Fine Art Quilt Masters

Congratulations to our SAQA European and ME members who have had quilts accepted for the Fine Art Quilt Masters to be exhibited at Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham UK.

"An international juried competition, the Fine Art Quilt Masters Gallery celebrates the finest examples of art quilts with work that has powerful artistic expression with abstract and figurative elements."

This year the shortlist of 20 quilts for Fine Art Quilt Masters includes work from the following SAQA European and ME Members:

Eszter Bornemisza, Home/Less
Fenella Davies, Horizon
Katriina Flensburg, Looking for Balance
Roberta Le Poidevin, To Walk Invisible
Alicia Merrett, Medieval “Island” City
Margaret Ramsay, Birchington Breakwaters
Christine Seager, Simply Grey

Here is a link to the quilts - http://www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk/things-to-do/the-galleries/fine-art-quilt-masters-2017/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=FAQM

Here you can see all the quilts which have been accepted.

World Quilt Competition - Amelia Leigh

Congratulations, Amelia.

Congratulations to other UK SAQA members who also had their quilts accepted:

Stephanie Crawford
Liz Hewitt
Alicia Merrett
Frieda Oxenham
Claire Passmore
Linzi Upton                                                                   

Festival Du Lin - announcement by Elizabeth Michellod-Dutheil

J’espère avoir le plaisir de vous accueillir lors des festivals de Chabeuil les 2-3-4 juin et  du lin à Bourg-Dun les 7-8-9 juillet où j’exposerai des oeuvres différentes .
P.J. le programme très varié du festival du lin qui vous donnera peut-être envie de prendre des vacances cet été lors de cette manifestation en Normandie.

For more information:
http://www.festivaldulin.org/ and
https://www.facebook.com/Festival-de-Fil-en-Fil-en-pays-de-Chabeuil-352050871569981/

Je souhaite plein de plaisir à tous les membres de Patchquilt.ch , qui vont se plonger dans la création d’oeuvres personnelles pour la première exposition internationale itinérante suisse de Patchquilt et à celles qui désirent participer et qui n’ont pas encore le sésame, de s’inscrire à l’association , voir sur le site officiel. C’est ouvert à toutes les personnes intéressées à intégrer l’association suisse.
Quel plaisir de pouvoir montrer  la diversité de toutes les artistes de PatchQuilt.ch lors de cette exposition innovante avec la participation de toutes les régions linguistiques et qui sera représentative de la Suisse. Participons, car nous ne sommes guère visibles, voire pas du tout,  à l’international dans ce contexte de collaboration.

Milano Design Week

DAMSS E IL TURISMO SOSTENIBILE | IN STUDIO WORK April 4-9, 2017

Con questo pannello i DAMSS vogliono sensibilizzare il pubblico a ritornare in questi posti e a sostenere la popolazione residente.

A corollario della mostra il palcoscenico si animerà di attività e di sinergie, riferiti al  ruolo di artisti e designer  moderni, attraverso l’uso straordinario e inusuale della materia tessile.

Si enfatizzerà l’attività tessile intrisa di innovazione e di metodi alternativi, e rivolgendosi specialmente alle istanze giovanili che in questi ultimi anni si stanno affacciando più numerose al mondo del tessile, e che costituiranno il futuro dell’arte tessile.

Verranno illustrati alcuni aspetti innovativi che sono stati introdotti in appoggio alla progettazione delle grandi superfici, come ad esempio l’uso della serigrafia e della computer-grafica.

La gallery creerà l’occasione di veicolare anche il profondo messaggio del recupero e della sostenibilità, creando un forte legame tra l’opera d’arte, il design, la materia, l’ambiente di accoglienza e lo spettatore.

Ci saranno anche incursioni nel mondo della moda con una collezione di sculture tessili da indossare e di gioielli tessili.

DAMSS ART

"fiberart & art installations"

www.damss.com 

Vision Arts Museum - Jette Clover

Jette has had a quilt accepted for the Visions Art Museum theme "Conversations" - an ideal subject for her work. Congratulations.

