Virginia A. Spiegel

The First Bluebonnet

Photo by Leslie Jenison

I want to start by, of course, thanking my patron saint, Karey Bresenhan (in the back in pink introducing Carol and me during Open Studio Day).

Karey  has opened her heart and her home and created a place where artists can go to create with the inspiration of nature close at hand.  This was my second residency due to Karey’s generosity and, as for the first, it came at a time when I was out of fabric, out of ideas, out-of-sorts, and looking for a new direction.  I can’t say have settled on a new direction, but I have all this gorgeous fabric to inspire me and all my great memories of this special month to carry me forward in my new adventures.  THANK YOU, KAREY!

Photo by Mary Ann Littlejohn

This is the delightful Carol Moore, my friend and fellow resident for the month.  I met Carol and her dynamo Mom, Ruth, when “Team Toronto” came to Houston for Fiberart For A Cause at the International Quilt Festival.  Her work is sensual, meticulous, and of her place.  

Carol is a fulltime psychotherapist, but one day she will be FREE to be a fulltime artist and we will all benefit by seeing more of her artwork.  The artwork she is standing in front of was juried into the upcoming International Quilt Festivals as part of the “Oh Canada” exhibit. It is created from layers and layers of sheer black fabrics – hard to photograph, but something to see in person!

The guest house where Carol Moore and I stayed is on the left.  It has all the comforts of home and is delightfully decorated.  On the right is the Artist-in-Residence studio where Carol worked.  It is famous for its floor-to-ceiling design wall.  When the sun is shining, the French doors on two sides make it into a beautiful sunroom filled with light.

This is the Creativity Center where I painted. Nirvana.  I can’t think another place I could have tackled that much fabric and had a chance of success. Thanks to Pam Kersh, Property Manager, as well as Hollis, JR, and Dora for setting it up and being so convivial throughout our stay.

Few artists have the time to actually step back and think about the big picture of their art, their place in the art world and life in general.  It is a gift to be able to do so.  I did a lot of thinking here. And wrote some pretty decent haikus.

My daily walks out on the many acres of the “Franch” are as precious to me as the fabric I created. The morning were especially beautiful and quiet. It’s not only that anything that didn’t look like snow and ice in February was a daily miracle to me, but even more that I have fallen in love with the quiet and restful beauty of this particular place.

Open Studio Day 
More than 75 guests came to enjoy Karey’s hospitality, many staying overnight.  It was a gala day with a wonderful lunch catered by one of my fav La Grange restaurants, Fishes and Loaves; tours about the property; and artists talking and sharing. Of course, Carol and I were happy to share our studio work with everyone.  The weather was beautiful, the setting bucolic, and the day a treasure.  

I thank Karey and her staff for making it all happen like magic and everyone who took the time and effort to share the day with us.

Photo by Mary Ann Littlejohn

All 48 of the 2008 Journal Quilts (juried by Jeanne Williamson and me) were displayed in the Creativity Center.  It was a special treat to see them in person and hung as a group.  Vicki Mangum, Manager of Special Exhibits, and  Terri Winsauer, Piece Corps Coordinator and IQM/IQF Volunteer/Staff Assistant Coordinator, from Quilts, Inc. came early and hung the exhibit with technical help from Pam, Hollis, and JR.  Vicki returned for the day of the party and checked everyone in.

 Of course, there were flowers everywhere for the day.  Some were even provided by Mother Nature as bluebonnets and more started to bloom about the property.

Photo by Frances Holliday Alford

Another view, during lunch, of the Journal Quilts and some of the guests. 

Photo by Jamie Fingal

Here’s another view of the party with everyone doing what they do best – talking and sharing. Judy Murrah (in the black and white striped top), Vice President of Education and Administration, as well as Kim DeCoste, Education Manager (in blue shirt at far left end of back table), and Ann Graf, Administrative Assistant, at Quilts, Inc. were all in attendance.

Those who traveled far to attend include Jamie Fingal from California, Iris Karp of New York,  Karen Stiehl Osborn from Nebraska, and Kay Sorensen from Wisconsin.  Many Texans, such as Sylvia Weir and Jeanelle McCall, drove long distances to participate.

Photo by Diane Ferguson
Could I finish my wrap-up without mentioning the cows with their cute-as-a-button calves? I thought not.

