Arts Thrive in North Carolina Counties

Recently I have had the opportunity to visit public art centers across North Carolina, and they appear to be thriving with great respect for fiber art! Communities are creatively using their former court houses, an abandoned tobacco auction warehouse, auto salesrooms and large homes.

Yesterday we delivered over twenty pieces of art to the Caldwell Arts Council in Lenoir NC that is in the foot hills of the mountains.

I took some photos of the building to share.

Love the wrap around porch. Note the colorful panels between the second floor windows. Note also the pig on the roof peak and the colorful sculptures on the right lawn.

Each colorful panel has the logo that conveys arts with boldness and charm!

These larger than life size musicians greet the visitor the Caldwell Arts Council.


A real first for me is an outside sign announcing the exhibition.

To further demonstrate the community support of the arts, the Lenoir Women's Club hosts the artist reception. 

Really looking forward to the opening. Hope you can come by if you are in the area.

Nancy

 

Be Still My Heart

I love Spring! The flowers, the warm spring breezes, the bird songs....

This was the first pot of daffodils to bloom. They are Tete a Tetes. They were our second daffodil to bloom. The first was a hillside of February Gold. This winter lingered so they began blooming late February and hit their stride in March.Some years they bloom in January and are gone by February. They are good for our wooded garden as they bloom out and harden off before leaves come out and shade them. so they can set buds in their bulbs for next year.

Last year my husband brought all our various pots up to the front of the house and planted some gorgeous pansies in them. They lasted less than 48 hours -- deer dessert.

Remembering that almost nothing eats daffodils, I planted the pots with a variety of daffodils last fall and we have been enjoying them for about a month.

Are deer eating your garden?

I would love to have some venison, my very favorite meat. Low in fat and cholesterol so very heart friendly. Venison on the hoof in our garden, and not a hunter in the family.

Virginia bluebells

These lovelies are my favorite wild flower. They are called spring ephemerals because they will die back during the summer. They bloomed a bit after the Tete a Tetes but February Gold. 

In this photo on a hillside going to the creek at the bottom of our garden, you can see two colors of wood hyacinths, some old Lenten Roses (helebores) and a little bit of Epimedium roseum.

And how does your garden grow? 

I have been out in the garden taking photos for inspiration for quilts. I don't do flowers, as everyone else does, but I have some super lovely buds and seed pods to use.

Nancy

Art for Art

Last week I picked up my artwork at the NC Arboretum minus one piece.

Southern Hospitality sold! It is always lovely when someone responds to my work with enough commitment they want to take it to live with them. And when they chose a favorite, it is even better.

This piece traveled to Britain, France, NY NY, CA and Atlanta. It is better traveled than I am.

One of the traditions I started is that when I sell a full size piece of art, i buy art from another artist - either directly or in a gallery.  This time I fell in love with jewelry by Michael Michaud for Silver Seasons. It is inspired by the vivid purple bean of the lablab purpureus, known at the Purple Hyacinth - a vine.

The beans are purple hand cast glass supported by patinaed bronze.Wearing a seed form really appeals to me.  Love the shapes and the color (not showing well in my photo) is great.

How do you celebrate?

Nancy

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