FUTURE TRADITIONS: FURNITURE AND TEXTILES

OPENING THURSDAY JANUARY 28, 2016 5:30 – 7:30 PM

SAQA member Maryann Gallaher, a member of the Pawtucket Arts Collaborative, has two pieces which have juried into the "Future Traditions: Furniture and Textiles" exhibit. Her studio is located on the third floor (319) of Lorraine Mills at 560 Mineral Spring Avenue in Pawtucket and she is offering refreshments for an open studio January 28th at 3:30pm, prior to the opening of the exhibit on the first floor. 

Layers

By Maryann Gallaher

The Pawtucket Arts Collaborative has announced the opening of “Future Traditions: Furniture and Textiles” on Thursday January 28th, from 5:30 to 7:30 pm.  The first of its kind to be presented at PAC, this dynamic and multi-faceted show is the brainchild of artists and curators Shaun Bullens and Brooke Erin Goldstein.  Thirty-one innovative works by twenty-five artists from Rhode Island and Massachusetts will be on view.  

Jurors, Goldstein and Bullens, comment, “The ‘Future Traditions’ exhibit allows us to see furniture and textiles as vital forms of artistic expression.  Included are such diverse pieces as Anna Shapiro’s Mother Lode, a sculpture that creates a visual and conceptual balancing act between crochet, wood, cast iron and painted fabric and Brian Skalaski’s Fan Table that explores the use of negative space to re-imagine a familiar form in a traditional material. “

The opening reception will be held at the PAC Mill Gallery, 560 Mineral Spring Avenue, 1st floor, Pawtucket, Rhode Island. There will be live music by Naushon Hale and refreshments.   Exhibit continues through March 3rd, 2016.  

Member Profile: Sue Colozzi

Sue Colozzi's landscape quilts first caught my eye at the 2013 Melrose Arts Festival, but it was only recently that I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with her.

Boston Public Garden by Sue Colozzi

When did you start making art quilts?
My first art quilt was a pop-up quilt.  As an assignment for a college design class, I sewed blue and green squares together to represent a background of grass and a river.  Fabric houses, flowers, trees and bridges were filled with foam rubber chips and stitched onto the top of the squares.  When the quilt was unfolded, up would pop a village and surrounding woods.  Now that I’m retired I have time to sew again, and I’m back to making quilts - without the foam rubber!

What type of work do you do?  What styles or techniques do you use?
The quilts I make now are landscapes.  Using raw edge appliqué, I try to replicate scenes around me using fabric color and texture to suggest reality.  I make up my techniques as I go – sometimes satin stitching and other times free motion stitching my edges.  I’ll add unusual materials to convey reality – raffia to represent dried grass, clear vinyl to simulate strawberry boxes, and bridal lace to resemble tree blossoms.  I’ve also fabricated 3 dimensional floral pieces.  My small framed mini quilts are photo-sized, but completely finished so they can be placed in commercial frames.

Detail from Five Houses in the Marsh by Sue Colozzi

Give us some insight into your design process.
I prefer to take my own photographs and then sketch the scene as I’d like to create it.  Starting with the background and working forward, I fuse my fabric pieces to a muslin background and then sew each layer before moving on to the next.  I do a lot of experimenting as I go.  I often layer different colors of chiffon to create depth and shadow in water.  Sometimes I’ll thread sketch an area to achieve the light and shadows of color I want to portray.  Each quilt presents new technique challenges.

Coleus by Sue Colozzi

I definitely like to complete one piece before moving on to another.  Partly that's because my sewing space is so tiny.  Also, I don’t like to lose my focus of creative thought on a project.

I usually start a quilt to challenge myself, reinventing a scene I’ve photographed. Occasionally I’ll design a quilt to enter into a challenge or show, but I’ve learned there’s no guarantee it will be accepted.  So I create quilts to please myself and hope others will enjoy them too!

What inspires you?
I moved to Boston forty-two years ago because I fell in love with the city and its different neighborhoods.  On the other hand, I’m fascinated with the combination of sea, salt marsh, and ever-changing sunsets on the Cape.  I’ll never run out of ideas for a new quilt!

What is your studio like? When do you like to work?
My studio is the smallest bedroom in my home.  While extremely cramped, it's only one step to reach my sewing machine, ironing board, or work tabIe... and two steps to reach my stash!  I’ve obviously spread into other rooms, with my quilts sleeping face down on the bed in my spare room, and my teaching bags in the hallway.  I usually sew during the afternoons and evenings. Many times I step into my sewing room just to get something and don’t come back out for an hour or more.

