Ready For Artwalk

"Fracture"
Art Quilt, 12" x 16" framed
Sheila Mahanke Barnes 2011

Pend Oreille Arts Council's ArtWalk 2011 Exhibits are going up all over town this week. I am one of about 20 artists displaying work at POAC's Power House Gallery. "Fracture" is one of 4 new pieces I have in the show, and as you can see, the leaves finally won me over. I just needed to get them arranged properly! (Click on any picture for a larger view.)


To see how I made these leaves, see this post and this post.. They are attached by stitching along the center vein only so the edges can lift a curl a bit off the surface.


Here are those 4 pieces as we hung them today. If you look closely, you can see some red dots on the gallery cards - the reception isn't until Friday, but the three Strawberry Moons have sold already! They are going as a set to a lady who works in one of the offices in the Power House. I could not be more thrilled, and really enjoyed talking to her about what she likes about them and where she hopes to hang them.


Here's the rest of my display. If these look familiar, they should. They were some I had in the recent exhibit at the Panhandle Bank. That show did not get a lot of foot traffic, so I asked if I could show some of the same pieces here. The coordinator agreed, as long as one of them was the quilt on the bottom - she wanted to buy it. So there ya go - 4 quilts sold before the show even opens. I can't believe it, but I am so happy to have these pieces go to good homes rather than back into storage once the show is over.


The usual crew were on hand to set up this morning and we were all surprised at how quickly it came together. Here are two volunteers that help with every exhibit - checking in the artwork and helping to hang.


Here a visual arts committee member chats with an artist.


These mixed media shows are always so fun and sometimes a bit challenging. Here some unusual 3-dimensional pieces by a papier mache artist got a slightly different treatment.


The brick wall upstairs is always a challenge, but makes an interesting backdrop for the brighter art work.


Many of the offices surrounding the atrium have dogs keeping an eye on the comings and goings, and several of them were keeping close watch on us as we scurried about.

ArtWalk exhibits can be found at 20 locations in downtown Sandpoint, all hosting their opening receptions Friday from 5:30 to 8:00. Hope to see you there!