Natural and Medicinal Dye Workshop with Porfirio Gutierrez

 Like a dream, the day arrived in southern California, Ventura to be exact, when we gathered to begin our journey into the magic of creating color using natural medicinal dye plants. We met at Maestro Porfirio Gutierrez's studio. The following four days immersed us in the dye processes and cultural significance of Zapotec medicinal plants.  In the workshop we explored three elements used for medicine and for dyes; Yashi (common English name: mule fat), cochineal insects and pericon.

Through work, stories, and laughter shared, the group became a community onto our selves.  A shout out to Botanical Colors for hosting the workshop, to Maestro Porfirio Gutierrez and family for inviting us into to their lives, and to fellow participants for openly sharing their unique selves and diverse skill sets.  The culmination our time together was a Zapotec healing ceremony given by a healer on sacred ground in Ojai, CA.  

The four day workshop/retreat gave me new knowledge. I took away a thankful heart, more hope for our future, and a better understanding to our connection to nature and to each other.  "There is no them. There is only us." - Adia Millett ~ artist.

Steel Vat - Cochineal

Iron Vat - Ashi

Stainless Steel Vat - Ahsi

Wool yarn dyed

Traditional Weavings - Maestro Porfirio Gutierrez

Ventura Studio - Maestro Porfirio Gutierrez

 

Healing Ceremony ~ Ojai, CA

Maestro Porfirio Gutierrez's studio in Ventura, CA is open by appointment.  It is worth a visit.  There you can see more of his creative work.

Art Work Still Traveling in the New Year ~ 2022

 

 Happy New Year ... I wonder how accurate this sentiment fits the year 2022. I wonder where we find ourselves collectively in the world of health, politics and general well being. My hope is for more face time with friends and family, more safe travels, more garden experiments, more walks in nature, more shared creative moments. 

News in the new year includes the continued showing of my piece, Enso 2, now in a very cool Virtual Gallery at the Sanchez Art Center website. Web address: https://www.sanchezartcentervirtualgalleries.org/works Enso 2 link is on line. This collection of works is being shown in person in the Sanchez Art Center East Gallery, Pacifica, CA from January 21 to February 13, 2022.

From Barbara Kibbe, Chair, Regional Exhibitions Committee SAQA Northern California/Northern Nevada:

"A very fun feature of the website is that when one is in the virtual gallery, click the "more info" below each artwork. That pulls up additional info about each work. AND, by clicking "room" to the right under each image, one can see what the piece would look like up on an imaginary wall in a number of different (generic) settings."

 

Closer to home I continue to find solace in working with fabric and growing new plants in the garden.  

One completed piece which is entered into this year's Desert Quilters quilt show is called Steps.  It is made using commercial cottons, is machine pieced and hand quilted with #8 size cotton embroidery thread.  The challenge was to create a different hand sewn designs for each block, non of which were pre-planned.  

 

While Steps is a more traditional piece than I usually create, I totally enjoyed designing the block inspired by a vintage woven textile.  Hand stitching was equally fun ... exploring how stitch patterns create defining lines and textures in each block.

Step - back side

Steps - 40 by 48 inches - 2021

Steps - detail of hand stitch

A self selected challenge for 2021 was to use up vintage kimono fabrics and stitch an improvisational block a day for thirty days.  As construction progressed contemporary cottons were included. Thirty six inch completed blocks did not make enough to constitute much of anything.  So more blocks were made and added to the original thirty blocks. Incorporating a different size, the 12 inch block, balanced the quilt design.  Overall, I am happy with the results.

Bento Box - 60 by 84

Bento Box - Detail of six inch blocks

 

I hope this post finds you healthy and happy and always creative! Sending out all my best wishes in the New Year!

Summer Daze 2021 ... two Exhibitons

 Thank goodness life is back to a new normal.  In pursuit of creating art, the lack of social connections seem to have had an effect on productivity, not always in a positive way.  Still, I stay connected through podcasts, webinars, gardening and out door exercise with like minded souls. 

In these times of soft openings, the honor of showing work is a blessing.  My piece, Enzo II, is currently on exhibit at the California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica.  I am more than pleased to be included in this contemporary show of 62 selected quilts from SAQA - Studio Art Quilt Associates. The artists represented are from California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah states.

 

 

Enzo II ~ 2016 / 36 by 34 inches

Enzo II is constructed from hand dyed fabrics, eco printed cottons and silks, pieced, raw edge appliqued, painted, machine and hand stitched.
The piece is inspired by the Japanese term enso, meaning "circular form." It  is a circle that is hand drawn in one or two uninhibited brushstrokes to express a moment when the mind is free to let the body create.
In the summer of 2016, I was staying in the Sierra Nevada foothills at a friend's cabin.  Inspired by the quiet and the peace of the place, I painted the outer circle to reflect the minor movements of the inner circles.  Painting was freeing and intuitive, a moment when time stood still, an act of freedom.

