Member News - Dawn Allen

Larger Than Life Flowers, a solo exhibit at Black Birch Vineyard in Southampton, MA, will be on view for the month of August. This is Dawn Allen's first solo art show and she is very excited to invite you to the Artist's Reception on July 30 from 6:30-8:00 pm.

Dawn Allen in front of Giant Sunflower.

Larger Than Life Flowers is a series of quilted fabric three dimensional flowers, inspired by the moment in the Wizard of Oz when the film turns to color and the camera pans across giant colorful flowers. As Dawn created this series she enjoyed exaggerating the size, color, and texture of each piece. Her focus was to create happy, fun, exciting art. Preview the Larger Than Life Flower Series at www.dawnallen.net.

Close-up of Nothing But Buttercups. 

Black Birch Vinyard is located at 155 Glendale Rd in Southampton, MA. Their gallery hours are the same as their vineyard hours, Friday, Saturday & Sunday from noon to 6pm.

Quilt as Art Exhibit at Fuller Craft Museum

Our first regional exhibit at the Fuller Craft Museum opens on October 3, 2015.

 Quilt as Art features 27 artists and 35 works from Studio Art Quilt Associates members from Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut. Fuller Craft displays a wide range of cutting edge contemporary craft, seeking to put people in touch with the minds and methods of the makers, expressing the values embodied by craft. SAQA MARI is delighted to share in their mission, showing how the functional roots of our craft take on new expression.

Jamie Fingal served as the juror for the 106 entries submitted by 54 members.  Many thanks for her dedication and time to this challenging task!

Artist reception
Fuller Craft Museum
Sunday October 18th,  2 to 5pm

Quilt Artists Selected 

Dawn Allen, Nancy Belsky, Christina  Blais, Sue Bleiweiss, Ann Brauer, Sue Colozzi, Sandra Donabed, Janis Doucette, Pamela Druhen, Linda Gallagher, Sandy Gregg, Elaine Cominos Hickey, Rosemary Hoffenberg, Vicki Jensen, Janice Jones, Karen Loprete, Jeanne Marklin, Valerie Maser-Flanagan, Sharon McCartney, Madalene Murphy, Susan Polansky, Sharyn Raiche, Wen Redmond, Judy Ross, Carol Vinick, Allison Wilbur, Diane Wright.

Congrats to all of you! We'll have more info about the works exhibited in future blog posts.

We will hold a regional meeting before the reception (from 12 - 2). Beth McLaughlin, curator at Fuller will speak about how a curator chooses artists' work for exhibits.

Artists, if you haven't received an email about where and when to ship your work, please email sue at suebleiweiss.com.

Member Profile: Dawn Allen

"Morning Glory" by Dawn Allen

When did you make your first art quilt?

The line between a quilt and an art quilt is not exactly clear to me. When I was a small child my mom would sew with me and I would make small art quilts for my stuffed animals. (I call them art because they were my own original designs.) In my 20s I made quilts using more traditional patterns and modern techniques such as “Strips that Sizzle”. When I was about 28 I branched out into more original designs and techniques sometime around 2003.

Describe the work that you make:

Currently I am focused on three dimensional quilted art. I create them as pieces intended for hanging on the wall (not as sculptures). My current series is called “Larger Than Life Flowers”, which accurately describes the pieces!

What are your favorite styles or techniques?

I like to use crooked seams, curves, and texture.

Do you have a favorite color palette?

Bright and rich. I like my colors to be vibrant and rarely use pastels. I use mostly commercial batiks.

Do you have a favorite theme that you like to work with?

Right now I am on flowers but I am always full of ideas. Sometimes I feel too full of ideas!

How do you work?  Give us some insight into your design process:

First I daydream about an idea for a few days or weeks. Then I start collecting fabrics and laying them out on my studio table to see how they look together. I research photos I have taken and photos on the internet of the subject I am interested in. (Such as a daisy.) Then I draw a very minimalistic outline of the shape and size I am planning. I never sketch anything with any details other than the outline, all of the other design and color pattern elements are held in my imagination.

After that I start cutting and sewing free form!

What are your sources of inspiration?

Almost always the texture and color of something I happen to see will be the inspiration. Occasionally I am inspired by an idea, story, or memory of an event.


Tell us about your studio, how you have it organized and how it works for you.

My studio is a smallish room in my finished basement. I like to have it in the basement so I don’t need to worry about sunlight damaging my fabric. My table is actually my husband’s foosball table with a top over it (I told him he could take the top off to play but let’s face it, that isn’t going to happen). It has a sticker with a picture of a can that reads “Whup-ass” from his bachelor days. I find it rather hilarious. My biggest issue is storing finished projects because I can’t simply pile up the three dimensional pieces. One whole wall is full of shelves with stacked fabric and I still can’t understand why I never have all the exact colors I need!

Do you have a website, blog, easy shop, etc?

My website/blog is dawnallen.net.

