Cay Denise

Earlier this month, I took an introductory workshop in fused glass.  Participants made small ornaments...the easiest for beginners was a bird.  We began by learning how to handle glass, what tools are involved in the craft, how to cut and grind glass, and finally - how to decorate it.   To ease us in to cutting the glass, which is difficult to do, we had a practice sheet.  First, students cut glass strips followed by a variety of shapes.  Circles, are quite challenging.  They take a number of curved cuts to complete.   Fused glass differs from stained glass in that fused glass is the layering of glass to create designs that is kiln-fired.  Stained glass, on the other hand, is made of glass cut into shapes and put together in a frame held together with solder.  The most notable stained glass are the works in church/cathedral windows -- some of which have been in existence for hundreds of years.   That said, I came away with a far greater ...

I recently visited our local quilt museum to see the juried entries in Quilt National 2025.  It usually is a impressive array of quilts and fiber art.  I was surprised, however, with how much more neutral the palette of colors used in this year's exhibited quilts contrasted with what I've seen in prior years' entries and winners.  These are still lovely pieces in their own right from Susan Else's quilted sculpture to simulated bark on the forest floor to a burning geodesic dome.  That said, it was more of the narratives accompanying the art quilts that gave depth to the meaning of the imagery.   Every juried entry in to Quilt National is a winner regardless of a ribbon.  They are spectacularly well-executed, thoughtful in their approach to the subject of their work, and use fabrics and decoration in  unusual ways.   This is a sampling of my favorite art quilts/fiber art in the Quilt National 2025 exhibition.  "Forest Floor, Tree Bark Frangmen...

The link below is to a poignant New York Times opinion piece by David Brooks published in January 2024.  It is every bit as current in 2025 as it was last year.  In this piece, he advocates for educating oneself in culture (reading books, viewing art, making or listening to music, etc. -- especially of the greats in their fields).  He remarks that it is in knowing the culture of our times and being informed by those of the past that we become enlarged human beings -- embracing a level of understanding we may not know otherwise. "How Art Creates Us"

This is a first large-to-me canvas painting that I've completed in Louise Fletcher's course.  It is 24" x 30" and was started as a course assignment -- an open painting.   The open painting is a place for experimentation and play.  Mine has gone through quite an evolution since the first rubber brush line was made.  After many days of adding drips, writing, and paint to the canvas bit by bit, it changed.   At one point, I turned the strange-looking canvas upside-down.  With more painting, it changed so much more until a tree shape arrived - the hint being an upside-down funnel that would became the trunk.  At that point, there were two spirals on the bottom, one on each side of that trunk.  One has been painted over.  The remaining one has peek-a-book layers and looks like a portal to an 'other' place.  Hence, its serendipitous title:   Rabbit Hole under the Tree of Cups .   I may make a few tweaks, but the painting is essentia...

Through August 31st (2025), we've lived through 224 days of the second Donald J. Trump Presidency.  Upon his inauguration, I began a zine series representing the news articles/issues for roughly two-month periods of time.  PoliZine #1 covered Inauguration Day through February 28, and PoliZine #2 covered March 1 through April 30.   This post contains photos of PoliZine #3 (May 1-June 30) and PoliZine #4 (July 1-August 31).  Both are digital collages of many shared Facebook posts from those time periods about political stories prominent in the news cycle during the respective periods.   These PoliZines feel like hosting containers for information dumps I've needed to make for my own unburdening.  None of them are pretty, and they have no order.  But isn't that what we -- who are citizens of the U.S. -- have been living through since January 20th?  Looking at it this way, they seem quite fitting. How are you artfully expressing your reactions, positi...