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Gary W. Priester’s 3D Stereogram Gallery
In this post you will see 4 stereograms created by Gary W. Priester, c0-author of several Magic Eye books of stereograms. Gary also has a lot of information on stereogram creation on his Eyetricks.com website. While next to impossible, I think, to create a true stereogram with fabric, these stereogram images certainly could inspire an idea for an art quilt, perhaps a series of art quilts.
Here’s a trick I use when I cannot quickly “see” the hidden image in a stereogram, whether in a book or on the computer screen. With the book or computer screen in a normal viewing position, stare at an object in the room that is further away, or hold something, eg. coffee mug about a foot to the side and further away from the book or computer screen. Focus your eyesight on this object “beyond” the stereogram for about 7 seconds, then slide your focal point in behind the stereogram, keeping your focus on the deeper object. Almost immediately, the hidden object comes into view.
If it doesn’t work, give it a rest. If you walk away from the computer screen and view it from 12 feet or so, you will see how the stereograms project a quilt-like effect. I hope these stereograms will spark an idea for an art quilt.
Gary Priester’s Magic Eye books may be purchased at Amazon and you can check his Magic Eye books through the Amazon widget on the right sidebar of this blog.
Here they are:
 sphere-o-thon Continue reading Stereograms to Inspire Your Quilt Art
Stitching together an artistic vision
BY ROBERT L. PINCUS, UNION-TRIBUNE ART CRITIC – SUNDAY, JANUARY 3, 2010
Gallery director Beth Smith harnesses a passion for textile-related media: ‘It’s really rewarding to see artists change and surprise you’.
Museum Director: Beth Smith
Institution: Quilt Visions
Previous institution: Oceanside Museum of Art (director of development)
Current show: “Interpretations,” featuring 37 quilt artists
Upcoming show: “California Fibers: Liminal Spaces” (Feb. 5-April 25, 2010)
Web site
Quote: “This is my dream job.”
Beth Smith has been on the job for only about a month, as director of Quilt Visions, but it’s as if she was practically destined for the position. She is a passionate quiltmaker herself — not in the traditional mold, but in the eclectic, contemporary vein that this nonprofit gallery and organization has championed for nearly 25 years. And in her several roles at the Oceanside Museum of Art — where Smith served since 1997 — volunteers were crucial to its success. And volunteers are also the lifeblood of Quilt Visions.
To underscore this point, she conveys the story of how the handsome space that Quilt Visions now occupies, in Point Loma’s Liberty Station complex (the former Naval Training Center), Continue reading Beth Smith, new gallery director for Quilt Visions
The National Quilt Museum announces 18 winning quilts from the 2010 An Old Favorite Contest.
on exhibit Mar. 19 – June 15, 2010 and traveling through Dec. 2011.
 Gypsy Caravans by Claudia Clark Myers The Paducah Sun, Jan. 1, 2010
The National Quilt Museum has announced the 18 winning quilts of the 2010 Sunflower-themed New Quilts from an Old Favorite contest.
These quilts represent quilters from 11 U.S. states and two Canadian provinces.
Sponsored by Clover Needlecraft Inc., Fairfield Processing Corp. and Janome America Inc., this contest challenges quilt makers to create original quilts based on a specific quilt pattern.
The traditional Sunflower pattern is one of the many flowers interpreted by 19th century quilt makers. Some of today’s brightest art quilters have modified the design in imaginative ways, providing a wonderful look at the skills, techniques and creativity of today’s quilt makers.
An asymmetrical design flowing beyond the bottom border is the foundation of the first place quilt, “Gypsy Caravans” by Claudia Clark Myers of Duluth, Minn., and Marilyn Badger of St. George, Utah. The rich palette of teal, turquoise and cheddar is offset by taupe and black with sequins and faux “jewels” adding a touch of the exotic.
Second place went to Geri Parker and Kathy McNeil of Coupeville, Wash., for their quilt “Sun Flower Duet” featuring multiple sunflowers on a shaded purple ground.
“Leaning on the Fence” by Sharon Rotz of Mosinee, Wis., took third place, incorporating eight different Sunflower patterns and an abstract fence.
