Exhibition News - Lee Sproull

Art in Black and White

Contemporary Wall Quilts by Lee Sproull

Photography and Sculpture by Dan Milberg

Member Lee Sproull will be exhibiting 18 of her black and white quilts at the Eclipse Mill Gallery in North Adams, MA, June 3 through June 26, 2016. Lee's quilts will be joined by the photographs and sculpture of artist Dan Milberg.

Five Star Quilt by Lee Sproull

There will be an artist reception on Saturday, June 11 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The gallery is located at the Eclipse Mill Artist Lofts, 243 Union St (Rt. 2), North Adams, MA. The building is handicap accessible and events are free and open to the public.

Cape Cod Hosts Florida Regional Exhibition

26 Art quilts, created by SAQA Florida members will be on display from May 27 through July 24, 2016 at the Cape Cod National Seashore's Salt Pond Visitor Center, 50 Nauset Rd. Eastham, MA 02642.

Wildfire by Deon Lewis by Maya Shonenberger

The global climate is changing and nowhere is it more evident than in her national parks. Rising sea levels threaten Cape Cod and Assateague. Ice is nearly nonexistent at Glacier. Flowers bloom earlier in the Great Smoky Mountains. Corals bleach at Biscayne.

Artists thoughts, fears and concerns are expressed in various textile techniques. Interpretations are as diverse as the problems. Their goal in creating this fabulous exhibit is to bring greater awareness to climate change and other environmental issues facing our planet.

Encroachment by Andrea F. Huffman

The national tour of Piecing Together A Changing Planet is made possible by SAQA and Biscayne National Park, with support from the National Park Service's Climate Change Response Program, the South Florida National Parks Trust, Les Bouquinistes Book Club, and an anonymous donor. For more details about the exhibit, visit the show's website at www.nationalparkartexhibit.com, the park's website at www.nps.gov/lowe or call 978 970-5241. The Salt Pond Visitor Center is open everyday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and admission is free.

Art Quilt Workshop in NY

 Creativity Workshop:
Art Quilt Inspirations

September 25-29, 2016 (Sunday - Friday)

Sandra Sider

This workshop is based on the principles of art and design developed in Sandra’s critique workshops and written about in the volumes of her Studio Quilt monograph series and illustrated in her new book 1000 Quilt Inspirations. Limited to a maximum of twelve participants, the workshop will allow Sandra to spend considerable amounts of time each day working one-on-one with quilters, evaluating their work and suggesting possible directions for developing each quilt. She will also teach the basics of monotype printing, stamp printing, and photo transfer, as well as cyanotype on fabric if we have a sunny day. The final morning will consist of critiques, with participants sharing and discussing their works in progress. 

For more than ten years Sandra Sider has been known for her critique workshops benefitting quilt artists. She has also taught studio classes in contemporary quilt art, most recently at the Peters Valley School of Craft, and has been a quilt artist and critic since the late 1970s, with works in several public collections. Sandra is Curator, Texas Quilt Museum, past president of Studio Art Quilt Association, and the author of the blog “Textile News,” the recently published 1000 Quilt Inspirations: Colorful and Creative Designs for Traditional, Modern, and Art Quilts as well as articles in many quilt publications.

Quilters should bring materials to begin a new quilt top, their sewing supplies and tools, a sewing machine and an iron. Class is suitable for all levels of quilters, but excellent sewing skills and expertise with one's sewing machine is a must. Check-in is 3-5pm Sunday, September 25, 2016. Dinner is served from 6-7pm, and then we will begin the evening program. The class ends with lunch on Friday, and you are welcome to enjoy the premises through the afternoon. The class will be held in the Great Room of the new Art Space on campus.

Tuition for the week is $500. There is also a materials fee of $40. Total cost is dependent on the lodging selected, from $450 to $775. It does include all meals. Space is limited so register soon. The stony Point center is located in Stony Point, NY. For more information or to register:   http://stonypointcenter.org/get-involved/latest-news/222-quilt0116#.VvrCenCMD0A

Member Profile: Alanna Nelson

Alanna Nelson

Alanna Nelson calls herself a textilphiliac. Art quilts are one way she expresses that passion. Inspired by landscape, events, and her environment, silk and wool are her favorite fibers, although dyed and painted cotton figures significantly in the art quilts.

She turned to quilting in the 1990s, frustrated after knitting with 26 colors. Her third quilt was made for the wall. The pendulum continues to swing both ways.

Carpe Diem by Alanna Nelson, 2005

Quilting and living in Italy between 1994 - 2005 definitely impacted Alanna's quilts. She began dyeing cotton fabric while living near Rome and incorporating fashion fabrics into her work while living near Milan. She joined Quilt Italia when it first began, participating in exhibits the first exhibit in Modena and Yokohama, Japan.

Sheep and wool festivals in New England and New York provided materials for recent work. Nuno felting is one of her favorite summer pastimes when she's not hiking or sailing.

Entry Blessing: Come into our home in peace and tranquility. 2013

Inspired by 17th Century embroidered caskets viewed at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, Alanna currently explores quilts and bookbinding techniques to create three dimensional quilt art.

SAQA membership feeds Alanna's passion to create art quilts by exposing her to other quilters with similar interests and opportunities to submit work to exhibits. Keep up with her on Instagram, Twitter or on her web site alannanelson.com.

Call for Entry - Whistler Museum

Lasting Impressions Art Quilts 2016

All artists seek to make an impression on the viewer with their works of art. Sometimes, they make  literal impressions in the work using stamps, dye, stitching, or other techniques. We welcome your submissions of quilted work that make a "lasting impression", whether it be literal or figurative.

Exhibit Criteria: Quilt Artists - is your quilt stamped, dyed, stitched, exposed or printed etc.?  Quilts must contain at least 50% of handmade fabrics.  Handmade fabrics incorporated into your quilt design may be purchased from another source.

Size Restrictions: Should not exceed 72" in any direction

Deadline for Entries: June 10, 2016 at 4:00 pm

Entry Fees: Each quilt submitted must be illustrated by two jpgs, one full view and one detail. The entrance fee is $20 for up to three quilts. 

Make checks payable to Whistler House Museum of Art. Payment is non-refundable and does not guarantee acceptance. Mail with submission form to: Whistler House Museum of Art, 243 Worthen Street, Lowell, MA 01852, Attn: Quilts. You can also pay your $20 entry fee online using a credit card.

Jurors: Mary Walter and Wen Redmond.

Download the prospectus and application. Email exhibits@whistlerhouse.org with questions.

Exhibition dates:	August 17 to September 24, 2016
Reception:	Saturday, August 13, 2016 from 2-4 pm
Deadline for Entries:	June 10, 2016 at 4 pm
Notification by:	June 24, 2016
Deliver Accepted Works by:	August 3, 2016

Exhibition News - Sandy Gregg

Member Sandy Gregg has pieces in five venues this May and June.

Boston Common 

Sandy's quilt Boston Common is at the Brush Gallery in Lowell, MA through June 10 as part of an exhibit, "Telling America's Stories: Celebrating 100 Years of National Parks."  Storytelling has been a part of our shared cultural heritage for generations. It brings people together, imprints pictures on their minds, and fosters meaningful connections with history, culture and the natural world around us. In response to NPS Centennial "Find Your Park" campaign, artists were asked to submit their personal connections. There will be a reception on June 5 from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.

Crossings II

Sandy will also be participating in the 8th Annual City-Wide Cambridge Arts Open Studios next weekend, May 14 - 15 and her work can be seen with other artists at the Lunder Arts Center, 1801 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA at Lesley College.  The work of over 100 visual and performing artists can be explored over this one vibrant weekend. Hours for viewing at the Lundar Center are 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm both days. Sandy also has work on display at Workbar at in Central Square and in the Google lobby in Kendall Square, both in the city of Cambridge.

Sandy's piece, Crossings II, is at the Textile Museum in Washington, DC as part of the SAQA exhibit "Stories of Migration." The exhibit closes on September 4, 2016. 

Art Quilt Exhibit at NEQM

Butterfly Whirl: Contemporary Quilt Art from the Texas Quilt Museum 
May 4 through July 10, 2016

The 26 original art quilts selected for this touring exhibition by the Texas Quilt Museum’s curator, Dr. Sandra Sider, represent the best of some of today's most innovative American artists working in the medium. 

 Dancing Butterflies, Grace J. Errea, Laguna Niguel, CA

"This exhibit shows how modern artists are reworking quiltmaking, contributing new techniques, processes, and concepts to the historical continuum of quilts," explains Dr. Sider. Included are "numerous representational works, such as photographic imagery on fabric and delicate thread painting that delineate nuances of color and line. More abstract designs suggest the surge and lift of flight, as well as symbolic interpretations of the butterfly motif: metamorphosis, transformation, and rebirth."

To complement these extraordinary art quilts, the New England Quilt Museum will display antique quilts with butterfly motifs from it's permanent collection. The public is invited to attend the Curator's Reception and Gallery Talk on Saturday, May 7 at 11:00 am. On Thursday, June 2 at 12:30 pm, the Lowell Parks and Conservation Trust will offer a Brown Bag lecture at the Museum on "Butterflies in Nature." These programs are free to members and included in the price of admission for non-members.

Mariposa by Nancy Turbitt

Local SAQA member Nancy Turbitt will be speaking during the Gallery Talk on May 7 about her inspiration and briefly about the process of creating her piece, Mariposa, for the exhibit. The New England Quilt Museum is located at 18 Shattuck St. Lowell, MA. 

Exhibition: Cheryl Rezendes Rulewich

INTERLUDES

"In the late spring of 2015 I helped to care for my dear father as he made his final journey from life here on earth to the unknown world beyond. The loss was a great one for me.

Interludes is a collection of works that speak to the moments of understanding and peace that came to me in between the crushing and painful bouts of grief. Over time and with patience I have come to see the dark, hollow of grief pale in comparison to the vision of all he gave me. 

My Dad and I shared a great love for the complex beauty of the New England landscape. The imagery in these works was taken from the time I spent over the past 12 months wandering the woods near my home in search of the meaning of life and love."  

Cheryl Rezendes Rulewich

 

Cheryl Rezendes received her training as a painter at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. After graduation she made her living as a custom clothier while pursuing her own work as a mixed-media collage artist. Both her fine and wearable art have been exhibited in shops and galleries throughout the United States. 

Cheryl currently makes art quilts, teaches a variety of classes and creates hand dyed silk scarves for purchase at the Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom. Her techniques and much more are featured in her book, Fabric Surface Design published by Storey Publishing and a signed copy can be purchased at Cheryl's Etsy Shop.

Join Cheryl at the opening reception for her new show INTERLUDES on Saturday, May 7, 2016 at the Salmon Falls Gallery, 1 Ashfield St, in Shelburne Falls, MA in the Upstairs Gallery from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm. The exhibit will run through the month of June.

Art as Quilt Opens in Falmouth

Karen Loprete's The Glass Vase was used in all kinds of advertising for the exhibition including Highfield's light post flags.

Members Rosemary Hoffenberg and Salley Mavor talking in a crowd.

Madalene Murphy and Vicki Jensen 

Sharyn Raiche and Allison Wilbur

Below the Surface by Pam Druhen, Spun Gold by Madalene Murphy and Tutti Frutti Neighborhood by Sue Bleiweiss are recent additions to those works that have been sold.

Sue Polansky and Carol Vinick in front of their work.

Dawn Allen with her Poppy II wearing one of her signature floral bags.

Allison Wilbur with her piece Hollyhocks, her mother Virginia Holmes Avery's painting and a floral arrangement made with these floral works as inspiration.

Floral arrangements being created in the main sitting room. Sharon McCartney's The Myth of Meditation is on the wall behind the crowd.

 

A floral arrangement was created to mimic Jeanne Marklin's Flowing. Hydrangea and delphinium were placed in seltzer water and bubbles kept forming and rising. (sorry for the faded color, the lighting in this room was not perfect)

A view from the landing on the way up to the exhibits in the upper gallery. The open house was very well attended and we are very appreciative of the work of Annie Dean and her entire staff for creating a wonderful show.