Ever dream about careers in quilt history, then wonder what are they?

Have you ever wondered what people do who call themselves "Quilt Historians".  Have you ever dreamt about making a career in  the ever widening fields of quilt history, costumes, or quilts? I wondered  how  women went about becoming quilt historians when this field didn't even exist until the last quarter of the 20th century? Who were their mentors and role models?

I invite you to look into the lives of said women (and one man so far, another on the way,) on my Getting to Know Today's Quilt Historian pages.  Many new women have been added this month, while others have updated their interview and more are working on theirs now. There is great joy for me to bring their history to my readers. Please let others know about this and share the joy!

What motivated me to interview women who have helped  make the field what it has become today was my curiosity about what motivated them to get involved as they did.  Who were their mentors, what peaked their interest, what was their favorite job or research project and  what do they still want to do. What I learned is that their imagination and dreams grew as they did. With each step they took a leap of faith driven by a love of quilts, fabrics, or history which kept them going. At the end of each profile is a comprehensive bibliography of their publications, lectures, exhibits, and so forth. Use it also as a  reference guide should you need it for your research.

Today we follow their tracks to a certain extent. These women and men can be your mentors, Read their interview online.  One thing led to another and their dreams became larger and wider, and so can yours. My interviews show creativity in action as well as educate us about the broad field of quilt history.

While you're on the page, take a look at the second photograph. I took a picture of the entrance to the International Garden of Peace. It is the Peace Portal at Meditation Mount in Ojai California. Then I played around with the digital photograph to make it look like a stream is running through an Asian doorway on a hot day. In reality, there is no water, it's a path through a garden under a  blue sky on a typical day.  It's fun to play this way.

I hope your new year is wonderful so far. I  started my mixed media collage class again. This semester we are focusing on line and we'll learn to use gesso in various ways. I am surrounded by accomplished artists in this class and learn so much from them as well as the teacher. We make collages in class and share them for her critique at the end. Mostly we make abstract collage with papers, fabric sometimes, and other flat embellishment. We use a great deal of clothing pattern paper. The  printing on the tissue paper are examples of line to be  used in creating action, interest and leading the eye along.
Tell us about what  creative adventures you are up to this new year?

If you are  subscriber to my feed or email , please post your comments by clicking here  . Just click on "comment" at the end of the post and a comment box will appear.
Subscribe by Email or Feed

Think Like an Artist with Pamela Allen

         Pamela Allen's infectious enthusiasm for spontaneous quilt making had me sketching before the end of this rich two-hour DVD. I seldom sketch, but the dozens of quilts she showed inspired me! The irony of that response is that Pam would not recommend sketching at all. No. Scissors are her drawing tool.                                  

She just dives right into cutting three values of fabric into  pieces big enough to cover the backing and batting she pre-prepares by spray basting them. Her quilting and embellishing hold the layers of her pictorial wall-hanging fiber art together.

Pamela thinks in pictures; I would bet on it. She loves putting symbolism in her quilting stitches and her appliquéd pictures. She draws from her childhood up to her current life for inspiration. Her fabrics are of every fiber and type, including stretch knits. Mostly she buys clothing at thrift stores to gather her stash. She loves to touch her pictures. She appliqués the pieces by hand, using floss and big stitches on the scissor-cut edge and other stitches for decoration and portraying the symbolism she wants you to see. Stitching is an element she uses extensively, with or without embellishments - texture abounds in her art. (**bag of embellishments)

Pamela's quilt style stimulates conversation and invites the viewer to look longer and discover her many elements . About half of the DVD is like a gallery visit, where we are viewing her quilts while she explains her source of inspiration for the theme she had in mind. Good close-up views are included.  In the other half, we watch and listen as she goes about spontaneously making a wall hanging. It appeared her choices were not preplanned or scripted in any way. Clearly she loves making art by auditioning both fabrics and shapes. She urges the viewer to work fast to make decisions rather than go back and forth trying to decide.  It was her goal to teach us "to think like an artist." The word detached came to my mind. Don't get hung up on your favorite fabric or shape, go with what you find first that works, then stick with it.

The naturalness of her working style makes this DVD stand out from the others I have seen and enjoyed too. It is a less structured lesson and I felt Pamela came across in a very personal manner.  She even includes the bloopers as a menu option, which adds humor and appreciation for how nervous she was, but didn't show it. She makes you smile because of her passionate pursuit for the craft and it's possibilities. She describes her approach to making fabric postcards by showing before and after visuals of postcards being made.

If you prefer rules and details and specifics from a teaching DVD, then this one definitely won't appeal to you. Pamela is totally free-wheeling - 'the anything goes if it looks good to you' approach. She takes quilting seriously and enters shows and challenges, but she likes to do it her way.

