Fiber Arts Show in Topeka

Sharon Bass just sent us this announcement about a current ongoing Fiber Arts show in Topeka featuring many of our regional SAQA members.  I encourage any of you in the surrounding area to check it out!

Just remember to email me at any time if you have an upcoming show to publicize or solicit entries for.  I'd love to share it in this space!

Featured Artist Profile: Kathy Suprenant

Today I'm thrilled to be featuring the work of Kathy Suprenant.   When I first came across her work featuring chromosomes I was excited to find another scientist/quilter, and am always surprised by how many of us there are!   You can find her art online at her website http://kathysuprenant.com/.

1. Who are you and where do you live?

 Lawrence, Kansas, has been my home for nearly thirty years.  I was born and raised in Hudson Falls, New York, and before moving to Lawrence I lived in Santa Barbara, California and Charlottesville, Virginia. 

I work at the University of Kansas where I teach cell biology at the undergraduate and graduate level (http://www.molecularbiosciences.ku.edu/kathy-suprenant).

2. Tell us a little bit about your artistic journey and how you got started?

 I decided to make a baby quilt for a friend.  When I got home I realized that I didn’t know how to make a quilt.  The very next day there was an advertisement in our local newspaper for a quilting class at a local fabric store.  What kind of quilt?  A baby-sized log cabin! Truly.  After several classes, I learned how to make many traditional-style quilts.  And then there were THE triangles, a shape that I never mastered and never wanted to master.  From that point onward I began to experiment with small art-like quilts.   

  

3. How do you describe your work?

My small quilts are simple in design, figural and graphic. I use commercial and a few hand-dyed fabrics.  Recently, I started using walnut-dyed fabric that I create in my backyard.  There are ten healthy black walnut trees in my yard that are prolific producers of large green walnuts.

  

Kathy Suprenant, Too Good to Eat

4. Do you have any favorite techniques or approaches?

 I often use freezer paper piecing for the background and hand-applique for the foreground.   All of my recently completed quilts are hand-quilted and occasionally beaded.

Kathy Suprenant, Protozoans

 5. What do you want to communicate with your work?

I try to combine my conceptualization of cell structure and function with the traditions of quilting and surface design. My goal is to create a unique set of shapes and symbols that CELL-ebrate the exquisite organization and behavior of living cells, and their repeating patterns of growth and death.

Kathy Suprenant, Chromosomes and a Door

6. What methods, or lifestyle tips, or time management tips do you find helpful to producing work?

It has taken years and many boxes of unfinished work to focus on finishing a single piece.  For me, it is more efficient to work on one quilt at a time from start to finish.  I may not make another quilt for several months.  In the meantime, I keep a sketchbook to record any new ideas.

7. What kind of studio/workspace do you have and what features of your surroundings are most helpful for your productivity/work?

I work in a spare bedroom where I installed a large overhead color-corrected fluorescent light.  Everything I need is in this room, including a computer and printer, a large mobile folding table, a drawing table, fabric and other supplies, and a comfortable chair from which I can watch television while I quilt, or just watch television. 

Kathy Suprenant, Butterfly Weed

8. Which artists, other individuals or subjects currently inspire you?

I am very fond of Judith Martin’s website and blog.  Judith is a Canadian textile artist who gathers much of her inspiration from her home on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.

In addition, I am inspired by the many nationally recognized quilt artists and historians in Lawrence, Kansas.  These include, but are not limited to, Barbara Brackman, Marla Arna Jackson, Chris Wolf Edmonds, and Mary Anne Jordan.


Thanks so much to Kathy for sharing her fabulous work, and check out her website for more information!

Featured Artist Profile: Jan Holzbauer

Today I'm pleased to feature Jan Holzbauer, a wonderful art quilter from Oklahoma.  She can be found online at www.janholzbauer.com.  I was pleased to meet Jan this past weekend at the opening of Fiberworks 2013 where Jan's beautiful piece "Bruiser" is being shown.  I was just amazed at the density and texture in the thread painting; it was fabulous to see it in person.  Bruiser's expression is so very cat like, regally waiting to offer judgment on whatever wanders into his domain.