Dawn Allen with "Giant Sunflower"

Member News - Carol Anne Grotrian

As part of the Seasonal Palette Exhibit at the New England Quilt Museum, Carol Anne Grotrian will be givng a talk about the evolution of her quilt, Silent Snow, which is part of the exhibition. Her talk will begin at 11 am, on Saturday, July 11, 2015 and will be followed by a guided gallery walk.

Silent Snow

"Seasonal Palette" is an exhibition of 37 juried, international artists. Each artist was assigned a season and asked to make a 32” x 76” quilt. Though the format is the same, the diversity of interpretations and techniques is captivating. Artists were asked to keep a journal of their progress in creating their piece and some of these journals are available for viewing with the show. If you can, don’t miss a chance to see the show before July 26th when it leaves to travel to Taiwan, the fourth continent on it’s 3 year tour. For more information on the exhibition, www.nequiltmuseum.org. 

More of Carol Anne's art can be viewed on her website, www.carolannegrotrian.com.

Michele Leavitt’s Saunderstown Scenes

Please join us at the Willett Free Library on Ferry Road in Saunderstown while we celebrate an exhibition of works by our local artist, Michele Leavitt. After moving here with her husband Tom Leavitt and their two sons in 1992, she cut an image of Dutch Island with it's Island Light House to send around as holiday greeting cards. Over the ensuing 23 years Saunderstown and it's views remain a favorite topic for Michele's creative works.

For more information about the artist and her work please go to micheleleavitt.com

WILLETT FREE LIBRARY

45 Ferry Road, Saunderstown, RI

Reception: 4:30 to 7:00 pm,

Friday, June 12, 2015.

The show will remain on view

until June 26, 2015.

Etsy shop spotlight - Janis Doucette

Turtle Moon Etsy Shop by Janis Doucette Art

Janis Doucette has opened the doors to her Turtle Moon Etsy shop. She has stocked it with a limited yet growing inventory and will be adding work daily for awhile.

Twilight on Lake Q

15" x 17.5"

Original photograph of lake Quannapowett in Wakefield, MA. Printed on cotton with permanent pigment ink. Fused confetti cottons and netting. Free motion stitched. Hand embroidered embellishment. From deep magenta to light golds with hints of light greens and lavenders.


Take a look through Janis' mixed media and art quilt pieces and don't forget to pick a favorite. You can also find many of her beautiful pieces and how they were created on her blog Turtle Moon Impressions. 

SAQA Fiberlandia Convention, Portland OR

The SAQA Conference, Fiberlandia, took place in Portland, OR from April 30 - May 3. Both MA/RI Reps, Sue Bleiweiss and myself, Nancy Turbitt flew out to take in the whole event. Filled with interesting lectures, provocative break out sessions & workshops, panel discussions and meetings, it was punctuated with so many fun activities like the SAQA Maker Space, touring around Portland to shop/gallery hop and the Spotlight Auction. Nights were filled with time for camaraderie, dinners, and meeting/connecting with friends from all over the U.S. and abroad. We're sharing a few of our fun moments below.

Our first function as Reps was to attend the Rep meeting, pre-registration on Thursday. There were many Reps attending the conference including Maggi Birchenough from Birmingham UK who is a Rep for Europe and the Middle East and Margaret Blank from Alberta, one of three Canadian Reps. We did a little business, had lunch and then attended the vendor marketplace as attendees began to flood in and register. 

Lyric Kinard led us in an exercise in making quick art pieces to help us let go of the notion that all of our art must be perfect. Filled with hilarity and a bit of musical chairs we all had fun getting to know each other.

One of the weekend's panels consisted of SAQA's international community. Speaking at the podium above was Hsin-Chen Lin with her daughter as interpreter from Taiwan. 

SAQA's Maker Space took place on Friday night. There were seven tables giving demos to members who wanted to learn new techniques. Members then got to use machines, markers, glue and a whole lot of donated fabric to make something and take it home. I did one of the demos on how to use fabric markers to enhance your work. I was swamped with Makers all night.

Saturday night was the Spotlight Auction and Banquet. This event raised $14,000 for SAQA and was so much fun.

And we also had lots of spontaneous fun... 

Multnomah Falls just north of Portland

The Alberta shopping district, one of many neighborhoods in the city full of shops and restaurants

Rebecca Kemble of Iowa and Sue in the Button Emporium

One Who Looks Back by Christina Brown was one of many wonderful pieces in the Oregon Region exhibition "Exploring Layers"

Sue taking in the show

11 friends around a table eating tapas, Deidre Adams, Sue, Rosalie Dace, myself, Maryanne Williamson, Maggie Vanderweit, and Gul Laporte on one side of the table

The ultimate good time was a trip to Powell's Book Store where Sue found her new book on the shelf. She even signed copies for them. 

One final look back at the beautiful city of Portland, Mt St Helens, Mt Hood and the Columbia River on the way to New England at dawn. 

Next year the Convention will be close to home in Philadelphia, PA.