Winter Fruit takes Honorable Mention at MHA

Winter Fruit won an Honorable Mention at the Winter Judged art show at Mint Hill Arts in Mint Hill, NC. Judges were Christie Taylor and Dot Hodges, owners of Hodges Taylor Gallery and Art Consultancy. The award was from Amanda Carroll at Bead Boutique, 1820 Windsor Square, Charlotte NC. I will definitely enjoy this gift certificate.

The new location for MHA is really wonderful. It was totally designed to display art at its best. The art show was excellent, refreshments were great as usual and the turnout for the opening was terrific.

My DH also won an Honorable Mention for a new piece of work in a substantial change of style for him.

Another Fiber Art Options member, Deborah Langsam had two pieces of her wonderful photo-based work in the show as well. They attracted lots of attention and wonderment as they are quite unusual and are a real surprise when one gets up close.

Once Debbie selects her subject matter, she researches the subject and finds loads of copyright free photos of the subject. She manipulates these photos to create a tiling of the images that convey her subject. One of the pieces in the show was a close up of an orchid flower, and she had composed the piece out of dozens of individual small orchid photos. From a distance it reads as one large close up, but on close inspection one sees the multiple images. This was a piece created for the Fiber Art Options invitational exhibition Orchids: Sensuality Stitched at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens last February during their orchid extravaganza.

The winter show will be up through December 30. The MHA center is open Tuesdays - Saturdays from 10 - 3 and has some great gift options from local artists in the gift shop. Course much of the art work in the exhibition is for sale as well. Admission is free and it would be a great break during the holidays if you are in the area.

Happy holidays to all

Nancy

From Art to Landscape - Love this book!

Published by Timber Press, 2010

W. Gary Smith has written a terrific book that transcends landscaping and has much to offer any artist willing to look beyond their own genre.

Notes from the back cover include the following:

" Among the inspiring techniques explored by renowned landscape designer and artist Gary Smith:

* Cultivating the art of careful intuition

* Building a visual vocabulary of shapes, forms and patterns

* Sketching, painting and drawing to connect to place

* Taking inspiration from painting, dance, and other art forms

* Infusing your designs with wonder by learning from nature

* Inviting serendipity


Encouraging, personal, and delighting in the creative process, Smith shows you how to develop 'a richness of expression beyond your ability to imagine.' "


I have been reading a couple of books from artists with different perspectives. This book, written for people interested in landscape design, has a lack of jargon that is both refreshing and an easy read.

Of course, I love gardens and the book's chapter (The Garden as Fine Art: H. F. du Pont's Winterthur) is on one of my favorites.

Happy reading,

Nancy

From Floral to Fabric

Saturday, I taught my first workshop on the techniques that I use for my Seed Play series. The workshop at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens was one of the educational offerings accompanying my solo exhibition. The participants did a great job with a complex process and a limited amount of time.

Here are some of the results at the end of the day. Love the way this image captures the inside of the seed pod on the right. This piece was based on the trumpet vine seed pods.

This interesting piece is based on the fruit and leaves of the Stauntonia which is a vine growing up a post on the veranda. It is a lovely pinkish color with maroon splotches. Susan Dunn-Lederhaas did a great job capturing the complex colors on this fruit form.
This is another piece based on the trumpet vine, with a nice capturing of the ridges along each side and the speckling of the pods.

This delicate piece captures the iris seed pods and those are the cute little seeds over to the right. Nice rhythm captured in the leaves.

This artist captured the fall leaves of the bur oak. I really like the way she layered the leaves and the negative spaces created by the spaces between the leaves.

Cindy went for an impressionist rendition of the bur oak leaves. I love the rhythm and the flow of the colors.

Our only trained artist chose a really challenging inspiration. She is well on her way to create a great piece inspired by the Beauty Berry. Don't you love the colors and the lines of the leaves? Great movement and rhythm.
This piece was inspired by a banana leaf. Love the rib and the spots and browning areas. A perfect leaf would be so boring in comparison.
Annette captured the grace and liveliness of these colorful beans.

It was a great workshop location. Nice bright room, windows onto the garden, super hospitality and congenial participants. Hard to ask for anything better. The ladies did a remarkably good job on challenging tasks. I was blown away by how well they all did.

Don't you think they did well?

