A couple of quick notes

The 2010 SAQA Benefit Auction is currently in progress. This reverse auction is a fantastic opportunity to purchase textile works made by SAQA members. Bidding started on Monday, so as I write this, the price for work on the first two pages is currently $350, and it drops each day until the final price is $75. You can get a great price for some fantastic work, but the catch is, if you wait too long, your favorite may be gone!

A couple of my favorites:

Red Coleus, 12 x 12 inches, ©Susan Brubaker Knapp

Survivor: Ginkgo Biloba II, 12 x 12 inches, ©Nancy Cook

My piece is in the second group; bidding for these two pages starts Sept. 27.

Elysium, 12 x 12 inches, ©Deidre Adams

Other items of note:

Yesterday, I received a very nice mention by Pokey Bolton on the Quilting Daily Blog for Quilting Arts TV.


I was featured in the “Vignettes” (short articles) section of the Fall 2010 issue of Studios by Cloth•Paper•Scissors magazine. This magazine is available on newsstands or via the Interweave Store.

I have several pieces published in 1000 Artisan Textiles, by Sandra Salamony and Gina M. Brown, published by Quarry Books.

(This is slightly old news, but better late than never, right?)

September 22nd, 2010|Miscellaneous|Comments Off on A couple of quick notes

New work in progress

Untitled work in progress, 40 x 30 inches, ©2010 Deidre Adams

Well, I don’t know exactly what happened, but after a summer spent mostly unfocused and adrift, I have returned to painting with a vengeance. Maybe it was the change of the seasons, maybe it was getting some lingering projects finished, maybe it was limiting my Facebook and web-surfing time. Or maybe it was going to Ohio — so much yummy urban enchantment & so many fantastic surfaces — plus a change of scenery always does me a world of good. Whatever it was, I now have no fewer than 15 paintings and 4 textile works in progress.

A large part of my creative funk probably had to do with finishing school. As much as I complained and whined about the forced manner of the assignments, of having to do things I didn’t really feel fit with my vision, the truth is that I loved having a place to go and a community to be a part of. Being completely on my own is a two-edged sword: I am for the most part an introvert and find it hard to work with lots of noise going on around me, but on the other hand, the company can get kind of boring when it’s just me.

And my other problem stemmed from the normal letdown after a show is over and all the work comes back and is sitting there in the living room waiting to be stored. The sustained push to create all the work for my thesis gave me an energy that’s hard to maintain when there isn’t the goal of a show looming. It was easy to make excuses — I can’t make panels by myself, I can’t be creative when xyz is going on, etc.

But a little over a week ago, I was rummaging around in my basement for something, and I came across some canvases I had purchased a while back to use in class assignments. Over the last couple of years, I had bought quite a few of these when I found sales. Then we learned how to make our own canvases and panels. By about the 3rd semester of painting class, you are shamed into forgoing the purchased canvases in favor of either making your own (a pain if you’re just not into the whole scary electric saw thing) or buying them custom-made (expensive, and difficult to find someone who can make them to your standards at a price you can afford to pay). In any case, I had a large assortment of purchased canvases on hand, and I thought, why not just get a couple out and throw some paint on them, can’t hurt, right? I had to trick myself into getting back to work. “Self,” I said, “Now, you’re not really doing ‘serious’ work here, you’re just playing around, and if you make something really crappy, no one need ever know. So it’s OK. Go ahead.”

Untitled work in progress, 12 x 12 inches, ©2010 Deidre Adams

And that was all there was to it. I’ve been completely in the groove, just painting away the hours, totally absorbed. It’s that best possible art-making state, when the works just flows; it’s like a meditation, relaxed and most pleasant, and the realization that it’s time to stop and eat or do something else or go to bed or whatever is just plain annoying. This is how it should be.

Untitled work in progress, 24 x 24 inches, ©2010 Deidre Adams
September 20th, 2010|Painting, Work in progress|9 Comments

Akron — “Rubber capital of the World”

After Cleveland, the next logical place to go is Akron, which I think of as the home of Goodyear and other tire and rubber companies — not to mention that it also has a very nice little airport, which for some reason costs about a third as much to fly to from Denver as compared with Cleveland. As an afficionado of industrial sites, I had the Goodyear complex on my must-see list. Akron also has a lovely downtown area, but since my time was limited, I didn’t have as many good photo opportunities here.

Trivia note: In looking up Akron on Wikipedia, I discovered that Akron has (had?) a reputation as the “Meth Capital of Ohio.” I now know that there is such a thing as the National Clandestine Laboratory Register. The things you can find out while blogging!

September 14th, 2010|Art|2 Comments