Ongoing Conversation

145x114 cm

Cotton, batiste, cheese cloth

Screen printing, gel printing, rust printing, collage, hand- and machine quilting,

Wide Horizons V at Prague Patchwork Meeting

31st March - 2nd April 2017

Wellness Hotel STEP, Malletova 1141, Praha 9

Single day CZK 180,- per person                       

Three days CZK 350

www.praguepatchworkmeeting.com

Wide Horizons V at Prague Patchwork Meeting 2017

See Wide Horizons V, the SAQA European and ME Exhibition, at the Prague Patchwork Meeting.

31st March - 2nd April 2017

Wellness Hotel STEP, Malletova 1141, Praha 9

Single day CZK 180,- per person                       
Three days CZK 350

www.praguepatchworkmeeting.com









Also meet our new SAQA regional representative, Baiba Vagule, who will be in the gallery for much of the show.

Prague Patchwork Meeting - More work on Show

31st March - 2nd April 2017

Wellness Hotel STEP, Malletova 1141, Praha 9

Single day CZK 180,- per person                       
Three days CZK 350

                             
www.praguepatchworkmeeting.com           

Grünblau
Heidi Drahota
Detail

Irena Zemanova Strom
 života
Tree of Life

Helena Fikejzova
Pod borovicemi1
Under the pines 2017

Prague Patchwork Meeting - Work by Jana Sterbova

31st March - 2nd April 2017

Wellness Hotel STEP, Malletova 1141, Praha 9

Single day CZK 180,- per person                       Three days CZK 350

                            
www.praguepatchworkmeeting.com

Listy Leaves

Mrize2 Bars2

Work by Jana Sterbova, PPM Director, that will be on display.

Prague Patchwork Meeting - Press Release

World class textile art in Prague once again!
11th Prague Patchwork Meeting

The 11th year of the international exhibition Prague Patchwork Meeting will be held in Prague Between March 31 and April 2, 2017. The event will be traditionally hosted in the four star Wellness Hotel Step and its Sportcentre in Prague Vysocany. More than 400 authors will be presented across 4 halls, on an area exceeding 6,000 sqm; many artists will be having a standalone gallery. More than 900 quilts will be on display including collections exhibited in the Central Eastern Europe for the very first time, few collections having their worldwide premiere. Third of the area will be dedicated to retailers. Visitors of Prague Patchwork Meeting will have the chance to attend numerous workshops with leading European lecturers, focusing not only on sewing, but also fabric printing and creative surface elaborations.

The international event Prague Patchwork Meeting is the biggest display of combined textile techniques not only in the Czech Republic, but in the CEE region. The collection comprises more than 1,000 pieces (primarily quilts) from all over the world and a great selection of Czech quilts. The retailers will be offering a wide selection of fabrics, helpful tools, textile accessories, sewing machines, lighting, beads, fabric dyes and newly also an assortment of yarns.

Prague will host leading authors of art quilts

World premiere will have the collection of this year’s most exotic exhibitor – South Korea. Majority of the 27 authors will be personally present. Another outstanding collection will be brought by SAQA, a group comprising leading artists from Europe and the Middle East. There will also be collections from the STING group, Norway, Shoshi Rimer and Bella Kaplan from Israel and a new set of art quilts brought by the well-known German quilter Pia Welsch, who will bring a set of kimonos and an unusual installation of a colourful circle. Dutch artists Hilda van Schaardenburg and Corinna Zambeek are also top European artists. Those who prefer traditional patchwork will be delighted about the silk log cabin colleciton by Brigitte Morgenroth. The theme MEN and an attractive installation will be presented by Gudrun Heinz and Sarah Schultz. The collection Stuff for Thought offers a statement from a number of European artists about how textiles are used in current civilizaiton.

The Czech group Art Quilt Harbour brings textile Trees, the group TTT will show a new collection dedicated to teh anniversary of Prussian-Austrian war in 1866. A number of domestic authors will be hosting their individual galleries.

