Saturday, March 31, 2012

Interesting Comments Re Fabric Copyrights

The topic of fabric copyrights came up at the Portland parlor group meeting earlier this month.  Here are links to some interesting blog commentaries, one from Todd Hensley, the owner of C&T Publishing, as well as two of the posts he refers to.

http://www.ctpubblog.com/2012/03/26/a-few-thoughts-about-copyright-and-quilts/

http://katespaindesigns.blogspot.mx/2012/03/moving-forward.html

See also, Kate Spain's blog post On Copyright and Tote Bags, posted March 22, 2012 (direct link to the post is not working) on http://katespaindesigns.blogspot.mx/

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Christina Brown Exhibits at Better Living Show, Portland Expo Center

I hope you will join me, Christina Brown, and several other talented performers, visual artists and community groups at Portland’s official SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now Day) celebration this Saturday, March 24th between 11:00 am and 9:00 pm and Sunday, March 25th between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm at the Portland Expo Center. The event is free for all ages and part ofthe Better Living Show. I will be displaying my art quilts and wearables. This 5th year of a new international holiday raises visibility for women artists – specifically spotlighting women’s cultural contributions during the final weekend of Women’s History Month. Portland Mayor Tom Potter granted our group a proclamation for SWAN DAY in 2008, acknowledging our contributions to the city’s artistic community.I hope to see you there! For more information, please visit: http://www.betterlivingshow.org/SWAN.asp.

Portland Parlor Meeting, March 21, 2012

Our parlor meeting at Gerrie’s was very lively. Twenty members attended. We had a thoughtful discussion about SAQA’s new definition of a quilt. (The art quilt is a creative visual work that is layered and stitched or that references this form of stitched layered structure.) The group decided that we would challenge ourselves to make a 12”x12” piece working with this new definition and stretching ourselves as artists to meet the new definition (eg. something that would not normally be considered a quilt but that meets the SAQA definition of "referencing" a quilt). We set the deadline for the challenge to be finished for our meeting in October, 2012.

Nancy D. is working with New Space to put together a class for our group. The class will be centered around photographing art quilts. Lessons on photographing your quilt, lighting, resizing photos to meet prospectus requirements, etc. She will get back to us when the class structure is finalized and a date will be set.

A discussion presented itself about hanging quilts and preparing our quilts for exhibiting. Emphasis was on the size of the sleeve, (4’’ plus ¼” slack for shows with rods and poles) and the sleeve set in 1 ½” from each edge, dropped down from the top edge of the quilt. The wooden slat should extend from the sleeve but not beyond the edge of the quilt. There can be holes in the wood in the upper 1/3 of the slat or eyehole screws put into the wood. Using picture framing wire, run it outside the sleeve and attach it to the wood slat. The quilt is hung from this wire and must be taut. It is a good idea to prepare your quilt for both types of hanging, by the wire or with the pole and rod hanging.

We had some show and tell and a few critiques at this meeting. Each person requesting a critiqued set up what they wanted from the critique. It was comfortable and many good ideas were presented.

At this time we will alternate between Gerrie’s home and Elizabeth’s for our parlor meeting. Meetings will be on the third Wednesday of the month at 10 am-12 pm. The next meeting will be at Elizabeth’s on April 18th. Presently, the agenda will include some reports from the members who are attending the SAQA Conference at the end of this month. SAQA Oregon quarterly meetings will be held in conjunction with the CFG meetings. On the month of the quarterly meeting, there will be no Portland Parlor Group monthly meeting. June 13 will be the next SAQA Oregon quarterly meeting one hour prior to the CFG meeting that evening. It will be an informal meeting with reports from parlor meetings from all the regions represented. More details will follow before that meeting.

Many thanks to the participants of our meeting for coming and taking an active role in the group.

My husband and I found a website that gives lots of information about what makes a quilt, history and opinions about traditional quilts and art quilts. It is interesting. Here is the website--http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilt_Art

Enjoy spring. As I look out my window tonight my car is covered in snow. I has to get better.
Betty Daggett

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Sheila Steers To Be Featured Quilter in Eugene

Sheila Steers will be the Featured Quilter at the Pioneer Quilters' Unbroken Thread: The Needle Speaks Quilt Show April 14 - 22, 2012 (closed Mondays) at the Lane County Hisrorical Museum in Eugene, Oregon.

Angel of Music (39" w x 46" h)
by
Sheila Steers

Sheila also has three quilts in the Tactile Expressions exhibit, All Together in One Place, currently showing at the Florence Events Center during the month of March. The Gallery is open when the Box Office is open during the week and on weekends when there is an event scheduled.

Morin Receives Honorary Mention from Women in the Arts 2012

Anonymous Script
by Hilde Morin

Hilde Morin's  Anonymous Script received an Honorary Mention from the Museum of the Americas during the Women in the Arts 2012 exhibit .  The Museum, located in the city of Doral, Florida, celebrates Women International Month in March by featuring works of women artists from all over the world.

