Mountain West Bank Exhibit

As part of its visual arts program, POAC maintains several ancillary galleries in businesses around the immediate area. This is a chance for an artist to have a solo or duo show, like my solo show at STCU last year. There are no opening receptions and the exhibits don't see as much traffic as those at the main gallery or Panhandle State Bank, but it is an opportunity to get work out of the closet and into the offices and hallways of a public building. This time, I was invited to exhibit at Mountain West Bank in Ponderay, ID with none other than fellow fiber artist and co-founder of my Third Mondays art group, Meg Marchiando of Blue Turtles Art.

No real planning for how our work might mesh in this space. We just trusted that there were enough common threads for our pieces to work together and enough differences to keep it interesting. I pulled a lot of older work that hasn't been on exhibit for awhile and added the one new piece - Supplications - to the mix. That's it at the end of the hall and Meg's dragonfly on the right.

Here's a better shot of her dragonfly.

Meg's recent emphasis has been on stand alone pieces that others might use as applique on a regular quilt. Her fish couldn't wait to leap out of my quilt "Flow".

We had some help - Meg's daughter Adele and Adele's friend Lea. They were given free rein to organize which fish went where as well as some houses I'll show in a bit.

Here's the final arrangement along with a close-up of one of the fish. Meg has put a lot of time and thought into each fish and its thread painting.

This back hallway was pretty dark so difficult to get a good shot of Meg's houses surrounding my Twisted Tree piece. On the left is my "Wisconsin Memories."

Again, such attention to fabric and thread choice to make each house unique.

These are the last of Meg's stand alone pieces that we have been referring to as "the kids." Each has a name, and there are more to come. Again, each has carefully chosen fabrics and tons of thread painting to bring them alive. You can also see some of them on her website.

This was one of the few places where we hung our "regular" art quilts together. My "Poppies and Peonies" and "Pathways", Meg's "Cornflower" and "Turtles". (Meg- I think that is not the full title of that one, let me know so I can edit.)

Here's another grouping - my "Voices" on the left with two of Meg's running man pieces.

I decided to bring along my two Bishop's Close pieces. Nice to have a place to hang them together.

We let a couple of the employees choose what quilt they'd like in their office. This heron of Meg's was the first to go.

And then my "Willows II" which you can see through the window, and "Fracture" (which is not shown). In the hallway next to the office window is my "Brilliance of the Night Sky."

I also got out "Culvert at Chuck's Slough." You can see Meg's Heron through the window.

We were running out of quilts for the conference room - we'd decided not to put important pieces there when told it is little used - but we each had one quilt left so the room would not go bare: Meg's "Madame Zalina" and my "Off the Grid".

 

I didn't get a picture of Meg's fantastic Cypress Swamp quilt since it got hung in a small back office, but otherwise, this is pretty much what we put up - some old, some new, some quilts that surprised and some that delighted. Take a gander if you are in the area - the exhibit will be up through September. Oh, and I always forget to mention...most of the quilts are for sale - contact me if interested. A portion of each sale goes to support POAC and the rest supports us artists!