Numerous prizes will be awarted to winners of the 2017 challenges STRUCTURES and classical CURVES, judged by  an international jury. To inspire beginners, we have prepared a collection of 15 best basic bed covers. A special collection Scraps of Old Prague and a new cycle Orient will jointly offer more than 100 small quilts.

Accompanying workshops are suitable for both advanced and beginners quilters.

Many retailers have prepared small workshops and will be presenting various techniques. The main workshops will be lead by renowned artists from the Czech Republic and abroad. A creative area with print screens will also be availalbe.

Traditionally, we are presenting charity, club and exchange works. An awaited exhibition is always the material based collection by the Alrt quilt Club, this year it is the trendy materials VELVET. The program will be accompanied by a fashion show including original jewellery and a market offering fabric scraps and older books and magazines.

Prague Patchwork Meeting belongs to the most visited global textile exhibitions

The exhibition, with more than 6.5 thousand visitors, ranks 4-5th in Europe, and its level is increasing every year. The leading position continues to be held by Birmingham with more than 30 thousand visitors.

Tickets will be available on the spot, either single day (180 CZK) or three day ones (350 CZK).

  

www.praguepatchworkmeeting.com 

Jana Štěrbová

PPM Director

GSM: +420 724 161 846

jana@praguepatchworkmeeting.com

  

Summary:                         

11th Prague Patchwork Meeting

When:                          31.3. - 2. 4. 2017

                                      (31. 3. from 12 to 19, 1.4. from 9.30 to 18 , 2.4. from 9.30 to 16.30 )

Where :                       ****Wellness Hotel STEP, Malletova 1141, Praha 9

Entry Fee:                   Single day CZK 180,- per person, three days CZK 350,-

Area:                            5,900 sqm, of which 1,950 sqm retail area (more than 70 companies) Vystavovatelé:   more than 400 authors and groups including individual galleries

Visitors:                       ca. 6,500 ,  largest textile exhibition in CEE

Web:                             www.praguepatchworkmeeting.com

Magazine:                   monthly Newsletter PPM in Czech (available online)

Prague Patchwork Meeting - 31st March to 2nd April 2017

Aiguille en Fête - Paris - Elizabeth Byrom reporting

Aiguille en Fête (AeF) is an annual exhibition and merchant mart for needlework lovers, especially fans of sewing, quilting, knitting, and embroidery.  Fiber art and textile art are represented in exhibits but not so much in the merchant mart.  The AeF held at the huge Porte de Versailles exhibition halls February 2-5 seemed to have fewer merchants than in previous years, but the exhibits were outstanding and the special events entertaining.  Alas, there wasn’t a SAQA exhibit this year, but the Artextures 8^th biannual exhibit was outstanding, as were the woven tapestries of Yukiko Yokoyama.  My favourite pieces, though, were the thread painted portraits and fabric tiles of Malin Lager (photo), who graciously allowed me to photograph her with some of her Lustrous Reflections of Venice.

As for entertainment, AeF 2017 did not disappoint.  As in years past, there was a speed knitting contest where five contestants at a time sat below a large digital timer and knitted as many stiches as they could in three minutes.  The contest took place over the four days of AeF, so I don’t know whether the record of 264 stitches was exceeded, but the winner was to have received prizes from Bergers de France and Modes et Travaux.  For those interested in exploring new aspects of needlework, there was a wide range of mini-workshops on knitting, weaving, embroidery, sewing, and quilting.

Not to be missed was this year’s fun knitting project.  In years past, I’ve seen a knitted Ferrari and a knitted log cabin.  This year the project was Ensemble Nous Sommes Monet, a 6 meter by 4 meter mosaic of 100,000 knitted squares assembled to pay homage to Claude Monet’s Woman with Umbrella.  Amazing.

