Piecing Together

On Sunday, Dec. 7, I had the pleasure, along with my daughter, of attending the opening reception of a SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) exhibit in the beautiful Biscayne National Park in Homestead, FL. 

I want to thank Maya Schonenberger and her team for organizing this exhibit.  There was a tremendous amount of work and planning involved - this exhibit will be traveling to ten national parks in the next two years. 

One of the artists, Marianne Williamson, hosted a wonderful brunch before the reception in her lovely home.

The exhibit is called, Piecing Together a Changing Planet, and is about various climate change issues.  This is Gabriele DiTota, of Melbourne, with one of her pieces.

Inverness, Fl was well represented with two artists juried into this show.  This is Suzanne Evenson and her work.

And yours truly, Karol Kusmaul with my quilt, entitled, AIR.  I was explaining how I use repurposed fabrics from thrift store clothing to get the variety of interesting patterns in my work.  My quilt was inspired by a conversation with a friend who had visited China for two weeks, and said he never saw the sun because of the polluted air there.  Not having fresh air to breathe, or water to drink, is incomprehensible, but it is happening now, in our world, maybe not too far from where YOU live.

We also owe a debt of gratitude to Ranger Jerry, who was instrumental in the planning and did research for the exhibit, and is one of our biggest cheerleaders.  Here he is in conversation with my friend Mara.

This is a link to more information about the show, the artists, and the travel schedule.  Check it to see if it will be appearing at a venue near you!  It is our hope that our work will inspire positive changes regarding these important issues.
 http://www.nationalparkartexhibit.com 

Please also visit our facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/piecingtogether

Back to camp!

I was invited back to camp this past week to work with the girls on quilted postcards.  They are becoming pretty adept at sewing, as they have been working on some adorable stuffed monsters.  Here are a few photos of campers at work on the cards.

They were hugely impressed with my Janome 6500, because it can stitch letters, numbers, and fancy stitches. 

More classes

Here are some pics from my recently completed quilt classes.  First, the traditional class.

We did the Kaleidoscope pattern.  Some used large, and some used small templates.  That's me on the left.
Also just wrapped up an Art quilt class.  A few photos.

We did a variety of compositions, and some color studies.  Here is a piece that I am starting for our last assignment - to make an interpretation of a playing card.  I'm thinking about balance, give and take, and wondering if I should add two sleeves to this one so it can hang either way up!

SAQA auction quilts

SAQA is an international group of quilt artists that I belong to.  Each year, we create small (12" square) quilts to be auctioned.  Some of the members are curating small collections of 6 pieces that are related somehow.  Here is a  collection based on depth.

Artists are: Rebecca Douglas, Georgia Heller, Karol Kusmaul, Gail Kotowski, Ellie Kreneck and Lynn B. Welsch 

To view many other auction pieces, please visit: www.saqa.com and click on Artwork, then 2014 Benefit Auction.

Tweaking features

Have been adjusting features on these girls.  Trying to make the one on the left smile!  Need to check my collection of green fabrics to add detail to the one on the right.  Getting there.

Making faces

Spent some time today adding facial features for this piece.  They both still need tweaking, but it's a start.

Crafts and Mentors

My craft group made small felted wool critters this month.  Here is a photo of the ones I made.  We had a grand time sitting together and stabbing at little balls of wool, trying to avoid hitting our thumbs.

 

I also snapped a picture of quilted art pieces that I purchased from two of my favorite teachers last month.  The larger one is by Susan Shie, and has lots of her words of wisdom written on it.  Beautiful thoughts about peace and kindness - very inspirational.  The smaller one is Pamela Allen's guinea fowl.  I love her funky approach to the world, and have admired her work for a long time.  I also received prints of other pieces from both teachers.  I will cherish these works, but even more, I love that I have had the opportunity to spend time getting to know and love both of them as regular people as well as the rockstars that they are!!!

 

Camp projects

 

I wrapped up my time with the camp girls this morning.  They will need more time to finish their projects, but I think they can help each other to finish what they started.  Here are more photos of our progress.  It was a joy to work with them.  So peaceful when they were all sitting and sewing. . .

Art quilts at Camp

I have been visiting a camp near my home, to help some young girls learn to make art quilts.  We did a group project together to get started.  We brainstormed themes, and agreed on 'make up'.  Here is the piece we made so far:

  I love it.  Not bad for a first effort! 
Then, each camper (and counselor) started her own piece.  We are learning about composition and some hand sewing skills.  The girls are excited about the work, and are fantastic about cleaning up the resulting mess.  They have the weekend to work on sewing down all the pieces, and Monday, we will add backs and finish up.  Here are a few more photos:

This was a retirement goal of mine, and I am loving sharing the joy of sewing and creativity with these girls.