Here I am, Here's what's on. I'm pretty sure all my classes have openings if you're in H and looking for something to do!

visit www.quilts.com
#368, Wed, 4-5pm, $8
Lecture: Nurturing Creative Kids (and Grandkids)
#411, Thurs, all day, $83
Workshop: Rainbow Prints with Water-Soluble Crayons
#540 Friday Sampler, 10-noon, $30
Demo: Zapped (almost) Instant Silk Scarves
#605 Friday 6-9
Workshop: The Sensory Alphabet, $43
#749 Sat. 10-noon, Mixed Media Miscellany, $30
Demo: Rainbow Prints w/Water Soluble Crayons
#756 Sat 2-5, $50
Workshop: Shapes and Silhouettes
#804, Sun 8-11, $45
Workshop:Inspiration is in the Cards
#Sun, 11:30-1:30
Demo: Stories on Your Shoulder

Just the photos for now. I just lost my entire post. Check back later if you want to actually know more about my studio. I am at a conference and hoping to learn more about photoshop today.

What do I love about my studio?

Space, space, space.

Space to teach (see the flyer to download on the sidebar).

My old art cabinet (the drawers) that I have hauled around for 40 years.

Collections and space to explore.

The view outside the studio!

Cleaned up and ready for a workshop, above.

Ran across this online invitation today, and I thought it would be fun to participate.You might want to, too.

Be Part of Our Online Open Studios Event

The theme of the Fall 2009 issue of Studios is Open Studios, so we're kicking it off with a virtual tour, and you're invited to participate. Here’s how:

Step 1.  Take pictures and/or video of your studio. Maybe your studio is a large, dedicated space or maybe it’s just a corner of the dining room. It doesn’t matter—we want to see it! And don’t worry that it isn’t perfect. Art is not about perfection. You can clean it up, leave it in its natural state—it’s up to you.

Step 2. Announce the tour on your blog/website and include the cover image of the Fall 09 Studios, linked to our website.

Once you’ve posted image and link, leave a link to your blog/website in the comments section of the In the Studio with Cate editor’s blog anytime before October 2.

Step 3. On October 3, post the images/video of your studio on your blog or website with a little commentary describing your creative spac and what makes it special to you. Leave the post up through October 4, or as long as you like.

The first 25 people to join the tour (i.e. leave a link to their tour announcement on Cate’s blog) will win a door prize from the Studios storage closet (books, fabric, craft bags, art supplies, and more). Everyone who participates will have the opportunity to share their unique workspace and get ideas and feedback from others.

So, join the fun! Any questions? Contact Studios Editor Cate Prato at cprato@interweave.com.

And it will get me to clean up my studio, at least a little, before I take off on the first of three event journeys to Houston.

Here's what's on the agenda:

Federation of Texas Fiber Artists Meeting -- Houston's HAFA hosts this year's events, held every two years among the four member "chapters" of the organization -- Austin, Dallas/FW, San Antonio and Houston. Here's what I'll be doing:

 Studio tour, Workshops on Photoshop and various facets of art business and professionalism and gallery visits -- Gallery stops at the ArtCloth Network's exhibit at Archway Gallery and the Federation's show at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft (nope, my entries were not accepted for either show, better luck next time, right?)

Next:

International Quilt Festival, the big one at George Brown Convention Center, all four floors!

I'm teaching, demoing, lecturing way more than I expected. I sent in some proposals last spring, thinking that the way they worked would be to pick three, maybe four of my options. I was asked to present seven different programs. Good thing I am traveling up and back to the Houston Federation event, so that I can take some of the supplies then and leave them at a friend's house. I am excited, but a bit apprehensive about all the activities -- suspect I won't be doing much for fun except teaching. But, I am signed up for Ann Johnston's dyeing course, one I've wanted to take for a long time. This will be the lecture, demo version, but I am certain I will learn a tremendous amount. Ann is the dye guru in my book!

Here's my teaching ,etc. schedule, in case you get a chance to join in. Last time I checked I had openings still in all of my offerings. Workshop registration includes one admission ticket to the exhibits, trade shows, etc. For more information go to www.quilts.com.

