Pieced Together show has opened

Pieced Together: Historic and Contemporary Quilts and Fiber Arts has opened. The show is at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, Lancaster, OH from April 28 - September 2, 2007. If you're in Ohio visiting Quilt National, the Quilt Surface Design Symposium, or are in that part of Ohio for any other reason, you might want to also visit Pieced Together.

The 10 participating artists are: Katherine Allen, Sue Benner, Lisa Call, Nancy Crow, Lindsay Ketterer Gates, Amy Lipshie, Donna Rhae Marder, Eleanor Mccain, Joan Schulze, and me.

I have four pieces in the show. They are Orange Construction Fence Series #40, 41, 44 and 45. Orange Construction Fence Series #40 is below:

Art with Fiber - on exhibit in New York City

I spent most of the past week in New York City. Here is a list of the galleries or museums I visited that currently have artwork that has fiber incorporated as a main element:

Elisa D'Arrigo - new work - April 19 to May 24, 2007
Elizabeth Harris Gallery, 529 West 20 St.
Her work can be seen online: Elisa D'Arrigo

Orlly Genger - MassSpeak - March 30 to May 5, 2007
Larissa Goldston Gallery, 530 West 25 St, 3rd floor.
Work can be seen online: Orlly Genger

Ke-Sook Lee - One Hundred Faceless Women - April 10 to May 5, 2007
George Billis Gallery, 511 West 25 St.
Her work can be seen online: Ke-Sook Lee

Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting - January 25 to June 17, 2007
Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), 40 West 53 St.
Read about the exhibit: Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting

Orange Construction Fence collection

Here are some of the Orange Construction Fences I have collected, all rolled together. I use these are pieces to print with because they're cut to an easy size to work with. I have more rolls of fences in my attic.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

I decided I should try doing more painting on the piece of fabric that I posted on April 17th. I painted pearl white metallic fabric paint over the brownish ovals, keeping about 1/4" from the outer edges. I tried washing it to see if the metallic paint would get less shiny. The reflective quality did reduce somewhat afterward. Though washed, it's still not easy to photograph because the metallic paint reflects a lot of light (though less than it did before being washed). The actual fabric does not look as shiny as the photo does. Here is a detail of the fabric that is more helpful.



I've used this paint many times and it works out well, though I never tried washing it before. I think I'll try to wash other pieces in the future if possible. In the past I've used a pearl white metallic fabric paint by Deka, but they went out of business probably ten years ago. The Deka isn't as metallic and is more transparent. I prefer that, but I only have a tiny bit of it left. Not enough to use on a large piece. Now I am using a pearl white metallic Lumiere fabric paint by Jacquard.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

This is the second piece of fabric that I'm working on, of the nearby ICA building. This piece has most of the painting on the front of the fabric. I see a few painting tweaks to be made before stitching, but I do like the richness of the color. I think it's time to stitch (when I have the time to do it). After stitching I can make any needed design tweaks. It'll probably be a few weeks before I have the time to do the stitching. Will update when I do.

I'll re-post the first piece of fabric that I posted on April 17th, with the paint all on the back of the fabric, after I have have made the changes I discussed that day. Or maybe I'll wait to make the changes after I've stitched it. Hmmmm. Have to think about this.

Printing/Painting on Fabric

I'm working on two versions of the ICA nearby building inspiration. At this time the painted fabric looks like this:



I spent a few minutes in Photoshop coloring inside the brownish colored ovals, to see if I like it better without so much of that color. I think I like this better, and might actually paint them over keeping a 1/4" or so away from the edge of each oval so I leave some color:



I'll post the second piece of fabric in progress soon, after I have painted it a little more that it is now. There's not much to see yet.

I have to thank my husband for taking the picture of the building near the ICA, because it's much easier to have the photo to refer to. My current cell phone doesn't have a camera, but I hope that will change in a few months.

Fiberart International 2007

I'm at the Opening for Fiberart International 2007, in Pittsburgh, PA. My piece "Orange Construction Fence Series #34" is in the show. The show is BEAUTIFUL, and the Forum was really good. Dorothy Caldwell gave a wonderful slide lecture about the importance of the needle and the stitch. There has been a lot of fun networking here. Everyone from the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh is really nice, and they have gone out of their way to offer us a good weekend, including meals and transportation around the city. If you can, buy the catalog of the show. You can get it at FiberartInternational.com

New Work

I got my slides back from my photographer this afternoon. I scanned all of them and posted six new pieces on my website. I showed images of these works in progress in March on this blog, so if you want to learn more about them, check my entries in March.

Here are both sets of the six new pieces, which work alone or as a group of three. The first group has the fabric paint on the front fabric as one would expect:



And this group has the back side of the painted fabric showing. Notice the lighter colors:



Go to jeannewilliamson.com/prints_construct_fence.html and scroll to the bottom of the page to see more detail about these pieces.

Work over the railing

I have a very small studio space in my home, and when I'm finishing or finished with any larger pieces, I have no where to put them until they are ready to be stored or sent to shows. Because of that, I hang them over the railing on the second floor of my house. The other day I was reading Lisa Call's blog and had to smile when I saw she does the same thing.



These six pieces are finished except cutting the threads on the back, and sewing a sleeve on the back of each one (something I always seem to procrastinate doing). I had them photographed last week, and hope to pick up the slides on Tuesday or Wednesday. Then I'll post them on my blog and on my website.

PS added later in the day..... I got a nice email from Karen Stiehl Osborn who said she also hangs her work over her railing, that her house guests enjoy looking at what she's working on, and that it's "almost like part of the décor".

Drop Cloth in progress

I'm probably not going to stitch this for a few weeks, but I wanted to post what I've done with the drop cloth I posted a few weeks ago on this blog titled Drop Cloth.

I printed a contruction fence over the markings from one of my drop cloths, and painted gray fabric paint over the printed section because it was rather light. Then I filled the different shapes that were printed on the drop cloth in, keeping the each shape limited to a single color per shape. Below is the result of what I did, showing the front side of the fabric.



And here is the reverse side of the same piece of fabric (below).



While I like the front side, I REALLY like the back, so I will probably stitch that side out. I don't imagine being able to stitch it until early May, but I'll post it when I do.

Painting/Printing on Fabric

This is the back of the painted/printed fabric (shown on the right side of the photo) of my interpretation a building under construction near the ICA in Boston. Because it's the back of the fabric, I flipped the photo of the building horizontally (on the left) for comparison. I decided to focus on the back side of the fabric because the front side is significantly brighter and flatter looking, and I am not happy with how it is turning out. You can see the front side if you look at my March 29th blog entry. Shortly, I will start on another version of the front side of the painted fabric that isn't as bright or flat looking.

12 x 12 x 12

I had some free time yesterday, so I made my quilt for April. I'm making one 12" x 12" quilt each month this year. The series is called "12 x 12 x 12". This piece is made from left over stripes of stitched fabric from the six large pieces I just finished, that I had been working on since October. (I'll post the six pieces shortly. I need to get them photographed first.)

Take a look at the the piece I made for March. You can see of the pieces I've made so far this year on my website at: jeannewilliamson.com/2007.html.