I didn't realize I already knew Pamela's work until she showed a house moving-themed quilt that I took pictures of at Pacific International Quilt Festival a couple years ago. I loved how she had tiny kitchen utensils attached to the kitchen wall of the house. She titled it "It Always Rains on Moving Day" in  2005, 35"X40". Pamela says " I moved a great deal as a child and hated it. It didn't matter what the weather was really like, it always seemed to be raining.  Each room of the house has embellishments and quilting describing their function. Cutlery and utensils for the kitchen and even a quilted bath tub and toilet!"  Pamela makes any kind of knick-knack sew-able by using various tools to make holes it, which she demonstrates in the video.

Pamela's DVD is available here. There is a also a short video sampling  out-takes from the DVD.

Great job Pamela.  The quilt photos are also from Pamela, and used with her permission. Thanks for sharing your self, art and approach to art quilting.

 

Here is the entire quilt that encapsulates the area seen in the detail photo above on the right. It is titled "WANNA BITE?" 2008,45"x42". Pamela says "I think Eve has always gotten short shrift. After all, she introduced adventure and knowledge to the human race! Hardly forbidden fruit in my opinion"

**"Think Like an Artist" bags of embellishments for your quilts are available from www.willowwoodfibrearts.com.  The bag includes  some of your signature embellishments including plastic eggs, safety pins, dice, game pieces, keys, spools, thimbles, bobbins and much more.

Peggy Martin's Paper Piecing

Technorati Tags: Peggy Martin,Paper Piecing Quilts,Quilt DVD

I met Peggy quite by chance at the Long Beach International Quilt Festival this summer. She and I both attended Yvonne Porcella's lecture. We ooed 'n awed at the same things so striking up a conversation was easy. It was then that she told me her name and I told her I had just ordered her DVD about her method for quick paper piecing. Never had I put the two words together in one sentence before! Truly her method is quick and now I can make the mariner's compass and other stars that have eluded me over the years of admiring them in antique quilts.

Peggy made the purse she's carrying in the picture.it exemplifies her color choices, saturated warm colors and black and white. her compass stars will look different than mine, well most of them :0)

Peggy Martin's years of quilt teaching experience make's her technique DVD excellent. Rightly named "Peggy Martin Teaches You Quick-Strip Paper Piecing." Peggy's attention to detail is the frosting on the paper pieced quilt you can make in no time compared to non-strip pieced methods. Much less time is spent ironing, cutting, sewing and she wants you to make multiple copies from your printer. The DVD provides two patterns to download and she has a copyright free stamp on the patterns in her two books; "Quick-Strip Paper Piecing" and "Paper Piece the Quick-Strip Way."

Let's face it, most paper piecing patterns are full of angles that make guessing impossible, so trial and error or checking and rechecking or ripping out and starting over are a part of the process. This turned me off in the past. Peggy's patterns are clearly marked and using her strip-piecing method together with them eliminates the guess work and eliminates steps making it a faster process. Some checking is required, but no more than on regular piecing as the 1/4 inch seam allowance still applies.

In the DVD Peggy makes two patterns, one totally made from angles for beginners and the other a compass star. She shows a variety of quilts one can make from the featured pattern blocks. Of course there are more variations.

She covers preparing the fabric, tools to use, ironing tips, sewing with excellent close-up photography and a clear narrative following her thinking as she progresses. It doesn't sound like a script is being read, she's into it and we are the benefactors. This DVD makes the process sensible and doable.

Peggy covers every question you would ask and repeats the answers when the situation arises during the instructions. I didn't have a question left when the DVD was over. After that I was pleasantly surprised to see there was more. Peggy talks about her beginnings as a teacher, shows us her studio and her quilts. this DVD is #14 in C&T's "At Home With the Experts" series.

As I always say- Piece!

Kim

Subscribe by Email or Feed

Introducing Women On Quilts: Interviews, Teleclasses, Webcasts

I have been working 24/7 and now I've lost my voice! Oh my gosh- I have just never been so a buzz with new ideas and projects that I can't wait to complete so I can get on to the next. I have been dropping hints about the imminent launch of my new project. After a critical week like this one has been for people around the world, I think it’s time for some good news.

Introducing (trumpets roll please) a teaching, learning, and sharing opportunity for creative women everywhere- Women On Quilts: Interviews, Teleclasses, Webcasts! From the comfort of your home, by telephone or using the internet, meet fabulous women who make their living or live their joy in the quilt world. Learn how they did what they do to pursue their goals and find succesful inside and out. My hope is you will feel a spark from these conversations and classes that will enable you to accomplish your dream too.

