-page gatefold that opens in the center showcasing the ENTIRE exhibit as it will be shown on exhibit.  The catalog was designed by Deidre Adams with all photography by Gregory Case.  The catalog is available from the Studio Art Quilt Associates’ store here.

The exhibit will be premiering at International Quilt Festival in Houston this week.  You can preview and purchase the artwork here.

The publication of this catalog was supported by a generous donation from Herb Anhaltzer, “in memory of Mary Anhaltzer, who wanted to put art quilts on the map.”   In 1999, Mary opened “Thirteen Moons Gallery, the first and only gallery in Sante Fe (and quite possibly the country) to focus on the hot “new” medium of the art quilt.”

Each artist has a four-page spread with an image of their installation, detail image, artist statement, and artist bio.   The artists include:

Britta Ankenbauer
Regina Benson
Shelley Brenner Baird
Yael David-Cohen
Linda Colsh
Sue Dennis
Anne Helmericks-Louder
Fulvia Luciano
Wendy Lugg
Kathy Nida
Pat Owoc
Mirjam Pet-Jacobs
Jayne Willoughby Scott
Leni Levenson Wiener

There is also a curator’s introduction by me, the person who was lucky enough to be chosen to invite the artists.  I emphasize in my statement that I didn’t want artists who conceived of the sightline as a gimmick, but rather those who would be able to subsume it under a larger philosophical statement.  The artists succeeded beyond my wildest hopes.

The exhibit itself is unique in that each of fourteen artists created a complete installation of five to eight artworks to fill a ten-foot space with only one inch between artworks.  Each installation is linked to the next by two eight inch squares before and after the main artworks.  All the artwork have a line, literal or implied running through them  It sounds confusing, but here is Pat Owoc’s installation: