North Adams Fiber Artists (NAFA): Cross-Section

NORTH ADAMS FIBER ARTISTS (NAFA)

Eclipse Mill Gallery

243 Union Street, #102

North Adams, MA 01247

September 7 through October 8, 2018

North Adams Fiber Artists (NAFA) is a newly formed group of fiber artists. All are welcome to their meetings and to join them! They will have their inaugural exhibit at the Eclipse Mill Gallery in North Adams. There are several SAQA members participating.

"Grief" by Jeanne Marklin

FIBER ARTISTS TRANSCEND TRADITION AT ECLIPSE MILL GALLERY NORTH ADAMS, MA

Cross-Section, the inaugural exhibition of North Adams Fiber Artists (NAFA), will open at the Eclipse Mill Gallery on September 7 and run through October 8. Presenting contemporary textile art in a former 19th-century cotton mill, these artists demonstrate the ongoing vibrancy and range of the fiber arts in the Berkshires and beyond.

Cross-Section is just that—a diverse survey of NAFA members’ work in fiber. Knitted, crocheted, woven, felted, spun, handdyed, quilted, stitched, wrapped, knotted, hooked—the fiber arts embrace many construction techniques, including some that date back to the earliest stages of civilization. Informed by today’s materials and technologies but still largely executed by hand, textiles can keep us warm, dress us in style, serve as a container, express a personal narrative, or make a political statement.

The exhibition is designed by Arthur De Bow, Curator at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts Gallery 51 in North Adams. “In presenting a cross-section of characteristic work by NAFA members, the exhibition invites reflection and conversation on the wide range of fiber arts explored by this group of artists,” he said.

NAFA, a new collaborative network of fiber artists, currently meets in North Adams and is open to anyone in the region who is interested and active in the fiber arts and would like to be connected with kindred spirits.

The opening reception will be Friday, September 7, 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm.

The exhibition will be open to the public on weekends, Friday through Sunday, 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm., and on Monday, October 8, 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm.

Admission is free.

Participating artists: Eva Camacho-Sanchez, Kathline (Kate) Carr, Sharon Costello, Beth Davis, Arthur De Bow, Pat Frik, Randee Laikind, Kichung Lizee, Fern Leslie, Deborah MacDonald, Jeanne Marklin, Linda O’Brien, Brenda Osborn, Eve Pearce, Ann C. Scott, Lee Sproull, Betty Vera

"Tapestry" by Brenda Osborn

"Felted Vessel - 1" by Sharon Costello

Member News - Jeanne Marklin

MovingPlans?

Jeanne Marklin has three art quilts in the Vessels Invitational Exhibit of Mixed Media at the Meeting House Gallery, New Marlborough, MA. The opening is Friday, June 17, 2016 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm and Jeanne would love to have some SAQA members join her at the opening, or the next day from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm when she will be sitting at the gallery.

The exhibit will continue through July 10, 2016 and the gallery will be open Fridays, Saturday and Sundays 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Meeting House Gallery is at 154 Hartsville-New Marlborough Road, New Marlborough, MA.

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. 

Trunk Show - New Pieces

The SAQA MA/RI Region has had a call out for trunk show pieces since fall of 2014. In the last few months we were excited to receive a few new submissions to the show. We now have 11 pieces collected and every time we have an event the MA/RI Trunk Show is displayed. It is our hope that with over 120 members our show will grow much larger so we can look for small venues to exhibit this fabulous expression of our collective work. This is not a juried call. Any member of MA/RI is welcomed and encouraged to submit a piece. Directions for doing so are included at the end of this post.

New Trunk Show Work by JEANNE MARKLIN, JANIS DOUCETTE & DAWN ALLEN

Circling Around by Jeanne Marklin

Jeanne states of her piece, "Spheres seem to have a life of their own, and they intrigue me. I have come to recognize that for me, spheres represent fullness, completeness and the expression of being centered." Circling Around is hand dyed, fused and free motion quilted. www.jeannemarklin.com

found words by Janis Doucette.

Janis describes her process, "I took some well known poems and extracted some phrases from them to reconstruct them as 'found' words upon the page. I had embroidered the spiral focal point and used intense pastels to heighten the colors and values between segments." She defines her piece as mixed media textile collage, consisting of handprints, nature prints, DSP, digital photo prints and transfers, machine pieced and hand embroidered. https://turtlemoonimpressions.wordpress.com/  

Spring by Dawn Allen.

"I am pondering the true colors of spring. I am dreaming of bright yellow daffodils and red tulips...This piece represents a daffodil beginning to wake up after the long winter. The sky is gray and dreary and the soil is dark and rich." Dawn used commercial fabrics and threads, pieced and free motion quilted with a small amount of hand stitching. www.dawnallen.net

Submission details for the trunk show:
Each piece must be 9”x 11” - unbound please as the edges will not be visible and the piece will be mounted on matboard.  Please keep any dimensional embellishments at least 1" from the edges.  Include a one page ( 8 1/2” x 11” sheet of paper) artist statement that has your name, the title of the piece, materials and techniques used and any contact information or other information about the piece you wish to include.   Please also email a copy of this statement to Sue at sue@suebleiweiss.com

Send the artwork to Sue Bleiweiss (or bring it to a future SAQA regional meeting) Please include $5.00 (make checks payable to SAQA) to cover the supplies needed to mount and frame the artwork.

Note that this is an open ongoing call for SAQA MA/RI members and there is no deadline to submit a piece for it.

member

"Circus Time" by Jeanne Marklin has been juried into the "Art of Fiber" exhibit at the Dairy Barn Center for the Arts of Boulder, CO.

The exhibit runs from Dec. 5-Jan.16.  Click here for more information.




Jeanne is teaching a "Dye Party" workshop for IS.183 on Sunday, Nov. 17 in Williamstown. The class will be dyeing scarves with MX dyes and creating gifts for giving or keeping!  Click here for more information and to register for the workshop.