During this demise of our country’s economic fabric, I can't help but think about women living during the Great Depression and making quilts for covers and mattresses. I have to believe we will figure a way to avoid another Depression. Every day brings new information, new stock market numbers and experts discussing how we can save our money. Although I couldn't have known this when Women On Quilts was just a buzz in my head early this summer, what I am bringing to you certainly seems to be an antidote during this crisis and the ensuing months of the recession. Just think, from your home or office you can meet women working in the wide world of quilt businesses, designing, writing, leading & planning, teaching, quilt making, and so much more. I will teach how-to classes in research, quilt history and to spark your creativity & overcome challenges in your life, work & art such as

 building confidence
 fearless speaking in front of groups
 using perfectionism to your benefit
 using healthy attitudes & beliefs in your work and art
 releasing blocks, fears, and negative thinking
 finding approaches to living your life pursuing creativity ***


I so appreciate all of you that subscribe to my newsletter, read this blog, post comments and send me emails. You made WOQ happen. To keep up with my next interviews with well known and lesser known quilters, including the first women I haven't announced yet, opt-in to WOQ VIPs now so that you will automatically get the class and interview announcements. As a thank you, you will receive my E-article "Sparking Your Creativity." Yes, you want to subscribe to both QS and WOQ as they are completely different and WOQ VIP's get privileges non-subscribers and feed subscribers do not.

Look for QS newsletter on Monday when I will talk about my quilt making during this week of economic crisis and you'll get a glimpse into some of my thinking about the mind/body benefits of being creative. I will pull from my background in psychology for some of the classes I offer through WOQ.

***An interview Judy did with me reveals more about WOQ's purpose and goals on Womenfolk:The Art of Quilting.

More IQF LB quilts and people

Hello everyone- I hope you are having a good August! This summer has whirled by me, one of the busiest I have had in some time. Isn't August when everyone goes on vacation and it's"dead"? Not so this year! (I go on to blab about the Olympics for awhile here, but if you scroll down you will see photos of the quilt show- promise)

Plus the Olympics have caught my attention this year, I have so enjoyed learning and seeing more about China than I ever have. I have cried so man y times watching Micheal Phelps, Shannon Johnson and Nastia, Misty May and Kerrie, and all the other people who are so superior in their sport. My heart has grown huge with happiness for them and I am regularly awed by their ability and by their handling of the challenge before them. Such wonderful role models for everyone!

I must admit that I have not watched the Olympics before, other than here and there, but this locale and Phelps' story caught my eye. Come to find out, many incredibly inspiring personal stories have been told by NBC. I am blown away by what these people have gone through in their personal life! It made me appreciate everyone of them so much more deeply.

Remember I am a clinical psychologist and have worked in many venues and heard many stories, but seldom do people rise to such levels of overcoming the challenges, although some certainly do! I don't mean in their sport, I mean in their life. They are able to keep their vision, reach their personal goals, get support, find their way, rise above feeling like the victim of their life and instead a leader of their life who dream big and make it happen in spite of the odds. I am so impressed by the Olympians' accomplishments before they get to China. I especially have enjoyed seeing how many older folks are coming back to compete and doing a great job.

I certainly don't see watching the Olympics as a tacit acceptance of communism or Chinese attitudes toward women, the environment or Tibet. As I see it, the athletes and this huge country of human beings also living on this planet, are my brothers and sisters, and knowing their ways is enhancing my life. Wasn't that Opening Ceremony something? I simply have never been so awed at a performance and I've been awed at a lot of performances, but 2008 people in unison on stage, over and over again with different sets of 2008 people in perfect unison, doing intertwined performances, on a giant led monitor- the tears were just running down my cheeks in amazement that they have this level of discipline, creativity and vision in China.

With that said, let's look at some pictures of the fabulous quilts and people I saw at the Long Beach Quilt Festival.
















These happy campers are Audrey, Dee and me.

So who are Audry and Dee, besides my long time buddies? They are the founders, planners and hostesses with the mostesses of both Quilt Camp in the Desert (Jan. in Phoenix) and Quilt Camp in the Pines (July in Flagstaff, AZ) See http://www.quiltcamp.com/ to see the teachers lined up for the July camp. It's a blast!


This was the booth for SAQA, Studio Artists Quilt Association, one of the earliest art quilt group orgs, which Yvonne Porcella began right here in California.Artists in the Photo from left- Jeanette Kelly, Cathy Gregory, Linda Miller, and Karen Lusnak.

I would show you photos of SAQA's quilts on exhibit here, but no photography was allowed. These are incredible quilts though, many presented in a series, and many were for sale and marked sold on the very first day.

when I took a time out to hear Yvonne Porcella teach for a half hour (and describe her new magazine coming out this fall!)I was oohing and ahhing in unison with the woman sitting behind me, so I turned around to talk during the break, to see the kindred spirit. Turns out it was Peggy Martin, the Strip Paper Piecing Queen!


A funny coincidence happened (there are no coincidences in my opin)I had just ordered a DVD of Peggy's book from C&T for reviewing. It won't be out until November darn it, but it was on my mind and then there she was! We had a great talk and I look forward to watching her teach even more now.

More to come from the Long Beach show, but this is it for now. Piece to you and those you quilt with!

Kim