Exhibition dates: June 23 through September 19, 2021.  Museum Hours: Wednesday through Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Stitching California: Fiber Artists Interpret the State’s People, Life, and Land asks textile artists to explore and reflect on the diversity, illusions, realities, and hopes that define — or at least help us better understand — the richness and contradictions of the Golden State. California is a large and complicated creature, where dreams are formed and sometimes realized, and where homelessness, want, and xenophobia are all too prevalent.
Madonna continues to travel throughout the state of California in the Stitching California exhibition and is currently at Museum on Main in Pleasanton, California until August 14, 2021.

Madonna ~ 2018

Well, stay cool, stay safe, stay healthy and stay creative.

Learning Something New: Creating a Siddi Quilt

Creating brings hope and healing. Inspiration comes from tending a summer garden, taking an on-line class, walking out of doors, listening to podcasts and books on tape, meeting with kindred souls on zoom, particpating in free on-line webinars, and learning about the world I live in.

Here's my list of favorites:

1. Trying different plants in the garden, planting dye seeds, Navajo Sun Flowers and Indigo plants.
2. Participating in on-line interactive workshops such as Siddi Quilts with Sujata Shah.
3. Taking three mile walks through Cotton Wood Park, Summerlin, Las Vegas, NV.
4. Listening to pocasts; two favories are Berne Brown and LeVar Burton Reads.
5. Finding interesting books on tape; my latest listen; "I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness", author Austin Channing Brown. 
6. Attending SAQA Regional Meetings, Las Vegas Modern Quilt Guild meetings, and monthly Art Quilts, Etc meetings.
7. Watching Webinars/videos; two favorites are; Botanical Colors (Feedback Fridays), and Textile Talks.

All these activities keep me connected to things I love and engaged in making. This month I took a class with Sujata Shan..  She shared techniques and gave a brief history about the makers of the Indian Siddi quilts and their traditions. Working from the outside to the inside, each piece of cloth was hand sewn with a running stitch.  I used a milners #1 needle and aurilfil size #12 thread.

Finished quilt; 20 x 20 inches

 Sometime in a more recent past, I was given a pineapple motif panel that was partially complete.  I finished it by adding diaginal siduku lines and cross stitch.  Adding a border to the panel a pillow cover was made.  It was fun to complete something that started out plain and developed into a functional piece.

Pineapple Pillow Cover

 

Detail - Varigated cotton

Go gently ... go safely, go create !

Submissions to Martha Sielman's Bird Book

Good morning world.  Almost to the very last minute deadline, I entered three pieces for a Bird Book Martha Sielman's is creating.  Knowing Martha's background in art textiles, the book will be an exciting array of birds and creative techniques. Look for publication in 2023.  The pieces I entered are work completed earlier in my artistic ventures.  Different techniques were explored and applied.

1. Bird - Embroidery on paper

1. Material used in the making of Bird are 8 and 12 weight embroidery threads on enco dyed parchment paper.  The paper was stabilized with light weight fusible interfacing making a surface that survived a heavy stitch without being torn by the threads or the large needle.

2. Raven's Wing was sewn using free motion and machine stitches.  The background, behind the raven is a printed and photo transferred feather.

3. Eco printed water color paper serves as the background for Raven. I saw the outline of a raven in the print and followed that for the hand stitched raven image.

2. Raven's Wing

 

3. Raven on Eco print

  

 

Reflections from 2020

 With the close of 2020, I reflect about friends and family, things accomplished, places not visited, life that once was and especially the news and the inequity challenges facing our nation (USA).  The collective pandemic has changed the world as we have known it. The change hopefully is toward better days for all.  

 While my world became smaller with less face to face contact it became larger with varied opportunities to engage via technology. Those include zoom meetings, on-line classes from different parts of the world, virtual museum art venues and lots of podcast from various sources ... science, political, spiritual, art making, and literature.

Experiences explored in the year 2020 ...

On-line classes and meetings and presentations ... Fiona Duthie - explorations in felt, Mel Beach - modern quilter, SAQA Regional zoom meetings, Modern Quilt Guild Meetings (Local Las Vegas), Art Quilts Etc. (Desert Quilters of Las Vegas), Textile Talks ... Weekly presentations and discussions from a collective of fiber art organizations.

Images from 2020 say it best ...

Accolades of pieces published:

 

SAQA Journal 2020

Kelp

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SAQA Journal Quarterly - 2020

Madonna

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cards / Small projects that help ignite creative inspirations:

Scraps and Mesh

Wine tins on eco-dyed paper

Commercial Fabrics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mono Prints:

Cotton and Fabric paint

 


 

Cotton and Paint

From the Garden:

Persimmons for Jam

Roma Tomatoes

Critters

 

 

 

 

 

Hikes:

Red Rock - Las Vegas, NV

Hilltop Ventura, CA

Projects Re-Started and Completed:

Finally pieced

Laundry bag - mended with hand stitch

Ceramic piece - backing of fiber added

Wishing you and yours a safe, sane, healthy, and creative New Year in 2021 !!!

Creating a Slideshow for Zoom

Each day during this global pandemic is a challenge. While not one thing is major, I try my best to have useful days.  I keep a daily account of the things completed, small and some more time consuming.  

Today I played with creating a simple slide show of the progression of art work and the it's different stages.  The work called Dreaming M.C. can be seen in an earlier post.

