Cay Denise

See a SmileBox slideshow of what to expect at the 35th Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show in Sisters, OR by clicking this post's title (which has an active link)! Photo credit: Event poster For show info, go to www.sistersoutdoorquiltshow.org

See a short SmileBox slideshow of some exquisite work by Linda Taylor! Visit the active link by clicking on this post's title.

I just learned Lucille Clifton, wonderful poet and children's book writer, passed away Saturday. She was author of the Everett Anderson cihildren's books, and her children's book titled 'My Friend Jacob' is a special favorite of mine. Her poetry was deep and sometimes wonderfully amusing (e.g. Homage To My Hips). Lucille was one of my professors at UCSC and a lovely woman, and I'll remember her fondly. Blessings on your journey, wise woman!

OVO is another creative and delightful Cirque du Soleil show -- this time about the bug kingdom! These photos give you a wee flavor of the show. The wall in the first was huge that the green bug characters would climb and then fall off of backwards on to a trampoline that you couldn't see (at stage level) and then bounce back up to their position on the climbing wall. It was really cool! The costuming of these green bugs was especially amazing! In fact, they doubled as grasshoppers throughout most of the shows by having legs attached (as in the second photo) and sliding along the floor. The garments were stunning especially these bug's headpieces which had parts that appeared irridescent! Cirque du Soleil traveling big-top shows are always a mystery, and that's part of the fun!

This is such an excellent and imaginative Mad Hatter! In fact, I would not know it is Johnny Depp without seeing his by-line in the trailer credits and reading the preview information. The image is great and a major part of that is thanks to the green patterned background! If it were to be removed, the image wouldn't be half as good.

My 'Hundertwasser Wannabe' project, that I don't seem to be able to go any further with, has been selected as one of 10 unfinished projects that will be on a segment of Quilting Arts TV. The intention is to give those of us with pieces that we feel stuck on some professional design and/or construction suggestions so that we can finish them up. In addition, it will also give viewers some perspective with which to look at their own work. I don't know how they're going to do it, but the segment is supposed to air some time in June.

This video is unfortunately no longer available for viewing.

Did you know that that arts were once part of the Olympic games (in the early 1900s)? Honouring Canada's musical Olympic medallist - thestar.com

Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims have produced a Smilebox video of quilts from the Tokyo Quilt Festival 2010. Japanese quilts are quite stunning and take traditional style to the edge. Click on the title of this post to be taken to the web page where you can view the video of some of the show's works.

Not sure what this is going to inspire yet, but something calls out wanting to be made!

This figurine work is so fun!

In the current issue of Art Calendar, there is a neat article about a new four-year degree in the Business of Art and Design (at Ringling College)! The program was apparently conceived based on the fact that today, most successful artists need to have well-developed creative minds as well as logical, left-brain skills with the ability to use both. The idea of 'starving artist' -- no more. The curriculum sounds challenging, even to this business major. It includes marketing, finance, and project management in addition to arts classes. It even has electives that include museum curating and managing creatives. I'd be really interested in this program, if I were going for a BA now! All courses have been 're-cast' to incorporate arts-related case studies and exercises, etc. For example, there's a leadership class that studies Cirque du Soleil and its growth over the last 25 years, core values, and long-term objectives. What an educational concept...I love it!

Its a new business that features the photographic work of Stephen Oachs. But beyond gallery, Aperature Academy offers classes! The range of classes include on-site photo shoots with tutoring from professionals on how to use one's camera equipment to computer classes (Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom). I recently took the introductory class to Photoshop for Photographers, and it was very good! I'm going back for more...to learn layers so I can start creating photo collages and montages with my digital images. If you'd like to learn more, the title of this post has an active link to the Aperature Academy website.

Check out my poem 'Emboldened' that has been posted on Gloria Hansen's blog (January 3, 2010 entry). It was inspired by her digial collage work titled 'London Dreaming' that is also posted there.