The International Quilt Festival in Houston will be
held October 14- 18 (earlier than normal this year only).
Catalogs are now available for classes and workshops
from Quilt, Inc. Several Texas artists are included as
instructors and lecturers. Susie Monday will be lecturing
and teaching (# from the catalog): For more information,
visit www.quilts.com
#368, Wed, 4-5pm, $8
Lecture: Nurturing Creative Kids (and Grandkids)
#411, Thurs, all day, $83
Workshop: Rainbow Prints with Water-Soluble Crayons
#540 Friday Sampler, 10-noon, $30
Demo: Zapped (almost) Instant Silk Scarves
#605 Friday 6-9
Workshop: The Sensory Alphabet, $43
#749 Sat. 10-noon, Mixed Media Miscellany, $30
Demo: Rainbow Prints w/Water Soluble Crayons
#756 Sat 2-5, $50
Workshop: Shapes and Silhouettes
#804, Sun 8-11, $45
Workshop:Inspiration is in the Cards
#Sun, 11:30-1:30
Demo: Stories on Your Shoulder

And third:

ArtCloth Network Meeting

This is a group of (up to) 25 artists who have a special place in the repertoire for art cloth. Right now there are only 20 members, so if you are interested, check out the website for the group and send me an email. We will be opening up for applications sometime later this fall. The meeting is largely a Show-and-Tell with some fun gallery visits, business meeting and lots of fun with friends who I've met through this closeknit group.

I have had my third artist profile published in Quilting Arts Magazine this month -- it's about Cathy Kleeman and deals primarily with her right-brain/left brain balancing act as an artist. I've enjoyed talking to the artists whom I've interviewed for the  past three issues -- and the good news is that I'll have an article about my "rainbow" prints with water color crayons and polymer in an upcoming article, the first writing I've done for QA that will be about my own work!

But, since this one was also the cover story, that's a pretty nice accomplishment, too!

Detail, Eve Leaves, 2009

In your work.

One of the principle differences I see between "beginners" and seasoned artists is the willingness to go far enough with an idea, a material, a vision, a technique. It's a fact of cognitive psychology that we humans have a interesting condition for learning. We need to have a certain degree of familiarity, safety. And we have to have something that pushes us into new territory, a little risky feeling, an edge of the unknown, a bit of discomfort -- it's called cognitive dissonance.

Sample, watercolor crayon print

This past week I took a journey into cognitive dissonance. I spent the better part of the week exploring and pushing myself in a familiar arena, using watercolor crayons with gel medium to produce multicolor images -- one of the techniques I've been using since I began working in this field. I had two reasons for the task: I am teaching a one-day workshop at the International Quilt Festival in Houston on Thursday, October 15, "Rainbow Prints with Watercolor Crayons." I wanted to be up to speed with some new media and have some fresh samples and examples to share. (There's still room for a few more participants in this workshop, you can find out how to register by going to website, www.quilts.com.)

Secondly, I am attending a meeting right after Festival of the Art Cloth Network, a small national organization of  about 25 artists who spend dedicated time and energy investigating and creating art cloth, or, as Jane Dunnewold, calls it "complex cloth." Sixteen years ago I began a serious pursuit of my life as a working artist in classes with Jane (and her faculty) at the Southwest School of Art and Craft. My entry into art quilts, where I spend much of my energy now, came after I began making and learning about complex cloth, and I continue in that world with art cloth pieces, and in the surface design that I use for fabrics that become part of my quilts. But over the past few years, I have found myself less myself in my art cloth than I am in my art quilts. I have felt that though my work can be strong, it doesn't have the depth of expression or the true individuality that I think I have found in my art quilts. Much of the art cloth I make ends up being cut up to use in my art quilts, not a bad end for it, but kind of a denial of the art cloth "movement," which promotes the creation of beautiful, artful and meaningful cloth as a end process, not just something to be used for something else. So, I thought that if I took a technique and an image I love, worked with it towards art cloth, I would actually have some fabric I ws interested in to take to the conference for our show-and-tell!

If you are still with me, forgive the long introduction -- but sometimes its good to pinpoint exactly where one is in the process. So the week of work, it worked!

Not only do I have some new interesting media that proved to be easier to use (especially in the IQF setting without cleanup sinks!), some adaptations that make the technique even more interesting and varied, but I also had a breakthrough for my art cloth work. I have discovered a  new direction to follow  for my art cloth that seems to have a relationship to my art quilt work, in that it is more narrative and more "imagetic"  than what I have been doing. You've seen the warmups in samples as you've read this diatribe and here are the first two lengths of art cloth (I confess, I might want to try making a whole cloth quilt with one or the other someday -- also something I've never tried). These are, I warn, Works In Progress. Neither is completely successful as a final art object, but I learned an enormous ammount simply pushing myself into a new realm of work. One question that arises: when does a piece of art cloth become a painting on cloth. Or does that matter? What do you think?

"Eve Leaves," Art Cloth, 2009, mixed media, watercolor crayons, screen-printed"Hummingbird and Century Plant" 2009, Art Cloth, mixed media , watercolor crayons, screenprinting

I've also completed a handout about the technique of using watercolor crayons and polymer medium that I'll use at the Festival. It goes through the basic process and tools for this technique and you are welcome to download it here.  (Link is yet to be figured out. coming soon!) Email me for an attachment pdf to be mailed to you.

