Cay Denise

Love this excerpt from Robert Genn's newsletter today talking about shamanism in art and trying your hand at creating in magical/mysterious ways like: *Making apparitions emerge, dissolve, arise *Making talismanic, totemic or iconic images *Making your passions visible and tangible *Going for materials that exalt and inspire *Conveying your spirit, your magic, your trance *Making meaningful motifs out of slim evidence *Finding reliable order in the midst of chaos *Paying special attention to birth, death, and rebirth *And, if all else fails, telling a tall story If you were to play shaman in your studio today, what would you create?

I went to a workshop yesterday in which Alma de la Melena Cox led a group of students through her Telamadera collage-making process. It starts with a piece of wood and a design. After transferring a design, the wood can be scored with a wood-burning tool if the artist wants to do so. Next is painting the wood and then adding fabric over the painted surface. The next step is to varnish one layer. After this, puff or other 3D paints can be added. To finish the piece a minimum of 6 more coats of varnish needs to be applied for a smooth, glossy finish. The above is almost finished. It has two coats of varnish and needs five more. Overall, it is intended to be a color/depth study. How does it work from your perspective?

Took three paper collages I made and scanned and saved them as jpegs. Then they were combined into a digital collage. How does it look?

The class has now ended as of yesterday, but it was a great week in Pacific Grove, CA at the Asilomar Conference Grounds! The class was led by Kerby Smith, husband of quilt artist Lura Schwarz Smith. His vocation is photography, and he has started quilting his own photographs on fabric. The class goal was teach those of us who attended (all quilters) how to get good prints from their own photographs on fabric. As part of the class, a pre-assignment was to come up with 10 8"x8" photographs on a theme. I did 9 photos (as pictured above) and had a dual theme. One of those is red. Can you tell what the other one is?

A new digital magazine from Quilting Arts! Watch the tutorial below with Pokey Bolton to learn how to navigate through this downloadable magazine and all the extras it comes with:

Wonderful seatbelt commercial!

This unfinished piece is one of a few UFOs (unfinished objects) in the Season 6 taping of Quilting Arts TV. The purpose for my submission of this piece is to get a recommendation on how to finish it. The manner in which they handle the critique/ recommendation is a mystery. But I received the photo image above in the mail with the returned piece plus a couple of hand-dyed fabrics (one brown and the other...a musty pink). What do you think?

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.