FIber Arts Explosion at Marwen

This past fall I taught an art quilting class to 6-8 graders at Marwen.

Marwen is a non-profit that educates and inspires

under-served young people in Chicago through the visual arts.

I had a teaching assistant, 16 female students, and a lot of fun.

The girls loved working with fabric and sewing on a machine.

I was invited to teach the class gain in the spring.

November Journal Pieces 10-12

Week 10

 Painted Self Portrait

 Close up of stitching

 Week 11

I used scraps collected from shirts purchased at thrift stores

The strips are the button section

 I stitched right down the middle of each strip

 Week 12

I liked the way the last piece looked, so I experimented further

 I used the shirt cuffs for strips

Reworked Journal Pieces

This is week 3 reworked

I added binding, the hearts, and some hand stitching

 The hearts are from a good friend's wedding

from way back in 2001 (I think)

 Week 9 reworked with hand stitching around the flame

 and some beads to the candle flame

I am happy with the new results.

52 Journal Pieces, October 2011

Week 5: Chaos

Experimentation with my Janome needle felting machine

I attached it to plastic canvas to create peaks and valleys

Week 6: Leaf

Inspired by a leaf I found on a Sunday walk

I made a rubbing of the leaf using Shiva Paintstiks

and painted over it with Jacquard textile paints

Week 7: Giraffes & Beads

Inspired by the article Collaged Fabric Panels by Mary Hettmansperger

in Quilting Arts magazine, Feb/March 2008

Week 8: Circles & Squares

Inspired by a technique I once saw Judy Coates Perez demonstrate

using Jacquard textile paints on cotton batting.

The batting had been painted years ago. I used black felt for the background.

Week 9: Adrian's birthday

Inspired by my husband's b-day & the Out of the toolbox article on Pentel gel roller

for fabric by Maria Elkins in Quilting Arts magazine, Oct/Nov 2011.

52 Journal Pieces, September 2011

On August 27th I turned 39.

As a b-day gift to myself I decided to embark on an artistic journey

to explore what 40 means to me by creating weekly 8” x 10”

art quilts leading up to my 40th b-day.

The journey started with inspiration from The Uncommon Quilter: Small Art Quilts Created With Paper, Plastic, Fiber, and Surface Design book by Jeanne Williamson.

As Jeanne states in her book it, “is not about making a perfectly crafted traditional quilt.

Rather, it is about the process of quilt and art making,

with the added benefit of changing your perspective as an artist.”

I invited other artists to join me on this journey, and 20 artists from around the country accepted the invitation.

We share and encourage each other via a Yahoo group.

The rules are simple:

Pick a size.

No starting over on a piece.

This is about play and experimentation, not aesthetics.

No limits to technique or materials.

Here are my pieces from September:

Journal Piece Week 1

Made from thrift store shirt scraps I cut up in Oct 2010

Journal Piece Week 2 

Inspired by a picture of a painting I liked

Week 2 close up

Journal Piece Week 3

Inspired by a pillow in a Crate & Barrel catalogue

Journal Piece Week 4

Inspired by my feelings to not reproduce

Faces of Change

In December of 2008 I made this piece in response to
the election of the first African American President.

Based on the iconic image from his campaign.

 This lead to a second piece of Abraham Lincoln infused with the word FREE.

I used colonial reproduction fabrics and a matte thread.

 Then added Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., thus creating Faces of Change.

MLK was created with batiks and is infused with the word FAIR.

It has been my great pleasure to work on these pieces

and I hope to conintue to include important historical figures in the future.

Mosaic workshop

I had the pleasure of participating in an educators' workshop at Marwen the first week in July.

We made traditional mosaics and stepping stones for a garden using cement and tile scraps.

I sprinkled mine with small green beads.

Here is an experimental piece with a variety of materials including, beads, metal,

fake gemstones, wood & plastic beads, buttons, and glass tiles

Here are some pieces before adding grout

My neighbor's piece

Another for her son

A few of the stepping stones created during the day

Another teacher's

Adding grout makes a big difference

I learned a variety of things about creating and teaching mosaics,

primarily that if I was to teach mosaics in class,

I would stick to the plain cheap one color tiles like in the Be Nice piece above.

You can find a nice variety of colors in these tiles and it is much easier to grout and clean.

Unlike this experimental piece below.