Donna Funnell Offers Art From the Heart

I had a most pleasant afternoon, on Saturday, April 4, attending the Opening of  Fibre Art from the Heart, the current show at Greenwood Quiltery. It features the work of Donna Funnell, whose art quilts are recognized for their intense colour and creative embellishment with paint, threads and beads. We were so sophisticated, dahling, imbibing wine, nibbling on crackers and cheese, and discussing our creative endeavors while enjoying the display of Donna’s. The show runs until  April 30, 2009.

Donna’s work can be seen online at Fiber Arts/Mixed Media and FibreJournal, where she has added photos of the entire show. This woman is organized!

Donna and I have come to know each other through various shows we’ve both entered. Donna has a quiet, modest way about her but she has a great deal of experience and expertise that becomes evident as you converse with her. I feel confident saying that taking a class taught by her would be well worth the investment.

My favorite piece in the show was “Another Door Opens.” This solo show should prove to be a door opener for further Funnell happenings.

Paper Applique for Paper Quilts

I was sitting on my couch, stitching away, and decided to post my little piece in progress.  As I’ve described before, I add pieces here and there to my paper quilts with stitched paper appliques (This method has all kinds of possibilities that I explore in Workshop 3). I simply use medium to attach a printed piece of tissue to a paper towel, let that dry, then hand stitch. When I’m all done, I trim the edge and glue it onto my larger work with more medium. Simple and effective. Actually, it works on fabric quilts as well.

Paper applique

Mixing Paper and Fabric Is One of the Top 5 Trends

Cloth Paper Scissors Embellishments (Issue 94) says that mixing paper and fabric is one of the top 5 mixed media trends right now. Wow . . . and I thought I was the only one who has gone bonkers over paper quilts.

I have never been accused of being trendy. My feet have enjoyed an extended stay in comfortable shoes (no, that is not a synonym for unattractive). I would always rather play in my basement studio than go shopping. I can’t tell you which colors are in this year. Sometimes I forget to comb my hair all day. When I come up from my studio for air (or water or food), my next usual activity is a stimulating book, or an art DVD.

However, it seems that fate has, nevertheless, plunked me smack dab in the middle of an art trend, despite my groundhog-like tendencies. I do live in the same province as the now deceased Wiarton Willie. I am not a native of Ontario, which is perhaps why I always considered it a little peculiar that a groundhog could garner so much attention and publicity. Perhaps he was plunked in a trend by fate as well. Because of this insight, I shall endeavor to be more compassionate towards the trendy. I confess that I have usually found trendiness to be rather confusing: why would anyone want to dress, decorate, talk, think, or make art like everybody else? So you see my dilemma. I would drop the paper quilt thing like a hot potato, but just because it is a very popular hot potato doesn’t mean I shouldn’t like it! I actually LOVE paper quilting: it suits the way I create so fittingly, so cunningly, so perfectly. I move from process to process quite seamlessly (except for the seams I sew, of course) and you might actually catch me whistling as I work. So I am not going to allow this unusual trendiness to alarm me.

Did you know that when groundhogs are alarmed, they whistle?

Hand painted cloth

“I wonder if illiterate people get the full effect of alphabet soup?’” Jerry Seinfield

Three DYNAMIC women . . .wait, make that four!

I recently viewed a thrilling example of synchronicity, on Bonnie McCaffery’s site, that produced a stunning, award winning quilt! First of all, let me say that Bonnie’s contribution to the quilting community is immense. Just watch a few of her vidcasts, if you haven’t already, to substantiate that statement (and I love that she is an excellent business person as well as quilter). The particular vidcast that I am referring to here is #20. Meet Annette M. Hendricks, Gail E. Thomas, Helen Godden, three dynamic women from three countries (and two continents) who collaborated on a quilt despite overwhelming, geographical challenges. Bonnie, of course, is the fourth dynamo!

Just in case you missed it on Annette’s site, and if you still haven’t experienced your fill of this inspiring story and quilt, you can examine the back of the quilt and close-ups of the work here! It kinda makes you want to get up close and personal with some artsy fartsy friends, eh? Three visions are demonstrably better, or at least as good, as one!

You know, I was feeling in a bit of a funk for some inexplicable reason, and I realised it was because I am starting to take myself too seriously. My playful side is tickling me for more fun and frolic! The inner jester (or more appropriately, the fool) is wagging a wily finger and challenging me to get braver about just being myself, and drop any dreary imaginary standards demanded by the roles of professional artist or award winning quilter. I intend to spend more time courting my wit and whimsy. Wahoooooooooo!