Photo by Karen Stiehl Osborn

I will close out Residency Week on my blog with this obviously happy photo.  This photo was taken by Karen Stiehl Osborn who will join me for a month-long residency in March 2010 at the Great Expectations Creativity Center.

Hey, thanks for hanging in there through three days on this topic!  Today is nothing but stacks and stacks of fabric. And believe me, this is just a sampling of the approximately 400 pieces.  Enjoy!  Tomorrow I will wrap up Residency Week with a look at some of my favorite things from this residency and the big party that was Open Studio Day.

Art is Good!

Yesterday I covered prep, the Trained Monkey stage of Layer 1, and the first ironing of the 200 yards. Jamie and Ann asked about my paint.  Here’s a previous post that’s all about my paints. I do appreciate all comments and questions. The comment section in this new blog format is by the date.

Onward to the fun stuff!  I’m featuring individual pieces of fabric today to show some representative techniques. 

I made a lot of screens on my Thermofax focusing on my maritime photos from Alaska. This was a net with little floats on it, but when enlarged it looked like a plant with fruit. An unusual color combo for me. My printer was making weird lines on the original, but I made the screen anyway as I thought it would look better than big solid circles.

Using a graphite pen for the original, I also made screens of doodles (above), drawings, and many kinds of handwriting. This was an intermediate layer for this piece of fabric. 

Here is the same doodle screen on a blue Layer 1 with one of my sketches screenprinted in two colors on top.

I also made quite a few pieces by stamping with a sponge-like lawn mower filter. You can see this full-sized in yesterday’s post at the very end.

I had fun stenciling over a cardboard coffee cup holder (above).

But it really was screenprinting that captured my attention time and time again.

Painted, screen-printed with drawings from my sketchbook, and then painted again.

Painted, screenprinted with dingbats, and then screenprinted with a screen made with a spiral drawn with a graphite pen.

Painted, screenprinted with my writing, screenprinted again with a screen made from a blown-up photo of a bush in winter.  And this way is the correct orientation.  I think of writing as texture, as the human touch that unconsciously draws us to a work of art, not as something to necessarily be read.

Painted in blue and white, screenprinted with a “burst” made from a photo of a plant in pink and white, then screenprinted with hand-drawn circles and then screenprinted one last time with a swoop of hand-drawn little squares.

 
Painted, screenprinted with an enlarged harbor scene turned on its side, gold added with a cool little dental tool, like a syringe, given to me by Leslie Jenison. 

 Screenprinted with a screen made from a photo of harbor junk blown up and edited. Layers of screenprinting using blue, gold and copper over a Layer 1 of white. I made one screen of normal size, then enlarged the photo and made a screen of that.  So the two screens are obviously related, but totally different.

Part of the display wall for Open Studio Day.  The fabric above is center. At top left, top right, bottom left and bottom center are pieces with MANY layers of paint and screenprinting. And, yes, with this type of paint, adding layers does add thickness and stiffness.  But that works for me in the type of artwork I generally create.

The blue swirl piece is actually a Layer 1 piece and the hand is the same as a dyed piece of fabric.

The top left piece will be a whole cloth piece, but the top left piece will be cut up as will most of the fabric I created.  The center left piece is a finished piece of art constructed of Tyvek on painted and dyed fabric (more on that in the future.)

Tomorrow – stacks and stack of fabric!

I’m back after a glorious artist’s residency for the month of February at Karey Bresenhan’s Great Expectations Creativity Center in La Grange, Texas.

I painted, screenprinted, stamped and used other surface design techniques to transform 200 yards of 60-inch wide white cotton fabric. It was a lot of work, but I am very pleased with the variety and richness of the fabric.

I thoroughly enjoyed the company of Carol Moore, the other artist-in-residence. Carol worked in the  AIR studio and created fiber artworks of great texture and complexity. Here she is trimming the threads on the back of her stunning Redwood piece:

A month of time to do work, to think and to let the creative well fill is a gift to be cherished by any artist.  I know this time will make a difference in my art making and I thank Karey for the opportunity to experience this perfect time and setting.

More later this week about all that fabric!

Special Note:  I didn’t take any photos at the Open Studio Day and would appreciate receiving any photos from that magical day that others would like to share.  Low-resolution jpegs are fine and may be sent to Virginia(at)VirginiaSpiegel.com