Ravenswood Walk 2009, Belly Dancers

One of our next stops was a large exhibit of pieces from all the artists participating in the walk. We were fortunate enough to catch a belly dance performance. I was absolutely mesmerized by them. I definitely see a belly dancer piece in my near future, they were so beautiful, colorful and lively. For more information about classes and performances check out, http://www.jezebelly.com/
These pictures do not do their beauty justice.

Ravenswood Walk 2009, The Blago Project Exhibit

This past weekend was the Ravenswood Walk, http://www.ravenswoodartwalk.org/09 an art event in the Ravenswood area of Chicago where we live. Artists open up their studios, galleries and local businesses display art by Ravenswood artists. It is the kick off event for Chicago Artist's Month, http://chicagoartistsmonth.org/home.html in Chicago.

My husband and I both had pieces in the The Blago Project exhibit. The theme of the exhibit was “Rod Blagojevich.” The purpose of this exhibit was to enhance open commentary of the alleged corruption and salacious rumor, accusation and innuendo that has been hiding in the Ravenswood Corridor. The exhibit was held in none other than the wiretapped offices of “Friends of Blagojevich” located at 4147 North Ravenswood Avenue.

This is my piece, The Court Jester, 24" x 24". I used colors typically used for a harlequin because I find Blagojevich amusing to watch, never knowing what he will do next.

Close up
This is my husband’s painting, The Stormy Sea. We went to the walk on Saturday and back again on Sunday. About an hour before the event ended, my husband received a call from someone interested in purchasing his piece. He ran right over and made the sale, it was an exciting moment for us both, but especially for him since this was his first exhibit. When he walked in and met the buyer, he said, “I saw you walk up to the building and thought, this guy looks like an artist who just made a sale.” He said the piece cracked him up and that he wanted to buy it because he has been in that boat several times himself.
I like to tease my husband that he has me to thank because a few years ago I encouraged him to take a watercolor class with me at the Park District. Ever since then he has been hooked on painting.
A piece in the exhibit made with Lite Brite.

A desk filled with newspapers and official papers found in the office after they moved out.

The Eye of The Quilter Photo Challenge

I received my card of acceptance that one of my photographs will be in The Eye of The Quilter show in Houston.

For this year’s International Quilt Festival Karey Besenhan ran a photography contest, called Eye of the Quilter. Winning photos will be printed to 8" x 11" size and displayed at the International Quilt Festivals. They did not need to be photos that were made into quilts, just pictures that have inspired us as quilters.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road: This was an art installation I was fortunate enough to catch at sunset and thought, "If Dorothy can follow the Yellow Brick Road, why can't I?"

Reflected Sunset: Sometimes when we look ahead, we forget what is right behind us.

Sunset Wine: What could be more relaxing than a glass of wine while watching a beautiful sunset over Lake Michigan? This is one of my favorite pictures. I have it posted in my studio space. It reminds me of the naturally beautiful things in life and to relax and enjoy the simple moments.

Adaptations Piece

This is a piece I made for Fiberarts Connection of Southern California Adaptations Challenge.

Adaptations intent is to illustrate the many ways we have made the choice to reformulate and recommit in response to changes in environment: personally, socially and structurally. Adaptations are seen everywhere around us. Disability forces us to adapt. Change in climate forces nature to adapt and people to migrate. Change in economics forces us all to adapt our spending or life style. Change in age forces us to adapt our reactions. As you see Adaptations are everywhere around us.

This is the original picture taken while at Ox Bow Art Camp, MI the summer of 2008.

The actual chair is quite small, maybe 15" tall. I noticed it in a bathroom.

I edited the original picture to come up with this, enlarged and printed it out to make a template.
The background is pieced using traditional quilting techniques.

The Chair is appliqued and shading was added using Shiva Paint Sticks.

The forms, which are rocks to me, were thread painted to add texture and weight.

Breaking Traditions Art Quilt Exhibit, Home 2009

Breaking Traditions is an art quilt exhibit hung at the American Sewing Expo in Novi, Michigan each year in the fall. The 2009 theme is Home. Breaking Traditions is teaming up with Bernie Berlin's A Place to Bark. Bernie's organization works to find forever homes for abused and orphaned dogs. This year's exhibit will benefit her organization while showcasing art quilts depicting the many definitions of the word Home.

Here are my two pieces for the exhibit:

Sweet Home Chicago

Winter Sunrise
For more information about the exhibit and to view the online galleries from past years, please visit the website at:

http://www.fibraartysta.com/breakingtraditionsmain.htm

For information about A Place to Bark, please visit:

http://aplacetobark.blogspot.com/

Moving Through Time and mistakes you only make once

This piece, Keeping Balance

was created to go with the piece below,
Staying in The Light, that I created about 8 months ago.

The last year and a half has been a challenge as my husband struggles to find a job in a difficult economic time. This situation has created many obstacles for us to deal with individually, together, financially, and spiritually. There have been many moments that tested us in many ways, including our love for each other. Sometimes things can seem so hopeless that finding the light of hope is a struggle. At times we feel alone and lost, but in the end you realize the comfort of faith keeps you in the light, even if your reality seems dark.

Staying in the Light was part of The Sacred Threads exhibit:
http://www.sacredthreadsquilts.com/

It is now over two years that we are still dealing with this situation with little hope in sight of it ending anytime soon. My husband and I have struggled to figure out how to keep balance in our life during this challenging time. Through many ups and downs, arguments and discussions we have somehow figured out a way to work together. In Staying in The Light we were going in two different directions and often had a hard time communicating, or figuring out how to get through the situation. Now we are in sync with each other, working together to keep our life harmonious and functioning with very little friction even though nothing about the situation that is causing the stress has changed. I attest this change to our great love of each other.

Here are the pieces together, I call them, Moving Through Time:

I hope to make a third piece to go with this series, but I have to wait until we get to the next place on this journey. My hope is that we will be relaxing together peacefully, and all the pieces have fallen into place where they should be.

I learned a valuable lesson working on this piece: always double check your materials, and know what you are using. The finished piece is actually the second one I made. I had spent two days putting the quilt top together, then had great difficulty when I tried to sew it. I checked what I had used to fuse the fabric and realized it was Heat n Bold Ultra Non-Sewable! After a slight breakdown, I got back to work to make a new top. It ended up being a great learning experience in the process of working on a series. It is interesting what slight changes you make in the design and color choices when you have the opportunity to make something a second time. I know I will never (knock on wood) make that mistake again, and it was upsetting to learn that I had to re-do the top, but I did enjoy the learning experience in the end.

Quilts Japan Magazine

My Obama Equals Hope made it into a Japanese quilting magazine.