How to Make an Art Quilt -- at the Southwest School of Art

Starting today at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio (and the word is that there is still room for 3 students).

If you're on a textile path of your own, this class is structured with plenty of independent work time -- and the emphasis is on design process and creativity, rather than one or another sets of technical skills. I'll be demonstrating my own approach to making an art quilt, you'll make at LEAST four small journal quilts and a larger work -- no patterns provided, just some fun approaches to getting it out of your mind and onto the wall.

2369 | Art Quilts

Take your quilting skills into a more personal realm or your art skills into a new medium in this introduction to a variety of techniques for making wall art from fabric. If you have been exploring dyeing and printing, here's the how-to for putting your one-of-a-kind fabrics into art. Or if you've got a stash of cloth or scraps from traditional quilting take your skills into personal narrative. This class will introduce you to piecing and fusing fabrics, design and construction approaches that insure a personal creative vision, and time on the sewing machine as you learn various methods to free motion quilting. Each student will make a series of small journal quilts and work on at least one larger project. Sewing machine optional; please see SSA website for a list of materials.

Level: All Levels  Instructor: Susie Monday  Dates: Mon, 2/4/2013 - 3/25/2013 | Time: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Studio: Design Studio | Campus: Navarro   PS: I just counted and there is room for one more participant at the last El Cielo workshop of the year: Fearless Sketching, co-taught with artist Sarah Jones, on the weekend of April 12-14. If you are interested send me an email through the contact form on the sidebar!

Austin Fiber Artists Exhibit Opening & More

Artwork shown (Left-right):Georgia Zwartjes, unidentified, Oscar Silva, Susie Monday

I've a large piece in the Austin Fiber Artists annual exhibition. If you are in Austin, please stop in at the opening on Wednesday!

 Another opening the same night in San Antonio:

What: Vive La Difference: 13 Artists, 13 Vision
When: Opening Reception Wednesday, February 6, 2013, exhibit runs through March 31
Where: Weston Centre, 112 E. Pecan St., San Antonio, TX (Free parking in Weston garage on Soledad south of Pecan.)
Why:  Stunning art in a stunning location and 10% of proceeds from sales go to the Make a Wish Foundation. 
Who: 

Pam Ameduri
Lyn Belisle
Lauren Browning
Janice Elaine Cooper

Nancy L de Wied

Charles Ingram

Lisa Kerpoe
Luis Lopez
Ruth Mulligan
Steven Smith

Scott Vallance

Doerte Weber-Seale

Cody Vance
Deborah Wight

Contact Lisa Kerpoe for more information at lisa@lisakerpoe.com if you have any questions.

Who is an artist?

We're engaged in looking at our paths as artists this weekend at El Cielo Studio. It's a large group and a diverse one: some of the artists here are painters, mixed media artists, stitchers, program developers and administrators, educators and curriculum writers, potters and movement healers. We are all artists. 

Seth Godin has a manifesto recently published, "We are all artists now". It may make you mad, it might make you joyous; it will certainly make you think. I was a little irritated at first by the "we are all artists" perspective from a "market expert" (even though I do think we are ALL ARTISTS by birthright) because it seemed to dismiss all the hours and work in polishing my skills and mastering my media.

But, the more I read it, the more I am challenged to make sure that my art has the emotional risk, the depth and the meaning that it has the potential to be. Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead. 

Read it, and let me know what you think.  

(And while you're at it, here's another manifesto from Hugh McLeod, the guy who doodles on the back of business cards.)

Exhibit at Palo Verde in California

Here's a link to a local news article (almost correct says the curator!) about our Art Cloth Network exhibit in California:

> http://www.pvnews.com/articles/2013/01/10/arts_and_entertainment/a_e1.txt

ANd an excerpt:

The only theme of “24 x 80” is size, Weir said. Each of the artists from the Art Cloth Network began with a silk banner, then used dyeing, printing or laminating to create moving, eye-catching pieces alive with sparkling or reflective foils.

One of the fiber artists, Cindy McConnell, created a slide show to accompany the exhibition that follows the process of making one of her three-dimensional silk boxes. Along with the slides are a display of printmaking equipment and a selection of about a dozen different textile, fiber and mixed media items that people can touch.

It’s the tactile aspect that draws Weir to fiber art.

“The touch, the feel, the fluidity, the fact that it takes any kind of treatment appeals to me,” she said. “You can paint it, dye it, burn it, stitch through it or wad it up. It’s a medium that we’re all completely comfortable with. We all wear clothing and sleep on sheets. We don’t have to search far for inspiration or materials, they’re everywhere.”

If you would like to be part of the group -- a really rewarding experience in my creative life -- see the entry requirements and membership duties and fun on the website at http://artclothnetwork.com/join.html.

At our last Art Cloth Network meeting -- and yes, we do accept male members. Russ must have been taking the photo!