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Winter in August

The morning after my lecture at Burke QU, I went to the quarterly meeting of the Mason-Dixon Quilt Professionals Network. It is a terrific group of area quilt professionals who share experiences and suggestions for business growth. We met at Artistic Artifacts Annex in Alexandria, the Annex being the physical location for Judy Gula’s online business that carries “creative finds for the creative mind.” I got home just in time to miss a heavy thunderstorm and to take some photos of the activity. The hail lasted about half and hour, and when it was done, it looked like winter in my yard. The first photo is looking at the back deck and yard. The second photo is looking out the door that leads into my studio from the front yard.

Studio Tour Lecture

On Wednesday evening I gave my lecture “Open House Studio Tour” to the Burke chapter of Quilters Unlimited. It was a great group, and I had a fun time sharing my love of snooping in quilter’s studios. Prior to the lecture I had dinner at the Austin Grille with three friends who were members of the guild, Cyndi Souder, Mary Kerr and Kathy Lincoln. It was extra nice, as we usually see each other at meetings that have set agendas and rarely get to sit and enjoy each other’s company. Here is a shot from the lecture that Cyndi took.

Meet Quilt Artist Linda Beach

In the Summer issue of The Professional Quilter, Eileen Doughty wrote a profile on Linda Beach, a quilt artist from Alaska. Linda specializes in landscape quilts and she is quite successful in the competitive field of public art. I’ve admired Linda’s work for some time. Here’s a portion of Eileen’s profile:

How did you then become a professional art quilter?
After I had been quilting for several years, I realized that my fabric addiction was way beyond any reasonable “hobby” budget. I was also making more pieces than I could ever hope to give away. I was in a local coffeehouse one day, looking at the monthly display of art for sale, and I thought, “Why couldn’t I do that?” I spoke to the owner, scheduled a show and that was the start of my art career. After that, I sought out other spaces that featured art on a monthly basis — different coffee shops, a restaurant and a hotel lobby. Each one exposed me to a different audience and most resulted in a sale, giving me more confidence. Always, though, I was the one doing the approaching. I also tried showing my quilts in a local high-end craft fair for a few years. While ultimately not a good fit for my art, it did get my work noticed by a local gallery that decided to show my work.

That first gallery was a learning experience, with both good and bad aspects. I was very flattered that they wanted to show my work, and I eventually sold several quilts through them on a consignment basis. The gallery was one of the larger ones in Alaska, showcasing oils and watercolors with Alaskan subjects. I was featured in two shows so the exposure was great, but they made it plain that I was the first fiber artist they had ever worked with. I don’t think they ever really had an appreciation for or an understanding of art quilts. Needless to say, I lost all confidence in them and ended my association with that particular gallery.
Through my Web site, I was contacted by a local organization and invited to submit a proposal for an art quilt for their conference room. This resulted in my first big public commission. The project involved two very large quilts, and I was thrilled at the chance to work in such a large scale. In the meantime, I started to enter my quilts in juried shows, meeting with some successes and some rejections. My résumé was small but growing, and the success of my first public commission gave me enough confidence to apply for other projects. One call for art for a local hospital put me in touch with a national art-consulting firm. Not only did I get that commission, but the firm subsequently contacted me for commissions for several other projects.

What were your experiences with private vs. public commissions?
When first starting out, one private commission I did ended up being so micro-managed by the customer that by the end of the project the whole quilt seemed totally foreign to me. I have learned from that experience and am much more careful about which commissions I accept. For a private commission, I talk to the prospective customer about the quilt and their expectations in detail. If I feel that we are not “in sync” and that I cannot create a quilt that will make both of us happy, I will not take the commission. My experience with private commissions is that most people have too many restrictions and preconceived ideas to allow the freedom I need to work.

However, my experiences with public commissions have been totally different. Those seem easier in the sense that there are rarely preconceived design ideas involved. The committees involved in the selection process approach the project in a more professional manner and tend to have more respect for your choices as an artist. In public commissions you are either submitting your own proposal or responding to a general guideline or theme, so the committee decides if you will be the right “fit” before you ever get directly involved with the project. I only submit a bid if I’m a good match for the project and the design idea excites me. That way, if I’m chosen, I can put my whole heart into the project. Art consultants have been very receptive to my ideas, so the quilt that I ultimately create is still true to me.

You have many quilts in medical buildings. Are there any special concerns about either the design of the pieces or the materials you use?
Since the majority of my subjects are images inspired by nature, there usually isn’t a problem with the subject of my quilts. I did work on one project for a children’s psychiatric facility where they wanted quilts that featured animals found in Alaska, including bears. The only stipulation was that the bears not have long claws or visible teeth, so I depicted them fishing for salmon and foraging in a blueberry patch.

To read more of Eileen’s article with Linda Beach, you can purchase Issue 103 or can start a subscription here.

