Favorite Places Class with Valerie Goodwin

The Road to California is a quilter's conference and showcase.  My friend and fellow artist made the annual trek to the show in Southern California.  We found venders worth visiting and took one of the classes offered on site.  The two day fiber art class was taught by Valerie Goodwin who is a professor of architecture and a well know quilter.  Valerie's guided critiques of each student's work provided useful design insights.

During our two days together, we learned ways to create real and imaginary map art.  The techniques focused on layering fabrics, sheers, and then applying paint, pen and stitching.  My goal in recent works has been to create layers with fabric in some of the same ways I able to create layers on canvas with paint.  Valerie's class provided clear instruction as well as a plethora of ways to accomplish this goal.

Layers add depth in color, values and texture to a piece.   In this small piece layers of fabrics were flipped stitched onto a background of cotton crinoline.  Raw edges were hand stitched to the background. This technique alone adds to the variety of textures in the piece. Then acrylic paint mixed with fiber media (GAC 900) was applied.  Sheer silk organza was fused softening some of the original piecing lines.  Buildings, trees, road surfaces, and hand stitched accents completed the work. During the process, I worked on both sides of the piece.  The foundation lines and hand stitching proved to be interesting designs on each side of the map. 

For more information about these processes look at Valerie Goodman's book, Art Quilt Maps.  It is well written, illustrated with samples and completed pieces.  Step by step instructions are provided through out the publication.

South Lake - size: 9 by 6 inches