________________________________________________________________________

L’Aiguille en Fête  (AeF) est une exposition et un marché annuel qui attire les passionnées des arts de l’aiguille, surtout la couture, le patchwork, le tricot et la broderie.  Les arts du fil et du textile sont représentés dans les expositions, mais moins sur les stands marchands.  L’AeF qui se tenait en 2017 du 2 au 5 février au Parc des Expositions de la Porte de Versailles de Paris semblait présenter  moins de stands marchands cette année, cependant les expositions d’art du fil et du textiles étaient  remarquables et les événements spéciaux et divertissants.  Hélas, il n’y avait pas d’exposition de SAQA cette année, mais l’exposition bisannuelle Artextures  était exceptionnelle, tout comme les tapisseries tissées de Yukiko Yokoyama.  Mes préférés, cependant, étaient les portraits et pavés textiles de Malin Lager (photo), qui m’a aimablement  permis de la photographier avec plusieurs de ses Reflets de Venise.

En ce qui concerne le divertissement, l’AeF 2017 n’a pas déçu.  Comme les années précédentes, il y avait un concours de vitesse de tricot où les cinq candidats de chaque série étaient assis sous une grande horloge numérique et tricotaient autant de mailles que possible en trois minutes. Le concours a eu lieu pendant les quatre jours de l’AeF, je ne sais pas donc  si le record de 264 points a été dépassé, mais le gagnant devait recevoir des prix de la part de Bergers de France et Modes et Travaux.  Pour ceux qui souhaitaient découvrir un nouvel aspect de la couture, il y avait une large gamme de mini-ateliers sur le tricot, le tissage, la broderie, la couture et le patchwork.

Il ne fallait pas manquer cette année le projet de Tricote en Sourire.  Dans les années passées,  il y avait une Ferrari tricotée et une cabane en rondins tricotée.  Cette année, le projet a été « Ensemble Nous Sommes Monet, » une mosaïque de 6 mètres par 4 composée de 100 000 carrés tricotés qui rend hommage à La Femme à l’Ombrelle de Claude Monet.  Incroyable.

Wearable Expressions International Exhibitions - Tiziana Tateo

I am glad to inform that my two hats "In Bloom" and "Tartan" will be exhibited at 

The Wearable Expressions International Exhibition of Wearable Art 

at Rancho Palos Verdes Art Center (USA).

- February 10 - April 16, 2017 - Fiber - Jewellery – Accessories

From wearable www.expressions.com:

"Palos Verdes Art Center’s exhibition of wearable art returns with innovative works in fiber, jewelry and accessories by artists from around the globe chosen by an international jury. 

Artists participating in this year’s exhibition are from Asia, Europe, both North and South America and Australia.

Featuring wearable art in all media, Wearable Expressions promotes the adornment of the body seen through the aesthetic lens of fine art.  

Wearable Expressions is established to promote the sharing of new visions and the exploration of innovative techniques and materials in art to wear “

Title:  “IN BLOOM" 

Techniques:  hand felting wool, free hand embroidering, modelling.

                            It is a reversible hat. You can wear it showing the red flower

                            or the hand embroidered reverse. 

Title “ Tartan”

Techniques:  hand felted wool, tartan ribbon machine stitched.

Not one but two - WOW - Leah Higgins

Congratulations, Leah, on getting two quilts into such prestigious exhibitions. Keep dancing!

Quilt National '17

Ruins 7

(180cm wide x 249cm high)

Artists Statement:

Ruins 7 is part of a series that explores what happens to buildings when we stop using them, when we leave them behind. Glass panes crack, water pipes burst, wind pulls at the fixtures and fittings. Rust and moss stain the walls.

We stop using buildings for many reasons. This piece references buildings and cities destroyed by war.

London, Dresden, Hiroshama, Lebanon, New York. Hate and war destroys lives. It destroys buildings and tear apart cities. Do we re-build? Or is the thought of burying that hate under new buildings too painful? Should we allow nature to reclaim the buildings, to cover the ground, to soothe the pain?

Techniques and Materials: Artists own printed cotton fabrics: breakdown printing, and other surface design techniques. Pieced, layered and machine quilted.

