I got a lot of books for Christmas, and I’m slowly making my way through them all. I’ve always loved Noriko Endo’s landscapes, since I saw the first small (and probably very cheap) one about 7 years ago. Her large pieces of forests and individual trees would take over a room quite happily. The book Confetti Naturescapes does explain how to make her quilts (which is not why I bought it) in a very general way. Certainly I could have taken her class at IQF in Long Beach last year and made my own little Endoscape; her method is not incredibly difficult…what is amazing is what she personally does with her method. Even watching her demonstrate it here on Alex Anderson’s TV show does not really explain how she gets from those toothpick-sized pieces of many colors to the large landscapes that have dominated the art quilt scene for the last few years.

She seems a very peaceful, content woman, and it shows in her art…and her book is a reflection of that.

Art from the HeArt

I wrote earlier this week about the shootings in Tucson and feeling like I needed to get it out, venting or drawing or something. Here’s a great opportunity for any of you feeling the same way, Art from the HeArt, which is based on using art to heal pain and supporting nonviolence and moving away from the hate speech that has been prevalent in politics here in the United States for the last few years…always a good thing, from my perspective (ask me sometime about the series of divorce quilts I did). It’s an online exhibit and blog; organizers are Linda Moran (digital and fiber artist), S. L. Drury (digital and fiber artist), and Anne Huskey Lockard (mixed-media artist). Linda’s community has been deeply affected by the Tucson shootings, and continues to be so.

The link to the prospectus is here, and there’s already one piece that’s been juried in. The work needs to be 8×10 to 9×12″, so it wouldn’t take you long to make something. It doesn’t go away if we ignore it…