2008 – Page 9 – Deidre Adams

A good week

Iterations #1: Aquamarine, 30 x 66 inches, © 2006 Deidre Adams

Wow, this last week has been quite a whirlwind. My entire last weekend was spent preparing all of my newest work for hanging at the Aurora Municipal Center for their Art in Public Places program. I was one of four artists selected for their 2007-2008 rotating exhibition schedule. This is a solo show of my work titled “Spaces and Places.” If you are nearby and can go to see it, details are available on my Exhibitions page.

As any artist knows, making the art is only a small part of the scope of what we do. We also have to spend a lot of time on marketing/promotional efforts (including photography – either doing it yourself or hiring some else to do it), tracking inventory and other recordkeeping details, and preparing the work for exhibition. In the case of art quilts, that very often involves sewing on sleeves and labels, which is what I had to do for nine new works that I finished in time to put into this show. My fingers were sore for days!

My pain (oh, poor me!) was somewhat mitigated by the exciting news that my piece “Counterpoint” has been accepted into Quilt Visions 2008. I should say provisionally accepted, since they are very clear in stating that “final acceptance will be determined at the time of photography” and if it “varies significantly from the image submitted for jury” it will be summarily booted out of the show. I’m fairly confident that won’t happen in my case, but as you know, only two things in life are certain.

After delivering the work for the Aurora show, I came back to find an e-mail from the gallery manager at Translations. Turns out she had more good news for me – The above piece, “Iterations #1: Aquamarine,” has sold to a corporate client. I was very excited about that, and immediately some thoughts for new works in this series started flooding my brain. Now, just where did I leave that sketchbook …

March 8th, 2008|Career and focus|6 Comments

Horizon I

Horizon I, 12 x 12 inches, ©2005 Deidre Adams

This piece is like an old friend to me. I recently had a chance to see it again after it came back to me from the Fine Focus 2006 traveling exhibition, before I shipped it on to the buyer. When I first made it back in 2005, my only goal was challenging myself to work within the very small format required by Fine Focus. Although at that time I had no idea that it would turn into an ongoing series, I did make two others at the same time. That may have been what helped me to see that this was an idea worth pursuing through more variations.

Here’s a photo of all three of them together. I thought they made a nice triptych, although after the first one sold, that was the end of that. I still have Horizons II & III.

Horizon I, II, and III; 12 x 12 inches (ea.), ©Deidre Adams

The challenge of making work this small within the fiber medium is that because of its size, weight, and physical presence, it’s hard to avoid the association with other familiar things made of fabric: placemats and potholders. Small paintings don’t have this problem – they’re still paintings.

Lots of artists have discovered that mounting these smaller pieces can solve the potholder problem. There are a myriad of ways of doing this, including matting and framing, attaching to a larger fabric-covered mounting, or attaching to a canvas. The latter is my preferred method. I use a stretched canvas, attach the piece by hand-stitching it (I’m afraid of glues or other adhesives), and then paint the edges in a coordinating color. Here’s an image showing it from the front and side:

I think this gives it enough presence to make it look like a work of art and not a household object.

February 29th, 2008|Fiber / mixed media|9 Comments

Lisa Call – Markings series exhibit

Lisa Call with her work Markings 22 and Markings 11

To me, one of the most enlightening experiences for an artist is to understand how other artists think and work. Not only is it interesting to hear how they got where they are today, but it’s often amazing to see how the simplest of ideas can blossom into an entire body of work.

I’m fairly certain there is no one reading my blog who isn’t familiar with Lisa Call’s work. I’ve known her for many years, since the Nancy Crow classes we both went to. It was at about this time that Lisa began working on her Structures series, which is now close to numbering over one hundred works. Having been in two critique groups with her, I’ve seen this series evolve over the years, and it’s just amazing to me how many different variations she’s come up with in pursuing her idea. I think she’s got quite a few more ideas still to go.

Lisa’s latest series, called Markings, is now on display at the Macky Auditorium Gallery in Boulder, Colorado, through March 19. If you get a chance to see this exhibit, I highly recommend it as both a visual treat and an educational experience. Lisa gave an artist’s talk last Saturday explaining where the idea for the Markings series began – as drawn lines and cross hatchings done while she was in meetings at work. The creative mind never rests!

The exhibit shows how this one idea became the catalyst for a multitude of compositions, varying in size, color, and complexity, each one unique yet clearly asserting its relationship to the others. To see these works in person is very different from in a photo, where you do not get the rich sense of texture that’s created by the very closely spaced quilting lines in each piece. My favorite is Markings #7, a virtuoso performance in color and craftsmanship. You can see an image of the quilt and read Lisa’s statement about it here.

February 25th, 2008|Miscellaneous|2 Comments