Virginia A. Spiegel

A Sense of Place II, curated by Peg Keeney, is an invitational exhibit for artists working in a series with landscape as their inspiration.  Three artworks are required and they must be vertical in orientation.  That’s always a tough one for me as I love the horizontal, due to, I believe, the Midwestern horizon line.

I knew I needed to choose as inspiration something that in itself was vertical in nature.  Of course, inspiration would come from the Boundary Waters and the three artworks would be Boundary Waters 45 – 47.

I chose for inspiration a photo of the cliffs in the Boundary Waters with Fall color beginning to show (photo above) and laid it next to my sewing machine on hand-dyed cheesecloth and silk in greens and oranges.

I then pulled from my seemingly endless storehouse of scraps and pieces this palette of green, blue-green, orange and brown.

This is one of the three works in progress.  I cropped it to not show the background, so the VERY irregular edges do not show.  I’m going for organic and the pieces are not flat, not square, and pretty darn exuberant.  I’ll be sharing more after I finish them up.

Blue

The robins have been having a time of it this year in my yard.  There are plenty of trees about the neighborhood, but the competition with blackbirds is fierce.  This nest seems pretty cleverly placed in a pine tree.  The problem is that the tree is only about two feet tall.  The robins seemed to have figured out this wasn’t optimal and abandoned the nest.  

There were four eggs, but something already took one.  I hope it is not the same pair that is now nesting underneath our deck stair landing.  If so, at least they moved up a foot or two.  

Nature Note:  A male hummingbird came on Mother’s Day and has stayed.  The problem is an orchard oriole has lost interest in the oranges I put out and brushes the hummingbird off the feeder.  Add an oriole feeder to the shopping list.

A new group to promote the fiber arts, Fiber Art Alliance, now has its website up.  I am happy to be an invited member of this group that includes ten artists. 

Our first exhibit, Natural Lines, will have three pieces by each artist created this year.  The first part of the exhibit is up here.

Of course, I am continuing in the Boundary Waters series for this exhibit.  

Boundary Waters 42

Materials include white cotton fabric, acrylic paint, artist’s photos inkjet printed on silk organza, ink, colored pencil, graphite, foil, embroidery floss, rayon thread. 

Boundary Waters 42 – Detail

This is the pink/orange work (I actually have the two additional works for the exhibit done) that I spoke of earlier.  I am still following the thread of thought that the power of the Boundary Waters includes the ability to make us, as tiny humans, think about the brevity of our own lives versus the eternalness (I do hope) of Nature.  We glimpse just a moment of what is an ever-changing landscape built up and worn down over eons of time.

My niece, Jenny, and my Dad three years ago at our Relay For Life.  My Dad, a colon cancer survivor, is STILL HERE!

Yesterday closed out Collage Mania, our three-day art extravaganza.  Thanks to generous fiber artists and their patrons, we raised over $18,000 in just three days. All of the acquired collages will remain up as a resource for the artistic community.

Our grand total for just over four years of fundraising is now MORE THAN $190,000 donated to the American Cancer Society.  We have proven the ability of fiber artists and their patrons to really make a difference and raise significant amounts for a good cause.  

We have made a very effective and creative fundraising team; I thank each of you for your generosity and support. Special thanks go to our Honorary Chair, Karey Bresenhan, a mentor for life and fundraising. And Collage Mania wouldn’t have happened this year without Karen Stiehl Osborn stepping forward and donating her time and effort. 

This was the last of the big Fiberart For A Cause fundraisers as I return to my studio after more than four years of fundraising.  FFAC will still be quietly raising funds for the ACS with my eBook, the FFAC store, and smaller fundraising events organized by supporters of FFAC.

I will be taking a little break from fundraising and the computer this summer  Time to enjoy the great outdoors and, yes, my studio. I hope you do the same!

Cat sleeping in a flower by Fiona Liberatore
In memory of my gramma, Dorothy Carter, and my grandad, Gino Liberatore

Last day! We have already raised more than $17,000 for the American Cancer Society. That’s pretty darn amazing for two days – thank you uber-generous patrons!   We have today until 5 p.m. CDT to reach our admittedly crazy goal of $20,000.

Journey Life by Virginia Cole
Survivor thankful to ACS, who helped me 25 years ago.

We still have over 100 great fiberart collages donated from around the world by generous artists. The minimum donation continues at $40 today.  So go forth and do some art shopping for a good cause today!  

Celebrate by Linda Frost

Being Blue by Marion Barnett
In honour of my friend, Lynn Bunis 
 

The Raven by Pat Dolan

Wretch by Patty VanHuis-Cox
In honor of my dad.