SAQA Layered Voices

Happy today?

(60cm wide x 389cm high)

Artists Statement:

Happy today? was created following a dark, difficult period caring for a loved one with severe depression. Constantly checking; asking ‘Are you OK?’, ‘How do you feel?’. Driven by my need for reassurance, my fear of the unthinkable. Burying my own feelings from him. From others. From myself. Stressful, exhausting days and nights. Occasional bitter sweet moments of joy followed by guilt. Gallows humour breaking through on the darkest of days.

Happy today? can be suspended from the ceiling and viewed from both sides or hung on a wall revealing only the pieced side. The piece billows and pleats on the floor hiding parts, hiding layers of emotion.

Techniques and Materials: Artists own printed cotton fabrics: breakdown printing, screen printing and other surface design techniques. Double sided pieced and whole-cloth construction, layered and stitched. Integral hanging loop.

Work by Elizabeth Michelle-Dutheil

Here are the two works by Elizabeth Michelle-Dutheil which were selected for the LA CONNER QUILT- TEXTILEMUSEUM Quilt & Fiber Arts Festival exhibition:

4 SEASONS Valais (4 tables: spring-summer-autumn-winter)

THE SUN IS (Day 2 of Genesis)

In case, my translation is incorrect, Elizabeth's message in french is below.

Congratulations and thanks, Elizabeth

Bonjour Christine.

Voici les deux oeuvres sélectionnées par LA CONNER QUILT- TEXTILEMUSEUM exposition Quilt & Fiber Arts Festival

LES 4 SAISONS VALAISANNES (4 tableaux : printemps-été-automne-hiver)

QUE LE SOLEIL SOIT (2ème jour de la Genèse)

mes meilleures salutations amicales.

Elizabeth MICHELLOD-DUTHEIL
Atelier d'artiste

http://www.elizabeth-michellod-dutheil.ch (2015..)
http://www.maaevalais.ch (2000-2015)

SAQA member Geneviève Attinger in “Water is Life”

Geneviéve Attinger's « Le Cauchemar de l'Eau-la Quête » is part of the "Water is Life" exhibition which was a challenge quilt exhibit with debut at United Nations headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland in March 2016 to commemorate UN World Water Day. Organized by the United States Mission to the United Nations in Geneva in partnership with American Exchange Rome and Quilt for Change, the exhibition will then travel in Europe and North America for upwards of two years thereafter.

Quilters were invited to create and submit art quilts that address the issue of clean water and its impact on the lives of women and girls.

Using the Art of Quilting to Inspire Social Change. Website : http://quiltforchange.org/

-« Mélancolie des Derniers Quartiers » will be part of « The Gala of the Unexpected », 25th Anniversary  at : The National Quilt Museum, Paducah, KY, USA.

The selected quilts will travel on exhibition through December,31 2018

Website : www.quiltmuseum.org

The exhibition schedule can be seen here.

Color Improvisation 2 in Neumünster, Germany with SAQA participation

Several SAQA-members are currently exhibiting as part of the newly opened Colour Improvisations 2 in the textiles museum "Tuch und Technik" Neumünster, Germany, which opened in the middle of March. This is the second round of an exhibition curated by Nancy Crow, featuring large quilts by students from her classes all over the world.

Edith Bieri, desperate, detail, photo taken from the museums website

The following blogs have posts on the opening or on visiting the exhibition a few days later:

quilt-around, quiltsundmehr, un-multitasking part 1  and part 2, and Uta Hanson.

The museum itself is a wonderful sight with very informative exhibitions about the textile industry in Neumünster, which is sometimes called “the Sheffield of Northern Germany”. Well worth a visit if one is interested in textiles! Add now the lure of Color Improvisations 2, and you should be planning a trip to Northern Germany!

"Redirecting the Ordinary" at Vicenza, Italy

Elisabeth Nacenta de la Croix has sent some pictures of the recent appearance of "Redirecting the Ordinary" at the Abilmente in Vicenza, Italy:

The next possibility for seeing a SAQA show on European grounds is "Two by Twenty" at OEQC in Maastricht, and then "Food for Thought" at Knitting &Stitching show, Harrogate.