To take fourth place the team of Ann Feitelson and Ronna Erickson of Montague, Mass., created “Rising and Radiant,” a straightforward pattern gone wild by the use of electric green, hot orange, purple and burgundy striped fabrics.
Canadians Marion Perrault and Helena Scheffer of Beaconsfield, Quebec, took fifth for their quilt “Sunflower Sutra,” which depicts a single large sunflower lifting its face to the sun against a vivid turquoise background.
Other quilts which will be featured in the exhibit include:
“Follow the Sun (on Route 66),” Kathryn Botsford, British Columbia, Canada.
“Crowing for Sunflowers,” Jill Bryant and Nancy Brown, Chesterfield, Mo.
“The Prodigal Sunflower,” Donnah Burke, Kirkland, Wash.
“3-D Sunflowers,” Martha DeLeonardis, Katy, Texas.
“Midnight in the Garden of Good and Nouveau,” Robin Gausebeck, Rockford, Ill.
“The Desert Shall Rejoice,” Julia Graber, Brooksville, Miss.
“Flora,” Mary Ann Herndon, The Woodlands, Texas.
“Trickster in the Garden,” Patricia Hobbs, Macomb, Ill.
“Southern Borders,” Ann L. Horton, Redwood Valley, Calif.
“Welcoming the Son Into Our Garden,” Chris Lynn Kirsch and Wendy Rieves, Watertown, Wis.
“No Forwarding Address,” Theresa Reeves, Oberlin, Kan.
“Navajo Sunflower,” Karen R. Watts, Houston.
“Graffitti, Sunflowers & Bricks,” Judy and Bill Woodworth, Gering, Neb.
a website review of The Quilt Index – quiltindex.org
The Quilt Index is a growing research and reference tool designed to provide unprecedented access to information and images about quilts held in private and public hands.
It is a joint project of The Alliance for American Quilts and several several entities of Michigan State University. It has received major grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and several other important research services.
Therefore you can imagine that when this comprehensive online resource is more fully developed, it will likely be the mother of all quilt resources.
The site is designed with “user simplicity” as a primary goal. The depth of the content value is just as impressive. Eventually this website will be the central resource incorporating a wide variety of sources and information on quilts, quiltmakers and quiltmaking.
As an example of the simplicity and depth of the entries, this screen snapshot of “Browse by Category” shows part of the layout for browsing the collection depending on search criteria.
This next screen snapshot Continue reading The Quilt Index-mother of all quilting resources
 in the CQA Quilting News -Unique Quilt Shows in 2010, in the United States – Ohio, South Dakota, California, and Paducah Kentucky
 quilts inspired by President Obama Journey of Hope in America: Quilts Inspired by President Barack Obama- Dec 15, 2009 -Dec 15, 2010 at the Afro American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce, Ohio
 detail of Precious Water “Imagine Hope,” Hollis Chatelain’s first art exhibit, includes “Precious Water” and 11 other quilts created by Chatelain, as well as 20 photographs from prominent international photographers. It will begin a world tour April 10, 2010, in Paducah, Ky, at the National Quilt Museum. Chatelain and her husband Reynald are starting a foundation using art to promote awareness of world issues including economic refugees, wetlands, peace, genocide, and hope for migrants and resident aliens. The foundation, yet to be named, is creating lesson plans and materials that will accompany its art exhibits and help viewers learn to take actions that can make a difference.
 Quilts With a Kick , also at Kentucky’s National Quilt Museum The Museum’s permanent collection has become an ever-developing documentation of the quiltmaking revival that has flourished in the 1980’s, 1990’s and is sure to continue as the new century unfolds.
On exhibit until February 2, 2010 is Quilts With a Kick. Quilt Artists of Kentucky present their work. Challenge, self-portrait, and other wall quilts showcase the talent and creativity found in Kentucky.
On exhibit until March 16, 2010 is A Family of Quilts. Grandmother to mother, mother to daughter – this is how some quilters learn the art. Journey through this multi-generational quilt exhibit and discover how a craft is communicated through time.