Fun to try something new.

Dreams of M.C. Escher

 Daily chores such as dishes and dinners turn mundane and repetitive in days of sheltering at home.  When I am quiet and focused, I become thankful for more time to art and more time to reflect.  Finishing old projects gives a feeling of accomplishment.  Beginning new projects, exploring new ideas adds purpose and confirms a need to create.

The latest challenge completed for a SAQA Entry Regional Exhibition: Artists in Residence: Sheltering in the Time of the Pandemic is a 12 by 12 piece titled "Dreams of M.C." The show is scheduled to open at Blue Line Arts, 405 Veron Street, Roseville, CA on November 20, 2020, closing January 2, 2021.

The piece was a combination of ideas ... a photo of my hand printed on fabric and free motion stitched, a block derived from an vintage textile pattern, old linen rusted and used to piece the block.  Hand stitching finished the quilting of the piece. The concept of incorporating a hand within a hand stitched piece was begot from a SAQA challenge of what we do when shelter at home during a world pandemic.  I am doing more art and taking time to explore hand stitching. It is a slower process.

 

While I miss friends and family and weekly groups,  Zoom has become a saving grace.  The technology keeps me in touch with art groups and meetings.  Our guild, Desert Quilters of Nevada, recently offered a live zoom course on-line. The advantages of having fabrics, sewing machines, and notions outweighed not having a class at all.  When creating or learning something new, I revert to my introvert self.  The quiet of my own space worked great for me.

Mel Beach was our instructor.  She is well versed in Zoom technology and was prepared with examples and step by step instruction.  She answered questions on the spot and repeated instructions when requested with clarity and patience.  The six hour class was split into three hours a day, one day each week. Having time to explore the technique was a benefit to me.  Lastly, I enjoyed seeing folks I had missed these last six months.

My piece from Mel's class was constructed using old shirt material.  The inner blue triangles are commercial fabric. It measures 25 inches across from point to point. I love this piece; it holds a sentimental marker. The shirts were from my dad. He passed away years ago and the material designs remind me of him. 

I read somewhere that “the sum of your life is what you pay attention to.”  So, in these days of our world pandemic, what do you pay attention to?

Stay safe, stay well, and stay creative!
 

July Finds on the Internet

As many of us grow tired of stay at home, I have found that the time at home, usually alone, offers introspection and discovery.  I log in more hours on-line than I'd like to count looking at posts, blogs and art.  Below are three sites I'd like to share.

Katrina Rodabaugh, as describe in her own words is "an artist, writer, and crafter working across disciplines to explore environmental and social issues through traditional craft techniques."  I happened upon her blog post: 4.15.2014 - 10 Major Women Artists I Couldn't Live Without.  I revisited the facts.  The lack of representation of women artists in major venues and the importance of naming and acknowledging women artist in the development of my own art.

Forest and Found is a blog of the Studio Practice of Max Bainbridge and Abigail Booth. What drew my interest was a short film, Unearthed, made for the Pitt Rivers Museum as part of the Verve: Need, Make Use artist in residence program.  Duration: 5 minutes, 44 seconds.

Lastly for this short post, is an artist of longevity and incredible diversiy, Louise Bourgeois. Some of her work can be seen at the MOMA museum site. She inspires one to continue even when nobody seems to notice and to go big.

Parting with views from Ventura, CA, USA.

January 2020

Sunset View from the House - 2020

Channel Islands

Blessings to you. Stay safe, stay healthy and stay creative.

June During Corona

Hello ... my new motto in this time of our world wide continued pandemic is: stay safe, stay healthy, stay creative.

Isolation is feeling more isolated.  Even though many restrictions have been lifted and social distancing redefined, I long for more of the day to day human contact, the sharing of ideas, insights and perspectives.

Art still feeds my soul.  And connecting with family, friends and other makers on-line or by phones calls and text, is the saving grace.  I still love the garden and being out doors as the weather in our very hot desert allows.  The evenings as the sun sets feels the most peaceful.

I want to share a progression on the weave inspired quilt that includes a new designed quilt and playing with ways to quilt the current wave quilt.

Examples of blocks quilted by machine.  Simple but effective.

Design 1

Design 2

The wonderful world of photoshop allows the design of a quilt.  See the example below of a whole quilt design using a single block.

The good news in the pandemic is more and more art makers are offering courses on-line.  This is a great opportunity to enjoy an instructor who may be out reach otherwise (consideration given to travel and class costs).

Fiona Duthie is an instructor whose work inspires.  I am taking her on-line Ink on Cloth workshop.  We are in our last week.  I have inspired and love the mark making aspects of the instruction.

Black Sumi Ink on Cotton

Black Sumi ink on Silk

Left: Sumi Ink on Silk/Felted, Right: Setasilk color added

Felted silk, sumi ink and setasilk color

Lastly, the SAQA journal, 2020 - Vol 30 #2,  for this time in the pandemic is available on-line. I have a piece on page eight.

SAQA Journal 2020 - Vol 30 #2

Coastal Kelp - Global Warming Member's Gallery

Until next time ...
Stay healthy, stay safe, stay creative.