Bus and street reflections, St. Petersburg

SPACE is one of big time favorites.  I work from and within spaces whether I am working on an art quilt, art cloth or, wearing one of my other hats, as a museum and exhibit designer.  As a textile artist, I like working with unusual spaces, and often my work is shaped or irregular, simply because that seems much more interesting to me than a rectangle or square. It may be one of the reasons I like textile arts in general -- the spacial use and ideas are much more diverse than that of the space of a painting -- which is all created by illusion of depth of field -- the one kind of space I'm NOT that interested in.

Here are a few of the photos from this summer's Scandinavian travels that have particularly strong use of SPACE. (This is part of a series of nine photo collections that record different aspects of the Sensory Alphabet -- a tool I use for organizing images, working creatively and collecting input and organizing new ideas.

The British Museum with Kings Crossing in the background

Arcade, St. Petersburg

Berlin, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

Berlin

Church on Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg

I was late scheduling my September workshop, From Scribble to Symbol, Personal Mark-Making, and now I need at least a couple of more people here for it to be fun (and profitable) for me and everyone participating. So for those who sign up for this workshop (including those who have already registered), pay for the September workshop before Sept. 20, and I'll give you a certificate worth one-half off the next workshop/retreat you sign up for here at El Cielo -- that's an $80 value. This offer is limited to the next four people who take me up on the offer, email me and then send the check! I also take PayPal.

A reminder of what we'll be doing:

In this workshop, start with simple sketches and doodles and end the weekend with an arsenal of new surface design tricks and tools.  Explore doodles and scribbles as sources of unique and personal imagery that will give your art quilts, wearable art, or mixed media work personal depth and layers of meaning. Any artist will benefit from these exercises, whether you make your mark on paper, clay, quilts, art cloth, metal or any other media that has an element of decorative motif or imagetic narrative.

Take a favorite symbol -- for example a heart, star, spiral, circle, leaf, apple -- and by taking it (and yourself) through a series of creative generative exercises, you’ll make something new and different to incorporate into your design, composition and surface design. Then develop something even more personal from the kinds of doodles and marks that show up on your notepads and napkins! Tools and techniques explored include paper lamination on fabric, large scale “mark-making” rollers and monoprinting -- also some hands-on work with some computer programs that you can download for free and use in your image generation process. (bring a laptop if you have one.)

Some examples of some of the kinds of mark-making that I'm interested in are shown below in these photos (the one at the top of the post was developed with a program called SCRIBBLER).

xs and os

Bird of Loss, from hand shape

Pomegranite image - a personal/ universal symbol I use often in my work

30 spokes wheel, symbol developed from a Tao saying

Hear, deconstructed screen print and stitch

Sometime around midnight, somewhere in the Baltic Sea

Linda in a Light exhbit at the Design Museum in CopenhagenConservatory at the Sculpture Museum, Glyptotek, in Copenhagen. Along the River Neva, St. Petersburg White Nights

More from the ship

Carved type from the V&A, London

Now that business is posted (if you missed the latest on the workshop front, either download or go back a day for details) I want to continue my posts of photos from the summer's wonderful journey through Scandinavia. I'm posting these by Sensory Alphabet category --just for fun, and because this blog serves me as a kind of collection jar for memorie, studio actions, future ideas and playdates with ideas.

So today's idea is LINE. Here are some of the photos I took that jumped out of iphoto:

Potsdamplatz, Berlin

Stockholm horizonVasa rigging, StockholmRepainting the line

Bridge between Sweden and Denmark

Tallinn street scene

The line the wall made, Berlin

Berlin

Finally, the Fall-Winter planning is done -- it's taken me a long time to get my thoughts straight and then to plan an all-new series of workshops. I've been running repeats of some favorites during the past season, so it seemed time to develop a new group of inventive weekends.

The problem with that is, that for all the new toys and tricks and materials that we artists (especially we quilt art/fiber art/mixed media artists) are bombarded with, there are really only so many with substance and style and staying power. So, I have decided to concentrate on what I do best, focusing on creative process and on helping others to find their "sweet spots," their strong suites. Yes, there will still be fun and new and different techniques to explore during these weekends, but the majority of them will have more to do with digging deeper, loosening up, starting from scratch and pulling rabbits out of our (proverbial) hats --if any of this makes sense, then you are a better mind than I!

Nevertheless, here's the fall-winter rundown, with a link here to the brochure up in la-la land -- you can download it (in theory) by just hitting the button, or by pasting the address into your browser bar. If you don't get it and want a pdf copy to print, notify me by email --use the form on the sidebar if you don't have my email address handy. I'll email you an attachment that is sure to work!

