Local Quilt Star Retires

I first met Judy, like so many of us did, at the first meeting I attended of the Shoreline Quilters Guild in Branford CT.  Her infectious enthusiasm for all things quilty was certainly contagious.  One of her employments was teaching sewing and quilting at the Continuing Ed program in Branford, where she single-handedly recruited hosts of members to the Guild.

Judy and her husband are 'retiring' (in quotes because you know that's not going to happen) to VT to be nearer their family.  There new location will be the big winner here...particularly the quilting community.

Good luck, Judy!

Stars for Judy

More Stars

Seriously Surprised Judy Siccama

Label to remember us by

Yvette Howard's 'Fractured Byways'

Many members of Sisters in Cloth, the art quilt group that I belong to, participated in the farewell quilt for Judy.  She was so supportive of us and, as I said, all things quilty.



Speaking of which, Sisters recently installed our most recent themed exhibit, "On the Road", which was created to hang in the gorgeous atrium of the CT Department of Transportation.  Check it out at our blog, sistersincloth.blogspot.com.

DOUBLE TAKE: Photo and Fiber/Reinstalled (AGAIN!)

My art quilt group, Sisters in Cloth, has been very fortunate with our collaborative exhibit with photographer Rosemary DeLucco-Alpert.

Our first invitation to exhibit at Haskins Labs at Yale University coincided with the development of our collaboration...... using a selection of Rosemary's flower photographs as inspiration. While it was there, Rosemary had the opportunity to exhibit at the Guilford Free Library in its new gallery space. She asked us to share the opportunity and move the collection when it came down in June. Then, providentially, Rosemary went out to a local restaurant after the Library opening, ran into the Art Director of Connecticut Hospice in nearby Branford and was invited to "travel" the exhibit there for Nov-Jan.

With all of Rosemary's other teaching gigs and photography work, I stepped up to liaision with CT Hospice. Because of that freaky snowstorm mentioned in my last post, we could not hang the 43 (!) pieces as my excellent hanging team had planned. Instead brave "Sister" Barb Adams and I partnered to hang it two days later.

In the top photo Linda Zimmerman and I interpret Rosemary's Three Roses. Next is Yvette Howard's Blue Hydrangea. The second photo (L-R) includes Martha Wolfe's Asian Lily, Linda Zimmerman's Pink Hydrangeas, and Debbie Bento's Sunflower.

CT Hospice is situated on a gorgeous campus, formerly a country club...oops, I've been corrected by my buddy Barb Adams,...actually it was formerly a corporate headquarters, overlooking Long Island Sound. The exhibition space is open to all. It's a meeting space with gently curving walls, a wide vista of the Sound and devoted to art exhibits. Actually, the curved walls helped Barb and me decide not to be fussy about hanging the frames in any uniform way. We chose to create visual pairings. It might be fortunate that the hanging team wasn't involved after all. They are all much more fastidious about details and exactness and we'd probably still be there hanging the last frames.

This last photo was shot by just turning around from the exhibit and shooting through the windows. That's a bit of the view. It's a very beautiful.

Double Take: Photo and Fiber/Reinstalled

Double Take, my art quilt group's (Sisters in Cloth) collaboration with photographer Rose Alpert, came down from Haskins Labs at Yale last week and was reinstalled at the Guilford Free Library. Last night was the opening reception...and a grand one it was!

Okay, you can tell by all the big grins. What we didn't capture was the size of the crowd. This was certainly our best received exhibit both in terms of comments about the work and the number in attendance.

This first pic captures me in one of the rare (NOT) moments that I'm not talking (or eating apparently). Beside me is Stephanie, Rose Alpert's sister, who was filling me in on a pretty funny story about Rose.

And this second pic is Rose herself....who also didn't stop grinning all night. And who could blame her? Her work shone. Here she is between Robin Wolek's Purple Iris and Janine Anderson-Bays' Cyclamen Glory.

Later she ran into an art coordinator at a large facility in a neighboring town who had seen the exhibit and asked Rose if Double Take could travel there this fall! I think Rose is grinning STILL.

Then there was the first sale of the evening. I think you can tell who just got a check: The biggest grin is on Debbie Bento's face, having just sold her little sunflower (to her L). Also pictured is Debbie's childhood friend (also named Deb) who drove over an hour to be at the reception. On the far left is Yvette Howard.

It was a wonderful evening.

TEXTile

This first photo is a shot of my friend Yvette Howard's Connections, her interpretation of our group's most recent challenge to create a piece inspired by "word". She always does crisp, sharp work...and in this case...a bunch of fun. You can't help but smile when you see this. The base fabric was designed by Jean Ray Lawry whom Yvette and I were lucky enough to meet and hear speak a few years ago. If you want to see some happy work check her out.

Twelve present and past members of our group Sisters in Cloth participated. This time we decided to mount our work on stretcher bars. It certainly made for a very easy to hang exhibit!

The thing that strikes me about this collection is how broad the subject matters are. Granted two relate to the judiciary: Gail Kotowski's Justice and Evelyn Judson's Testimony, but the rest span from my rant on the demise of newspapers, to the beauty of nature, to the passing of people in our lives. It is very interesting.

So, if you are in the area stop by the Guilford Free Library, 67 Park St., Guilford CT on Thursday, December 9, 5-8pm for our Opening Reception. We will be joined by the friends and patron of two other artists, Mark Janke and Mary Ann Flick, photographers whose work will be on display in the libraries outer galleries. The exhibit will be up through December.

Sisters In Cloth Extravaganza! 2010

Sisters in Cloth annually hosts what we have named Extravaganza. Every year Sister extraordinaire Yvette Howard hosts the event which includes vendors, lunch, demonstrations, show and tell and lots and lots of fun.

This year Betty Warner (bettywarnerquilts.com) offered to lead demonstrations on several surface design techniques. You had to be there to believe how hard it was for this seasoned teacher to keep us all in line...it was hysterical! At least she was laughing as

much as we were. She's pictured here with Class Angel Vivika DeNegre (vdenegrequilts.blogspot.com) at the left.

We had a wonderful day browsing the vendors, eating lunch, Betty's demo and an incredible Show and Tell. This is one of the many pieces guest Judy Ross brought that showed off her wonderful free-motion quilting.

I've just finished the post on the Sisters blog (www.sistersincloth.blogspot.com). I urge you to go there...it's much more complete with all the vendors names and websites. As a tease I'll tell you that Laura Wasilowski always sends the BEST hand dyed fabrics (artfabrik.com).

Our Photo Challenge is UP!

Sisters in Cloth has been working (for longer than I'd like to think about) on a cohesive grouping of our work that we could package for a traveling exhibition. We decided on a "photograph challenge", inspired in part from an art quilt project that we'd seen photos of from a group that includes Sara Ann Smith (The Frayed Edges).

We have three groups of five photographs that are interpreted by fourteen members. (Actually, twelve current members and two relocated former members who were enticed to participate.)

The first image posted is a shot of part of one of the groups, which includes three interpretations of this photograph. The second is a close-up of a blooming cactus and the third is a seascape with a boy sitting on a rock.

The artists represented here are (L-R) Yvette Howard, me and Gail Kotowski.

Imagine 15 photographs and 75 interpretations!

Half of them are in landscape format (11" x 14") and the other half in portrait format (81/2" x 11").

Our first (of 3-4, we hope) venue is the Guilford Art Center's small gallery, 411 Church St. Guilford, CT. Interestingly, the brightly painted walls worked for us...we did have our doubts! Our opening reception is this Friday, May 29, 5-7pm. We are all very excited and hope to see many of our friends and family that night.