Virginia A. Spiegel

If you haven’t hear of Pokey Bolton yet, then you must be new to the world of art quilts and mixed-media art.  Pokey was the person who saw ten years ago that many artists who loved fiber didn’t really want to be reading or thinking about quilts/fiber art in a traditional way.

Maybe lots of people knew a change was in the air, but Pokey was the one who bravely forged ahead and created Quilting Arts and Cloth Paper Scissors magazines. These have been followed by spin-off magazines , TV series, DVDs, eMags (Quilting Arts in Stitches), and more, more, more.

But most importantly Pokey has supported and nurtured artists, including myself, by looking at our artwork, publishing our artwork, blogging about our artwork, offering us opportunities to meet other artists, and, generally being our most cherished, not to mention FUN, cheerleader. And she makes the time to make and donate artwork to our fundraiser to fight against cancer.  You can’t not love Pokey!

1.  Why are you participating in the ONE fundraiser for the American Cancer Society?

For the same reason that I’m guessing many of the other artists are: I lost someone to cancer (my father). He died of lung cancer and died very young at age 59. It was difficult to watch him in so much pain towards the end. Such a terrible disease…

To Be a Fly on the Wall by Pokey Bolton.  This is one of two fiber collages by Pokey that will be available on February 16.

2.  Tell us about your collages for ONE.
I love machine needle felting, and combining felting with rubber stamping, hand- and machine-stitching, and screen printing. I am also trying (like most other artists these days) to use up scraps I have in my stash! For these two pieces, I decided to go to town with my machine needle felting, using a variety of fibers, combining yarns, rovings, commercial fabrics, my own screen-printed fabrics, organza, among other materials. I had no end game, no end vision for these two collages; I just played as I went.

3.  What are you working on in the studio now?
My own segments for the next series of Quilting Arts TV. We tape mid-February so the clock is ticking!

4.  Do you collect art?  If so, how do you know a piece is right for your collection?
I absolutely collect art. No rhyme or reason, really, for knowing when a piece is right for my collection; I buy pieces that speak to me on some personal level. My very first art quilt I purchased was by Linda Colsh around 2001. I still love that quilt very much and it hangs in our family room at home. Now that I think of it, I’ve always admired her style very much and she’s been a huge influence on what I try to create.

5.  What would you do with a year free to do what you wanted with no responsibilities or financial concerns?
That’s easy!  I would spend the year in my studio, really trying to perfect and master surface design techniques, and amass a lot of my own, printed fabrics. I would love to develop my own body of work to showcase somewhere. I absolutely love my job  -love promoting other artists, but it would be fun for me to explore what I’m able to create as well. And if I could, I’d seek out some masters in the field to study with them for a week or two.

Logo by Jeanelle McCall.

Today’s tote-ology post is about tote contents.  Part I was about the tote bags themselves.  Part III will detail how bidding for totes will work.

1.  Each tote is wonderfully unique.  Artists and businesswomen in the fiber industry have been working hard to make these totes something you are not going to find anywhere else. We hope to have something “Made by Hand” in each tote and/or a custom-made tote.  Please show your appreciation for our generous donors by doing business with them.  All contents of each tote will be listed and shown in a photograph(s) as it comes up for bid

2. It’s a fundraiser! Our goal is to raise the maximum amount possible for the ACS, but sponsors/donors have been wonderful in agreeing to provide totes at a variety of price levels.  Be as generous as you are able and let’s celebrate the wonderfulness that is fiber.  Perhaps you can form a ToteTuesday bidding consortium with your friends and then throw a ToteTuesday party when the tote arrives.  What to keep and what to share – that’s the dilemma!

3..  Any amount you donate to the American Cancer Society through Fiberart For A Cause above retail value is tax deductible (upon advice of your accountant, of course).

4.  All shipping is free to you thanks, again, to generous sponsors/donors.  Totes and their contents may come to you as one shipment or you might have the joy of receiving the contents directly from a multitude of donors.

If you have any questions, please contact me at Virginia(at)VirginiaSpiegel.com