The Collector’s Eye – The South Dakota Art Museum will display a colorful quilting exhibit titled, “The Collector’s Eye: Amish Quilts from the International Quilt Study Center”, now showing through April 18, 2010.
The collection of 30 quilts is on loan from the International Quilt Study Center, on the campus of the University of Nebraska. “The Collector’s Eye” exhibition includes quilts from three distinct Amish regions —Lancaster and Mifflin Counties in Pennsylvania and various Amish communities throughout Indiana, Ohio and surrounding Midwest states.
The Museum’s Oh, Wow! Miniature Quilt Collection is another ongoing exhibit.
QUILT VISIONS 2010 is an International juried biennial exhibit of the best of contemporary art quilts. The 2010 exhibition theme is “No Boundaries” and will be held at Oceanside, CA Museum of Art from October 24, 2010 through March 13, 2011.
Jurors for this show are Jason Busch, Curator of Decorative Arts at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Linda Colsh is an American artist residing in Everberg, Belgium since 1990. Linda currently serves on the Board of
Directors of Studio Art Quilt Associates having been its first European Representative.
Penny McMorris has extensive experience as an art curator. In 1976 she curated one of the first contemporary quilt shows in the United States. She is co-author of The Art Quilt.
Complete listing of Surface Design Association exhibit calendar
in the CQA Quilting News
from the Lansing City Pulse
MSU Museum Shows Off Quilt Scholar’s Collection through Sept. 5, 2010,
by Eric Gallippo
‘Unpacking Collections’
The Legacy of Cuesta Benberry, African- American Quilt Scholar
Visitors to Michigan State University Museum’s “Unpacking Collections” exhibit will get a peek into the vast research and materials accumulated by pioneering quilt scholar Cuesta Benberry, but where the exhibit’s title really seems apt is down in the subterranean storage rooms of MSU’s Central Services Building.
It’s there that rows of acid-free storage boxes are stacked floor-to-ceiling with Benberry’s letters, notes, book collections, patterns and other quilt-related research.
 from the Cuesta Benberry Collection
At one end of the room, a makeshift photo studio, where each quilt in Benberry’s collection has been or will be photographed to add to the museum’s Quilt Index, an online library of images and information shared with museums and other groups across the country.
Benberry was an African-American librarian from St. Louis who began studying quilts in the 1950s after a trip to Tennessee. There, she encountered a rich tradition of quilting like she had never seen before, and it spurred her to travel the country studying quilts, primarily those made by African-American women.
In the 1970s she began publishing her findings, leading the way for future quilt scholarship. When Benberry died in 2007, her family donated her collection of African-American and African quilts to MSU Museum’s Great Lakes Quilt Center. Earlier this year, the American Folk Art Museum in New York transferred its Benberry collection to the MSU Museum, so it could be in the same place. Continue reading Michigan State U showcases Cuesta Benberry Collection
 Quilts and Copyright law: what happened and what could have happened
This article is posted for your information with permission from the author, Paul Rapp of PaulRapp.com
Paul specializes in intellectual property law including copyright, trademark, Internet, and art and entertainment matters. Paul is adjunct professor of copyright and art & entertainment law, Albany Law School
Future posts will follow about American intellectual property law and creating art, written by Paul Rapp.
And, if you think you know all this copyright stuff, skip to the last paragraph. Something to think about. (US Law)
Paul Rapp writes: Here is “Jane’s” story about a quilt she made that was published in a national quilting magazine:
A couple of years ago, I was contacted by a highly agitated quilter, who I’ll call Jane. Jane believed that she was about to be sued by another quilter from the Midwest over the appropriation of a quilt design. “This is a hot topic among quilters,” Jane said. Continue reading Quilt This, a synopsis of an almost “quilt law suit”
 why not join a quilt retreat
Quilting Retreats come in endless shapes and sizes.
An Internet Search for Quilters Retreats brings up the sites listed below. There are many others not listed.
These lists were compiled in Oct, 2009. The information is provided for your convenience. Please copy and paste any URL into your browser. These listings are not active links. (too much work for me, I’d rather be quilting.)
