Opening Night at the POAC Triple Threat Exhibit

Artist Statement
I get my creative kicks from spotting images in cloth I’ve manipulated during the dyeing or painting process and teasing them out with stitch and embellishment to make them more visible. Now do you see what I see?

Masks has had a mysterious hold on me from the moment I unfolded the cloth dipped in paint and saw tribal masks staring back. It insisted I add things not normally found in my work, like the cross-stitches on a mouth and pair of eyes and the unfinished edges. It made me think deeply of how we all wear masks depending on the occasion, but especially with family whose eyes look out from this quilt. Are they trying to see behind the mask or do they even know it’s there? 

Well, my lovelies, as promised I am sharing some of the great art in the Triple Threat Exhibit here in town.  Will break it up over several posts as I took a lot of photos. My quilt had a great location and wowed viewers with all that handwork. I must admit, I was a bit wowed myself. I've noted this before, that even if I've been "living" with a work at home, it somehow transforms in an exhibit setting and I view it in a different way. I've heard other artists make the same observation. If you've never had your work on exhibit outside your home, I highly encourage you to find an opportunity to do so. You'll literally and figuratively see your work in a new light. I loved Masks before, said there was nothing I would add or change, but I think I still had a bit of doubt about how it would play in public and next to other artists' work. It played very well, exhibiting a level of sophistication that made me very proud. For detail shots see this post.

I failed to take many pics at the reception to show the crowds, but we did have a great turn-out. I missed your lovely faces but was pleased to see some familiar ones from my yoga class, POAC artists I haven't seen in awhile and the fabulous volunteers who make these shows happen. This is my favorite venue - a 3 story bank building purpose built to include a community use area on the ground floor and gallery space along the balconies running around the souring atrium. Not the best lighting for taking good pictures of the art, but fortunately, it doesn't affect actual viewing much. And the natural light from the skylights makes daytime viewing wonderful. You can just make out my quilt on the upper level near the center. See this post for views of the building during another exhibit.

On the opposite end of the floor where the Textiles hang was my art group friend Meg and her magnificent Unforgettable Tree. Technically this is a quilt since it is several layers held together with stitch. What makes Meg's work unique is her dispensing with a traditional background of fabric on which to place her characters, flora and fauna.

She uses Peltex as the base to build up her designs of fused fabric, then adds detailing with machine stitching. 

Because of its size (over 6 feet tall and 5 feet wide), the tree is constructed in units for ease of stitching and transporting. It was assembled on site, sections overlapped and held in place with velcro.

It is also attached to the wall in many places with velcro - the side on the wall held in place with a thumbtack. Figuring out how to hang these sometimes floppy "quirkies" of hers was much discussed in the art group. Her simple solution trumped the fussier ones of bent wires and the like the rest of us were coming up with.

In the case of the tree, the fact that the extended branches curl away from the wall in places lends realism to her whimsical creation.

The leaves are individual units also attached with velcro. Meg's grand vision for this piece is that it can and will change with the seasons. A bird's nest and a bird or two may appear before the exhibit closes. The leaves will be swapped out for ones turning autumn colors come fall. In winter, the branches will have snow. Or she may add things viewers talk about as they share a memory of their unforgettable tree in the notebook she's provided. Already there is talk of adding some shoes...

I'll end this installment of the Fiber portion of the exhibit with these most expertly crafted wool felted pictures by Ellen Pfalzgraff. She does the most remarkable work in felted wool, difficult to capture both because of the already out-of-focus nature of wool felting but also because of the glass protecting them. The landscapes are exquisite, the wash-on-the-line delightful in its subject matter and movement, the floral uplifting in its burst of color. 

   
Stay tuned for more!