Art Quilts, Etc. 12 x 12 Challenge

I belong to an active Art Quilt group in Las Vegas, NV.  The group has been ongoing for nine years, provides a safe haven to share ideas, and is directly affiliated with the quilt guild, Desert Quilters of Southern Nevada.  One of our members challenged our art circle to create 12 x 12 blocks using a randomly assigned color and your choice of techniques.  The challenge was inspired by the Twelve by Twelve International group. The color blocks will be grouped and displayed together for our annual quilt show, Quilt Las Vegas, in March 2015.

Below are the completed blocks for the challenge colors I was given.  Although very different techniques were used in constructing each block, I am happy with the final results.  As always it it fun to play and experiment.

My Day In The Sun ~ 2014

My Day ~ Detail

Turquoise ~ Detail

The techniques used to create "My Day In The Sun" are original art photocopied and transferred to fabric, stitched using poly thread, inserted into hand dyed light canvas and then quilted with cotton thread.  I love the colors of this piece and it represents the color ...
Orange, which I will admit may be a stretch and is definitely an artist's prerogative.

Turquoise

I like the turquoise piece better it's detail than in it's whole part.  And certainly it did not photograph as well as the orange 12 x 12 piece.  Still the mark of the hand stitching is always rewarding.  I extended the stitched line from the main block into the background block.  Keeping the thread color of the lines the same color way as the background block helped incorporated the two blocks without taking the eye away from the focal turquoise block.

All in all is was a fun challenge. The level of accomplished pieces was truly extraordinary and the final groupings should be phenomenal. I will show more photos of the group's final pieces once they are readied for our quilt show.

Art Quilt Tahoe 2014

Well I still like going to camp and have found the experience even more joyful when surrounded by like minded souls ... the community energy of talented artists pushes and pulls one to new inspiration.

The camp experience at Zephyr Point located at the literal edge of beautiful Lake Tahoe, CA included instruction in creating art through wax resist, dyeing on paper and fabric, meeting other artists from around the world, sharing creation stories and spending time with friends.  Our instructor, Isl van Baale, is a long honored textile artist and teacher from the Netherlands.  The students she drew together was a rich community of ten talented artists of varying media backgrounds.  I was in workshop heaven !!!

Inspiration from Zephyr Point Conference Center:

View from Dobbins Hall where class was held.

Fall Color which inspired values of Flower Organics design

 Main Work In Progress:

Wax being applied to pre-dyed fabric

Color added with dye ~ detail

Karen Garth, a good friend and fellow art quilter, and I traveled to the conference together.  Karen's insightful questions always help me become more articulate about my art processes.  It is great to create, but understanding the evolution is even better.


As you can see, the color of the changing fall leaves definitely inspired dye choices of the Flower with Progressive Organics. The techniques used were simple: pre-dye the fabric to create a background color using warm yellows and oranges, incorporate the random dye patterns on the fabric into the design which is established with a tjanting tool to apply the hot soy wax, and finish by painting the second layer of dye onto the design.   The process took two days of concentrated effort which was more meditative than anything else I had experienced previously.

And There's More:

Dobbin Hall

Dyed silk, cotton, paper, and canvas

Stair color and pattern inspiration

Stamped, painted and dyed

I hope you enjoyed viewing the vignettes of my art camp experience as much as I did in creating them.