1. Who are you and where do you live?
I am Jan Holzbauer.   I live just outside of Jennings, OK which is between  Tulsa & Stillwater.

2. Tell us a little bit about your artistic journey and how you got started?
I have sewn since I was a little girl making my doll clothes, then graduated up to making my own clothes.  I got started as a traditional quilter in 1986 when I made my first quilt for my 1st step-daughter when she turned 16 years old.  Then the other three step kids got a quilt, my daughter has gotten several and now I’m working on grand kid #5.  My art quilt journey started when I went back to college in 2006-2010 at OSU and finally talked my professors into letting me do my work in thread painting.

Pinwheel BOM 1, c. Jan Holzbauer

Hadiya 1, c. Jan Holzbauer

3. How do you describe your work?
I like to make representational art pieces using fabric and thread.   I enjoy making portraits of people and animals.  Mostly if you have a photo – I can thread paint it.

Bruiser, c. Jan Holzbauer

Bruiser, detail, c. Jan Holzbauer

4. Do you have any favorite techniques or approaches?
I love free motion thread painting.   I don’t use a computer to digitize my pieces.  Some call it free motion embroidery but it entails so much more than just embroidery.

5. What do you want to communicate with your work?
I like to make memories for people whether it is of a person, place or pet.  To give them a special type of way to remember that special thing.

Rod & Jackie, close up, c. Jan Holzbauer

6. What methods, or lifestyle tips, or time management tips do you find helpful to producing work?
Get up from your work frequently; stretch; get something to drink; take a brief walk.  Take a few steps back away from your work to get a different perspective.

Black Bear, c. Jan Holzbauer

7. What kind of studio/workspace do you have and what features of your surroundings are most helpful for your productivity/work?
When I am working on my longarm quilting machine it is in an upstairs room because that’s the only place it would fit.  But I get my exercise going up and down stairs because I usually have something downstairs in my ‘regular’ sewing room that I need.   Downstairs in my ‘regular’ sewing room is where I do most of my work.  It is where I do my thread painting and painting on fabric.  Although it sometimes feels a little crowded in my sewing room I like it because I know where everything is located and I try to keep it somewhat organized…although that doesn’t always work.

8. Which artists, other individuals or subjects currently inspire you?

I love Pam Holland’s work, Hollis Chatelain, Lura Schwarz Smith & Maria Elkins.

Thanks for sharing your work with us Jan!

OK Call for Entry: Fiberworks 2013

Although most of you may know already, Fiberworks 2013 is coming up.  It's a juried show for all types of fiber art, and is open to all Oklahoma artists.

Work is to be dropped of for jurying July 7-8 so there's still time.  For more information and the prospectus check out:

http://www.fiberartistsok.org/fiberworks/

Featured Artist Debbie Ross

Happy Monday everyone.  Today I'm pleased to feature the lovely work of Debbie Ross.  She blogs at http://debsbitspieces.blogspot.com/ and can also be found on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/debr33/.  I was initially drawn to her use of color and line in pieces such as "Brush Strokes", and am thrilled to share more of her work with you guys.  As always, e-mail me if you're interested in being featured here.  We're excited to share work by both established and emerging artists!

1. Who are you and where do you live?

My name is Debbie Ross.  I was born in Tulsa, lived in St. Louis for 30 years and moved back to Tulsa in 2005.

2. Tell us a little bit about your artistic journey and how you got started?

 I started sewing as a small child.  I am self taught in sewing, quilting, crocheting and knitting.  I love all forms of Fiber Art.  I don’t remember a time that I wasn’t working on a project.  I started seriously quilting in 1999.

Debbie Ross, Sedona Red Rocks

Debbie Ross, Sedona Red Rocks, Detail

3. How do you describe your work?

My work for the most part is colorful and a lot of geometric shapes, I am starting to embrace more abstract art and this is starting to influence my work more and more.

Debbie Ross, Reflections

4. Do you have any favorite techniques or approaches?

My favorite techniques right now are fusing, foundation type flip and sew techniques, and a lot of hand embellishments.  I am using a lot of decorative stitching and I have taught classes using this creative stitching and embellishing with hand stitching and beading. I am starting to use my own hand dyed fabrics and solid fabrics in my work.