Nancy

Collecting Specimens- What Fun!!

Collecting specimens is loads of fun with good company in a beautiful place.


Bur Oak Acorn

Last Friday, Cindy Klemmer, Director of Education at Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden, took me for a ride around the grounds to collect seed specimens for my workshop there on Saturday. It was a rare privilege and delight.

That charmer above is an acorn that I have long wanted to work with. It looks like a small child in an overly large winter hat. There were lots of these acorns under a tree along the road going to the Visitors Center.



Beauty Berry

These colorful berries are a native plant that grows in my garden, but never as lush as these beauties. Easy to see where it got its name.


Bald Cypress Seed Clusters

This interesting cluster of seeds simply falls apart when ripe. I was delighted to find this seed cluster. I had never seen one before. These are the same trees we see along the coast with knees growing up in the swamp.



Rose Hips

These interesting berries have a star at their tip. The banks of roses were full of hips. Will all hips make tea?


Paw paw

This rather small pod was full of seeds and some were still available under the fallen leaves from a cluster of trees near the Education Center.


Hyacinthe Bean

This bean is on a vine, like string beans. Very colorful.

Cindy was knowledgeable and a congenial hostess for the garden. We had a great time on a lovely fall day. These collected seeds will be great specimens for the workshop on Saturday. Thanks, Cindy.

Nancy

Workshop at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens Saturday 11/6

Inspiration: Crepe Myrtle Seed Pods

Wish me luck. I am teaching my first workshop on my techniques and processes at DSBG in Belmont NC. I love teaching, especially adults who are interested in the subject matter. Did lots of it in my former employment as an HR consultant for Duke Energy. Have done some in the quilting realm, so it is not totally unfamiliar. This time, I am teaching processes I use and am very familiar with, but do not have a good feel for how quickly others will grasp the materials. The challenge is always how to keep it simple enough for beginners to grasp and sophisticated enough to keep the old hands interested.
It is both a process and a product class. So everyone should be able to go away with a small piece of nature inspired art of their own creation based on the techniques taught.
I have begun developing the actual course curriculum and materials. I will have a pretty complete kit of materials and extra materials for participants to experiment with. The workshop is limited to 15 people maximum to provide good space and time for each person to ask questions.


Please, if you are interested in the workshop, contact DSBG or register on line.

Nancy

Be Still My Heart

This is the first piece.

Just got my newest batch of Heidi Stoll Weber fabrics. As usual they are luscious and she sent lots for me to chose from.

I use her hand dyed cotton sateen fabrics exclusively for my current series: Seed Play. Her fabrics are both luscious with rich colors but soft enough that I can ink my designs onto them with semi transparent inks.

My next group will be on native plants and I wanted enough that I can do a group of 3 coordinated pieces. So Heidi sent me lots of luscious fabric to choose from. Her fabrics always put me in a dilemma of wanting more than I can justify buying.

SeedPlay Exhibition Hung!

Kousa: Another Dogwood's in Town

Wednesday my DH and I, with many of the staff at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens, hung my solo show. I am delighted with how it looks at the venue. The galleries are to the right and left of the entry on the hall where the restrooms are. So many people will walk by them on the way to the necessaries. I have several new pieces in the show that have not been exhibited previously. I will show details of some of them here. Hope you enjoy. (Yes, they were my Quilt National entries.)

The top photo is of the Asian dogwood that is finding its way into our landscapes as a recommended replacement for our beautiful native dogwoods, as the natives are dying from a fungal disease. It blooms later and the berry is very different.


Mockingbird's Larder

The detail above is from a piece that celebrates the joyous color that the deciduous hollies provide throughout our gray winters. The berries ripen late so the birds find them welcome food for the late winter when other food is gone.


Echoes of Tulip's Summer

The tulip poplar is one of my favorite trees. It sheds its seeds for more than a year thereby better ensuring that some of them will find suitable soil and weather conditions to germinate and grow.

For me, the multiple ways that tree seeds use for reproduction provide a metaphor for the importance of diversity for a species' survival as conditions change. The lesson it teaches us about the importance of diversity for humans is one that we need to learn in the depths of our hearts, minds and souls.

Please wish me luck for my show that runs until November 14 and come see it if you are any where nearby Belmont NC.

Nancy