Art Quilt Portfolio: People and Portraits

I’m really excited about this one…I’ve been selected by Martha Sielman to be one of the featured artists in the next Art Quilt Portfolio: People and Portraits, published by Lark Crafts. It’s not coming out until Spring 2013 (will the world have ended by then? Ask the Mayans…), but I’m working on updating some of my photos for their standards. One of the things that sucks about digital cameras is that they keep improving…oh wait, that doesn’t suck. It only sucks that the shows, books, publications keep wanting higher dpi’s etc., and the older photographs have to be retaken. I have two that I’m going to have professionally done…they are too large for my lighting setup (I’d have to stand in the neighbor’s yard to get a picture in my entryway, I think). I’ve asked around and have a couple names, so I need to get my act together on that. The rest I’m redoing myself…so I need to find the time for that next week (and borrow mom’s camera, which is way better than mine). I’m really looking forward to seeing this book (and the first Art Quilt Portfolio: The Natural World, which will be out in April 2012).

I love art with people in it…I’ve been making art with people in it for so long that I think it is my shtick. Or whatever. My voice. Mostly women, for sure, but an occasional male type sneaks in. Body parts. Innards. Innards is such a fun word. Been thinking about innards today. Innards that get cancer. Innards that get dissected. Innards that need replacing. This is all part of what I teach, for sure, but it seems to be around me all the time.

Anyway. I’ll post more news about the book a million years from now when it gets published. While you’re waiting, though, you could order Sandra Sider’s newest, The Studio Quilt, No. 6: State of the Art…it should be available on Amazon around mid-November. I personally love books with lots of pictures of art quilts, so this is like heaven to me.

Quilt Visions 2012 News

If you haven’t seen it, Quilt Visions has posted the entry requirements for the next exhibit; you can find them here. Go ahead. Print them out. Put it on your calendar. I’m going to have a million competitors to get into this show anyway…so I don’t mind.

There are a couple of new things going on with the next biennial exhibit: first of all, it won’t be at the Oceanside Museum of Art, which I think is a loss…it’s a beautiful musuem with nice high walls and lots of open spaces. I realize it costs money, though, and we are in hard economic times, especially in the art world. One of the reasons Quilt Visions opened a gallery, now a museum, in the Point Loma area was to eventually host Quilt Visions. Now is apparently that time.

I have to admit that the last time I went in VAM, I thought…Holy Crap. This is small. How are they going to host such a big show? The last exhibit had two massive, jaw-dropping pieces that were nothing like real life in the book and fabulous in real life. That’s not happening at VAM. I figured they’d have a lot fewer pieces.

And it’s really not…happening at VAM. The other big change is the size restriction this year…no bigger than 72″ each direction.

Crap. I have a piece I was seriously considering for this entry; I was going to hold it back from other shows for this (WHY? I never get in???). Guess what? No, come on. Bring it on. Yup. It’s bigger than 72″ in height. Bloody hell. Seriously? OK. Fine. I have other stuff in progress. There is plenty of time (the entry date is Jan 1-Feb 13, 2012). I can do that.

Nope. Still pissed. I know why they did it. I get it. I’m just wondering where those big fabulous pieces are going, though. Art shows? Maybe.