Comprehensive listings of retreats
http://www.quiltqua.com/travel/ in many states, and in Italy and Costa Rica
http://www.quiltvisionusa.com/ thumbnail photos of retreat resorts in WI, GA, CA and DE
http://creabunda.typepad.com/ retreats in many states and Canada
Retreats outside the USA
http://www.dayspringbb.com/ in Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC Canada
http://www.patchwork-and-quilting.com/ in Fiji, Australia and USA
http://www.sunflowerfabrics.com/retreat.htm in Bedford, England
http://www.quilt-lovers-guide.com/ in British Columbia, Canada
http://www.lavendercottage.ca/ in Ontario, Canada
http://www.quiltworks.co.uk/ in Cumbria, England
http://www.costaricaquilts.com/ in Costa Rica
Inns, B&B’s and Resort Retreats in the United States Continue reading How About a Quilting Retreat
Two Books to Consult if you’re thinking of Accelerating your Quilting Career
 Insider's Guide to Quilting Careers Insider’s Guide to Quilting Careers - This excellent guide produced by Linda Hahn and Merry May introduces the reader to the incredibly wide variety of careers available in today’s quilting world. The book offers practical advice and detailed instructions on how to start up a career in quilting. It also gives quite a few doses of reality check. This book is especially valuable for any quilter with dreams of pursuing a professional career in the quilting industry. It has valuable insight for professional quilters for growing and improving existing quilting related businesses with the goal of opening new avenues for oppportunities and achieving better profits. Insider’s Guide to Quilting Careers is published by Quiltwoman.com, 2009, 168 pages
 Publish Your Patterns! First you put your design ideas to paper. How do you determine whether a pattern will sell well. Publish Your Patterns! by Nancy Restuccia, (McKenna Linn) provides nearly everything you haven’t thought of – what to consider and what to do when writing great instructions, creating an effective cover and getting your patterns printed. How about pricing for profit, advertising and promoting your patterns, doing trade shows and staying within budget. Having your products available on the web, hosting your own site, protecting your legal interests, copyrights, trademarks, licensing your designs- it’s a potential mine field out there. Publish Your Patterns! includes comprehensive contact information for editors, publishers, distributors, suppliers, trade and consumer shows, networking opportunities and much more. You get a lot in 144 pages of advice in Publish Your Patterns!
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 divine order, Crismon and Sky
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 excellence and strength, Crismon and Sky
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 seed of life, Crismon and Sky
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Imagine all the people,
living life under a quilt. You may say that I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us and the world will live as one (var. John Lennon)
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 Iraq war memorial, Santa Monica Beach, kevindooley
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 frozen Peace symbol,
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 quiet, I'm thinking, Grant MacDonald
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 2010 Olympic symbol
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 sunrise river, dandy_fs
TO MY READERS, PEACE, PERSONAL HARMONY, AND MAKING AT LEAST ONE QUILT FOR CHARITY IN 2010, from Gina
Photos of Unusual Holiday Light Inspire Shining and Exuberant Quilts
(and kindle ideas for cheerful, joyful, bubbly, bouncy and merry quilts as well)
 "stained Glass" - colored paper on doors, Amadeu Sanz  aurora borealis, Beverly Kahuna  Suceava Christmas Tree, Mauius Muscalu  balls of light, Aske Holst  Grand Canal Square at Night, infomatique  100 days to Christmas, kevindooley  moving camera, Brandy Shaul
How Green and Red Became Symbols of Christmas
 happy holidays. by World princess
© Nicole Skutelnik, in Cultural Anthropology, Oct 7, 2008 -posted here with permission of N. Skutelnik
Green and red. Together, these colors are immediately associated with Christmas. But where did that convention come from?
In fact, the convention began very long ago. There are two accepted beliefs about the origin of traditional Christmas colours, one based on historical fact and the other based on Christian faith. Continue reading Origin of Christmas Colors
Do these odd baubles appeal to your geometric instincts? I see quilts all over the place.
Round things, pointy things, the energy in these ornaments can animate your ideas and your art work. Why not bookmark this page for after the holiday season.
 box of Christmas decorations, by Tamurello
 ornament, Thom Watson Continue reading Holiday Ornaments Inspire Art Quilt Ideas
Many generous software writers are continually developing great plug ins for bloggers using WordPress open source software.