Nurture your creativity as you come away from a weekend with renewed energy, new  materials and techniques in surface design applicable to fiber, ceramics, jewelry, painting and mixed media work. Susie Monday leads artists’ retreats and workshops throughout the year at her studio near Pipe Creek, Texas, about an hour from downtown San Antonio. El Cielo Studio workshops are designed with the needs of the participants in mind;  free time is scheduled throughout the weekend for reading, reflection and personal work in the studio. You are welcome to bring projects in process for Susie’s critique and for peer feedback in an environment of trust and respect. You’ll share meals, poetry and stories, music and advice for living an artist’s life. Enjoy the 25-mile vistas from the deck and strolls down the country roads. A spa and pool, and large screen media room are also available to participants. The fee for each workshop retreat is $160 for a 2-day event with discounts for early enrollment. Comfortable accommodations are available from $15 -  $30 per workshop. Most workshops offer a Friday night potluck option. Limited enrollment. Most supplies included. Call 210-643-2128 or email susiemonday@gmail.com
Susie has taught creative process and art techniques to adults and children for more than 30 years. Her art is in numerous private and public collections around the world.

NEW AT EL CIELO
FROM SCRIBBLE TO SYMBOL; PERSONAL MARK-MAKING
SEPTEMBER 25-27
(optional Friday night potluck & critique session)
In this workshop, start with simple sketches and doodles and end the weekend with an arsenal of new surface design tricks and tools.   Explore doodles and scribbles as sources of  uniques and personal imagery that will give your art quilts, wearable art, or mixed media work personal depth and layers of meaning. take a favorite symbol -- for example a heart, star, spiral, circle -- and by taking it (and yourself) through a series of creative generative exercises, you’ll make something new and different to incorporate into your design, composition and surface design. Tools and techniques explored include paper lamination on fabric, large scale “mark-making” rollers and monoprinting.

OCTOBER
Find Susie at the Houston International Quilt Festival, See www.quilts.com
NEW: A CREATIVE STUDY:  PETROGLYPHS, POTTERY & PREHISTORY
NOVEMBER 6-8 (optional Friday night potluck and critique session)
Many artists have found inspiration in prehistoric and archetypal imagery from caves, cliffs and ancient ceramics. This is the first of a series of “creative study” workshops that will illuminate how you as an artist can take inspiration from the images and imagination of the past, while transforming the images into something uniquely your own. This workshop models a time-proven creative study process (based on that developed at Learning About Learning Educational Foundation and the Paul Baker Theatre)  that can be adapted to many inspirational sources. We’ll go from collection through synthesis to creating, and explore textile and mixed media techniques that relate to the aesthetic and philosophical qualities and intent of the earliest art-makers. Explore some simple natural dyes; use handmade brushes as tools, make pigmented paints with ashes, earth, rust and minerals.

NEW: MEMOIR, MEMORY and MEMORIAL
DECEMBER 4-6
(optional Friday night potluck and critique session) Continue the season of Dias de los Muertos by creating a memorial altar to a person, to a personally potent memory (or past life of your own), even to a summer vacation! Learn to transfer photos onto a number of interesting surfaces including plastic, metal and fiber; add words, names and text with resist crayons; microwave dye custom fabrics, and embellish your textile and mixed media altar with all manner of beads, trinkets and meaning-full treasures. (Additional $10 fee for wooden altar frame.)

ARTIST JOURNEY/ARTIST JOURNAL
JANUARY 8-10
(optional Fri. night potluck & critique session)
This annual workshop has become a tradition at El Cielo Studio. Spend the weekend in creative activities (All new this year!) that help you set the stage for a 2010 filled with productivity, imagination, focus and artistic goals. Using some new exercises gleaned from sources around the globe, we’ll banish procrastination, make an annual love letter, and find ways to remind us of what really matters in our artistic lives. Meanwhile, you’ll work with mixed media and surface design techniques to start your artist’s journal for the year.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS SAY ABOUT SUSIE’S CLASSES & WORKSHOPS:
“It was just what I needed right now. I have been in a creative slump, questioning what I do and how I do it. The exercises we did this weekend were freeing on the one hand, but will also help me focus.”

“This workshop was a fabulous, uplifting, nurturing environment to create in. The journaling was particularly helpful, I would definitely recommend it to a friend.”

“This weekend was totally awesome! I am humbled by Susie’s talents, her teaching abilities and her hospitality. I will come back as often as possible.”

susiemonday@gmail.com
www.susiemonday.com

210-643-2128
3532 Timbercreek Road
Pipe Creek, TX 78063
Read Susie’s blog at http://susiemonday.squarespace.com
You’ll find a downloadable pdf version of this flyer on a front page link on Susie ‘s blog.