Quilt National 2015 - Olga Norris

Today's Quilt National offering comes from Olga Norris from the UK. Olga describes both her inspiration and process.

'Crowded is the result of work I am doing on the subject of repeats.  I am attracted to the idea of a repeat being both exact and different.  The differences for me make the repeats more interesting, revealing more about the image.  Crowd was the initial image, and I hope an enigma: what kind of crowd? Positive or negative? Political or religious?  Herded or spontaneous?
This is the third time that I have had work chosen for the Quilt National exhibition.  My work uses digital collage and print as an important element in its image development, but Crowded is the first to be developed directly from traditional printmaking.  I started with a collagraph plate made simply of cardboard, masking tape, acrylic medium, and carborundum. 

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This was an experiment in viscosity printing, where inks of different densities are used to create intaglio and relief printing at the same time.  I was pleased with the five variations I achieved; I very much liked the effect of them together, and decided to make a quilt out of them.

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I scanned the five paper prints and digitally tidied up little elements, then printed out three copies of each of the five versions.  I used a desktop printer with prepared sheets of A3 size silk.  These are extremely fine, and so I ironed on thin Vilene in order to provide enough stiffness to stitch comfortably.  I joined all the rectangles together by machine before beginning to hand stitch the individual panels.

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I was delighted with the result and even more delighted when Crowded was chosen for Quilt National 2015'

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Thank you sharing your work with us Olga.

Quilt National 2015 - Dorte Jensen

Quilt National seems to be a show that most art quilters aspire to enter.  Several members of our region were juried in this year and now that the exhibition has opened we are able to take a look at some of their work. 

From the Quilt National website:-

Quilt National was intended to demonstrate the transformations taking place in the world of quilting. Its purpose was then, and still is, to carry the definition of quilting far beyond its traditional parameters and to promote quiltmaking as what it always has been — an art form.

The works in a Quilt National exhibit display a reverence for the lessons taught by the makers of the heritage quilts. Many of the works hold fast to the traditional methods of piecing and patching. At the same time, however, the Quilt National artist is intrigued by the challenge of expanding the boundaries of traditional quiltmaking by utilizing the newest materials and technologies. These innovative works generate strong emotional responses in the viewer while at the same time fulfilling the creative need of the artist to make a totally individual statement.

Dorte Jensen from Denmark is the first artist in this short series with her piece entitled 'The Sunshine of My Life'. In her own words she says -

My picture “ The Sunshine of My Life”  shows my daughter and her son. They play on the beach in the summer and she lifts him high above the water – all the way to the sun. His head becomes the sun itself and he beams back to his mother.

And isn't it just the way it is: our children are small sun rays. If we "lift them up" and support them the right way, they will shine upon us and fill our lives with sunshine.

Thank you for sharing this with those of us who could not be there Dorte.

More SAQA presence at Textiel Festival Leiden

« Water-land » is a juried exhibition; and from 175 entries (22 countries), 55 were selected.

 Geneviéve Attinger's « Anthropocène Tragédie » (h 18cm x w 15cm x d 15cm) was accepted.

Material : plastic bags, video magnetic tape.

Techniques : 3D bobbin-lace.

The exhibition takes place during Textiel Festival Leiden 2015 (May 13-16). 

Exhibition with SAQA members at Textile Festival in Leiden (NL)

English translation:

6 Textile artists show their work in an exposition in BplusC artcentre in Leiden (Netherlands) from May 13^th until June 27.

As part of the 2015 Textile Festival 6 women show a total of 18 artworks, inspired by 3 themes: Gender, White and Architecture.

Individually the 6 ladies presented their work in the Netherlands and abroad. As Texperanto they form a cohere group and this is the first time for a joint presentation.

The exhibition enjoys great variation and beauty, stimulated on one hand by the variety of techniques and on the other by the individuality of the 6 ladies.

These different techniques are not an end in themselves, but serve a meaningful and visual medium in the presentation of the chosen themes.

This show is highly recommended! It is part of the Leiden Textile festival. www.textielfestival.nl

BPlusC is located at Oude Vest 45 – 2312 XS Leiden

Openinghours during textile festival:

May 13 11.00 – 17.00

May 14 10.00 – 17.00

May 15 10.00 – 17.00

May 16 10.00 – 16.00

And later days:

Every Monday - Tuesday 16.00-22.00

Wednesday 9.00-13.00 and 15.00-22.00

Thursday 11.00-14.00 and 17.00-22.00

Friday 9.00- 13.00 and 17.00-22.00

Saturday 9.00-16.00

SAQA get-together at Karlsruhe (Germany), May 16

After the first lively and interesting SAQA Europe/Middle East this year in Prague almost two weeks ago

we are already planning the next possibility. Because getting to know other members of SAQA 'for real' is a special experience, and helps to build our identity as a region within the organization, we would like to call for another informal meeting of any and all SAQA members who are attending the Nadelwelt in Karlsruhe (Germany) in May.

The meeting will take place on Saturday, May 16, at 19.30 o’clock (that is 7:30 p.m. for Americans) in the “Altes Brauhaus” close to Kongresszentrum and downtown of Karlsruhe. You can find more information on the location and how to get there here: http://www.alterbrauhof.de/

Should you be planning to join us, please send a mail to co-rep Uta so she knows whether to make a reservation, or for how many people. 
Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

Look out for further announcements about Festival of Quilts in Birmingham and European Patchwork Meeting in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines here on the blog, and in the newsletters!

Fantastic Fibers 2015 (2)

Alicia Merrett was the second person in our region to be selected for the Fantastic Fibres Exhibition. She has kindly sent in images of the piece that was selected and information about the piece.

'BLUE HARBOUR - 128 cm by 103 cm - 2014

This piece was made for the sheer pleasure of working with a large number of colours surrounding an large area of blue. Technically complex but very enjoyable to make.  The little boat shapes complete the aerial view of a harbour with a marina and beaches, colourful houses, green fields and earth-coloured hills. An imaginary map, but based on my research of harbour and marina maps.

Full Image

Detail

Call for Active Donation: the 2015 SAQA Benefit Auction, and ...

As SAQA members have read in the regular e-mail notifications from the board, SAQA's benefit auctin for 2015 is already on its way. If you haven't registered for your contribution, it's not too late, although you won't make the 'early bird cut' anymore. SAQA is looking forward to your donations. Some modalities haven been changed this year, check out the new rules and possibilities here.

And please remember: As last year we want to run a series on Europe/Middle East's contributions to the Auction, Take a few pictures while you are making one, and send them to the blog address or Uta (see links on the right hand bar) when you send your piece to SAQA.

(Here is a sneak preview of mine, finished on time, which will be posted tomorrow:

Shapes 28, by Uta Lenk, 2015, detail

If you have a brilliant idea for a slightly more flashy heading of the series than I came up with last year I am absolutely open for suggestions!

Looking forward to receiving many reports about your donations - let's put Europe/Middle East on the SAQA map for real!