Other exhibitions by SAQA members at Maastricht will be by Chantal Guillermet, Jette Clover & Katriina Flensburg and the group International Threads (eight SAQA members from four countries).

Note to Self - European Quilt Triennial Art work by Helen Conway DRAFT

Note to Self by Helen Conway

In December 2014 my father turned seventy and the whole family flew to Berlin for a weekend at the Kempinski hotel by the Brandenburg Gate. The idea of us all proceeding en masse to view the historic sights of central Berlin was a nice one, but we knew, it was likely to end up in squabbles and tears if we didn’t all get some personal time. So, one afternoon, having dutifully escorted my parents around three days worth of Christmas markets and war museums, I was given my parole and I headed eagerly for the Fernsehturm to join a Graffiti tour of Berlin.

My slight obsession with graffiti started when, with other artists in the North of England, I formed the Etcetera group and we agreed to work to the theme of Transition. I used to practice immigration law and decided to follow that interest and went to visit Brick Lane in London with the idea of making art based on the layers of immigrant communities that had passed through that area. I went with plans to work with maps and architectural plans of the area and did not expect that it would be the the graffiti that would capture my heart.

I developed a method of painting my cloth with acrylic and adding graffiti with oil pastel, then piecing strips together. The graffiti was done by way of greatly exaggerated or truncated letters, often rotated mid-word so that while I was writing it I knew what it said but no-one else would read it, especially when it was cut up and reconstructed. The very first quilt made in that style was accepted for the SAQA Wide Horizons which encouraged me to go further. However, by the time I landed in Germany I was feeling I was merely playing with small variations of the same and I was looking for my next ‘leap’ forward with the series.

The tour was led by an English graffiti artist now living locally and we hopped on and off trams as he took us to see both legal street art murals and the more informal tags and throw-ups often regarded as vandalism not art. I took many photographs and loved how choosing edges or angled shots created new art from the existing marks on walls and doorways. I  came to realise from his own account of how graffiti saved him from an unhappy childhood in Perth Australia, how much graffiti writing is about the writers creating new identities for themselves. Suddenly I understood what had been merely subliminal before - the reason graffiti seemed like the right way for me to express my feelings about immigration and migration. Both were about people redefining themselves and having different public personas ( as they assimilated) and private personas ( in their own homes and communities).

That insight alone I thought worth the (modest) cost of the tour. But there was more to come. At the end we took a bus ride out to East Berlin to an abandoned margarine factory. There in a cavernous, bare room we were given a small piece of canvas, spray paint, some basic instruction on how to do stencil street art and the suggestion that we try to replicate what we had been shown. Of course, I didn’t. I begged extra canvas, showed them my art on my iphone, explained exactly why I was now practically shaking with excitement, because it had never occurred to me that I could do actual spray paint graffiti on fabric and was given in turn permission to play with whatever I could get my hands on in that room. They talked to me in detail about the different’ caps’ for the spray paint cans and the best paint brands to use and why.

Later that night I sat in the hotel room and ordered some spray paint from a specialist graffiti shop ( who even knew such things existed?!) and as soon as I got home I painted and stitched me a new quilt then, donning a respirator, took a physical and metaphorical deep breath and let loose with the spray paint. The result, Note to Self, was accepted as my first ever entry to the European Quilt Triennial.

The design was not random but was based loosely on a photograph I took that day. The quilt also has writing on it, not totally legible but notes to myself about the courage and bravery needed for me to be an artist. For years I felt bound by the identity of being the ‘academic’ child in the family, the lawyer. Now with my art I am finding a way to form a new identity, the artist. I may have to go it alone as  my family will not necessarily want to be by my side as I do it ,but this quilt is a note to myself to remember the excitement and satisfaction of branching out and making art that is unique to me. 

As I write on the quilt itself: “Whatever you dream you can, begin. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.”

.