Virginia A. Spiegel

Foto/Fiber 2012 opens in just a week. Now you can go ahead and start making your wish lists!  All of the beautiful and inspiring Foto/Fiber photos (a very limited edition of three each of 30) by Karen Stiehl Osborn, Cynthia Wenslow and myself are now available for your preview here.

When you are thinking about Foto/Fiber, think ahead to upcoming gift-giving events (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays).  No one will know if you keep your Fiber BONUS for yourself and gift the photo.  Each photo will have a sticker on the back of its clear envelope indicating its purchase supported the American Cancer Society.

We did choose a lot of nature photos, but you will also find photos of an old truck, a beautiful handmade pot, a coffee mug and spoon, and other objects we found interesting and textural.

Journey by Virginia A. Spiegel

There is also a link on the photo pages to the DIRECTIONS for Foto/Fiber 2012.  Three things of note about the directions:

1.  I’m really not a bossy boots (OK, maybe a little), but fundraising for the last seven years has taught me that organization is the key to a fun fundraiser.  Please read through the directions NOW and shoot me an e-mail if you have any questions or if you want to make sure your e-mail doesn’t go in my junk mail file on February 15 or 16.

Morning Flight by Karen Stiehl Osborn

2.  Notice that the direction page includes, about one million times, directions for WHEN Foto/Fiber is open. Not today!  Wednesday, February 15 at 10 a.m. Central is when the gate opens. There is only one place to donate on February 15 and 16 and only one button to click to donate directly to the American Cancer Society. All donations are made by credit card directly to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause/Forest Lake Relay For Life. It’s easy-peasy really, but don’t be shy about asking questions now.

Waiting by Virginia A. Spiegel

3.  Our goal is $7000 to add to the $215,000 we have already donated directly to the American Cancer Society.  We have several drawings for fiber artwork that I hope will encourage you to donate a bit more than the requested minimum if you are able, but also some drawings that are open to all patrons.  Be sure to check out the artwork and the requirements to participate for each of the Fiber Art DRAWINGS before making your donation plans.

See you next Wednesday, February 15, and thank you for your support of this fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

 Léonie Hartley-Hoover has taken a thematic approach for her Fiber BONUSES for Foto/Fiber 2012.  The BONUS detail below is from Ocean View and includes beautiful batiks and hand-dyed fabric, hand-dyed thread, one medium and one large quality ocean-themed lampwork bead ($30 value) and more.  Read more about this BONUS on Léonie’s blog.

Léonie’s second Fiber BONUS is Raz-Ma-Taz.  It includes batiks and hand dyes, wool roving, silk sari ribblon, overdyed cotton flow, and a lampwork bead (valued at $30) by German artist Karen Hruza. More details here.

Léonie has also created an artwork specifically for the drawings to be held among the 90 Patrons of Foto/Fiber 2012.  Love You to the Moon and Back is 9 inches x 9 inches and shown below. It is a hand-beaded art quilt on silk base. The focal face bead is by  Kristie Brigham, Lancaster, PA.  The haiku in lower right corner:
Remembering you… The fireflies of this marsh Seem like sparks That rise From my body’s longing. Izumi Shikibu

See more details from this artwork here.

All patrons of Foto/Fiber 2012 are eligible to win this artwork. You will be entered once for each Photo/Bonus for which you donate.

Foto/Fiber 2012 opens on February 15.  Information about the photos, the fiber, and all the drawings is here.

 Gail Myrhorodsky

Gail Myrhorodsky creates unique hand-painted art cloth in wonderfully saturated colors as well as fiber art using her own fabric. Creating art fabric is a very time consuming process as the fabric is first washed and prepped for dyeing and then individually painted.  After dye or paint has set, all fabrics are rinsed thoroughly (some over 10 times) to remove excess dyes. Then all the fabric is washed in very hot water and Synthropol, and rinsed several more times. Many of the bright and darkly intense pieces undergo a hot wash with Retayne as well, which helps prevent bleeding. Then they are dried in a hot dryer and steam pressed. Gail’s silk and cotton fabrics are available for purchase through her GailForces studio as well as at quilt events.

1.  How do you find/make time to be in your studio?

After work, dinner and clean-up, it’s time for my art. No questions asked. Even if it’s only for an hour, I make the time to do something I love.

2.  Describe your studio in five words.
Way too small for stash!

3.  If you could pick only one thing from your studio to represent your art practice, what would it be?
Organization – or lack of it thereof. My studio is actually the upstairs apartment of our 2-family home. The fabric room (bedroom) is overflowing with my hand-dyed fabrics. The kitchen has the storage of all the paints, stamps, stencils, bleaching agents and all theother tools for surface design except dyeing.  The dining room is my work space – several “my height” cutting/work tables, my sewing machine, serger and embellisher, iron and design wall. When any of these rooms starts to overflow, it’s time to re-organize.  One cannot create if one cannot find the supplies!

Gail is donating three fiber-licious BONUSES to Foto/Fiber 2012.
All three start with a fat quarter of hand-dyed cotton and then Gail is choosing coordinating items from among this list:
Coordinating dyed cotton, yarns, dyed threads and dyed cheesecloth andcotton batt, personally made clay embellishment, beads, dyed vintage doily, dyed silk and wool fibers, yarns, dyed threads, a super inchie, fun foam sculpted, embellishment, glue on petal jewels, sample of Misty Fuse, fat quarter hand-dyed and stamped, stenciled and painted,, metallic netting (gold & black), Angelina, beads, and more.

