Virginia A. Spiegel

Artwork by Paula Coplon. *All rights reserved.*

How’s that for an unusual headline?

Brazenly Radiant Art (BRA) is a fundraiser that Fiber on a Whim in Atlanta, GA is sponsoring for It’s the Journey, Inc., a non-profit organization that raises money and awareness to fight breast cancer in Atlanta, GA.

Kristin of Fiber on a Whim sent me this photo as the first piece donated. There will also be a second mug and a bowl by Atlanta potter, Paula Coplon.

It’s the Journey sponsors the annual Atlanta 2-Day walk. Fiber on a Whim is collecting artwork of any medium that measures 5″ x 7″. The pieces can be quilted, painted, mixed media, etc. Fiber on a Whim will then place the artwork for sale online for a $40 donation to It’s the Journey.

Fiber on a Whim is collecting artwork now and the sale will begin on June 15, 2008.

More information about the sale and how to contact Fiber on a Whim about your donation of artwork is here.

You can also support Kristin, who will walk the thirty-mile, 2-day event, with a direct donation. Here is her donation page.

Fiber on a Whim, a truly fabulous resource for fiber lovers, is a long-term supporter of Fiberart For A Cause.

Front right of gas station, including my Mother and Child panel.

Jennifer Marsh is a woman with a dream, a mission and a huge installation completed.

“The goal of the International Fiber Collaborative is to provide an opportunity for people who enjoy working with fiber arts, whether professional artists, hobbyists or students, to come together from all over the world to express their concern about the worlds extreme dependency on oil. This year’s project is called the World Reclamation Art Project (W.R.A.P.).”

Front left of gas station.

The W.R.A.P. project covered an abandoned gas station in fiber panels. You can see the “naked” gas station and read more about the International Fiber Collaborative here.

You can read about my panel here. All the photos in this post were kindly sent to me by Mary Harmon. There will be a reception at the site in Syracuse, NY on May 3, 2008 from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.

As you can imagine, this project involved a great deal of expense, much of it covered by Jennifer herself. If you would like to help her defray the cost of this landmark project, visit the International Fiber Collaborative website here and scroll to the bottom of the page. Donation via credit card or Paypal are accepted.

Back of gas station.

Even the pumps were covered.

If you know me at all, you are asking, “What’s with the pearls?” Hey, I even had a manicure for my three minutes of taping for the PBS show, “QuiltingArts TV” at International Quilt Festival-Chicago on Saturday.

This photo was taken at my Open Studio table in the same area as the taping. Pokey Bolton of Quilting Arts magazine is the host and I thank her for inviting me to be part of this exciting series. Check the website for more information about when this second series of shows will begin airing.

Debbie Crane (artist, author and art teacher) and I were able to sit and talk with people at our Open Studio tables at Make It University! and then jump up and be taped. Debbie gave me the inside scoop about Arrowmont.

Julaine Loftquist Birch followed me in the taping and has many of her samples online on her blog.

Not only is it great fun to meet so many new people at the Open Studio area, but it is also a time to see some of my favorite mixed-media artists at work:

Bernie Berlin not only wrote Artist Trading Card Workshop: Create, Collect, Swap, but she also runs A Place To Bark (and Meow), a private no-kill rescue. If you visit this blog, you will know why she is one of my favorite people. Do support her work if you are able to do so. Her personal blog is here.

Lynn Krawczyk is a full-time engineer who also finds time to make art and curate Breaking Traditions art quilt exhibit each year. Read more about Lynn’s Open Studio experience on her blog.

Then and Now

I look forward to seeing you at my Open Studio in the Make It University! area sponsored by Cloth Paper Scissors magazine at International Quilt Festival-Chicago at the Donald E. Stephens Center in Rosemont, Illinois.

I will be there 10:30 - 12:30 both Friday, April 11, and Saturday, April 12.

I will have both my art books that have been featured in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine as well as Boundary Waters 26 on display.

Four artworks will also be exhibited at IQF.

Then and Now (shown above) is part of the Creative Force exhibit. Creative Force is a Studio Art Quilt Associate exhibit juried by Rebecca Stevens, Consulting Curator of Contemporary Textiles, The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.

Boundary Waters #22

Boundary Waters 21-23 are part of the Sense of Place invitational exhibit. Peg Keeney is curator of this invitational SAQA exhibit and will be giving a curator’s gallery walk at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, April 11.

The two exhibits are shown back-to-back and a double catalog is available at the SAQA booth near the exhibit or here. I will be at the SAQA booth from 4-6 p.m on Saturday.

Boundary Waters 19
18″ x102″
White cotton fabric, acrylic paint, thread.

You are invited to the ArtQuilt Elements opening reception tomorrow (Friday, April 4) from 6:00-9:00 p.m. at the Wayne Art Center, Wayne, PA.

Boundary Waters 19, part of my Boundary Waters series, was one of 68 works chosen from 708 entries by jurors Robert Shaw, BJ Adams, and Mi Kyoung Lee.

This piece was based on a photo of a “mother log” in the Boundary Waters. “Mother logs” are trees that have fallen and, in various stages of decompostition, provide organic material in which new trees sprout. It really is amazing to see a “dead” log with tiny pine trees growing from within it. Life and death intertwined.

ArtQuilts Elements, according to its organizers, presents,
“… contemporary quilts that reflect or embrace original, unique and innovative methods incorporating impressive craftsmanship and technical prowess.”

Since Breaking New Ground, the joint Studio Art Quilt Associate/Surface Design Association conference is also being held in Wayne, PA from April 5 - 9, I hope to hear numerous reports about ArtQuilt Elements as well as the many other fiber exhibits.

More information here.

Boundary Waters 19 - detail