It’s as if bloggers keep adding to a virtual Wish List of Plugins and more free capabilities keep appearing, (numbering the in 1000’s).
If you want to build a site that is beyond a basic blog and you need help, need an answer, want to learn more in general on a topic, then do a WP search on those key words (on the WP website under Forums) and you will be browse a variety of discussion forums and lists for plugins that do various tasks. People review and rate plugins based on their experiences, and by reading the comments (and noting how many other people have downloaded that plugin) you can decide what plugins you need to fulfill your requirements.
13 plugins I have found practical:
AKISMET checks comments to see if they look like spam or not. Spam comments get filtered. You can review spammy looking comments and allow, edit or delete them. This is a terrific time saver. In 9 months, AKISMET has detected over 2000 spam comments and has only let 3 through. These three “looked normal” but were in fact spam. Continue reading Practical WordPress Plugins
Color Palette + Design = Impact
These Creative Commons.org photos by Crystal Writer demonstrate that traditional quilt styles combined with stellar palette choices and ingenious layouts can result in stunning artistic art quilts. Enjoy Crystal’s computer created kaleidoscopes. More photos by Crystal Writer and her personal vision.
Why not try a new direction in the new year, that is when life settles down. When I need to recharge my imagination, I often find that returning to basics and more traditional techniques is soothing. And then fresh ideas for a new project begin to emerge (sometimes). A piece of fabric stashed away will seem the very thing, I get on a roll, and, well, you get the idea.
 red flower lattice  christmassy fireworks  red and gold starbursts  yellow bursts  golden stars  geometric blues
in the CQA Quilting News, December 4, 2009
YOU MEAN 72% OF US BUY FROM BIG BOX ART RETAILERS?
excerpt from: Tips to buying art at Metro Arts Expo, by Michael Morain, Des Moines Register, 11-1-09
(with specific reference to quilt art purchases)
Des Moines Arts Festival director Stephen King was speaking to a community group a few years ago when he shared a surprising statistic: 72 percent of the artwork in American homes comes from big-box retailers.
“I got an audible gasp,” he said. “OK, so maybe you happen to like the Batman posters and stretched-fabric wall hangings you found on the sale rack. The art police can’t rip them down”.
Here are a few things to keep in mind in your search for new artwork:
Consider functional pieces
King quotes Ignatius Widiapradja, Art and Design department, Drake University ”If it’s seriously made by a serious artist, the value tends to stay. If you buy a good quilt for $500 or even $1,000, you won’t regret it for three generations”.
 Allegria, Gina Delorenzi Avoid cute stuff.
“Never buy art because it looks fun or cute. It’s easy to get caught up in the moment, but it usually doesn’t last very long.”
Don’t use art as an investment … unless you’re loaded.
“Unless you are spending a lot of money, never buy art as an investment,” Widiapradja said. “That would be the worst thing to do.”
So how much is a lot? Widiapradja said that most pieces under $2,000 won’t appreciate much in value, and even pricier works won’t re-sell for much more unless the artist is well known.
Be patient.
If you’re interested in a particular piece, ask the artist for a photo of it or a link to the artist’s Web site so you can think about it for awhile. Sometimes deliberation will help you avoid the bad impulse buy.
“You don’t want to plunk down $5,000 and later on say, ‘What was I thinking?’ ” Widiapradja said.
But if you’re still thinking about the piece after a few days, go ahead and give the artist a call.
Shop solo or with a trusted sidekick.
Larger festivals can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t have all day to browse. You may prefer to shop with a trusted friend, someone who knows their taste and can lend some back-up willpower – to buy or not.
Picture the empty wall.
If you have a particular corner of the house in mind, know the dimensions of the available space. Keep an eye out for surprises, too. You’ll find a place for it if you like it.
Give art only to people you know well.
It’s a good idea to avoid giving people big splashy paintings or a sculpture for their front yard unless you’re familiar with their taste. Smaller items, such as jewelry, are a better bet – and keep the receipt, just in case.
