Fiber Art – Page 3 – NanetteSewZ

Textiles artists like me

I am proud to be an active member of SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates). Quilts and quilters are usually viewed as “crafters.” When you say you’re a quilter, people immediately think of an older woman they know who “used to quilt.” Usually, this person is their grandmother.

I think part of the reason I struggled with calling myself an artist for so long was because of this stigma. When I initially started exploring art quilting, I realized this was something different. The medium (fabric) is generally what “grandma” used, but the application is really different. Envelopes are often pushed.

Th perception that “textile artist = crafter” is changing because of SAQA. They are huge proponents for recognizing textile art as fine art. They advocate that quilts, and other textile works, be showcased in museums and art galleries, not just quilt shows.

I feel empowered being associated with this International organization. I’ve attended three SAQA conferences and I’m currently a Regional Representative. A huge part of my energy comes from the members. They are caring and supportive. If you need to know anything about the professional journey, they are there to answer your questions.

A major part of SAQAs funding for exhibits and advocacy comes from their annual benefit auction which starts Sept 14 ( http://www.saqa.com/auction-quilts.php ). Members were asked to make 12″ x 12″ quilts and donate them to the auction. Each week a different set of quilts is offered and the bids are reduced daily over the course of 7 days, or until someone accepts the current bid price.

Its fun to participate. There are some amazing pieces, with some created by top names in the industry. I’m happy to be participating for the 4th time. I’m in section #2, so look for the monarch butterfly wing or any of the other fabulous quilts (available for bidding September 24 – 30). Its a great opportunity to get a fabulous piece of art while supporting an organization dedicated to supporting textiles artists like me.

“As Nature Speaks, a dialog with an art quilter”
Featuring the artwork of Nanette S. Zeller
Oct 11- Nov 24, 2018
Page-Walker Arts & History Center, Cary, NC
For more information click here: As Nature Speaks

Artist Talk: Saturday, Oct 13, 2018 – 10:30-11:30 more info
Artist Reception: Friday, October 26 – 6-8pm more info

Fabric and thread

This week, I’m working on a process to demonstrate thread sketching. Thread sketching is just like making a sketch with pencil and paper. Sketches are pretty quick and often made of simple lines. Instead of paper and pencil, I’m using a sewing machine and thread to sketch.

I want my example to be reproducible, so I need to start with an image. For this example, I decided to use a peacock feather as inspiration. I initially drew the design on paper (right) and I probably could have just made copies, but it looks a little sloppy from all my erasing and redrawing. To clean things up, I scanned the drawing into my computer and re-drew it using Adobe Illustrator (left). The line drawings I can make in Illustrator are known as vector graphics. I like working with vector graphics because they can easily be re-sized and changed without effecting the quality of the image itself. If I tried to enlarge the scan, the image would get more blurry the larger I made it. With vector graphics, I can enlarge or shrink the image as much as I want and have the same quality for all projects. I can also tweak the image to change how it looks. It definitely is a bit time consuming, but since I plan to reuse the image for several projects, I feel it’s worth my time in the long run.

Stay tuned, because next time you see this it will be rendered in fabric and thread.

Laugh with life whenever possible

I believe we learn lessons about life from situations we’re placed in. We can also learn alot by watching how others handle situations. I’ve been learning a lot the past few weeks as I witness 2 friends battle cancer. They are both amazing women, creative and funny. They make me laugh; I love that about them. Because of their sense of human and strong character, they are both facing their diagnosis with positive and determined ways. They are powerful to watch.

Shortly after receiving her diagnosis, one of my friends made a promise to her husband to clear out her stash before she dies. She didn’t want to leave him with this burden. She held to her promise and organized her things, then invited people to come “adopt” her craft supplies. “Take all that you want and use it,” she told us with a big smile. It gave her great joy to see her things go to people who would love and appreciate what she had. I don’t know that I would be so organized and determined after receiving such news.

I surely don’t need more fabric, but I did go “adobpt” a few things and brought home a mascot. This funky hedgehog is truly special to me. It will remind me of the strong character, grace and humor of my friend. It will also remind me to love what I do, give graciously, and laugh with life whenever possible.

SEE MY QUILT “Soar” at the
Sacred Threads Exhibition
July 7, 2017 – July 23, 2017
Floris United Methodist Church, Herndon, VA
www.sacredthreadsquilts.org

Save the Bees

I’ve mentioned before that my artistic voice is nature inspired-art which frequently carries an environmental message. Last week I completed a new piece which definitely fits this concept. A few weeks ago I read an article which reported that in early October (2016) seven bee species in Hawaii had been listed as endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

This topic concerns me…a lot! Back in September, millions of bees were killed in an attempt to control the mosquito population (and spread of the Zika virus). For many years, there’s been concern about the survival of bees. We need these pollinator species in order to grown food. Yeah…the demise of bees concerns me.

So in response to the USFWS news, I created a new art piece entitled “Bee-Taken.” I thought you might find it interesting to read how I created it.

I start by using Adobe Illustrator to create illustrations or line drawings of my imagery. Once I have the drawings, I can resize them to fit my requirements for the finished piece. What’s great about this process is I’m building a library of illustrations which I can reuse for future projects.

When I’m making my art quilt, I use the line drawing as a template to cut out the fabric pieces. In this case, I decided to make the bee out of wool felt. Using a light box or window, I traced the pattern elements (body, head, legs, etc) onto freezer paper. Then, I ironed the freezer paper to the right side of the wool and cut out the parts following the lines on the freezer paper template.

Once I had all the wool body parts, I laid out my design on my background fabric. Then, I stitched around the pieces to hold them in place. After all the body parts were secured, I began thread painting. Using wild zig-zag stitching in coordinating thread colors, I created the fuzzy feel of the bee. I used a similar technique to apply tulle (commonly found in wedding veils and tutus) onto the bee to create the transparent wings. Fabric is very 2-dimensional and I really don’t like using it by itself, so I strive to create texture and 3-d effects. The photos shows the difference of before and after thread painting.

This piece accurately represents my vision. When you look at it, you don’t see a shouting statement and I don’t want there to be. However, I frequently do want there to be underlying statement in my art. In this case it says, “Save the Bees.”

Join me for:

“Paper, Canvas, Cloth”
November 4 – December 17, 2016
Campbell House Galleries, Southern Pines, NC
featuring the work of
Sharon Ferguson, Marilyn Vendemia, & Nanette S. Zeller