Virginia A. Spiegel

The premier issue of Fiber Art Now is out and features a two-page spread about Sightlines. Featured artists includes Pat Owoc, Sue Dennis, and Leni Levenson Wiener.  The Sightlines exhibit is sponsored by Studio Art Quilt Associates.

I’m always happy to see Sightlines in the news as I chose the artists for this exhibit. Fourteen artists were 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.

Sightlines is available for booking and is currently scheduled as follows:
Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, Louisiana, Dec. 2, 2011 – Feb. 25, 2012
Morris Museum, Morristown, New Jersey, April 26 – August 12, 2012
Everhart Museum, Scranton, Pennsylvania, September 27 – December 31, 2012
Grants Pass Museum of Art, Grants Pass, Oregon, May 28 – July 26, 2013

More information and the catalog (beautiful and unique) are here.

My book,  Wild at the Edges:  Inspiration from a Creative Life, is now available from Blurb books as a download for your iPad or iPhone.  And it’s only $3.99!  Preview and order here.

l downloaded Wild to Joe’s iPad and I have to say WOW. The intimacy is amazing – you can really zoom in on the photos and the essays are easy to read.  I love “real” books and couldn’t give them up, but can really see the creative applications now available to me.

I’m thinking portfolio; I’m thinking the most beautiful photos from the Boundary Waters, etc., etc.  If only I had a clone so I had time to be an artist, writer, publisher, landscape gardener, traveler, Boundary Waters explorer, and fundraiser for the ACS – all at the same time!

Boundary Waters 51
Photo by Deidre Adams

Sandra Sider has announced the artists to be included in The Studio Quilt, no. 6:  State of the Art and I’m thrilled that Boundary Waters 51 will be featured in this upcoming book.

Sider is currently serving as president of Studio Art Quilt Associates and is a well-known artist, critic, and curator.  The book will be available on Amazon.com

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.

The Blurberati at Blurb Book are in the holiday mood.  They are offering $10 off orders of $29.95 or more – codes and fine print below.  Here’s a preview of my book:

Wild at the Edges: Inspiration from a Creative Life by Virginia A. Spiegel | Make Your Own Book

USD $ coupon: CHEER
GBP £ coupon: CHEER1
EUR € coupon: CHEER2
CAD $ coupon: CHEER3
AUD $ coupon: CHEER4

* Offer valid through December 31, 2010 (11:59 p.m. local time) and is applied toward the product total only. Offer discount of US $10.00, GBP £6.00, EUR €8.00, CAD $11.00, or AUD $12.00 requires a minimum order of at least US $29.95, GBP £18.95, EUR €24.95, CAD $30.95, or AUD $35.95 shipped to one address. This offer is good for one-time use and cannot be combined with other promotional codes or used for adjustments on previous orders.

Once you are on Blurb, go ahead and search on fiber art for many books that would make great holiday gifts.