If you like it, really really like it, then buy it.
You can find good artwork for a few hundred dollars, and often much less. For the price of a fancy dinner or tickets to a show, you could own a painting or sculpture that you’ll enjoy for much longer than a night on the town.
Read more about buying hand made gifts for the holiday season
in the CQA Quilting News
Artist evolving as quiltmaker
Nancy Crow’s latest work, the ‘Markings’ series, shows she’s kicked it up a notch
article by Dorothy Shinn Ohio Beacon Journal art and architecture critic, 11/08/2009
 Nancy Crow exhibit, at Butler Institute of Art, Trumbull Branch, through Jan, 10, 2010 In the past, I’ve had difficulty writing about the work of Nancy Crow.
It’s not her fault. She’s seen as a leader in her field.
In Kate Lenkowsky’s Contemporary Quilt Art, she’s called ”one of the foremost studio quiltmakers in the country” and ”a master colorist.”
The problem is all my own. I have trouble reconciling the acceptable rules and practices of studio work with those that use different criteria.
I’ve come to accept, for instance, that a jeweler is perfectly free to use a motif from a painting by, say, Picasso, without understanding a single thing about that motif’s meaning.
So when I look at a quilt show where the imagery being used aren’t traditional quilting motifs, but imagery borrowed from high art, I’m in a quandary.
I recognize that this is work normally seen as utilitarian being raised to the level of art by simply changing the motifs. But the borrowing of these motifs crosses some unwritten boundaries.
This has been my problem writing about work by Nancy Crow, at least until now.
A selection of Crow’s work is on view through Jan. 10 at the Butler Institute of Art Trumbull Branch in Howland, OH in Nancy Crow Quilts: New and Recent Works, curated by Mary Lou Alexander. Some 30 pieces are spread throughout the spacious modern gallery, giving her work the breadth it needs and deserves.
Crow, who has an MFA from Ohio State University, has always considered herself an artist, not a hobby quilter, and in a video made of her gallery talk given Oct. 24, one can see the flash of anger and frustration that crosses her face when she says this, so you know she’s had a hard slog to establish herself as a serious artist in a world that still regards quilts as craft.
Yet when I look at her work, I see not quilts, but paintings by Gene Davis, Joseph Albers, Kenneth Noland, Julian Stanzcak, Miriam Schapiro, even Frank Stella.
And if you thumb through the art history textbook American Art in the 20th Century, you’ll see what I mean.
Her striped Constructions quilts are similar to Davis’s striped paintings; her hard-edged abstractions look uncannily similar to work by Albers, Noland and Stella, and even her earlier, more organic work, such as Lady of Guadalupe (1987) bears such a striking similarity to some of Schapiro’s Pattern Paintings that I had to pull out a catalog and look through it, certain I’d find just that image.
I didn’t find it, but I did find Big OX, which does bear a striking similarity to her Constructions series with the big X’s.
Even the Constructions with the overlapping diagonals seem to echo some of Stella’s ’70s reliefs.
What’s going on? I asked myself. She’s seen as a leader, yet we see her blatantly borrowing themes developed by other, mostly living artists.
That’s not done in the art world. If you’re working in the 1950s, you don’t do targets like Jasper Johns. Similarly, if working in the 1960s, you simply don’t do Campbell soup cans a la Andy Warhol, not even if you do them in an entirely different medium.
There’s no law against a loose kind of borrowing of someone else’s style or theme, but if you do so, it’s an unwritten rule that you go back at least a couple of generations to do it; 100 years or more is better.
Borrowing, or ”appropriating” as it’s carefully phrased in the art world, from recent work can even get you in trouble, especially since the advent of the Internet, which caused everyone to copyright their images. Witness the legal battle between Shepard Fairey, who created the iconic Barack Obama ”Hope” portrait, and the Associated Press, whose photographer shot the original image.
In the 1990s, Jeff Koons, known for his chrome sculptures of banal objects, borrowed a photographic image of someone holding an armload of puppies and turned it into the chrome sculpture String of Puppies. Koons of course thought that if he appropriated the image, but used a different medium, he was in the clear. Not so. Koons had simply lifted the image and reproduced it without changing a thing except the medium. The folks who took the photograph sued him for copyright infringement and won.
