Warped Milwaukee 2014 Fiber Arts Show

Here's my applique art quilt entry for the Warped Milwaukee 5th Annual Fiber Arts Exhibition at the Jazz Gallery, 926 E Center ST, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  The theme is "Motif," and I tend to do a lot of Day of the Dead-themed art and have wanted to do a larger format (11 x 14" is large for me) fabric collage.  This is raw-edged applique with shapes being cut from my hand-painted fabric (except for the light blues which are commercial print colors) and heat-fused to a black background and then secured with free-motion machine quilting.  I like to use brightly colored variegated thread for the quilting.

The show opens Friday, November 14, 2014 with a reception from 6-9 p.m.and will be up through November 30. The gallery has limited hours but is generally open on Tuesday nights 6-8 p.m. (for live jazz sessions) and Saturdays 12-5 p.m. but also check the Jazz Gallery website for other events.  On the last weekend of the show, the gallery will be open Nov. 29-30, 2014 from 12-5 p.m. for the Crafters Marketplace, which I will also be participating in, where local artists will be selling handmade items, if you want to get your holiday shopping done!  Both events are organized by the ABK Weaving Center and coordinated by Susan Buss.

Participating fiber artists this year are Liala Samir Amin, Carolyn Brady (yours truly), Susan Buss, Shayla Clements, Taylor Easton, Sarah Eichhorn, Jan Falk, Andrea Havens, Katie Haws, Brittany Kieler, Carley Knight, Susan Knorr, Mel Kolstad, Judy Larsen, Shannon Molter, Jane Moore, Alonzo Pantoja, Jill Pitterle, Lori Pruessing, Maggie Sasso, Maikue Vang, Sarah Westphalen, Nicole Woltman, and Josephine Yanasak.

Bad Influence: Day of the Dead 'zine

Lisa Vollrath has published another issue of her occasional 'zine Bad Influence October 2013: Day of the Dead (see sidebar at left), and she was kind enough to ask me to contribute. I have a set of 12 drawings, one for each month for a "Year of the Dead" plus a skull mini-art quilt. Here's a sneak peek detail of my August drawing:

  

You'll have to buy the 'zine to see the rest! (And check out the "Look Inside" option on Amazon to get a sneak peek  at some of the fabulous artists who I am honored to share the pages with.)

Halloween & Day of the Dead projects

No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! My non-art job has been incredibly busy, and then I got the cold that's going around, so I'm moving in slow-motion. But here's what I've been working on. Above is Dearly Departed completed for the Ten Two Studios design team challenge, which I had mentioned last month. I used a paper bag book and colorful Day of the Dead designs from Ten Two Studios. You can see all the pages in my Dearly Departed Flickr set. The book will also be on display at the Bay View Book Arts Gallery later this month for the 2nd Annual "Darkness Falls" show.

If you haven't been over to Ten Two Studios lately, Lisa's been posting daily Halloween eye candy from the design team and others. Kooky & creepy - Be sure to scroll down to see everything!

Next weekend, I'm attending Raevn's Nest Art Retreat in Cedarburg, WI. I registered for this back in March, and I can't believe it's almost time! I'm still running around trying to get my class supplies. I signed up for three workshops: 3-D ATCs with Laurie Mika, Make A Scene with Jill K. Berry, and Hinged Copper Locket with Richard Salley. (There are photos of the class projects at the bottom of each workshop page.) I'm also participating in a Halloween-themed charm swap at the retreat, and so I've been working on those (using dominoes and images from Ten Two Studios, of course). This is the reverse side of the charms above:

I'm also working on ATCs for the Milwaukee ATC group's next meeting, which happens to be on October 31, so not surprisingly the Halloween & Day of the Dead theme won the vote. I've been doing a series of Witchy Women, with these fun collage sheets

You can see the rest of the set on Flickr. So that's what's going on here!