Innovative Fabric Imagery for Quilts

Innovative Fabric Imagery
Cyndy Lyle Rymer and Lynn Koolish
C&T Publishing; $27.95

Every year we see more and more quilts with images that have been created with digital technology. In 2007, C&T sponsored an Innovative Fabric Imagery special exhibit at International Quilt Market and Festival in Houston. The majority of Innovative Fabric Imagery for Quilts features a gallery of more than 40 of the inspiring entries in that exhibit. The book also includes the basics of working with photos on your computer and 19 projects. The projects range from “Ocean Sunset” by Gloria Hansen, which features a large photograph printed in four sections, cut into squares and then fused on a background, ending up with an attic windows look, to “Gramsie” by Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero, which turns a photo into a kaleidoscope as the focal point of the quilt. The book is full of ideas to inspire you to put your computer and its imaging software to creative use.

Summer Issue is in the Mail

The Summer issue is out and in the mail. I’ve heard from subscribers that it’s showing up in mailboxes. Here’s a peek at the cover:

Articles include a profile by Eileen Doughty with Alaska quit artist Linda Beach, tips for developing a blog as a marketing tool by Maria Peagler, a studio tour with longarm quilter Paula Rostkowski, guidelines for business recordkeeping by David Nagle, help with phrasing judging comments by Scott Murkin and a primer on understanding DPI for good digital printing by Gloria Hansen. We will have some excerpts in our ezine later this month.

My trip to Southern Maryland

On Monday my husband and I had scheduled a day to ourselves and drove out to Southern Maryland, driving down through St. Mary’s County and then back through Calvert County. It included a wonderful crab lunch at Stoney’s. And one of the highlights for me was a trip to Annemarie Garden, a 30-acre public sculpture garden in Solomons. It was a beautiful setting with numerous pieces of sculpture placed in the open and along paths in the woods, some recycled art, many pieces on loan from the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum. The entrance to the gardens features two ceramic gateposts made by Peter King and Marni Jaimie from Pensacola, Fla. The gardens also featured an art studio, classes, etc., however, all but the gardens were closed on Mondays. Here are some other pictures from the trip. The first two are Three Red Lines by George Rickey and feature painted stainless steel kinetic construction

Finally here’s Curved Form: Bryher II, a bronze by by Dame Barbara Hepworth.

Industrious Birds

Last year we were visited once again by barn swallows who built a nest just above a door leading from our deck into the house. Not wanting the birds to return to the same spot, we put a screen over the space they had previously nested. They would not be thwarted and returned this year to build their nest in the same spot. This time they tore up our door mat to gather bits of building material and build the nest into the screen. A few weeks back we had violent storms and the nest found its way to the deck floor. Not to be deterred, the birds began to build something on top of our security light. I’m not sure why they never finished.

Wealth Acceleration Day

A couple of weeks ago I posted about a seminar that I was attending with David Neagle, the million dollar income acceleration coach. It was truly worthwhile, and gave me a lot to study. I have more than 10 pages of notes from his “Wealth Acceleration Day.” Here are just a few of the things I learned:

• Success requires that you go beyond what’s comfortable – into what was termed the abyss – and to do that you must know where you are and where you are going. And, the faster you get beyond the discomfort zone, the faster your changes will come about

• Take responsibility for all your experiences and ask yourself, “Why am I choosing to have this experience?” This process gives you power to make changes.

• You need to be clear on your vision and goals.

• Don’t ask “How?” When you do that it breaks any expectations, just be open to it manifesting. The “how” will take care of itself.

• Your belief system is made up of thoughts, feelings and action. When they are all congruent, you will be able to manifest remarkable success.

He also talked quite a bit about our belief about success and what holds us back. Some of this sounds simple, but it’s not easy to accomplish. You can think you’ve got your belief system congruent and then the worry, doubt and fear jump in.

When my husband and I got to Baltimore, the first person I saw was Sheri Flemming, a subscriber and longarm quilter from Hershey, Pa. (Lots of people drove or flew into this seminar, so I feel fortunate it was only a 35 mile drive for us.) I brought my camera, so here’s a shot of my husband, Rand, myself and Sheri. I asked a woman sitting near me to take the shot, and I actually manifested a professional photograph – Lynn Dykstra who owns Focused Images Photography Inc in Reston, Va

If you’re interested in learning more about David’s programs, he offers a free 4-hour teleseminar that you can download and listen to at your leisure. It’s called the Art of Success and you can get it here.

A visit with Karen Eckmeier

This week Karen Eckmeier came to Maryland to teach, spending time with three guilds. Karen makes fabulous collage quilts and is working on her next book. The time she spent with my guild included an overnight stay at my house, so we had plenty of time to chat. We also visited the local shop, Capital Quilts, where they had on display quilts made from Skinny Quilts and Table Runners, edited by Eleanor Levie, including one of Karen’s designs. It was a fun surprise. Here’s a shot of us taken at dinner at the Olney Grille (They make a cream of crab soup that’s to die for) with members of my guild, Nimble Fingers.