Crow alters certain features of her work, so she can’t be accused of out-and-out stealing.
One could argue that because the hard-edge painters of the 1960s and 1970s had themselves freely appropriated the geometric patterning of Amish quilts, that in a sense, Crow’s reappropriating it back into the quilt medium is merely sauce for the gander. Still, to me this dipping back into the recent history of art is nettlesome.
So it was with a considerable relief that I saw her new Markings series, where she’s silkscreened her own hatchmarked patterns onto her hand-dyed fabric.
True, this new work does owe a small debt to Aboriginal art — she was in Australia not too long ago — and at least one of the quilts is extremely closely quilted, as in concentric, form-following patterns about an eighth of an inch apart, similar to quilted fabrics by South Pacific islanders.
But the big change is that the imagery is now her own.
”I have to keep growing and changing and challenging myself,” Crow told her Oct. 24 audience. ”It’s only a personal struggle I have with myself. It has nothing to do with the outside world. These are goals that I have set for myself.
”I know this from teaching. Many artists plateau because once you get good at something and people like that work, it’s easier to make that same work over and over and over. ”It’s much harder to go on and break new territory for yourself. You are the only judge. If you like what you’re doing and you want to go on, that’s all that matters in the end.
”But I guess some artists need a lot of outside adulation,” Crow smiled.
She’s using her new imagery, the nervous, highly energized lines and hatchmarks found in the black-and-white quilts and the black-on-red and black-on-ochre ones, to work through philosophical issues, such as the powerful Markings #1: The Known and the Unknown (2006), which according to Alexander is about Crow’s anger at the huge number of Iraq War dead, both ours and theirs.
Crow writes in her notebook about this quilt: ”My thoughts about this composition were that it would portray all those killed and still to be killed in Iraq (American Soldiers, Iraq Citizens, etc.), or in other words — Human Beings!!! Human Beings all killed because LIES ruled the world and our President Bush emphasized (Either Or). Were our lives worth the Lies?”
The people who come to look at Crow’s work are mostly interested in quilting, but in a sense, this show should give those people pause, because she’s moved beyond quilting. As she told her audience on Oct. 24, ”I would love it that I would be recognized as an artist first and then as a quiltmaker.”
In fact, Crow does none of her own quilting — ”If I did all my own quilting, I’d never get my work done.”
For years she’s hand-designed, pieced and machine-stitched her quilt tops and sent them off to Marla Hattabaugh to be hand-quilted.
Crow is still known for the tight control she exercises over her work. She hand-dyes her own fabrics, and in her Constructions series, she’s still hand-piecing each one. Overlapping elements aren’t laid across the ones that seem to lie underneath; rather, they’re hand-pieced to fit so precisely that even the tiniest triangle of color representing an underlying form is so carefully pieced in place that the illusion is maintained.
Color of the quilting thread is an important element in Crow’s Constructions. One could almost argue that in these works thread color represents ground color, which if true means the quilting thread almost needs to be chosen first, because invariably its color acts as a foil to the fabric over which it’s stitched.
These are the minutiae over which quilters obsess in a Crow show: stitching, intricacy of the quilting pattern, the beauty and variety of the colors, the precision of the piecing.
But in a sense, Crow has backed away from the one element that had characterized her work until now and kept it tied to the roots of quilts as utilitarian objects, and that’s the hand-piecing. In her new work, in particular the Markings series, she’s almost abandoned piecing. In these, the only piecing done is in the large squares and rectangles of screenprinted cloth.
”I’m going to be doing more of what I call improvisational screenprinting,” she told her audience.
That means that she’s now beginning to treat her quilts almost as paintings. From a fine arts point of view, that’s very good news.
Dorothy Shinn writes about art and architecture for the Akron Beacon Journal. Send information to her at the Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309-0640 or dtgshinn@neo.rr.com.