Which aspects of the SAQA membership are you enjoying?
 I’ve been fortunate to be able to exhibit some of my quilts in SAQA exhibits and found the speakers at my local meetings to be very informative.  I appreciate the Calls for Entry announcements listed in monthly emails.




Sue will lead a landscape quilting workshop at the Falmouth Art Center on Saturdays from February 20 to March 5, 2016, if you'd like a taste of collage and quilts.

Fabric/Transformed:

Art Quilts by Carol Anne Grotrian & Rosemary Hoffenberg

Carol Anne Grotrian and Rosemary Hoffenberg's fine art quilts include careful abstract balance of shape and color, overlaid with line - the quilted stitches. Each artist experiments with her process over time, trusting the element of surprise as the work emerges, and creating portraits of specific places and times. 

Marking Time

Carol Anne Grotrian

Carol Anne dyes all of her fabrics using the shibori technique, an ancient Japanese precursor to tie-die. She says, "It was the organic patterns of shibori's many techniques that helped me find my voice in landscape quilts." Since 1989, landscape has provided her abundant inspiration and challenges, giving her more ideas for quilts than she has time to make them. Carol Anne's quilts are usually portraits of specific places and times and often create memories of the 'breathing spaces' she has experienced.

Musing about Frank Gehry

Rosemary Hoffenberg 

Rosemary states, "Color, shape, and their overall impact are the driving forces in my quilts. These elements are what I respond to viscerally, thus, they generate the process of my quilt designs. As I cut the shapes and study the relationships of color, line and form, a quilt develops. I rarely have a preconceived notion at the beginning of each quilt. It is an evolutionary process. The element of surprise is ever-present in this type of work, and it leads me in endless directions."

The opening reception and artist talk will be held on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 5:30pm at the Mayyim Hayyim Gallery on 1838 Washington St. in Newton, MA. Please RSVP to mayyimhayyim.org/gallery or call 617 244-1836. The gallery is open by appointment only due to classes and private events. Call ahead to schedule a visit.

And Still We Rise: 

Race, Culture and Visual Conversations

January 16, 2016 - April 24, 2016

SAQA member, Valarie Poitier's work, 240 Million Slaves Ago, has been accepted into the exhibition "And Still We Rise". The Bruce Museum's education program will be featuring Val's quilt in their school programming.

Valarie Poitier 

in front of  240 Million Slaves Ago

Using the powerful medium of story quilts, this exhibition narrates nearly four centuries of African American history, from the first slave ships to the first African American president and beyond. Through 40 quilts from artists of the Women of Color Quilters Network, the exhibition reveals the stories of freedom's heroes, ranging from Phillis Wheatley to Frederick Douglass to the Tuskegee Airmen.

Story quilting expands on traditional textile-arts techniques to record, in fabric, events of personal or historical significance. Through the accessibility of their colors, patterns and symbols, the quilts of "And Still We Rise" relate narratives that enable conversations about sensitive topics from our national history, furthering the discussion of racial reconciliation in America.

Lucy Terry Prince: The Griot's Voice, 2012

Peggie Hartwell

The exhibition will show at The Bruce Museum, One Museum Dr., in Greenwich,CT beginning January 16, 2016 through April 24, 2016. For information on hours, directions and admissions you can call 203 869-0376 or go to their website at brucemuseum.org.

The exhibition is curated by Carolyn Mazloomi and organized by Cincinnati Museum Center, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, and the Women of Color Quilters Network. The exhibition is generously underwritten by First Republic, a Committee of Honor, and the Charles M. And Deborah G. Royce Exhibition Fund, with support from the Connecticut Office of the Arts.

Far Into the Night: The Weary Blues, 2012

Sherise Marie Wright 

Art Quilt Elements 2016 & SAQA Convention

ArtQuilt Elements 2016

March 18 through April 28, 2016 

Coinciding with the SAQA Convention in Philadelphia, PA March 31, 2016 through April 3, 2016, Art Quilt Elements is the 12th Exhibition of this internationally acclaimed show. With 66 artist's work shown it promises to be an exciting exhibition. Several local SAQA members had their work accepted and will be showing at the Wayne Art Center this spring. Betsy Abbott, MA, Sandy Gregg, MA, Rosemary Hoffenberg, MA, Judith Larzelere, RI, Jeanne Marklin, MA, and Valerie Maser-Flanagan, MA, all have work included.

Sheer Wild Wonder

Betsy Abbott

Celebrating Autumn Glory

Sandy Gregg

Blooming

Jeanne Marklin

"One of the distinctions of our show is our professional presentation of art quilts. The exhibition has been widely praised by reviewers and artists not only for exhibiting the quilts in a gallery setting but also for promoting the art quilt as an art form."

