SAQA Benefit Auction Donation for 2013

Onions Galore will be my donation for the SAQA Benefit Auction this year. It is from a small watercolor made a couple of years ago. It was really fun to turn this little piece into a 12" x 12" quilt.

This auction raises money for SAQA to support a number of art quilt exhibitions around the world each year. Last year over $60,000 was raised by selling these little quilts. They are sold in a reverse auction starting at $750. Each year there are quilts sold by artists who get more than that for their small work. The final amount is $75. Artists donate hoping their work will sell for a goodly amount.

Many wonderful quilts are donated each year, and I think they get better and better each year. Some are already up on the SAQA website and this year looks better yet.

Here is Onions Galore. Hope the hand stitching of the stem and the roots shows up well.

Would love to get feedback on the piece.

Nancy

Suzanne Golden Presents - A Book of Beaders

Received a fascinating book on beading artists called Suzanne Golden Presents Interviews with 36 Artists Who Innovate with Beads.  While some of the artists do a variety of jewelry, the art of other artists in the book would be classified more as sculpture. Even the jewelry is art and highly sculptural.

The cover of the book gives a tip of the iceberg on the variety and exceptional artists and their work.

Several artists stand out for me.  I was not familiar with Betsy Youngquist's art. She uses porcelain doll heads and beads to create her humorous and slightly menacing sculptures.They are most intriguing. Kay Dolezal creates both pieces for political commentary like Prayer Run #1 and some for her own fun like Bubble Wrap- Unpopped. This last piece looks like a roll of bubble wrap for wrapping something precious instead of being precious. Marina Dempster creates some of the most imaginative shoes I have ever seen using beads and other other a variety of other items, like feathers, antique false teeth, fur, thorns, antlers and others.

This is definitely a book for the lover of bead art.

Nancy

SAQA Donation Quilt Underway

For the last several years I have participated in the SAQA art quilt auction by donating a piece of my work. They are all 12' x 12" and the finished pieces are posted on the SAQA website. Each year they raise more money to help SAQA with exhibitions featuring art quilts from around the world. Last year they raised over $50,000.  It is one of the few places I am willing to donate my art. Other places get other stuff or money when I have it.

This year I am basing the piece on one of my watercolor sketches. Let me know what you think of it.

I found the color variations in these onions to be quite intriguing. And If I had drawn from memory, I would not have put the lateral lines in, but they are there. The shape of the two was different, one flatter and one more rounded.

Nancy

Be Still My Heart - A New Book

I am delighted to be a recipient of Martha Sielmans' newest book by Lark Crafts: Art Quilt Portfolio: People and Portraits. I had been reading about the book for about a week, but a copy came today that is beautiful.

I have just thumbed through it so far, and it has a similar format to the one she did on Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World. The book is divided into seven chapters, for example: Happiness, Contemplation, Community. In each chapter, she has in depth interviews with three artists whose work illustrate the chapter titles and a gallery of additional artwork. Some of the artwork is highly realistic, some is whimsical and all are well grounded in art. 

Sielman has selected some of my favorite artists working with the human form in many different styles. Techniques and materials are given for each of the beautiful pieces. While I love photos of lovely quilts, I find that books with artist interviews are far more interesting in the long run as there is always something to learn about each of the artists.

The photography inf the book, and the look and feel of the book are wonderful. I really look forward to reading it cover to cover.  Sielman and Lark Craft are to be congratulated on the second book in the series. It stands up well to the standard set by her earlier book. 

If you are interested in art, art of the quilt, or art of the human form, you will enjoy this book.

 

This goes on my bed side table for leisurely reading. 

Please let me know if you enjoy these book reviews. Getting comments lets me know I am not talking to myself.  

Nancy

Great Backyard Bird Count

I took part this weekend in the Great Backyard Bird Count. giving me a great excuse to sit in the kitchen with binoculars and watch the birds coming to the feeder and the side yard over the creek.

Here are some of the photos. Enjoy and let me know if you enjoy birds.

Nancy

Eastern Bluebird pair - we have 3 pair who frequent our yard

this mockingbird guards the feeder and chases off the robin who likes to come and stay

Great to get a shot of the red belly that this woodpecker is named for

Pine warbler sharing the feeder with a bluebird

Earth Stories- a New Challenge

Twenty five SAQA artists have the opportunity to tell a story about a person or project that is making the earth a better place. We have almost a year to create the work which needs to fill a 72" x 72" space plus a smaller version that tells the entire story. I proposed to tell a story from The Nature Conservancy, an organization that I have long been familiar with and highly respect for all the good they are doing nationally and around the globe.

TNC works closely with local groups to educate and involve the groups in a long term sustainable plan for a critical environment. In North Carolina they are working with state and county groups, the US Amy and a number of industrial giants in the state to preserve and restore natural habitats that have been selected as critical.

I contacted TNC and discussed what project they have that they would like to see more widely understood and supported. They told me of the work they are doing with controlled burns in the coastal areas and the mountain areas. Often these controlled burns are around bogs where underbrush is crowding out endangered plants or changing the habitat so that endangered animals cannot survive.

I selected three diverse species to focus on: the NC indigenous Venus Flytrap that needs open areas for the seedlings to sprout and grow, the yellow fringed orchid that needs less competition from shrubs and grasses in order to grow in boggy areas, and the Red Cockaded Woodpecker that needs mature long leaf and lob lolly pines trees to nest in and the trees need open areas and fire to germinate and survive.

I am excited to see that this selection gives me some repetitive pattern and lines to design with and can be made harmonious with color choices.

Here is my first color sketch of the Venus Flytrap.

These colors are not particularly exaggerated. Love the inside colors of the spiny leaves that are designed to capture flies. The top two leaves to the left show the trigger hairs that release the capture mechanism that holds the fly while the plant digests it.

I also have a photo of part of the flower head of the yellow fringed orchid. Note the fringe of the lip that is reminiscent of the spikes on the flytrap.

Isn't this going to be fun!

Nancy

Seeds Up Close Exhibition at NC Arboretum Asheville NC

The drive to Asheville was sunny, cool, cloudy, and rainy. Every few miles to the Arboretum brought a different weather. We were met at the door by Tracy and her volunteer assistant, Vanessa.
The galleries are at each entrance to the second floor of the Education Center. Mossy Cup Oak and six other pieces are at the head of the stairs.
More information is at the Arboretum website: http://www.ncarboretum.org/exhibits/current/nancy-g-cook/

I love the Arboretum and wish it were closer for more frequent visits. They have beautiful architecture, well designed gardens and great education materials even in the design of the buildings. There is really wonderful nature-inspired art on display all the time, both indoors and out.

If you are in the neighborhood of Asheville NC between now and April 7, check it out and please let me know what you think of it. 

I created some framed small works for the gift shop and hope their visitors like them. One is Turkey Feastings similar to my 2012 SAQA donation. The other is Pine Needles 3.

 My husband does my framing and does a lovely job designed to show each piece off really well. Turkey Feastings shows what his work does for my work.

Pine Needles 3 is in a rectangular frame, not shown well in the skewed photo above. The frame is really lovely but my photography is not!

 Here are a couple of informal photos of the installation in progress. Lovely posters are under construction to tell people about the works in the exhibition. Great graphic arts used. These photos are before lighting and labels are set up.

Installation photos