By the way, a master at wit and whimsy is Margi Hennen, shown here juggling a few of her quirky dolls. Wait, make that five dynamic women. Forget it, there’s too many of you out there to count!

I want to live, and make art, more extravagantly than carefully!

You Are Invited to FUSION at Greenwood Quiltery

I am pleased to announce that two of my mixed media art quilts have been accepted into a group show called FUSION at a dynamic quilt shop and gallery in Guelph, Ontario. Please take the opportunity to view this show (see info below). I have seen many shows at Greenwood Quiltery and they are always outstanding: I come away inspired!

Contemplation

7.5” (w) x 19.5” (l)

Presence

8.5” (w) x 29.5” (l)

Here is the info:

Greenwood Quiltery
275 Woolwich Street
Guelph, Ontario
N1H 3V8
parking at back via London Rd.
519-822-2790 or
1-866-364-2790 toll free

Store hours:
Monday to Wednesday and Saturday
10:00 – 5:00
Thursday and Friday
10:00 – 6:00

Building a Quilt, One Step At a Time

It’s wonderful, really, how if you let the work guide you, it just keeps going and going. Virginia Cobb, whom I wrote about in the entry before this one, is a master of process. She simply starts a painting, with basic shapes and few colors. After randomly painting marks on the paper, and establishing several shapes, (done, she says, with as little thinking as possible–this is an intuitive phase), she then steps back and analyzes what she has done. She looks for a next step. Not all the steps for a finished painting, simply a next step. And after her next step, she will flow into, or deliberate, a step after that. So, one step at a time, she “builds” a painting.

I was mesmerized watching this design process. It was so familiar, because it’s how I work with cloth and paper. I establish my beginning shapes by putting a few pieces of fabric and paper next to each other until something snags my interest. Then I start another step, perhaps with some sewing. Next I may add an image, with a transfer, stamp, or stencil. When the design looks like it has possibilities, I put the batting and cotton underneath, and start stitching the sandwich. This doesn’t mean that all the other techniques stop; I merely keep going on a quilted surface. Again, the next step builds on the one before it, which tells or suggests what might follow.

It is an exciting way to work, and, like Virginia, I am always surprised by my outcomes. Here are a few of them!

Submerged 6” (w) x 15” (l)

Reach without-reach within 4.75” (w) x 16” (l)

Weekly quilts continue . . .

Fall trio
11.75″ x 11″

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Elevation
14″ x 19″

Doodles Into Handmade Stamps

Now I’ve turned a few doodles into stamps. The one with the blue smudges was used on the fabric below (the small, partial, turquoise patterns).

Here is another stamp, and the scrap piece of fabric I stamped onto.

I’d love it if you’d share with me how you make your stamps. These are pieces of fun foam sheets (the kiddie stuff) glued onto a base of the same material; the most playful were the ones produced very quickly with scrap pieces. I’ve always thought I should carve stamps using lino, erasers, or some kind of carving block, but then you need a hand tool, and all kinds of carving tips, and on and on. It just never seemed to happen. This was soooo simple. All I needed was the fun foam sheets, an exacto knife, a sharp pair of scissors and printed patterns. I actually just glued the pattern, after I printed it out, onto the fun foam with white glue. That made cutting out the pattern, and placing it on the correct spot on the base, ridiculously easy.

I’ll post a few more fabric samples in the next day or two. I also have some more of my weekly quilts coming up . . .

The Fever Still Has Me In Its Grip

I am still creating small quilts, with many more ideas in my head and no end in sight. The sober truth in the midst of all this exhilaration, however, is that I must actually complete one of these works. They need small sleeves, and custom hanging rods in order to allow display. That (sigh) is not nearly so much fun as creating the top.

Butterfly House
16″ x 8.5″

Witness
14″ x 8″

Dreaming in Technicolor
14″ x 4.75″

Impossibility and believability

When I first ran across Barbara Lydecker Crane’s site, I gasped at the ethereal beauty of her work. She states that:

I hope that you will see both impossibility and believability in my art quilts. We live in a magical world, and I love capturing a bit of nature’s beauty and some hints of its mystery.

These are the kinds of words that never fail to rivet my attention: beauty, mystery, magic. Then she admits to a working style that completely endears her to me:

Each quilt is original and one-of-a-kind. Generally I both applique and quilt by hand, usually spending two to four months per piece. It is meticulous work! But it helps me find a place of stillness in myself, and to become ever more appreciative of the world around me.

I have tried to abandon the hand quilting, appliqué, and piecing that I do by hand, and employ the sewing machine in order to increase my productivity. Maybe someday I will cross that line. Perhaps there is no line, and I can happily employ BOTH. In any case, I empathize deeply with both the meticulous and meditative aspects of handwork.