June & the living is easy

Member Spotlight – Denise Labadie

Denise is an art quilter living and working in her terrific studio in Longmont, Colorado. Her art focuses on expressing the beauty of the magnificent stones, dolmens and ancient sites in Ireland. Denise has traveled there several times to study and photograph the stone formations. She hand paints almost all of her fabric she uses in her work. She is known for her ability to create interesting textures and beautiful skies as backdrops for the focal points of her work. This summer her work will be exhibited in two juried shows.

Shaw Cramer Gallery, Vinyard Haven, Massachusetts
Jul 16, 2010 through Jul 28, 2010
http://shawcramergallery.com/exhibits.php

ITAB: International TECHstyle Art Biennial at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles – August 17th – October 31st 2010   http://www.sjquiltmuseum.org

Denise says of her work:
“I love my stones. when people ask how long I will focus on  this, I just tell them that their are so many stones and ruins out there, I can’t get enough. I also can’t get enough of Ireland, although I am longing to go to Scotland as I have never traveled there. For the time being, who knows. With every stone circle, dolmen, stone fort etc. there are new challenges, new shading and perspective to work on and learn from. I absolutely love the challenge that comes with each piece I do. It has been a constant struggle for me to get the shadows and perspective correct, things that have not come naturally to me. I am immensely grateful to those who have helped me to define my stones in more depth and detail. My dream would be to have my work shown in Ireland!”

Denise has worked diligently to evolve her style and techniques. She now shares her knowledge through classes on fabric painting and reverse applique. Contact Denise through her web site for more information and to see more of her wonderful art quilts.

http://www.labadiefiberart.com/

Kudos to Colorado SDA members

Regina Benson
As one of five American artists invited to exhibit their work at the 13th International Triennial of Tapestry at the Central Museum of the Textile Industry in Lodz. Regina received special jurors’ mention for her textile installation Ablaze III, a double-sided triptych, 54″ high x 132″ wide x 16″ deep.

Carol Shinn
Carol has had one of her thread painting pieces purchased by the Denver Art Museum for its permanent collection. She will also have her work represented in the booth for the Jane Sauer Gallery at SOFA West in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (see below for more details on this event).

Charlotte Ziebarth
The 2010 Independent Publisher Book Awards has selected Charlotte Ziebarth’s recently publishes book: Artistic Photo Quilts to receive the Bronze award in the How-To Book Category.

Go have a some fun

Check out the ESTES PARK WOOL MARKET – June 10-13. 2010 at the Estes Park fairgrounds.
Sheep dog herding demos, alpaca, llamas, and exotic Paco-vicunas, Angora rabbits and incredible yarns, fleeces and demos of spinning, knitting, weaving etc.
http://www.estesnet.com/events/woolmarket.htm

The SDA NewsBlog is live

The online evolution of the SDA Quarterly Newsletter has just been released live on the Internet. Congratulations to editor Leesa Hubbell for her fine efforts in making this a reality. It is informative, fun and full of resources. If you haven’t seen it yet, go to: http://dev.surfacedesign.org/blog/. You will also find the Live Links to the recent issue of the SDA Journal EcoVision, Spring 2010 there.

Calls for Entry

Lines into Shapes sponsored by the Art Center of Estes Park, Colorado. A national multimedia juried exhibition of fiber art, paintings-water media/oil/pastels/printmaking, photography, sculpture/glass/wood/fine pottery, jewelry. Deadline for entry is September 10, 2010 with exhibition October 29 through November 14, 2010. For more information call: (970) 586-5882 or see the prospectus on their web site: http://www.artcenterofestes.com

Big Themes/Small Works sponsored by the Spark Gallery in Denver, Colorado as part of the Biennial of the Americas which will take place all month long in July. Deadline for entry by dropping off your submission is Sunday, Jule 11th or Monday July 12th. Exhibition dates: July 13-July 31st, 2010. For full details go to their web site http://www.sparkgallery.com and click on the call for entry pdf to download to your computer

Quick Takes:

SDA in the state of Michigan has just put up a blog for its members:
http://sda.posterous.com/

Hand-Eye Magazine
An amazing online resource.
HAND/EYE is an independent, international publication which explores the nexus between design and development, culture and commerce, art and craft, and environment and ethics. Get a glass of iced tea or lemonade and settle back for a great time on the web. http://handeyemagazine.com/node/166
Check out these fun chairs:

Try Some Indigo This Summer
Have you thought about trying indigo dyes? Here is a link to an article which describes how to go about it along with references on where to find the dye.

http://handeyemagazine.com/node/58

Earthues (natural dyes)
http://www.earthues.com/

Textile Printing Resources
If you want to experiment with having your digital images printed on textiles here are two resources to check out:
Fabric on Demand
http://www.fabricondemand.com
Spoonflower
http://www.spoonflower.com

Smithsonian Find
You know how things unexpectedly “surface” in your home or studio? Well, I recently found a page which I had torn out of a November 2009 Smithsonian magazine about the discovery of a 30,000 year old piece of thread in a cave in the Caucasus region of Georgia. “The fibers had been knotted together and dyed. Researchers identified violet, red, black and turquoise threads in clay sediments, providing one of the earliest known examples of humans using plant fibers.  Other remains – including the spores of cloth eating fungus – suggest that such fibers were made into textiles.” It seems that fiber art and surface design have been part of the human experience for a long time.

SOFA West – Santa Fe
Planning a summer trip? Not so far away in always-fun Santa Fe, New Mexico is the Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair: SOFA West.  July 8 – 11th, 2010 It will be held in the Santa Fe Convention Center. For more info: http://www.sofaexpo.com/

Snyderman Gallery
Take a tour of the many works in 7th International Fiber Biennial exhibition in this prestigious gallery in Phiadelphia, Pennsylvania
http://www.snyderman-works.com/snyderman/gallery.html