Juror: Bruce Pepich

Racine Art Museum, Executive Director and Curator of Collections

Translucent Volunteer

Judith Larzelere

The Wayne Art Center is located at 413 Maplewood Ave in Wayne PA. For more information about the Wayne Art Center go to wayneart.org or call 610 688-3553. For more information about Art Quilt Elements go to artquiltelements.org. 

2016 SAQA Conference

Inspire Connect Engage

Center City Philadelphia, PA

March 31 - April 3

SAQA's annual conference is an opportunity for our members to gather together, to network and socialize, to attend informative talks and presentations geared to help one grow as an artist, and to visit local art venues and landmarks.

Hear keynote speaker Carolyn Mazloomi, one of the most influential African American quilt historians and quilt artists of the twenty-first century.

Maria Shell captivated us at last year's conference - don't miss her in Philly! 

David Kohane will guide us through use and misuse of intellectual property rights in the digital age. 

Kathleen Loomis shows us how working in a series expands our range as artists.

Gwyned Trefethen and a panel of Exhibition committee members will share their experience on the who, what and where of what it takes to manage a SAQA exhibition.

Be part of this year's PechaKucha mini presentations, which are like PowerPoint meets Beat-the-Clock! Art Quilt Elements, the exhibition above, will have it's opening reception on April 2. The Banquet and Spotlight Auction are always a fun night, with SAQA member work showcased and up for bid in a silent auction. 

The MakerSpace was awesome in 2015. More to do and better in 2016 it is a room of demos for you to play and engage with presenters. There is an optional tour of the Barnes Foundation, with it's legendary collection of art. The convention is held in a fabulous downtown location, the DoubleTree Hotel which is minutes from galleries, museums and restaurants.

Join hundreds of other SAQA members for a great schedule of thought provoking and inspiring events. Philadelphia is within driving distance from our region. Flying distance is relatively short and Amtrak runs directly into Philly. With the next two SAQA Conferences scheduled for long distances away from New England in Lincoln, Nebraska (2017) and San Antonio, TX (2018), this may be your year to experience the fun of a convention.

The deadline for signing up for the SAQA Convention 2016 general registration is January 31, 2016 as long as positions remain available. After January 31, the price jumps up and spots are on a first-come, first-served basis. Only current members of SAQA can register, so if your membership has lapsed, re-register as a member first. Don't miss your chance and register today. For more information: saqa.com. 

Road to California

January 21 - 24, 2016



MA/RI SAQA member Betsy Abbott has had her work, Sheer Wild Wonder, accepted into an exhibition at the Road to California Quilter's Conference & Showcase. For anyone who might be traveling, the show is located at the Ontario Convention Center in Ontario, CA.

Sheer Wild Wonder

Betsy Abbott

Road to California is the premiere Quilters’ Conference & Showcase west of the Rocky Mountains! Drawing over 39,000 attendees from all over the world, Road to California features over 500 vendor booths, displays more than 900 quilts from all over the globe and awards over $92,000. The show has expanded to meet the needs of its diverse quilting audience utilizing every square inch of the Ontario Convention Center, and spilling over into the neighboring DoubleTree, Ayres and Radisson Hotels. Road to California has something for ALL Quilts from Art to Traditional, including Modern and Innovative artists.

Quilt as Art: Wen Redmond

If you haven't viewed the Massachusetts/Rhode Island SAQA exhibit Quilt as Art: Transitions in Contemporary at the Fuller Craft Museum, there's still time. The collection is on display until January 17, 2016.

Quilt as Art gives a peek at the range of techniques, materials and artistic visions of our members while still sharing quilting roots of three textile layers stitched together.

Wen Redmond's Three Feathers Remain
is a perfect example of quilting roots branching into new forms of expression.

Wen Redmond's Three Feathers Remain

From the Artist Statement- One of the pleasures of composition is using a combination of the 21st tool of photography; Photoshop and mediums to create newly rendered digital fiber art. This piece was composed with a photograph of painted and cut papers digitally fused with another photograph of the edge of a glass disk. A variety of mediums, and bonded tissue paper compliment the stitching highlights of the completed work.
Techniques- A photograph was printed, quilted, and cut into segments to create an interior grid design. Each segment is sealed with paint and hand-tied together.

Detail from Three Feathers Remain

Materials: Digital Silk Noil, paint, tissue paper, glass bead, lava, matt and gloss mediums, pearl cotton & thread.

There are still ten more days to see Wen's work as well as 26 other SAQA MA/RI artists at the Fuller Craft Museum. Don't miss it!