Details:
Show: Nancy Crow Quilts: New and Recent Works
When: Through Jan. 10, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday
Where: The Butler Trumbull Branch, 9350 E. Market St., Howland Township.
 Sagittarius polyfilla tile, photo by Verseguru Sagittarius, November 23 to December 21
Sagittarius, if you have definite aims and objectives, with your good administrative abilities, you will be forceful in getting your quilt projects finished up.
Without a clear vision, your sensitivity and vagueness may lead you to drift and those unfinished projects could pile up.
As a lover of freedom, you would be attracted improvisational quilt making techniques. Pre-packaged quilt patterns and kits would be a constraint rather than motivational. You like to peruse the quilting magazines and help books, and then strike out in your own personal interpretations.
Sagittarius, you can be courageous, energetic and self starting, and so if you are judging a quilt exhibit, remember to act with tact.
 Sagittarius, acrylic painting by O Gatoverde  Sagittarius, Chartres Cathedral, photo by gembee Your optimism and straight forward intellect can direct the clarity you achieve in your quilt art work. Your restlessness and philosophical nature can lead to those aforementioned UFO quilting projects. (TIP) If you get “stuck” in your quilting, review your color palette. Often it’s subconscious dissatisfaction with the colors you are working with that leads to indecision.
Go to the Scorpio quilter
Go to the Libra quilter
In the CQA Quilting News
from the Idaho Statesman, 11/05/09, by BY DANA OLAND doland@idahostatesman.com
Artists from Gee’s Bend see life and history in every quilt they make
 Louisana Pettway Bendolph To Louisiana Pettway Bendolph, the beautiful quilts she makes are like her children.
“You have to love them first, and then you have to let them go,” she says softly, as she gestured to the large rich square of fabric hanging on the wall at the Boise Art Museum. Her quilt is titled simply “Blocks and Strips.”
“The quilts are about my life. A lot of people want to forget where they came from, but you always remember,” she said. “You draw from it.”
“When I was working in the cotton fields, I never thought that some of that same cotton would be Continue reading Gee’s Bend Quilts and The Circle of Life
 our first snow of the winter The person who “has everything” probably doesn’t have a hand made quilt.
Since it’s a one of a kind type of gift, a hand made quilt suggests that your loved one or friend also is special. When you give a hand made quilt, they receive a beautiful treasure.
It’s the beauty of the unexpected unique gift item, and the beauty expressed in giving and sharing. You put thought into the selection, you didn’t get a store bought quilt that won’t survive 2 washings. There’s no individuality in the mass market.
Further down, there is a link to my sales website, Quilts4U, to view the many beautiful quilts I have to offer you for the coming holiday season.
But first, some input on why quilts make a very special gift.
What sets apart a hand made quilt?
- It’s easier to fold than a map.
- Quilting is very human, made by people to be enjoyed by other people.
- Our decision to use only best quality fabrics demonstrates our respect for the purchaser. In particular, our children’s quilts are durable.
- Our quality workmanship, accurate piecing and square dimensions, take time and effort. Again, these features demonstrate our commitment and respect for the purchaser.
- Buying a hand made quilt supports a craft/art form that reflects a way of life that is struggling in this day and age – qualities of family, friendships, home, community – giving and sharing.
- Your purchase goes to support a small independent business owner, not a big box store.
- Your purchase promotes her dream, making and selling original and creative quilts.
So, why not wrap yourself up in a quilt, wrap up a quilt for someone else, hang a quilt on your wall, send a quilt to college, take a quilt to the ball park, put one on a baby carriage.
More Suggestions For Enjoyable Use of Quilts
 WE SEND BY FED EX, but this is a cute stamp WE CAN SEND A GIFT WRAPPED QUILT DIRECTLY TO ANY ADDRESS IN CANADA OR THE USA.
Please go to my Quilts4U Website to view and make your selections. Use our handy contact form over there to make the arrangements for sending one or more gift wrapped quilts to any address in Canada or the USA. NO EXTRA CHARGES. (Pay Pal will automatically show your address.)
PURCHASE 2 QUILTS AND THE LOWER PRICED ONE WILL BE REDUCED BY 10%. This special offer ends on December 31, 2009.
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