5. What do you want to communicate with your work?

I see my work as pulling the viewer in because of the use of color.  I also think once the viewer is close they see so much more with stitching and subtle design elements. 

Debbie Ross, Brushstrokes

6. What methods, or lifestyle tips, or time management tips do you find helpful to producing work?

 I was once told by a quilt artist to treat my art as a job.  What she meant is set a time that is yours to create uninterrupted.  I let friends and family know that I check for messages at lunch and after 4:00 on most days.  This lets me get into a creative mode and work on my art. I also carry a sketchbook everywhere I go.

Debbie Ross, Composition

7. Which artists, other individuals or subjects currently inspire you?

The artists that currently inspire me are Sue Benner, Katie Pasquini Masopust, Jean Wells Keenan, and Lisa Call.  I am inspired by the colors of nature. 


Thanks so much Debbie for sharing with us!

Featured Artist: Charlotte Hickman

Hi All, and welcome to our first featured artist profile.   I'd love to feature you and your art here, so just comment here or send me an e-mail if you're interested.

Today we have Charlotte Hickman, who was the first art quilter I met in Oklahoma.  I was privileged to get to talk to her a little bit more at the recent SAQA conference and then to see a sampling of her award-winning work at the recent MQS show in Wichita.

1. Who are you and where do you live?
Hello, my name is Charlotte Hickman and I live on the northwest side of Oklahoma City.


2. Tell us a little bit about your artistic journey and how you got started?
Designing, sewing and knitting garments have always been a part of my life.  However, after buying a Bernina 180 embroidery machine in 1998, I have become totally addicted to the world of art quilting.  Presently I sew, free-motion embroidery and quilt on my Bernina 820 and 830 machines.

 3. How do you describe your work?
I have an interest in the many ways that fabric can be interpreted in quilt art by designing and using bold colors of nature.

4. Do you have any favorite techniques or approaches?
Both piecing and appliqueing are used in my show quilts and in the patterns I make featuring flora and fauna subjects.

5. What do you want to communicate with your work?
I want people to see and fell my love of nature's colors which are visually evident in my design work, free motion embroidery and quilting.

6. What methods, or lifestyle tips, or time management tips do you find helpful to producing work?
I create art quilts, design patterns, teach many classes and workshops, and lecture at guilds.  When I am home, I am always working on my design wall and sewing on my Bernina domestic machines.  Thus the congenial ambiance of the physical arrangement in my home is suitable for my creative interest.

7. Which artists, other individuals or subjects currently inspire you?
The generous spriti and enormous artisitic talent of fiber artists whose workshiops have inspired me include Ruth McDowell, Hollis Chatelain, Velda Newman, Jane Sassaman, Ricky Tims, and most recently Cathy Wiggins.

Thanks so much for sharing your work with us Charlotte, and I hope all of you in blogland have enjoyed seeing it!

Welcome!

Hi all and welcome to the regional blog for SAQA Kansas/Missouri/Oklahoma.  I hope this can become a place where we share our art and all the things associated with it that are going on in our region.  To get an e-mail whenever new blog posts are up, you can sign up using the box in the right sidebar.  You can also follow the blog via bloglovin' if you choose.

For more information about our region, you can e-mail our regional co-reps Ada and Charlotte whose information is in the left sidebar.  If you have any questions about the blog or are interested in participating in it (as I hope some of you are), just send me (Shannon) an e-mail, or comment on any of the blog posts.

To start the getting-to-know-you process, we'll be featuring one artist every week, so if you're interested in participating, just let me know as I don't know very many of you yet to ask.  In addition, if you have a blog or website you'd like me to link to just e-mail me the info.

I'm also looking for people willing to gather and submit information for posting on calls for entry in the Kansas and Missouri areas.  I'll be posting info on the Oklahoma area, but need someone to help with the other stuff.

Finally, any time you have something to share, such as a relevant gallery show, class/workshop, artistic achievement, or any other piece of news that might be of interest to the art quilt community, just let me know and I'll see that it get's posted.

With your help, the blog can become a great resource for our SAQA region.  I hope you enjoy it!