4. What is the best/worst space you have ever had as a studio?
My worst was a bookcase-separated corner of a living room. The best is my current setup – an apartment with plenty of storage shelves and cabinets.

5.  What would make a “dream studio” for you?
I would love a studio on the first floor with lots of windows and about 3 times the floor space. I could also use some extra space to store and use my spinning wheel.

6.  What would you advise someone setting up a studio for the first time?
I would advise to plan carefully for the work space for the type of work you enjoy doing. Have plenty of storage and as much “spread out” floor space as you can manage.

7.  Any unique features/studio pets you would like to share?
It’s not unique, but one of the smartest things I did was raise the main work table to my height so I don’t have to lean over all the time.I’m 5’8″, which isn’t all that tall anymore, but raising the table has saved me lots of pain.  I’m a pretty functional/practical kind of person, so Ialways think of the usefulness of my work tools before aesthetics.

Karen Musgrave

Karen Musgrave is a quiltmaker, mask maker, teacher, speaker, writer, publicist and curator who works to provide a connection between American quiltmaking and other cultures. Her work has been exhibited internationally and is in many private collections. Her projects include curating an exhibition of the African American quilts from Gee’s Bend, Alabama, alongside quilts from the Republics of Georgia, Armenia and Kazakhstan. In 2006, she organized, curated,and wrote the catalogue for an exhibition of American art quilts and Krygyz patchwork.  Since July 2008, she has lead the quilt group Las puntadas del alma at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago. She served on the national board of the Alliance for American Quilts as development chair, was involved for more than ten years with its oral history project Quilters’ S.O.S. – Save Our Stories and curated their highly successful quilt contest and touring exhibit Put a Roof Over Our Head. She served on the board of the Kentucky Quilt Project, Inc. and was elected to the board of the Naperville Art League in June, 2010.

Karen is donating three Fiber BONUSES to Foto/Fiber 2012.  One which includes three 1/4 yard pieces of silk made in the Soviet Union, purchased in Osh, Kyrgyzstan, and an ATC,  ”Memories of Kyrgyzstan” can be seen here on Karen’s blog.

1.  How do you find/make time to be in your studio?
I have always believed that time is a created thing. We do what we think is important. I am fortunate that I no longer have to “make/find” time to be in my studio. It’s simply something I do everyday.

2.  Describe your studio in five words.

Stimulating, messy, memory-filled, packed, fun.

3.  If you could pick only one thing from your studio to represent your art practice, what would it be?  

I think it would have to be my female Buddha mask. It shows my commitment to women, my interest in other cultures, my love of texture and applique and embracing fun!

4. What is the best/worst space you have ever had as a studio? 

In the basement of my first house, on a small table between the washer and dryer. Fortunately, the one light bulb in the place was over the table! I remain amazed at much much I got done. I worked in between loads of laundry.

5.  What would make a “dream studio” for you?
A space surrounded by nature.

6.  What would you advise someone setting up a studio for the first time?

Don’t worry about having all the bells and whistles. There is no right or wrong way. Just what works for you. Play attention to how you work so you can figure out how to facilitate the best environment for you. Think zones.

7.  Any unique features/studio pets you would like to share? 

My chocolate lab Meg was the best feature in my studio for more than ten years. She loved fabric! She would dig around in my scrap bin, find a piece she liked and carry it around. When the doorbell would ring, she would run into my studio, grab a piece of fabric and give it to the person who walked in. It always made people smile. Unfortunately, she died of liver cancer. My black cat E.G. does not like her picture taken (must take after me). When she sees the camera, she runs the other way!

8.  Any new exhibits or projects we should know about?

My book, Quilts in the Attic: Uncovering the Hidden Stories of the Quilts We Love, (Voyageur Press) is out.  I will be teaching at the Abruzzo School of Creative Art in Italy from August 22-29th.

Suzanne Silk

 I welcome Suzanne Silk as one of the new artists of the Fiberart For A Cause family.  Suzanne is a surface designer, fiber-artist, photographer, print-maker, and painter.  Visit her website by clicking on her name above to be immersed in the beauty of silk transformed by the human hand.

Suzanne shared the following about her studio:

I created my “dream” studio as a live/work space. The main room is designed with custom cabinetry across one-wall, affording me the best possible answer for contemporary loft living + art-making, as well as for my private clients appointments. At the far side is a digital work station + office area which serves all my needs.

The brilliance of light for night + day work was paramount to me, as was the availability of great storage space. I use a variety of mediums in mixed-media surface design, such as: Hot wax-resist for the “Rozome”, textile dyes (reactive + acid dyes), pigment paints for silkscreening + devore and much more. I make my own silk-screens + these are housed vertically under an 18 foot padded “print-table top”. Metallic foils are ironed on as a final touch to each piece, as is machine quilting if desired. Behind “closed doors” reveals a specially designed space for my Koala sewing cabinet. It houses 2 Bernina machines + rolls out for additional surface. One never has enough surfaces to spread-out on!

Suzanne’s BONUS is going to be amazing.  Here are three photos of detail from her multi-layered surface design work on silk:

**Share the news about Foto/Fiber 2012, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, and be entered to win a copy of Cate Prato’s, Inside the Creative Studio, or a $25 gift certificate to Fiber On A Whim, or a pack each of TAP and ExtravOrganza, also from Fiber On A Whim.