Reviewing the year, my quilt art accomplishments have been slight with only three pieces completed in the year (one which was a gift). As for art in general, I did the following: *Created a Facebook profile and presence *Created a Twitter profile and presence *Created a LinkedIn profile and presence *Read Artist's Photo Quilts (which I really enjoyed) *Pre-washed and ironed all yellow, orange and red fabrics in my stash for future use *Started working with a professional photographer on developing a portfolio/theme and discussing print types for a future exhibition *Designed and made goody bags for visiting Chinese textile artists *Entered three quilt art pieces in juried venues *Went on various photo shoots and altered lots of photos taken *Went to American Craft Council's annual art & craft show in San Francisco

The New York Times ran an article recently about the exhibit of Jung's The Red Book in Chelsea. The book is a record of his dreamwork in visual and written form, and I understand it is pretty impressive. The exhibit is supposed to be at the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) from April through June 2010. I think I'll go!

You can see some of Paula Nadelstern's work in this video as well as find out all about kaleidoscopes!

The Hundertwasser look is more recent. Do you like the direction this piece is headed?

Happy Halloween to everyone! I just found a neat animated coffin toy at the resale shop. It has a spook whose eyes light up and there are screams from it, when motion is detected. If I were a kid, that would be pretty scary. Anyway, I had to get it for a fun and ghoulish porch display to go with the pumpkin haunted mansion. The photos are from a recent outdoor quilt show in Livermore, CA. Its so fun to see quilts hanging in the out-of-doors, and they just add special to the environment! By the way, if you think you notice (in one of the photos) a piece that looks like Laura Wasilowski's work...it is Laura Wasilowski's work. She was there and brought many delightful pieces.

This smilebox video is unfortunately no longer available for viewing.

The San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles has just announced a juried International TechStyle Art Biennial, a signature event, to coincide with the ZeroOne biennial festival of art on the edge (that utilizes technology). For information on the exhibit, click on this post's title.

I'm an original Star Trek series fan...and this sounds like fun! For more information, click on this link: http://www.thetech.org/StarTrek/ .

The Fabric of Life Boutique in Edmonds, WA is doing some very special work...giving a lifeline and livelihood to creative women in poverty-stricken areas of the world. There is some very neat quilt/art work available from the shop. For a video of the shop and its offerings, click on this post's title. This story was originally learned about through a Quilt Show e-mail. For those of you who don't know about the show, it is co-hosted by Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, and the website where you can find out more information about it is: www.thequiltshow.com .

To help reassure people during these difficult economic times, Artist Bren Bataclan had an idea and is making it real. He is leaving his artwork for people to find with the message that the art is theirs and just asks that the receiver smiles at strangers more often. So far, he has left over 400 free paintings througout 20 U.S. cities and 20 countries. Read more about the 'Smile Project' by clicking on this post's title.

Great new book! Charlotte Ziebarth has done what I hoped she would (after seeing her art quilts) which is to create a how-I-did-it book. She provides the guidelines on how to 'play' with your photographs in Photoshop to digitally alter them for printing on fabric and then using that fabric in the creation of unique art quilts. The book itself is easy to read and beautifully photographed. Also, the steps for using Photoshop's layers to create the kinds of images the author uses in her quilts were clear and photographs were used to further illustrate the results of each step. It is interesting that the photos used in the authors works haven't been the best in terms of focus or quality, but they have served to create wonderfully etheric forms and effects for the author's fabric art pieces. The author's goal for the book is to inspire readers to play with their photographs in Photoshop. Well, I'm inspired and planning to do just that!

Some really neat work is being done quickly and quite effectively with this application!

Using Angel card with word 'Peace' on it as inspiration: Waxing moon whispering stem blowing stories of a flower's blooming fired by seed and sun green phoenix rising in a a dance of orbs.

In the New York Times today, there is an article with 15 rules for theater etiquette. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the author! You can find the article by clicking on this post's title. In this day and age, when common courtesy seems to be a rarity and our once-known and -observed respectful actions seem to have all but disappeared, this list would return theaters (including movie theaters) to environments where you could go for good entertainment feeling like the play, concert or movie was just playing to you (since you wouldn't be distracted by your audience neighbor). Let's get back to some sanity and self-control!