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!

Art Cloth Network Call for Members

If you're a creator of art cloth, consider joining Art Cloth Network. The group, which is limited to 30 members, actively promotes and exhibits art cloth. We will be meeting this fall in Florida (attending the first meeting is required for new members). Here's the official info about applying: 

Art Cloth Network Membership Information and Application Process

Thanks for your interest in becoming a member of the Art Cloth Network. Those of us who are members find that the opportunities for community, conversation, sharing of techniques, inspiration and resources benefit our art and creativity. We have recently increased our membership limits to 30 members in good standing, including those on formal leave. When the number falls below 30, we accept new member applications. We currently have openings for up to 6 new members.

While some of us also make art quilts or mixed media work, the group is focused on art cloth and its specific surface design techniques and approaches.  This includes making lengths of cloth, rather than small samples or fat quarters. Please read the information about art cloth on our website and look at examples, to make sure that you are interested in this field.  Only those artists who submit examples of art cloth that meet this description will be considered for membership.

We meet as a group every 9 to 10 months in different regions of the United States, usually between August and October. Since these meetings are critical to our growth and vitality, we require attendance at 2 out of 5 consecutive meetings.  Membership begins with the first meeting attended. Members bring and discuss their work at these meetings, and we share other professional concerns and opportunities. Previous meetings have been in Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Florida, California, Georgia, Arizona, and New Jersey. The 2011 meeting will be in Florida.

We also produce a new exhibit annually, with a call for entries each year. Since opportunities for showing art cloth are limited, this is an important membership benefit. Members are required to enter two of five calls for entry in order to maintain their membership status.

Only applicants who can and will attend the next meeting will be accepted into the Art Cloth Network during this membership call period. That meeting will be in or around St. Petersburg, Florida on either October 13-16 or November 10-13, 2011. Full details about the conference and this financial commitment will be mailed to those extended a membership invitation.

The current deadline for membership applications is March 15, 2011, and you can send in your application materials at any time prior to the deadline. You will be notified by April 15, 2011 whether your application has been approved. 

Send a request to susiemonday@gmail.com in order to receive the POSTEROUS application site address.

Around the World in 40 (or so) Blocks.

After a successful and productive Art Cloth Network meeting in New Brunswick (with a day-long Manhattan museum adventure on Friday) Susan Ettl and I returned to the Big Apple today and took a whirlwind trip around the world -- from Penn Station we went first through (eating at a Japanese/Korean cafe of course) Korea Town, then bused down to Washington Square, taking in a park filled with sun-loving tennis fans watching the live action on a big screen. Then we walked down through Soho (now the land of glitzy boutiques where once my artist friends and I slept on sleeping bags in big unfinished lofts), stopping in at a wonderful Indian import store, then  to Canal, perused the bag and pashmina vendors over to Tribeca, back to China Town (dollar stores and housewares, joss paper and interesting items for soywax batik) anda small park on Bayard -- I think Columbus Square  -- which was just about as close as one can get to China without crossing an ocean (two live Chinese operas, simultaneously, martial arts practice and many, many tables of card and game players),  then back north through Little Italy to catch a little Latin Jazz improv back in Washington Square, and back on the bus to Penn Station. Once back in New Brunswick, we ate dinner at an elegant Ethiopian restaurant, a first for both of us. (injira, the flat crepe-ish fermented flour bread is amazing).

We experienced at least five distinct cultures, not counting the tennis and jazz, the youth culture of our college campus bus ride back to the inn, and the almost overwhelmingly melange of languages, fashion, faces that are the "culture" of New York City. I ran out of battery power for my iphone camera about half way through, but these shots will remind me of the inspiration of this big, beautiful, American city.

Postscript:  I recently promised my brother-in-law Chai (Dr. Israel Cuellar, PhD, noted scholar, research psychologist, novelist and Chicano activist/scholar) that I would be "tasting" for him, as his ALS had made it necessary for him to give up the pleasures of "real food." All the flavors of today -- the physical, the emotional, the tactile, the movement and light and space, the visual feast -- I dedicate to his memory. Chai left his body late this afternoon, after the most valiant, brave and powerful encounter of a relentless disease that I have ever witnessed. I had the privilege to work with him as an editor for his novel (soon to be published), The Barrida Cure, that he wrote as his final creative challenge and accomplishment over the past four years.

My prayers are with his soul and spirit, at last free from suffering, and with Linda, his sister, and with all the family.