Article: Durham's Herald Sun Newspaper

There is a very nice review of ARTQUILTSillumiations in
 Durham, North Carolina's paper on May 14th.

I was surprised to see my quilt, Soar III featured.

Local artists Jana Lankford and Jenny Williams were also interviewed and quoted.

They were two of the instrumental women, along with Ann Flaherty, that made this exhibit happen. Great job ladies!

ARTQUILTSilluminations review

ARTQUILTSilluminations

The 8th Annual PAQA-South International Juried Quilt Exhibition

at the Durham Arts Council
Allenton & Semans Galleries

March 26 – June 7, 2010

Curated by

Jan Ru Wan

Works by:

Pamela Allen

Wen Redmond

Jenny Williams/Jennifer Fouke

Laura Gaskin

Lynne Harrill

Christine Predd

Marcia DeCamp

Barbara Watler

Eileen Williams

Lyric Kinard

Cathy Kleeman

Sherry Kleinman

Gerrie Congdon

Kathleen Loomis

Denny Webster

Diane Wright

Nancy Lassiter

Debbie Langsam

Beth Carney

Janet Windsor

Gloria Hansen

Paula Swett/Cathy Stechschulte

Ann Flaherty

Jana Lankford

Sally Wright

Jeanelle McCall

Jeanette Thompson

Hsin-Chen Lin

Diane English

My personal favorites include:

Best of Show

Red Bioluminescence

by Barbara Watler

An almost monochromatic color scheme yet the value contrast makes it luminous. Those hand worked zig-zag stitches are amazing in their frenetic motion - almost shivering in your field of vision.

Sunset Composition

Gerrie Congdon

Simplicity of composition. A complementary color scheme yet no screaming loud brightness. The contrast of hand stitches next to solid machine lines.

Sticks and Stones

by Diane Wright

The beauty of the work is the the details. I love the repetition of the the stone shapes in the cloth, in the machine stitched line, in the hand worked knots. All of them work together to lead the eye on a journey as the texture draws you in.

Blinded by the Light

by Beth Carney

Line, both broken and continuous holds all of my fascination here. The dense stitching flattens out the texture of the artwork but brings a continuous vertical feeling to a rhythmically irregular piece. That and I tend to love subdued color scheme.

For Your Inspiration: Spring!

This weekend I'm attending the annual spring conference of the Professional Art Quilter's Alliance - South. Next week I teach in Paducah at the American Quilter's Society show. I've arranged childcare, made a million handouts, packed one of my 50lb suitcases full of supplies, shipped four boxes and have told my other den mother I won't be at cub scouts (scrub sprouts) next week. I still have a million things to do so what did I do yesterday? 

Pulled out my camera and spent an hour in the yard glorying in the riot of color that is spring in the South. It felt like the sun was pouring into my hands - and heart.

Most of the azaleas in the yard are repeat bloomers - coming out for an encore in the fall.

This sweet little azalea has creamy white blossoms - and they don't even turn brown and yucky when the temp takes it's usual late spring quick dive.

My bleeding heart is tucked in a corner and the blossoms hide under very bright lime green foliage.

My favorite childhood flowers are lilac and iris.

A few years ago I planted one of the very few varieties that will bloom here in the south.

They usually like cold winter weather and we don't get enough of it. 

The smell is heady. The whole kitchen is full of it from one small branch.

And of course this morning instead of getting more things ready I'm sharing my spring color with you. I still have a few hours before I need to leave. I have to gather my stuff for the conference, find a ride to the airport, print out more handouts (and of COURSE the printer is out of ink) and figure out an activity for the six year old's birthday party tomorrow. I think I can squeeze in a stop at the craft store on the way there. Any ideas? Helpful hint for squeezing in more art time: convince your children that a donut tower is waaaay more fun than a decorated birthday cake!