Eugene/Corvallis SAQA Parlor Group

Nine enthusiastic SAQA members from Eugene/Corvallis met on March 20th and started to chart a course for the future of our area group. We agreed to meet every other month, on the third Friday of the "odd" months (starting May 18th, and then in July, September, November, January, March) at 1:30pm. The site of each meeting will be announced on the blog approximately a month before the meeting. Members decided to think about individual goals for the next year, and to be ready to talk about them at the next meeting. Each of us is on our own journey, but "cheerleading" and support from respected colleagues is always beneficial. For more information, contact Georgia French at gfrench@rosenet.net.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

News from Jean and Betty

The Eugene/Corvallis area is ready for some organizing and goal-setting. There will be a meeting at Laura Jaszkowski's home on Tuesday, March 20th at 3pm (in Eugene: rsvp to Laura at for directions). We will review some of the activities of the central Oregon and Portland area groups, and see where we want to go from here. If you cannot make it to the meeting but are interested in helping to forge a SAQA identity in the area, write and give your thoughts to Georgia French at gfrench@rosenet.net. We will post a note on the results of the meeting on our SAQA Oregon blog. If you can make it to the meeting, bring an example of your work and we'll start getting to know each other.

The Central Oregon group met last Friday for an informal presentation on composition from Ruth Ingham and surface design ideas from Betty Daggett. Then Carol Webb led a fabulous critique session. They will meet again in June. Remember anyone is welcome to come, just let us know if you will be in the area.

We are planning a quarterly get together in Portland when the Columbia Fiber Arts Guild meets the next time. More details will be posted on the blog meeting page.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

No SAQA Meeting on March 14

On Wednesday, March 14, there will NOT be a SAQA meeting following the Columbia FiberArts Guild meeting and luncheon. There will be a SAQA Portland Parlor group meeting at Gerrie Congdon's on Wednesday, March 21, 10am-12 pm. If you want to be in line for a critique let Gerrie know and bring work finished or in progress for general showing. Please RSVP to Gerrie gericon@comcast.net if you are attending the meeting so she knows how many will be attending. Betty Daggett

Sunday, March 4, 2012

News From Jean, Our Regional Co-Rep

Hello,

Betty and I have been working on establishing regional parlor groups to further art quilting. Oregon is a very diverse state geographically and we know that many of you live in outlying areas but do travel. Check the blog on a regular basis for meeting announcements and know that you are welcome to attend any of these meetings. Please communicate with either Betty bdavisdaggett@gmail.com of Jean jean@stitchinpost.com with any questions or sharing of information.

Central Oregon (from Jean)
Central Oregon was fortunate to have a gallery show, Fabrications, in February at a gallery in Bend. Most of the quilts were from Central Oregon, but there were a few from Portland and Salem as well. The response to the show was overwhelming. Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show was the organizer of the event and plans are in the works to make it an annual event.

Central Oregon SAQA members will be having a quarterly meeting on March 16 in the classroom at The Stitchin' Post. Member, Ruth Ingham, a painter and art quilter, will present a program on how to approach composition. This will be followed by a presentation on creating visual texture on your quilts by Betty Daggett, and then the group will open up for members to share work and Carol Webb will facilitate the "design decisions/critique" portion of the meeting.

Portland Parlor Group (from Betty)
The Portland area has had two parlor meetings, in January at Gerrie Congdon's (gericon@comcast.net) home and in February at Elizabeth Bamberger's (elizabethbamberger@gmail.com). Our next meeting will be at Gerrie's. The monthly meeting of the Portland group will be on March 21, 10am-12pm at Gerrie Congdon's (note that this a change). More details of the meeting can be found on the SAQA Oregon Blogspot. It has been established that is where you can learn about the most recent information about the Portland parlor group.

The Portland group is large and the last two meetings have full of discussion about what we want from the meeting. The ideas are becoming clearer as meet and decide to how manage our meeting and communicate the needs of the members. The third Wednesday of every month will be our meeting day. The meetings will be two hours. The first hour will be open to information on new calls of entry, show and tell of members finished works or work in progress, special topic of discussion agreed upon at the previous meeting or a small presentation by a group member, and making our plan for the next meeting. Critique is important to the group and the last hour will be devoted to critique, using the primary principles of art and the secondary principles of design as our guidelines. We will follow Sandra Sider's outline for critiquing. The critiques will be voluntary and limited in number at each meeting, because of the size of the group. If a member wants a critique at the next meeting, the hostess should be notified and the critiques will be added to the critiques in they order they are received. We will continue to adapt to the needs of the members and evaluate if this concept of the parlor meeting would be better met in smaller groups. It is open and we are very excited about the genuine interest we have in the area and our desire to continue our love for exploring and making fiber/quilt art.

Eugene/Corvallis (mid-valley) (from Georgia)
After watching the Central Oregon group get going, and now with the Portland area group on its way to regular parlor meetings, it's time to find out if there is the same kind of interest in the Eugene/Corvallis area. The two other groups are doing demos, critiques, mutual support for exhibit entry --- anything is possible. Let's find out who in Eugene and its environs want to share mutual interests. Laura Jaszkowski (joyincloth@gmail.com) and Georgia French (gfrench@rosenet.com) will get things started on March 20th at 3pm, at Laura's home. RSVP for directions and so that Laura will know how many to expect. From there it will depend upon what the group wants, how often, where ---- all TBD. All SAQA members are welcome. Hope to see lots of you there!